Charles Barkley
I’m sure everyone has heard about Charles Barkley being in the news again recently. It wasn’t because of his never-ceasing one liners or even his “it’s not so bad” gambling habit. This time it was because of an unfortunate DUI incident that caused him to be suspended from his commentator job for a few weeks and locked up in jail for a few hours. Barkley apologized for his actions and has now gotten back into the TNT studio. But it brought back another time that Sir Charles was in the news for something other than his basketball skills.
Back when Barkley was at the height of his super-stardom, he delivered one the more famous quotes of our generation, “I’m no role model…” Now we can get all analytical and say that the premise of his statement is correct, he shouldn’t be a role model. That job should be left up to the parents, yada yada yada. Here is the fact, he was a role model whether he wanted to be or not. He was a role model whether we think he should be or not. His job, his occupation, the spotlight in which he lived, inherently caused kids and adults all over the world to look to him as a sort of pseudo-hero. Look at how much money is spent on player’s jerseys, posters, and cards. It is just a fact that is indisputable. It is a responsibility that comes with the territory.
Recently my small group has been studying a book by Rob Bell called Jesus Wants to Save Christians. Coinciding with the book study, our church was doing a sermon series called “the Priesthood of All Believers.” The basic thread that the book and the series held in common was that as Christians we are given a calling, or a mission, or an identity, from God. We are called to be a “Kingdom of Priests,” so that the world may know and understand more about God. This idea of “Kingdom of Priests” is stated directly in both the Old (Exodus 19) and New Testaments (1 Peter 2), and is evident throughout the Bible. We are to live our lives in a way that reflects the divine. We are to be different in a way that people look at Christians and say, “There is something about those people that I need to find out about.”
This idea of reflecting the divine and living as priests is pretty heavy. And in neither the series nor the book is it presented as a way of earning anything. Instead it is as Paul wrote in one of his letters; we are to give grace because we have been given grace. It is a response to the glorious gift and relationship that we already have. But it is most certainly a responsibility that God makes clear to us. The feedback from the group was quite interesting, and I must admit a little surprising. A lot of responses could be summarized as, “I just don’t want that responsibility.” There were echoes of Charles Barkley in the room, “I’m no role model.” But here is the deal, just as Barkley was a role model whether he chose to embrace it or not; we are, as Followers of Jesus, Priests whether we choose to embrace it or not. The fact is, as Christians, we are always preaching the Gospel…it is just a matter of which Gospel are you choosing to share?
Back when Barkley was at the height of his super-stardom, he delivered one the more famous quotes of our generation, “I’m no role model…” Now we can get all analytical and say that the premise of his statement is correct, he shouldn’t be a role model. That job should be left up to the parents, yada yada yada. Here is the fact, he was a role model whether he wanted to be or not. He was a role model whether we think he should be or not. His job, his occupation, the spotlight in which he lived, inherently caused kids and adults all over the world to look to him as a sort of pseudo-hero. Look at how much money is spent on player’s jerseys, posters, and cards. It is just a fact that is indisputable. It is a responsibility that comes with the territory.
Recently my small group has been studying a book by Rob Bell called Jesus Wants to Save Christians. Coinciding with the book study, our church was doing a sermon series called “the Priesthood of All Believers.” The basic thread that the book and the series held in common was that as Christians we are given a calling, or a mission, or an identity, from God. We are called to be a “Kingdom of Priests,” so that the world may know and understand more about God. This idea of “Kingdom of Priests” is stated directly in both the Old (Exodus 19) and New Testaments (1 Peter 2), and is evident throughout the Bible. We are to live our lives in a way that reflects the divine. We are to be different in a way that people look at Christians and say, “There is something about those people that I need to find out about.”
This idea of reflecting the divine and living as priests is pretty heavy. And in neither the series nor the book is it presented as a way of earning anything. Instead it is as Paul wrote in one of his letters; we are to give grace because we have been given grace. It is a response to the glorious gift and relationship that we already have. But it is most certainly a responsibility that God makes clear to us. The feedback from the group was quite interesting, and I must admit a little surprising. A lot of responses could be summarized as, “I just don’t want that responsibility.” There were echoes of Charles Barkley in the room, “I’m no role model.” But here is the deal, just as Barkley was a role model whether he chose to embrace it or not; we are, as Followers of Jesus, Priests whether we choose to embrace it or not. The fact is, as Christians, we are always preaching the Gospel…it is just a matter of which Gospel are you choosing to share?
posted by Jeff at 9:26 AM
1 Comments:
I agree that with a professed faith comes the responsibility of being a representative for that faith. As a person who spent most of my life as anti-Christian I know very well that those outside the faith determine a faith's worth by the actions of its followers. I decided Christianity and even Christ were not much more than a hoax based on the actions I still see from the majority of Christians and especially churches.
As Christians I believe we have a lot to learn from Barkley and others like him. I don't mean his actions off the court because unlike us his religion is only played out while on the court. In order to not only reach a level to play in the NBA but to be top of that field he had to practice his religion fully. His total commitment is what we Christians can learn from. It is far from easy to reach his level of performance even if he has better physical make-up than most for his religion. We are all called to reach a similar level of performance as Christians. We are told to die to the world and totally commit to following Christ.
We know what our religion is by what we center our lives around not in words but in action. All Christians need to ask themselves what their actions show to be their religion. If your actions show your religion to be family, work, looking respectful to friends or peers, gaining wealth, a sport, etc. then you are misrepresenting Christianity. If Charles was to have said yes I am a role model as an athlete and yet was only a person who bought season tickets stepping out on the court only during designated times for the highest paying ticket holders then he would be misrepresenting his religion. All those that profess to believe certain things to be necessary for their walk with Christ that they do not carry-out misrepresent Christ.
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