Maverick City Music, The Grammys Controversy, and Holiness

Given the recent appearance of Maverick City Music at the 2023 Grammys (during which they won 4 awards, congrats to them!), controversy has arisen regarding their participation in a musical tribute to rapper Takeoff, who was murdered in 2022. The tribute consisted of Takeoff’s former bandmate, Quavo, and Maverick City Music performing a medley of Quavo’s song “Without You,” which he wrote in tribute to Takeoff’s passing, and “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth. The tribute contained lyrics referencing the “big blunts” they smoked together and when they “didn’t have their sh*t together,” as well as contained the lyric: “Out in the galaxy, up in the stars, over the universe, it’s bigger than Mars, see you in heaven, see you in heaven, when I see you in heaven, I’ma be with my dawg.” Given the nature of the song and the circumstances surrounding Takeoff’s death, many young Christians have taken to TikTok to condemn the performance, calling it and the Grammys “demonic.” A wave of backlash has ensued, with others condemning and rebuking those criticizing the performance, under the guise that they’re trying to “cancel” Maverick City Music. 

While this article is neither a condemnation nor a commendation of Maverick City Music’s decision, it has sparked the question, one that is important for us to answer: What does it look like to be in the world, but not of it? How do we minister to the world, but not be her friend? What must we sacrifice to be set apart in the eyes of the world? Is being “set apart” worth it? Christ himself was a friend of gluttons, drunkards, tax collectors, and sinners (Matthew 11:19). So how did he do it? 

If we are to find out how Jesus was able to be holy, we first must find what that means. God, who Himself is holy, calls for us to be holy. The Hebrew word kadosh means “one of a kind, utterly unique, set apart, holy.” It illustrates the nature of God as something sacred that is incompatible with and exists outside of the world. Scripture over and over repeats this idea of being “set apart” (Leviticus 20:26, Deuteronomy 7:6, John 15:19, 1 Peter 2:9-10), or literally cut off from the world. This is what Jesus prayed over the disciples in John 17. 

“I HAVE GIVEN THEM YOUR WORD AND THE WORLD HAS HATED THEM, FOR THEY ARE NOT OF THE WORLD ANY MORE THAN I AM OF THE WORLD. MY PRAYER IS NOT THAT YOU TAKE THEM OUT OF THE WORLD BUT THAT YOU PROTECT THEM FROM THE EVIL ONE. THEY ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, EVEN AS I AM NOT OF IT. SANCTIFY THEM BY THE TRUTH; YOUR WORD IS TRUTH. AS YOU SENT ME INTO THE WORLD, I HAVE SENT THEM INTO THE WORLD. FOR THEM I SANCTIFY MYSELF, THAT THEY TOO MAY BE TRULY SANCTIFIED.”
JOHN 17:14-19

God did not create us for things of the world. He did not create us for sexual immorality or for shame or for guilt. He created us for beauty and intimacy and truth (Genesis 1:26-30, 1 Thessalonians 4:7). He created us so that we may be a testament and a witness to His glory (Isaiah 43:21, Ephesians 2:10, 2 Peter 2:12), and so that we might love and be loved by Him (John 3:16). As long as we are trapped in our sin by the desires of our flesh and by the temptations of the world, we cannot receive the love that God has for us. 

“ONCE YOU WERE NOT A PEOPLE, BUT NOW YOU ARE GOD'S PEOPLE; ONCE YOU HAD NOT RECEIVED MERCY, BUT NOW YOU HAVE RECEIVED MERCY. BELOVED, I URGE YOU AS SOJOURNERS AND EXILES TO ABSTAIN FROM THE PASSIONS OF THE FLESH, WHICH WAGE WAR AGAINST YOUR SOUL. KEEP YOUR CONDUCT AMONG THE GENTILES HONORABLE, SO THAT WHEN THEY SPEAK AGAINST YOU AS EVILDOERS, THEY MAY SEE YOUR GOOD DEEDS AND GLORIFY GOD ON THE DAY OF VISITATION.”
1 PETER 2:10-12

Thus, holiness is more than mere righteousness. It is to be separate from the world as God is separate from the world. It is to be with God and to be like God (2 Peter 1:4). To be holy is to reflect Christ.  (The word Christian even means “little Christ.”) 

1 Peter 1:13-14 calls us to holiness by being alert and clear-headed, and by turning away from our fleshly desires by hoping in the redemption that brought us out of slavery to sin. Scripture is clear: be alert and run away from temptation, and remain in the Lord. By this, we will come to know and receive that for which God created us. We are not called to be holy as a means to salvation; we are called to holiness so that we may love one another as God has created us to be loved. This is how we are set apart from the world: “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another” (John 13:35). 

There is a reason that Jesus was accused of being a glutton, a drunkard, and a sinner. It is because He spent time with gluttons, drunkards and sinners. It may seem counterintuitive. After all, birds of a feather flock together, right? Maybe most, but not Jesus. He is not like us. Jesus is holy, yes, and He did spend time with sinners —and He did so with a purpose: ”But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

The ones most in need of the message of the good news are not those who are already reconciled to Christ, but those who are lost. 

“IT IS NOT THE HEALTHY WHO NEED A DOCTOR, BUT THE SICK. BUT GO AND LEARN WHAT THIS MEANS: `I DESIRE MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE. ' FOR I HAVE NOT COME TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT SINNERS.” 
MATTHEW 9:12

What we tend to forget, however, is that we are also sinners. Yes, drunkards and adulterers and Grammy-nominated artists alike all need Jesus. But so do we.  For we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and we all need to be saved. The Pharisees, the most righteous men of their time, still needed Jesus to save them. 

“NOW THAT YOU HAVE PURIFIED YOURSELVES BY OBEYING THE TRUTH SO THAT YOU HAVE SINCERE LOVE FOR EACH OTHER, LOVE ONE ANOTHER DEEPLY, FROM THE HEART.” 
1 PETER 1:22

We are just as guilty of sin and just as in need of a savior. It is for this reason that we are called not to judge or condemn (Luke 6:37). We must let God’s love for man overtake us so we may love them, too. The enemy will come in and try to distort the message or deliver brothers and sisters to their fleshly desires. As the devil sows his bad seed, the weeds will inevitably grow with the wheat. So what can we do about this? How can we protect the good crop from the weeds? 

Are we then to uproot the bad seed? 

“‘NO,’ HE ANSWERED, ‘BECAUSE WHILE YOU ARE PULLING THE WEEDS, YOU MAY UPROOT THE WHEAT WITH THEM. LET BOTH GROW TOGETHER UNTIL THE HARVEST. AT THAT TIME I WILL TELL THE HARVESTERS: FIRST COLLECT THE WEEDS AND TIE THEM IN BUNDLES TO BE BURNED; THEN GATHER THE WHEAT AND BRING IT INTO MY BARN.’”
MATTHEW 13: 29-30

It is not for us to make claims of the validity or earnestness of another’s faith in Christ. Instead, we are called to love and encourage one another (Ephesians 4:16, Hebrews 3:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:5-11). When we see good fruit, we should encourage it. When we see bad fruit, we should still encourage them, instead in righteousness, and remind them of the deliverance they have in Christ. To this end, we should be able to recognize bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, so if we see bad fruit, we know it comes from a bad tree. 

Oftentimes, we do not do it on purpose. Either we have been deceived, or we simply give in to temptation, even against our desires or better judgment (Romans 7:15-20). So then, how do we encourage good growth? How do we help our brothers and sisters living in sin to turn away from it? We love like Jesus, with endless compassion and firm principles.

“FOLLOWING JESUS’ EXAMPLE AND INSTRUCTION, WE ARE TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE IN HOLINESS, BUT NOT TO CONDEMN THEM UNJUSTLY.”

Jesus provided for people’s needs and served them in tangible, useful ways. He provided for them. He encouraged them. But He did not leave people in their sin. He provided the blind man sight, and then told him to “go and sin no more” (John 5:14). He did not condemn the woman found in adultery, yet told her to go and sin no more (John 8:11). Following Jesus’ example and instruction, we are to encourage people in holiness, but not to condemn them unjustly. We are not their Judge.

Whether or not you think Maverick City Music is wrong for participating in the tribute, the solution is not to tear them down. They may be the only examples of Christian love that Quavo or most of the artists in that room have ever or will ever encounter. More people are watching them now than ever. Fighting and public condemnation are not the way to show the world how much we love each other. Yes, it is important that we encourage one another on the path of righteousness, including those of us who are public figures. We need to remember to do it in truth, yes, but also in love and prayer. Rather than trying to cancel Maverick City Music, we should pray that they continue to draw closer to the Lord, as well as for the thousands of people who saw them perform. Every person in that room, from Quavo to Sam Smith, from Brandon Lake to Trevor Noah, all need Jesus. We all do. We all need to be saved from our sins. And none of us will find it as long as we don’t understand the love that God has for us and pass it along.