In our scripture today the apostle Paul is destroying the idea that we should follow any leader because we believe that leader has superior wisdom or knowledge according to the standards of this world. In verse 18 Paul tells the Corinthians that if they think they have wisdom, education, or knowledge according to the standard of the sophisticated, cosmopolitan, and philosophical Greek culture that surrounds them then they are foolish. God’s wisdom is superior to the cultures wisdom and this cultures wisdom is foolishness to God.
It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that a skilled, elegant, and knowledgeable speaker is somehow superior to other Christian speakers because of these talents. For the Christian, content and power are more important than the elegance of delivery. If the word spoken has no real power to affect change in the Christian life and if the message dose not ultimately point to Christ, then it is of little value for the hearers. For a leader to seek to create a personality cult and for believers to participate in one is to fall into the snares of the fallen principles of this world.
Christian leaders should not be measured by any other standard than by the effectiveness of the message to strengthen the hearer’s relationship with Christ. And preachers should not try to cultivate popularity from anyone other than Jesus Himself. We should never boast or feel superior because of a Christian leader we claim as ours because all leaders belong to all of us through Jesus Christ our Lord.