Recently I preached on 1 Corinthians 1:17-2:5, and I asked the following question: “Where do you see the power of God at work today in the world?”
The answer, of course, is whenever the foolishness of the cross is taught and valued. That puts you directly in touch with the power of God in the world. Do you want to see God’s power at work in the world today? Then find someone preaching the gospel of the cross faithfully. It might seem unspectacular—it might seem foolish—and he or she might not have the latest techniques and strategies mastered, but there is the power of God at work in the world.
One of the big questions for me as I prepared was how this fits together with the propensity that evangelicals have always had for creating ‘heroes’ out of our great leaders. Why is it that evangelical leaders are often raised to prominence, influence and almost hero status? There is a range of reasons. We make certain evangelical leaders into ‘heroes’ because:
- They are innovators who established movements within Evangelicalism that we identify with or belong to (e.g. Martin Luther, Thomas Cranmer, Charles Simeon, Dick Lucas).
- They have said what God’s word says with such unique and staggering clarity, they put things better than we ever could (e.g. John Calvin, DA Carson, JI Packer).
- They have read the times and the culture with such penetrating insight, they show us (in ways we have never seen before and ways that resonate deeply with what we know to be true) the world in which we live and how the gospel ought to intersect with that culture (e.g. Francis Schaeffer, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Phillip Jensen, Tim Keller).
- They have modelled passionate, Christ-centred discipleship and love for him (e.g. John Piper, CJ Mahaney, Elisabeth Elliot).
- Their God-given gifts of communication, rhetoric and energetic activism have made them the popularizers and spokesmen for the insights and movements of those in the first four groups (e.g. George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon, Billy Graham, Mark Driscoll).
Now, assuming that such ‘heroes’ are God’s gift to the church, how do we ensure that we also avoid Corinthianism?
- We don’t just praise them, we first and foremost praise God for them: we recognize them as gifts from God and receive them with thanksgiving (1 Tim 4:4).
- We act like the Bereans, and compare what they say and teach with the word of God (Acts 17:11). (Incidentally, this is exactly what one of the younger ‘heroes’ urged us to do on a recent visit to Sydney.)
- Having assessed their teaching and example against God’s word, we seek to put what is good into practice. If one danger in this area is Corinthianism, the other danger is to be so fearful of the vague scent of Corinthianism that we refuse to learn from these God-given gifts to the church.
- We don’t narrow the field by attaching ourselves to just one hero.
We realize that the very reason that such people are lauded in this way is because they are exceptional. And so we don’t collapse into either guilt or envy; instead, we continue to remember that God can and does work through the everyday, unexceptional weakness of people like us.
