I wonder whether the provision of MP3s of sermons of great preachers now available everywhere is in danger of creating another Corinthian problem for our churches.

As you know, the Corinthians were a rather ratty congregation, obsessed with great speakers. They had formed themselves into groups: 'I am for Paul', 'I am for Cephas', 'I am for Apollos'. It seemed that they loved powerful speakers like Apollos.

The trouble was that Paul, the one who had founded them, wasn't so hot. His words were weaker than Apollos's. And so the church was divided, boasting in human leaders.  Paul had to correct them and show them what it was to follow the crucified Christ.

I am detecting a danger of this in our churches. Increasingly people are spending their time listening to fantastic, powerful speaking- John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller and others. Wonderfully helpful, insightful, powerful men.

And as you listen to them, you think not just of what they are saying, but what great leaders they must be to say such things. 

And then, on Sunday, you go . . . to your church, and there is your minister . . .  his sermons are not internationally sought after. He really isn't a patch on the great ones you have listened to all week. In fact, he really is rather unimpressive. And what's more, you can see the weaknesses of his life up close. How easy it is, then, to become disappointed, unhappy with your minister. Or even to wish that he was Piper or Driscoll or Keller. And in your heart, very subtly, you start condemning him for not being so.

You have become a Corinthian.

There is no putting the MP3 sermon genie back into the bottle. Who would want to?  It's a wonderful facility to hear great preaching. But I think it is probably important to learn what it is to listen at a distance to the very best in the world while deeply engaged with those who are proximate to us, our own church, and to love and esteem our own preachers, even if they are pretty ordinary. Remembering that the power of God is made present in weakness and that we are not to boast in humans but in the crucified Christ.

(feature banner photo credit:Gonzalo Baeza Hernández @ flickr)