Celebrity - Fame

Walt Disney was once asked how it felt to be a celebrity. "It feels fine when it helps to get a good seat for a football game," he answered. "But it never helped me to make a good film or a good shot in a polo game, or command the obedience of my daughter. It doesn't even seem to keep fleas off our dogs - and if being a celebrity won't give one an advantage over a couple of fleas, then I guess there can't be much in being a celebrity after all."

The apostle Paul also found that celebrity status wasn't an advantage. Some in the Corinthian church had begun to identify themselves as followers of their favorite preachers, to the detriment of the church and of those who had come to be viewed as Christian "celebrities."

The city of Corinth was built on a causeway between two seas and located on the main commercial route between East and West in the Roman Empire. This meant that the Corinthian church was located in one of the busiest and most influential seaports of the ancient world. It was an especially gifted church that had enjoyed the ministry of some of the greatest preachers of the New Testament Era.

Today in the Word, Aug. 2003, p.6