Jesus was recognised to be the Messiah (the Christ) and the Son of God only by a few people while He was on earth. Even though crowds followed Him around to experience or at least see a miracle from Him, very few people understood Him enough to want to be with Him (Jn.6:26,66). People in His hometown thought they knew Him and His family, and could not figure out how such an ordinary Man had such wisdom or miraculous powers (Mk.6:2,3). They did not realise that here was a Man in whom the fulness of godhead dwelt bodily (Co.2:9). So they rejected Him. But the few disciples who were with Him slowly came to realise that He had words of eternal life (Jn.6:68).
The apostle Paul knew more of the mysteries of God than anybody else living at that time (Ep.3:3,4), but he was not recognised and respected as such a man by most people. His appearance and speech were not impressive (2Co.10:10). Even the believers in the church Paul had started in Corinth did not recognise his real worth. His notoriety of having been a persecutor of the church before he was born again followed him and the Jews pursued him everywhere to silence him.
Who do people like to follow? Impressive personalities, skilful speech, records of achievements, official recognition from religious bodies, miracle working powers, etc. People falsely assume that a man with such qualifications must be speaking from God, especially if he uses quotations from the Bible!
Only those who stand before the council of the Lord are able to bring out God's words for the people (Je.23:18). When they stand before God the first thing that happens is that they see their own filthiness and humble themselves (Is.6:5). Getting to experience deeper cleansing in their own lives and learning God's ways more intimately, they are now in a position to minister God's word to the people. It is only those who walk with integrity, live righteously and speak truth in their heart who can continue to stand before the Lord and hear Him (Ps.15:2). A man who is faithful in secret before the face of God even in little things is the one to whom the Lord will give true riches – a godly life and an understanding of God's ways (Lk.16:10,11). But, a godly life or soundness of doctrine are not what it takes, sad to say, to pull crowds!
The sad fact is, there are only a few who bring us words from God. We need to take heed who we listen to. We have the responsibility to see if what people tell us are in line with what the word of God says (Ac.17:11). In these days of new doctrines coming up frequently we need to make sure that what we accept is 'sound' and helpful to lead us to a godly life (1Ti.6:3,4). What is the good of any doctrine if it does not help us to overcome our fleshly desires and to live closer to the Lord (Co.2:23)? Impressive speeches may give an appearance of wisdom, but if they do not help us to become more godly in our practical life, haven't we been wasting our time listening to them?