Three Temptations for Thought Leaders

A Few Reflections

May 16, 2024

Welcome to those who have recently subscribed. It’s great to meet you. What’s your name?

My name is Andrew Noble. I am a _____________.

I struggle to fill that blank. There is a cultural expectation to share one’s paid employment. I do work for Mere Fidelity as a Social Media Manager, but that’s very part-time. I am also a staff member at Grandview Church, working as a pastoral assistant, though it is an unpaid role. I have also been taking courses this year at The Davenant Institute and The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. I am a student. But the most fundamental of all these realities is my identity in Christ. I am a Christian.

Given my work as a podcaster and bible teacher, I sometimes think of myself as a thought leader. Many in our day are “thought leaders.” I don’t restrict the category to those with a large following, but rather leave it open to anyone with a following of any kind. A Sunday school teacher. An author. A TikTok commenter. A parent. All are thought leaders.

Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.”

As I reflect on my role in influencing others, I want to avoid sin. I’m re-reading Augustine’s Confessions, and I’ve been struck by how concerned Augustine is with examining his sins. Many are introspective in our day, just as Augustine was, thinking about themselves and their thoughts and their lives. But introspection without repentance is idolatry.

Thought leaders should avoid these three temptations and repent if they succumb to these vices.

Being First

An article on man's fear was shared widely sometime last year. It was a good article, explaining how man's fear leads to all kinds of problems in evangelicalism. But along with the praise came people sharing their own articles on the topic and how they said something similar years earlier. They were first.

Both academia and social media reward novelty. A PhD proposal won’t be accepted unless it breaks some “new” ground. Likewise, the social media algorithm will reward the posts that satiate a human desire for originality. You might have heard some news, but have you heard this “hot take?” Contemporary culture is not an increase in factual information but rather an increase in entertaining opinions vaguely related to the facts.

Just as sidewalks direct one’s feet, in our culture, there is an embedded value of novelty that directs us toward error. The path seems so natural to us, as we can’t help but believe in the “myth of progress” that has been trained in us from childhood. We walk the path. Or rather, we race. We compete. We form rivalries where none should exist.

What is hot is not what is right. What is old is often what is true. I won’t be the first to observe that there is nothing new under the sun. While it may be necessary for academia to prove an original contribution or on social media to provide a unique perspective for the sake of increased influence, these are short-term objects with short-term rewards.

Being Famous

I spoke to someone at a conference once who, out of the blue, described to me how “they weren’t as big as other people on Twitter.” I don’t think it was wrong of them to share this with me. It was clearly on their mind, and I was glad to listen. But I worry about a preoccupation with the size of one’s following rather than one’s own character.

I know this is a problem because I’ve seen it in myself. I am too interested in the statistics for my podcast. It is a hundred times more important to have conversations with people about what they have learned than knowing which episode is most popular. I thank God that I was rebuked on this by the Holy Spirit, and I have deleted the “YouTube Studio” app that would give me easy access to these stats.

What use is it to have a million followers if you are leading them in the way to destruction? I recently talked to my wife about how good it was, in God’s providence, that I didn’t try to plant a church in my 20s. I had a desire to do this. But a lot of it was in selfish ambition.

Just as being first can be a sign of the ancient vice of curiosity, so too does being famous fall into the ancient vice of ambition. According to Michael Horton, the Greek philosophers warned against ambition (eritheia) — meaning “putting oneself forward, as in an election, but in a spirit of rivalry that is not beneath resorting to unscrupulous tactics.”1

Interestingly, the Greeks did not value the opposite of ambition, but Christians did. The early church regarded humility and being in the form of a slave as a positive attribute for Christians to grow into (e.g., see Philippians 2). As it says in James:

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.

Being Fearful

Fearfulness leads to fruitlessness. The gardener who is afraid of sharp objects and so does not prune their garden will reap no harvest.

The sad reality is that many who go into positions of leadership are looking for affirmation and acceptance. Insecurity can run deeper in the soul than the knowing of God. It is as if some leaders would quit if they did not receive praise. But for the Christian, why would they expect such a reward given the repeated warnings in Scripture about how the world will respond to Christianity?

I could share many passages on persecution, but I’d like to focus on Philippians 3. At its core, man’s fearfulness and people-pleasing tendency can only be cured through a radical transformation of what is valued.

I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

Appreciating compliments or smiling when someone tells you you’ve done a good job is not wrong. But have you considered the surpassing worth of knowing Christ? It seems I can be far too easily distracted by my own success. But wait! Even just there, in that previous sentence, I misspoke. I have thought the success to be my own, not recognizing in gratitude how God has worked through me.

My Christian identity is my own, but only because Christ has made me his own. My thought leadership, whatever that may look like, is only successful insofar as it is grounded in the cornerstone of Christ and the foundation of his church. My righteousness is mine, but only because of Christ in me.

I am Andrew Noble. I am a Christian.

Thanks for reading.

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