Back to 1 Corinthians, one of the first problems is division over who their favorite speakers are:

For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1.11 – 13, ESV)

He circles back to it in chapter 3:

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. (1 Corinthians 3.5 – 8, ESV)

But what’s the real problem? Why quarrel over who your favorite speaker is? For us, it’s not so much within a single local church although it could be. There are any number of nationally known preachers, and we all have our list of those we like, those we don’t like, and, of course, many we know nothing about. The real problem is not so much our preferences but our pride in those preferences. Paul gets to that in chapter 4:

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Corinthians 4.6, 7, ESV, emphasis mine)

It’s like our favorite sports teams. It’s fun when our team wins. I derived a lot of joy from watching the Colorado Avalanche hockey team win this year’s Stanley Cup. But pride? I wasn’t out there. I’ve never even been on ice skates! If you rooted for another team, does that make me better than you? Of course not! And listening to a particular preacher doesn’t mean a thing unless you’re putting the Word into practice, even if it’s Jesus!

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7.24 – 27, ESV, emphasis mine)