Former President Bill Clinton said, "Surrounding yourself with sycophants and bootlickers is the surest route to failure." No matter what you might think about his life or politics, this quote is real. A SYCOPHANT is a person who acts obsequiously (obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree) toward someone important in order to gain an advantage. Hanger-on, suck-up, and minion are synonyms. As a leader, even in the church, you don't want to surround yourself with 'yes' men and women, but some do. You want folks who will be truthful, but kind. One of the main characteristics of sycophants is flattery.

In the Despicable Me franchise, though you see the Minions act in submission to their villain masters, they're not talking. Humans, on the other hand, who want to be in the good graces of power, often attempt to manipulate them with words of praise. Scripture tells us to be wary of these people, who are not really friends but enemies, in Proverbs 26:24-28 MSG, "Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend, all the while plotting against you. When he speaks warmly to you, don’t believe him for a minute; he’s just waiting for the chance to rip you off. No matter how shrewdly he conceals his malice, eventually his evil will be exposed in public. 27 Malice backfires; spite boomerangs. 28 Liars hate their victims; flatterers sabotage trust."

If you've been observing Christian circles lately from all sides, you've probably seen some sycophancy—people just going along with the loudest, most dominant leaders in order to share in their power or gain prestige or benefits—whether they agree with them or not. It was going on with the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus' day too. In Matthew 15:14, He called them "blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Sycophancy is not a recipe for success.