Influence

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick

We are well aware that the Bible draws a clear distinction between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God. We know that although we are in the world, we are not of the world; we are citizens of another kingdom. Christians are to be differentiated from the world, we are to be separate. This contrast can be seen frequently in the writings of John, for example when he writes, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world -- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does -- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." (John 2:15-17) This language also appears often in the Fourth Gospel, also written by John: "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever -- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." (John 14:16, 17) At the end of that same chapter there's this comforting word, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (v. 27) Notice the clear distinction between what the disciples have and what the world offers. Not only is there an obvious difference between the world and the Christian regarding peace, there is also a contrast with regard to joy: "I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy." (John 16:20) Included in the great prayer of Jesus are these words spoken to the Father, "I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." (John 17:14-16) Earlier Jesus had explained, "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." (John 15:19) Then John relates this account of the final trial of Jesus, "Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, 'Are you the king of the Jews?' 'Is that your own idea,' Jesus asked, 'or did others talk to you about me?' 'Am I a Jew?' Pilate replied. 'It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?' Jesus said, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.'" (John 18:33-36) It's this last statement of Jesus that brings us to the point we want to make. A major contrast between the world and true Christianity is that the world is interested in power - military power, political power, economic power, and technological power. In stark contrast, Christianity is interested in influence. With me, there's often a curiosity as to how words have developed; it's what we call the science of "etymology." But before looking into the origins of this word, "influence," it is surprising to find that no where can the word "influence" be found in the King James Bible, and only twice in the NIV: Job used it when making his defense, "If I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court, then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint. For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things." (Job 31:21-23) (This translation is an attempt to bridge a cultural gap. The KJV reads, "When I saw my help in the gate." Evidently Job was an elder in his town and had the ability to provide aid to the orphans by virtue of his position.) And in the New Testament Paul uses the verb form in I Corinthians 12:2: "You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols." (The Greek word here is "carried away" - to translate this with "influence" waters down Paul's meaning.) At the earliest sightings of the word, "influence," around 1300 A.D., it was actually an astrological term - it was believed that ethereal power flowed from the stars and determined both the character or destiny of men. "Influence" in Old French referred to "emanation from the stars that acts upon one's character and destiny." Perhaps that's why earlier Bible translators avoided using the term! Today the meaning of "influence" is commonly understood to be: "the act or power of producing an effect without any apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command," or "the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways." (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.) However, even though the actual word is not found in the Bible, there are several images which do convey this idea of influence. We'll mention four. 1. When Jesus identified His disciples as being "light," He was indicating that they would have influence in the world. We know that the idea about the people of God being "light" originated in the Old Testament. Three times Isaiah refers to the light of Israel which was intended to be for the benefit of the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; 60:3), and the elder Levite, Simeon, who recognized that the son of Mary was the Messiah (Luke 2:32), associated this prediction with Jesus who later would proclaim Himself to be the light of the world. (John 8:12) In His "Sermon on the Mount," Jesus passes the torch when He says, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16) The light, when openly displayed, bears a quiet influence on everyone within view, whether it be a brightly lit city on a hill or a candle on the table; in the case of the disciples, their light, their influence, calls attention to, and results in praise to God. 2. Another image conveying the principle of influence is that of sowing seed. Only Mark reports this particular saying of Jesus: "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain -- first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." (Mark 4:26-29) Notice the phrase, "he does not know how" - the germination and eventual growth of the crop is like influence, quietly doing its work. Jesus also used the analogy of the planted seed to point out the necessity of our being willing to lose our own lives in order to bring this influence to bear: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (John 12:24, 25) 3. A third image that comes to mind is that of salt. In the same Sermon on the Mount where Jesus identified His disciples as light, He also called them salt: "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." (Matthew 5:13) This is interesting because not only does salt enhance the flavor of the food (the Gospel makes life more pleasant), but salt also slows the decay, and as such, salt is a preservative. By the way, have you ever noticed the amount of preservatives in fast foods and convenience foods? There certainly must be people here today who will never die - certainly, their bodies will never deteriorate because they have consumed so many preservatives! Paul later picks up the image of salt and applies it to our speech: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." (Colossians 4:5, 6) Notice the parallelism - be wise in the way you act; but with your speech, have the salt of gracefulness. In conversation with a couple of members this week I commented about my dismay over the New Jersey cultural approval of speaking ones mind. This is seen as a virtue - "That's the way I am - I just speak my mind." Well, I don't know about you, but some things that come to my mind are more like garbage than nourishing food. Some thoughts should be trashed rather than talked, some should be blocked rather than blabbed. Let your conversation be always seasoned with the salt of grace. We usually think that the influence of the prophet is paramount - the one who speaks strong, angry, authoritative messages from God. But here it's clear that our everyday speech can, and does, carry tremendous influence. (In passing, there's one other Biblical use of "salt." In II Chronicles 13:5 there is the phrase, "a covenant of salt." In this case, salt represents "the imperishableness and irrevocableness of the engagement made between the two parties of the covenant." - Pulpit Commentary) 4. But the image of influence we will close with, and which we most want to emphasize is that of yeast, or what the Bible calls "leaven." We find this in Matthew's collection of parables, right after the mustard seed parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." (Matthew 13:33 - KJV) Today, not many of us know about leaven, as we seldom bake our own bread. So what is it? According to one description, ". . . leaven is a lump of sour dough in which putrefaction has begun. . . ." (Pulpit Commentary) Of course we don't know much about "sour dough" either! We do know about sour cream; we eat it as a topping on our baked potatoes. (By the way, what do you call it when sour cream goes sour?) Actually, sour dough is bread dough that has begun to ferment, or spoil. Or to put it another way, sour dough has death working in it, so that if there is no death in the dough, it won't do any good to the new batch of bread dough. Spiritually speaking, there could be no vitality in Christianity without the death of Jesus, and the subsequent willingness of His followers to take up their own crosses. One preacher of old said: "The influence [represented by the leaven] steals into the soul, insinuates itself into the whole body, noiselessly communicates a right spirit and diffuses itself without ostentation or pretence from center to circumference, -- that is the method of the Master." Please notice these added points from this parable of yeast in the dough: 1. The woman "took" the leaven, that is, she was very intentional; putting leaven in the loaf was not coincidental or happenstance. This means that we must purposely internalize the Gospel and the Word of God through prayer, study, and Christian fellowship. If we want to exert influence in the world, we must be wise in our minds and pure in our hearts - that's why I like to sing the song, "Lord I want to be a Christian in my heart." 2. The woman baker "hid" the leaven in the larger lump of dough. It was ". . . not spread over the surface, but put into, placed in the heart of it, there to spread, to permeate, working from the center towards the surface. This is the method of the gospel as distinguished from that of the Law." The point is, the influence that is truly Christian, is spiritual. Every now and then throughout history, efforts have been made to militarize or politicize Christianity. We don't have to use Islam as the only example of religious wars - look at the Crusades, which represented a very dark day in church history when thousands were killed in the name of the Christians' God. And look at what happened when Christianity became the official state religion under Constantine - the church quickly adopted the political format of the Roman Empire and became greatly distanced from the model of servant leadership taught by Jesus. Let's not forget the certain truth of this statement, "The church moves forward only on its knees." 3. There were three measures of flour. Of course this detail may have been included simply because it would have been considered to be a manageable volume to work with. However, some have suggested that it could symbolically refer to "body, soul, and spirit." The Gospel message must pervade the entire person: our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, our decisions and our emotional responses must be that which adorn the Gospel, and our very life's purposes must be lined up with the revealed and personally confirmed will of God. 4. The woman in Jesus' story continued kneading until "the whole" was affected by the yeast. There was effort involved, and persistence. We are too prone to want instant sanctification even as the world seeks instant gratification. However, if the gospel which has been entrusted to us is to make a difference in our world, it will be due to our own diligence and faithfulness. The point of all this is that we are likening yeast to our influence in the world. We can capsulate this influence in four words: it is purposeful, personal, pervasive and persistent. However, we realize that influence is not the exclusive domain of the church or of Christians. Educators, our peers, the media, celebrities both from sports and screens, and commercial advertisers are all busy, trying to exert influence. We may no longer have to worry about the power of the stars, but we should worry about the influence of the "stars." We only worry a little about the about the attacks of the terrorists, but we should be very concerned about the temptations tunneling into our homes through television cables and DSL. We may not be paranoid about the intrusion of thieves, but we should be on guard against the constant attempts to steal virginity and innocence. In our self-imposed isolation and resulting loneliness, we should be aware of the lure of popularity. On the other hand, even though the influence of an evil world is pervasive, we know from Scripture that "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." (I John 4:4) Speaking about the threat of terrorism, our President has said it many times, "our greatest defense is our offense." It's time we take the offense regarding our influence. We can and should defend ourselves against the influence of the world, but we must also strive to be influencers. How are we to do this? How can we maximize the influence? By working hard to be a people who love and develop true friendships, requiring that we invest significant amounts of time in quality relationships. Let's not wait for friendship to come to us, but realize that we will have very little effect on strangers. By being careful to always treat one another, and especially those we perceive to be un-Christian with the utmost kindness. Perhaps this will be by doing "random acts of kindness," and by returning good for evil when we have been hurt or persecuted for our faith. By remembering that the power of influence is the power of example - let's never forget the truism, "Actions speak louder than words," and at the same time, let it never be spoken from our mouths, "Do as I say, not as I do." And of course influence can be exerted by the use of words, whenever an opportunity is given to speak of the goodness of God. And last, but certainly not least, we exert spiritual influence through prayer, not just interceding for our own family members and friends, but especially for neighbors, co-workers, and community leaders. The Apostle Paul predicted what will happen at the time when Jesus will return. This is what he wrote, according to the older translation: "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." (II Thessalonians 2:7) In our contemporary version it reads: "For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way." There has been a long lasting debate as to who this is "who now letteth" (Old English for "he who hinders"). Is it the Holy Spirit or the church? The correct answer is, "Yes." We know from the very beginning of the Bible that a time will come when ". . .the spirit shall not always strive with man." (Genesis 6:3) - the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn from the world and no longer hinder the progression of evil. And we also know that when the Lord returns, He will rapture His church - take them out of the world. In other words, there is an influence in the world today which mitigates the power of evil - it is the influence of the Holy Spirit working through the church. Earlier we spoke of light being one of the Biblical images of influence. When Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," in the same breath he also said, "As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work." (John 9:4, 5) Discussion Questions Influence 1. When we think about the relationship of the Christian and the world, which of these prepositions do not fit: in, against, from, of, under, out of? 2. If "God so loved the world," why are we instructed to not "love the world"? 3. When it comes to peace and joy, what is the difference between what is provided by the world, and that provided by Christ? 4. In the Garden of Gethsemane, what statement of Jesus supports the idea that the Gospel is not to be spread through military might? (Matthew 26:52) 5. What was the original use of the word "influence," and what does that have to do with its absence from older translations of the Bible? 6. Four Biblical images convey the idea of influence. What are they? 7. How does "light" influence decision-making? 8. If a seed is to eventually participate in the production of an abundant harvest, what must happen to it, and how does this relate to Christianity? 9. What characteristics of salt qualify it as an instrument of influence? 10. We summarized the influence of yeast in four words: purposeful, personal, pervasive and persistent. How do each of these words relate to the parable Jesus told in Matthew 13:33? 11. Name some of the powerful influences in the world apart from the church. 12. What are some ways we can maximize our Christian influence? 13. In what we call "The Rapture," what two entities will be removed from the world leaving it without any opposition to progression of evil? - - Return to Top of this Page - Email a link to this page - Go To Next Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick - Back To Sermons Page or to the Sermons Alphabetical List - - Download This Sermon - - Download a Power Point Presentation for This Sermon - - If you have enjoyed joyfulministry.com, you may send a referral letter - Click Here, and enter email addresses of your friends. This Page's Title Is: Your Name Is: Your Email Address Is: Your State and Country: Please identify your vocation: Senior Pastor. Associate Pastor. Youth Pastor. Lay Minister. Church Member. Which section of this site would you most likely return to? Sermons Articles Stories Poems Hymns Articles for Leaders Marriage Articles A Bit of Humor Would you like to receive the free weekly E-mail Circular? YES If you have a web page, would you like to establish a reciprocal link? 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