Do you know the word “influence” is used only twice in the Bible – once in the Old Testament and once in the New? And yet, the whole Bible is about influence. All leadership is about influence. The prophets were sent to influence. The gospel writers’ intention was to influence. We are commissioned to influence.
Some influence is good. Some influence is bad.
Imagine you are at a party and someone offers you drugs – for free. Or maybe doesn’t even offer. He just slips those drugs into your drink. He is trying to influence you but what is wrong with his influence?
1. His message is wrong
2. His method is wrong
3. His motive is wrong
His message is wrong. He is trying to persuade you to do something foolish. Wrong choices have consequences. He might promise a great experience; forget all your worries; life will be easier – but the fact is that taking drugs is a choice with bad consequences: damage to the brain and other organs; involvement in crime or prostitution to fund the addiction; incredible damage to other people: desperate parents; the victims of that crime; children born already addicted; victims of drug-induced violence.
A bad influence because of a bad message. But let’s think about the method.
Why free drugs? To get you wanting more and so to start an addiction. It is coercion. There is added pressure. Your freedom to choose is lessened by the offer.
We don’t like hard-sell, pressurised advertising. We don’t like the persistence of some of the telemarketers who ring us. We don’t like being made to feel guilty. We don’t like being backed into a corner. We don’t like feeling forced to do something. Those methods reduce our freedom to choose.
That is wrong. Even God doesn’t to that. If anyone could force, surely it is God but He has given us freedom of choice. He appeals to us. He warns us. He tells of the consequences. He loves us and wants the best for us. But He doesn’t force us.
There is a type of influence that is pressured, controlling or manipulative. We might want someone to make a good choice – such as, becoming a Christian. Good choice. Lots of benefits. But it is their choice. We surely want to influence people to put their faith in Jesus. We know how good that is. We know the many benefits. We can appeal and warn and talk about the benefits, but we should squirm at the use trickery or pressure in evangelism. We must give the person the respect that allows him/her to say no.
Most of us live with a tension. There is something in all of us that wants to be influential. We want to make a difference. We want to obey God. But we don’t like pushy people and we don’t want to be pushy. We don’t like interfering people and we don’t want to be like that. We don’t like people who are proud or superior, and we don’t want to look like that.
Was Jesus influential? Like, change-the-world influential? Aren’t we meant to be like Him? Aren’t we called to change the world? Aren’t we called to go and make disciples? Yes, we are.
2 Cor 5:11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade people...
We are in the persuading business. We are in the influencing business. How can we be the influence we want to be without being the negative influence that we don’t like? Test your message. Are you influencing people in the right direction? Test your methods. Do you respect the person’s right to choose?
Let’s also test our motives. Why do we want to influence? Consider the following motives:
1. I want to be remembered. I want to go down in history. I want to make a name for myself
2. I want to get my way. I want to win.
3. I will benefit. I am doing it for what I will get out of it. For example, if you get hooked on drugs, I will make lots of money. If you become a Christian, I will look good.
When I was training for ministry, for a while I went into the Dunedin prison each week to talk to the prisoners until I realised that I wasn’t doing it for their benefit. I was doing it for myself. It was good experience for me and an opportunity to learn but I didn’t have the love for them that I should have. There is something very biblical about visiting prisoners, but my motivation was wrong.
The Pharisees were influential people. They taught the law and ensured that people kept the law. But they were hypocrites. They didn’t keep the law themselves. Jesus said:
Matt 23:4-7 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 "Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them 'Rabbi.'
Right actions; wrong motivation. It is good to keep God’s law but the Pharisees used it to burden other people. They prayed long prayers in public places and dressed to impress with their spirituality. Praying is great but Jesus said “Everything they do is done for people to see”. Good action; wrong motivation.
On the last evening of His earthly life, Jesus took a lot of time trying to influence the disciples. He was about to die and His whole work could have died with Him unless these men could be persuaded to carry it on. Yet they would be bereft and in no place to carry it on – unless He could persuade them. There is a great deal in this occasion about influence. Let’s see what it says about Jesus’ motivation, from John’s account – John chapters 13 to 17. Why was He anxious to persuade them?
John 13:1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
The while evening is introduced with that sentence and there is a telling contrast. Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to die, but He loved the disciples to the end. When He could have been preoccupied with His own issues, we are told that He continued to love the disciples. This whole evening was about love. It wasn’t about Him. It was about comforting and equipping them.
It wasn’t just about them. It was also about God.
John 15:8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
If they carry on and they bear fruit, God will receive glory. That is part of Jesus’ motivation.
It was also about the rest of the world. If they carry one, people will come to believe.
John 17:21, 23 21...May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 23...Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
But, overwhelmingly, Jesus’ motivation was for the disciples themselves. Why was He influencing them?
John 13:19; 14:29 "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.
John 15:11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
John 16:1, 4 1 "All this I have told you so that you will not fall away... 4 I have told you this, so that when their hour comes you will remember that I warned you about them.
John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.
John 17:13 ...I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
Jesus repeatedly says, “I am saying these things to you because I want you to believe and to have peace and complete joy. I don’t want you to fall away. That’s my motivation.”
John 17:24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory...
What Jesus wanted was not something for Himself. He wanted the disciples to be with Him and to experience His glory. “I want” expresses the motivation. Two verses later, He said:
John 17:26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
Jesus’ wanted the disciples to know the love of God – the same love that God had for Jesus Himself – and might be Christ-filled. Jesus wanted them to be committed and to follow Him because that is the path to joy and peace and fruitfulness and blessing and hope for eternity. Following Jesus is the way we, and those we love, will find greatest blessing. If we love people we will try to influence them.
There is so much more in this passage that shows Jesus’ motivation.
After washing the disciples’ feet and speaking about servanthood, He said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (Jn 13:17) He taught them so that they would be blessed. He talks of many blessings in this passage: answered prayer, fruitfulness, being loved by God, having the Holy Spirit, masses of things. Yes, He wanted to influence them. He wanted them to make the right choices. Part of that was being straight-up about the consequences. If they trusted Him and served Him there would be many blessings. If they didn’t they would be like the vine branches that would be cut off and thrown into the fire. He used all sort of means to persuade them, but His motivation was for them to know the blessings God had for them. The choice was still theirs but He would certainly try to persuade.
Some of us are nervous about evangelism; nervous about making disciples; nervous about influencing people. But, if our motivation is right, then we should also try hard to persuade. As followers of Jesus, we are in the persuading business. If we don’t like pushiness, then let’s not be pushy. If we don’t like pride don’t be proud. Let’s serve like Jesus. We must test our message, our methods and our motivation.
But what if our motivation is right? What if we do genuinely love people and we want them to know God’s love and peace and joy and we want them to be fruitful and to be blessed through following Jesus? Then let’s be influential like Jesus.
We need to ask ourselves, “Why do I want to influence this person? What is my motivation?” But equally, if we are reticent, we must ask ourselves, “Why do I not want to influence this person? When there is so much blessing he or she could experience, why do I not want to influence this person? Why do I hesitate?”
Is your message right? Are your methods right? Is your motivation right? Then go for it. If any of those things is wrong, then stop. But if those things are right, nothing should stop us influencing others. If those things are right, what reason is there for not influencing others?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment