In recent weeks, I have been talking about influence. I have been trying to persuade you that we should be influential; God wants us to make a difference. I don’t know if I have influenced you but I want to move on to how we can be influential. Again, I want to use the Last Supper as our base.
Influence is about making a difference. It is about causing changes in other people’s lives. If you help someone make a good decision, that is influence. If you encourage someone who is down in the dumps, that is influence. If you help someone come to know Jesus, that is influence. If you help someone understand the Bible, and especially if you help that person live it out, that is influence. Influence is anything that changes another person’s life. If you help someone make a bad decisions, that is influence. If you discourage someone, that is influence – but let’s talk about how to be a good influence.
The Number One key to being a good influence is having a close relationship with Jesus.
Really? Isn’t that just the glib Christian propaganda? That is what you would expect a Christian to say but surely it isn’t true. Many influential people do not have a relationship with Jesus.
Here’s why I say it: In the Bible, in John 15:5 Jesus says, “Without me you can do nothing.”
Some of you might still be saying “Surely not! I can do lots of things without Jesus.”
In 1978, Michael H. Hart wrote a book entitled: The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History which he revised in 1992. According to him, the ten most influential people in history are:
1. Mohammed
2. Sir Isaac Newton
3. Jesus Christ
4. Buddha
5. Confucius
6. St Paul
7. Cai Lun (regarded as the inventor of paper and papermaking)
8. Johannes Gutenberg (in the inventor of the mechanical printing press)
9. Christopher Columbus
10. Albert Einstein
It is not my job to judge but I guess that at least five of the top ten didn’t have a relationship with Jesus. People have changed the world without Jesus. How can Jesus say that without Him we can do nothing?
We might ask if the influence of all of those people has been positive. Mohammed has undoubtedly been influential. We see stories about Islam on the news every night. Huge influence. But a good influence? No, so much of what we hear about Islam is destructive. No, he has led many people away from Jesus. Buddha and Confucius have likewise established religions that are, in some respects at least, in opposition to Jesus. So, when Jesus said we can do nothing without Him, did he mean nothing good?
But what about scientific advances or the invention of paper or new discoveries? Surely they are good?
How can I say that the Number One Key to influence is a close relationship with Jesus? Well, I say it because Jesus said it. It is not my responsibility! I can just hide behind Jesus but how can Jesus say that we can do nothing without Him?
READ John 15:1-17
Jesus uses the image of the vine with its branches. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. The purpose of the branches is to produce grapes and Jesus repeatedly talks about bearing fruit. In fact...
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last...
Jesus has chosen us to bear fruit. That is our purpose – bearing fruit. That is the context in which Jesus says we can do nothing without Him. This might trouble you but “nothing” doesn’t mean nothing. Some character invented paper without Jesus. Maybe God still inspired his inventiveness. OK, so could I murder someone without Jesus? Obviously, Jesus wouldn’t be involved in that. If I was going to murder someone, I would have to do that without Jesus. There are some things I can do without Jesus.
But Jesus is talking about bearing fruit. That narrows it down. That helps us know what the “nothing” refers to. We can bear no fruit without Jesus. What is fruit? What fruit is God looking for in our lives? What fruit have we been chosen by Jesus to produce? What fruit brings God glory?
Is it perhaps Kingdom of God stuff? Yes, you can murder someone without Jesus, but you can’t change his heart or give him faith. And yet that is what the gardener is looking for from our lives.
The five purposes of the church provide a framework. God is looking for worship.
John 4:23 A time is coming and has now come, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.
God is looking for true worshippers. That is part of the fruit. He is looking for true worship in our lives. He is looking for us to be totally dedicated to Him; for us to put God first in everything. Are we sold out for God; in love with Him and committed to doing what He asks? But he is also looking for true worship through us. Are we helping other people become true worshippers?
Fellowship. God is looking for the “love one another”. In fact, that is in the John 15 passage.
John 15:12 My command is this; love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Again, I suggest, in us and through us. God wants us to be loving. The fruit of the Spirit is love. But He is also looking for us to influence others to be loving.
Maturity. Jesus talked about branches being pruned so as to be even more fruitful (v.2) That is about growth; about being refined; about becoming more Christ-like – and hence, bearing more fruit.
Jesus also said, “If my words remain in you, ask whatever you will and it will be done for you” (v.7) If my words remain in you... Maturity involves knowing the Bible and the Bible being our guide in everything. In the wider context of the Last Supper, He also talked about the Holy Spirit who teaches and transforms. God looks for maturity - our own maturity and us growing others to maturity.
Serving. At the start of the Last Supper, Jesus washed the disciples feet and then said...
John 13:14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
On another occasion, He said the greatest in the Kingdom is the one who serves. God is looking for us to serve others and for us to encourage other to also serve. Is He finding that fruit in your life?
Evangelism. It goes without saying, doesn’t it, that the fruit includes new Christians. God has chosen us to bear fruit that will last forever. That includes people saved for eternity. We have been commissioned to go and make disciples of all nations.
“Fruit that will last for ever” gives us a clue as to what God is looking for. It is bigger than discovering America or inventing paper. Jesus is talking about Kingdom things. I hope that you also are focused on Kingdom things. Jesus said, “Seek first His Kingdom.” I hope that the influence you want to have is influence for the Kingdom of God. But we can do nothing for the Kingdom without remaining in Jesus.
Remaining in Jesus means being there and staying there. Do you live your whole life in Jesus? Are you conscious that he is always with you? Is everything you do, done with Jesus in mind? Is it your desire to do what He wants and are you able because He is the source of everything you need?
How can we have that relationship? There’s a lot that could be said but let’s restrict ourselves to two aspects: communicate and cooperate.
Communicate. Remaining in Jesus means talking to him; listening to Him; taking instruction from Him; seeking His help.
There are three main ways in which Jesus speaks to us. One is the Bible. If we want to be influential for the Kingdom of God then we must have a close relationship with Jesus. To have that close relationship, we must read the Bible and meditate on it regularly. The Bible is the word of God to us. This is where He has communicated so much. The Bible is where we get to know God; know His ways; know His mind; understand who He is and what he is like. It is through the Bible that He speaks.
In this passage about bearing fruit, Jesus referred to this. V.7: If my words remain in you... Knowing the word of God; remembering what He says and living by those words, is a key part of fruitfulness.
The second main way that Jesus communicates is by the voice of the Spirit. In fact, reading the Bible will be lifeless unless we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us. But we must be listening to the voice of God at every moment and in every situation. That is part of remaining in Jesus. You remember when we talked about nudges and prompts and so on. Hearing Jesus speak is part of the close relationship. Without it – without hearing His voice – we cannot say that we are in a close relationship. And without the relationship, we won’t bear any fruit. Without Jesus we can do nothing.
The third main means of communication is, of course, prayer. God speaks to us through the Bible and by His Spirit, but prayer is two way. We speak to God and we listening, again, to the voice of the Spirit.
In the context of remaining in Him, Jesus refers to prayer. In v.7 He says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you will and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” The fruitfulness arises out of answered prayer. It is about what God can do. It is not what we do but what God can do through us. When we are constantly guided by the scriptures then we can pray and God will answer.
In v.16 Jesus again says “whatever you ask in my name the father will give you.” If we want to be influential on a miracle level, then it will come out of a life of studying the Bible and prayer.
Communication is essential to the relationship. So is cooperation.
John 15:10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love.
If you keep my commands... Communicating is not enough. We must also do. It is about obedience.
And if we don’t do, then there must be confession. We need to go back to Jesus and sort the relationship out. That is part of the pruning that Jesus mentioned but notice what Jesus said was the purpose of that pruning. God prunes so that we might be even more fruitful.
Jesus said we can do nothing without Him. If we think that nothing means absolutely nothing, then He is wrong. People do things without Jesus all of the time. But the context tells us that it is about the work of the Kingdom. Do you want to be influential for the Kingdom of God? Do you want to see more people become Christians? And see them grow, and see them worship and serve? If we want to be influential for God, then it is true that we can do nothing without Jesus. We must give time to foster that relationship. It all arises out of that relationship.
How is the relationship? If you want to be more effective for God, don’t start with the task. Start with the relationship. Work on that. Don’t concentrate on the end of the branch that should have grapes hanging off it; look to see how well the other end is attached to the vine. Focus on the relationship. Jesus said, “If you remain in me, you will bear much fruit.” If the relationship is right, the fruit will result.
Remaining in Jesus is, of course, addressed to those who are already in Jesus. Jesus was talking to His disciples. He said, “You are already clean.” They were already saved. But maybe you haven’t yet entered that relationship. You won’t achieve anything of eternal significance unless you do. Real, eternal, God-pleasing influence is possible only when we are in relationship with Jesus. But entering that relationship is not difficult. You have only to ask. Jesus said He would never turn away anyone who comes to Him.
The Number One Key to being influential is having a close relationship with Jesus. Our influence flows out of the relationship.
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