18.04.10 - Influence

If you put two people together, what happens? Maybe nothing. Two people could sit together on a bus, not talk, each read his newspaper and get off and nothing of any consequences has happened between them. Two people could pass in the street and say, “Hello, how are you?” “Fine, thank. You?” “Yeah, good thanks.” “The weather’s getting colder.” “Sure is.” “See you again.” “Bye” and, again, nothing of any real consequences has happened. Neither person has been changed.

But it doesn’t actually take much for there to be some change in one or both of those people. Suppose I am sitting next to someone on a bus and I say nothing to him but I sneak a peek at the book he is reading and I think, “Hmmm, looks interesting. I must keep an eye out for that book” that person has influenced me. He didn’t even speak to me but he influenced me. He changed me in some way.

The two people don’t even have to be together – just connected in some way. Suppose I sneaked a peek at his book and read a quote and I was interested in it and tucked it away in my memory. Now the author of that book has influenced me. I have never met him, may not even know who he is, never been in the same place together but we have been connected through that snippet of the book and my life has been changed. It might have been changed in just the tiniest way or it might have been revolutionised by that quote. It might have been changed for the better or it might have been changed for the worse. But for a moment our lives were connected via that book and I was changed as a result. That’s influence.

If the bit that I read was inspired by something the author’s mother had once said then his mother had also, indirectly, influenced me.

I want to talk about influence. In fact, I think I want to talk about influence a lot this year. We have already been talking about it. In January, I talked about salt and Jesus’ comment that we are the salt of the earth. I suggested then that Jesus was talking primarily about influence. We looked at the book You Were Born For This which is also about influence – about affecting other people’s lives – about cooperating with God to deliver everyday miracles into the lives of people in need.

Whenever two lives interact in some way, or are connected in some way, there is the possibility of one person influencing the other. We have conversations; we go to meeting; we send emails; we meet people in shops; we live in families and in neighbourhoods. Every time two lives are connected, there is the possibility of influence.

Influence is a funny thing. The word means something that flows in. I think it comes from the belief that some strange substance flows from the stars into our lives and affects our character and destiny. I don’t believe that but is there something that flows from you into other people’s lives and affects their character and destiny? Influence is the power to change the course of events.

It is like the spread of a disease except that it can be the spreading of something very positive.

Should we even want to do that? Should we want to change other people’s lives? Shouldn’t we just live and let live? Who are we to influence them?

I have already mentioned Jesus’ words that we are the salt of the earth. Salt makes a difference. It makes a difference to our meal. It helps prevent food rotting. It aids healing. It stops the water on our roads freezing. It adds buoyancy. It is amazingly influential stuff. When Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth He was saying we are to be amazingly influential.

Negatively, He referred to salt that had lost its saltiness and was therefore good for nothing. Salt that no longer had the power to make a difference. That salt is simply thrown away.

He said we are the light of the world. Light makes a difference. It banishes darkness. We talk about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. After everything has been black, seeing that tiny, far-off light give new hope and makes all the difference. Turning on a light can make all the difference if we are searching for something or trying to read or are simply scared. So when He says, “You are the light of the world” isn’t Jesus saying, “Get out there and make a difference”? “Go and shatter the darkness for someone. Go and bring hope.”

He certainly is. He specifically says light is not to be hidden. Let your light shine.

Matt 5:13-16 13 "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 underfoot.


14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 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. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matt 13:33 He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about twenty seven kilograms of flour until it worked all through the dough."

Twenty seven kilograms of flour! That’s an awful lot of flour. Add water and that’s a huge amount of dough but see what Jesus says: that little change agent, yeast, works its way all through the dough. Little, unseen but it has huge effect. That’s the Kingdom of God. Maybe small; maybe unnoticed but actually working away to change the whole world. Influential.

We might feel, “Who am I to change someone else’s life?” but Jesus talks about us doing just that. Be salt. Be light. Be yeast. Go and make disciples. It’s about influence.

I am going to mention some people. As I do, consider how they have influenced your life.

Parents. Huge. Your parents provided your DNA so they had a massive influence one what you look like and what sort of person you are. But think of the influence of all the time they spent with you and the things they taught you and their prayers for you. Actually, even if you had a parent who abandoned you – a parent you never knew – that parent still influenced you enormously. Unfortunately, it might have been a negative influence perhaps leaving you with feelings of rejection and with numerous unanswered questions. Influence isn’t always positive but when two lives are connected as closely as those of a parent and child, the influence is profound – positively or negatively.

Some other people; consider how they have influenced you: grandparents, siblings, teachers, Sunday School teachers, friends, enemies, authors, entertainers, politicians, neighbours, advertisers, the weather forecaster, complete strangers. There have probably been many occasions when a single comment has influenced you – either positively or negatively. I became an engineer largely because of a stranger I met in the middle of the Heaphy Track.

Moses. Has Moses influenced you? If you still think of the Ten Commandments as guiding your life, then Moses has influenced you. Or if you have been inspired by the story of his leading the people of Israel out of slavery, Moses has influenced you. He has influenced the legal system of much of the world and, therefore, billions of people.

How many people have influenced you? Probably tens of thousands, including Moses and Isaiah and the disciples and Paul. Jesus? Has Jesus influenced you? If you listed people from most influential to least influential, where would Jesus be on that list? How much have you been changed by Jesus?

And how many people have you influenced? What sort of influence are you? How influential are you? Do you want to be more influential – be saltier, a brighter light, yeastier?

Every time two lives are connected in some way there is the possibility of influence. And Jesus has said, “Go and be influential. Go and make a difference.”

If we can be a positive influence, shouldn’t we want to maximise that influence?

I am interested in thinking through how we can be more influential. Jesus calls us to make a difference. How can we be most effective? How can we maximise the chances of hearing Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”?

One day in 1855 a Sunday School teacher in Boston, Edward Kimball, went into a shoe shop to speak to an 18 year old who came to his weekly class. He was somewhat nervous; he almost didn’t do it and afterwards couldn’t remember exactly what he had said. He later recalled, “I simply told him of Christ’s love for him and the love Christ wants in return.”

That young man gave his life to Christ. His name was Dwight Lyman Moody. D.L. Moody became one of the greatest evangelists of his time. After one meeting, Moody talked with a young man who had already become a Christian but had serious doubts about his salvation. Moody brought that man, J. Wilbur Chapman, to the point of certainty. Chapman, in turn became a great evangelist.

It is often claimed that Chapman converted Billy Sunday. He didn’t but Sunday worked for Chapman, helping to organise his evangelistic meetings. By listening to Chapman preach, Billy Sunday learned to preach. Moreover, Chapman intentionally mentored Billy Sunday, critiquing Sunday’s preaching and developing his theological understanding. Billy Sunday then also became a well-known evangelist. In 1924 he held an evangelistic campaign in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a result, a men’s prayer and fellowship group was formed. That group invited Mordecai Ham, a young evangelist, to preach in Charlotte in 1934. At one of those meetings Billy Graham was converted.

Sometimes that story is told as if Kimball converted Moody; Moody converted Chapman; Chapman converted Sunday; Sunday converted Ham and Ham converted Graham. It wasn’t quite as direct as that but influence happens in all sorts of ways. Sometimes it is through encouragement or inspiration or mentoring or working together or an invitation. Even so, that Sunday School teacher has a legacy that leads to Billy Graham and to all those converted by Billy Graham and to all those converted by those converted by Billy Graham! It started with a nervous and somewhat weak attempt to bring the young Moody to faith, in a shoe shop. It was a relatively little thing but the ripples just keep on going.

What effect might one faltering comment have? What effect might one changed life have?

Suppose that long after you are dead, one of your descendents writes a family history. If you somehow had access to it, I guarantee the first thing you would do is look to see what was said about you. You would turn to the index or the contents and scan them for your name. You would want to know that you had been included and what was said about you. Were you remembered by these future generations? Did you make a significant difference? Did you influence things? Or have you been forgotten? Did you contribute nothing? We all want to know that the world is a little different because we lived. Actually, God wants to know that we have made a difference too.

If we are Christians, we are salt and light and yeast – things designed to make a powerful difference.

I am pretty keen for us to explore how we can maximise our effectiveness for the Kingdom of God.

If you put two people together, what happens? Your life will connect with many other lives this week. You could just talk about the weather or you could be salt or light or yeast. Ask yourself: What sort of influence are you? Who are you influencing? What would make you more influential?

Let’s pause long enough to talk to God about those questions.