What's the Difference

Growing up I didn’t have a lot of christian influences in my life. We didn’t worship idols or have big parties all the time or do things people would look down on, we just didn’t care about God or the things of God. We didn’t go to church or read the bible or anything else related to God. It was not something I thought about, it wasn’t a decision I made it just wasn’t something we did.

I have been told that mom took me to church a few times when I was very little but I can’t remember it at all. My mom’s parents went to church every Sunday but I didn’t know it. We prayed at thanksgiving and Christmas but I never connected those prayers with a real living God, it was just something we did.

Every summer I would spend a couple of weeks with my dad’s parents and when I was there we went to church every Sunday. Grandpa and grandma talked about God like he was a real person and I knew that they believed. They were the main christian influence in my young life. I loved them and I respected them. I never realized how much impact they had on me until much, much later.

I pastored a church in Iowa. It was a small church and it never really seemed to grow or to do much. I struggled at that church. There was so much I wanted to do that the church would not allow. I wanted to start a children’s program once I found out that the church had once been known for its Awanna’s program. The church remembered how much work it had been and voted not to do it again. I wanted to rent a building nearby and start a youth program and 5th quarter after the games but the church would not allow it. I felt like I was making no headway and that I was not making a difference at all.

One of the people I thought I had made no impact on was a deacon’s wife. She had small children and she was constantly trying to keep them entertained. Whenever I looked her way during a sermon she was always looking down and one of the kids or playing with them in some way. I stopped looking her way because it was distracting to me. When I left that church I was convinced that I had not made much of a difference at all. For two years after I left I would occasionally get a letter from her stating that something had happened in her life recently and she remembered one of my sermons and what I had preached and how that had helped her in that situation. Those were some of the best letters I ever got.

It is amazing how much influence one person can have, how much difference one person can make. Have you ever felt frustrated because you thought no one was listening or that you were not really making an impact on those around you. You might be surprised if you knew the truth. I thing one of the impressive things that happen in heaven is that we will be made aware of all of the people we have influenced or helped during our lives, some of whom we had no idea were listening.

It was like that in the bible. Many of the leaders in the bible had tremendous impact on those around them, sometimes on entire generations of people. You may not think of yourself as a leader but we are all leaders to someone at various times in our lives. A parent to their child, a trainer or boss to a coworker, a teacher or volunteer at church or in some organization. We all spend some time leading and some time following. Lets look at a man you may never have heard of, he was not famous but he was important. He was an influencer. His name was Jehoiada.

2 Chronicles 24:1–2 NASB95

Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zibiah from Beersheba. Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

2 Chronicles 24:15–19 NASB95

Now when Jehoiada reached a ripe old age he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old at his death. They buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done well in Israel and to God and His house. But after the death of Jehoiada the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king, and the king listened to them. They abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols; so wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guilt. Yet He sent prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord; though they testified against them, they would not listen.

As long as he lived the king and the entire nation followed God. They restored the temple and restored the worship of the true God. As soon as Jehoiada died the king and the people turned away from God and toward idolatry. Apparently this one man caused an entire nation to turn to God by the force of his will and his own dedication to God. One man made a huge difference to an entire nation, and he wasn’t even the man in charge.

Another man who I admire even more is a well known bible character. He began to make headlines when he was a youth and stayed in and around the leadership all of his life. He did a lot of impressive things and has at least one bible quote that almost everyone in church has heard or used, even if they were not sure where it came from. “Choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house we will serve the lord.”

Joshua 24:29–31 NASB95

It came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash. Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

Not only did the people follow God all the days of Joshua’s life but they continued to follow God even after his death until all of the elders who served under Joshua died. He had such and impact and so much influence that even those who served under him had convictions enough and influence enough to cause an entire nation to follow God all of their lives. What a legacy, what an impact, what a man of God.

Did you know that you too can have an impact on the people around you, you can be an influencer. In fact you already are. You are an influencer in your family. If you are a mom you teach and guide and influence your kids, even after they are grown. If you are a dad you are the spiritual leader of you home. Not because you are a great and Godly man but because that is the position God put you in. You will influence the spiritual life of everyone in your family, whether you want to or not, whether it is for the better or you make it worse you will have that influence. If you are a child you have influence on your parents. My kids taught me a lot, I personally grew by leaps and bounds once I had kids. They forced me into it.

If you are a wife you influence your husband, it may be that you inspire him and make him want to be a better man. It may that you depress him and make him want to crawl into a cave and never come out but you will influence your husband. If you are a husband you will influence your wife. Maybe you will make her feel special and wonderful and make her think she can do anything or maybe you will make her feel worthless and depressed and feel like she can’t do anything right.

Do you have neighbors, my neighbors probably wish I was better at keeping my yard mowed and my cars washed. What do your neighbors see about you? Do they know you are a christian? One of the greatest influences in my life was my dad’s dad. He was an impressive man, a respected man, I wanted to be respected like him, I wanted to be him. He once told me that no matter what my last name was I was a Stallings, and Stallings don’t act like that, I was crushed and I was determined to never make him disappointed in me again. My adopted father told me a lot of things too, and I was determined to never be like him, ever. Both of these men influenced me just like you will influence the people around you, which of these men do you want to be like.

My grandmother once told me that they had lived in several different places before building the home I knew as theirs but they had always had good neighbors. If you want to have good neighbors be a good neighbor. My wife and I have lived in several houses in several states and by following that advice we have had some great neighbors. What kind of neighbors do you have. What have you done to influence that?

Are you an influencer in your church, do you make a difference? Do this kids in the church know who you are and know that you care about them. Do the other church members miss you when you are gone and know that you love them? Everyone in a church influences the people around them. Some people make you feel wanted and loved and are a joy to see every time you are around them. They make you feel like someone cares about you and that you are important to them. Then again there are some people, even in a church who seem to show up just to claim their rightful place in the world and show everyone who they are, they make you feel that they are important, or at least more important than you. When they are missing you notice, but you may not be all that upset by their absence. Which type of person are you.

I have been in a church where I was new and did not know the people or the things everyone else knew, like where the regulars sit and what seats were usually open. I have had people I didn’t even know shake my hand and say come over here and sit with me, and I have had others I did not know tell me you are in my seat you need to move. When I was doing pulpit supply, that is preaching in different churches wherever the preacher was gone or not able to preach that Sunday I had a lot of different experiences. One church I was hesitant to preach at because it was a Mennonite church and I was not sure that I would fit in. They made me feel very welcome and explained to me that they had had a baptist preacher for several years and they were kind of combination of baptists and Mennonites, they went out of their way to make me feel at home there. I preached there several times and thoroughly enjoyed it. They were without a pastor and I preached there several times and loved it. Another church I preached at when the pastor had taken most of the men to a men’s event. When I arrived a deacon greeted me and hardly anyone else spoke to me. During the singing no one seemed particularly excited to be there and when I preached I felt like they were just waiting for me to finish. I told my wife I would not go back. A few weeks later I got a call on Sunday morning from the associational missionary who told me a local pastor was sick and asked if I could fill in on short notice and I said sure. Then he told me who it was, it was the church I said I would not go back to, but I had agreed and so I went. When I got there the same deacon met me at the front of the church and he looked me up and down and then said you have been here before, I guess I can let you use the microphone, at which point he turned and led me to the pulpit where he unlocked the storage area and brought out the over the ear mike and handed to me while telling me to make sure and return it after the service. Both of those churches made an impression on me, can you guess what kind of impressions they made.

You make some kind of impression on everyone who comes into contact with you, whether it’s your immediate family or someone who checks your groceries at the store. You do not get to choose whether or not you make an impression on someone, but you do get a say in what kind of an impression it will be. What kind of legacy do you want to leave, do you want to be like Joshua and Jehoiada or do you want to be like the grouchy lady down the street. Everyone knows someone that most people avoid because of their attitude. You can choose to be that person or you can use your influence to change the world for God, at least the world around you. Jehoiada used his influence with a boy king to change the fate of an entire nation. Joshua used his influence to cause Israel to follow God and he influenced those around him so thoroughly that even after he died his impact was still strong. All of the elders who served under Joshua were so impressed, so influenced by his faith and his commitment that not one of them ever wavered. As long as one of the elders that Joshua trained and influenced were alive the entire nation of Israel followed God, that was his legacy, that was his influence. What is your legacy? Are you working to influence those around you for God, are you training the next generation, are you making a difference in the world around you, or are you just marking time?

You will leave a legacy, your influence will be felt by those around you, you will make a difference. What kind of a difference will it be, its up to you, the decisions you are making right now are determining the impact you will have on those around you and the legacy you will leave behind you. It’s not too late, it’s happening today, you are influencing the world around you and the future generations right now, what kind of influence will you be. It’s up to you, It’s your choice, but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.