Under The Influence
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 18 viewsNotes
Transcript
Under the Influence
Under the Influence
Only in this church would you have a sermon titled “Under the Influence.” Seriously though, there are many believers falling under the influence of the world rather than under the influence of God.
The complacency that comes with being in this world and not of this world has brought many believers to a place of comfortable Christianity. We are not meant to stay in the secure confines of our little Christian communities.
Are you ready for this, we are expected to live alongside non-believers, believers, and people who do not know what to believe? All throughout the New Testament, the disciples, and all believers did not just live among those who were non-believers, but sought them out.
Sure, we may feel good about coming to church on Sunday or our groups on Saturday, Bible study on Wednesday, listening to worship music, and praying it up at home.
These are all wonderful and edifying things that we should be doing. We need to do these things for the building up of the saints in the faith, to prepare ourselves. That brothers and sisters is the easy part.
What does that do for those who do not know Jesus Christ? What does that do for those who have a misguided and misunderstanding of God? Do those things alone fulfill the great commission that Jesus Christ has tasked you and me with this morning to “GO and make disciples?” I am afraid not. That amazing responsibility falls to you!
You see, those moments occur when we are out there in the world. At the gas station, the grocery store, sometimes at work, sometimes in places we would never think about.
We see it in the news, we read the headlines on our phones and computers. We become angry, hurt, mortified, and saddened by the way things are going.
How do these things influence us? You see, whatever we put in to our eyes, our ears, our bodies, our souls, our minds, our hearts, is going to have an influence on the outcome of our words, our actions, and our behaviors.
The world is hurting brothers and sisters. People are hurting. The harvest is plentiful, and we are the workers.
32 And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
33 Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.”
How often do we hear someone say “You only live once” as a way of justifying an action or a behavior? Often, that action that is being justified is jeopardizing family, a job, ourselves. Paul is not just talking about drinking and eating in this passage.
When a believer throws aside caution, when a believer trades the Gospel message of Christ for those things not of God, we have fallen under the influence of fools. In scripture, a fool was someone who rejected or ignored the idea of God.
It is not a matter of some rigid set of rules that we have to follow as believers. The joy and the peace that comes with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ far exceeds any kind of influence this world offers us.
If being a Christian is a chore for you this morning, pray, seek guidance, and then pray again. Being a Christian should be the greatest experience that we have ever had, and Jesus should be the greatest influence in our lives! The believer’s walk is a sometimes a painful journey. We worship and we serve a mighty God that replaces that pain and that hurt with His peace, His love, and His strength. Jesus Christ must remain the teacher , the one who influences our lives.
7 You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?
How many times we find ourselves doing well in our walk. Feeling good about our faith! What is this race we are running? Is it to impress others? How are you running your race this morning? Are you falling under the influence of someone or something other than Jesus in your life?
You all know that I am a transparent guy. I still struggle with anger at times. Sometimes I drop a curse word or get a little nasty. In those times, I know that what I am saying or how I am acting is not of God. Anybody else experience similar things? Doing well, and then SMASH! God does not do that to us, we allow our focus to shift. We have fallen under the influence of a broken world.
8 It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom.
As often as I hear believers say that God is putting them through something in this life, Paul disagrees. When something or someone pulls us away from the living Word of God, we are allowing it to happen. God has freed us through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
9 This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough!
Brothers and sisters, we are surrounded by a witness of lies and we need to learn how to recognize these lies. When we take outside influence into our minds, we are allowing that influence to become our teacher. You have the power to influence others. Speak the Truth of God.
Winston Churchill was quoted as saying:
“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”
We are in a spiritual war. The truth of Jesus Christ, the Savior, has been and continues to be corrupted by lies. There are people who absolutely believe that they are standing on the Word of God, while twisting it to fit their agenda.
Can we all admit that there are scriptures that we struggle with, some we really would rather are not in the Bible? We also know that our feelings and our opinions do not change who God is nor do they change the will of God. How do we get there? How do we recognize the counterfeit, the false, the lies?
Write this scripture in your heart this morning.
9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
We recognize who we are in Christ. We own it, we soak it up, marinate in His perfect love. You have been called into His priesthood! When the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts, and we gain knowledge of the Word, we recognize His truth. We know what is dark and what is light. We develop wisdom.
20 Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.
“It is possible to have knowledge without having wisdom, but knowledge precedes wisdom.”
We are to become the wise as we walk with others who are wise. We seek out others who are Spirit led. We learn, we practice, we change. When we do, we find ourselves moving further away from those things that get us into trouble.
As we worship Christ and make him the director of our lives, as our actions and behaviors are influenced by Him, we become more like Christ. We live the truth and we speak the truth of God in a world of corruption.
The two political parties of His day, both of which Jesus did not have good things to say about, tried to trip Jesus up. That’s right, Jesus did not side with politicians, His concern was Kingdom life.
30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’
31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Worship Team to Stage
Jesus did not leave this open to interpretation. Our focus, all that we have, our being, is to focus on Him. When we love Him first, we will love ourselves and others as He loves us.
613 Laws of the Old Testament were reduced to 10 at Mt Sinai. Those ten were reduced to six in Micah. Jesus Christ made it simple for us by reducing it to two commandments.
Who and what are you under the influence of today? The world or God? Who are you going to influence today? This week? Who is going to see you living out the love of our Savior Jesus Christ?
He tells our hearts and our minds that there is no greater commandment. As we live these two commandments out, through the Holy Spirit of God under the control of Christ, we become world changers, we become God’s army, and in this, the Gospel message, the message of the cross changes hearts and minds to the glory of God.
Amen.
Alter Call