How Do You See Influence?

Introduction

When Calvin Coolidge was president, he had a first-time visitor to the White House. Not wanting to do something wrong, the guest watched everything that Coolidge did. Coolidge was having breakfast and was served coffee. The president poured some of its contents in a deep saucer and added a little sugar. The visitor carefully watched and did the same. He waited for the president’s next move.

Such is the power of influence.

He was horrified when the president lifted the saucer from the table and set it on the floor…for the cat. No one ever reported what the visitor did next.

Everyone can look at their own experience and see the footprints of influence left in the wet sand of their lives. Who has influenced your life profoundly?

They come from many different venues of our lives such as church, school, and family. Who are those people?

A teacher who taught you. And you remember nothing of the subject but everything they told you.

A Bible class teacher who made the light come on in your heart and soul.

A church member who took special interest in you and you watched everything they did because you wanted to be like them.

This is a class about being a magnetic Christian. Magnets, by their very nature attract metal objects to them. We all are called to draw people to the message of Christ. It’s huge task and one that we may neglect to our own hurt. More importantly, the neglect results in the damage done to society.

How do you become that person, the person who influences and creates the thirst for God’s ways in their life?

The trouble is that the term “influencer” has been hijacked and taken over by internet hacks who want to sell their egos. We want to do better than that. We want them to see, not us, but Jesus.

In this class we will discuss many things.

What’s the difference between influence and manipulation? They are not the same.

What kind of person is the best influencer?

What kind of character influences? Which ones don’t?

How can we make our influence for Christ more intentional?

It sounds like we are trying to tie up rain clouds in which there’s nothing but concept. But the Bible wants us to understand influence. To do that, it makes it concrete and lets us see influence in our mind’s eye through a series of pictures.

Discussion

Four Pictures of Influence

The Bible presents concepts in ways we can understand and relate to. They come in ways we can experience. When Jesus spoke, he told stories. We’ve known people who have had rebellious teenagers or employees who embezzled. Jesus couched the eternal in the nugget of real life.

That’s what happens with influence. It hooks the sacred to the sensible.

In each of the images we examine, one question filters to the surface. How does this help us grasp the concept of influence?

Salt

Our first image comes in what we call the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:13 NIV

“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.

We’ve all heard of people described as “salt of the earth” types. While we have a gut-level meaning, salt is worth exploring further.

Salt was one of the four basic elements in the time of Jesus. The four were iron, gold, wheat, and salt. Salt was so valuable that some cultures used it as their currency. That’s where our saying, “worth his salt” originates. It was so valuable it was called “white gold.”

But it was more. It symbolized things. It was something that stood for friendship. The philosopher Aristotle said Greek fellowship meals consisted of bread and salt.

Salt did several things. One is what we experience today. It makes things taste better. How many times has a cook spooned out a broth and winced and said, “It needs more salt.”

But for Jesus’ world, it meant the difference between dinner and decay. Meats of all kinds, but especially fish from the Sea of Galilee were salted to preserve them. This trait of salt soon attached itself to salt as something as a sign of purity. It delayed decay and became a useful sign of both sincerity and purity of a promise.

The Old Testament used it many ways.

in connection with the law, it said:

Numbers 18:19 NIV

Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the Lord I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord for both you and your offspring.”

It was a covenant sealed with sincerity and purity by both the Lord and the people.

And Elisha used it to purify water.

2 Kings 2:18–22 NIV

When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?” The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.” “Bring me a new bowl,” he said, “and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’ ” And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

The salt made the water drinkable again.

When we take all of these together, we can see things about salt as the image for getting into the lives of others.

First, salt does no good if it is not mixed or mingled. Meat is purified, not when the salt is in the shaker but when it it rubbed into the meat. If it doesn’t come into contact, it cannot do its task.

Then, it also must penetrate. That’s why fish are immersed in salt so it can seep into the pores of the flesh.

Third, salt can lose its potency.

For seventeen years, our family lived on the Gulf Coast. To say it was humid was an understatement. It is the only place I have lived that I could sweat in a shower. But all that moisture attacked the crystals of salt and diluted it. It was not uncommon to find salt shakers in restaurants half full of rice to absorb the moisture. It could be worthless even though it might have at one time been valuable.

So Jesus uses this image of a common substance that purifies and enhances. Such is an image of Christian influence.

Light

The second comes as part of the series.

Matthew 5:14–16 NIV

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

You are the light of the world. How does light help us understand a Christian’s influence?

Light was a symbol of what was hopeful, good, and uplifting. Solomon used it that way.

Ecclesiastes 11:7 NIV

Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.

In fact, in Exodus, the contrast is drawn between God’s people with God and the Egyptians.

Exodus 10:23 NIV

No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

In Egypt, during the plague of darkness, darkness prevailed in the land of the Egyptians but the Israelites had light due to God’s protection. The same contrast comes at the Red Sea.

Exodus 14:19–20 NIV

Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

Indeed, Job speaks of light as the blessing of the Lord himself.

Job 12:22 NIV

He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.

No wonder this common image of everyday living was laden with so much meaning.

Few of us can imagine how dark the world was. We have lived with electric lights for so long that we are never without light. Whether the always lit highways and streetlights to the soft glow of LED lights, we are never without light.

But for the people of Jesus’ time, darkness was total. The only way to see was to light a light. And Jesus draws the ridiculous image of someone lighting a lamp and then covering it up so you cannot see the light. Instead, you put it on a stand so its flickering light can be cast throughout the room.

When the lamp was lit, darkness vanished. The eye is drawn to light. And even the smallest flame is visible because it is distinct from the surrounding darkness.

Everyone who listened to Jesus understood. We are like a candle lit by the message and shines to a dark world.

Aroma

Paul uses another metaphor that helps us grasp the meaning of influence.

2 Corinthians 2:15–17 NIV

For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

The pleasing aroma. What does aroma do?

Close your eyes and think of this:

You are a child and you ran back into the house and you smell something. What is it you smell? Is it freshly baked chocolate chip cookies? Fresh bread hot from the oven? A chocolate cake left to cool?

Or take a new bag of coffee. Open it. Do you smell it?

Now one more test. Can you remember that years later?

We had a dear friend who passed away two decades ago. Granny wore a particular kind of perfume. After we had been in Dallas a few years, my wife and daughter were in a store when a woman passed by. They turned to each other and said, “It’s Granny.” The associated scent was so strong a memory trigger.

Paul says we are the pleasing aroma of Christ. When we come into the midst of people they get a whiff of Jesus himself by our lives and character. Some sniff the spiritual air and know they are dying. Others, who want to hear the message, it is the cologne of life.

Aromas are such a powerful element that you cannot see what creates it but know what it is. And, you cannot ignore it. It captures you.

Such is Christian influence. It must be sensed and noticed.

Clay

The fourth image of influence comes from a different kind of passage. Moses is explaining to a new generation the ways of God and how to live in a new world. Some of that is training children. Here is what he says:

Deuteronomy 6:6–9 NIV

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

He speaks of “impressing” the commandments on the hearts of children. It is the Hebrew word for pressing a stylus into wet clay to make an impression. It is how they wrote. They would press the letters in the clay while went and, when it dried, the permanent record remained.

These verses speak of parental influences but also have broader application.

A parent cannot influence their children if they are not with them. The image of Moses is presence when walking or waking up or sitting with children at a dinner table. And it happens all the time, in those routine times of life.

We tend to “pick up” traits from our parents. We have their vocabularies, their habits. If you want a child to go to Bible class, don’t send him. Take him with you when you go. That’s how the habit is born. It is seen in someone else.

So we, as Christians, make impressions on the world we meet by how we live. That’s influence.

These four pictures, while simple, have deep and lasting implications.

The Implications

What do these four pictures tell us about influence?

Influence interacts with surroundings and changes them by their contact.

Think of salt. It works into the flesh of the meat to stop decay. Light invades the darkness and drives it away. Aroma wafts through the air and triggers memories, either good or bad.

If there is no interaction, no influence occurs.

Influence demands proximity.

Because it interacts, it has to be close. We have to rub shoulders with those we want to influence.

Think about some of the things we see in the New Testament.

In Acts 8, we find a man, a treasurer of Candace, queen of Ethiopia. He appears to be a convert to Judaism making his way back to his African home after Passover. He has a scroll unrolled on the chariot that rumbles slowly through the Negev. He has a Bible but as we know, the Bible raises as many questions as it answers. And he was puzzled.

God could have done many things. Angels could have appeared. A vision could beam from the skies. But that is not what God did. He had a messenger named Philip and he sends a man to the nobleman. The Ethiopian needed a person, a person to explain and a person to demonstrate.

1 Timothy 4:12 NIV

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

Paul had written this letter. Why couldn’t they just read it to know? Because people need an example, someone to see and physically interpret the Christian life. That’s why Paul tells his young, timid, intimidated friend, “set an example for them.” He could teach more through his life than his word. In fact, the truth of the word can be destroyed by inconsistency of the life.

We live in the age of the internet where I fear we are expecting it to carry all the freight. We want a website, podcast, or blog to teach. Yet, people need someone they know to show them the way.

Influence is inescapable

Just as the aroma assaults the senses or the light penetrates the darkness, we all influence in some way.

I like the commercial that used to run of showing someone doing a small good deed to another. Someone noticed and did another good deed to another, and on and on.

We have influence. That’s the nature of human life. It’s not whether but what kind. Don’t you know people you want nothing to do with? They have influenced you but negatively. It is the same with the person whose only connection is with a hypocrite. That’s their image. It’s not the one we want but the one they get.

Every day and every moment we live we influence. It was captured well by Edgar Guest.

This I think as I go my way: What can matter the words I say, And what can matter the false or true Of any deed I am moved to do?

This I think as I go along: What can matter my right or wrong? Whichever path I may choose to take, What possible difference can it make?

This I think as I go to town: What can matter my smile or frown? Can any one's destiny altered be For better or worse because of me?

And something whispers; 'Another may be sadly deceived By the words you say. And another, believing and trusting you, May be led astray by the things you do.'

'For much that never you'll see or know Will mark your days as you come and go. And in countless lives that you'll never learn The best and the worst of you will return.'

Conclusion

God changed us through the power of influence. Jesus came to earth and his actions and life altered the trajectory of history and of our lives. But then, that great work of the Master was compounded by others.

The teacher who taught us.

The friend that put their arm around us when discouraged.

The church member who was faithful when we faltered.

All change us, the nameless and the famous. They shape us. The truth is our souls are painted with the hues of many lives who have left their color on us.

So then, God expects, no demands, we use what use our influence with others to raise others up.

Perhaps you have seen a little contraption that is formally called Newton’s Cradle. It is a series of balls suspended by strings. When one swings, its energy is transmitted through one and then another and then another. No one but God knows how the first interaction we have with others turns out.

As we will see through this series, this influence depends on three things.

Who we are.

Our character and faith are like ash from a fireplace. It smudges on the lives of others. Influence is determined as much by our character as their hearts. So we need to check who we are.

Who We Meet

The second characteristic on influence is you must be around someone to influence them. How do we leverage our relationships in the best possible way for the kingdom?

How Are We Different?

The final one is about direction. The only way we can influence for God is to be different and distinct. Salt is different than decay.Light is different than darkness. Our lifestyles will speak so loudly they may drown out the sermons we want people to hear.

Influence is so important because it has a bramble component. It ensnares a life and doesn’t let it go.

Ray Charles knew that.

Charles was a singer who was blinded as a child. He struggled with racism and drug problems. But he overcame both.

One of his hit songs was the song Georgia on My Mind. In 1961, the state of Georgia had banned him from performing in the state. Now, almost two decades later, they wanted to make amends. Charles, his wife Bea, and his boys were invited to the rostrum.

Julian Bond, one of the first African American state senators, took the podium in the Georgia State Assembly filled with both representatives and spectators. He began:

"Today we are here to right a wrong that was done to one of our native sons nearly 20 years ago. In 1961 Ray Charles was banned from performing in the state of Georgia because he refused to play before a segregated audience. Thankfully we've come a long way since then."

As the senator speaks, camera flashbulbs pop. Ray faces the floor wearing his signature sunglasses. A look of humility is detected on his countenance. His wife stands proudly at his side as the senator continues.

"Some of us have fought for equality through the political process, but Ray Charles changed American culture by touching people's hearts. So on this day, March 7, 1979, we, the duly elected representatives of the state of Georgia, not only proclaim "Georgia on My Mind" our official state song, we also offer Mr. Ray Charles a public apology and welcome him back home."

The crowd erupted in applause. Bea leaned over to her husband and whispered,

"If only your mama was here."

Ray, thinking of his mother's continuing influence on his life long after her premature death, answered, "She's here. She never left."

May it be said of us as we show the life of Christ to others that “we are here” even when we are gone.