The Impact of Christ's Love (Part 1)

I would think, that for all but a few people whether we realize it or not, we have some measure of desire for our lives to have a positive impact on others. And I hope that we also desire for other people to have a positive impact on us. We should desire both. We should hold ourselves to the high calling of positively impacting other people’s lives every day, and we should be seeking to be positively impacted by others every day.

I have been impacted by multitudes of people and still am. Besides God, my wife impacts my life the most because of the closeness of our relationship and the quantity of time we spend together. My father has been a huge influence in my life and still is. All of you individually, have an impact on my life. The many authors I read and many preachers and teachers I listen to each week, impact my life. It’s the same with you

We must obviously be careful and selective on who we allow to impact and influence our lives, but it’s happening virtually every minute of every day. And regardless of what you think, your life impacts and influences many others – which we also must be careful with. We must be careful that the impact we have is positive, helpful, encouraging, and above all that our lives are having a positive spiritual influence.

Obviously, there is One who impacts and influences our lives above all others.

Turn with me in your Bible to the Book of 2nd Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 5:11-16

Let’s pray.

Before we unpack the impact of Christ’s love on us, as believers, which we will get to next week, we will examine how that we can be assured that our impact on others is positive.

In one aspect or another, and at varying levels, all of us are leaders of some sort. Whether or not you accept this premise, people of some sort and of some number follow your lead to some extent. If you are a parent, you have a measure of influence and leadership in their lives even if they show no signs or outwardly resist. If you interact with people of any age on any measure of regularity, you are leading. So, the qualities of effective and impactful leadership touch each one of us. It would then be beneficial to grow and develop these qualities, which by the way, are biblical qualities.

Effective and impactful leaders have the following qualities, obviously some to a greater extent than others:

1. Focus – a clearly defined purpose and mission. The Apostle Paul wrote, “but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind, and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

If you are indeed a believer in Christ Jesus, this internal drive that was dominant in the Apostle Paul’s life, also resides within you even if it is faint or even somewhat dormant at the time. The Holy Spirit within all those who are genuine in their faith will lead and compel you toward this same goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

2. Internally motivated – you know that you cannot live your life waiting for external circumstances to be perfect. We may at times fall into the trap of expecting others to fall in line and take care of us, but we know that God has called us each to individual accountability to His Word. There are certain aspects of responsibility that we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ, but no one will answer for you but you, alone, so you have no other choice than to be internally motivated with the awesome help of the Holy Spirit.

3. Courageous – even if you are prone to giving up, you know that in the power of the Spirit you must take your stand. You know that there are issues that you must join Tom Petty and say, “I won’t back down, no, I won’t back down. You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won’t back down.” I could take you to verse after verse that charges us with the mandate to stand firm. And again, even we fail in this more often than not, the Spirit will keep leading us to this vital characteristic of courage.

4. Knowledge – you understand the importance of continuing to learn and grow. You could paste the pages of the Book of Proverbs on the wall and throw a dart, and your chances are good that you will hit a verse on growing in understanding and knowledge and wisdom. And while the other Books of the Bible may not be as prolific in such verses, you will find the same throughout the Scriptures.

5. Strength – you have been endowed with the strength of almighty God as you relinquish control and walk in the power of the Spirit. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” (Ephesians 6:10).

6. Optimism – when we understand and accept that God is sovereign, that He is in control, that His plans and purposes are being carried out by Him in His perfect order and timing, and that absolutely nothing happens without His knowledge and providence, you cannot help but eventually allow optimism to rule over you. “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

7. Enthusiasm – this relates to optimism but could be manifest as the outward expression of optimism. This is generating a contagious excitement about the life God has given, and excitement that you cannot hold inside and must share or you’ll burst. Like Jeremiah, the Word of God is like a fire shut up in your bones that must be released.

8. Risk-taker – but because of your growing relationship with our Lord, it’s not really a risk at all. The ministries and calling and leading of the Holy Spirit become welcome interruptions in your routines. You fully embrace that to whom much is given, much will be required, and you relish the opportunity to follow God with such passion.

9. Communicator – you grow in the ability to articulate the vision and mission and ministry that God has called you to. You know what God is doing in your life and you know how to express such to others.

10. Imaginative – you can let go of your self-made limitations and fears and be daring in that which God has called you to. You can confidently say to God, “where you go, I go.”

Now, some of you are resisting many if not all of these qualities being part of who you are, but they are all within you. They may be buried under the deception of Satan that he has been piling up in front of you, but these qualities are of the Holy Spirit, so they are part of you, if you are a born-again believer, saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

To be effective and impactful in all of these qualities requires biblical integrity. Without personal integrity, all of the aforementioned qualities will come across as superficial and phony. Integrity is the glue to binds all of these qualities together. Paul writes to the Philippians, “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15).

And why do we need these qualities? Why do we need to have a positive impact on others? The answers should be obvious, but let’s stay in the context of our passage.

2 Corinthians 5:11a

“Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men…” The fear of the Lord is a multi-faceted component of the believer’s life. It is a reverence, a respect, an internal compulsion to honor and be in awe of God, while also incorporating a trembling aspect of true fear over the utter realization of who God is. In context, it is knowing that all of our earthly works will be judged at the bema seat, which we looked at in detail last week. This has nothing to do with sin, because the sins of believers were forever judged at the cross, but there is a fear of disappointing Jesus in how much time we wasted and how many opportunities we purposely missed for kingdom impact.

But when we do indeed know the fear of the Lordand are properly responding to Him, we persuade men, or persuade other people. In the context of this passage, Paul is referring to persuading others to disregard the accusations and lies of the false disciples against him, and to believe what he has taught and preached from the beginning. It also refers to persuading those in the church at Corinth who were upset with Paul for changing his travel plans, if you recall that issue that we looked at in depth many months ago.

But we can apply this principle of persuading people to almost every area of life. When we are men and women of integrity, when we are displaying and developing the characteristics that we have already outlined, we will indeed be persuaders for the cause of Christ.

Now, be cautious here – do not fall for the falsehood that your life will be witness enough to persuade people. Yes, your life plays a vital role, but you cannot shirk your responsibility to open your mouth. A quote that has been used and abused through the years, is, “Preach the Gospel to every creature, and if necessary, use words.”

That’s a great sentiment, but as with virtually all of the other “bumper-sticker theology” quotes, it is woefully inadequate when held up in the light of Scripture. For this ill-begotten quote, the Apostle Paul has an undeniable objection.

Hold your place in 2 Corinthians and turn with in your Bible to the Book of Romans.

Romans 10:8-17

You hear me virtually every week quoting verse 9to repeat how the Bible defines salvation, but Paul goes beyond just teaching how to be saved and then teaches how we are responsible to be witnesses for Jesus. And being His witnesses, requires speaking!

Yes, it is essential that you live your life in the fear of the Lord, that you follow the mandates of the Bible in the power of the Holy Spirit, that you engage in the good works that were prepared for you before the foundation of the world, and that you manifest the grace of God in everything that you do to attract people to the Gospel message, but it must be spoken along with being lived out. You cannot let your actions alone speak for you – your actions have a limited vocabulary. Please eliminate the concept of being a silent witness for Christ from your consciousness!

2 Corinthians 5:11b

“…but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.” I know the language is not simple for us to grasp, but it is an incredible statement made by Paul that reveals the depth of his commitment to Christ and his confidence in Christ to carry him through to the end in all aspects of his life.

Get this – Paul is saying that his actions have already been judged by God. Yes, like everyone else, he will still stand before the bema seat judgment, but he is so filled with the Spirit of God that he is daily passing the test by fire, that we looked at last week, that he is accumulating gold, silver, and precious stones almost every minute of every day. When Paul writes that he has been made manifest to God, he is telling us that he is step-by-step and moment-by-moment following the Holy Spirit in all that he does, all that he says, and all that he writes. He is by no means suggesting that he is perfect and without sin, but he is modeling for us, as he teaches in Romans 6, that sin is no longer his master.

Do you get it? Do you see the depth of Paul’s consecration to Scripture and to his Lord and master Jesus Christ? And then if you do, do you understand that this can also be said of you if and when you surrender your will to His?

I am humbled and in awe of the magnitude of what is being said to us in this portion of a sentence. Scripture is beyond incredible! The Word of God in virtually every sentence, word, and syllable is like a multi-faceted and perfectly cut diamond that reveals new brilliance with every slight shift of vantage point to the light. I was dumb-founded when the Spirit revealed this truth to me in my studies yesterday, and I am still soaking it in and asking for the Spirit’s help to be like Paul in my journey to being like Christ.

This revelation adds greater depth to what we have already studied in chapter 4.

2 Corinthians 4:2; 10; 16

In various shades of meaning, Paul reveals the process of his outer man dying and decaying while his inner man is being created anew every day. In a part of Jason’s sermon from a few weeks ago, he mentioned how that as we allow the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life to take hold in our lives that it doesn’t just stagnate but sinks roots that grow deeper and manifest in our lives to greater levels if left unchecked and not rooted out and destroyed.

Paul is saying that the opposite is also true, and it is a glorious truth! As we submit and surrender our will to His more frequently and more fervently, this new direction of life, this new creation that we are, according to verse 17, that we will eventually dig out in the weeks to come, takes root and deepens and grows and manifests in everything we say, everything we do, and everything we influence and impact others with.

The qualities of optimism and enthusiasm that I mentioned earlier will be uncontainable in your life, if you can grasp and apply this amazing, incredible, almost unbelievable means of grace.

And then Paul goes on by hoping that this reality is not only manifest to God but is also manifest to the people in the church at Corinth. Paul is essentially suggesting that this should be recognizable to them, which is why Paul has to make sure that they know that he is not commending himself, in the next verse.

My, oh my, these verses are packed with truth! I fully intended for this section to be a two-week study and we barely got through one verse today. I even gave this sermon a title from verse 14, thinking that we would at least touch on it today, but now I’m not even sure that we will get there next week.

Beloved, this is gold, this the treasure of God’s Word when we try to milk it for all it’s worth, and as incredible as it may sound, we are still only scratching the surface of this truth. For if we unearthed all that is here, and if we allowed it to affect us as deeply as it deserves to be, we could not walk out of here today without falling at our Lord’s feet and desperately crying out for this to be manifest in our lives right here, right now, and forevermore.

Our world needs consecrated and committed believers. Our nation needs consecrated and committed believers. Our community needs consecrated and committed believers. Our families, our churches, our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends, and even our acquaintances need consecrated and committed believers.

This world is growing darker and sicker and more perverted and evil by the day – the time is now for us to surrender all to Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray.