Influence or Influenza

What do you mean?

If you were to travel say 30 years ago, things that were made from Japan, Germany, USA, Australia, Italy and many of these western countries, you would believe that you would be getting top quality products. From, electronic products to mechanical and motorised products, you would have had to pay a fair sum of money to purchase these items or products.

However, if you were to compare these products with things that were made in India, Vietnam, China or South Korea, what would your comparison be with those products from Japan, Germany, USA, Australia or other European country?

You would have taken the position and view that these products would be flimsy and easily breakable. Some might see these products are knock offs or copy cats and cheap imitations.

I remember going to Indonesia, and some of you might remember going to the street markets where they were selling these fake Rolex watches in the streets of Jakarta and I know some of us here would have purchased one of these knock offs just for laughs. (***Even the knock off stuff people would buy***)

I remember having a TMNT Donatello back in 1990, and my parents had brought it from some shop in Cabramatta. Anyway, I was excited with it that I showed it off to my friends it was an incredible time to be a live. But, when I looked at K-Mart catalogue I noticed differences between an official TMNT Donatello and my one. I was disappointed because I felt ripped off. Now, I am not saying my parents were cheap or purchased things that were cheap, what would they know about TMNT toys.

Now, the thing is, most of these companies that produce these cheap products are looking for easy money and using the reputation of a known company to brand their products. Unfortunately, what some of these companies don’t realise is that they affect the image of their country, as a result, many people would look to these products from these countries and consider them as low quality and cheap knock offs.

Now, fast forward to 2021, and look at the things you have in your pockets, keys to your car, your phone, these other electronic items in the church, your clothes. Where are they all made from? Now you can think that products that come from those countries are still inferior and cheap. That has all changed because nearly all of the products that you own would have come from these countries and not only that they are top quality. As long as the well known company oversees the production or made stringent changes to their production.

For example, Hyundai, when they brought their cars into the Australian market from South Korea, it was affordable, however the name wasn’t well known or prestigious when compared to their Japanese counterparts. But now, Hyundai cars are considered to be some of the best cars to match that of their Japanese counterparts.

China is also making a name for itself, what was once European cars have been brought by Chinese motor companies have been making a name for themselves here in Australia. MG and LDV are some of the brands that were once European but now brought out by Chinese companies and produce affordable working class quality vehicles.

For electronics, both South Korea and China are producing some of the best TVs and phones that are on the market. From Samsung, to Xiaomi and etc. It shows that if these companies really put their heart and soul into their products they would do well. Not only that, the reputation of their country and people also increases.

But I am not here to talk about worldly goods, as Jesus said, “…where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal”. (Matthew 6:19)

So, what do you mean?

What I do want to talk about is its influence when it comes to purchasing these items. If you had the choice to buy a 2020 Sony OLED TV compared to a 2022 Chimi LED TV which would you buy if they were at the same price and had the same features?

I would suspect that the Sony band name would have influenced you, correct? Even if you were to buy the Chimi, there is that thought at the back of your head saying did you get a bargain or did you get a lemon?

That’s just how it is, when it comes to name brands, and that is how it is when it comes down to Christians. Are we an influence or an influenza?

Did you mean this?

Hang on Fabian, one is based on the effect or impact to sway someone's decision and the other is a disease or sickness. How are these two words related?

Well, let me put it simply, as Christians, in our day to day interaction with the world, how do we influence people to Jesus? Or, are we a disease causing, a knock off, creating a bad name not only to Jesus but to the kingdom of God? Remember how knock offs destroys the reputation of the country their made from. Are you that disease that spreads knock offs and damages the reputation of God’s kingdom?

Now, God doesn’t need your reputation for bring people to His kingdom as He has many other people that can do His work. However, we can be a hindrance to our Master’s work, and lead people away from Him.

I know for many of us, some of us have seen the movie the Matrix, there is a scene when agent Smith is interrogating Morpheus and shares to him how he tried to classify humans whether they were mammals. The agent believed that mammals or any other species of animals would support the ecosystem so that it can thrive. Whereas, humans don’t, yet we multiply and use up the resources and then move and multiply and use up the resources and considers that this behaviour resembles a virus.

Thinking back at this, the Lord did tell us to multiply, but the behaviour that was mentioned wasn’t what God intended and is a result of sin. This is what sin does, occupies once place and destroys and goes to another and destroys that. This behaviour is a result of sin and this is the disease, the influenza that causes harm to God’s chosen people.

So, are an influence or an influenza? This is a question that we should think deeply in all that we do. How can we become the influence that will bring change for the good.

Biblical examples

The best place where we can see this in action is in the book of Job.

Job’s tormentors

After losing almost everything, his three friends come to him to comfort him, well I am not sure if they are good friends,or friends at all, because they come to Job, give him that time to heal a bit and allow Job to share his grief and pain. His friends, instead of consoling him, they accuse him and bring him down.

Job reproaches his friends in chapter 16:

Job 16:1–5 NLT

1 Then Job spoke again: 2 “I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! 3 Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking? 4 I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you. 5 But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief.

In chapter 19, Job also says this about his friends:

Job 19:2–5 NLT

2 “How long will you torture me? How long will you try to crush me with your words? 3 You have already insulted me ten times. You should be ashamed of treating me so badly. 4 Even if I have sinned, that is my concern, not yours. 5 You think you’re better than I am, using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.

So with friends like these, who needs enemies, but that’s just it, how many of us ever experienced a group of friends like this? Or have you ever considered yourself to be like one of these friends?

How many of us uplift others or exalt ourselves when we have grieving friends? How many of us are an influencer or an influenza?

I heard a story, of a woman who had just received news that she has cancer, this woman was in shock and was saddened with the news. When she shared her situation online, she received some helpful and encouraging messages, but the sad part was that she also received discouraging and distressing messages from others.

“This cancer is a result of your lifestyle, you should be healthier and make changes to your diet!”

“You should try a strict vegetarian diet, it may help you.”

The sad part is that these are Adventists, Christians who sound more like Job’s friends and bring people down, suck out the life out of people rather than lead people to Jesus.

I know we as Seventh-day Adventists have an important health message to share to all the world, but we must uplift Jesus first and bring the soul to them. It is God alone who will lead them to the health message. It’s interesting as well, that some Seventh-day Adventists would like to play the doctor to solve someone’s sickness rather than lead people Jesus.

I remember when I had the flu, and my fellow Christians would tell me to cut onions and try the flu bomb and etc. but never I heard them say I will pray for you or give me any comforting words of encouragement. It’s always the solution rather than the influence to lead me to Jesus.

King Hezekiah’s mistake

Another biblical example is from king Hezekiah, king of Judah. King Hezekiah had shown himself to be faithful to the Lord when king Sennacherib of Assyria threatened Judah and blasphemed against the God of Judah. Through king Hezekiah’s faithfulness, humility and trust in the Lord, God saved Judah from Sennacherib.

In 2 Kings 20, we find the story of Hezekiah, sick to the point of death and Isaiah comes to tell the king to set his affairs in order for he is about to die. The king however, turns his face to the wall and prays to the Lord and weeps bitterly. Isaiah does a U-turn and returns to Hezekiah telling him that the Lord has heard his prayers and will save him from his sickness after 3 days, God will also add 15 more years to his life.

Now, you would think that this would make you very grateful to the Lord that you would want to tell many people about this act of mercy and miracle that has happened to your life.

2 Kings 20:12–13 NLT

12 Soon after this, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah his best wishes and a gift, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been very sick. 13 Hezekiah received the Babylonian envoys and showed them everything in his treasure-houses—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the aromatic oils. He also took them to see his armory and showed them everything in his royal treasuries! There was nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

Mistake number one, Hezekiah didn’t give God the credit for his health, of all the things that Hezekiah shared was about his treasures and material things. That envoy was sent on behalf of the king of Babylon to wish good health, but the things that Hezekiah shared will later on be in the hands of the Babylonians some years later.

2 Kings 20:14–19 NLT

14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men want? Where were they from?” Hezekiah replied, “They came from the distant land of Babylon.” 15 “What did they see in your palace?” Isaiah asked. “They saw everything,” Hezekiah replied. “I showed them everything I own—all my royal treasuries.” 16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the Lord: 17 The time is coming when everything in your palace—all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 18 Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king.” 19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “This message you have given me from the Lord is good.” For the king was thinking, “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.”

Now Hezekiah should have known better, the temple of God, king Solomon’s temple was right there and Hezekiah could see it, God was watching and he should have known it, but instead he gave credit to the materials that he collected rather than give credit to the Lord of Hosts.

The same can be said about Job’s friends, rather than comfort and uplift, the tormented and trampled Job and made him suffer in his circumstances. Rather than encourage and support a friend in need.

All these people (Job’s friends and Hezekiah), God spoke with, so they have a personal relationship they have with God, their, for lack of a better word, Christians, followers of God and His representatives. Yet, they were the influenzas, they carried the disease of pride, the disease of sin.

The disease of sin - the greatest killer!

I’ve been reading about the story of the first colonists that arrived in America, how they brought disease and did vile things to the native Americans. It is said that the disease that they brought into the New World caused the death of 2/3 of the Native American population. Villages that once brimmed with life all gone due to small pox and other diseases.

Sin is a disease, this is the greatest killer of all time, it has caused the death of billions throughout time and do you not know that we are carriers of it and we can easily infect others.

Some of us don’t realise the potential danger that we can inflict on others, like the many people bringing in various prohibited items to the Australian borders what are dangerous goods are we bringing to people’s lives that we don’t know of. The unknowing Christian knock-offs.

The greatest cure is Jesus!

The greatest cure of this deadly disease is God alone through Jesus Christ, and His prescription is found in His Word!

1 Peter 1:21–23 NLT

21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. 22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. 23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.

According to this verse, how are our sins cleansed? By obeying His truth, and by obeying His truth the result is showing sincere deep love towards each other. Has that happened yet with you? A deep sincere love towards your brother and sister? A love that is with all your heart? This can only be achieved in the eternal living word of God.

Peter goes on to say that we are to be distinct form the world, separated and sanctified.

1 Peter 2:9 NKJV

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

The life that we should be living is a life that is founded in truth and that is Jesus and nothing more anything else that doesn’t uplift the soul to Jesus is a knock-off, a fake Christian for they would rather uplift themselves (with their truth and their ways) rather than the ways of faith in Him.

Are we real or not?

Such people bring shame to God’s church, when the counsels of men and prioritised by the Word of God and they call themselves Christian they bring the reputation of the church with them, they bring you and me with them, they bring Jesus Christ with them and when things go awry. Then everyone and everything they represent becomes a lie to the victim and we have failed and that failure doesn’t affect that one individual, no, it spreads like the disease it is and others will know of such failures.

The sad and unfortunate fact is that I have deceived many by becoming this fake Christian, this knock-off. On the one hand I talk about Jesus but on the other hand I do the opposite and I will bare these responsibilities and loses with me for the rest of my life. I am not perfect and I know I am a failure.

This is why we need the truth, this is why I need to abide in the truth, God’s truth. I am careful and conscious in what I say and share, because it is easy to falter, but if I set and keep my eyes on Jesus then I shouldn’t falter. I become an influencer rather than an influenza.

1 Peter 2:11–12 NLT

11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

Everyone is watching!

The world is watching us, they have been watching since the beginning. They have their judgements and biases, the sad fact is that people always remembers the bad things and never the good.

The reason to this is because when something bad happens it is easy for people to hold a grudge and remember it, it is because it negatively affected and that memory gets stored in their emotional tanks that it is easy to bring up. This is why prejudice and discrimination and many other negative feels come about when that certain situation comes back up, it is easy for them to bring it back out.

Why isn’t the good not so easy to remember? Because, we’re selfish human beings, we always expect good to come to us and when it does, we are thankful of it and we brush it off easily, because we easily expect it. The only time we can remember good things that have happened is when it really affected us and we store that in our emotional bank, and that is easy for us to take right out because it was something that was good that affected us.

That’s why they are happy to accuse Christians for the bad, rather than look at the good we’ve done. I mean they can make fun of Jesus but neglect all the good that He has shown. Such is the way of the world, until we influence them through what we do, it is up to us to prove them wrong. We can be the influencers that will steer them to see Him whom we worship.

Hebrews 12:1–2 NLT

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Be the example that uplifts Jesus, be the influencer that promotes faith, be the example that will lead people to salvation.

Will you influence or will you be the disease?