Being a Person of Influence

There are two scripture readings this morning.

The first one is found in the book of Philippians, chapter 4, verses 8 and 9.

Philippians 4:8

Philippians chapter 4, verses 8 and 9.

Philippians 4:8

And if you don't have a Bible with you, there should be one located in front of you, there in that little shelf pocket, and you can turn to page 982.

Philippians chapter 4, verses 8 and 9.

Philippians 4:8

Paul writes, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

And now if you would turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 11 through 16.

1 Timothy 4:11–16

And again, if you're using the Bible there, it's on page 992, just 10 pages ahead.

Verses uh 15 and 16.

Paul writes to his young protege, Timothy, practice these things, immerse yourselves in them so that all may see your progress.

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.

Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Most of life is influence.

Most of our lives, people are trying to influence us, and we are trying to influence them.

Think about it, even when you turn on the television, you turn on the TV, and there are advertisements.

They spend millions of dollars on advertising, billions of dollars literally every year, trying to influence you.

They're trying to convince you that you need something you didn't even know existed and that you now want to buy.

They're trying to persuade you.

They're trying to change your behavior.

They're trying to get your money.

But they are trying to influence you.

In fact, if you think about a lot of the conversations you carry, you talk about sports.

I was in a conversation yesterday, and we're kind of turned to sports, and you begin to talk about the relative strengths and merits of this team or that team and this player and that player, uh, who you hope will win and lose.

And in some small way, you're trying to influence people to your point of view for them to see things uh the way you do.

We talk to others about Christ.

We want them to see the reality of the gospel.

We want them to understand who Jesus is, of what he's done on the cross.

We try to live our lives in such a way that they see our good works and they glorify our Father who's in heaven.

Most of life is influence.

Most of ministry is influence.

I can't convert anyone.

You can't convert anyone.

You can live your lives before a watching world, you can share the truth of the gospel clearly in a way that people understand, but you don't have the ability to change their hearts.

But God can use you to influence them.

More than that, even when a person comes to Christ, we have a special place in their lives that as we pour into them, as we share our lives and as we share the gospel with them and continue to encourage them to walk with the Lord, we have the great ability to influence those around us.

In fact, yesterday I shared with some of the men my testimony, and really what it was was a testimony of God's faithfulness in those people whom God had placed around me that were an influence in my life.

In fact, even in speaking, uh much of it is about influence.

And uh one of the early writings in philosophy about speaking was Aristotle, and he talked about three essential elements in rhetoric or speech that were necessary in order to influence.

And he said, first of all, it's the words we use.

He used the Greek word logos.

He said, it's the words we use, and they uh have the ability to influence.

And he said, more than that, it's also the emotion behind it.

Not just my emotion, but how I can share things in a way that will stir your emotion.

But even more than that, he gave a third element in this uh what was necessary and effective rhetoric, and he said it was uh the character of the one who's speaking, the ethos.

So he said the word, the logos, the emotions, and then the character of the one who is speaking.

And as we study what it means to be a person of influence, I want us to see that really it is both what we say and who we are.

Christianity is both caught and taught.

And as we uh are here this day on Mother's Day, and I was thinking the reason that uh my mind moved towards talking about influence is because I thought uh in the family, how influential mothers are.

Typically, uh the fathers go to work and uh are gone most of the day, and especially in those younger years, uh, if the mother is able to stay home, she has an unusual influence on the life of the child.

The child begins to watch and to learn, to mimic, to imitate.

And that's true, of course, of course, with both parents.

Uh that we have an opportunity to influence our children.

I'm just amazed as my my kids are growing older, uh, some of the things they do.

And sometimes I'm embarrassed with some of the things they do, but I look at them and I think, that's me.

And I never sat down and taught them how to do that.

I never gave them a lesson in this attitude or this behavior or this reaction or this response.

And yet, by this power of transference, they are influenced by the example that I set.

And that's how it is in the Christian life.

Teaching is central, teaching is vital to the Christian life, but it is both what we say and how we live.

It is both taught and caught.

And teaching, apart from a life lived out, uh, rings hollow.

It doesn't carry the weight that it ought to or that it could.

And this morning, as we talk about influence and as we think about it in our own lives, I want to remind us that we live our lives before a watching world.

That every day when we wake up, um there are people around us.

Perhaps if we have a family, there's a family around us, or if we're married, uh, that we have our family, if we're single, the moment we step out of our apartment or our house, we begin to interact with other people, and we begin to influence them.

And so each one of us lives our life before a watching world.

And we have influence.

So on Mother's Day, I highlight the fact that uh mothers have uh unusual influence on the life of their children, but I don't want anyone to be let off the hook.

And so I want to remind us that we all live lives of influence, whether we realize it or not.

And so this morning I want to answer three questions concerning influence and trace this through the pages of the New Testament.

So, three questions I want to answer this morning.

First of all, I want to answer the question: are you a person of influence?

Is that what God's called you to to be a person of influence?

Secondly, are you a person who is influenced?

And then thirdly, lastly, how do we maximize, how do you maximize your influence?

And so, first question I want to answer is, are you a person of influence?

And as I've already alluded to in my introduction, you can't help but influence the people around you.

We were created to influence those around us.

God created us for community.

When he created Adam, the first time he said something wasn't good, he said it's not good for man to be alone.

We were created for relationship, we were created for community.

And we see that throughout the pages of the Old Testament, we see that in the pages of the New Testament.

God has not called us to a life of isolation, he's called us to a life of interaction with other people.

So God created us for community, and within that community, we influence those around us.

And I was trying to think of different ways we influence people, and I thought of at least nine ways, and I'm sure you could come up with others to add to this list.

But ways we influence those around us.

We influence others by our words.

The things that we say, whether positive or negative, we influence people by the words that we say.

The things that we say give life or death.

They either hurt or they heal.

So our words influence others.

Our attitudes influence others.

You see that particularly in children, but it's not only in children.

The attitude that we have, it rubs off on those around us.

And so our attitude influences others, our beliefs.

The things that we believe as we live them out, the things we truly believe, not just the things we say and profess, but what we pattern our life after influences those around us.

Related to that, our behavior does.

The actions we do, the even the mannerisms that we have, uh we can see it in our children, we see it in others, you see it in close friends, that they begin to uh act alike, they begin to make the same choices, and so their behaviors begin to reflect one another.

We influence others in our priorities.

The things that are priorities to us when we decide what we're going to do, and that has an influence on others.

We do it individually, we do it corporately.

Those things that we make a high priority eventually become high priorities in the lives of others.

The direction of our lives are influenced, that uh people come along with us, and and we bring them along, and the direction of our lives influences others.

Another one I thought of was even speed, and let me explain that.

Uh not just how uh what we do, uh, but the speed in which we do it.

If if something is important to us, if something is a priority to us, if there is something that we are interested in, we're quick to do it.

We put it to the top of the list and we're quick to discharge.

If it's something that uh we say is a priority, or maybe even in our hearts we believe it is, um, but we we aren't quick to act on it, that's going to influence people.

They're gonna see uh the pace of our lives and the direction of our lives, the interest of our lives, the behaviors of our lives, the priorities of our lives, and how quickly we go about doing what we say is important.

And then related to that, our passion.

Our passion.

If I'm passionate about the gospel, and I'm passionate about winning the lost, and I'm passionate about going out to share the gospel with others, those people around me are going to see that and believe, be influenced by it.

Uh the people who are passionate, you see this with kids.

I watch children, and it's amazing that uh probably 99 times out of a hundred, those kids, their favorite sports teams happen to be the same ones as their parents.

How did that happen?

It was the passion of watching their parents root for one team and not another, or trash talk one team and hold up another, and so the passions that we have are translated.

And then the destination, where we're going.

But not only can't you help be a person of influence, but you should intentionally try.

And I want us to trace this through the scripture.

So I'm gonna have you turn to a number of passages and we'll just move forward in them.

Uh, start in 1 Corinthians chapter 4.

1 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

I just want you to see this recurring theme of that we're we ought to intentionally place ourselves in a position of influence to be a model and example of those around us.

That not only are we people of influence, but that we ought to intentionally try to be.

Look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16.

1 Corinthians 4:16

1 Corinthians 4, 16, he says, I urge you then, be imitators of me.

So Paul holds himself up as an example to influence them, and he says, Look at my life.

Uh I'm going, I am modeling the Christian life before you.

Be imitators of me.

In fact, if you turn to chapter 11, verse 1, he says uh the exact same thing.

In chapter 11, verse 1 of 1 Corinthians, he says, Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.

And so the Apostle Paul holds himself up and he says, Inasmuch as I am following Christ, as you read God's word and you see who Christ is and whose Christ has called us to be, as you look at my life and you see Christ's life lived out in me, imitate my behavior, be like me.

Philippians chapter 3, verse 17.

Philippians 3:17

Philippians 3, 17.

He says to the Philippians, brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

So he's telling them to intentionally look at and follow, mimic, uh pattern your life after the examples that are set before you.

And he's setting himself up as an example.

In fact, if we look at the passage we read earlier in chapter 4 of Philippians, just uh look a little bit down.

In verse 9 of Philippians chapter 4, he says, What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

He says, the things that I have taught, the things that you have received, the message that you heard, and the life that you watched.

Put these things into practice.

Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3.

2 Thessalonians 3 · chapter mention

And in verse 7, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 7.

2 Thessalonians 3:7

He says this.

Talking to them about the way they're living and their work ethic and their attitude, he says, For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you.

So he he points out his pattern of his life and he puts himself up as an example and he says, For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us.

Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4.

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

Chapter 4, verse 12.

He's talking to his young protege now, Timothy.

This is earlier in the uh than the passage that we read at the beginning of the service.

And in verse 12 of 1 Timothy 4, he says, Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

He says, set yourself up, intentionally be an example so that people might see you and be influenced by the life that you live.

In the words that you say, in how you live your life, in the love that you have for other people, in your faith towards God, in the purity of your life, set yourself as an example, knowing that you will influence others by it.

Turn to Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

In verse 7.

Titus chapter 2, and again, here uh Paul is teaching different, is challenging different groups of people and how they ought to live and influence others.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

And in Titus chapter 2, verse 7, he says, Show yourselves in all respects to be a model of good works.

Titus 2:7

And in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned.

So we see here, and we're going to see this in a little bit, he talks about both their life and their and the teaching, both and how they live.

He says, To them, show yourselves in all respects to be a model of good works.

Hebrews chapter 13, I know I'm belaboring the point, but I want you to see this traced out through the New Testament.

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 13, verse 7.

Hebrews 13:7

I only have one more verse after this.

Hebrews chapter 13, verse 7.

Hebrews 13:7

And this is to the congregation talking to uh to them in verse 7.

He says, Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God.

Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

And so what he's saying, he said, Remember those who spoke the word of God to you, remember those who were the elders, the leaders, the teachers, consider the outcome of their way of lives, and particularly those who've gone before us, those who were of the previous generation, and see how they lived their lives, and see that they finished well.

And then he says, Imitate their faith.

They lived lives of examples to be followed.

1 Peter chapter 3, or excuse me, chapter 5, verse 3.

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

1 Peter chapter 5, verse 3.

1 Peter 5:3

Now, Peter here is talking to the elders of the church.

We see that in verse 1.

So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder, and then he gives a list of characteristics that ought to be in all of the leaders who are elders, and in verse 3, he talks about their attitude and leadership.

He says, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

So over and over again, the New Testament reminds us that we ought to be examples.

And I would submit to you that you can't help being a person of influence.

That if you interact with other people, whether you recognize it or not, in big or small ways, you are influencing those who are around you.

The only question is in what ways are we influencing them?

Are we influencing them for good or for evil?

Are we influencing them to be passionate about Christ or are we interested, are we influencing them in other directions?

So we've looked through the pages of the epistles and we've seen that we've answered the question, are you a person of influence?

The answer to that is yes.

But let me turn the question around and ask a second question and try to answer it.

And the second question is this: Are you a person who is influenced?

I want us to think about it from the other end.

We know that we influence others.

We see that in the pages of Scripture.

We're challenged to influence others, but do others influence us?

And I want to submit to you that others influence us more than we realize.

When I was a youth pastor, one of the things that we always talked about was peer pressure.

Middle school and high school and peer pressure.

We talked about this and how the friends influence the students and we would challenge the students.

But I want to share with you this reality.

It never stops happening.

For the rest of our lives, we will be influenced by the people who are around us.

It never changes.

There's never a point when we come to in our lives where we say we're no longer influenced by those who are in close relationship to us.

Not only are we people of influence, but we are highly influenced by those who are around us.

When I was a youth pastor, I tell the students over and over again, show me your friends, and I'll show you who you are or who you are going to be.

So that you could look at the the group of people that are closest to you, and though they have either already influenced you, or they're in the process of influencing you and shaping you in many ways that you don't even realize.

And I can see who you're becoming by who you're with.

And it doesn't change as adults.

If we associate with people who grumble and complain, who always find what's wrong in life and in marriage and with their children and with the church and everything else, we will be people who complain.

If we associate with people who are angry, we will be angry.

If we associate with people who are gossips, everyone will know your life.

The fact is, is we become like those we associate with.

In fact, the Bible tells us this in a number of different ways.

And let me give you six challenges here from the Bible about being influenced.

We're influenced by our friends.

The Bible says this in 1 Corinthians 15, 33.

Do not be deceived.

Bad company corrupts good morals.

He says, don't kid yourselves.

And he wasn't writing this just to high school students and middle school students.

He was writing this to the church.

He says, do not be deceived.

Bad company corrupts good morals.

We're influenced in positive ways, such as in wisdom.

Proverbs 13, 20 says, Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise.

And so if you want to be a person of wisdom, associate with people who demonstrate consistent wisdom in the choices that they make in life.

That same verse reminds us, though, that we're also influenced in negative ways, in foolishness, for example.

In the second half of that verse, it says, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.

Fourthly, our attitudes can be influenced by those around us.

And I mentioned anger already and representative of different attitudes.

And in Proverbs 22, 24, and 25, it says this: Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man lest you learn his ways and entangle yourselves in a snare.

We're influenced in our learning.

The people that we sit under influence our thoughts and our convictions and our priorities.

And eventually we'll become like them.

That's what Jesus said in Luke 6, 40.

A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher.

And even in negative ways, ultimately the direction and destinies of our life.

Jesus confronted the Pharisees about that.

And he told the Pharisees, he said, to the people, he said, let them alone, let the Pharisees alone.

They are blind guides.

And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.

So we can't kid ourselves and think we're not influenced by others, that in some way we're immune from the influence of others, that we've reached a level of maturity, a level of spiritual sophistication, so that we're no longer influenced by those around us.

We need to recognize we're influenced in more ways than we will ever realize.

In 1 Corinthians 10, 11, it reminds us of the Old Testament.

It says, now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction.

And so we can look at the examples in the Old Testament.

We can learn from them.

And in verse 12 of that same passage, he says, Take heed, pay attention, you who think you stand, lest you fall.

Recently I was reading in the book of Numbers, and I was reminded of the 12 spies when they were sent out to spy out the promised land.

And you remember what happened there.

They went out to spy the promised land.

They come back to give a report.

And Caleb and Joshua are confident that by God's power they will take over the land.

But there were 10 of the 12 spies who came back with a negative report.

And they influenced the people away from trusting in God.

And because they didn't believe the report of Caleb and Joshua, because they believed and were influenced by the report of the ten spies, they ended up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

And so as we think about influence in our lives, we realize, first of all, we've answered the question, are you a person of influence?

The answer to that is yes.

You can't help but influencing others.

The second question, are you a person who is influenced?

And again, we're reminded that the answer is yes.

I want to close with this final question.

How do you maximize your influence?

Look at 1 Timothy again, chapter 4.

And I want to conclude with this verse.

1 Timothy chapter 4, look at verse 16.

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

The question is, how do you maximize your influence?

Well, 1 Timothy 4.16 tells us how we maximize our influence.

He says this keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.

Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourselves and your hearers.

Both yourself and your hearers.

There are two charges here that Paul gives Timothy at the close of this chapter.

And the results of this will affect not only Timothy, but also those who are around him.

And so there are two charges that Paul says here.

Keep a close watch on yourself first.

And then he says, keep a close watch on the teaching or the doctrine, some translations have.

So let's look at this first charge.

Keep a close watch on yourself.

How do we keep a close watch on ourselves?

I think that's what Pastor Scott has been talking about the last few weeks.

About knowing our hearts, about about guarding our hearts, about knowing who we are in the interior of our lives, knowing our central problem.

Our central problem is sin.

The Bible tells us that we're in a battle with indwelling sin that still resides within us.

And so we need to know the depths of our depravity.

We need to know what we struggle with and what we fight against.

We need to know our central problem.

We need to know the snares of the devil, and that's what Luke Hershey reminded us a few weeks ago.

That we have an enemy that works with our temptations, with our weaknesses, and we must not be ignorant of his schemes.

And we must know the lures of the world.

We drink in the message of the world and adopt its mindset so often without even recognizing it.

So we need to know our central problem with sin.

We need to know the snares of the devil.

We need to know the lure of the world.

And we need to know the remedy for that, and that is the gospel.

The Puritans would say, preach the gospel to yourselves every day.

And we do so because we recognize our weakness.

Christian maturity is not how strong we become.

Christian maturity is how quickly do you run to Jesus?

How quickly do you run to Jesus?

That's what Christian maturity is, is recognizing that we don't have the resources within ourselves to fight the flesh, to fight the devil, to fight the world.

In and of ourselves, we will lose, but we have one who gives the victory.

And so how quickly do we run to Jesus?

We're reminded of our need to repent of our sins, to turn to Christ in faith, and to seek grace and strength in our time of trial.

And so we keep a close watch on ourselves by knowing the contours of our heart, knowing our tendencies towards temptation, knowing our weaknesses and our need for grace.

And then the second charge, the first charge to keep a close watch on your life, the second to keep a close watch on the teaching.

And if you're there in Timothy, look at the verse for a second.

He says, he doesn't say on your teaching.

Notice what he says here.

He doesn't say keep a close watch on your teaching.

Keep a close watch on what you're saying.

He says, keep a close watch on the teaching.

And what he's talking about is the body of truth that we have in the Bible, particularly as it centers in the person of Jesus Christ and the cross and the gospel.

And so what he's saying here is keep a close watch on this central reality of the person of Jesus and his work on your behalf.

And so if your teaching is not Christ-centered and cross-centered and gospel-centered, there is something wrong in your understanding because we're to keep a close watch on it.

And the central message, everything in the Bible points to Christ.

Everything in the Old Testament points to and leads up to the person of Christ.

Everything in the New Testament following the gospels points back to Christ.

Our lives are to be Christ-centered.

He is the center of our theology, of our doctrine.

In 1992, the presidential campaign, many of you might remember that.

It was uh Bill Clinton was running for president the first time, and uh early on in his campaign, it was in disarray.

And one of his advisors, James Carville, uh put four words where Bill Clinton could always see it.

And these four words were to remind him to stay focused on the central message of his campaign.

And you may remember what it was.

It was these four words, it's the economy, stupid.

And I never knew if he was telling Bill that or what, but if Bill was the stupid one or how that worked out, but but these four words were the central message which he was always to remember, it's the economy, stupid.

And so that sign was ever present so that he would never get off a message.

Whether you agree or disagree with his policies, clearly his strategy worked.

Well, for us, I would remind us it's the gospel, Christian.

You thought I was going to say something else.

It's the gospel, Christian.

And that, may that be emblazoned on our hearts and our minds, and that all we do, if we want to be people of influence, if we want to be people of impact, to be used by God to change those around us, whether it's a mother or a father or a student or a grandparent or a single person, how do we influence people around us by watching our life and the gospel and keeping that central in all things?

It's the gospel, Christian.

You are a person of influence.

And may your influence be Christ-centered, cross-centered, gospel-centered, and may you have an impact for generations.

Let's pray.

Father, as we are here this morning, reminded of what you have done in our lives.

That you have called us to yourself, and you have also called us to community, to the church, to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

And you have called us to go out into the world.

That we live our lives before a watching world, and you call us to be people of integrity to watch our lives, and you call us to be people of your word to share the gospel.

And may we remember that it is the gospel.

It is Christ in Him crucified, of what He did and who He is.

And may that ever be central in our thinking, may it ever be central in our lives.

And may it be what we are most passionate about.

We pray in Christ's name.

Amen.