Job had been struck down with disaster after disaster. He lost his wealth and his health; his children were killed and his wife, in her pain, had turned against him. He has been used by psychologists to illustrate the various stages of grief. At first he was uncommonly strong – “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” May we be as strong as this when our day comes.
But then some very unhelpful friends floated back into his life. They suggested that there must have been sin in Job’s life to warrant the backhand of God like this. Those words sent the good man into an emotional spiral, at the bottom of which he came to the point of accusing God of injustice.
That brings us to chapter 38 – “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.” Then came a number of rhetorical questions which highlighted Jehovah’s authority, power and justice. In the midst of His remonstrance, the Lord used the Bible’s only instance of the word “influence.” “Canst thou bind the sweet INFLUENCES of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?”
I have read that in Job’s part of the world Orion was the stellar constellation that first appeared during the fall, bringing with it the prospect of winter. On the other hand when people could see the Pleiades, they knew that winter was coming to an end and in a few weeks summer would arrive. Poetically speaking, Pleiades with its warming influence would melt the ice of Orion and spring would begin. But in reality, could a solar constellation have the ability to change the seasons? Of course not. And therein is our first lesson for this evening: influence may appear to have power, but in reality it doesn’t.
In a couple of books I have read recently, the relationships of influence and power or influence and testimony have come up. This evening I’d like to share my musings on those three subjects.
First, let’s define Influence, testimony and power.
In the Bible’s single reference to “influence,” we learn that while it may be real it is also passive. Can a cluster of stars, 445 light years from earth, change anything here on this planet? Of course not. It has no gravitational power over the earth; it doesn’t produce heat or light which causes plants to grow. It had no physical effect on Job or his friends. However, in those days when there was no earthly light pollution, and after a particularly hard, cold winter… When people looked to the horizon and could begin to recognize Pleiades’ arrival, their hearts could have started to rise. There was hope that the ice would eventually melt. There was the expectation that soon – day-time temperatures would climb. They had the hope that once again there would be fresh vegetables and fruit. Simply by its presence, Pleiades had some influence on the spirits of the ancient star-gazers. But that influence was totally passive.
I will come to some examples in a minute, but at this point let’s just state the obvious – We all are being watched by people around us – sometimes its though cold, naked eyes of unbelievers. And scientists tell us that as possessing a small amount of mass and weight, we have a tiny bit of gravity pulling those people toward us. We all have influence on people, whether we directly interact with those people or not. And sometimes we really do unintentionally influence people. When we walk into a room with a smile on our face, we are an influence toward warmth. But the opposite is equally true. Perhaps it is more often the truth. Without intending to spread that warmth or coolness, passively we do. You and I have some degree of influence on others.
The second word in tonight’s title is “testimony.” This, too, is a way in which we may have an influence on others, but the manner in which I’d like to use it tonight is not passive. I want to use it as the active side of influence. Pleiades may have influence on the hearts of cold earthlings, but it is not like the sun, or even the moon, which each have a more direct influence.
In the Christian life, our TESTIMONY is far more productive and useful in God’s service than mere influence. As an illustration, I’ll embarrass Darren Palmer just a bit. We have all gotten to know this man as a Christian brother. He brings to church a number of things, most of which are positive and uplifting. He blesses me. And by sitting in the service, with a variety of facial expressions has an influence on my preaching. You could say that this is a passive way he influences our church. But then, a month ago, he got up here and presented his testimony of salvation. Even though his words reiterated what we all basically assumed, his verbal testimony took that influence to a much higher and more impactful level. Testimony is a positive and more direct application of our influence.
I don’t believe that the Lord is satisfied with the Christian being a mere influence for Christ. Remember, the lost and unbelieving people around us are inundated with evil influences – far outnumbering our positive influences. Television, news broadcasts, the internet, music, billboards along the road, are all designed to spread worldly interests – wicked interests – and influence. Our little non-verbal candle cannot outshine the darkness that pervades our world. We need to speak. I need to speak. (Again I ask you all to write out your salvation testimony, so that I can share it with everyone.)
Again going back to Darren’s testimony – As much as it was a blessing for us who are Christians, and despite what the Lord might do with that public testimony some day… As far as I know, thus far no one has been born again by those words and that expression of emotion. As important as our testimony is, it is still contains no power in itself.
It is like the preaching of the gospel – one variety of testifying – the gospel in itself cannot save a sin-dead soul. Millions of people have known and believed the precepts contained in the gospel, but today they are in hell. The power is NOT in our testimony, even in the testimony of the gospel. The power is in the LORD, who uses that gospel to break hearts and to give life to sin-dead souls.
Yes, as Christians, we must do all we can to make sure our influence is positive and not negative. But then we need to attack the darkness of the world’s spiritual winter with our more direct testimony. But we must also recognize that our very best in the battle for souls is useless without the power of God. We need to begin every day beseeching the Lord to make our testimony count – to make it powerful. And in that regard, please pray for me that every time I get up to preach, the message will be delivered in God’s power. There are differences between “influence,” “testimony” and soul-changing “power.”
In my preparation, as I was meditating on this subject and jotting down things that came to mind, I thought about various Biblical characters and how these three things can be seen in their lives.
So here are some examples of “INFLUENCE,” “TESTIMONY” and “POWER.”
Both the articles I read recently mentioned LOT, so I’ll mention him as well. Lot, a resident in Sodom, had his own kind of influence on the society of that community. He was seen as wise enough, or as having enough concern to become a part of the city government. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Mrs. Lot belonged to, and even led, various social groups in Sodom. She certainly didn’t want to give them up when the angel and her husband told them they were leaving. Lot had some degree of influence in Sodom, but his testimony of righteousness was as weak as water. We might quibble about the details, but I don’t think he had much power over anyone – including any of the members of his family. And this rendered his influence pointless, because his testimony was inconsistent, and thus there was no power of God in his life. The history of the family of Lot ended in disaster.
Moving farther back in time, consider NOAH, another righteous man. Noah was a man with a solid testimony. How many times during those decades of boat construction did his life prompt peoples’ questions? He may have started out a little embarrassed, but over time I picture him as becoming more and more bold, and at some point he began preaching to his neighbors that the judgment of God was coming. If I had to summarize his life in regard to the three points of this message, I’d say that he had a powerful testimony, BUT very little influence. That lack of influence was not any fault of his. It was in competition with the influences of that fallen society. There was not a single person, outside his family, who were moved enter the ark with him. This testimony was powerless to save souls, because “all power is given unto Christ Jesus,” and God had made known what He intended to do to the people of that world because of their sinfulness.
Like Noah, I’d say that the Prophet JEREMIAH had a powerful testimony before the people of Judah. He preached; he illustrated; he suffered, and even though it was reluctant at times, he preached, declaring what God intended to do. But did Jeremiah have much influence? There were a few people who listened and responded, repenting before God and supporting the preacher. But generally speaking Jeremiah’s influence was not sufficient to overcome the influences of a wicked government, national poverty and the threat of advancing enemy armies. The power of God was not intended or expended in the salvation of Judah in Jeremiah’s day.
Another of the Lord’s prophets was DANIEL. He and his teenage friends refused to cave in to the evil Babylonian society – leaving a positive influence. But that influence alone didn’t accomplish anything, but to til the fallow ground so to speak. Daniel’s influence earned him some superficial respect and got him a good government job. But it was when he could openly testify of Jehovah’s sovereignty that things changed significantly. And remember, before he stood before the king, he and his friends begged God for His power. Daniel was a man who had a strong influence, testimony and the power of the Lord.
I hope you don’t think that my fourth example is blasphemous, but I’d like to point to the LORD JESUS. Christ Jesus’ earthly ministry was a perfect testimony of the Father from His birth to His final “it is finished.” He is our highest example of what it is to be a positive testimony. But isn’t it true that His influence upon that society was relatively small? How many disciples were drawn to Him? There were hundreds of followers, but not tens of thousands as there should have been. However, unlike other examples, divine power governed the Lord’s influence and testimony. There were disciples drawn to Him. There were hundreds of people born again under His ministry.
One more illustration is that of the JERUSALEM CHURCH. Did those brethren and sisters have any influence on their city? It appears that they did. They were certainly unique. Never had there been believers like this before. They turned the city upside down, not only by their preaching, but by the change in their lives. They were the people whom God intended them to be. And in their case they were a positive influence on Jerusalem, because they openly shared their gospel testimony with everyone. They made sure that the city knew they were the people of God in the fashion Christ intended them to be. And they were blessed with the power of the almighty. The power of the Holy Spirit was promised and He came upon the church on that very special Pentecost. Some of their members not only performed miracles in Jesus’ name, but the testimony of the people was made to be irresistible by the omnipotent God.
Conclusion:
What am I trying to say this evening? Without suggesting that your personal influence is unimportant, it must be augmented by your testimony before it will have any real effect on our society. Not only should we be passively positive as ambassadors for Christ, but these are days of crisis when the Lord’s ambassadors need to face the enemy and open up themselves for Him. But that ambassadorial work must be carried out in the power of the Spirit, not the strength of the flesh. Because our influence and testimony will fall on blind eyes, and deaf ears, if those eyes and ears are not first opened up by the sovereign God.
You should as born-again people, automatically possess a positive influence over others. But you must add to that influence a deliberate positive testimony of God’s grace. And it must be done in total submission to the Lord, who alone can make our testimony effective.