Galatians 1:11-24 & Luke 7:11-17

Trinity 1 (6 June 2010)
Texts: Galatians 1: 11-24 & Luke 7: 11-17

 

It took me a few days trying to recall why I put the theme “New beginning, New Hope” for this Sunday.   I guess it must be due to the two verses found in both readings “And they praised God because of me” (Gal. 1:24).  The other verse is in Luke 7:16 that says, “They were all filled with awe and praised God.  "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. “God has come to help his people."   

The theme “New beginning” refers to something that can happen to a person’s life that will bring change not just to the person himself, but others as well.  And change brings “New hope” to people.  I say that all these are possible because we live in a community where interactions are taking place.  Whatever happens to me will, in one way or another, affects people around me – for good or for bad. I am talking about influence.   

The well-known author John Maxwell says that “Leadership is influence” and W.M. Taylor says, “Influence is the exhalation of character”.  When you join the two together, we come up with a new definition: “Influence is leading people according to your character”.

We all have character and our character will influence those around us for good or for evil.  Paul says, “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Cor. 15:33), which is in reference to Proverbs 22: 24-25.  In other words, if you hang around with people who are a bad influence, and if they are dominant over you; you will also begin to adopt their character. On the other hand, if you mix with good company, you can also allow yourself to be influenced by their good character. 

What has got to do with our Bible readings?  Remember that before Jesus appeared, religious people were living according to the teaching of the scribes and the Pharisees.  Their only source of religious influence were the Scribes, the priests, the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  But when they started hearing Jesus’ teaching and seeing his miracles, and learning that he had the power to raise someone from the dead, they said, “A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. “God has come to help his people."  Likewise when the people heard the report of Paul’s transformation from a persecutor to evangelist, they praised God.

This is an important reminder to all of us.  Whether we like it or not, we all have influence on others around us: for good or for bad.  It is even more so if you are leaders, whether in church, in school, in your company or department, or in your home - what you do or decide is not just your own business.  Paul J. Meyer said, “Everyone leaves a legacy, whether you have children or not.”  We leave our legacy through our influence over those who come behind us: our children, our nephews and nieces, our neighbours, co-workers, or our friends.  And we do not only impact the lives of those close to us now.  Our choices, our decisions, and our opinions may even impact the lives of people of the future.  

Everyday we read or hear the news about people, (whether in the financial world, political arena, or religious groups), projecting their own agenda; and all of them seek to influence people.  We Christians need to know also that we have own mission that Jesus has entrusted upon us – which is to bring change upon people’s lives.  But we cannot accomplish this mission through our own power, intelligence or money: change in our culture will only happen as we influence those around us for Christ. 

Another important point to understand is that there is a difference between controlling someone and influencing someone. Too many people make the mistake of trying to control people rather than seeking to influence them. Good parenting is influencing and not controlling our children.  We influence our children to live right because we can’t always be there to control our kids.  Some parents express surprise whenever teachers report to them that their children misbehave in schools.  They ask, “How can my children who are so obedient at home be wild at schools?”   That is how children will behave if we exercise control over them, but fail to influence them. 

You can only exercise control as long as you are there.  But what happen when you are absent?  If you have not made a godly influence on them, they will make the wrong choices when you are no longer there to ensure that they make the right choices.  This principle works much the same way with employers and their staff, or teachers with their students. You can make them work or study when you are there to personally supervise them.  But what happens when you are out? 

The same could be said for the church and for the Christians. If we are not influencing our people for God, then we are not doing our job.   When I left Bintulu to be transferred here, some people in the congregation expressed their worries and concerns, whether the next priest would be up to mark.  I told them not to worry because I was quite sure that my influence during the 8 years I was there has impacted some of the lay-leaders. I don’t intend to boast about it because I cannot say the same about my influence over the congregation that I left in Kuching. 

Paul wrote, “And they praised God because of me” (Gal. 1:24).  That was what the influence of Paul.  He influenced the Galatians to recognize and worship God.  Just ask yourself:  Is there any body who worship God today because of your influence upon him or her?  Has anybody recognized Christ as his or her personal Lord and Saviour through your influence?  Some of you can point to your children, or your spouses, or your relatives, or your friends.   But we should not be just content to influence only those close to us. 

Paul was able to be such an influence even to strangers and his enemies.  What is his secret?   There are three principles from Galatians chapter one that will enable you to become a person of influence to those around you.

First we need to look at Gal. 1:10.  It says, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Paul became a man of influence because he knew the difference between trying to please people and trying to influence people.  This is far easier said than done.  As a priest I have some idea what God wants me to do.  However, I don’t want to unnecessarily stir things up.  And like most of you, I want things to go along as smoothly and simply as possible. So I am going to do everything I can, not to make you angry at me.  The problem with that is I can become too concerned about what you think that I fail to obey God.

Now, if it is tough for me to keep this balance in order, then it can be tougher for you.  In your workplace you might be torn between pleasing your boss and pleasing your God. At home you might be torn between pleasing your spouse and pleasing God.  Some of us may even find it difficult to choose between pleasing ourselves and pleasing God.  So how do we do it right?

When we choose to please God and not people, it does not mean we must never try to do anything that is pleasing to anyone.  It does not mean that we can simply dismiss people of in the name of pleasing God.   Remember, the same Paul who said that he was not a “people-pleaser” also said, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22).  What that verse means is that Paul never sought to please people at the expense of obedience to God. He knew who is master was and he knew where to draw the line.  And Jesus was clear on that issue when he said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other…”

There are basically two kinds of people. There are people who just don’t really care what other people think of them.  And there are those who are always worried about what other people think of them.  And many of us don’t want people to think that we are boring or stupid or weird.  We want people to like us.  But whose opinion will count in the end?  I am sure on the Day of Judgment we are not going to answer to our spouses or our bosses or our friends, but to God.  But pleasing God means that we will have to do some unpopular things.  To be persons of influence, we cannot do thing simply to please people.  However, there is a word of caution.  I know of one preacher who likes to preach long sermons, and when the congregation complained, he ignored them.  I actually asked him about that and he told me that he would rather please God than please man.  Personally, I think the guy was not pleasing God either. I don’t think God would be very happy if I bored most of you to sleep with my long sermon.  My point is: we have to be careful about using the excuse of obeying God, when the fact is that we are simply being stubborn or because we don’t want to lose face.

Second, we must let God set the agenda for our lives.  In Galatians 1: 15 Paul writes, “…God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace…”  Paul was able to be a person of great influence because he devoted his entire life to accomplishing one thing. He said that the whole reason why God saved him was so that he could preach about Jesus to the Gentiles. Paul was saying, “This is my purpose. This is the reason why I exist and I am going to devote my life to it”.  

There are many things that we can devote our lives to.  You may be surprise if I tell you my ambition when I was young.  You want to know? At one point when I was in my late teens I wanted to be a drummer/vocalist of a music band.   And I was always hanging around some friends in the musical bands.  Even when I was studying in the Seminary I was still dreaming of become a drummer. So when my younger son set up a band with some friends about 7 years ago and became the drummer, I gave him my full support.  He became what I was not assigned to be.

My point of sharing you this is that while we want to become Christians dedicated to serve God, there are always those ambitions or desires that want to pull us away.  We want to serve God in his church but we fear that it will take too much of our time.  We want to give money to the church but we need it to buy something for ourselves. We want to go to church every Sunday, but there is always better and more interesting thing to do.   I am not saying that those other things are wrong. They are perfectly fine as long as they are put in their places. And that means that they must come second, third or fourth because God and his agenda for our lives must always come in first.  However, you still need to test what you hear God is saying to you.  First, if it is really God’s agenda for your life, it will not contradict scripture.  But if that so-called agenda is taking you to do things that are against the teaching of the Bible, it cannot be God’s agenda, now matter how good it sounds.

Second, God’s agenda for your life will be recognized by other church leaders.  So if you feel that God is calling you to do something, you must share what you hear with your priest or pastor or other leaders.  They can reaffirm God’s agenda for your life. 

Third, stay committed. You have to decide to please God before you can let God set the agenda for your life. And when God has set the agenda, you have to stick with it under whatever circumstance.  We cannot become persons of influence overnight and that is why commitment is important.  It takes time to establish credibility.  When you want to do anything you have to first prove yourself before you will be taken seriously.  Paul took 3 years to establish his credibility.  Read verses 18 and 19: “Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles – only James, the Lord’s brother.

Paul ministered in Arabia and Damascus because the other leaders of the church did not trust him because he had been a persecutor of the Church.  So for 3 years Paul preached to the gentiles in places not covered by the other apostles.  If you read Gal. 2:1, this is what Paul said, “Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also”.  When you read verse 9 it says, “James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me.”  The bottom line is this: it took Paul 14 years of ministry to establish credibility before he received the full endorsement of the church.

After I graduated from the Theological College in 1981, the Bishop refused to ordain me.  He ordained the others but left me out because as far as he was concerned I was not good enough to be a Deacon or a Priest.  He sent me out to serve as a Catechist, but I quit after more than 1 year. And for about 9 years I was floating around taking up various jobs; (I have even served as a waiter in a Japanese restaurant).  But through the ordeals I stayed with the church, and at one point I served as a sub-deacon at the Cathedral. It was only in 1990 that Bishop John Leong made a decision to ordain me as Deacon, and a year later I was ordained priest.  Were those 10 years wasted years?  I don’t think so.  Do I feel bitter about what had happened?  No.  In fact I am thankful for the experiences. 

My point is: if you want to build credibility for your life’s agenda then you must stick with it for better or for worse.  We need to prove ourselves, and that means investing the time to build credibility.  Remember that we influence people for good or bad.  We are all role models in some way, shape or form. Everyday you influence your children, grandchildren, employer, employees, co-workers, friends, neighbours, and even people you meet on the street, whether you know it or not.  The question is: What kind of influence are you having? Are they positive or negative; constructive or destructive; good or bad?

If we want people to recognize and worship God because of us, we cannot force it upon the people. We must first obey God.  Then we devote ourselves to discovering God’s agenda for our lives and stay dedicated to it, under whatever circumstance, so you can establish credibility. That is how you develop new beginning in yourself and creating new hope in your personal life as well as in other people’s lives. And because of that God’s name is glorified.