Today, almost anyone can be a celebrity. With the expansion of social media there are people who with an iPhone and camera can become what is called “an influencer.”
The title “influencer” is a huge word in our culture.
Influencers are everywhere. The title “influencer” means: “to power to affect the decisions of others because of his or her authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience.”
Based on their level of influence, they are paid.
Because of the power of influencers, some people follow them blindly. They are attracted to a number of things:
a) The way they dress
b) Their ability to attract a crowd
c) Their talents
d) Their platform
Concern is rising about the power of influencers and articles are cropping up everywhere giving warnings about influencers.
Here’s some of the recent warnings I found in secular articles warning against influencers.
a) Good marketing can make anyone appear to be an expert. They’re not necessarily.
b) Good marketing can make anyone appear to be any way they want to thing they are. They’re
not necessarily the way they appear.
c) Just because someone has a big following does not meant that. Know what they’re doing.
d) Jesus because someone has a big platform does not mean they’re a good teacher for you.
Explanation:
The Book of Hebrews is written to a number of people who were struggling. They were Jewish Christians wo were facing persecution and dealing with influencers that were telling them to abandon their trust and belief in Jesus.
In the Roman Empire, Judaism was a recognized religion but Christianity was not. Furthermore, from reading the book of Acts we discover than much of the persecution of Christians stemmed from the Jews that rejected Jesus.
Hebrews 10:32-36 tells us that these people were facing as we read: “But remember the former days when after bring enlightened (before you believed and accepted Jesus) you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property knowing that you have yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward. “
Let’s face it: We’ve got it easy up next to them, yet, strangely enough, the topic of influencers is not new. Today, there are good influencers and bad influencers. There are godly influencers and ungodly influencers. They question is: Who is going to influence you?
Transitional Sentence: As Christians, Jesus is our greatest influencer. What does He do to influence you?
I. He Influences Who We Follow
vs. 1- “Therefore holy brethren partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the Apostle
and High Priest of our confession.”
Explanation:
Have you ever heard someone say: “You are under the influence?” This is a statement often made to someone who is intoxicated with alcohol of another mind-altering drug.
In our culture, while drugs are influencers; there are many other things and people that influence us and impact our minds and our thinking.
If I wanted to get you all distracted today, I would begin talking about many of the influencers that are impacting the way you think through a multiplicity of things such as sermons, songs, political statements, and cultural beliefs.
In the mention of their names, what often happens is that you would be impacted. It would affect how far you would be willing to listen to me. If you were offended by the fact that I was calling out a person; you might even decide whether or not you would stay through the service or most definitely whether you would return. Do you know why? You are under their influence.
One of the things that was happening when the Book of Hebrews was written was that there was a lot of name dropping. One of those names was the name Moses.
Understand, the name of Moses was a good name. Moses name and the Old Testament law is synonymous. The New Testament refers to the commands of God as the “law of Moses.” Moses not only brought the 10 Commandments down from Sinai, but he wrote the whole Pentateuch, delivered the plans for the Tabernacle, and the Ark of the Covenant.
Moses is a key figure in God’s plan and revelation of himself. Yet, the enemies of Jesus, while they were religious, they rejected Jesus. The honored Moses and dishonored Jesus.
Therefore, in verse 1 we read the words, “consider Jesus...” In other words, while your eyes are on Moses, you need to make a shift of your focus onto the Messiah.
The word “consider” (katanoeo) implies giving close and continuous attention and observation of Jesus.
The writer shifts the focus off of Moses and calls Jesus by two titles:
a) He is the Apostle- which means: “the one sent from God.”
b) He is the High Priest- which means: “the one who intercedes, the connection to God”
Jesus is greater than any name that is dropped. He is greater than any person who is quoted. He is greater than any created being. Jesus is Creator, the Intercessor, the Messiah, the one who says: “Learn from me”—not just, “Learn about me.” Jesus is the ever-present Savior who is to be not just our intercessor but our influencer. He is to influence and direct our lives each day.
The Holy Spirit visits us daily and does what the writer of Hebrews is doing here, He says to us daily “Consider Jesus.” He should be your greatest influencer.
Do you want to know when to unfollow and unsubscribe from your favorite leader? The answer is simple: When what they say is different than what Jesus says. When you’re letting them influence you more than Jesus. When they take a position of idolatry over Jesus Christ and His position in your life.
So, who is influencing you the most? Jesus or someone else?
Illustration: Sheep off the cliff
Shepherds eating breakfast outside the town of Gevas, Turkey, were surprised to see a lone sheep suddenly do something unexpectantly; it jumped off a 50-foot cliff that they were grazing near.
What was even more surprising was that suddenly the other sheep followed his lead. In all, 1500 sheep began leaping off the same cliff.
When it was all over, the local Aksam newspaper reported that "450 the sheep survived though as the bodies of all 1,050 sheep made a fluffy landing pad for the sheep so it was not a complete loss.
Yet, the estimated cost of the loss topped $100,000 in a country were most people earn around $2,700 annually.
Twenty-six families owned the sheep together and communicated these words: “They’re all wasted. There was nothing we could do.
Application:
In the days when this books was written, there were a lot of sheep falling off the cliff.
The influencers were encouraging believers to return to Judaism and to give up on Jesus. Yet, in our culture; Jesus will influence who you unfollow and unsubscribe from as a leader.
Today there are tons of influencers that we need to walk away from. Here’s some of the false teachings of leaders who need to be “unfollowed.” These leaders often teach things like:
a) Jesus is less than God. This passage compares Moses; who was the prominent figure of
Judaism to Jesus. Those encouraging these people to walk away from Jesus radically
underestimated Jesus. Many cults do this today. They believe Jesus was a good man,
a prophet, or religious leader. Yet, Jesus according to this passage is God. He is the builder
of the house; the head of the family, Lord of all. He is either Lord of all or not Lord at all.
I assure you; Jesus is Lord. (Unfollow those who teach you Jesus is not God)
b) If culture and Scripture disagree, side with culture- The most prominent of this relates
to the various expressions of sexuality. Yet, Jesus spoke on the subject of sexuality
consistently. He spoke about sex before marriage and condemned it, He spoke about
adultery and condemned it (Matthew 19:19), yet some say he said nothing about
homosexuality. Yet, He did in speaking about God’s design for sexuality saying: “For this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.” Matthew 19:3-6
Jesus emphasized the one-flesh union in Genesis as the God-ordained institution. (Unfollow
those who trump culture over Christ and His Word)
c) We’re all God’s children- Not everyone is a child of God. The Bible tells us that we are “adopted” as children of God and that the Holy Spirit bears witness of the fact of whether we are children of God or not as it reads: The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. “ Romans 8:15 We become children of God when we are “born again.” (John 3) (Unfollow those who refuse to teach- You must be born again)
When it comes to following and influence, God’s command is and always will be “consider Jesus.” Who Jesus is and what Jesus teaches is greater than your affinity to personalities and passion!
Transitional Sentence: As Christians, Jesus is our greatest influencer. What does He do to influence you?
II. He Makes You an Influencer
Vs. 1-5- “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. He was faithful to Him who appointed Him as Moses was in all His house. For he was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, but just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house if built by someone but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later.”
Explanation:
The writer of Hebrews understood something about influencers; influence is not about platform; it is about people.
God loves people and wants to build a family--a household as the writer defines it. He started with the household of Israel- and ultimately-- the household of faith that we have in Jesus.
God loves that word “household.” The word in the original text is oikos which does not refer to an address or a property- it refers to individuals and a group of people.
Ephesians 2:19 says this: “ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household.”
I Peter 2:4-5 says: “And coming as a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.”
As God began His household, He began with the Jews and entrusted Moses to lead and influence His people. Yet, the house and family did not belong to Moses. Moses was the “servant” of the household; while Jesus is the Son over the house (vs. 6) and Creator of the house.
Today, Jesus is still building “his household.” People daily are becoming part of the family of God. Perhaps this morning you will accept Jesus and join the family. I pray you will.
Yet, all of us are like Moses. God has given us a level of influence. We can use our influence to “build up” or “tear down” the house.
The Bible tells that Moses saw was faithful in the house, knowing that the influence God gave Him had meaning, purpose, and was power to change lives and history. Moses saw Himself as a steward for a greater purpose and ultimately for our great God-- who manifested Himself in Jesus.
How about you? One of the ways we honor Jesus as the greatest is through humbling ourselves and seeing this life as a life of serving His “household” as God uses us and our influence to build a household that will remain for all eternity.
Our influence is critical and has eternal consequences.
Illustration: Faithful Lifesaving Influence
At the at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, two-time US Olympian swimmer, Anita Alvarez ,was finishing her "artistic" swimming routine in the solo freestyle final when she suddenly sank to the bottom of the pool.
Crowds stood stunned when they realized she was not surfacing in a timely way. Her team coach, Andrea Fuentes, herself an Olympic swimmer, frantically tried to get the attention of the lifeguards, but to no avail.
"I saw that the lifeguards were not jumping into the water because they were paralyzed. I was shouting at them from the other side to get into the water, now! I saw them looking dumbfounded, so I jumped into the water and straight towards her ... I saw how she was sinking and I swam as fast as I could. I did the fastest free dive of my life, faster than when I was preparing for the Olympics," Fuentes said according to El Pais.
It seems that Alvarez took in water on the last leg of her performance and passed out. Medical personnel were able to resuscitate and treat her.
Because of her coach's quick action, she made a full recovery, and even returned to competition the following season.
Application:
The thing I noticed about this story was that the people that were supposed to rescue Anita were “paralyzed” and “unresponsive”--- therefore, her friend literally dove into action.
Isn’t that what Jesus did? Instead of watching us sink deep in our sin resulting in spiritual death with irreversible results; He came to our rescue and He provided a way for us to literally “be saved.”
Moses likewise saw himself as a steward of “the house” and according to verse 2 was “faithful to Him who appointed Him.”
Of course, the point of this passage is that Jesus is greater than Moses; because ultimately it was Jesus who sent Moses; but He also sends you and me.
Jesus gave two pictures of how powerful our influence is: He said: (Matthew 5:13)
1) You are the salt of the earth- Do you know what salt does? It influences and changes things.
2) You are the light of the world- Do you know what light does? It overcomes darkness. It’s
influence literally makes a “day light and darkness difference.”
Look at your neighbor and say: You are pretty salty. Look the other way and say, you look very shiny.
Transitional Sentence: As Christians, Jesus is our greatest influencer. What does He do to influence you?
III. He Influences You For Life
vs. 6- “But Christ was faithful as a Son over His house--- whose house we are if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”
Explanation:
As the writer of Hebrews concludes this section, He connects influence with assurance of salvation.
Today, there are many people who claim to be Christians that are not. Jesus had the same situation He warned about those who said they were saved; but refused Jesus’ influence.
Proof that we are a part of God’s house and children of God is communicated in verse 6 where we read: “But Christ was faithful as a Son over His house--- whose house we are if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”
Apparently there were “so-called” believers that had fallen away. They had walked away from Jesus, they returned to the world.
With this said Jesus made statements like this: “If you abide in my word, you are truly disciples of mine.” John 8:31
When you accept Jesus, evidence of your salvation is that you persevere to the end.
Many made outward professions of faith; but it was short-lived giving evidence that their commitment was not real.
I John 2:19 explains: “They went out from us, so that it might be manifest that they were never of us.”
Real salvation transforms your life because Jesus is endlessly influences and impacts your life. He makes it clear that people that are “truly in the house stay in the house” they follow Jesus, walk with Jesus, and that walk goes all the way into eternity.
Conclusion: Moody’s convert
DL Moody was once was walking down the streets of Chicago when drunk man saw him and yelled: “Mr. Moody, I am one of your converts.” To which Moody yelled back, “Yes, you look like one of my converts.”
Listen: I can’t save anyone Moody can’t save anyone, Moses couldn’t even save anyone-- only Jesus saves and when He saves; He changes you. If you’re in his house, He’s made His home in your heart and His presence changes everything.
He is the ultimate influencer.
