INTRODUCTION
A. Hobo that comes to Mayberry.
1. Andy and Opie meet him while fishing at a local lake.
2. He steals their lunch from the car so we immediately know he is up to no good.
3. Barney arrests him for loitering and vagrancy.
4. Andy offers to let him work at his house trimming hedges.
5. Not long before he is showing some things to Opie that are not kosher.
6. Teaches him it is okay to steal gum from a gumball machine (What does a gumball machine need with money?).
7. Teaches him that it is okay to put off work until tomorrow or procrastinate (Tomorrow is the perfect day to start any job).
8. Teaches him to steal food from others to feed himself.
9. Teaches him to cut school to go fishing.
10. Barney has him pegged from the start, but Andy is more trusting.
11. Cutting school was the last straw and the thing that opened Andy’s eyes.
12. Takes a ride out to his shack beside the railroad track and invited him to leave town.
13. Shares with him how he has influenced Opie, but he asks Andy why he doesn’t let Opie decide which way he wants to go.
14. Andy tells him it doesn’t work that way because a child will grab at the first thing with frills attached to it, so a parent has to keep temptation away.
15. Hobo decides to redeem himself in the eyes of the sheriff.
16. Steals one of Aunt Bea’s pocketbooks but one she had thrown away.
17. Barney doesn’t know this, so he arrests him.
18. The scene plays out in front of Opie who becomes disillusioned with the bum.
19. Realized he had been a bad influence and wanted to redeem himself.
B. We influence others whether or not we consciously try to.
1. What kind of influence are you having on others?
2. Are others convicted of wrong when they are around you?
3. Do others behave better when they are around you because they know you are a Christian?
4. Are you trying to bless others by serving them in a good manner, or do you really care about the needs of others?
5. Do you ever feel that your influence is insignificant?
C. Influence and being a preacher.
1. People who would shape up when you came around.
2. People who would not be themselves if they knew you were a preacher.
3. Not as big a thing as it once was.
4. Want people to be themselves around you, but it is also nice to know you are influencing them.
D. Do you ever wish your influence was greater than you perceive it to be?
1. Think of Jesus’ disciples. Just a handful of men and women against the entire nation of Israel and the pagan Roman Empire.
2. Can we imagine how they must have felt when Jesus issued them the Great Commission?
E. What seems a small influence can really be more than we imagine.
1. Think of our alphabet. Only 26 letters, and every poem, great work of literature, novel, history book, letter, essay and every other work of English literature has been composed with combinations of them.
2. Our worlds of influence may be small, but we can make a great impact on that small world.
F. Lord Kelvin’s experiment with a large piece of metal and small wads of paper.
1. Hung a large piece of metal from a cord in his laboratory.
2. Waded up pieces of paper about the size of a pea and threw them at the weight.
3. At first they seemed to have no effect, but eventually the weight began to sway.
G. God is demonstrating his influence through the church.
1. A handful of weak and inept believers turned the world upside down.
2. God’s kingdom will grow despite the opposition from Satan.
3. God’s kingdom will ultimately permeate the world.
OUR INFLUENCE IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE GOD’S KINGDOM OFTEN SEEMS VERY SMALL
A. Jesus appeals to the mustard seed.
1. Some use this passage to say that Jesus sometimes didn’t know what he was talking about.
2. The mustard seed is not the smallest seed, but it is the smallest seed used in Palestinian gardens.
3. Widely used as an herb throughout the world.
4. Though small, the bush would eventually grow to a height of 12 to 15 feet.
5. It was so large that birds could build a nest and nest in it.
6. Jesus would later compare the size of the mustard seed with faith, “I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”
B. Jesus also appeals to leaven (yeast is a more familiar word).
1. Bread was a major food item in Jesus’ time.
2. Women were responsible for baking the bread.
3. They would save a piece of the leavened dough before it was baked.
4. When ready to make the next batch, she would take that leavened dough and hide it in the next dough.
5. That small amount of yeast would permeate the entire loaf.
6. Ancient rabbis spoke favorably of yeast, “Great is peace, in that peace is to the earth as leaven is to the dough.”
7. When Jewish girls married, the mother would give her a small piece of leavened dough just before the wedding, and she would use that to bake for her family throughout her married life.
8. When I was baking bread, I would save one starter kit that was fermented for the next batch of baking.
C. God’s kingdom has often seemed small.
1. Think of the small number of believing Israelites who were slaves for hundreds of years among the pagan Egyptians.
2. Think of how small God’s people were in number compared to the many pagans who lived around them in Palestine.
3. Think of the small number of true believers who followed Jesus around during his earthly ministry.
4. Jesus’ beginnings were very small: born in a stable with farm animals and placed in a feeding trough, the region in which he was born and grew up was considered the backwaters of the Roman Empire, Nazareth was among the insignificant towns, none of his disciples came from the religious elite or from the aristocracy, they were uneducated, often fearful, slow to understand what he taught them and not really qualified to be leaders, those who gathered to pray before the breakout of the Spirit on Pentecost numbered only about 120, and when he ascended his kingdom was relatively small.
D. God’s kingdom often seems small today.
1. When we look around do we see more good or evil?
2. Do we see Christians in the majority or minority?
3. Does it appear that good or evil is having the greatest influence on society?
4. There are many churches, but most of them are half empty.
5. Are Christians in the prime arenas of influence today or are unbelievers?
E. Appearances are often deceiving.
1. Listen to the end of the story in Revelation 11:15, “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: ‘The whole world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.’”
2. Jesus says the mustard seed (corresponding to the church and thereby the kingdom of heaven) will grow to a large tree.
3. The small piece of leaven inserted into a large loaf of dough will permeate that entire loaf.
4. We can only see our small areas of influence and read about others.
5. Hundreds of new churches are started every week throughout the world.
6. Most of the world’s peoples have the Scriptures printed in their own languages.
7. Millions are being reached with the gospel through television, radio, literature and now the Internet.
8. Jesus’ word to Peter and the church, “Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock (his confession that Jesus was the Christ) I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”
OUR INFLUENCE IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE WE MUST INFLUENCE THIS WORLD IN A POSITIVE WAY
A. The mustard seed influenced the garden positively.
1. It provided an herb to be consumed.
2. It grew to such heights that it provided a nesting place for birds.
3. Since the seed and resulting tree symbolize the church, it means that we must influence our world in a positive way.
4. Even the nesting birds speak of a positive influence. Nesting has to do with protection, safety and refuge, which is provided by the mother bird.
B. The leaven provided a positive influence for the dough.
1. A small lump could permeate the entire loaf.
2. It certainly made it taste better.
3. We have eaten unleavened bread during the Lord’s Supper (how many of you would enjoy that every time you ate bread?).
C. How do we influence positively those we live around?
1. When we live in obedience to God.
2. Believers can lead in social, economic, political, legal, cultural, and social ways.
3. Christian standards can influence education, the justice system, the rights of oppressed people or minority groups, prison reform and many other areas.
4. The world benefits when Christian standards are adopted, even if the people themselves are not Christians.
OUR INFLUENCE IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT COMES FROM WITHIN
A. The influence of the leaven or yeast comes from within.
1. It is hidden in the wad of dough and may only be a small portion, but it permeates the entire loaf.
2. The mustard seed is hidden in the ground but bursts forth and eventually grows into a large bush.
3. It is not a hidden impact but a permeating influence.
B. Jesus says his followers are the salt of the earth.
1. Salt permeates as yeast does (a small amount can make a big difference in food).
2. We are not to be like the unbelieving world, but we are to permeate the unbelieving world.
3. This is the only way the gospel of Christ can permeate the world and do it any good.
4. The supreme purpose of the church is to obey the Great Commission.
5. We don’t have to be in the national or even local limelight to influence our world.
CONCLUSION
A. God’s kingdom may seem small but it will grow to large proportions.
B. We must influence the world in a positive way.
C. Our influence stems from an inner relationship with God.
D. My grandfather reminds me of the leaven and the mustard seed.
1. Went with Dad to see him the other week.
2. Dad said he was often called “Deac” (short for deacon) because of his positive influence on others.
3. Told me recently (2002) of going across the street to the diner and of how the waitress would not tell a joke to a man sitting by him with him there.
