Influencing Others for Christ

Each day we encounter people who try to influence us. Some do this on purpose while others do it simply by being who they are. Every person we encounter may be influenced by us as well. We never know the impact of our life’s influence on someone else, nor what that influence will yield beyond our reach.

Our study for May 27^th brings into clearer focus the stewardship of influence. How we live before others matters. Paul’s concern for the Corinthians was that they underestimated their influence in bringing others to Christ. Rather than living in self-focused ways, Paul challenged his readers (and us) to run the race in the right way and with the right goals in mind. Let’s consider how to adorn the gospel of Christ rather than hinder it with our lives.

As we saw in last week’s lesson, a large part of this epistle was devoted to answering a list of questions the church had sent to Paul. In 1 Corinthians 8, he took up the difficult matter of how the believers should relate to pagan religious practices. Could they, for example, eat food that had previously been offered to a pagan god? Paul’s advice took into account the impact that believers’ decisions in such cultural issues might have on the conscience of other believers. In chapter 9, Paul reflected on his rights and responsibilities as Jesus’ apostle. He established that he had willingly given up his rights—rights enjoyed by other apostles—for the sake of being a good witness for Christ. He considered it a small thing to refuse to swing his weight around if it meant that more people could hear the gospel and receive an opportunity to respond. Paul often looked back to the Jewish Scriptures to bolster his points. In chapter 10, he reviewed the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness during the time of Moses. He considered their behavior a bad example and therefore a warning to the church not to fall for the same kind of temptation as the Israelites. He promised that God would provide His people an escape from falling into sin, if only they stayed alert to the warnings from the past.

Paul returned briefly to the theme of food sacrificed to idols (10:14-22) and then moved on to the issue of Christian liberty in “doubtful matters.” He emphasized that he personally enjoyed liberty in such matters, but again expressed a caveat to his God given freedom with his readiness to give up his liberty for the sake of others. The apostle was a master of thinking through—and then living out—being a good influence for Christ.   

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:11b-12, “I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.  I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.” (NLT)

This too should be the goal of every follower of Christ ... of every evangelical church ... to have as the primary goal for life the “spread of the Good News” of Christ’s redemptive plan for all who will believe.

(ETB Commentary, 2018)