Having an Influence

Regardless of results, stay faithful to what God has called you to do:

I have said it before: most Christians will not know what good they have done for Christ and the Kingdom until the next life. They might see some indications here on earth as to how effective they have been, but the full story will only come out in our new home.

Yes, sometimes folks will tell us how our lives impacted them. Now and then some folks will tell me my CultureWatch ministry has had a beneficial role to play in their lives. Some will say they have learned various helpful biblical or theological things from me along the away. And some have even said they view me as a pastor or a mentor in their Christian journey.

One fellow who went on to become a Senator for a small family party, holding the balance of power in federal Parliament, once told me at a dinner in Canberra that he and his wife heard me speak many years ago at the church they were attending, and that inspired them to get politically active and involved.

All that is encouraging indeed. And such feedback should spur us on to keep going. Of course what any real-deal Christian ultimately wants to hear is a word of commendation from our Lord himself – a word such as “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

But given that we all can get weary in welldoing, and all need some encouragement and help along the way, it is good to get some positive feedback now and then. Indeed, if you are in any kind of public ministry – especially controversial areas such as in the culture wars – you will likely be getting far more negative feedback than positive.

You will routinely get hate mail, abuse, nasty and vile comments, and even some death threats at times. It is not fun to be on the receiving end of that all the time. Most days I do get some of this criticism and attacks. So getting words of support is a welcome antidote to so much of the flak we get.

And we must realise that many people who have been touched by our ministries may never tell us. Again, we will have to wait till the next life to fully discover who we have been a blessing to on their journeys. One example of this involves my earlier days of lecturing in Melbourne Bible Colleges – four of them over the years.

I would have had many hundreds of students during this time. Yet I seldom hear from them. Now and then a student will get in contact with me however and say he enjoyed being my student. They might even want to catch up for a coffee and a chat. Getting a few former students like this to touch base after so many years is encouraging.

But one does wonder about all the other students, and whether your life and teaching made an impact on them. Even Jesus knew about this sort of thing. Recall the time he healed ten people of leprosy. The story found in Luke 17:11-19 tells the story:

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Just one out of the ten bothered to come back and thank him. At least he got ten per cent – most of us who teach or preach or minister in various ways will likely get a much lower percentage! But we are called to be faithful, and we are to keep doing what God wants us to do, even though we often wonder about our effectiveness.

Wayne Grudem and Charlie Kirk

With all this in mind, let me share a great story from American theologian Wayne Grudem. He has penned many important books over the years, and his Systematic Theology was the text I always recommended to my students. Here is the story that Grudem, now retired, recently posted:

Sometimes the results of our ministry appear many years later: In 1982, when our oldest son Elliot was in 3rd grade, Margaret began to think that we needed a Christian school in the north suburban Chicago area (there were none near us). As we talked, I agreed with her.

 

We began to talk with other parents and soon we formed a committee to address the possibility of founding a Christian school. After many presentations at many churches and in many homes, Christian Heritage Academy opened in 1984 in Northbrook, Illinois with 59 students in grades K-6. The school now has moved to nearby Northfield, Illinois, and has over 400 students in grades K-12.

 

I was the first president of the board, from 1982-1984. I think many of you who receive this prayer memo worked with us to get Christian Heritage Academy started.

 

Fast forward to about 2005. There was an 11-year-old boy in 5th grade, and one day, after hearing a challenge from a teacher, he raised his hand to commit his life to Christ. This commitment set the direction of his whole life. The young boy’s name was Charlie Kirk.

Wow, great stuff. Did Grudem or any others ever think that young Charlie would go on to become the world changer that he was? Would they have known that his life would be cut short at just age 31, but a whole new movement would spring up as a result of his martyrdom?

So the obvious point is this: keep going. Keep doing what God has called you to do. As Mother Teresa famously said, “God has not called us to be successful. He has only called us to be faithful.” We may not be building big churches, seeing thousands saved, penning great books, or having a global ministry.

But whatever it is that God has called us to do, we had better do it – whole-heartedly. And in the next life at least we will then learn just how fruitful and spiritually helpful our service for Christ really was.

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