INFLUENCING UP.
Let’s recap. Moses sent 12 influencers to go scout out the new homeland that God had promised Israel. While they came back with a good report of the prosperity of the Land, they came back with a fearful report regarding the challenges the new land presented.
“It does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large … The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea … The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
“And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.” Numbers 13:26-29, 32,33
I call the 12 spies influencers because their opinions mattered more to the congregation that day than either God or Moses. You need to know what God has already made very clear, “you are significant.” Any leader who thinks having a microphone makes them the loudest voice in the congregations’ hearts is delusional. Any leader who thinks because they have made sacrifices to bring people into a place of opportunity makes them the biggest influence in people’s life, is equally delusional. Ask any parent of a teenager if they think they are always the big dog leader in their kid’s life.
You know what’s really tragic about this story. Those influencers weren’t trying to hurt the congregation; they were trying to protect them. These men weren’t wolves in sheep’s clothing, they weren’t predators and they weren’t people who got their jollies from creating chaos. They were really terrified and felt they had to get between Moses and disaster that waited on them if they proceeded with his plan. After all, Moses hadn’t seen the Nephillim, they had. Moses had been to the Mountain of God, but they had been to the cities of the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites. They knew more about Canaan than Moses did. Deadly division isn’t about good people and bad people, it’s about divided people.
The influencers made one big mistake that day and it ultimately cost them their lives. Only Joshua and Caleb lived to see Israel become inhabitants in the land of promise. The big error of the influence team that day was that they weren’t careful about choosing the direction of their influence. INFLUENCERS MUST ALWAYS INFLUENCE UP, BEFORE THEY INFLUENCE DOWN. Take your argument, opinion, or point of view to the president of the company before you take your argument, opinion, or point of view to the employees of the company. Take your worries to your spouse before you take them to your children. Feel critical of your child’s teacher; talk to the teacher before you talk to your child. Take your perspective to the pastor before you take it to your friends in the church. I know this is a difficult discipline but it’s how leaders and influencers maintain an undivided house. Jesus was right when he said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
If unity isn’t created between the influencers and the leaders then the crowd will be forced to choose between two directors and that is neither fair to the leader or the crowd. The people the influencers thought they were saving were actually being sentenced to death by the fact that the influencers were ignoring protocol. Please don’t ignore protocol; it exists for a reason.
This principle of influencing up is the very principle that guides prayer. Prayer is our attempt at influencing God. God loves it when we spend time trying to influence him. God has even been known to change his mind when people influence up. Prayerlessness is a failure to influence up while we continue to influence down. There are a dozen good sounding reasons we influence down instead of up, but all we really need to know is, “divided houses die in the desert.” This isn’t just about loving your leader, this is about loving life.
So be good to yourself. Where you are a positional leader, meet with your influencers, love them, communicate with them, and encourage them to tell you how they feel. Listen to their fears, consider their concerns, then impart to them God’s wisdom. Where you are an influence leader, meet with your positional leaders, find out their hearts, listen to their hopes and understand their vision. Together, God wants you to take God’s people to greatness in the community he has called them to serve.
