Bracing for Impact

Bracing for Impact

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

Jan. 2, 2022

Bracing for Impact

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matt 5:13-16

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. Matt. 12:33

For about six months I’ve had a word kind of churning in my heart. That word is impact.

The definition of impact has two meanings: 1) the act or force of one thing hitting another or 2) a powerful or major influence or effect. I actually think when it comes to human interaction, those two definitions go together.

In a sense we are all bouncing and banging off each other all the time, not literally but when someone influences us it’s as though their influence bumps into our lives and changes the trajectory of our lives in some way. Major influences, like our parents, or our friends, or a particular coach or teacher, can change the trajectory of our lives significantly. But even small interactions can put a smile on our face or ruin our day.

Few things have greater impact on us than other people’s words. You can probably think of things spoken over you years ago that encourage and strengthen you to this day. And maybe there were words spoken over you that deeply hurt and scar you to this day. Whether the influence was encouragement or pain, those words had significant impact on your life.

The trajectory of our lives have been affected so much more than we can even imagine by the impact others have had on us, and we have affected the trajectory of others in ways we may not even realize.

Impact. There are three kinds of spiritual impact our lives can have on others:

Bad impact – this week a jury announced a guilty verdict against Ghislaine Maxwell,

rightfully so. The impact of her actions, along with Jeffrey Epstein, caused incalculable hurt and damage to so many young women. Bad impact.

There are people who leave this earth worse than they found it. They leave a legacy of deceit and damage and harm. Jesus called this bad fruit.

No impact – this is a life that has little or no effect on others around them. When someone chooses to stay uninvolved and unconnected they might risk getting hurt less, but they also risk leaving no footprint behind. There’s something empty about a life that doesn’t make a difference. There’s an anonymous poem that describes this kind of life:

There was a very cautious man Who never laughed or played
He never risked, he never tried, He never sang or prayed.
And when one day he passed away, His insurance was denied,
For since he never really lived, They claimed he never really died.

No impact is salt that doesn’t salt, light that doesn’t shine, a fruit tree that doesn’t bear fruit.

Good impact – As Christians, there is something inside us that wants to leave the world better than we found it, isn’t there? God put that desire there.

On this first Sunday of 2022 we are starting a series called Bracing for Impact, and it’s not a brand new train of thought, it’s really just a continuation of what we’ve been talking about for some time. Jesus came to impact lives, and he did that like no other person in history! Then he gave his church – his people – the gospel and the Holy Spirit so that we would have power to continue the impact of the saving work he accomplished!

The word impact isn’t in the Bible but the concept of it is woven throughout. Jesus’ metaphors of salt, light, and fruit all speak of impact. Salt impacts food in two ways: it flavors and it preserves. Light impacts darkness by doing away with it. And fruit impacts (for good or bad) by bearing more fruit of the same. Good fruit bears good fruit, bad fruit bears bad fruit.

Jesus says to us: you are the salt of the earth…you are the light of the world.

1. Light and salt is something we are before it’s something we do

Jesus doesn’t say you need to be salt…light. He says you are. And I want to encourage you that your life is having an impact in ways you probably can’t even see. I’m aware the title Bracing for Impact could sound like “you’re not having an impact, start having an impact” and I want to underline that’s not where I’m coming from. It’s so easy for that to lead us to a performance mindset where we think, I need to work harder, try harder, run faster, do more to have a bigger impact. That mindset is exhausting and discouraging. That’s not what this series is about.

Your life is making an impact for Jesus. You are salt. You are light. Your life is touching many, many lives right now and more than you know. Sometimes we hear the word “impact” and we think it has to be something huge and dramatic, but often the most important, longest lasting impacts are small impacts over the long haul. Here’s the thing about salt: a little goes a long way.

When I was in Bible school an older single woman asked if I’d give her guitar lessons. She didn’t have much money so she offered to cook me a home cooked meal in exchange for lessons. I gave her a guitar lesson and then we sat down to the dinner she cooked. It looked and smelled really good, but as I went to shake a little salt on it, the salt shaker cover came off and most of the salt in the shaker poured out on my dinner, ruining it. A little salt goes a long ways.

In my opinion the best Christian witness doesn’t pour Jesus on too heavy if you know what I mean. We want to be open and unashamed about our faith in Christ, people in our lives should know we’re

Christians, should see our faith shining and salting in everything we do.

But we’re not looking to blind people with the light or choke them with salt.

People know you’re a Christian and see that you’re dependable – when you say you’re going to do something, they can count on you to do it. They sense that you care. Maybe they see you forgive someone who hurt you – and they see a little Jesus. They hear you speak graciously about other people when the office culture is gossip – and people see a little Jesus. People see you treat your spouse with love and consideration – and they see a little Jesus in you. Maybe a co-worker is going through a hard time and you say you’ll pray for them, and while they may not even believe that prayer does anything, it means something. They see a little Jesus in you. Moms and dads, you are having a greater impact on your kids than you know. More than they know. And yes, I’m assuming you’re not a perfect parent and you make mistakes. Join a really big club. But as you try your best to raise them in the knowledge of the Lord, point their hearts towards Jesus, and model (imperfectly) a godly example, it’s having an impact on them.

This series isn’t about implying you’re not having an impact – you are! It’s not about a performance mindset. And it’s not about pumping up our pride! Believe in yourself, you are awesome, let’s go out and make an impact on 2022! Rah, Rah!

Here’s what I hope this series will be about: our linking arms together in faith that the Lord will do greater things in us and through us in 2022. That God will use us individually and as a church family to impact people’s lives.

I think one of the reasons this message has been churning in my heart is that I don’t see the church having the kind of impact in the world that Jesus intended for it to have. If this point in history was a Rocky Balboa movie, this is the point where Rocky (the church) is getting his lights punched out, staggering around the ring, while his opponent is dancing around and getting the crowd revved up and the ref is waiting for the knockout blow.

The church – at least in America (I think it may be different in other countries) – isn’t impacting as much as it is impacted. Statistics show that for the most part churches aren’t growing from salvations. A lot of church growth is just Christians leaving one church for another. That’s not necessarily wrong but it’s not kingdom growth.

People who once seemed to be strong Christians are struggling with doubts and disillusionment – and to some extent the church is to blame for it. Others are simply walking away from the church and from Christ.

Some churches get super “woke” in an effort to be relevant. Other churches develop an “us against them” mindset and become antagonistic to the culture. When it comes to the very real issues of the day, Christians can get caught up in angry arguments, radiating more heat than light.

In my own life, I am often discouraged by how little I share my faith or talk about Jesus outside the

church. Maybe you feel that too.

The church is Rocky, getting punched around the ring, and it looks like it’s over. A lot of people have already called it: the church is done, irrelevant, unimportant. The gospel is out of date and has no relevance to real people’s lives.

But in our hearts, there’s an ember of faith still glowing. God isn’t done and He sure isn’t out for the count. Brace for impact: I believe God is going to do something great. Let’s link arms together and believe God to impact this world yet again with the gospel of Jesus and the power of the Spirit…and that He will use us.

God loves this tired old world, and He loves people. And of all the impacts going on in a world that is literally bouncing and banging against itself, only Jesus impacts a lost soul with eternal life. We are a part of that, we are God’s agents of impact. Let’s believe it!

Praying for Impact – prayer is the churches power room. I want us to try two new things – they may work out, or they may not. But if we do the same things we’ve been doing we’ll get the same results we’ve been getting, and we are believing God for greater impact this year.

1. Prayer time from 9:30-9:45am on Sundays right here. If you are able to come a little early, we’ll pray right here for the service. We’ll wrap up by 9:45 so we can greet guests.

2. In the service, we’ll take time to pray for 2 or 3 members or families each week. This was an idea that Dao and Alicia shared. It won’t be a long prayer – a prayer of blessing and provision and protection. Don’t be surprised if you hear your name lifted up in prayer during the service. If you have a specific need come up, let us know so we can pray for it in a timely manner.

3. Prayer teams –we want to have more time at the end of our services for people to be prayed for. If you have a heart for prayer and for people, join our prayer team and be ready to come up and quietly pray for and with people.

Impact Testimonies

Testimonies are a powerful way to impact others. When people hear how God impacted you or used you to impact someone else – in big or small ways – it encourages our faith. If you have an impact testimony, we want to give you an opportunity in the service to share it. We’ll ask that you keep it brief, 3-4 minutes. Brief is powerful. Editing unnecessary details helps make the testimony more powerful.

Implosion Testimonies

It wouldn’t be a bad thing to occasionally highlight an implosion testimony, where you step out and it goes sideways. Failure is a part of faith – if we never risk failure, we aren’t walking in faith! God uses failures. So if you have an implosion testimony, let us know.