Resources/Articles
The Reach of Influence
Matthew 5.13-14 says, “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” (ESV).
When the commands of the scripture above is actually witnessed, you understand how far a person’s influence reaches. Take note of this as you read the following letter we received from Robert Nichols, whom we support in Japan. It will make you seriously think about how what you do matters.
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Dear Brethren at Southside:
I have often referred to the coercive power of Japanese public opinion and how the individual even when he believes in Christ often feels that he cannot act on his own to become a Christian. Japanologists often describe Japan as a spider’s web where all parts are connected in such a way that one part cannot be moved without affecting all the other parts. So it is not surprising to hear Japanese society described in this same way, where an individual cannot act without affecting all.
A recent tragic incident in our area illustrates how one’s actions affect all who are linked to that individual. A local high school boy ran away from home and persuaded a high school girl to join him for the weekend. The girl, who is known to Christians in Yamasaki, was a top student from an old, well respected, affluent family. When the young couple ran short of money, they called a taxi and the boy cut the throat of the driver, taking a few hundred dollars. The news devastated the girl’s family, but their sorrow was multiplied by the reaction of the community. The neighbors assumed that if the girl was involved in such an affair, her family must have some secret moral defect that had not been seen before. The girl’s father, a school administrator, has been fired from his job. Her mother, a school teacher, has also been asked to resign in March. The community criticism and ostracism were too great for the girl’s grandmother, who committed suicide. The entire family has abandoned their fine old home and gone into hiding. This is an extreme case, but shows that in this web society, the action of one affects all, and no one dares to think of himself as an individual, much less act as an individual.
When sister Hata was baptized in Yamasaki, she received much criticism for disrupting the harmony of the community by leaving the traditional ways and becoming a Christian. Three days later, the fall of an elderly neighbor who stumbled while walking on the road in front of the Hata home was all the evidence the neighborhood needed to threaten ostracism. Unfortunately, sister Hata seldom attends worship now.
I have much respect for Japanese Christians who put Christ first and remain faithful to Him. I have known Japanese Christians who have been ostracized by the community for becoming a Christian and Japanese fathers who have asked their sons to leave him when the sons decided to preach the gospel. At the same time, by love and patience, these Japanese Christians have sometimes won their families to Christ. Pray for them.
Thank you for making it possible for me to preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ in Japan. Many people in many places have held up my hands for a very long time, and I am most grateful to the Lord and to each one of you.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Robert Nichols
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Your example and mine makes all the difference. Hypocrisy is not impressive. It is only a sad reminder of how fake a person can be. The genuine faith is what matters (1 Timothy 1.5). People in a community never know or understand the need for Christ until they witness it in a soul transformed by the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. It may lead to criticism and immediate ostracism, but there is no doubt a faithful Christian is a light to godliness and righteousness others will never know otherwise.
With so much talk about accepting, normalizing, and accommodating various moral ideas, there needs to be someone or a group of “someones” who will follow the path which leads to life here and hereafter. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” does not work. Do what is right, even if you must walk alone. “As for me and my house, we will follow the Lord” is not a motto. It is a belief system created by God for those who desire to be people of God.
"Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today. He has no help but our help to
lead men in His way.”
