Communication Or Miscommunication Series

2010 02 21 Ashingdon PM Communication

Hebrews 1:1-4

Have you ever miscommunicated your thoughts when trying to tell them to someone?

Most of us have, and then the following confusion can be very irritating, if not dangerous.

Sometimes, miscommunication can be very frustrating.

‘A man called his neighbour to help him move a couch that had become stuck in the doorway.

They pushed and pulled until they were exhausted, but the couch wouldn’t budge.

“Forget it,” the man finally said.

“We’ll never get this in.”

The neighbour looked at him and said, “In?”

Then again, there are times when miscommunication leads to absolute bewilderment.

And then again, there times when we just do not understand at all.

The problem is that we use two words interchangeably, but they mean two different things. They are ‘communicate’ and ‘information’.

The word communicate means to ‘give out’, while the word information means to ‘get through’.

Most of us are very good at ‘giving out’, but not all of us are good at ‘getting through’.

An American Food company started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the USA--with a cute baby on the label.

They did not have a lot of success and many jars were returned to them unsold.

Later they found out that in Africa because many people cannot read

most companies put pictures on the label of what is actually inside the jar.

When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, “Pepsi Brings You Back to Life” pretty literally.

The slogan in Chinese really meant, “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave.”

And, the Vauxhall Nova never sold very well in Spanish speaking countries. “No Va” means “It Does Not Go” in Spanish....

But, sometimes, miscommunications can be downright dangerous.

This notice was found in a newspaper:

··· ‘In our book, “Skydiving Made Easy”, please make the following correction:

On page 12, we have omitted point 4b.

POINT READS 4a Altitude awareness is the skydiver’s most important task until the parachute opens.

And point 4c “check your altitude then look directly below your feet and observe your position over the ground.”

Please ensure you add in point 4b - ‘PULL RIP CORD’.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.’

-----

Sometimes, we just fail to express ourselves properly, and the results are disastrous.

Many times, Christians do not properly convey their message, either.

Lets get into the word: HEBREWS 1:1-4,

1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

1st point. GOD KEEPS KNOCKING

I think this is the perfect example of what I said a moment ago. All this time, God was ‘giving out’, but the hardness of our hearts kept Him from ‘getting through’.

From the very beginning, God wanted us to focus on Him; to love Him and be obedient to Him, but what did we do?

We kept focusing on what we wanted; what we desired; and what we thought – all to the total exclusion of God.

We have hated the very same people we were supposed to love.

We concentrated more on killing those same people we were supposed to be trying to bring to Christ.

We have coveted from the same people we were supposed to reach out and give to.

God started out by having a personal relatioship with Adam and Eve. The Bible states that He would come down to the garden during the coolness of the day and walk with them.

Think about that for a moment.

How awesome would that be?

Every person here should be seeking – a personal and intimate relationship with God, through His Son, Jesus.

But what did Adam and Eve do?

They ignored what God had told them, and instead, they concentrated on what they wanted.

God spent the next several thousand years trying to get everyone’s attention back on Him, but the curse had already been instilled in us.

We became selfish and bitter against God.

We ignored the prophets that God sent to warn us, and just went to war against one another.

We chose to kill rather than listen.

What did God do next?

He did not just shake His head in disgust and walk off. He decided to take drastic steps.

He sent His Son, down here to be our blood sacrifice.