Recently we were thinking about getting a new church sign. The old one doesn’t communicate well. It’s not only out of date, it just doesn’t stand out. The impression it makes doesn’t create curiosity and interest in our church to passers by.
Made me think about our lives as believers in Christ. Do we communicate our faith in Christ in an effective manner to our friends who don’t yet know Him? Does our life create curiosity and interest in others? Do we need to update our lives as HUMAN CHURCH SIGNS before we concern ourselves with the metal and plastic kind of sign in the church lawn?
Consider what Our Lord and Master Jesus himself said to His followers:
"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth life unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
These are familiar words that can easily be taken for granted. Let me tell you three ways I believe these words of Christ teach we are HUMAN CHURCH SIGNS:
1. A sign is something put in a place of high visibility.
Jesus said believers "are the light of the world" -not "we can become the light of the world’. "A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid".
Try as you may, if you are a believer in Christ, your faith in Him makes you someone other people are evaluating. You are the "city set on the hill". You are the human church sign. Fair or not, others will get their first and sometimes their only impression about what Christ and the church are like from watching your life.
Here are some things people notice about us:
a. How we treat others.
Love and respect are two very important commodities for Christ followers. Your family and friends who haven’t yet made a commitment to Christ won’t be impacted as much by your knowledge as by how much you care for them. ("They won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care".)
That’s why Jesus was so effective (and sometimes why we’re not). He showed love and respect to everyone. He attracted followers by being kind, generous, unselfish, friendly, courteous, thoughtful, etc.
Jesus helped people meet their needs, and He asked for nothing in return. He didn’t meet a segment of society that was above Him or below Him. He was just as accomodating to lepers as he was rulers. He didn’t discriminate along racial or gender lines. He gave audience to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews in John 3, and then a Samaritan woman in John 4.
I’ve often wondered what the "rest of the story" was for Jesus to be able to walk up to fishermen like Peter and Andrew and cause them to leave their nets at His request, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men". (Matthew 4:19) I think they not only sensed something about Christ’s love for them, but I also think they wanted to participate in a way of life that would show His love to others. The emphasis on "fishers of men" is often "believers bragging about who caught the biggest or most fish". To the early disciples I believe the emphasis was on "men". I believe they wanted to love and to be loved, and Jesus afforded them an opportunity to live that lifestyle. People are still hungry to love and be loved today!
b. Secondly, others notice how we respond to tough times.
When your faith is challenged do you express doubt or confidence in God? There must be a reality to your faith in the storm for others to want what you have. Anyone can smile on a sunny day. Oh I’m not saying you have to be a fake. That will only hinder your effectiveness at causing others to want what you have. But you will have to show them a faith that conquers if you expect them to come along.
That’s why discipleship is so important. Being a Christ follower involves deepening your faith. Learning the essentials of walking with God through study of the Bible and daily prayer and meditation.
Recently I read with interest the first issue of a new magazine entitled, "My Generation" (March/April 2001). It’s a new magazine specifially for Baby Boomers. Now you may not be a boomer but I think you will find this interesting.
In an article entitled, "Leap of Faith", the magazine reports that a third of baby boomers are "born again" Christians. Even so, the article continues, one-quarter of born again boomers believes in the possibility of communicating with the dead; a third, in reincarnation and astrology; and half, in psychic powers.
These beliefs are, of course, not biblical. And it causes me to wonder how we expect our light to shine when our batteries are this low.
If you’re not growing "in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18), don’t expect your faith to be attractive to others.
Well there are other things folks notice about us that attract or detract from them wanting to follow the Christ we follow, but I think you can begin to see the picture.
Here’s the second way Jesus’ words teach that His followers are HUMAN CHURCH SIGNS:
2. A sign pleads for results.
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 15:5, "men don’t light a candle and put it under a bushel basket". That would be ridiculous. We don’t build church signs and put them out behind the building. No, Jesus said, "you put the light on the candlestick, where it can give light to everybody in the house".
Among other things, this passage makes me thankful for electricity. It’s good to flip a switch and have light in your home. Thankfully we don’t have to light our homes with candles anymore. But still I wonder what some homebuilders were thinking. We have a few rooms in our house where I wish the lighting was different. It doesn’t seem to me the lights were put in the right place.
If I’m reading for instance, which I often am, I want light above and behind me, not in my face and over to my side. You have to put lighting where it does it’s job.
I think that’s what Jesus is getting at here. Christ wants us to produce results.
Now I know a lot of mistakes can be made by measuring one Christian by another, or measuring one church by another. But in the parable of the talents Jesus makes it clear that every believer should have results, whether they were given one talent, five talents, or ten talents. (Matthew 25)
When you put up a church sign you hope for results. Even if a church sign doesn’t bring lots of people into your services it will at least make the community around you more aware of what goes on at your place.
That’s what Christ followers should be doing! Our lives should be producing the results of folks becoming gradually more aware of what Jesus is about.
Now I have a few practical considerations here too. (Actually I have dozens, but I just want to share a couple now.)
a. Always talk positively about Christ and the church.
Would you ever attend a church where the sign in the front yard read, "Come to our church: we are a bunch of negative, conceited, argumentative, stubborn, obnoxious people"?
You wouldn’t attend that church. Not unless you were looking for the World Wrestling Federation.
Well folks don’t attend churches where the human church signs give the same message!
A co-worker has a disagreement with you. How do you handle it? I’m not saying Christians can’t contend for their rights. But there is a way to contend without being contentious! Why would they want a faith that makes them hard to live with?
Dr. James Dobson, founder and President of Focus on the Family, has a hobby of collecting messages on signs. I heard him tell on the radio one day about one of his favorites. "No trespassing. Violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." At the bottom of the sign was, "Sisters of Mercy".
b. Create interest by your message.
A sign catches your attention if the message is catchy. Let me read you a few messages found on church signs:
"Count your blessings. Recounts are okay too."
"God loves everybody, but He prefers fruits of the Spirit to religious nuts."
"You can’t hide behind a hypocrite unless you’re smaller than he is."
Well I thought those were a few catchy messages for church signs.
What is your life doing to create interest in your friends who haven’t yet made a commitment to Christ?
Ask God to help you come up with something. Hopefully I’ll have a sermon on that topic soon. (See, "Please Pass The Salt")
But the third way the words of Christ teach us we should be human church signs:
3. A sign points to something else.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven". (Matthew 5:16)
A sign doesn’t draw attention to itself. It draws attention to something else. Christ followers draw attention to (glorify) their Father in heaven.
Our lives should magnify God’s character to others. They know He is a God of love by our love. They know He is holy by our holiness, etc.
The specific term Jesus uses is "good works". He says that when others see our "good works" they will glorify God the Father in heaven.
"Good works" is a term fairly easy to define. Are you ready? "Good works" means "doing work that is good".
The part that most folks shy away from is "work". You know, "toil", "labor", "doing something". But not just "doing something", but "doing something good".
Hey, do you want to know what brings glory to God - His followers doing something good.
Now the possibilities are endless.
It can be everything from fixing a meal for someone who is sick, to teaching a Sunday school class, to listening to someone who needs a friend.
You’d think to give glory to God you had to cast a demon out of somebody or something. Which, of course, would be a good work, but its not the only one.
What would qualify as a good work? Two questions:
Is it good? Is it work?
Is it something that is right and, did you expend an effort? Presto! You gave glory to God!
Now the point our Savior is making is that men who don’t yet know Him see your good works!
You are a human church sign every time someone sees you do a good work. Which is one reason I think a lot of folks have gotten out of balance Christ’s words in Matthew 6:1.
"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven".
The point Jesus was trying to make in Matthew Six was about motive. The hypocrites in Jesus’ day wanted to impress others about their own importance. (Matthew 6:2) But if your motive is to bring glory to God, "good works" are in order. Self-glory versus God’s glory, that’s the issue. You can’t use Christ’s words as an excuse to be an "underground" Christian.
Well, what about it? Does the old sign you used to be need to come down and a new one put in it’s place?
