Sermons for the Month

Billboards from God
DATE: December 12, 1999
SERVICE: Advent III
TEXT: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN

Advertising works!

Advertising sells shoes, tacos, diapers, cereal, cars, toothpaste, sodas, God, books, beer, cell phones and much more. God? Advertising sells God?

Exactly. Picture this: A dark red poster covered with a black-inked image of a stern-faced, visionary and revolutionary Jesus, his forehead ringed with thorns. It's an image of Jesus recast, transformed, reformed and portrayed as "the Latin American revolutionary leader Che Guevara created in order to challenge the image of Jesus as a 'guy in a white nightie with a halo.' The caption across the bottom of the poster reads, "MEEK. MILD. AS IF. Discover the real Jesus. Church. April 4'" (The Church Advertising Network, England, printed in Harper's Magazine, March 1999, 21).

If we are to take the words of Isaiah seriously--"The spirit of the Lord is upon me ... because he has sent me to bring good news"--then surely changing times demand a changing approach. Many innovative Christian leaders are jacking up flat-tire churches by ratcheting up the creativity. Such creativity is necessary now more than ever. Once upon a time there were Blue Laws forbidding doing anything on Sundays. All stores by law were closed. You couldn't even buy a gallon of milk or a pack of cigarettes. God was the only show in town. Now Sundays are days of competition. Have you seen how full Summit Mall is on Sunday mornings? Of course not! You're here! But the rumor is: It's packed. I was received an invitation to attend the grand opening of a grocery store. It was 10 AM Sunday morning. Since Sundays are no longer exclusively days for worship, advertising hammers the message home in a way no other medium can. God billboards can now be seen throughout the country.

The God billboard campaign started last year when an anonymous person walked into the Smith Agency in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and said, "I want to market God." He had the goal of showing God as a living God ... not as a historical God, stagnant in the Bible, but a God who loves and cares about people. The billboards were designed to promote God as the guy next door rather than the guy upstairs.

As word about the Florida campaign spread, the idea caught on. Soon the Outdoor Advertising Agency of America made a commitment to put billboards across America. Here's a sample of what they say:

--"Let's Meet At My House Sunday Before The Game -- God."

--"C'mon Over And Bring The Kids -- God."

--"We Need To Talk -- God."

--"Loved The Wedding, Invite Me To The Marriage -- God."

--"That 'Love Thy Neighbor Thing,' I Meant It -- God."

--"Need Directions? -- God."

--"You Think It's Hot Here? -- God."

--"Tell The Kids I Love Them -- God."

--"Need A Marriage Counselor? I'm Available -- God."

--"Have You Read My #1 Bestseller? There Will Be A Test -- God"

The Church Ad Project has also put together provocative, eye-catching print-ready ads, each with an appropriate graphic, for local church use in newspapers. Our Witness Team has been using it for its own ideas.

--"There's only one problem with religions that have all the answers. They don't allow questions."

--"There's a difference between baptized and brainwashed."

--"People used to solve their problems by turning to Matthew and John, not Smith and Wesson."

--"You say his name often enough on the highway. Why not try saying it in church?" The small copy at the bottom reads: "You feel much better using the Lord's name in prayer. Not in traffic. Worship this Sunday" (The Web site of the God billboards is www.godspeaks. net).

And I hope you have been following along with our Chris Sears innovative ads in the West Side Leader that feature his two dogs saying things like, "Where do they go every Sunday"

So Isaiah says to us that our business is all about anointing, about being "sent," about "bringing," about "binding," about "proclaiming," about "comforting," about "providing," about "giving," about "planting," about "raising," about "building" (61:1-4). That's advertising--getting people to listen to the message. And this is the mandate of the church: to do all of the above in the power of the Spirit. If that means, in part, throwing up a billboard downtown or at the freeway interchange that "markets" God, fine. If that means putting a print ad in the local paper that gets some good press for God, fine.

God, you know, is not adverse to getting some good publicity. In fact, although he revealed himself through the law and the prophets, Bethlehem is the quintessential campaign: God comes down and lives among us. Jesus is the Bethlehem billboard baby crying out the timeless message: "I love you." The same incarnational billboard baby, who was born 2000 years ago, now rests upon each of us--which raises the troubling question, "What kind of billboard for God are we anyway?"

You remember that when Jesus left this world, he said to us: "You will be my billboards in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). He does not give us a choice: We who name the name of Jesus are billboards. The question is: are we good ones, effective ones? Do our billboard bodies express the nature of God? Do our lives ring true? Isaiah provides the default billboard by which to measure the message: We are called to proclaim the good news, to comfort others, to give as we have been given--and more.

We're generally creative when it comes to proclaiming the good news. The ancient symbol of the fish quietly, covertly advertised who were Christians. Stained-glass windows in medieval European cathedrals were picture stories for the illiterate masses. The printing of the Gutenburg Bible was a revolutionary innovation of biblical communication. Radio, television, Web sites, the Internet, billboards, all have their place.

But there has never been a substitute for YOU. You are God's living billboard erected in a world of dissonance to shout the good news, to make a culture which is accustomed to processing 1,500 messages a day, to hear, to catch God's transforming message of love. We're sent to bring the good news to the people. And it is good news. Sometimes it's the only good news among the empty news and the bad news everybody gets every day. But it is not just a matter of bringing the good news; it's a matter of being the good news. Isaiah's message is, "The spirit of the Lord is upon us...." Remember, "He died to take away your sins. Not your minds." Let's use them.

AMEN

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