Losing a game we shouldn’t be playing

A billboard stood for the longest time along Interstate 64 near Charleston, W. Va., that read “Heaven or Hell? You Choose?”

Every time I saw it, it made me angry because that’s not what the church Jesus came to earth to establish is supposed to be about.

The Christian church is losing an advertising battle with McDonald’s, Apple and Walmart – the list goes on and on.

But it’s a battle we’re not even supposed to be engaged in.

Jesus didn’t say go to the ends of the earth and put up billboards. He commanded us to take the good news to the ends of the earth ourselves – by telling people.

An owner of a small family auto dealer told me last week that they don’t rely on advertising. He said word of mouth still works.

I think most business owners would agree that word of mouth has and always will be the best way to grow its customer base.

Well, the Christian base is only going to grow if we go and tell.

If we don’t go and spread the life-saving, transforming news of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and His resurrection to defeat death; if we don’t tell people that putting your faith in Him and recognizing He lived a life we could never live and died a gruesome, unjust death that we rightly deserve; that God will look on Him and pardon us when we accept Jesus as our savior; then we’re allowing billboards like the one I described to lead the way.

And guess what, if you aren’t a Christian and don’t understand that Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life” and that “no one comes to the Father except through (Him),” and you see a sign that says “Heaven or Hell? You Choose,” you’re going to choose heaven because it is better than the alternative.

But you can’t just choose heaven. It doesn’t work that way. That sign and the cutesy message boards outside churches don’t and can’t tell why each of us so desperately needs Jesus.

If we rely on billboards and signs and, to an extent, 30-second commercials on Christian radio, to present the Christian faith, we’re going to loose out to the iPhone, DirecTV’s NFL package, Ford, Cheerio’s and any number of other companies that convince millions of people each day that they NEED their product.

I want to make it very clear that not every billboard, not every church message board and not every Christian radio public service announcement is bad. The problem is allowing that to replace our job as Christians to go and tell.

Pastor and author John Piper said the U.S. is the hardest country to be a Christian in. Why? Because there are so many things that can become our idols. A good friend of mine told me this week it’s also because Americans are so spoiled that it’s difficult to convince them they need anything – let alone a Jesus they can’t see, touch or add as a Facebook friend.

Last week at Crew Church, Greg Lucas -- a respected man in our community not only for being a police officer but also for the way he lives out his faith – talked about missions. He said if we don’t go, they won’t know.

So, are we going to rely on the message boards outside church to lure in the unsaved with some catchy phrase like, “Board broken. Come inside for the message.” Or are we going to go and tell them about Jesus and what He’s done in our lives.

Seeing and hearing about how our lives are changed is what will draw them to Him. That’s how they’ll know and that’s how we reflect His glory to the world.