Are Billboards Really the Answer?

Recently I was driving in Charlotte, NC and I came across a billboard that read, “Who is Jesus?”  Under this question was a toll free number you could call to find out.  I did not make the call because I know who Jesus is.  Instead, I pondered the questions that popped into my mind at that moment, “Would Jesus approve of this billboard?”  What do you think?

After pondering it for a few miles, I came to the conclusion that I do not think he would.  You may disagree with me, and I admit I may even be wrong, but let me tell you why I came to this conclusion.

When Jesus instructed those who followed him to go and make disciples he was not simply telling them to go and declare the truth about who he was.  He was calling them to go and teach them what it was to follow Jesus.  He wanted them to impart all that he had taught them to these people who would be compelled by the Spirit to also choose to follow Jesus.

How did Jesus make disciples?  He certainly declared the truth.  He could not help but do so.  He is the truth. Every word he spoke, every action he engaged in, and every relational moment he had with people was saturated with truth, because he was there.  What made the truth he declared so powerful what the fact that it was always connected to his being present with people and them having an actual experience of what it was to receive acceptance, love, grace, mercy and often times healing. 

This connection of the declaration of the truth with the experiential knowledge of the truth caused people to be willing to drop their nets, leave lucrative business, change their life style and abandon their sin in order to follow the one who not only declared the truth, but made it present. 

I don’t think a billboard does this.

If a billboard would have been the ticket for making followers of Jesus I think Jesus would have sent out the disciples, instructing them to go and carve monuments that tell his story. He would have told them to go and erect temples to his name.  He would have told them to go and write the truth in stone where everyone can see it.

Instead he commands them to go, and live a life that is modeled after his where everyone can see it.  His followers, in a sense, are Christ’s billboards which makes him known.  The Apostle Paul says as much in 2 Corinthians 2:14 when he declares, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”  I love that word manifests.  It means to make easily understood or recognized.  You, not some billboard, are designed to make manifest the knowledge of Jesus.

Even though you make know this is true, you might be thinking there is no reason to come down so hard on the poor, defenseless billboard. I disagree.  In fact, I wish I could take them all down.

Imagine for a moment that you have never experienced electricity, or the power of a light bulb to chase darkness away from a room.  What if I told you about the existence of electricity and the ability to access it with the simple throw of a switch?  Because you have never seen it, you might struggle to believe me.  What if I then even invited you over to a switch on a wall and explained that this little mechanical device release the power of electricity to illumine the light bulb, but because the breaker was thrown in the box, when I flipped the switch nothing happened.  What would this do to your ability to believe what I had been telling you about  electricity's ability to bring light to the dimly lit room? 

After awhile if all I did was tell you about the power of electricity, without any experience of it you would walk away not believing what I had shared.  In fact, I would have more than likely inoculated you to the truth, next time someone wanted to share with you the power of electricity; you might not even make the effort to walk over to the switch to see if it would work.  I may have done more harm than good.

How much more likely would it be for you to trust what I have been telling you if when I flipped the switch, the light came on?  It would almost be impossible to deny.

When Jesus sent out his disciples he tells them when they enter a town they are to heal the sick who are there and tell them, the kingdom of God has come near to you.  They are to demonstrate the power of the kingdom and declare the truth of the kingdom.  The declaration of the truth and the experiential knowledge of the truth go hand in hand.  What this does is invite people to respond to, rather than inoculate them from, the truth.

Living the kind of life that manifests Jesus to those around us is much more difficult than building a billboard.  It requires we choose to trust Christ and follow him.  It involves surrendering our lives to the Spirit of God who can transform us into the image of Jesus, and it necessitates we be willing to yield our will to the Father’s.  These are not easy to do.  They require a dying to self, and a willingness to abandon ourselves fully to God.  This can be scary, and I understand why it would be tempting to simply fork out some dough and put up a billboard. 

But that is not the life you were called to.  You were called to a life that manifests the Kingdom of God.  Jesus came and dwelt among us so that we might see his glory and experience the one who is full of grace and truth, and by seeing we might choose to follow.  Christ now dwells in you.  Through you, not some billboard, the world is to see his glory and experience the one who is full of grace and truth.  Hopefully they will choose to follow.  You are the switch that allows them to discover the power that chases away darkness.

This is a great privilege and calling and should not be ceded to a billboard