Recently
we began a free lunch outreach once a week at the church building. Before we
got started I put out a general appeal for someone to make us a “sandwich
board” that we could use the day of the event each week to get people’s
attention. Thanks to Nick Pettee we have a great one that is perfect for our
needs.
The
expression “sandwich board” is not about food. Sandwich boards can be carried by a person, with one board in front and one behind,
creating a "sandwich" effect. I found the following description on
Wikipedia: “The carried version is usually attached to
straps acting as suspenders, allowing the person wearing the boards to
carry the weight on his or her shoulders and keeping the boards balanced on the
wearer. Sandwich boards are most typically deployed in busy pedestrian areas
and advertise businesses within easy walking distance. The wearer might also
pass out flyers or shout advertising slogans. Sandwich boards were most popular in the
19th century, and have largely been supplanted by billboards, which are more effective in advertising to
passers-by who are now likely to be in automobiles, rather than traveling by foot.”
The
first thought that comes to my mind when I think about this kind of sandwich
board is (usually a cartoon version of) a man wearing a sign that says,
“Repent, the end is near.” This has become a caricature in today’s world, and
most people would ignore a real person on the sidewalk with such a sign. Joanne
and I used to visit New York City quite a bit when her parents lived in
Brooklyn. It was common to encounter street preachers of many types. While
there may be a few people who would stop and gather to listen, most would pass
by without giving the preacher the time of day. In the case of some preachers
that may not have been all that bad. But some good gospel preaching was missed
by many. The same kind of thing happens with people wearing sandwich boards.
Let’s
imagine you could wear a sandwich board for a time someplace in our world
today. If it were totally up to you, what message would you display on it? To
whom would it be directed? What outcomes would you hope for in your decision to
wear it?
If you
think about it, we who are followers of Jesus are “walking sandwich boards”.
People can “read” us as we live and interact with them day by day. They can
read us by the words we say and how we say them. They can read us by the manner
in which we conduct our lives. They can read us by how we treat them and how we
respond to them. They can read us by the choices we make. They can read us by
our posts on Facebook. There are so many ways that we may communicate that
Christ is Lord and that He is our all in all. But He must be Lord, and He must
be our all in all first on the inside where no one can see. May God be
glorified by what others “read” in you and me.
2 Corinthians 3:2-4 (NIV) 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known
and read by everybody. 3 You show that you are a letter from
Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of
the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such
confidence as this is ours through Christ before God.
2 Corinthians 3:2-4 (MSG) 2 You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very
lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. 3 Christ
himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into
stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it. 4 We
couldn't be more sure of ourselves in this—that you, written by Christ
himself for God, are our letter of recommendation.
Hebrews 8:10 (NIV) 10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write
them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
PRAYER: Father, fill me with Your Spirit, and write
your love and grace on my heart. Let it be in a kind of writing that cannot be
erased, one that will work itself out in my thoughts, words, attitudes, and
deeds in such a way that the ongoing work of your grace will be clear and easy to
read by all those around me. Thank you. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”
Jesus
Christ is Lord!
Scott
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