Billboards. We’ve all seen them. Whether it’s the campaign by the Chick-Fil-A cows to get us all to eat more chicken or a witty pun reminding us that Buc-ee’s is in another 200 miles, billboards exist to get a short, simple message across. Some billboards are hard not to notice; others are easy to ignore.
Imagine for a second that you’re in the car, driving down I-81, and you look over and see a billboard with a message from God to you.
That was the idea of an anonymous donor back in 1998. They contacted an advertising agency with an idea for a billboard campaign that would get people thinking about God.
The first of its type, this advertising campaign used billboards to display messages from God to drivers on the highway. Each of these messages appeared on black billboards with white letters, simply signed “God.”
Here are a few of them.
- Let’s meet at my house Sunday before the game. – God
- Keep using my name in vain, I’ll make rush hour longer. – God
- You think it’s hot here? – God
- Have you read my #1 best seller? There will be a test. – God
- It’s a small world. I know… I made it. – God
- All I know is… everything. – God
- Feeling lost? My book is your map. – God
- Life is short. Eternity isn’t. – God[1]
In our pastoral staff series this summer, we have been looking at seven messages from God. They weren’t written on billboards. They were written on parchments or on papyri, and they were delivered to seven churches in the early Roman Empire. Interestingly, the churches are presented in the order of the postal route a messenger would have followed to deliver the letters. Beginning with Ephesus and moving north and east through Asia Minor, the letters form a geographical circuit through these seven churches.
Christ’s Letter to IBC
Through this series, we’ve asked the question, “If Jesus were to write a letter to IBC, what would it say?” What would God’s message to us be?
It’s an interesting question to speculate about. My hope is that we would be praised for our faithfulness to Christ, our love for each other, and our commitment to sound doctrine. Perhaps He would point out weaknesses that we already recognize, or even expose spiritual blind spots.
However, I don’t think we have to speculate too deeply about what Jesus might say to us. And that’s because we essentially do have His letter to IBC.
The letters to the seven churches are written as more than just a message to these seven individual churches. Jesus includes all of us by using this phrase at the end of each letter:
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7).
This is the biblical way of asking, “Are you listening?” Not so much, do you have ears, but are you using them?
These letters are written as open letters. They are intended for all of us to read. They are meant to be a billboard to us, displaying God’s message for us. They essentially hold up a mirror to the church in every generation.
Each congregation will find some similarities with one or more of these churches. Some will identify with Ephesus and the danger of losing their love for Christ. Others may recognize the experience of Smyrna, suffering faithfully in difficult circumstances. Still others may see themselves in Pergamum or Thyatira, where faithfulness to Christ was mixed with an increasing tolerance for compromise.
So we do not need to guess at what Christ would say to us. We have His message to IBC, reflected in the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation.
Principles from the Letters to the Seven Churches
So what are some principles that we can draw from these letters? As we listen with ears ready to hear and hearts prepared to change, what can we learn from the message of Jesus to His church?
1. Keep your love for Christ. Ephesus shows us that sound doctrine and good works are not enough if we do not love Jesus. Don’t get so caught up in a routine that you miss the relationship.
2. Remain faithful to Christ. Smyrna shows us that Christ does not promise us an easy life. But He does call us to faithfulness amid suffering. No matter what we suffer now, the eternal reward will be worth it. We must remain faithful, even when it costs us everything.
3. Resist compromise. One of the greatest dangers we face is remaining Christian in name while living just like the world around us in practice. Pergamum and Thyatira show us the danger of compromise, and the need for holy living.
4. Stay watchful. A good reputation does not equate to spiritual health. We must stay awake and alert, remembering what Christ has done for us and remaining faithful to Him.
5. Depend on Christ. Philadelphia shows us what it looks like to trust in Christ and remain faithful to Him. Laodicea warns us what a failure to depend on Christ can lead to. Ultimately, we must depend on Him completely.
Taken together, these seven letters give us a searching picture of what Christ desires from His church. The only question that remains is whether we will be church that is characterized by these qualities. My prayer is that we would remain faithful in each of these areas until Christ returns.
[1] Godspeaks. www.godspeaks.org/about/history.