Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
We watch a lot of Scooby-do at our house. My four–year old, Zander, loves it. I admit I like it too. There are usually one or two shows on our cable TV on-demand feature. But sometimes we have to watch Scooby-do on regular TV. And that’s when it’s trouble, because there are so many advertisements. And the next thing that happens is Zander yells, “Mommy! Mommy, come here,” and I come running, thinking someone got hurt...only to have Zander ask me, “Mommy do we eat those cereals? Can we buy that?” The power of advertising.
Now that I have a curious and verbal four-year old I notice that ads are everywhere. We are potty training (both boys) and visit lots of public restrooms. There are even ads on the stalls of the bathrooms. I hear that even some golf courses have ads inside the holes. Advertising is everywhere.
Can you guess how many ads an American sees everyday? Anyone? Three thousand. They are everywhere. Inescapable. Sometimes in unexpected places. Sometimes really annoying. But they must be working because companies pay a lot of money for advertising.
Apostle Paul, the writer of our reading from Romans understood the power of advertising, of slogans. He was constantly using strong images of the Roman Empire. Fullness of life and peace were political promises of the Pax Romana, the Roman Empire. This reading was written around the beginning of Nero’s rule and his political propaganda promised a new Golden Age when his rule would reconcile and save the world. Of course we know reconciling and saving is what Jesus Christ did. So Paul took the strong political contemporary images (ads) from Rome and applied them to the real peace, the real salvation that Jesus offers.
Our world in 2007 is really expert in the art of advertising and propaganda, but I don’t think we Christians have kept pace. I wonder how strong and how clever our advertising of Jesus is.
Personally, I’m not always a great advertisement for Christ. Years ago when I was a chaplain at Avista Hospital in Denver, I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from work. I had special- ordered an item and they didn’t have it, and I got upset with a clerk. He said, “I’m so sorry, Sister.” That surprised me, “Sister?” Then I remembered that I was still in my clerical collar, standing there complaining about them not having a particular brand of milk. What sort of ad for Christ was I? I’m much more conscious now of representing the church.
Friday, our family was at the zoo, and we waited in line for the train, but the line was so long we didn’t get on. We were first in line for the next train. Just when that second train pulled up, a woman came up and cut in line. She got in line right behind us. I told her, “This is a line, all these people have been waiting.” Well, she just ignored me. There she was with a huge cross around her neck and I thought she sure could turn some people off thinking, “Yeah, another rude Christian.”
Sometimes even small incidents such as these can keep someone from coming into a church on Sunday. We might convince people the church is full of hypocrites.
But there are other people who make great ads for Christ. A member of this congregation remembers her Grandmother Me Na Ma who never went anywhere without a Bible. And this woman is remembered as being a Godly woman who never said a bad word about anyone in her life. Maybe we never leave home without our cell phone or our MP3 player. Me Na Ma always carried a Bible. A strong advertisement for Christ.
Truth is, that we are called to be witnesses for Christ. We are empowered by the Spirit for this assignment, everyday, to be an ad for God. And this is because we've been given an amazing message to deliver. In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul says that we BOAST in our hope of sharing the glory of God (5:2). We can boast about a high quality product. Paul says, we can boast about: peace, which we have with God (v. 1); God's grace—God's gift of himself—which has brought us new life (v. 2); the glory of God, which we hope to share (v. 2); signs of the end time, which produce endurance and character and hope (v. 4-5); the love of God, through the Holy Spirit (v. 5). The Holy Spirit is seen as a “down payment” on God’s promises—an objective sign that what we hope will indeed come to pass.
As Christians, empowered by the Holy Spirit being poured into our hearts, our challenge is to take this message to the streets. We are to be ads that boast about the triune God. The core message is this:
God created us to be God’s people but we fall short of the mark.
While we still were sinners Christ died for us (v. 8).
The Holy Spirit was sent to turn us to God again and again and to empower our lives.
It's a simple message. Elegant. Kind of shocking, really. Definitely life changing. And every household in America needs to hear it.
So how do we advertise the Gospel? How do we go out into the world as ads for this fantastic free offer? Normally, I’d just ask us to leave here and lead Godly lives—you know, we say it every Sunday: “Go in peace, serve the Lord.” But today, I’m going to ask you to try something different as well: I’d like you all to think about making an infomercial.
I’m serious here. The Rocky Mountain Synod has a new campaign going. They are asking the question, “How do you spot a Lutheran in the west?” They are challenging every one of us to think about what makes us “spot-able” as Christians, what makes us identifiable as Lutherans.
They are asking for short two minute commercials. And they are going to put the videos first on You-Tube and then put the winner on TV. Prizes will be awarded for the best video.
How do you spot a Lutheran in Albuquerque? I think it has to do with how we live our lives, with how we model the unusual, unconditional love of Jesus Christ. It means speaking clearly— even boldly—making videos, even making infomercials about what God has done for us through Jesus, and sharing with the world that this wonderful gift is available to all who need forgiveness and new life.
Because this promise sounds too good to be true to some people out there. And that is why when we leave this place we need to find creative new ways to be living ads for this amazing God.
—Amen.