Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

The Lord is calling people to follow Him, and we have the opportunity to demonstrate a
compassionate, welcoming point of view. In John 8, we can read:
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."
14 Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.

Jesus is calling us to radiate His light - by the way we exalt Him and treat one another.  We are, in essence, walking billboards who have been entrusted with accurately portraying the message of the gospel.  By the way we interact with fellow believers, as Jesus taught, and in the way we interact one-on-one with people, we testify to His love and greatness.  We need to be sure that we are communicating helpful and clear messages for His sake.

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Jesus has given us His Holy Spirit and desires for us to display His light to the world around us.  In
John 13, He taught:
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

People from throughout the Southeast are converging on Birmingham this week for the SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover.   And, people approaching from the south will behold the return of a venerable sign by the side of the road.  For many years, until it was destroyed by a thunderstorm in 2016, there was a sign that read, "Go to Church or the Devil Will Get You," which featured a caricature of the evil one.

According to WSFA, the sign, near the Autauga/Chilton county line, has been reconstructed.  The report says:

The sign sits on land owned by the Newell Family, who operates W. S. Newell Construction Company, near a watermill that's just yards from the interstate.

“It was always a conversation starter in the car,” said Hope Dean, granddaughter of the late Billy Newell, who founded the company and originally erected the sign in 1988.

She related that the family thought that would have been what her grandfather wanted.

Now, theologically, one could make the case that it is not church attendance that keeps the devil away, but the Bible does warn us to not forsake gathering together.  We need the local church, and the teaching and fellowship can help strengthen our spiritual walk - and we have to ensure that we know Jesus and are seeking to live in obedience to Him.  All in all, the sign is a helpful reminder of spiritual devotion.

Further up the road, there is a confusing sign.  As you know, there has been road construction at the intersection of I-65, 59, and 20.  And approaching the intersection from the east on 20-59, there is a glorious new sign, according to WVTM.  It offers direction to 20 North, going to Huntsville, and 65 West and 59 South, heading to Tuscaloosa.  As the TV station states on its website: "The sign was supposed to instruct drivers to use the right lane to take I-65 North to Huntsville and use the middle lane to take I-59 South/I-20 West for Tuscaloosa."  No word on a replacement, although it seems that a crowbar and some super glue might enable you to switch the interstate shields to get them to the right place.

But, further into Birmingham, there is an unhelpful sign.  It's at a church on Cotton Avenue, and according to WVTM:

The sign reads on one side, “Black Folks Need to Stay Out of White Churches." The other side of the sign says, “White Folks Refused to Be Our Neighbors.”

The pastor of the church is responding to the announcement that the largest church in Alabama and one of the largest in the nation, Church of the Highlands, is planning to plant a campus in a high crime neighborhood on the west side of Birmingham. 

The article quotes the pastor, Michael Jordan as saying, "You don't want to live next door to us, so why do you want to put a church here if they don't know us? And I am condemning the black African Americans that worship white churches because the culture is so different..." It goes on to say:

The sign has created a firestorm on social media. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin weighed in on Tuesday, tweeting this:

“There is a spirit of racism and division that is over this city. It must be brought down."

According to ChurchLeaders.com, former Auburn and Buffalo Bills player Mayo Sowell, himself with a background of drugs and crime, including a prison sentence, will be the campus pastor.

In the article, Highlands pastor Chris Hodges is quoted as saying, "We’re going to reach the drug dealers and we’ll get the crime to stop,” adding, “Come on everybody, we’re going to be the local church. I can’t wait to report back to the mayor, and he says ‘great job, hey let’s go over here now.’ That’s what the church should do.”

You see, Mayor Woodfin is quite supportive of the effort.  Hodges relates about what the mayor said about four troubling neighborhoods:

“He said, ‘Chris, there are four of them that are keeping me up at night,'” Hodges said.

“‘There are four of them that people should not live the way they are living, and the fear they’re living in, the crime they are living in, the poverty they are living in. We have to do something about these four communities. All of our communities need stuff, but my priority are these four.’ And I said, ‘Mayor, I want to know which ones they are. If there’s anything we can do to help, I’m committing it to you right now.'

There is a sign for you - a sign that a local church is determined to apply Biblical principles to the needs of hearts that are blinded by sin and deceived by the lure of drugs and crime.   What a message - a message of unity, rather than disunity; of healing rather than hurt.

Signs can send messages - sometimes helpful, sometimes unhelpful, sometimes even outright confusing.  And, we can examine the messages we send - including those with 280 characters on Twitter or what we're posting on Facebook.  We should be dealing in helpful messages that will inspire and perhaps even instruct, but always with a tone that is consistent with the character of Christ.

Jesus spoke about the messages we are sending to the world around us.  He said that the world would know we are His disciples by our love for one another.  He said if He would be lifted up, He would draw people unto Himself.  We can ask ourselves, "Are we a good advertisement for the gospel - individually & collectively?"  

It seems that the Church has tried to become adept at airing its dirty laundry in front of a dying world that needs to see hope.  Sure, we have problems - our churches are full of flawed people, like you and me - but we can follow Biblical instruction in trying to solve our differences.  And, we can present to the world a picture of Christ's love and unity and extend to the world a healthy dose of His compassion, regardless of where He calls us to share it.