False Advertising

 

Helmut Thielicke was a German theologian and prolific author in the 1900s. He once told the story of a time when, as a college student, he was riding through town on his bicycle. Having skipped breakfast that morning, Thielicke was hungry as he pedaled his bike. When he saw a large sign in a store window that said “Hot Rolls for Sale,” he had to stop in. 

 

Thielicke said the sign made him realize how hungry he was, and as he parked and made his way to the store, his mouth was beginning to water in anticipation of filling his empty stomach. Once inside, it dawned on him that he was not in a bakery or diner at all, but had actually entered a print shop. The sign in the window was not advertising hot rolls; it was advertising the company’s ability to make signs.

 

Helmut was bitterly disappointed. He entered the store under false pretenses. The sign got his hopes up, but it did not deliver what he felt it promised. How many churches do that same thing every Sunday? There is a big sign out front that indicates it is a church, but once people go inside they discover it is anything but. The music is entertaining but it has nothing to do with the Lord. The message is well delivered but it isn’t based on the Bible. There might be great multimedia, interior decorating, and activities for the kids, but there is nothing of redemption or sanctification. 

 

To quote Erwin Lutzer in We Will not be Silenced, “Our churches may advertise the gospel, but once inside, you might find an extension of the culture around us…what you might not hear is a word from God. You might hear a lot about grace but nothing about sin; you might hear how to get blessed by God but nary a word about how to withstand the cultural pressures that are destroying our children and silencing our witness.”

 

Our churches must be churches, preaching the gospel and being the hands and feet of Jesus. But it starts with the individual church members being the people they are called to be. If you are expecting hot rolls, it is disappointing to wind up in a print shop. If you are expecting a New Testament church, it is disappointing to wind up in a shallow service. And when you meet someone who claims to be a Christian, it is disappointing to find out they are living like the world.

 

Proverbs 11:30 says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.” It is refreshing to meet a Christian who lives out his faith, and when we live right, we are a tree of life to those who need it. We might not produce hot rolls, but we do produce fruit. Because each person has a God-shaped void in their life, they are looking for something, and we can provide it for them. No false advertising; we must live up to our name.