The Medium is the Message: The Good News (part 1)

I could not invite my co-workers to our worship.

My local church is precious to me. The people who comprise it are followers of Christ and lovers of the people around them. Many have sacrificially given of time, talent, and resources to help me and others in times of need. Love for truth and doing our best to practice it are hallmarks of our people. Our times of gathering as a local body are characterized by effective, accurate teaching of God's Word and heartfelt worship. The things that follow must have that backdrop or they will not be seen in perspective.

I have been thinking about my co-workers. The Lord put it on my heart to pray for them and I was trying to take that seriously. So I thought about who these men were. I thought about things that they had told me about their children, grandchildren, and wives. I thought about good things they had done, about bad things. I thought about their work ethic. I thought about their love of sports, hunting, fishing and doing work well. And most of all, I thought about their love for their families. They did hard work, made hard choices, and made hard sacrifices to care for those they loved. They bore the cost of being men with a certain pride and honor. Coarse language and crude suggestions often filled the air as they talked, but that describes them, not defines them. They are men who defined themselves by what they did. They are men who are good neighbors, good friends, and who try to be good dads and husbands. It seems to me that they are not unlike Jesus' disciples, workaday men doing their best---and often failing in ways that would be humorous if not so painful.

I've listened to these guys and spoken when it was right to speak about God. To my knowledge, none of them is a follower of Jesus. I considered asking them to visit our local church, and I couldn't. The things that outwardly describe us as we meet could be called our "package." This package that the gift of God comes wrapped in often hides its incredible worth instead of making it more desirable. The package--sitting in pews, listening with no interaction, nice clothes instead of work clothes, and seemingly nothing real to accomplish-becomes a present that many would not want to unwrap, regardless of the content.

Some time ago, a pop culture guru proclaimed, "The medium is the message!" The messenger is also the message. The means, or person, that brings the message impacts the recipient as much or more than the actual message. If I present the good news through the means of inviting a man to sit in a pew with me, he is going to perceive that sitting in a pew is at least a portion of that good news. For many, that would not be good news at all.

Jesus' invitation was consistently to a lifestyle of activity. Our clarion call is to passionately, obediently follow Him; to a belief defined by action. This was the "hook" that caught Peter. Peter had fished all night and caught nothing. He and his partners had come back to shore as Jesus was teaching. As the crowds pushed close, Jesus commandeered Peter's boat and used it as His pulpit. After the teaching was done, Jesus told Peter how and where to cast the nets again. In spite of weariness and doubt, Peter did as he was told. The resulting great catch led Peter to tell Jesus to leave him because he was sinful. Jesus didn't press him to make a "decision" for Christ, or to come to the next teaching, He said, "Follow Me." And as He did, He gave him a task and a promise. The key to Peter's heart was the promise of productivity. As Jesus caught him, Peter would capture others. Peter was captivated by the message and wanted to be like the messenger. The medium was the message.

If we can learn how to corporately live and worship like this, perhaps our local churches will once again be filled with workaday men and women as we invite them to productivity not passivity.

Matthew 4:19 “Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."