A while back ago, I saw this picture on Facebook and actually had a pretty good laugh. This Chinese restaurant’s name is OK Chinese Food, and you can probably rest assured that there are many people who have also laughed at this failed message. When I was on temporary duty in South Korea back in the ’90s, I learned that when Koreans used that phrase, for them, it didn’t mean average or just enough to get by, but they meant it as something that was good. My South Korean counterpart even told me that the phrase, “OK” had been adopted by the South Korean culture over time in their efforts to understand and communicate with the American military stationed in South Korea.
I would probably guess that the Chinese family that named this restaurant meant OK in the exact same way as the South Koreans do. I am sure that if they understood that most Americans see OK as being average or enough to get by, they would have chosen to use a different word to describe their cuisine. No restaurant owner wants to advertise that their food is average or just enough to pass the health inspectors. This is an example of a failed message that does not convey the meaning that the owners desired. This morning I was thinking about the messages that everyone sends out just doing our everyday things. Whether we are at work, at the marketplace, the post office, gym, or even just doing things around the house, everything we do sends a message to others. We send a message in the way we are dressed, the way we act, the way we speak, and even in the way we interact with others whom we come into contact. This is one of the reasons I believe that the Holy Spirit led James to write But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves (James 1:22).
What message do we send to others around us? I know that as I have begun to mature in my faith that I have become more aware of the message I project. A few years back, I attended a church that had a very active soul winning program. I was also attending college in Louisiana and I often wondered why people never really took me seriously about my faith. While I didn’t have the answer then, looking back now, I do – I was sending out a wrong message. I was proclaiming Jesus as my Lord and Savior, yet was continuing to live a life dominated by the flesh. Any message we send out about our faith must be a clear, uncluttered, and focused message. We can only do this through allowing Jesus to have complete lordship over our lives. Even the Lord Jesus Christ taught, And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock (Luke 6:46-48). Think about the application of this parable – if we live the kind of life that God calls us to, we will be sending out a clear, understandable message free from confusion.
When storms come, I have always seen people flee to relatives who have sturdy, well-built homes to ride out the storms; I’ve never seen people flee to relatives living in a trailer house to ride out storms. Do you want to be able to lead your family and friends to the Lord? Want to be able to share the gospel of the Lord with your children or grandchildren? You cannot send out mixed messages. You cannot say you love Jesus and continue to live a life that sends the opposite message out. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great (Luke 6:49). Just as the first part of the parable has a powerful application, so does this verse. When our message is unclear, garbled, and confused, we are not an effective witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. When people are in crisis, they do not want someone who is no more stable than they, they want someone who has their life grounded on a firm foundation.
As I mentioned before, I love travelling. While driving, I love listening to talk radio and at night, I find AM radio stations. It has always amazed me that as I am driving through northern Louisiana or Mississippi how I can pick up stations as far away as Chicago, New York, El Paso, and even Montreal. Normally, I do not station surf, but will listen until the station begins to become overlapped by other stations. At that point, its hard to listen to the original station I was listening to as the signal becomes distorted, garbled, and the programming begins to overlap. It becomes a great picture of why the Lord tells us But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil (Matthew 5:37) and why he also stated, No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13). Just as my car radio picks up garbled messages, when we don’t do our very best to send a clear message about Christ with our very being, we are sending a message that gets received and causes confusion for all who hear it.
I believe that James was led to write, For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work (James 3:16) and Paul writes, For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints (I Corinthians 14:33). When we begin to allow Jesus to have complete lordship over our lives and we begin to live up to the standards that He has set for us, we will send out the message that we need to send and it will be understood by those that need to hear of the love of God. We will become like the wise man who built his house upon the rock and be able to bear witness of the greatness of God. We can’t even begin to do that as long as we’re transmitting the wrong message.
