How Does He Get Us?

A lot of buzz has been going around the Christian internet sphere about the recent ad campaign from “He Gets Us”. I have seen a lot of posts from people who are either for or against the campaign. For myself personally I think they both have valid points.

For the against crowd their focus is on the lack of a repentance message. Ultimately, no matter how you parse it the core of the Gospel is that we are to turn to Christ, repent, and follow Him in the new life He offers. If we leave this out (even under the guise of pre-evangelism), people may think that following Jesus can happen without a change. That change can only truly come from the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Through prevenient grace, God opens our eyes to our need for repentance to make the choice to ask Christ to forgive us, and then we begin to follow Him. Demonstrating our allegiance to our King in every aspect of our lives. I do also share some of the political leaning concerns as well. The messaging that is presented does utilize imagery and hints towards a more progressive liberal political message that is hard to separate from what they are trying to do. The definition of “hate” in our modern world really means, “you don’t agree or accept how I live my life, so you hate me!” That is not the definition of hate, and utilizing that definition, then Jesus would be called a hater for calling people out of their sin. Not making them comfortable in it.

On the other hand, there is room to agree with some of the heart that this particular campaign is getting at. From my perspective many in the Evangelical world have traded gospel witness for political activity. This is not to say we shouldn’t be involved in politics. We are to be! But it seems that for some the primary method of bringing about change has turned to political mechanisms, rather than the Great Commission. Instead of proclaiming Christ as King and having our hope in Him, some seem to ascribe messianic power to the presidency of whoever is their candidate of choice (be it Republican or Democrat). As Christians our method of impacting the world around us never has been, and never will be politics...rather transformed hearts. When we trade God’s Kingdom for setting up our own it leads to tyranny, injustice and death. Because of much of this many’s discourse has become very militant and unloving. Rather than presenting the gospel, we also throw in whichever partisan politics we want to see established.

So what are we to do?

Balance and wisdom are needed. Any gospel preached without repentance is not actually good news because it does not solve our greatest human need. Salvation. Likewise, we are to love and be gracious. Jesus didn’t demand the Zealots or Pharisees to join the others movement, but rather to follow Him and sin no more. We can and should stand firm on the truth of the gospel, while at the same time being filled with love and grace towards those who are hurt and broken, in need of hearing the transforming message of the gospel. Just like all who now follow Christ did before coming to a saving knowledge of King Jesus.

The washing takes place, the washing away of our sins.