He Changes Us!

During the Superbowl a week and a half ago, advertisers spent $7 million dollars to place their 30-second ad in front of the viewers. There was one ad campaign that has generated some talk called “He Gets Us.” They spent $14 million dollars on a 1-minute ad during the Superbowl with a punchline that said, “Jesus didn’t teach hate. He washed feet.” It was met with mixed reviews. Many evangelical Christians, including me, believe it is an insufficient message. While we should want our Christian message that “God loves everyone” to be front and center, this ad seems to lean too heavily on God’s grace and not enough on God’s truth or God’s holiness. 
 
Jesus came full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Grace showed His love. Truth showed His righteousness. This culture seems to only want the Jesus Who is full of grace. However, He doesn’t give us that option.
 
John 8:1–8:11 (NKJV)
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.
3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,
4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
 
Jesus, here, is full of grace (“neither do I condemn you”) and full of truth (“go and sin no more”). He calls what she has been doing “sin”.
 
The insufficient message that Jesus “gets” us is that He will leave us as we are. I love Psalm 40:2, which says, “He lifted me out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my steps.” He saw us in our pitiful condition – in our sin, and He pulled us out. He doesn’t just “get” us, He “changes” us. He “redeems” us.
 
Jamie Bambrick felt that this Superbowl ad was insufficient and created a simple spin-off of what the ad could have been. You can watch it below:

This very good video is conveying the power of Jesus to change a life. He doesn’t just point to us in the pit, saying, “I ‘get’ you.” He actually “gets” us out of the pit! He Alone can change us, redeem us, save us. This should be our gospel message to the world.
 
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
 
Let’s praise God that He loves us just as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us just as we are. He changes us. Don’t be ashamed of a Jesus Who came full of grace and full of truth.
 
“Dear God, I remember that I was once in that pit. I was lost. I was drowning in my sin. You came and saved me. You lifted me out of that pit. You cleansed me. You forgave me. Now, I am not perfect, but I am changed. I pray that I share the gospel as You present it in the Bible. May I never be ashamed of You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”