Not "Getting" It

In the book of John, we can see the narrative and observations of a man who walked closely with Jesus, who saw the true Jesus up close and personal. Through the writings of the Scriptures, we see the true Jesus, the Savior of the World, who died for us, rose from the dead, lives in the hearts of His people, and is our source of truth. John chapter 1 contains these words:
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.' "
16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Notice the word, "truth," is found twice in those four verses - there is something that God wants us to get here. In an age in which it is all-too-common to reduce Jesus to a good teacher - which He was - or some kind of activist, there are those who fail to recognize or acknowledge that Jesus' earthly life was an example to us, as well as a precursor to His become the perfect sacrifice for...wait for it...sin. We are sinners, and Jesus came to save us, fill us with His Spirit, and empower us to live His truth.

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It seems to me that there are plenty of people out there who are OK with Jesus, yet they don't obey His teachings or even regard Him as the embodiment of absolute truth. We can read this in John chapter 14:
6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.

Jamie Bambrick is Associate Pastor of Hope Church Craigavon in Northern Ireland. According to The Christian Post, he "makes occasional YouTube videos about theological and cultural topics." A recent video he made garnered over 2 million views on X within a week after it was released.

He is quoted as saying, "It's been a little bit crazy, I'm going to be honest," adding, "I've not gone viral anywhere near this level before. It's been good, but incredibly positive and incredibly well-received, which has been a real blessing."  The article says:

His video features portraits of Christians who have prominent testimonies regarding how they turned away from a sinful lifestyle.

The video includes black-and-white slides of individuals, including: "Kat Von D, a tattoo artist and TV personality who became a Christian after renouncing witchcraft; Josh Timonen, who became a Christian after helping atheist Richard Dawkins write a book against God; John Bruchalski, an abortionist turned OB/GYN; and Steven Bancarz, who repented of New Age practices." Former Meeting House guests Laura Perry, a women who once had identified as a man, and former lesbian Rosaria Butterfield were also part of the lineup.

The Christian Post says: 

The ad concludes with the message: "Jesus doesn't just get us. He saves us. He transforms us. He cleanses us. He restores us. He forgives us. He heals us. He delivers us. He redeems us. He loves us. Such were some of you."

The video was made by Pastor Bambrick in response to one of those "He Gets Us" ads, one of the ads that ran during the Super Bowl, about which he says, 

"I think a lot of Bible-believing Christians viewed [the 'He Get Us' ad] and went, 'You know what, this just isn't a reflection of the Gospel, and it's not a reflection of our heart toward the lost, either,'" Bambrick said. "It seemed to be almost a condemnation of Bible-believing Christians. That was the implication that I think a reasonable person would have gotten from watching it."

The article noted:

The "He Gets Us" ad, which was titled "Foot Washing," featured a slideshow of people washing other people's feet. Some high-profile Evangelicals took issue with the apparent undertone of some of the images, which included left-wing protesters, a priest washing the feet of an apparent homosexual, and a woman washing the feet of a younger woman outside an abortion clinic while pro-life protesters in the background ignored them.

The ad concluded by emblazoning the on-screen message: "Jesus didn't teach hate. He washed feet. He gets us. All of us."

CBN.com also covered Bambrick's ad and the motivation for it, relating: 

“I felt like the original advert was a missed opportunity of sorts,” Bambrick said of the NFL spot. “I felt like it may have been well-intentioned … there’s a degree of truth there that Jesus loves and serves everybody.”

But he said he doesn’t believe the message presented in the original video is the best and most effective message that could have been conveyed.

“I think it missed some of the key points that we would want to get across,” Bambrick said. “Essentially, what it came across as doing was putting a sort of Jesus-shaped stamp of approval on the ideas, the values, and the actions of our generation and that are common today, which, in many cases are not things of which Jesus is approving.”

Just before the Super Bowl, Christian apologist Natasha Crain wrote an updated article on the campaign:

As I said in last year’s article, the Jesus of this campaign is nothing more than an inspiring human who relates to our problems and cares a whole lot about a culturally palatable version of social justice (the exception to this is in parts of the reading plan, which I’ll address in the next point). This has not changed since I last wrote. My points then remain true now: The fact that Jesus “gets us,” stripped from the context of His identity, is meaningless; Jesus is presented as an example, not a Savior; The campaign reinforces the problematic idea that Jesus’s followers have Jesus all wrong; And the campaign reinforces what culture wants to believe about Jesus while leaving out what culture doesn’t want to believe.

And, that's the rub: as it's been said, there are some who believe Jesus is a great teacher, a great guy, socially-conscious, enlightened in His thinking - but they don't obey what He teaches.  Essentially, those who buy into this visage of a "great teacher" don't embrace His teaching and may not even view Him as the Savior.  

As you'll hear Pastor Jeff Schreve of From His Heart on Faith Radio discuss on Thursday's Meeting House program, we have to develop discernment.  To misrepresent Jesus in an attempt to win people to a saving knowledge of Him, to me, seems irresponsible.  We have to make sure that we are portraying our Savior in a manner that brings glory to Him and is consistent with Scripture.  We must do more in this chaotic culture to do better than just putting, as Pastor Bambrick states, a "Jesus-stamp" on what He may, in fact, not approve of.