Does Jesus Need a Super Bowl Commercial?

Does Jesus need a Super Bowl commercial?

That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now. Our phone lines are open. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

843-2673. We also have several social media sites, and we're on YouTube. You can tune into YouTube right now and see what Adriel's up to in the studio and send him your question through our YouTube channel.

And of course, you can always email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. So Adriel, there is a lot of buzz on social media today about the foot washing commercial that aired during the Super Bowl last night, and I'm curious, did you see it? And if so, what did you think?

So yeah, and I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this, so feel free to call in. And I did not see it. I'm sorry to say I did not watch the Super Bowl yesterday.

I heard it was a good game, but we had some friends over after church, and I cooked up some carne asada barbecued, so I mean, I guess that's sort of like tailgating or whatever. But I did watch it after the fact, because I saw so much of the buzz as you were talking about regarding this particular ad, the He Gets Us ad. Did you see it, Bill?

I did. I saw it during the game, and it's interesting because it's being kind of slammed from both sides. There are some conservative Christians, some evangelicals who are saying it didn't go far enough or it wasn't completely biblically accurate. And then there are many on the left who are slamming it, saying, well, it was actually supported by the Hobby Lobby folks who are wealthy, evangelical Christians, and they don't like what the Hobby Lobby people stand for. So nobody can win.

It's like they can't win on this one, right? Yeah. It might be helpful just to, because I have thoughts about this, just to say what essentially the commercial or the ad was. It just depicted a series of images where you had one person washing another person's feet, and it was two different groups, typically groups that are at enmity. You might think of someone who's maybe politically progressive washing the feet of a conservative person or vice versa, right?

I don't remember all of the images specifically. And the ad ended essentially by saying, he gets us, Jesus gets us. And so, like you said, one of the concerns was, is that what the Christian faith is all about? It seems like we're talking a lot about unity and just sort of getting along and tolerance, which did seem to be the thrust. I know that it seemed like from other things that I'd read that folks behind the ad were wanting to communicate that Christianity is not first and foremost about what we hate or what we oppose, so trying to paint Christians in a different light.

So just a handful of thoughts, Bill, and then I'm curious to get your thoughts as well. Some years ago, I attended an interfaith gathering as a spectator. There were pastors and monks and imams and a whole group of religious teachers, leaders, and they were talking about issues of justice.

And I just wanted to go and listen to what they had to say. It's so interesting to hear these different religious leaders, quote unquote, you know, talk about their own traditions. And I remember when the Protestant pastor got up and began to share about what he believed specifically. At one point, he said, you know, the essence of Christianity is God loves you and there's nothing you can do about it.

And everyone in the room just sort of cheered at it because everybody's like, yeah, that's what we believe, too. And I just thought, well, that's actually not the essence of Christianity and that's not the gospel. And it seems to me like one of the concerns is, you know, this idea that he gets us idea, that's what we're communicating to the world. Hey, Jesus gets you. Well, that's not the gospel.

I sympathize with the concern of people who are saying, you know, are we actually calling sinners to repentance or are we just communicating to the world that Jesus wants to wash your feet while you actively hate him and disobey his word? And so I think that was one of the concerns. And of course, in something like a Super Bowl ad or any kind of ad, I mean, you're really going to be able to communicate everything you want to communicate. Probably not.

Would I have done things differently? Yeah. But at the same time, let me just say one thing, Bill. I am thankful for a few things. One, I'm thankful for the fact that God can speak through and use whoever he wants. You see this over and over again in the Bible. I mean, God spoke through Balaam's donkey. I mean, God can communicate truth through anyone. And so, you know, one of the concerns is, you know, what were the motivations behind this particular ad? Well, I don't know.

I don't know, you know, who all was behind it, but I can say this. When we go to their website, there are all sorts of links to scripture. So I'm thankful for that because God can use his word.

And so one thing I think we can do is even if we disagree with the way in which the ad presented Jesus, and I think there's definitely room to be critical. I would also say, hey, God can still work and use his word. And if people are going to this website and clicking on these links and reading scripture, man, pray that the Lord works together with the word by his spirit to draw people to himself.

I've heard of stranger ways of people coming to faith in Jesus Christ. And I'm also just reminded of what Paul said in Philippians chapter one in verse 15. He said, Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition and not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. And in that I rejoice. And, you know, I know some people say, well, with Jesus really proclaimed there.

And again, I think there was certainly a lot that was lacking. But what I what I will say is it can be and I think we ought to view it as an opportunity to talk about Jesus with our friends and neighbors. I mean, millions of people watch the Super Bowl made me wish that I had been watching it with some of my non-Christian friends or family members because I felt like it would have been an easy segue to talk about the gospel. And even if I disagree with some of the things in the ad, it's easy to just say, well, here's here's my view as a follower of Jesus.

And so my encouragement for people would be, hey, try to try to use this as an opportunity, given the fact that so many non-Christians were watching that and that there has been so much discussion, try to use it as an opportunity prayerfully to spark up conversations about the Lord and to talk about Jesus and the true gospel and to share that true gospel. And if we if we do that, I think I think that's a good response. Really well said. I agree with you. I think it opened the door to some great conversations.

And even though we might have spent that seven million dollars differently. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Beach House. What's that?

I said Beach House. But the fact is that people are going to the website and they are going to scripture. So I think there, as you said, a lot of good could be could come out of it. So and at the very least, people are discussing the issue and giving Christians hopefully a chance to show they're not hateful and that they are loving and that to share the truth of the gospel with others. Sure. And well, and I just again want to say, because that was I think one of the people were saying, well, didn't Jesus come to bring?

Didn't he bring division? Didn't he say that, you know, whoever doesn't hate his own family over me? And of course, understanding that in its context is important, but, you know, they're not worthy of me. And the answer is, is yes. So there was a lot lacking in terms of communicating the truth. But I'm saying we can still use it as an opportunity to have conversations about the Lord. And so let's not sleep on that and let's pray that God does give us. I mean, I think we need to have a passion for engaging the lost around us and considering how can we begin to have these conversations to share the true gospel? God help us. God help us do that.

Well said. This is core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open.

If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life doctrine, theology, maybe something in your church life that is confusing to you or concerning you. Here's our number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. We'll be taking calls for the next 20 minutes or so. So now is the time to call. Let's go to Bill calling in from Illinois.

Bill, what's your question for Adriel? Well, I've been thinking here lately about all these ghost hunters things that I see on TV and I started thinking Saul actually went to the witch of Endor who conjured up Samuel who was dead. Abraham saw a couple of angels. Jacob saw angels. Jesus actually talked to Moses and I believe was Elijah. And there's actually scripture that says in the New Testament, you just never know when you're entertaining angels.

And then it also talks about Satan be seen as an angel of light. So my thought was, how much credence can we put in the idea of ghosts, which I hate using the word ghosts. I prefer to say spirits, I want to say something like that, actually occurring in and out of our lives as humans.

Hey Bill, great question. I think we can distinguish between ghosts as this idea that the souls of the departed, those who have died, are kind of floating around watching over us and we can communicate with our dead relatives and whatnot. I mean, that's typically what people think of when they think of ghosts. And then certainly what the Bible talks about when the Bible talks about angels as ministering spirits in places like the book of Hebrews. So angels are these spiritual beings, these spiritual creatures. And there are good angels and bad angels and they're active in the world today. I think when it comes to evil angels, oftentimes deceiving people or terrorizing people or possessing people.

And so I think that's actually some of what you get when you watch these, and I don't, but I've heard about them, the sort of ghost hunting TV shows where people are walking around with a camera and it's real spooky and they hear noises and whatnot. I do think that there can be demonic influence and spiritual activity that's not the souls of our departed loved ones, but evil spirits at work. And so I think we have to be discerning there and distinguish between those two things. The Bible says that it's appointed for man to die once and then comes the judgment. And I believe that when we die here on earth, you know, it's not just that we're floating around. In the intermediate state, that's what Christians refer to it as. And for believers, the souls of believers are immediately brought into the presence of the Lord around the throne of God in heaven and they're worshiping the Lord. They're not here on earth, just sort of overseeing their family or whatnot.

And so that would be the biblical perspective. And I appreciate you. I appreciate you helping us sort of distinguish between those two things and bringing those two things up. God bless. Hey, Bill, thanks so much for your call. Appreciate your listening to Core Christianity. Our phone lines are open. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, give us a buzz right now at 833-THE-CORE.

You can always leave a voicemail at that same number anytime, 24 hours a day. Well, Valentine's Day coming up this week, and we have an excellent resource for you just in time on the very important topic of marital intimacy. Yeah, the resource is called Seven Truths About Marital Sex. And this resource in particular is thinking about the topic of intimacy in the context of Christian marriage.

And so I hope that you'll get a hold of this resource. I think a lot of times in the church we can talk about sex or intimacy and view it kind of as this taboo sort of subject. You know, we talk about how the culture has corrupted God's view and design for sexuality. And that actually is true.

I mean, so we have to be aware of that. And at the same time, I think that God has a lot to teach us within the bounds of marriage and how we treat each other, how we love each other as husband and wife. And so get a hold of this resource over at CoreChristianity.com forward slash offers.

Once again, it's called Seven Truths About Marital Sex. It's free at CoreChristianity.com and you can find lots of other great resources there, including our core guides, our core questions and our excellent core Bible studies. So check those out at CoreChristianity.com.

Well, we do receive voicemails here at the core. And here's one that came in from one of our listeners named Greg. My question is this, when Satan tempted Jesus Christ, why would God allow him to be tempted when he knew that he would pass the test?

God bless. What's really interesting there in the Gospels, I love this. When you read Matthew's Gospel, it seems like those early chapters, Jesus is walking in the footsteps of Israel. Israel coming out of Egypt through the waters into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 years. And then after that, they go up and receive the law of God on Mount Sinai. Well, you look at the narrative of Jesus's life and he comes out of Egypt, is baptized through the water into the wilderness for 40 days. But after that, you have essentially the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7, where Jesus delivers the law of God to the people of God, almost as this new and better Moses there in Matthew 5. Actually, the early verses there in chapter 5 really do draw lines of analogy between Jesus going up the mountain and what happened in the Old Testament with Moses.

It's actually quite fascinating. But I bring all that up just to highlight the fact that Jesus has come as the true Israel. Now, what distinguishes Jesus from Israel in the Old Testament is that the people of God disobeyed the Lord in the wilderness. They rebelled against him, they committed idolatry, they rejected the law of God time and time again. This is the true Israelite who perfectly obeyed the law of God, who stood up in that moment of temptation and relied upon the word of God.

And why did he do that? Except for our sakes, so that we might receive his mercy and his grace. And so in Jesus, the true Israelite, we have life and salvation.

And so you're totally right. It's not that Jesus was going to stumble and fall. It's that he endured that temptation, that trial for our sake to conquer it, to conquer Satan truly in his ministry and then ultimately in his death on the cross and in his resurrection from the dead. Appreciate that question. God bless. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Douglas calling in from Minnesota. Douglas, what's your question for Adriel? Yeah, hi Pastor Adriel. Hey, how's it going Douglas?

Excellent, excellent. I was reading Ephesians this weekend and it dawned on me that every time they referred to Jesus Christ, they referred to him as Christ Jesus. So my question is, is there one more proper way to address him than another?

Hey Douglas, thank you for that question. Well, you know, the word Christ is a title. It comes from the Hebrew word Mashiach. It has to do with, you know, Jesus is the anointed one, the one who came as the true king and redeemer of the people of God. And so when we talk about Jesus the Christ or Christ Jesus, that's what we're emphasizing him in that role, that office as our mediator, as our great prophet, priest and king.

And so it's good to do that. I mean, you see that throughout the scriptures. I also think of the word Lord, right, confessing Christ as Lord, Lord of all creation, but our own Lords personally, my Savior, the one who I've pledged my allegiance to and obedience to him and to his word. I don't know that we need to get, you know, obviously we come before the Lord with reverence and awe and there, you know, it's good to use this kind of terminology.

I would say the main thing is the heart before us. I mean, there are people who say Lord, Lord, but don't listen to Jesus as Lord. Jesus made that very clear in Matthew chapter seven. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. And so it's not addressing Jesus the Lord with pretense, but in truth, confessing him as Savior and Lord coming before him. That's, I think, the most important thing. And then and then certainly each of these titles communicate something to us about who he is, about the nature of his work.

And so they're worth, I think, digging into and praising him for them. Douglas, thanks for reaching out to us. Thanks, Douglas. Appreciate your call. And the fact that you listen to Core Christianity in Minnesota, it's great to have you as one of our regulars.

We'd love to hear from you. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, we're taking calls for another five minutes or so. And here's the number, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. We received this question from Steve in Iowa, and he has this question for you, Adriel. He says, I've heard preachers on the radio advertise for people to join them on a trip or a cruise. I feel preachers should be asking people to spend their money in a better way for the gospel.

What are your thoughts? I'm glad I've never done that, Steve. I don't think I've ever. And I guess I'd have to, I'd have to, you know, consider the situation that you're thinking. I have heard of ministries doing this as a kind of a teaching opportunity for fellowship. Hey, let's all take this trip to the Holy Land, for example, and study the life of Jesus or something else like that. I don't think that there's anything wrong with that per se, but you're right that the role of the pastor, the preacher, is to care for the flock of God, is to minister to the church, the local church, the people that God has called them to watch over and has entrusted to him and his care. And so I guess I could sympathize with the concern, you know, if you have a preacher on the radio saying, hey, come join me on this cruise, and his primary persona is this sort of radio personality, I would say, well, is he really able to care for the local church? Is he just a preacher?

Is he really a pastor? And we need pastors in the church today who are going to care for the flock. Of course, you know, I'm a pastor of a local church and I have the privilege, I really feel like this is a great privilege to get to be on the air every day and to talk to people about the Lord, to talk about Christianity, to help people hopefully grow in their relationship with God and an understanding of scripture, and to be more committed to the local church, not more committed to me as a radio person or anything like that, but be committed to your church where God has called you to be. And if you're not in a church, to get plugged into a church, I think that's so important. And that's one of the ways we view, I mean, that's how I see myself as being able to serve, not just the church I pastor, but the church more broadly and encourage others as well.

And so, you know, I realize, you know, people are going to do things differently, and it sounds to me like there could be some cause for concern with the situation that you've brought up, but I'd want to know more about that situation in particular. Steve, God bless. We do not have a cruise to Hawaii featuring Pastor Adriel Sanchez, just to let you know. Can we get one though?

We can work on it. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life. You can leave us a voicemail anytime, 24 hours a day at 833-THE-CORE.

Here's one that came in from one of our listeners named Jenny. My question is, in the Bible it says that, anyone has seen me, meaning Jesus, has seen the Father. But then also in the Bible it says, no one has seen God and lived, something like that. So can you explain that please?

Thank you very much. Yeah, how do we make sense of that, especially given the fact that we confess, I think in accordance with the teaching of Scripture, but also with the whole Church throughout history, that Jesus Christ is God, the eternal Son of the Father, the same substance with the Father, who assumed humanity and came down for us and for our salvation and was seen. I mean, you think about what John says in 1 John 1, that which we've seen, which we've looked upon, our hands have handled him, the word of life.

So there's no question about it. You have this reality that the New Testament tells us that, and all Scripture points to the fact that Jesus is God, but also that he was truly seen in the flesh. And so one of the ways that theologians have helped to unpack this or distinguish here is just to say, look, no one can see God as he is in his essence. We can't grasp God as he is in his essence because we're finite creatures. God is infinite, glorious. For us to grasp him like that in his essence as creatures would require us to be like God in a way that we're not.

There's this distinction between the Creator and the creature. And so God has communicated to us by condescending to us through his revelation. And the pinnacle of that revelation is the Son of God, Jesus, who took on flesh, humanity, to reveal the Father to us. As John says earlier, what you quoted from John chapter 14, verse 9, you know, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. But at the very beginning of John's Gospel, John talks about how we've beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

And so how was that made possible? Through the incarnation, through the assumption of humanity, that the Word, the eternal Son of God, took upon himself so that man, sinful man, could look upon him and see him, not as he is in his essence, but as he's come and revealed himself to us. And so that's one way of parsing this question out, and I think it's the most helpful way. And of course, you even have that same tension there in the Old Testament because there are times where Moses makes that statement, you know, where God tells him, you can't see me and live, and yet Moses talks about this special communion he had with God as well, speaking to the Lord as though they were face to face. And so, again, it's important that we understand these passages in their context, and I think that helps to clear up this dilemma. Hey, God bless, and thank you for listening. .