"Ejector" Commercial.

This is amazing. Just click on the form of media you want. If that doesn't work, you can also catch it here.

Simply brilliant.

It reminds me that Jesus reserved his harshed words for religious leaders - those who drew boundaries of who was in and who was out, those who chose the path of exclusion over inclusion, and the way of judgment over the way of love.

Jesus once said, "I am the way and the truth and the life." Perhaps Jesus was reminding us that his way of living was "the true way of living" - the way of grace, the way of accpetance, the way of embrace, the way of love, the way of generosity, the way of compassion, the way of inclusion, the way of forgiveness, the way of restortation.

May we embody the spirit of Jesus to this world - a spirit of love and generosity, of compassion and embrace.

Comments

[Austin]

Hi Mike,

I don't know whether to laugh at the commercial (the ejector seat part - those people went flying!) or not. But it was definitely interesting.

I hope this isn't too long. But I feel that this is an extremely important discussion. I hope that you will read my refutation with patience, meekness, and a discerning heart - as I too hope that I will do the same in regards to any future interactions.

"It reminds me that Jesus reserved his harshed words for religious leaders - those who drew boundaries of who was in and who was out, those who chose the path of exclusion over inclusion, and the way of judgment over the way of love."

Absolutely - to an extent. Jesus was the one who ate with "sinners and tax collectors" (Luke 15) - the despised of the religious elites during the first century.

But as Romans 2:4 makes clear, "Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"

God is patient. He calls all men to embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, leading to repentance. He wants men and women of every tribe, tongue, nation, creed, etc to come to Christ in repentance, faith, love, joy, hope, trust, submission, and truth. And because He is holy and cannot look upon sin, there must be a covering - an imputation of His righteousness so that we can be made right with the God of Glory and Holiness (2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53).

"Jesus once said, "I am the way and the truth and the life." Perhaps Jesus was reminding us that his way of living was "the true way of living" - the way of grace, the way of accpetance, the way of embrace, the way of love, the way of generosity, the way of compassion, the way of inclusion, the way of forgiveness, the way of restortation."

Interesting that you quote this passage as a text supporting inclusion when if you read the rest of the passage he is actually being very exclusive: "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). He is answering Thomas' question of how one can get to the Father, or heaven (verses 1-5). And His answer is exclusive. He says in effect, "I am the only Way to heaven."

I don't believe that Jesus is simply saying, "Follow my example." That would be impossible. We can't feed 4000 people from a couple loaves of bread and a few fish. We can't calm the seas. We can't walk on water. We can't raise the dead. We can't call ourselves "I AM." We can't call ourselves the "Lord of the Sabbath."

This doesn't mean that we ought not attempt to follow Christ's example. For clearly we are commanded to "be holy as He is holy." But we can't only assume that He was a good moral example. He was and is so much more. He is Lord. He is the eternal Son of God. He is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

He absolutely accepts all types of people, without exception. But He has radical demands for those that would come to Him: "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3,5). These words of Jesus are loving, forgiving, and caring. But they are also stern and unwavering in accordance with the Truth.

Brother, please don't think that I am in any way attacking you. I am not. I am merely confronting your viewpoint. If I have in any way offended you by my "tone" (I appologize - one can't tell tone over the computer that well). But please know that I am in no way heated. I am merely pointing out things that I believe are apparent flaws in modern, liberal, neo-orthodox theology. And I trust that as fellow brothers in Christ we can continue to glorify Christ by seeking Truth through reasonable disputations.

Matt 9:13 - "For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Mark 2:17 - "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Matt 3:2 - "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

All of Jesus' stern words - and there are many throughout the Gosplels - were intended to bring people to Him in faith. And He makes it clear that we must obey His commands if we are to be called lovers of God: "You are My friends if you do what I command you" (John 15:14). And what He commands is that the Gospel of His death and resurrection leading to justification, sanctification, and glorification, all to the glory of God, would be preached to all men, without exception (Matt. 5:16; 28:19-20; Rev. 22:17).

Here are a couple of verses in closing that are requirements for believers after true conversion:

1 John 3:9 - "No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."

1 John 2:15,16 - "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world."

So in closing, thank you Mike for posting on such an important Christian truth.

We must love our enemies. We must love them as ourselves. We must love our brethren. We must actually exalt them (enemies and brethren) higher than ourselves. We must preach the Gospel that Jesus commanded, the Gospel of repentance leading to faith. Jesus made it clear that He came to reconcile sinners to God. But in the process, He knew that many would reject Him and His truth leading to this stern remark, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matt 10:34) and this one, "Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division" (Luke 12:51).

So while Jesus calls all persons to come to Him, for He alone is the Way to heaven, He in no way advocates, or is even tolerant of certain lifestyle choices, certain beliefs, and certain acts that many people in the church today attempt to claim are acceptable.

Again, I hope this wasn't too long. But I truly do feel that this is an extremely important discussion. Thanks for the forum.

May the Grace of God be with you.

In the Love of Christ Jesus our Lord,

Austin Smidt

[Matt]

Fantastic commercial - it definately does raise a point. Austin mentioned there that "He in no way advocates, or is even tolerant of certain lifestyle choices, certain beliefs..". I do actually agree with that, but whether or not we are 'tolerant', I dont think is the issue. Ultimately, it boils down to love. Do you love the homosexual and the homeless for who they truly are, or do you love them only because you want them to change? Christ takes everyone, regardless of their situation, or who they are. I think Christians expect people to succom to their ways all of a sudden - and that happened in Biblical times with the circumcision and the Jews too. In a way, I think we do need to be tolerant, and continue to love people, regardless of what situation they are in, their sexual orientation, or whatever. If we truly loved as Jesus loved, maybe the world would be a different place.

[Austin]

Hey Matt,

I absolutly agree with you that we are to be tolerant of persons and to love them - yes, I do desire all persons to come to Christ, but you are right that our love ought not be selective (we must love our enemies and our brethren, and exalt them above ourselves - which is not easy to do. But by His grace we will grow in love).

But Jesus also does mention that we are to love others and do good works so that God will be glorified by them (Matt 5:16) - which means that they will come to Christ in faith.

By the way, the word "tolerant" actually means to "disagree with the ideology (or anything), but agree to put up with it." For example, I prefer warm weather, but I can tolerate the cold. I don't like it. But I can work through it.

[Mike DeVries]

Austin...

Thanks for the comments [and no worries no attack taken]. I appreciate your thoughts.

I think what resonated with me about the commercial was creative way in which it dealt with a very difficult issue. What are we to do with people that are perceived as not being welcome in the church. I thought the line "God doesn't reject anyone. Neither do we." was a great counter balance to what was portrayed in the commercial - a church that chooses to push the "eject" button solely because someone is perceived as not fitting, or belonging.

The commercial, as well as my comments were not really focused on the issue of salvation. I might not have been too clear on that [and that is my bad]. My use of the terms "exclusion" and "inclusion" were not dealing with salvation, but with boundaries and invitation. My comments were specifically geared towards the fact that the attitude portrayed in the commercial by the religious establishment is all too true today, unfortunately. The church chooses all too often to exclude certain people from even being in their midst.

I think this is the issue with the Pharisees. The sect of the Pharisees believed that what was keeping the kingdom of God from coming was the presence of sin in the people, hence their distain for people they labeled as "sinners". Their thinking was if they could just get people to stop sinning, then the kingdom of God would come. Yet to deal with the issue, they chose to separate themselves from sinners, not associating with them. Their course of action was to judge and condemn, rather than embrace and invite. They tried to change sinners by telling them they were sinners, rather than inviting them to encounter something that could truly change them.

I believe that Jesus' harsh words for the Pharisees was a reminder that they hade forgotten the mission of the nation of Israel - that they were to put God on display for the world. They were blessed in order to be blessing. The issue with the Pharisees is that they forgot how to be a blessing to sinners.

I think the same is true today. I think as the Church we often times struggle in how we engage people we deem as "sinners". This is what I believe the commercial was saying. That is what impressed me about it. It wasn't about salvation; it was purely about relationship.

I agree with you, Jesus befriended sinners [which infuriated the Pharisees and led to many confrontations]. He tried to model for the Pharisees what God's heart was people. I don't think Jesus condoned sin at all. I think he dealt firmly with sin, yet called people to something greater. Like the woman caught in the act of adultery and others, he called them to walk away from a life of sin. This was not in judgment, but out to love and concern. Once you have encountered the love and grace of God that sets you free - redeems and restores you - how could you ever go back to a life of sin, brokenness and darkeness?

As for the "I am the way and the truth and the life" reference, I was toying with something I came across some writings of the rabbis and the oral tradition. Apparently, they saw the Torah as the way of living in harmony with God, a gift to them. They often called the Torah "the way and the truth and the life." It was a gift of God for them to live in harmony with God. It was a way of living. The true ay of living, one that brought life. So Jesus is making a very profound statement here. He is saying that he is the embodiment of the Torah, come not to abolish it, but to live it fully. If you want to see what it means to be fully connected to God, living in harmony with the Father, then watch Jesus. Jesus says it in other words in the same passage, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." Jesus is putting God on display. If you want to see what God the Father is like, watch God the Son.

All this to say, sorry for not clarifiying what I was saying in the original post. If it was unclear, then that's my fault. It's been a long week of writing and thinking, so the old brain is not fully functioning.

Thanks again for your comments and the dialogue.

[Mike DeVries]

Wow... that was a long reply. Sorry.

[Austin]

Mike,

Please, no apologies. I fully understand. I am going through finals and my brain is fried as well. Thanks for the clarification. I look forward to future discussions.

[Ryan]

Hey Dude,
What's your e-mail address?
Dobson

[Scott]

So going with the ejector thing; what are churches doing that would validate the "ejector" treatment?

[Paula]

Hey Mike! Good stuff, as usual...

Hey I need you and Jamie's email - the last one I have for you is a ylfc address! ;)

I wanted to tell you guys that I'm coming out to California!! July 22-28 I'll be at a youth conference at Biola with my students from church. I would love love love to see you and the family!! I miss you guys mucho.

Email me and let me know if it'd be possible!

Love to you!

PB

[Tony Myles]

Often I look at religious broadcasting and say, "I don't want to become like that." But then I worry if I have become so the "other" way that I've blended in a bit too much into the tolerance/overlooking side.

And I really like vanilla.