No CHARITY in Controversy! | Alistair Begg & He Gets Us

Charity, Controversy, and Christian Social Media

The He Gets Us ad campaign has been running for a while now. And there was an ad that ran during the Super Bowl of different individuals washing the feet of other people. It was highly controversial, and as is normally the case, conservative and Christian, and conservative-Christian social media is a firestorm over this whole thing.

Very similar to how, in recent weeks, how Alistair Begg made comments regarding counsel he had given someone about attending a transgender or same-sex wedding. I can't remember one of the two. And again, conservative Christian Twitter was ablaze.

You know, we got to stop shooting at our own when we disagree with each other. Exhortation towards things can go a whole lot farther than just counseling people so quickly. I think it's fascinating when Jesus says, the world will know you're my disciples by the love that you have for one another.

And that is so absent in modern Christianity. And it's just heartbreaking. And I think a lot of it is because we don't emphasize the love of God and understand the nature of God's love. And I think this ad is trying to get at that.

I have some exhortations, some helpful exhortations for that. And same thing for my brother Alistair. Like, I don't agree with everything he has to say in his position, but he is a good Orthodox man who loves Christ and he's done well.

And these are areas we can disagree on. God doesn't leave people in their sin, okay? Nor does he promote it, and nor is he okay with it. But to say that God gets us, it's true. He is a sympathetic high priest.

He knows our frailties.

He's like us in every respect.

That's right.

Yet without sin.

So it's not wrong to say he understands.

Mercy, Compassion, and Not Condoning Sin

To have compassion and mercy towards a sinner who is living a very overtly sinful life is not the same thing as condoning their sin or condoning their behavior. To use Alistair Begg's phrase, I 100 agree with him.

We can go down on the side of mercy and compassion. And if I'm going to fall off one side or the other, I'm going to fall off in that direction while maintaining an Orthodox understanding of the law and the gospel and of salvation and of God's holiness and everything else.

You can be clear on the law and the gospel and alongside that ought to be merciful and compassionate towards sinners in a fallen world. The occasion might be the Super Bowl ad campaign. The occasion might be Alistair Begg and his comments.

But really the conversation is about mercy and compassion towards our fellow man being salt and light in this world, which we are clearly called to be by our Savior.

The Spirit, the Gospel, and Loving Our Neighbor

We don't talk about the power of the Spirit. We need to. Do you realize that Paul says God's Spirit lives in you? You are his temple. That means when you love someone, they are experiencing the love of God through you and that God can use that to draw them to himself through your actions so you can open up your mouth and give them the living word.

But it might start with love, compassion. And this is kind of what I think that he gets us and what we're trying to get at. And I think what Alistair's getting at is that to show compassion is part of the evangelism, is part of the good news of the gospel because we need to create space where we can have these conversations to share the good news of Jesus.

If we don't create those spaces and all we do is just shut the world off, then you're never going to share the gospel with anybody.

Marriage, Wisdom, and Christian Counsel

It's plain that marriage is between a man and a woman and it's for a lifetime, particularly when we're talking about Christian marriage. Having said that, you know, there are any number of scenarios that our people might face where marriage as a civil institution amongst people who don't claim to be believers, should I go?

Can I go? What do I do, you know, with this friend, with this child, with this cousin of mine? What do I do here? And that's where you and I would say, okay, well, let's talk through this. The moral issue of the marriage piece is plain, but what does compassion, what does love look like?

How can we best commend Christ in the gospel here? That is a wisdom call that we need to be free to give counsel on without facing the discipline of the church and the chastisement of other Christians.

Proclaiming the Gospel with Affection

Yes, it is horrific what people are doing to each other on this.

For sure.

And they're guilty for it, but they're also being manipulated by a power and that power cannot be stopped unless it is stopped by the gospel and the gospel must be proclaimed with affection and love. We do not preach it out of anger.

We preach it out of compassion.

The He Gets Us Ad campaign and Alistair Begg's comments and where you may stand on any of those things is immaterial in one sense. It's secondary. But living a life like this, we're clear on the law and the gospel.

We love our neighbor and we herald Christ. That's what we're at. That's what we're for here at Theocast.

And may it be.