Summary
Got Jesus?
Borrowing its cadence from the famous "Got Milk?" advertising campaign, the bumper sticker "Got Jesus?" sounds catchy and even faithful. But measured against Scripture, the slogan gets the direction of salvation exactly backwards. The benefits of belonging to Christ are real and glorious—yet we do not "get" Jesus. Jesus gets us.
The blessings Christ describes for His own are breathtaking. In John 10:27-28 Jesus says, "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish." Four gifts come bundled together: His sheep hear His voice through His Word, both read and proclaimed; they are fully known by an omniscient Shepherd who counts every hair and every sorrow; they follow where He leads, by His grace made obedient; and they receive eternal life—which is not only the beauty of heaven to come but living under His blessing today, since for the Christian every day is simply one more day of eternity.
The trouble with "Got Jesus?" is that it implies we are the ones doing the getting. Scripture paints a very different portrait of fallen human nature. Romans 3:10-11 declares that no one is righteous, no one understands, no one seeks God. Ephesians 2:1 says we were dead in trespasses and sins. Romans 8:7 calls the natural mind hostile to God, unable to submit to His law. 2 Corinthians 4:4 describes us as blinded by the god of this world. Psalm 51:5 and Genesis 8:21 confirm that we are guilty from conception, our hearts inclined to evil from youth. By nature we are not seekers of God; we are dead, blind, hostile, and guilty.
So how does anyone come to belong to Christ? Like a dead piece of wood transformed by an artist into something beautiful, the sinner is given new life by the Lord who went to the cross, bore the sin of the world, rose from an empty tomb, and now applies that finished work to us in the waters of Baptism and the proclamation of the Gospel. Faith, in the truest biblical sense, is not a decision we manufacture but a love we fall into when God's Word transforms our stony hearts. As Jesus tells His disciples in John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you."
That is why the assurance of John 10:28-29 is so precious: "No one will snatch them out of my hand… and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." Salvation is not us prying open the Lord's hand and crawling in. It is the Lord taking hold of us and refusing ever to let go. The bumper sticker should really read the other way around: not "Got Jesus?" but Jesus has got us.
This article belongs to a summer series examining popular bumper-sticker theology through the lens of Scripture, beginning with “Got Jesus?” 6-4-23.
Video citations
- “Got Jesus?” 6-4-23 — Would you open your Bible's please with me to the gospel of John the 10th chapter for our study today? If you're using a Puedition of Holy Scripture that is found on page 90 in the New Testament,…