Hi, I’m Jake Gingerich,
a Redemptive Marketer. MOps Professional. MarTech Geek.

5 Ways Marketing Should Be Transformed By The Gospel

You know how it goes. You come home from a long day at work and turn the TV on as you slump down on the couch. Flipping through the channels on the way to HGTV to see another episode of Fixer Upper, a commercial catches your eye. It’s a scene with a group of friends all chatting and laughing on a white-sand beach looking out over a picture-perfect sunset. All of the people are in their late-20’s and look like they belong at a modeling agency. They aren’t wearing the most modest clothing either.

You notice after a few moments that you can’t even tell what product they are advertising. You hear the seagulls squawking as the camera starts to pan back. Then, finally, you see the product. Everyone in the group pulls out a bottle of beer as the brewery’s logo fades onto the screen.

The full message now makes sense. The company is trying to get you to believe that if you buy their product, you will have a happy life. You’ll look great, won’t have to work, and people will like you. The reason you’re not happy is because you aren’t purchasing and using their beer.

But it’s a lie.

Yet companies use this tactic time and time again. And people believe it. Our culture has bought this lie that if you just have nice things you’ll be happy.

Let me be very clear: this kind of marketing is anti-Christian.

Marketing sometimes gets a bad rap for trying anything to get people to buy products to increase profit. While this is true some of the time, I fully believe marketing can be redeemed for the glory of God. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ should change the way we do everything. This includes marketing.

Here are 5 ways marketing should be transformed by the gospel.

1. Don’t make people think their life will be complete by using your product.

This is the lie the scenario above outlined. Don’t make customer think that they will be saved by buying from you. They won’t. Promoting this lie detracts from the truth that Jesus Christ came so we may have life – and have it abundantly.

Instead, why don’t we promote our products like this: Jesus Christ died on the cross to redeem us from our sins that we would no longer find our identity in material things. This product won’t save you, but as I follower of Christ I want to help solve the legitimate problem you have and this product can do that, contributing to a redeemed culture for the glory of God.

Now I’m not saying you need to explain that in every Facebook Ad, but the overall theme of your marketing should promote a biblical worldview.

2. Promote biblical standards of beauty.

This is one I see even among Christian companies and Christian blogs. Too many of the pictures and videos companies use in their advertising and marketing feature people, both men and women, who are seen by the world as highly attractive.

Why can’t we just use pictures of normal people instead of models? This contributes to insecure feelings among many people, especially youth. Instead, let’s show godliness and righteousness as more important than physical beauty.

3. Don’t entice people to buy things they don’t need or want.

Yes, I know your company needs to sell products to make money and stay in business. You should do that. In fact, I think making a profit is good and biblical. But using tactics to entice people to buy products that they don’t need or want is unbiblical.

Doing so directly contributes to the consumeristic culture that is so prevalent in our nation. So what should we do instead? (Hint: Read #4)

4. Show people how your product or service can help them.

Business has played a tremendous role in improving the standard of living in our country and around the world. Pooling our talents to make products is far more efficient than trying to produce everything ourselves. In his book Every Good Endeavor, Tim Keller talks about how long it would take to build one simple, wooden chair. You would have to first mold metal into a saw, cut down a tree, and cut the tree into smaller pieces. Now you’re still not close to having a chair. But with companies creating chairs instead, you can buy one for the price of a few minutes worth of work.

Let’s make a point in our companies to focus on helping people. We can use our products to improve our customers’ lives. No, our products are not their savior, but they can genuinely be a service to others.

5. Don’t use guilt to increase donation.

This last point is specific to nonprofit organizations. Many great not-for-profits have sprung up all over the world fighting for things like poverty alleviation and the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth. These are noble causes and worth of our charity. But I worry about using guilt as a tactic to increase donations. There is nothing wrong with asking for donations, but guilting people into giving is not right.

Instead, we can show the impact our organization has made in people’s lives or how we are working to fulfill the Great Commission. Showing people what we do and who we are helping are both ways we can promote our organizations without relying strictly on manipulating emotions.

There are many other ways we can redeem marketing for the glory of God. Marketing can certainly be biblical if we think deeply on these topics. Above all, our goal is to point people to Jesus Christ in every facet of our lives. I pray that we would use business and, yes, marketing to do that.

Heaven Taken By Storm

“The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matt. 11:12). In his book Heaven Taken by Storm, Thomas Watson discusses how it is necessary for Christians to be violent in their pursuit of Christ-likeness. Heaven is not inherited by meekness or laziness but by violence. Watson contends that Christians need to be violent for truth and holiness. It is his hope that his readers will be encouraged to take righteousness seriously.

Watson uses the image of a storm to convey this violence. With Hurricane Harvey destroying thousands of homes and Irma looming on the horizon, we know all too well how violent storms can be. Watson says we need to be this violent, or more violent, as we seek to follow Christ. Only once this is done will we inherit the kingdom of heaven. Indifference or halfheartedness, says Watson, does not gain heaven.

Violent to Whom?

Watson first argues that Christians must be violent against themselves. We need to work to kill sin and awaken ourselves from spiritual slumber. This is done through several means. Primarily, we offer violence to ourselves through the spiritual disciplines related to God’s Word. These include reading, hearing, and meditating on the Word. Watson does an excellent jobs of adhering to a high view of Scripture. God still speaks to us through his Word.

Then, Watson says we should offer violence through prayer by boldly approaching the throne of grace as we examine ourselves. In doing so, we are to ponder the wonders and beauties of God while gaining an understanding of our own sinfulness. Watson ends this section with a chapter on keeping the Sabbath holy and a chapter on holy conversations.

After offering violence to himself, Watson claims the Christian must offer violence to Satan, the world, and then to heaven. We offer violence to Satan through faith and prayer. As Watson says, we overcome Satan “upon our knees.” We can take comfort in the fact that Satan has already been defeated. Next, violence to the world is necessary because it is deceitful, defiling, and perishing. Watson says that if we do not offer violence to the world, we will become like it.

Further, we offer violence to heaven because we must take pains for it. Heaven is a matter of utmost importance; it should occupy our highest priority. Watson argues that if worldly things require labor to obtain, won’t heavenly treasure require more? Thus, he says we must offer great violence to obtain heaven.

Are We Saved by “Violence”?

On first impression, it may seem as though Watson is promoting salvation by works. If we can only be saved if we perform these disciplines violently, then is Watson contending that we are saved by works, not faith? Far from it. Watson understands that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone. He knows that we do not have the power in ourselves to do any of this.

Yet, Watson argues, we must offer violence because God wills it. We may not have the power to save ourselves, but we need to pursue our salvation “because God has made a promise of grace, as well as to grace.” Moreover, there is joy in following Christ. Indeed, Paul says that his delight is in the law of God. Not only is there happiness in heaven but also in the way to heaven. Nothing on this earth is worth fighting for. But heaven is. We must avoid laziness and actively fight for holiness in order to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Christ will be with us.

Why Speak of Violence?

Throughout the book, Watson bases his arguments off of the language of Scripture. In the Bible, inheriting heaven is not a simple endeavor. The lazy or meek do not win heaven. We must fight for it. Luke 13:24 says to “strive to enter the narrow gate.” As Ephesians 6:12 says, we are also to wrestle with our sin. This is a violent exercise. Watson says that dealing with sin and striving for heaven are not easy things to do; we must be violent in them.

Watson further uses the language in 1 Timothy 6:12 to show how this violence is necessary. Paul says that we need to “fight the good fight of faith.” We must be warriors. And according to Acts 26:18, we must take the kingdom of heaven. This is not a passive exertion but a very active and difficult one. We must be violent.

Conclusion

Watson’s devotion to the Holy Scriptures is very refreshing. While I rejoice that there has been a great resurgence towards the inerrancy of Scripture and taking God at his Word, it is still very prevalent in our culture to hear false teaching. It is always good for my soul to read the Puritans. Though it is profitable to read books that expound upon the Scriptures, we can learn from the Puritans that this is no substitute for the Word of God itself.

Heaven Taken by Storm is a very practical book about Christian living. It demonstrates the passion Christians should have to strive to take heaven. Thomas Watson vividly displays how we as Christians need to view our earthly lives: as a battleground. It is a timely book for the watered-down version of Christianity that pervades our culture. We must be steadfast and passionate in following Christ. I encourage you, get a copy, and read it. More importantly, read, study, and meditate on the Word of God and take heaven by storm.

To Gain Christ

The words “purpose” and “meaning” are thrown around a lot in our culture. We want to have a purpose in our lives, our work, and everything we do. An article by Forbes popped up a few years ago that claimed millennials want to work for purpose more than a paycheck. We want to work for something “bigger than ourselves” or something that “makes a difference.” A recent movie even pondered the question of the purpose of the life of a canine.

Even in the Christian sphere we seek after purpose. And rightly so. In 2002 Rick Warren released his book titled The Purpose Driven Life. It sold over 30 million copies in the first five years. Clearly, we are hungering for meaning. And when someone claims to have figured out what our purpose should be, we consume it faster than the donuts on Sunday morning.

But what do we actually pursue as the purpose of our lives? As followers of Christ we should be the most purpose-driven people on the planet. But to our lives and how we spend our time match up to the commands of Scripture?

Paul’s Values Before Christ

Philippians 3 is one of my favorite chapters in all of the Bible. In it Paul discusses where righteousness comes from. In the church at Philippi it seems as though a group of Judaizers were claiming that the Gentile believers should first become Jews (and follow the entire Old Testament laws) in order to be saved. However, Paul sternly rejects this.

In his rejection, Paul begins by listing his achievements before he became a Christian. He was “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless” (3:5-6).

Before Christ, this is where he obtained his value and purpose. He was an Israelite. In terms of the law, if anyone could be thought to be without blame, it was Paul. Certainly, he found great pleasure and joy in these things. Paul had great purpose and meaning for his life.

Or so he thought.

The Surpassing Value of Knowing Christ

When Paul met Christ on the Damascus Road, he was radically transformed. No longer did he find value in the things of this world. He goes on to say in verses 7 and 8, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” Paul now sees his prior values as loss. He sees his earthly success, his privileges, and his achievements as worthless.

Before Christ, he saw success, status, and standing as great pursuits of life, worthy purposes. Those used to be gain to Paul. Now they are loss. But what replaced them? What is now gain for Paul?

Only one thing: Christ. He says he counts “everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” This is the only purpose worth living for. If you want meaning, look to Christ.

But What Does It Mean to Gain Christ?

Paul continues by saying he counts all things as loss so he can gain Christ “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (v. 9). To gain Christ means to be found in him, being spiritually united to Christ. This can only happen though faith in Christ. Through faith in Christ, we stand before God as righteous because Christ’s obedience is imputed to us.

Paul implicitly says that his new purpose in life is to gain Christ and nothing else.

Focus on Eternity

It’s good to want purpose in your life. You only have one life, so don’t waste it. But pursue the things of eternity. Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matt. 16:26). In the Sermon on the Mount he commands us to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matt. 6:20).

Don’t seek earthly treasures or success or prestige or the American dream or a comfortable life. In eternity these will matter not. Nay, use your life to gain Christ. The greatest joy will be found in being with and worshiping God for all of eternity.

Now that’s a purpose worth living for.