WHAT DID JESUS REALLY SAY: About Cancel Culture

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Hey church, we are so excited that you have joined us for week three.

What did Jesus Really Say?

And we're talking about cancel culture.

That's right.

So clutch them pearls, grab that purse.

We are going in.

It's gonna be an amazing day.

Yeah, we're going in today.

I'm excited.

Like I've been waiting for this one.

So it is gonna be great.

Um, my name is Mike.

I'm joined here with Pastor Lindsay, Pastor Megan, Pastor Keith, Pastor Josh, and Deneira Pittman.

Come on.

So we are excited about today.

And Pastor Keith, you want to unpack a little bit more about what this is that we're gonna talk about with cancel culture.

Mike, I don't know if I can because you mentioned touching pearls about verses.

So I'm ready how we transition to the topic.

Um but but but honestly, I think it's a it's a it's an incredibly relevant topic, if I could use that word, because we we're in a culture right now where it seems like we're just living in a powder keg and and we are exposed to so much information, whether it be media, social media, news, whatever that looks like, there's just so many opportunities for us to be offended.

And it's just constantly in front of us.

And we're trying to wonder, like, should I react this way or should I not react?

There's many, there's been moments where I'll look at someone's reaction and I'm like, man, I don't feel that way.

Like, am I missing the mark?

Am I not woke enough?

Should I have more of a it's like it's literally you're just trying to figure out what is the appropriate response to the things that we're seeing in culture?

And so what ends up happening is we we we end up giving birth to this idea of things being canceled.

Now, now obviously we we kind of can deduce that do we really believe that cancel culture is something that we see Jesus did?

Is that something that we feel that we see represented consistently in the kingdom of God?

And I think we're gonna have a passage that we can evaluate that, but this is all birthed from the concept of like, what are the guidelines for redemption?

What does growth look like?

What does restoration look like?

What does extending the benefit of the doubt look like?

And I know that this is messy and it's murky, and we're looking at accountability and intentions of the heart, but this is this is what I believe the gospel compels us to do.

So I I want to I want to look at a passage of scripture that's um that's found here in the Gospel of John, chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

And what I want to look at verses uh 2 through 11, and I'm gonna ask Lindsay to read it, but before before you read that, Lindsay, I want to just kind of give us a brief up like background on kind of what the passage um is all about.

Ultimately, Jesus is he's on the scene, he's doing his thing, there's a lot of popularity, there's a significant movement and and following that he has, and so people are just looking for opportunities for those that oppose him because he's disrupting the way that they've practiced their religion.

He's disrupting the social constructs, like it's it's interrupting the way that people function, that that people are trying to figure out ways.

How can we trip this guy up?

When we come to him with questions, he always seems to be very elusive with this.

So we're gonna find this one way that we can pinpoint and really expose him for who true who he truly is.

So that's kind of the framework that I want us to look at this passage with.

It's through the lens of how can we trip Jesus up.

So so Lindsay, if you don't mind, can you can you read um we only need to read verses 2 through 11?

Um, and let's just talk about it a little bit.

Early in the morning he came again to the temple.

All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them.

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst, they said to him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.

Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.

So what do you say?

This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.

And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.

But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones.

And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

Jesus stood up and said to her, Woman, where are they?

Has no one condemned you?

She said, No one, Lord.

And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you.

Go and from now on, sin no more.

Wow.

Man.

What do y'all think?

I think if if there's ever if there's ever a biblical example of cancel culture and action colliding with Jesus, this is it.

We we have a group of people that have that have seen something that's wrong, and they are like, we need to cancel her.

Right.

Right.

Jesus, what do you gotta say about that?

So what do y'all feel when y'all when y'all look at this passage?

Do y'all see any of of how this can conflict or even see this represented in our culture now?

What do you guys think?

Yeah, I would say even for now, like um something that someone posts like years ago um can affect who they are now.

Like they they're not the same person from before, but that previous way of thinking or whether it was culturally accepted at the time is not what you represent right now, and now you're canceled.

But you've experienced so much growth since then and awareness and all that, and I think it's just a shame that we we throw people away from one act that could have been just something or just a mistake in general.

Like, how do we move forward from forgiving people for saying the wrong things and doing the wrong things um and just flat out just throwing letting them be outcast, basically?

It's true, it's true.

Yeah, but people aren't even well, it's crazy about that, and I agree with you, but people aren't even willing to have the conversation for people to have a chance to like you're right, I apologize for this.

Here's what happened, here's my experience up until now, which is why you look at two opposing viewpoints, but here's my journey along the way.

Yeah, which I love is what Jesus does.

He goes, Let's just hang out with Zacchaeus.

People put people have already canceled you.

Let's just hang out and talk for a little bit, yeah, and let me get to know your story.

And then every time with this story, multiple stories that Jesus has, life change happens because Jesus gave them a chance and just talked with them.

Yeah, yeah.

That's so true.

I totally agree.

Um, the conversations, because conversations are hard, and so instead of you confronting it, it's like I'm I'm not gonna talk to you about it, but I'm gonna ostracize you as it's sure to make a judgment on it without any dialogue whatsoever.

Right, yeah, right.

I was kind of processing some of this stuff with my mom over the phone the other day, and it was funny because she actually didn't hadn't heard the term yet.

So I was like, well, in order to even have the conversation, it's almost like we need to identify the definition of what is cancel culture.

Um, but as we kind of kind of delved into it more, that was kind of what I noticed.

Even the fact that, yes, they were trying to cancel the woman, but a perspective that I saw was the fact that it said that the Pharisees were trying to bait him, they were trying to catch him so that they had something to use against them.

And I feel like that at the very heart of it is what I've seen in this cancel culture right now is that people are they've kind of in order for cancel culture to have its grip on on society as a whole, you have to basically convince people that this person is because of their actions is worth dehumanizing.

And that was what was so interesting to me is it felt like, yes, they were using this woman that seems so clear, like she has sinned, yes, absolutely.

But they were using her example to even try to dehumanize Jesus, like they needed, they were kind of using both.

They weren't curious what Jesus had to say, they weren't like, give us some wisdom, or what is your perspective, which is what you do when you're caring about a person or wanting to hear their perspective.

You come from a posture of wanting to learn, um, but that was not the case.

They were trying to prove something against both of them.

Yeah, um, and I just feel like that's the very heart of cancel culture is like you don't you dehumanize, you don't care about the human, you care more about the issue at hand or you're motivated, like it's just motivated by different things.

Yeah, so true.

Which is so, and here's what's so interesting too.

Like when you read the text, you can't help but go, man, they they're deflecting.

You know, like they're like, so who in the group was the first one to say, Oh, we're gonna choose this person, right?

This woman right here, because then the rest of them were like, Oh yeah, because if we do that, then that means that you won't have to see me.

So it's like the hypocrisy that that is all within it is so blatant because it's like, hey, even though I like you brought up a good point where you're like, man, years ago somebody could have said something, and then it comes to the light, and then it's like everybody wants to attack them for it, even though they love them, you know, so to say.

But who in the crowd is also going, oh yeah, right there because they're deflecting.

Because if now I can get everybody's attention on that one person, that one thing to cancel, then you won't see what it was that I did.

So now the hypocrisy comes into play, and we see that from time to time.

I don't know if any of y'all have seen it, but like we see this from time to time in the hypocrisy in it.

And so it's just like, oh my gosh, like y'all just deflected the whole time instead of saying, like, hey, look, like, hey, you know what?

Let me let me just say, like, maybe I did something.

Like, nobody stopped to go, you know, is it I Lord?

Like, you know, like nobody, nobody stopped to go, wait, wait, wait, let me check myself.

They all just deflected, and it's just it just brings about the hypocrisy, hop hypocrisy that comes within, you know, cancel culture, as you see it.

So true.

So true.

Because even for me, like when cancel culture became like a thing, like maybe two, three years ago, I was like low-key kind of for it, because I'm like, okay, like I'm a high justice person.

Like, if you do something wrong, like there needs to be an action, like there's consequences to whatever you do in life.

But the more that I just saw like people's lives being like ruined, like people's families being exposed, it's just like okay, like this has gotten too far and too too extreme, and it's cancel culture is like weaponizing people's suffering and pain, like it's they're po pushing their own agenda behind people's pain, and it's like, okay, well, you're not caring about the person, you're just trying to um push this agenda and just project things.

That's so true.

And I think, like, kind of like what you're saying with the hypocrisy of it all, and why I think that that that cancel culture falls apart once you kind of begin to evaluate it, is that it comes at the cost of ignoring or deflecting.

So here's the thing we gotta see in this text like she's caught in the act of adultery.

Now, we're all adults here.

That means that she wasn't by herself.

There's there's a strong likelihood that she was caught in the act of adultery with someone else.

But we see no mention of anybody else being dragged into the light.

It's only her, which then lets us see that there's moments where we only want to highlight things when it fits our agenda while ignoring the very other aspect that contradicts it altogether.

And and I think one of the areas that I see that a lot, whether we see it in the media, we see it in social media, but I you see it in politics where it's like, okay, my candidate did this, your candidate did that.

It's literally the same thing, but I can vilify that guy, but I got an excuse or an example or an explanation for that.

And I think that's the thing that frustrates me a little bit about this whole concept, is because it's the it's the motive behind it.

I I wrote this down because I didn't want to miss it.

Because we see that their whole intent was to trip Jesus up, but but here's what I here's what I saw in that.

Like when you bring things to the light, you can't do it with dark motives.

Yeah, and I and I think unfortunately we we we see people trying to bring things to the light.

Hey, look, let me draw your attention to this.

But what is the motive?

Is it is it to try to bring wholeness?

Is it to try to bring restoration?

Is it trying to bring social awareness to a to a systemic issue?

Or are you trying to condemn and tear down and destroy?

So I think that's something if if if the goal is not to bring wholeness, then what's motivating us?

Yeah, yeah.

And that's honestly something that I have to ask myself at times when when I feel passionate about things, I'm like, okay, like if this isn't leading us to a place of reconciliation or wholeness, if the resolve is not building up but it's only tearing down, there's something that's motivating that.

Right.

What?

Who?

What is it that's motivating us to arrive at this point where we feel like cancellation is the only response when we see that that's just not consistent uh with the kingdom?

I think there's a big difference between exposing injustice and using injustice to develop somebody's life.

Yeah, so wow.

That's great.

All of it requires it's a learn behavior.

It's what we learn in society by the way we're we've been raised, um, or what we've learned culturally.

Um it's learn, and so you have to constantly check yourself to see if you're participating in that because it could be something that you're passionate about and how easy you can fall into that trap.

Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely.

That is so true.

I mean, I even think too, like when reading that text, it's like you you see Jesus kind of waiting.

So it's like they they bring this woman because, like you said, I mean, you know, even when Lindsay said, like, they wanted to really trap Jesus in this, like that was their motive.

So even when she said that was their motive, they wanted to trap him.

But it's so interesting because what they missed throughout the whole thing was that there had to be some level of grace in this, and so we can see that with Jesus.

Jesus is the one who's really demonstrating what it looks like when you are when you are met with you know the the issue.

You know, I'll say that, you know, the entanglement.

That's what this is, okay?

You are met with the entanglement, they present the entanglement to Jesus, and what does he do?

He's delicate, you know.

He brings in grace to, you know, kind of untangle the entanglement, you know.

Come on, Will J.

You know, so I mean it was so Jesus is doing that by extend that the extension of grace.

Yes, and that in that to me is so beautiful because you know, we we all are met with some of those things.

There are so many things from our passion.

Last week we talked about salvation.

Well, what about those pre-salvation days, or what we sometimes in church call BCJ days?

You know what I mean?

So it's like, what happens when we we are met?

You know, somebody brings up something from our past, and it's like, yeah, but that's not me anymore.

Well, unfortunately, the world likes to say, yeah, but who you were is still who you are.

When the whole time, you know, when we talk about salvation, you know, we're talking about no, you become a whole new creature.

Born again.

You're born again.

Come on, that's Nicodemus.

You must be born again.

So it's like, you gotta be born again.

And so it's like that oftentimes, the new you the the see, we oftentimes think that change can't happen.

That's what society tells us.

But Jesus is extending grace because he sees future for her, and that is so beautiful to me is that he saw that when the whole time they just want to catch her, wrap her up in that, and say, This is who she is, who she always will be.

And Jesus is like, No, there is grace for that, it's not who you always will be, there is future for you.

And he immediately, and what does he do in that moment is he then just kind of writes, we don't know what he wrote, but he just, as Jesus always does, comes up with something and he writes it in front of them.

And I thought that was just so beautiful that it's like grace is extended because he didn't point the finger at her.

He then goes, wait, wait, wait, which one of y'all can cast that first though?

I've heard it said before it was preached that um that Jesus began to write down the names of the people that she was with, and that's why they left.

I don't believe that's theologically accurate, though.

Um, he wrote my name in the book.

It's like is that number five?

You said that regularly.

Listen, but I mean, and I think we see that the intent of the Pharisees was that, like, they didn't have any good motive.

But I do think, like, to your point, there there are people out there that have looked at the idea of cancel culture as a way of justice, like bringing about justice.

And to your point, like, I feel like if you're if we're not careful as Christians, I think we can have a bit of like modern-day Pharisee kind of come into our heart.

And I was thinking about even like the example of the prodigal son.

Uh, you know, it's such a beautiful story, but a lot of times we are very quick to not extend that same grace to the younger, the younger we have a bit of the older brother in our hearts as Christian a Christian culture, like no, they can't change, or like we're we're excited on Sunday when we hear these incredible testimonies and we'll put it on a video, but then sometimes when it it's in our circle or in a sphere that's close to us, and you see somebody, and you just like it's heartbreaking, but you hear stories, and I even know some people personally that are breaking off relationships even with their parents based on the fact that their ideology is not the same, and it's just it it just feels like man, justice and mercy, justice and mercy, justice and compassion, righteousness, all those things can live in the same space.

Yes, it's inside of the kingdom they they can.

I mean, that's the the that's the ecosystem that they can coexist, and I think that that's what we're looking at.

Like, I mean, when we're talking about injustice, let let's let's just call it what it is.

Like, yeah, like the kingdom of God is a kingdom of justice.

Like, we we understand that.

Like, so I think sometimes we can see like certain postures that are like, hey, you know, like you can't really expect justice.

That's just not true on earth as it is in heaven.

The kingdom of God is is about justice.

In fact, we even see in Micah chapter six where it says that this is what God requires of us to do justice.

Like we're supposed to be ambassadors that are doing our best to bring about justice.

However, I think that wherever there's injustice, you will find that there's an outcry.

And so that's what ends up being like, man, we see something wrong, there's an outcry.

Like, God, like we want we want to see some activity in it.

However, when an outcry goes unanswered, it turns into an outrage.

And I think the the parallels that we can see with that is like when Jesus comes into the town, Hosanna, that's an outcry.

Lord, save us.

We need you.

You allow that to go a couple more days, Hosanna turns into crucify him.

And I think that what ends up happening is if we're not careful as Christians, we take the posture of crucify instead of Hosanna.

God, can you get involved?

Can you bring restoration?

Can you bring healing to this?

Like, God, we're we're fractured right now.

Hosanna, save.

No, our posture in cancer culture is crucify, right?

Crucify, right, let them die publicly, openly, humiliate them, shaming them.

And that's it.

And it's that's that is where you know that you're towing the line because we ourselves had to receive um grace and mercy and all of those things from Jesus Himself, and then we find ourselves on the other side of it and not extending the same thing.

One one um story that really stuck out to me while I was looking at this was um Mary and Joseph.

So um in Matthew 1.19, it said, and her husband Joseph being a just man and and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

And this is before, if you think about it in context of a timeline, we know like that it was an immaculate conception.

But to him, this is before the angel has appeared to him.

And what was so interesting to me was that it said, being a just man, being a righteous man and unwilling to put her to shame.

And what I loved about that is I feel like we think it's an either-or, we think it's justice, this side of the coin, or we think it's mercy and grace, and we don't realize that being righteous that is an extension.

Come on, that is an extension of grace and mercy, like that is part of righteousness, and I just thinking from his perspective, like he was a righteous man, it was present tense, and he chose that way because in his mind she did, she was an adulteress in this point.

Um, so I just I really thought that was interesting.

That's really strong.

Yeah, and I can only imagine.

I mean, the youth have to be dealing with cancel culture on a whole nother level, you know, more than I try to get some of their words, you know, like gassy, but it's like, you know, I try to understand what the youngsters are saying these things, but but you know, I mean, they have to be dealing with this on a on a completely different level because of social media.

Yeah, because you know, we can look at this in cancel culture has been happening, yeah.

You know, I mean, we're reading the from the Bible and see this.

So this has been something that's happening, but you know, social media has magnified this, and oftentimes it's our youth who are at the forefront of this.

Yeah, you know, and so you remember going to you remember going to high school?

And the and the word around the school was this person did this thing, right?

Yeah, and then I mean, this was for me 10, 15 plus years for us going to high school, it's so much worse now.

Yeah, where someone has a bad reputation and it just stays with them because even you post a picture, people, students are waiting to screenshot it so they could use it as leverage to push their motive across.

And so now I talk to students all the time, and they're I was preaching at Sub 30, which is our young youth, our our young adults ministry, and because I did not fit someone's motive, I was talking about loving your neighbor.

A dude yelled at me.

It was not an amen, by the way.

He came home and said, like, Dad, you should have been at Sub 30.

I'm like, remember the great message?

It was cool, but somebody started yelling at because I didn't fit the exact gospel that he interpreted for himself, he wanted to cancel me even though I had an amplified microphone on a stick.

But that's and wow again, going back to the justice thing, people I think it's safe to say that everyone wants justice.

But we forget that God operates in justice in grace and in truth, like you said, Lindsay.

And so we love the truth part, but I forget what theologians said, but uh maybe Eugene P.

or somebody says, truth, just truth by itself, it's too hard.

Grace just by itself is too soft.

Come on.

And the middle ground which Jesus always breaks the mold is grace and truth.

And so if we could operate grace and truth, if cancel culture was something godly, none of us would be on staff.

Except for Pastor Megan and Pastor Lindsay.

Respectfully.

But if that was a godly thing, our staff would be just it would be like four people.

And we know one of those four people is Vinny.

That's it.

But like how many, how many of us would truly have a job for those of you that are watching?

Like, if your job knew your exact your real resume, how many of you have put like put an X in the chat if you don't make a copy?

That's me.

I mean, that's the question.

Like, how what's the statute of limitation for condemnation?

Like what like how far back can I go to into your past to prevent you from having a successful future?

And I think that's the I think that's the burden that that truly grieves me.

Now, listen, I am passionate about a lot of things.

Now, like, let's say, spoiler alert, I hate racism.

So, in case anyone's not aware of that, like so when I see things like racial injustice, it stirs me up.

But I have to make sure that I am looking at the sin of racism, the spirituality of racism, and acknowledging the systemic oppression and and not vilify an individual.

And that's challenging.

It's not easy.

And there's moments where you have to function with as much restraint, and I have to say, Hosanna, Lord help me to not turn into give us barabbas because I can't handle this.

I love how you said that because um in social media I've I've talked to people who have basically canceled people for their viewpoints, whether it was politics or whether it was considering you know concerning racism or the church, yeah.

I have never cut them off because of their viewpoint because I know the person that they are.

That's right.

And I'm like, I haven't personally experienced that from that person, but even if I did, I'm not gonna do that because I'm gonna show you love in a different way.

And so um I think seeing that from other people, like, yeah, I blocked them, I did this and that, and I'm like, oh my gosh.

I'm like, I don't like the things.

Well you have a lot of empathy, so that's it.

I do.

I'm sorry, God wired me with this differently.

He did wire me differently, but me, man.

I do have empathy.

I I think that's a thing though, like knowing how we're wired, yeah, and if that is gonna send you in a different direction, it's like, what would Jesus do in this moment?

Yeah, you know, would he would he ostracize, would he keep them out, outcast them?

And for me, I just continue to love on them where they are because I do believe that everyone can change no matter where you are.

We all are gonna fall short of the glory of God every single day.

But how can we truly live out this life if we hold on to things and grudges?

And that's where forgiveness comes in.

It does, and I also think too, like that's where accountability comes in.

Because, you know, I mean, because like you know, like like you said, like how can we, you know, go for it?

How can we not hold these things?

Like, I mean, in and of ourselves, like trying to have that self-accountability to because that's that's hard to do, like for maybe for for maybe just for me, maybe I can just be for me, but I mean it's like for me, I'm like, man, you can try Jesus, don't try me.

Like, it's like, you know, that that that is the truth.

I mean, it's just like you know, it's it's so it's like how then if that if if I have a difficulty with that, then my accountability structure has to be there.

So while we look at all these folks who were throwing this woman out there to Jesus, they were in a group.

So groups are good, but you gotta make sure you're in the right group, which is a plug for groups that are giving a lot.

You know what I mean?

So groups are giving it.

If you love your group, put it in the chat.

Like I mean, it is listen, we it is like you gotta find the right accountability.

And so I think that is that is huge.

I mean, just having that accountability to be like, man, I don't want to hear this, but it's something I need to hear.

Yeah.

And honestly, I was thinking about the a lot of times when when canceling happens, the motivator behind or the the the action that happens to the human is shame.

And there is a big difference between like feeling feeling like, okay, I got called out.

That doesn't feel good to anybody being called out.

But there's a difference between being called out and feeling guilt that motivates to change, versus being shamed and being told you are bad.

And um that when there's no conversation, if there's no relationship, then you've basically given that person that internal dialogue.

And I'm kind of a geek sometimes with like neuroscience and stuff, and I love Brene Brown, and she she actually herself said that new neuroscience studies have shown that the same amount of pain that you feel from burning your hand, like you pour a hot coffee coffee on your hand, that same trigger that lights up in your brain is the same thing you feel when you're being shamed.

It's the same thing in your um brain.

And it's like, well, obviously, then that's not gonna lead people.

Like, shame is not a motivator to change.

So if we actually want to call people out, if we care about their change in their life, if we care about their mental health, like we're gonna do it in the right way.

We're not gonna shame them as being the bad person.

And I was even thinking for you, Denira, you probably have more of like maybe you can give perspective on this, but like mental health, I it's it's no wonder that just the current culture for people probably in your age range, like I it feels like they are struggling so much with mental health and struggling so much with these things, and it's because your age range is dealing with these things, and so I don't know if you have perspective on that, but I just thought I was wondering like how is this affecting this generation?

Yeah, I think um one thing that I've been trying to research, like during this time of you know, got the pandemic, you know, people are dying, all the things are happening, or that's been happening in the past six months, and there's this thing called compassion fatigue where people are getting so tired of like they don't know what else to care about, like you're getting burnt out from caring about everything that's going on in the world.

And so at that point, then you just feel like helpless, you feel like you can't help people anymore.

Like you just come down to a place, and then it's like, okay, then what am I here for?

Like, if I can't contribute and if I can't continue to help the world to become a better place, if I can't, like I'm trying to show Jesus in every sphere of my life, but it's not like you're not seeing fruit or evidence in it, then it can like wear down on your mental health.

Yeah, wow.

Yeah, and that's crazy to even think about shame.

Like, that is amazing.

I mean, to think about shame being that painful that it is associated with that, yeah.

That that is crazy to think because again, to you know, like we had talked about earlier about change, like you expect someone to change, there's no way somebody can change after they go through that pain, like to encounter that.

Like, why would I want to grab the hand of Jesus if if all you had given me, you introduced me to that kind of a pain, then all I'm thinking now is more pain, you know, because it's like that's why it's like, man, we gotta keep telling everybody, like, this is not like condemnation is not of Christ.

Like, like that, that is not it.

And so it's like we have to reiterate to people that that it condemn, that that's not that's not your landing point.

That is not who we are, that is not the substance that makes us up.

So yeah, I mean it's not it's not kingdom, no.

And I think that's the thing that we have to realize is that when you're that when you subscribe to being a follower of Christ, you're in the family of God, that that you're now a citizen of the kingdom of God.

And so we have to function with a different set of ethics.

There's a different, there's a different standard.

And and God gives us his word on how we how we approach conflict, how we measure things.

So it's not like we just give people a a pass, like there is accountability, and and we even see that Jesus, he tells her, like, go and sin no more.

Like he wasn't he wasn't giving her a free pass on sin.

Right, he wasn't even telling her to go and sin less.

Right, he was empowering her to go and sin no more.

Right.

And he was giving her instructions on how to move forward with your life, and so that's that's the way that the kingdom's supposed to be.

But but when you get outside of the kingdom, you end up inheriting a lot of secular um posturing.

And here's what I believe.

I think that it's gonna be very difficult for us to approach things with a secular um strategy and expect kingdom results.

It's it's impossible for me to utilize the tools and the methods in the way that the world responds.

I I honestly have to check myself sometimes that when I'm when I'm approached with or I'm approaching things that that scream injustice, I have to make sure is my response the same as someone who doesn't know God.

Right.

If I'm responding the same way that someone who doesn't know God is responding, then maybe, just maybe, I need to respond differently.

Come on, that's good.

It's just it's it's the kingdom compels us to.

And I think that that's the that's the key thing for all of us.

I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that if that if we could add cinematography to our lives and allow someone to rewind time, we lose sight of the fact that we were the woman, that we were every sinful character that we see in the Bible, at some point that was us, still may be us, and we all are in need of Jesus to get involved and to cover us, and we have to extend that same grace.

I think what our responsibility to do is extend the same grace that you would want to receive.

If we were to make a mistake, we would be able to give context, we will be able to explain it, we wouldn't try to justify it, but it's one of those things where, man, I made a mistake.

You and I have a relationship.

Hopefully, you're gonna extend me the grace, I'll explain it.

We have context.

You'll extend me grace, I'll extend you grace.

But it's unfortunate in cancel culture, we're not willing to extend the grace that we ourselves would want to receive.

It's it's fascinating to me that we lose sight of the fact that that we can't do that.

And I think earlier, Lindsay, you were talking about about dignity.

Like we have to understand that that cancel culture it does not provide dignity, it strips it away.

In anything, then we look at the nature of God, when we look at this word of God, and we recognize, think about it, when Adam and Eve realized that they had sinned, they knew that they were naked and ashamed.

From that moment forward, you see God literally working like just consciously to recover their shame.

Let me cover you with love, let me cover you with grace, let me cover you with purpose.

I'm trying to undo the shame that you're doing.

So if we are people of God are bringing shame, we are trying to undo the work of God.

Yeah.

That's good.

I think too, with um with that, we judge the motive in the heart of the person when they come back to us and we have the conversation, we judge the heart of them saying, Well, you only confess this because you got caught.

And instead of us giving the benefit of the doubt and saying, Oh, okay, yeah, you even though what my heart feels is that you only came out with this, extending that benefit and extending forgiveness the same way that God forgives us when we repent, but we don't turn away from it's what we have to give to others.

But I think judgment is very critical in in cancel culture.

Yes.

Yeah, like the example with Noah, and he he definitely like he was drunk and naked.

Yes, but you have two different says he was lit.

Culturally translation.

I don't know, Ham.

What how do you say his name?

That's a weird name.

Yeah, this sounds right.

So you have him exposed, but then you have Shem and Japheth, I guess.

Covers them up.

Those really old names.

I'll probably not name my child any of those names off the table.

Um, but it's it's it's awesome to see that you have the people to respond in covering, and um and they receive a blessing, and then him receives a curse.

And that's I feel like what you're saying is like we have to respond differently.

Yep, absolutely.

So I think I think that we've we've talked about a lot, and and I think one of the things that I want to recap for us, just so we can kind of be on the same page in case someone wasn't able to deduce where we are when it comes to cancel culture.

Here, here's what I wrote down, and this is actually gonna come up.

This is like our our our message moment.

So, Pastor Josh, you're gonna appreciate this.

I got some points for us.

Um, watch this.

So, here's the first one cancel culture is not kingdom culture.

It's not, and we are citizens of heaven, we're in the kingdom of God.

Cancel culture is not kingdom culture.

Cancel culture tears down, kingdom culture builds up.

We're looking for opportunities to build up, and then here's the last one I have is cancel culture removes dignity, kingdom culture restores it.

We see throughout the course of the Bible that these are the things that are present whenever someone is being canceled, that we're seeing this restoration, this dignity, and these things that are being installed.

And so when we talk about change, I think all of us are changing, have been changed, and there's others that recognize that maybe there's a stirring in our heart that God is leading them to change right now.

So we want to create some space for that because we we realize that we have some people that are with us in the chat right now.

We also have others that maybe we'll listen to this a little bit later, but I believe that the Holy Spirit is stirring um all of us in some way, but there's some among us that God is stirring us to take our next step, and that is just receiving, receiving the forgiveness of God and and really undoing that shame.

I I want to read this this one verse that I think oddly connects to what we're talking about, and it's in um Colossians chapter 2, verse 14.

Colossians 2:14

And it says this by canceling um the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands that he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Now there's a lot that I can unpack, but I won't be able to do that.

But here's the biggest takeaway.

We see that word cancel.

So here's the thing that we do see kingdom culture does cancel condemnation.

Yeah, and that is what the kingdom culture is all about.

And what this passage shows us is that when it says he nailed it to the cross, I want us to get this image of maybe like an old movie where you think about like kings and deeds and creeds.

What the Bible is giving us an image of Jesus taking all of our sins and taking it and nailing it to the cross with it saying the debt is paid.

That that these things have been canceled.

So while we're trying to cancel one another, Jesus has canceled the things that have kept us bound.

That is that is what that is what restoration, that is what the restoration of dignity is supposed to look like, and that is what we're supposed to be.

We're called to be ministers of reconciliation.

We're supposed to be people that are helping us to move forward.

So what I realize is that there may be someone among us right now that you're ready to take that next step with receiving the canceled that, receiving that finished word from Jesus and simply accepting that.

So if that's you, our Bible tells us that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus died and he was raised from the dead, if you have that, then the Bible says that you're saved, that that the things that have been trying to cancel you have been canceled and now your dignity has been restored.

So we're going to just create a space for you to do that.

If that's you, I want you to pray this along with me, and then we're going to provide you with some next steps.

So if that's you, just pray this prayer.

Lord, forgive me of my sins.

I believe that you died on the cross and that you rose from the dead.

And according to your words, it's because of that I am saved.

Fill me with your spirit and order my steps.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

And so if you gave your life to Christ uh just a moment ago, we want to hear from you.

You can text as I to 25101 and we'll provide you with some next steps.

That's right.

And hey, we're not quite done yet.

We're about to go into communion with one another.

So, hey, we'll see you right here.

We'll be right back.

Um, just grab all the things that you need to take communion, and we'll be so excited to do that with you.

All right, hey, welcome back.

We are ready to take communion together as one family.

So, um, right now, what we're doing with communion, the Bible says do this um as often as you need in remembrance of me.

Who is that me?

Jesus, our savior.

And so, especially if you committed your life to Christ for the first time, you get to join in with us as a family right now.

This is an amazing time for you to actually partake in this.

And so, what does it mean when we eat the bread?

And it was it represents his body that was broken on Calvary's cross.

And so, right now, we're gonna take that bread and we'll eat that.

And then we have the wine which represents the blood of Christ.

And this is, you know, the blood that was shed on Calvary's cross, which covers all of our sins, even as we talked about today with cancel culture.

This covers us and has been extended to us.

So right now we can just take the blood and drink the wine.

And I'll just pray for us.

God, we love you and we praise you, God.

Thank you so much for sending your son Jesus on Calvary's cross to die for us, God.

You truly did see past every last one of our faults and saw our need, our need for a savior, our need for the one who is, was, and who always will be.

That relationship that was broken is now restored.

And so, God, as we uh take communion together as one family, we are so grateful and so thankful that you continuously reach out to us, um, continuously to keep us at the table, part of the table, all of us.

So that whether our whatever our past looks like, no matter what that is, you have changed us completely, and we are now one family.

So we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, hey church, thanks for joining us and watching Church at Home.

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