Impact Church London

Resurrection Series# 4, The Friday Before The Resurrection

In many ways it’s been a terrible year, eh? This pandemic has resulted in multiple lockdowns, changing the way we do everything. It’s disrupted the economy, changing the way we work and shop, disrupted school changing kids’ routines. It’s disconnected people from their friends and family due to bans of group gatherings and the fear of where even one-on-one face-to-face meetings could lead. It disturbed the story we were all telling ourselves.

People, you me, us, we see our lives unfolding in much the same way as any narrative, and we see ourselves as being in the middle of that story – there’s the past, what’s come before, our future plans, the way we expect things to roll out, and what we’re living through now, and even here we have expectation as to the way things should be in the world. And isn’t this the biggest problem the pandemic has caused for us – that it interrupted the story we were all telling ourselves? I don’t know about you, but I maybe felt a little entitled to having my life, my story, unfold the way I saw it going – I was on the verge of finishing my last course at Huron, was looking forward to my G2 test in early-April, to visiting with family at Easter, to having friends out to my trailer – when the pandemic put everything on hold.

And it’s not just personal stories that were affected, but the ones we told ourselves about our country, our safety. These were problems that happened elsewhere, but not here. Our geography would keep us safe. Our government would know what to do. As these old stories begin to fail us, and simply aren’t working anymore, it leads to the question – now what?

When our story doesn’t make sense anymore we need to find a new one. We thought we knew our story, some of us still think we know our story now, but what about the story God has for us?

When we look up at the Cross we remember God’s story. Despite what we see around us and hear in the news, God’s story, the one which was set in motion before time began, is still rolling out as planned. Now, I’m not trying to say that Covid was or is part of God’s eternal plan for humanity, it’s the devil who comes to kill, steal, and destroy, what I am saying is that the coronavirus, although it has made a mess of day to day life, it can never effect our eternal one.

What was God doing on this day? What was God doing on the Cross? This morning I am going to talk about 3 things – How this was the moment where the true measure of God’s love is revealed, how the Father was in Christ reconciling Himself to the world, and how this ushered in a new way of being for us. This is the moment before everything changed. The resurrection changed everything

What does Good Friday show us about God? What does this moment in time reveal about the one who stands outside of it? What kind of God creates, then chooses alongside it despite its distortion, and is moved solely by love for that creation which willingly turned from Him? What kind of God is this who wants to dwell within you, who wants to be in constant relationship with you, intimately involved in every aspect of your life? What kind of God chooses to love and continues to pursue those who were far from Him (woman at the well), those who had turned from Him (Zaccheus), even those who despised Jesus at the foot of the Cross?

If we want to understand God I suggest we need to look at how God chose to reveal Himself to the world in the event that was Jesus Christ.

John 3:16-17 tell us that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. That God didn’t send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it through Him. And when did God do this? After we had cleaned up our act? After we started to behave proper? After we had acknowledged Him? 1 John 4 tells us something different “This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son…” God didn’t move because humanity became holy and righteous. He moved because He is Holy and Righteous. “… Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ…” and He did this while we were still “dead in transgressions” (Ephesians 2:4-5), so far gone in our sins that we didn’t even realize we were lost. “… what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1). And now that we have received this love, as it says in Romans 8:38-39, nothing, absolutely nothing, neither death or life, angels or demons, height or depth, or anything in all of creation can ever separate us from it.

On Good Friday the battle between the Devil and Heaven was decided. We’re not waiting to see if God wins. We know He’s already won. This plan began before the beginning of the world. 1 Peter 1:20 tells us how Jesus was chosen before creation and revealed at the proper time for our sake. Ephesians 1:4 goes even further telling us how Jesus chose us to be in Him before the creation of the world. And this plan ends with us at His side for eternity. Revelation 21 tells us how there will be a resurrected earth, a Holy City where God will dwell with His people, a place where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Revelation 21:1, 4). Prior to this there’s also good news. The earth doesn’t go out with a bang – floods, fires, earthquakes and wars. Habbakuk 2:14 reveals how God will end it all on earth, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” It ends with His glory, not His wrath.

What kind of God loves like this?

Humanity’s journey towards Salvation, a journey that began in time in Genesis with a conversation between God and Abraham, but one which began long before that, culminates in the Word made flesh giving up Himself for the creation that was brought into being through Him, by Him, and for Him.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends

On to my second point. On this day 2000 years ago God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them… God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God”

On this day Christ took away the sins of the whole world, past, present, future, those done out of negligence, even the ones done purposefully with malice, making salvation possible for all of humanity, the entirety of creation, including you. People weren’t an add on to this. God didn’t decide to save everything else and at the last moment decided to throw us in too. Humanity, me, you, that’s who God came to rescue, not from His wrath, but from this tyrant called Sin, and in this plan to rescue us God redeems the entirety of creation.

Gregory of Nazianus, an Eastern Orthodox theologian, argued that the unassumed is the unhealed/unsaved. As Pastor Zach mentioned on Sunday, the devil had held people in bondage over their fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15), but Jesus didn’t simply take on our body, mind, and soul, on that Friday so long ago, in that moment where God made clear that He was choosing not to be God without us, choosing not to be God unless He was God for us, He also took on our death, fully experiencing it, and now there is no place where God has not been, no aspect of our being which has not been touched by His eternal love. We will still die, but because of the Resurrection it is no longer fatal. Christ has made a way for each of us to experience life after life.

In this same section of Scripture Paul goes on to write that God, “… has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (v20). At this point I want to take a minute to ask: what does God reconciling Himself to the world look like in your life? What did it look like in that moment when you acknowledged this to be true? What does it look like now, in your workplace, in your neighbourhood, in your friendships?

Lately, in large part because of the people at Impact Church, what reconciliation looks like in my world is bringing people, and their pets food and water, bringing these treasures who have become lost in dark places (Isaiah 45:3 kind of) a warm breakfast sandwich on a Saturday morning, a blanket or winter jacket to get through a cold night like Sunday’s or this past one, boots to those who somehow ended up walking the street in socks. But this is about more than meeting a person’s immediate need. So much more. If Jesus had come to simply feed the poor He could have turned the rocks to bread (Matthew 4:3), but what He came to do was way bigger. Everything He did was undertaken in order to reveal the love of God. And that’s what we’ve been doing as a church. Meeting immediate needs is important, but through this we are revealing God’s love to some of the most marginalized in London. We are restoring hope to those who had none. Not a hope for a job, or even for housing, but a true Christian hope based on knowing that Jesus is with them, that they have not been abandoned by God, nor are they separate from Him.

This takes us to my third point. Jesus ushered in a new way for us to be in the world. Pastor Zach said a line on Sunday that’s been sticking with me all week – we need to quit trying to become through religion what we’ve already been made through the resurrection. We don’t have to strive to become right with God. As a result of the resurrection, as a result of accepting the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf, we now have that same thriving indestructible life that raised Him from the dead, residing within each of us. You have been grafted into Jesus, and are in complete union with Him, seated both here and with Him in Heavenly Places. As a direct result of the actions that took place over this weekend 2 millennia ago our relationship to our Heavenly Father is no longer based upon our behaviour, our ability to keep the Law. From the moment the Resurrection took place your relationship has been and forever will be founded upon the great and undying love God has for you.

In this moment Jesus pulled us out from under the weight of Law, tearing us free from the grip Sin had held on humanity since leaving the Garden of Eden. Christ redeemed us from this curse by becoming a curse for us (Galations 3:13), restoring humanity to the place Adam had forfeited, placing us back in right relationship with our Heavenly Father, lifting us up alongside Him as a co-heir in God’s eternal Kingdom.

Paul puts it this way in Romans 8:1-4

… there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Christ removed the obstacles of Sin and death that were keeping humanity, keeping us, from experiencing and living life the way God intended. But this moment in time isn’t merely about what the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus freed us from, this moment is also about what He freed us for.

During the Last Supper, The Gospel of John records Jesus as having said

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another

Christians are to love one another, and not just love, but love one another as Christ loves us.

How does Jesus love…

– love one another as I have loved you, scepter of Kingdom is a towel, servant leadership,

This sounds like a tall order and it might even seem a bit overwhelming at first – love others as Jesus loves you – but the Word made Flesh, He didn’t just utter a command, through His Death and Resurrection Christ made the way, He provided the means, for us to fulfill it.

Because of the resurrection we have the power in us to manifest Jesus here, now, wherever we find ourselves.

Scripture reminds us of this change that has taken place within us, repeatedly telling us that those who have died with Christ have also been raised up with Him into new life. This new life that’s spoken of doesn’t start after we die. It begins the moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. I like how Paul puts it in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God…” In 2 Corinthians 5:17 he explains it this way, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” In the NLT it says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person” And now you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13).

Even the strength to love those you find annoying, the patience to speak up for the voiceless, standing by those who are sometimes difficult to be around, the power to be present in awkward situations, all in order to help those who are still lost in darkness to experience the goodness of the one who called us into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9 kind of) for themselves.

[Pastor Zach quote; Romans 8:1-4, John 13:34]

Lead into Communion with:

This morning, as we take Communion, I invite you to not only remember God’s story, but also how He made a way for you to be a part of that eternal story. On this day 2000 years ago your role in it was made possible. Jesus passed your audition for you.

During the Jewish Passover it was the lamb that was inspected, not the person who brought it. If the lamb was good, you were good. Christians have the perfect lamb, one without flaw, who was sacrificed once and for all for us.

During the night of the first Passover the angel looked for the blood over the doorposts, not on the worthiness of those within. Those who have accepted Christ have been forever covered by his blood.

Never doubt God’s love for you. And never doubt your salvation. You have been forever reconciled to God. He made you right with Himself. There’s nothing you can do to disqualify yourself once you’ve accepted this eternal truth as true for you. Everything has already been done. Live out of the fullness of what Jesus did for you on this day.

Resurrection Series# 4, The Friday Before the Resurrection, Sermon notes to print, PDF

Resurrection Series# 3, The Focus of Resurrection

Recap:

The Face of the resurrection:  Jesus was the first-fruits of a great harvest of redeemed, restored and empowered humanity that will eternally live out the intentions and love of our Father. In his mission to appear before the Father as the first-fruits, Jesus was willing to take a moment and connect with his friend, someone who meant so much to him. 

Intro: The Focus of the Resurrection

People, inventions, ideas that changed everything. :Nicholas Copernicus (1473 – 1543) theorized that the sun was at the center of the universe and that earth orbited the sun.

Almost 100 years later, Galileo took a newly invented telescope, pointed it up into the night sky and was able to observe moons orbiting Jupiter and the different phases of Venus, proving that the planets orbited the sun and not the other way around.

These observations, facts that came into focus through the observation of the planets through the lens of a telescope, literally changed the way we thought about ourselves, how we interacted with the Bible and church teachings, how we understood who we are as people, our role in the universe, and how the universe works, and how we know what we know.

This observation brought new possibilities into focus. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead literally brings a new focus to our lives and shifts our focus in three definitive ways:

Robert Capon

“Religion is he attempt on the part of human beings to establish a right relationship between themselves and something outside themselves, something they think to be of life shaping importance.” 

This can take the form of good behaviour, a code of conduct or a personal set of ethics or life principles.  When religion is our focus in life we end up living very restrictive lives, our focus becomes rules, regulations, our own performance and our evaluation of ourselves and others.

Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

The resurrection brings as different way of living into focus.

Romans 4:25 (TPT)

Because Jesus was raised for our justification we don’t need to spend our time, energy, efforts trying to keep the rules, convince God to bless us, or change his mind about hurting us. The resurrection declares we are right with God. Now the essence of our life is not to prove ourselves to God, but to live out a relationship with God.

John 17:2-3

Ephesians 4:23-24

The resurrection takes my life focus out of survival mode and into really thriving mode, but perhaps, not in the way that you think.

Romans 8:11

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

The apostle Paul prayed that we would get a real glimpse of that resurrection power, and stop living un-empowered lives.

Ephesians 1:19-20

However, although we are empowered and know it, our focus can still be on fear based survival and life preservation rather than truly thriving if we still live lives of fear, worry, anxiety and stress.

Matthew 16:24-25

If you take up your cross, you acknowledge that to participate in Jesus resurrection, you also first became a participant his death. There is no resurrection without a death.

In dying with Christ we let go of all that we thought we once needed in order to live and survive. Maybe not food and drink but things like; where you do you get life from? Where do you get your sense of identity, significance? What brings you ultimate satisfaction and a sense of completion in life?

Resurrection lets you let go of everything, knowing that on the other side you will find true and lasting life.

John 11:25-26

Ultimately resurrection also takes our focus off of what all of humanity is scared of:  death.

Hebrews 2:14-15

Death is not good. It is an enemy and is to be opposed, but in Jesus, you never really die. Resurrection liberates from the fear of death. Just as surely as Jesus came out of the tomb to a glorious existence, so too will you.

This is what caused the saints of old to be  willing to lay down their lives for the sake of Christ and refusing to deny him in the face of death, knowing that they couldn’t really be killed.

Resurrection shifts our focus, we are not afraid! And when the fear is gone, replaced by a rock solid conviction of our inclusion in Jesus resurrection, you can start to thrive in life, really embrace it instead of fear it, engage in it rather than hide from it – what can man do to me? My life is in Christ and not in my stuff!

Humanity was made with eternity in our hearts, birthed with a desire to not only live forever, but to make a contribution to life that will last forever… Jesus called it fruit that remains. We might call it legacy or longevity.

Without a hope in the resurrection, this awareness of eternity and the desire to do something that lasts turns inwards and becomes selfish, temporal and afraid. We become painfully aware of our own mortality, and we become bound by a sense of urgency. We become consumed with what we can do that we think will make the biggest difference in this life, and we make decisions that are designed to be celebrated in this life, in front of as many people as possible, with the biggest impact that we can see as possible.

When you see through the lens of resurrection you get to make decisions and contributions to life with eternal consequences in mind. In this way we:

2 Corinthians 4:18

1 Peter 1:3-5

“…has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you…”

The judgement seat of Christ, the one we will all appear before (2 Cor. 5:10), is not a giant carrot and stick designed to make Christians behave so they won’t lose their eternal reward. But what it does do is help us focus on the fact that in light of the resurrection, we have something more to live for than simply what we can see, feel, hear, taste, and touch in this life.

It will be an amazingly empowering experience where we hear Jesus’ judgement over our lives, bringing eternal clarity to us. If we still have areas in our lives affected by fallen thinking we will be set free by the truth then and there, and the eternal longing we have to see the fruit of our labours will be satisfied when what was obscure and difficult to see on earth will be made clear in eternity.

Summary

It shifts our focus away from religion towards relationship, away from mere surviving, and sets us up for a life of thriving free from the bonds of fear and small minded pursuits. Finally, resurrection shifts our focus and our priorities away from the temporal to the eternal.

Resurrection Series# 3, The Focus of Resurrection, Sermon notes to print, PDF

Resurrection Series# 2, The Face Of Resurrection

The wright brothers father. Bishop Milton Wright … “That is heresy, absolute heresy, the Bible says that flight is reserved for the angels. We will have no such talk at this conference. If God wanted us to fly He would have given us wings.”   Flight Changes Everything!!!

Romans 4:25 (Youngs Literal Translation) “…who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous.”

Rom. 4:25 TPT “Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that he had made us right with God! 

Jesus could not be raised if every sin was not forgiven. Full atonement! Jesus covered it all! The resurrection is proof that I am righteous!!!

Acts 4:33 “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”  Central Message of the early Church!!!!

Colossians 2:17 “These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”   The instructions in the old covenant. Special days … foods … sacrifices…

1 Corinthians 15:20-26  “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. … … For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.  But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, …   …when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.  For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”

Psalm 89:15 (AMP) “Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are the people who know the joyful sound [who understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolized by the feasts]; they walk, O Lord, in the light and favor of Your countenance!”

Leveiticus 23:10-11, 14  “When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. …

Jesus was raised on the 17th day of Nisan.    (17 Overcoming The Enemy – Complete Victory)

The day of the harvest of Firstfruits.                    The day Noah’s ark rested on the new earth.

The day they passed through the Red Sea – New Life

John 20:1, 11-18  “Now the first day (First Fruits  17th) of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb… 

Luke 8:1-3 “Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, 2 and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, 3 and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.”

VS. 11   … But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb.  And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

Adam was a gardener who failed in his task and the world became a wasteland of war and sin. But the second Adam (Jesus) will succeed in his task.  Christ will restore the ruined garden.

Revelation 22:2, 3 “On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be there anymore.”

 … Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended  to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them,… 

   ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.”

Jesus was so careful to completely honour the patterns and purposes of his calling … Exactly. John 17:4  “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” 

Why did He pause, before the he ascended to the father, to interact with Mary?

What does that tell us about the heart of god?How does this encounter speak to you? 

Mary, His Mother, in John 2 says Jesus do something. Woman it’s not my time. But He did it … First Miracle. 

Matthew 15:27-28  (Jesus said “It’s not time”)  And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” 

JESUS … Justice is a big deal … He lifts up the marginalized … abolishes discrimination.

Resurrection Series# 2, The Face Of Resurrection, Sermon notes to print, PDF

Resurrection Series# 1, This Changes Everything, The Fact Of Resurrection

Matthew 28:6-7 “He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead,…”

Matthew 27:62-63  “The next day, on the Sabbath, the leading priests and Pharisees went to see Pilate. They told him, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver  …once said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise from the dead.’  … command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, … steal Him away”

1 Corinthians 15:17-19 (NLT) “And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, …all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.”

Romans 4:23-25 “Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,  but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised ……up Jesus our Lord from the dead,  who was delivered up because of (dia) our offenses, and was raised because of  (dia) our justification.”

Romans 4:25 (Youngs Literal Translation) “…who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous.”

Rom. 4:25 TPT “Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that he had made us right with God!

Jesus would not be raised unless we are declared righteous.  Raised By Spirit … Raised by Glory of God

Matthew 28:13-15  “They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body … So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.”

The Cover Up: “…stole his body…”  vs13

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

He Is Risen — The Facts!

2. Direct Evidence “…appeared to Peter.” (5)

3. Supplementary Evidence “…the twelve…to more than 500…” (5,6)

4. Declaration Of Peculiar Interest  “..then He appeared to James.” (7)

5. Declaration Of Penal Interest “…appeared also to me…I persecuted the church…” (8,9)

6. Experience Of The Early Church

WHAT BEGAN IN THIS LITTLE DUSTY DIRTY CORNER OF THE WORLD HAS FILLED THE GLOBE … STILL THE FASTEST GROWING MOVEMENT!!!  ***************

7. Experience Of Today’s Church

My life has been changed. — I had to have a personal encounter with Jesus … NOT BORN INTO THIS

It isn’t enough to be convinced that He is alive.

WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT THIS JESUS?

Resurrection Series# 1, The Fact Of Resurrection, Sermon notes to print, PDF

Uncomplicated Series# 4, Cancel Culture

Restaurant Reviews – 2018 Eater.com

“The sprinkling of gold flakes lent a top note of *#^%&#@. And that was the good part. The skin had an off-putting tang and a rancid flavor, which seeped into the dried-out meat and left a greasy feeling on the roof of my mouth that, like the demonic clown from It, could not be destroyed.”

“The initial flavor was bland, quickly followed by a fetid, ammonia-like tang. It was an aroma that recalled room-temperature hamburger meat from a grocer that lost power. I felt my eyes water up as I chewed. I tried to swallow. I felt my entire GI tract prepare to purge.”

For beauty and clarity to be revealed you need context.    Example: Diamond in setting.

Titus 3:10-11 (TPT) “After a first and second warning, have nothing more to do with a divisive person who refuses to be corrected. For you know that such a one is entwined with his sin and stands self-condemned.”

Titus 3:8-11 (The Message) “I want you to put your foot down. Take a firm stand on these matters so that those who have put their trust in God will concentrate on the essentials that are good for everyone. Stay away from mindless, pointless quarreling over genealogies and fine print in the law code. That gets you nowhere. Warn a quarrelsome person once or twice, but then be done with him. It’s obvious that such a person is out of line, rebellious against God. By persisting in divisiveness he cuts himself off.”

Saul wanted to cancel David. — Leaders wanted to cancel Daniel. — Brothers wanted to cancel Joseph.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2021)

Cancel Culture:— the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure.    (First Use 2017)

Urban Dictionary — August 29, 2019

Bill Maher on Cancel Culture: “And this muddying the waters is unfortunate because cancel culture is real. It’s insane. And it’s growing exponentially. And it’s coming to a neighborhood near you.”

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because this who mind dob’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” Dr Suess

During the second world war, Seuss published anti-Japanese cartoons and vocally supported the establishment of concentration camps for Japanese-Americans. Years later he sought to apologize for his actions and wrote the book Horton Hears a Who! to reflect his changed views. The books that will cease publication are nowhere near his most popular works, and it is doubtful most Americans have even heard of them. Those books will not be burned; they were not forced to be removed by a horde of liberals; and the rest of his catalogue will remain untouched.

Mr. Potato Head. Why is Mr. Potato Head the perfect husband?

Consequences and being held accountable for irresponsible behaviour is not cancel culture.

Galatians 6:1-5 (AMP) “Brethren, if any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness,…”

“overtaken” (prolambanō) :— to take by surprise; be taken unexpectedly.

“… keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also. Bear (endure, carry) one another’s burdens and [troublesome moral faults, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ…”

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you,…”

Matthew 18:15-17 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’  And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”

How do you treat a heathen or tax collector? Who wrote this Gospel?

REVIVING INTELLECTUAL HOSPITALITY Cherie Harder February 11, 2021

Alan Jacobs (How to Think) “To think independently of other human beings is impossible, and if it were possible it would be undesirable. Thinking is necessarily, thoroughly, and wonderfully social. Everything you think is a response to what someone else has thought and said.”

Matthew 7:1-2  (NKJV) “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” 

Matthew 7:1-5  (Message)  “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.”

Proverbs 26:17 “You grab a mad dog by the ears when you butt into a quarrel that’s none of your business.”

Romans 12:17-18 “Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I’ll take care of it.’”

Psalm 89:13-15  “Your arm is powerful, your hand strong, your right hand victorious. Equity and justice are the foundation of your throne … Loyal love and faithfulness characterize your rule. How blessed are the people who worship you! O Lord, they experience your favor.”

Proverbs 24:23 (MSG) “It’s wrong, very wrong, to go along with injustice.”

Jesus came to cancel sin not people. 

Jesus calls us to recruit and not to prosecute.

“So, let us love others and let them know it!  Let us take the time to build meaningful relationships.  Let us love, support, and encourage others.  Let’s walk in their shoes, let their heart break ours, let’s celebrate with them, get dirty helping them put theirlives back together. Let’s not take shortcuts, but love. Let us laugh with people, really listen to them, learn to ask better questions, stop giving unsolicited advice – let us love without agenda.  Let us enlarge our life with people.”   Kelly Michalczyk

When you have been forgiven so  much and you won’t forgive others … you are not a kingdom person … you have been unimpacted by the love of God … you have rejected the fee gift of grace!!!

Ucomplicated Series# 4, Cancel Culture, Sermon notes to print, PDF