How to Speak Gospel to the Cancel Culture
The “cancel culture” can hit anyone at any time–even you–if you’ve ever said or done something that a very vocal group of people disagree with. Unfortunately, the Church is not immune to this type of canceling of our own.
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we’ll take a look at how God deals with messed-up people and disagreements. Did he cancel the reputation and livelihood of some of history’s most famous sinners? We’ll hear some Good News for all of this, and I’ll give you 5 Rules for combating the cancel culture in your life today.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- What the ‘cancel culture’ is, and how to know if you’ve been “canceled”.
- Ways you may have canceled people in your life and not known it.
- How the Good News of the Gospel speaks to and cancels the ‘cancel culture’.
- 5 Rules for combating the cancel culture in your life today.
From this episode:
“Some Christians are quick to point to Matthew 18 and the words found here about dealing with a brother or sister who sins and refuses to listen. We are told to treat them as an outsider, an unbeliever… a pagan. Ok. How are we to treat unbelievers? With grace and compassion and patience, showing them perfect love and kindness that casts out fear and control and leads to repentance… Which is a renewing of the mind, a new belief.“
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
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Transcript
The cancel culture fuels intolerance and fear, which is really sad if you think.
Caesar:And quite ironic, isn't it, , we're supposed to be living in a, you know, like sort of this awareness now of having much greater tolerance, unless of course you disagree with certain people and they'll try to cancel you.
Caesar:That to me that is, that is so crazy ironic.
Caesar:Now here's the thing though.
Caesar:Let's be fair and like look in the mirror a little bit.
Caesar:Within the church and within Christiandom in particular, we are not immune to this sort of cancel culture.
Caesar:You, you've probably heard it said, and I don't know what you think about it, but you've probably heard it said that the only army that shoots it's wounded is the Christian army.
Caesar:And I'm not saying everybody does, but I have seen it.
Caesar:It's definitely part of our family culture.
Caesar:. As the church.
Caesar:So, you know, you can't point at the church and say those people cuz it's, it's me.
Caesar:It's us.
Announcer:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Announcer:In other words.
Announcer:Discipleship as a lifestyle.
Announcer:This is the stuff your parents, pastors and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Announcer:And now here's your host.
Announcer:Caesar.
Announcer:Kalinowski.
Caesar:All right, thanks.
Caesar:Heath.
Caesar:It's good to be back.
Caesar:How are you doing today?
Caesar:Oh, we
Caesar:are living the dream over here in the Pacific Northwest.
Caesar:I wish you could see what I'm looking at right now.
Caesar:It is so gorgeous here.
Caesar:Last weekend
Caesar:I got to take like
Caesar:a full on three days off.
Caesar:It was amazing.
Caesar:Got to be with family and some really good friends and People of Peace and had some great food.
Caesar:I got to do some sea kayaking out here.
Caesar:It's crazy.
Caesar:Been living here in, the city called Gig Harbor, which is, we're right on a little harbor and a gig is a rowboat.
Caesar:So anyway, I guess long ago that's what they called it.
Caesar:And anyway, we, go, Town.
Caesar:It's like five minutes from our house, but we go down all the time and walk around the water and it's like a postcard.
Caesar:But I have never kayaked my own little harbor here, though.
Caesar:I've been kayaking all over the place.
Caesar:I've never kayaked this.
Caesar:And a good buddy of mine, Dale, took me out.
Caesar:. Wow.
Caesar:It's so beautiful here.
Caesar:I feel like.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:, we are, , living the dream.
Caesar:And it's the best time of year.
Caesar:It's so, it's so beautiful right now.
Caesar:And, uh, I am just days away from having another grandson, so God is so good.
Caesar:There's so much grace in our life.
Caesar:I hope you're experiencing.
Caesar:Similar wonder and goodness and grace, wherever you're at, whatever you're up to.
Caesar:I know there is also a lot of hard stuff going on, so I don't, I'm not just trying to, you know, wash over all that.
Caesar:But, we here in Team K are choosing to look to grace and hope for all things in the future and all of that.
Caesar:So anyway, really glad you're with me today.
Caesar:, before I get.
Caesar:Into this topic of the cancel culture,
Caesar:which wow, pretty heavy.
Caesar:Anyway, before I do, I just wanna invite you to join us over on the Facebook group.
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Caesar:So if you do that, I would certainly appreciate it.
Caesar:That'd be an awesome thing.
Caesar:Okay, so today, wow.
Caesar:I wanna talk about this cancel culture.
Caesar:I don't know if you know what it is.
Caesar:I mean, we hear about it on TV a lot.
Caesar:we see it a lot.
Caesar:We've probably
Caesar:even experienced it some, but there
Caesar:is good news.
Caesar:I think, I really do believe the Gospel speaks to that, especially for those of us that redeemed the family of God.
Caesar:Uh, those who are walking in light of the Gospel more and more in every area of life.
Caesar:I think there's really good news and to the whole culture.
Caesar:At large, including that those who participate in the cancel culture.
Caesar:So,
Caesar:, simply put, the cancel culture is the
Caesar:boycotting or silencing of someone or something with the threat of financial or popularity loss.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:That's what's going on when someone gets quote canceled.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Cancellation properly understood refers to an attack on someone's reputation, and their employment by, some group, some determined collective of people and critics based on an opinion or an action that is alleged by them to be disgraceful and disqualifying.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Wow, that's heavy, right?
Caesar:So some group of people decide that someone else has said or done something either recently or in the past that is just unforgivable.
Caesar:And so now their reputation and their livelihood should be eliminated because of that, and they're gonna make that determination themselves.
Caesar:Probably from afar through social media, through hiding and weirdness and blame.
Caesar:Okay?
Caesar:So, but here's the thing.
Caesar:Reputation and employment are key terms here because you're not being canceled if you're merely being heckled or insulted or disagreed with.
Caesar:And, if you're posting
Caesar:kind of, uh,
Caesar:sensitive things or, you know, Polemic things
Caesar:or inflammatory things on social media,
Caesar:probably you got people piling on you,
Caesar:? and they probably don't agree necessarily, and they're not necessarily that that nice about it.
Caesar:That's not being canceled unless they have actively tried to tear down your reputation with anybody that would, it would really matter.
Caesar:And, uh, remove your employment and income and all that.
Caesar:? We've seen this thing, you know, you've seen it on tv, right?
Caesar:Different comedians or actors, They have an opinion and all of a sudden it's deemed not politically correct.
Caesar:Um, this happened to Roseanne Barr a couple years back.
Caesar:She said something that a lot of people took offense with and.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:I'm not here to say if it was offensive or not, I think it was.
Caesar:and she got canceled.
Caesar:Not only her show, but she her kind of whole career over done.
Caesar:Right?
Caesar:There's been other actors and stuff.
Caesar:Um, people who, you know, they support Trump or Biden or they don't support the right, you know, person or whatever, and they get canceled.
Caesar:public historical figures, you know, from our history books.
Caesar:Now all their statutes are being tore down because there's some aspect of their life that some collective of people deem.
Caesar:Horrible.
Caesar:And therefore nothing they ever did is a value and they should be canceled.
Caesar:and I kind of wonder, can't we just vote with our wallets or our purchases or our viewing habits anymore?
Caesar:Someone like a Roseanne Barrer may have been fired due to certain aspects of her employment contract that, she violated with the statements she made.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:So maybe, you know, if you sign a contract that says you can't do these kind of things or stir up this kind of trouble, cuz that's gonna, you know, cause our product to feel so then you know, we're gonna have to let you go for that.
Caesar:That's different.
Caesar:? But how about a store owner or a restaurant owner?
Caesar:Canceled publicly over an opinion that they hold that's different than others, or it's currently deemed politically incorrect.
Caesar:Like,
Caesar:Hey, if you don't like that person
Caesar:because they, serve this, or don't serve that,
Caesar:or in their window they're supporting this political candidate.
Caesar:So now you're going after them to cancel them, let consumers vote by their support or lack thereof.
Caesar:You know, That's how
Caesar:I was raised.
Caesar:If you, if you don't.
Caesar:Certain store or you know, the guy at the gas station's kind of jerked to me every time I go, not going there anymore.
Caesar:Problem solved.
Caesar:But I don't get online and try to like cancel the dude's whole life.
Caesar:Intentionally try to ruin a person's reputation and livelihood because you don't like who or what they support politically or don't support.
Caesar:That's scary to me.
Caesar:That's dangerous.
Caesar:And I do have to say this though, uh, because you might be wondering and because my son's a First Amendment attorney, a canceled.
Caesar:Quote unquote, canceled individual hasn't lost any First Amendment rights because there's no constitutional right to a particular job or reputation.
Caesar:our constitution doesn't afford that.
Caesar:But at the same time, I think we, it's fair to certainly hope and expect that a more liberal, progressive, or woke society would create and protect a wider space for debate and allow.
Caesar:An ever increasing wider range of personal expression and opinion, right?
Caesar:cuz the cancel culture kills genuine debate.
Caesar:And we need that.
Caesar:We can't really live in society, a free society and a society where we get a freedom of religion and freedom of speech and all that.
Caesar:if every time you have a difference of opinion and it doesn't even have to be against the majority or whatever, but you do, then you run the risk of losing your livelihood and your reputation.
Caesar:So I, I think like in some ways the cancel culture is a form of sort of the modern equivalent of a lynch mob.
Caesar:People, all of a sudden it's like, you know, I'm thinking back to like the Frankenstein, you know, old school Frankenstein movie where everybody just shows up with, flaming torches and sticks and axes and they're just, you know, ah, you know, they're going after everything.
Caesar:Except now we do it on social media and we can hide.
Caesar:See, and I think sadly the cancel culture has a pretty long and sinister human historical history.
Caesar:Going back to things, you know, way back, not, it's not, this isn't, some people wanna say the cancel culture is just like a new thing.
Caesar:So social media kind of invented no.
Caesar:I think it goes back to things like the Salem Witch trials in the 17th century.
Caesar:to, like the book burnings in the 1930s and the McCarthy, Red Scare in the fifties, which a whole lot of actors and writers and artists lost their lives and the reputations and careers over, they were just ruined.
Caesar:Just for difference of opinion or suspicion of such a thing.
Caesar:Even
Caesar:I think more recently, a lot of this has been spurred on by the pent up anxiety and frustrations from the pandemic lockdowns and you know, following the death of George Floyd and others with the ensuing protests that have evolved into riots.
Caesar:Now in many cities, the cancel culture has sort of become turbocharged because of all this.
Caesar:we're seeing companies are having to change the names of their products or their packaging.
Caesar:for fear of being canceled.
Caesar:Sports teams, they're changing their names, their mascots, uh, historical figures are being written out of history books, literally in a lot of school districts.
Caesar:But here's the thing about that, trying to artificially.
Caesar:Scrub, clean
Caesar:the historical record of facts to try and
Caesar:create some sort of a cultural, you know, utopia that never existed.
Caesar:To me, that's akin to stick in our collective heads in the sand and ignoring the evolving cultural awareness and sensitivity and lessens the throughout history.
Caesar:which if we pretend never happened, then we're certainly doomed to repeat in many cases.
Caesar:Right.
Caesar:That's scary to me.
Caesar:you know, I'm glad my kids are raised, but we're raising grandkids now.
Caesar:I don't want them living where history has been sanitized.
Caesar:And we don't get to see how we've grown and learned and the consequences of our choices and actions and what we once thought was fair and acceptable.
Caesar:Maybe it's not anymore.
Caesar:And we need to learn from those things.
Caesar:And you know, we, we talk about from a discipleship and a Gospel standpoint, let your redemption show.
Caesar:. Let people see our humility and, how God is at work changing us and helping us move from unbelief to belief in new areas of life.
Caesar:And, and that's individually, but that's also collectively.
Caesar:And you know what?
Caesar:Thinking about all this in the whole cancel culture
Caesar:today, you or I could be canceled for something that you've said or written perhaps 20 or 30 years.
Caesar:Or a late night tweet or a comment that's not deemed currently politically correct, you could be canceled just because you've expressed an opinion.
Caesar:And some people think, Well, I don't know.
Caesar:I'm not famous.
Caesar:I don't think famous.
Caesar:Ah, you know what?
Caesar:You might express an opinion that may in fact be very long held and maybe even held by the majority of the public yet.
Caesar:You don't wanna do it.
Caesar:? See, this is part of the cancel culture too.
Caesar:it closes mouths yet because of fear of being canceled or even having someone, look down at us for our views or our opinions, we keep quiet.
Caesar:See, that's where it gets, and that's really, that's ultimately the goal of this in all this virtue signaling is like, you see what happened to that person
Caesar:because they voted that way, or they expressed their support of this,
Caesar:or they're not in support of this amendment or this law.
Caesar:You know, Right.
Caesar:Or whatever.
Caesar:Fill in the blank.
Caesar:Look what happened to them.
Caesar:And so then people, we close our mouths.
Caesar:and this is key.
Caesar:and why this is becoming more and more prevalent today.
Caesar:Don't miss, this is our love of self and our fear of man and needing everyone's approval.
Caesar:I mean, everyone's, that's what closes our mouths.
Caesar:And that's sad, and I think that's really dangerous.
Caesar:And it's really not living in belief of the Gospel.
Caesar:The cancel culture fuels
Caesar:intolerance and fear, which is really sad if you think.
Caesar:And quite ironic, isn't it, , we're supposed to be living in a, you know, like sort of this awareness now of having much greater tolerance, unless of course you disagree with certain people and they'll try to cancel you.
Caesar:That to me that is, that is so crazy ironic.
Caesar:Now here's the thing.
Caesar:let's be fair and like look in the mirror a little bit within the church and within Christiandom in particular, we're not immune to this sort of cancel culture.
Caesar:You, you've probably heard it said, and I don't know what you think about it, but you've probably heard it said that the only army that shoots its wounded is the Christian army.
Caesar:Right.
Caesar:And I'm not saying everybody does, but I have.
Caesar:It's definitely part of our family
Caesar:culture, As the church.
Caesar:So, you know, you can't point at the church and say those people cuz that's, that's me.
Caesar:That's us.
Caesar:? I can think back to, you know, Sandy Patty, right?
Caesar:Contemporary Christian artists years ago.
Caesar:Really big and popular artist, And selling lots of records and concerts and just a beautiful person.
Caesar:And, went through a very unfortunate divorce boom.
Caesar:Canceled kinda like pretty much career.
Caesar:For years and years, and maybe now a little bit back.
Caesar:Amy Grants very similar things.
Caesar:You know, certain artists and authors, Christian artists and authors who, you know, people find something they don't agree with, so all their music and books get pulled from the stores.
Caesar:Mm-hmm.
Caesar:, you've seen it.
Caesar:You've probably, maybe, I don't know, maybe you've even been a part of it.
Caesar:You're like, I can't believe so and so said that I'm throwing all her books away.
Caesar:I'm throwing all their music out now, and I'm, I'm gonna go to my church bookstore and say, How could you possibly carry that?
Caesar:Because that one thing happened in their life where they hold this opinion.
Caesar:They should now.
Caesar:Not have a ministry or, uh, a way to make a living at all.
Caesar:Like did the words in their record who, like a week ago before you even knew like that, that happened in their life.
Caesar:Like that so glorified God and, and you know, really reminded you of the cross and grace, like that's now invalidated somehow.
Caesar:See, and you know, other popular religions do it too, they call people to, to be shunned if someone walks away from their particular brand of religion or they marry someone outside.
Caesar:Their religion.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:And you know, and thinking through all this too, it's like, well, you know, some of the examples
Caesar:you're given, there are like things recently where certain pastors have stepped down or they admitted certain things and they're totally canceled.
Caesar:Right.
Caesar:a lot of Christians are quick to point to Matthew 18 and the words there about dealing with a brother or sister who sins.
Caesar:Refuses to listen.
Caesar:You know, how are we to treat them?
Caesar:We're told to treat them as an outsider, as an unbeliever, or a pagan, Well, hang on a
Caesar:second.
Caesar:How are we called to treat unbelievers?
Caesar:We're called to treat 'em with grace and compassion and patience like God shows us and show them
Caesar:perfect love and kindness.
Caesar:That casts out fear and control, and it leads to repentance, which is a renewing of the mind, right?
Caesar:A new belief.
Caesar:Hmm.
Caesar:so, you know, we can't hide behind that.
Caesar:As church said, Well, you know, that person did this.
Caesar:So, you know, and then, uh,
Caesar:uh, like, Hey, how are we called to treat ? Broken people or people who don't even agree with us?
Caesar:Or they're far, Or what about just because it happened
Caesar:to them?
Caesar:Oh my goodness.
Caesar:Right.
Caesar:See, I wonder is this cancel culture?
Caesar:Out out there and also here, closer to home, right?
Caesar:In our, you know, within the church or whatever.
Caesar:Is the cancer culture really about power and control?
Caesar:I think it is.
Caesar:who has it and who wants it
Caesar:In a broken society
Caesar:like we live in, it's marred by sin.
Caesar:We are all naturally drawn to power.
Caesar:Especially the power of canceling someone because it makes us feel as though we are in control.
Caesar:Like we're just taking back a little ground here.
Caesar:Right?
Caesar:Or whatever, Or , I don't know.
Caesar:But instead of seeking power, we are called as believers, as followers of Jesus, we're called to live humbly under the rule of God alone.
Caesar:Recognizing that, each of us falls way short of God's glory.
Caesar:Our pursuit should be one of laying down our pride and power and self and seek to love others.
Caesar:Not control.
Caesar:Let, let's take a look for a second.
Caesar:Let's take a look here at how God deals with some really messed up people throughout scripture.
Caesar:does God cancel the reputation of livelihood of some of history's most famous sinners?
Caesar:? I don't know.
Caesar:Look it, How about Moses?
Caesar:Moses had an anger problem early on that led him to become a murderer and then cover that up.
Caesar:Hmm.
Caesar:But he was later on like, Look how God used him and glorified himself.
Caesar:And he was said, it said in scripture, Moses was the most humble man that ever walked the earth.
Caesar:Wow.
Caesar:So maybe what he went through because God loved him and pursued him and used him, humbled him and then God glorified himself through that.
Caesar:Hmm.
Caesar:How about David?
Caesar:King David, he coveted Uriah's wife Bathsheba, and then he had her husband Uriah murdered.
Caesar:But he was also called a man after God's own heart.
Caesar:And over and over in scripture it said that the Messiah would come as a son of David in the line of David.
Caesar:He would be a king like David, whose rule and reign and kingdom would never end.
Caesar:Hmm.
Caesar:How about rehab?
Caesar:She was a prostitute.
Caesar:Slept around.
Caesar:Oh, but look what God did.
Caesar:Sampson had a lust problem.
Caesar:, right Eli?
Caesar:He was given an F in parenting his son.
Caesar:And yet still God glorified himself.
Caesar:How about Abraham?
Caesar:Father of many nations.
Caesar:He's the, beginning of the covenant.
Caesar:That's now the new covenant.
Caesar:God has restored us all through, keeping both sides of it.
Caesar:Abraham was a huge liar and he was willing to sort of sell out, pimp out his wife Sarah, twice to save his neck out of fear.
Caesar:And yet he, he walked with God, He talked to God, and God made huge covenant promises to him, graced him and has glorified himself.
Caesar:And Jesus is part of that offspring and so are we.
Caesar:Now, how about his wife Sarah?
Caesar:She laughed out loud at God in disbelief over this whole, I'm gonna make you into a great nation.
Caesar:She's barren, right?
Caesar:And then she lied about doing that.
Caesar:Jacob was a deceiver who completely duped his brother Esau.
Caesar:But, but look at where we see Jacob, right?
Caesar:He's all right there.
Caesar:Mentioned over and over and over in the line of Abraham, and he became Israel . And let's just jump lay way ahead,
Caesar:Peter, right?
Caesar:The, the Peter who
Caesar:hung out with Jesus apostle.
Caesar:He denied that he even knew Jesus three times, right?
Caesar:At Jesus, you know, right at the pinnacle of this whole thing.
Caesar:And it, you know, it said, I will build my church on you, Peter, the rock.
Caesar:a rock!.
Caesar:You see?
Caesar:You see, we could go on and on and on.
Caesar:God didn't cancel these people.
Caesar:He used them for his glory.
Caesar:And I mean, let's just, let's just go for the, big E and the eye chart here.
Caesar:How did Jesus respond while dying on a cross to those who were mocking him and torturing him?
Caesar:He did.
Caesar:Could he have canceled him?
Caesar:? Could he have called down, angels to just smite the whole, Yeah.
Caesar:Just destroy everybody.
Caesar:He prayed for their forgiveness to his father.
Caesar:Wow.
Caesar:Think about it.
Caesar:If there was ever a time you wanted to cancel some people, , Wow.
Caesar:See this, The Gospel speaks to this.
Caesar:It really does to, to misinformation
Caesar:and confusion that Gospel speaks truth.
Caesar:We've been given the spirit of truth to lead us and guide us.
Caesar:Jesus said, In all the ways of truth to hatred and fear and control, that Gospel speaks perfect love through Christ and now Christ in us.
Caesar:That perfect love cast out fear, right to
Caesar:to, to the outsiders, to those that are different,
Caesar:that are far off, who don't believe what we believe, who hold different opinions, who.
Caesar:fill in the blank.
Caesar:Whatever the gospel offers, acceptance, regardless of their opinions and beliefs or whatever they've said or done, there is a place at the father's table for you, for everyone.
Caesar:will you be the one to extend that invitation to them regardless.
Caesar:I hope we will.
Caesar:that's truly believing in the Gospel and not getting all, wrapped up and flipped out and, taking personal offense over this person's view or that
Caesar:even if, whoa, that's really detrimental.
Caesar:but see, what we do doesn't equal who we be, who we are.
Caesar:And so we, you know, there's different
Caesar:ways that we cancel people in our lives think about this, okay?
Caesar:It's not necessarily, I mean, I know I gave the definition that it's going after their, you know, integrity or what people think of them in their livelihood and all that.
Caesar:But think about we, cancel people in our lives when we discount their opinion and then apply that disagreement to their, identity.
Caesar:Oh, he's just a liberal, you know?
Caesar:Or she's a feminist.
Caesar:She has to say that, da da da.
Caesar:See, we, we take something we disagree with, and we sort of then make that the sum of who they are that's canceling them, or we cancel people in our lives when we marginalize or avoid someone because they hold different beliefs or opinions than we do.
Caesar:Because there's no, there's no covenant there, right?
Caesar:There's no, hey, we're in this together at the foot of the cross.
Caesar:It's level.
Caesar:Uh, we cancel someone when we get gossip behind their backs to others or speak ill of them.
Caesar:Jesus equated that to murder.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Think about that.
Caesar:See how many people have we canceled or we cancel someone in our life when we participate in the exclusion of them from family and community life in any way..
Caesar:And we cancel people when we sit in silence and we don't speak truth to a situation knowing it would help defend someone else or the way that they're being treated.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:. I know that's heavy, and I'm guilty.
Caesar:I I'm with you.
Caesar:and I wanna repent to that.
Caesar:I wanna have a new mind connected to all this.
Caesar:here are a few ideas, or I'll call 'em rules, okay?
Caesar:I don't know, uh, for combating the cancel culture that we're experiencing today.
Caesar:First, obviously it's believe the Gospel and all those comparisons I just gave you.
Caesar:But here, here's first rule.
Caesar:First, facts matter.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:The facts in a situation matter, not opinions, not mere accusations about someone like, Oh, did you hear so and so?
Caesar:Like, Oh, they were accused of that, like canceled, like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Caesar:Facts matter.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Rule number two, stand up for others.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:This is how we combat the cancel culture.
Caesar:Stand up for others.
Caesar:Defend the defenseless.
Caesar:That's what we're called to do.
Caesar:And in these situations when people are like, it's a, it's just like a mob and everybody's piling on people, social media or locally, you know, trying to cancel their business or, or whatever, defend those people.
Caesar:They can't defend themselves in that.
Caesar:Here's rule.
Caesar:number three, Stop the bullies.
Caesar:And by the way, there are church bullies too.
Caesar:There are bullies within the church that they're just like the Theo Police, They're gonna be a theology cops, and they're trying to keep track of who everybody says what and who.
Caesar:And Oh, wait a minute.
Caesar:That person, we can't, Oh, we can't ever find hope from them because look at they said this,
Caesar:and I don't know if I agree, right?
Caesar:be careful of that.
Caesar:But stop bullies in when you see.
Caesar:it's been said, you've probably heard it.
Caesar:I don't remember who, who said it.
Caesar:Doing something costs something, Doing nothing costs something and quite often doing nothing costs a lot more.
Caesar:So, stop the bullies.
Caesar:Love others enough to step in even when it cost you.
Caesar:Remember a little earlier when I asked if, if this is really an issue of control.
Caesar:When we fear what others think of us, or our faith or our opinion or our support of others, and it silences us, or it leads us to inaction, then we too are exercising a form of control.
Caesar:We're trying to control our identity, our reputation, what others think we're making them, in their opinion, more glorious than God, in his opinion, who He loves us perfectly.
Caesar:That's the same sin we see in the garden,
Caesar:you know, in Adam and e fall for the lie that they have to do something or not do something to be a certain way, or have a certain thing in their lives.
Caesar:See, that's control too.
Caesar:Not doing things and, Well, I'm not gonna speak up cause people are gonna think bad of me.
Caesar:That's control too.
Caesar:That's control too.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Rule number four, to sort of come against, and combat the cancel culture, support the canceled, be an advocate for the broken and the marginalized.
Caesar:You'll look a whole lot like Jesus when you do that.
Caesar:You really will.
Caesar:then here, here's my last idea, Rule number five.
Caesar:this is the golden rule.
Caesar:Do unto, unto others as you'd have them do unto you, Matthew seven 12.
Caesar:You know it's called the Golden Rule for a reason.
Caesar:and I love how the passion version of this, you know, there's a new passion version of the Bible, blah.
Caesar:How it puts it to Matthew seven 12 in everything you do.
Caesar:Be careful to treat others in the same way you'd want them to treat you for that is the essence of all the teachings of the law and the prophets.
Caesar:Wow.
Caesar:I underlined that in my notes here.
Caesar:For that, treating others how you'd wanna be treated is the essence of all the teachings of the law and the prophets.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Everything that God's trying to get us to understand and believe and live out summed up right there.
Caesar:I think that's a pretty good , good place to start, Okay.
Caesar:So as always, I wanna leave you today with, the big three takeaways from today's topic.
Caesar:So if nothing else, and maybe you've been at the gym or running or driving, whatever, it's like, Oh, I wanna write some of this down.
Caesar:You can get this as a downloadable,
Caesar:PDF for free.
Caesar:Just go to everyday Disciple dot com slash big.
Caesar:and here, here's big three.
Caesar:Number one, to cancel someone in your life is to give up hope.
Caesar:It really is.
Caesar:It's to believe that their opinion, actions, or sins are beyond the reach of God's redemption.
Caesar:And if that's true for them and their life, then we've effectively limited the work of Jesus on the cross.
Caesar:Because they're beyond hope, right?
Caesar:We're limiting the work of Jesus on the cross for them, for ourselves, and for others.
Caesar:Now, not
Caesar:in truth, but in practice and faith.
Caesar:See, our great enemy, Satan, comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
Caesar:Jesus came that we might have life and have it in fullness.
Caesar:Let's be sure we're on the right.
Caesar:All right.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Number two, We have a great defense and a great defender who will never leave or forsake us, right?
Caesar:Here's Romans eight.
Caesar:What then shall we say in response to these things, if God is for us, who can be against us?
Caesar:He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all
Caesar:things?
Caesar:Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?
Caesar:It is God who justifies.
Caesar:See that?
Caesar:That reminds us that this, we have this great defense and who could stand against it?
Caesar:That the glorious one, the one who created all things, including you and I.
Caesar:Sent his son, he would not even withhold his most precious one, his beloved, on our behalf in our defense.
Caesar:So we don't have to fear defending the defenseless.
Caesar:We don't have to close our mouse.
Caesar:We don't have to fear the cancel culture.
Caesar:We can speak truth.
Caesar:To love in love to the cancel culture.
Caesar:And then number three, go back through the five rules for combating the cancel culture in your own life.
Caesar:Okay?
Caesar:And then ask God to show you who you may have canceled in your life and circles of relationship and influence.
Caesar:And then, you know what?
Caesar:I wanna encourage you, go seek forgiveness and restoration with those people.
Caesar:really like humble yourself and go for it, and pray through Matthew seven 12 really in everything you do, be careful to treat others in the same way you'd want them to treat you for.
Caesar:That's the essence of all the teachings of the law and the prophets.
Caesar:I think that right now with this whole cancel culture and all the unrest we're seeing and, the hyper opinions that are just broadcast 24 7 hours, this.
Caesar:Is really a good time to re-look at that golden rule and knowing where it comes from , and ask the spirit to apply it to our hearts.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Wow.
Caesar:Again, if you want to get a download of the big three, just go to everyday Disciple dot com slash big three, and you can download that right now.
Caesar:All right.
Caesar:I hope you
Caesar:enjoyed that.
Caesar:I hope that gives you some stuff to chew on, think on,
Caesar:and,
Caesar:again, before we scoot outta here today, I wanna invite you to get immediate access to the Everyday Disciple workshop.
Caesar:We've trained thousands of people in this powerful of discipleship when we were doing our everyday Disciple challenges, and we always had people asking us how they could get and keep this training in all the videos.
Caesar:Well, now you can just go over to everyday Disciple dot com slash workshop to get this simple and reproducible discipleship framework.
Caesar:That really works for busy people.
Caesar:That's everyday Disciple dot com slash workshop.
Caesar:I hope you'll grab that, get that downloaded, start watching that, start sharing that with others, cuz now you'll have all of it.
Caesar:All right, I gotta go for now.
Caesar:I hope you'll join us next week.
Caesar:I'll keep diving into discipleship and mission and hopefully help pave the way for this to be a whole lot easier and more natural in your everyday life.
Caesar:I'll talk to you.
Heath:Thanks for joining us today.