SHALOM: CANCELLED
Message by Josh Mutter – January 22, 2023
Cancel Culture – what is it?”
- Definition: A way of behaving in a society or group, especially on social media, in which it is common to completely reject and stop supporting someone because they have said or done something that offends you
- In a cancel culture, we appoint ourselves the arbiters of right and wrong and also the judge and jury
- Cancelling others is often ideologically driven
- Cancelling others can be a weapon against those who are our “enemies”
- Cancelling others sets a standard that we would not want to have applied to us
Big Idea: Practising Shalom means refusing to adopt the ways of cancel culture in our daily relationships
1. Shalom declines the role of judge over others
Matthew 7:1-5 NIV “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
2. Shalom always seeks reconciliation
Luke 19:1-10 NIV Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
3. Shalom chooses the way of forgiveness
Matthew 18:21-22 NIV Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
You can find the sermon on YouTube here.
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