WEBVTT 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:08.320 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:09.519 My name's Clayton. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:11.679 I'm the pastor here at MetaChurch. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:19.280 And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.839 I hope that you enjoy today's message. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:26.800 MetaCurch, it's so good to be back with you. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:29.600 I'm glad you've joined us for MetaCurch Online. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:31.679 Man, we are in this crazy season. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:35.679 We had no idea that we were gonna have to keep our venues closed for this long. 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:40.799 But I want to remind you from time to time that church has not closed. 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:48.079 You cannot close a church because a church is not a building, it's not an organization, it's not a service on Sunday mornings. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:53.759 The church is the movement of Jesus, and that movement is made up of people. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:57.520 Here at MetaCurch, you are the movement. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:05.519 And as long as we're still connecting, and as long as we're still finding ways to live out our purpose, we went from meeting together and moving together. 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:08.959 Now we are streaming together and serving together. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:13.359 As long as we are doing that, the church is still very, very much open. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:16.799 And so I'm glad that you joined us from wherever you're at. 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:24.719 If you're streaming with us live right now on one of our platforms, man, I would love for you just to put your name and where you are streaming from. 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:42.560 We we do this every once in a while to just see uh the diversity of people who are coming from all over the place, most here in San Antonio, but some who are tuning in from other places, and just to have a sense of community that truly we are separated, but we are not alone. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:46.959 Last week we jumped into a new teaching and we talked about cancel culture. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:50.480 If you haven't watched that, you can find it on our website, metachurch.tv. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:58.319 We gave a really simple definition for this just strange phenomenon that we're seeing right now in our society. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:13.280 Cancel culture is when people try to pretty much tear down somebody's life and livelihood because they have done something that is considered offensive to the beliefs that the culture holds. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:27.199 And like no one is immune for this, especially during pandemic, I think, when like, man, people really don't have a lot going on, they don't have a lot to do, they've got a lot of free time, they're spending all their time on the internet, people are getting canceled every day. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:29.439 And it was like, surely there's some limits to this. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:34.000 Like, surely there are some people who can survive in cancel culture. 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:36.080 And then they got Ellen. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:41.599 And once they got Ellen, it was like, nobody is safe from cancel culture. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:55.439 And so the hard truth that we looked at last week is that our beliefs as followers of Jesus are increasingly becoming offensive and running counter to the larger culture that we live in. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:05.919 And what that means is that because we hold offensive views to the culture, we are now in danger of cancellation. 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:15.360 And really, we saw that at some point in our life, if we really try to live out these biblically based truths, we are probably gonna come to a crossroads. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:20.240 And the option will be conformity or cancellation. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:22.400 Will I bend on my beliefs? 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:32.560 Will I compromise my truth to conform to the world and avoid cancellation, or will I in fact allow myself to be canceled? 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:36.560 What will you do when culture comes for you? 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:42.000 And just to try and continue to be transparent, I really just planned one sermon. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:44.800 I I had this idea, I was seeing the cancel culture. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:04:11.680 I was looking really like at who we are and what we believe in, who we're trying to follow in a society that is increasingly atheistic, increasingly opposed to the truth of God and his son Jesus, and this thing that we're a part of, and the equality and love and peace that comes only from Jesus in a world that keeps moving further and further away, it just dawned on me like, man, if we're gonna live this out, we're gonna get canceled. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.919 So we put together the week and we had a creative meeting and we we set it all together. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:23.279 And then as I was streaming on Sunday with you guys, I realized there's another side. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:24.560 I had to speak to it. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:34.079 And so I called the team and I called Marco, our video director, who has just been working so incredibly hard during this season, and we talked about what would it look like to do week two, because there's another side. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:41.519 I want to talk about the other side of cancel culture and what it has to do specifically to us as the movement we call MetaCurch. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:46.879 My message today is canceling Christians, canceling Christians. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:50.399 As we continue to dive into this hot topic, would you pray with me? 00:04:50.639 --> 00:05:13.199 Father, we love you, and we thank you that although we have sinned against you, and and although all of us live much of our life in rebellion from you and breaking your rules and your laws, God, living less than a perfectly moral life, less than a perfectly ethical life, God, struggling in our relationships. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:18.240 I thank you that even though you had every right to cancel us instead, you loved us. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:22.319 And you proved that love by sending your son Jesus to take our place on a cross. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:23.040 We love you. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:31.120 And God, I ask that today you would open minds and hearts, that we would approach this receptive to what you're wanting to say to us today. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:31.920 Be with us. 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:34.000 We pray all these things in Jesus' name. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:34.959 Amen. 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:40.319 Now, my title could be taken in a couple different directions, canceling Christians. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:45.839 We could continue talking about where we started last week, which is Christians getting canceled. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:50.800 Being canceled because of their beliefs or the stances that they take on the truth of Scripture. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:53.199 But really, I want to go to the flip side. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:06:00.399 Canceling Christians today is about Christians who are engaging with culture by trying to cancel others. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:10.480 The reality is, there are many Christians who honestly aren't really concerned about getting canceled because they are already the ones doing the canceling. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:15.439 And if you grew up around religious environments, you've probably seen this. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:16.879 You've been a part of it. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:25.279 The question is, what happens when things happen outside of us that are offensive to our beliefs? 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:29.279 Last week we looked at when our Christian beliefs are offensive to the culture. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:38.480 What do we do when the culture's beliefs and the culture's actions and the culture's worldview is offensive to our beliefs as Christians? 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.199 Are we going to fight fire with fire? 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:45.040 Are we going to fight canceling with canceling? 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:47.279 And it is hard. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:49.920 I want to acknowledge that it's hard. 00:06:50.240 --> 00:07:10.160 Because as you are setting out to try and follow Jesus, live a good life, reach others for the cause, and you see a world that is increasingly hostile to the idea of your beliefs, and you see Christianity become more and more marginalized, especially in popular culture, it can be easy to go on the offensive. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:14.160 It can be easy to say, you cancel me, I cancel you. 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:18.639 It can be easy to return evil with evil. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:21.040 It's emotional. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:24.079 It's something that we feel deeply inside of us. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:27.759 But our concern is not with how we feel. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.720 Our concern is what is the truth. 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:33.279 And we call ourselves the movement of Jesus. 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:38.240 And so if we want to move like Jesus moved, we need to look at his life. 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:43.040 We're going to look at two different examples of Jesus engaging with cancel culture. 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:48.160 The first one is just going to kind of set the foundation of who Jesus was and what he stood for. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:58.800 And then the second example we're going to look at is going to take us into application steps of how we actually manage this world and whether or not we will in fact become canceling Christians. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:02.079 We're going to start in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 9. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:06.399 Now, there's four Gospels in the Christian scriptures: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:11.600 And each of these tell the story from different authors' perspectives of the life of Jesus. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:19.439 These are eyewitness accounts that even literary scholars see as verified historical accounts. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:27.120 In Matthew 9, verse 9, it says, As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:29.040 Follow me, Jesus told him. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:31.680 And Matthew got up and followed him. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:36.879 Now, during this time in the first century in Israel, they had been taken captive by Rome. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.840 And so they were living under the rule of Rome. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:45.200 And Rome kind of had this approach, like, you know, y'all don't cause problems, and we won't cause problems. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:49.200 Rome was wanting to expand its empire as far as possible. 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:56.799 And so as long as they could maintain peace, they wouldn't have to take resources and use their military in hostile ways. 00:08:56.960 --> 00:08:58.000 It was just easier. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:02.080 The Jews can do their whole Jewish thing and we'll do our whole Roman thing. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:05.200 But you guys need to understand Rome is in charge. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:16.559 We are the captors, you are held captive, and the best way that you know that you are held captive by a tyrannical government is when they come in and all of a sudden they start taking your wealth. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:18.320 And that's exactly what they did. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:22.320 They recruited tax collectors from within the Jewish people. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:27.120 Now, to become a tax collector from Rome was an opportunity for great wealth. 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:31.759 More wealth than you would get becoming a fisherman and getting involved in the tilapia industry. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:36.399 Certainly more wealth than if you went the route of trying to become a priest or work in the temple. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:43.120 Definitely more wealth than if you were just gonna be a blacksmith or a potter or have one of these just kind of trades. 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:51.120 To be a tax collector was an opportunity to have wealth beyond anything, but it also required for you to be the ultimate sellout. 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:58.320 The tax collectors, Jewish people themselves, were hated by the Jews. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:02.799 The tax collectors were culturally canceled. 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:17.200 And all of a sudden, Jesus, this Jewish rabbi, this emerging spiritual giant, this new leader who is shaking up things all over the Jewish world, extends a lifeline to Matthew. 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:20.080 Come and follow me. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:21.360 And it gets worse. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:25.360 In verse 10, while Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house. 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:33.279 Now it's one thing to talk to Matthew, it's one thing even to kind of extend for him to come and listen to your teachings and sit on the lawn while you deliver a speech. 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:37.279 It's one thing to go to his booth, it's one thing to be seen in proximity to him. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:44.399 But in the Jewish culture, to break bread at someone's table, this is a level of relationship that means something in their culture. 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:45.440 It's deep. 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:48.639 You don't just sit at anyone's table for dinner. 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:52.320 This is a bond that Jesus is creating. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:56.240 Not only does he call Matthew, now he sits and eats dinner with him, and it gets worse. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:02.320 And many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:05.919 Jesus is at Matthew, the tax collector's house. 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:12.159 He's eating with him, he is exchanging this moment that shows that there is a bond that is forming between them. 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:22.960 And all of a sudden the party gets started, and who else would show up to Matthew's house but the other tax collectors in town, the other sellouts, the other people who have turned their back and are working for Rome. 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:30.639 The people who chose wealth over their lineage and their legacy, not just tax collectors, but other sinners. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:34.639 And if you really think about it, who else would Matthew hang out with? 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:36.399 He's been ostracized. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:38.159 He's a pawn of Rome. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:40.159 He's not allowed to worship in the temple. 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:43.679 He's not allowed to be seen fraternizing with other Jewish people. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:48.080 Like he has no option except the other outcast. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:52.960 It is a party of all canceled company. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:56.320 And who is right in the middle of it? 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:57.840 But Jesus. 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:03.679 You know, this has been the problem with the organized church for so long. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:15.519 Is that we have our marching orders, go into the world and preach the gospel, go into the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:25.519 We have our marching orders to go into a world of people who are lost and show them the hope of Jesus, we say at Meta Church to do whatever it takes to get people to Jesus. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:29.600 And for so long, for so long, the church has repeated that mantra. 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:44.159 And yet instead of going into the world where people who don't know Jesus are, they set an expectation for the people who don't know Jesus, not for us to go to them, but for them to clean up, get their act together, dress up, and come to us. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:55.759 Come to our church building, sit in our seats, in our service, sing our songs, engage with our culture, follow our unwritten rules, and then you can come and be a part of it. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:06.879 And Jesus doesn't tell Matthew, get yourself together, quit your job, come to the temple, pay your penance, give your sacrifice. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:11.360 Jesus says, Come, let's have dinner. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.080 Jesus goes to where Matthew is. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:18.000 He meets him right at the point in his life where he is at. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.639 He goes to where those who don't know God are. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:41.519 And we're gonna see in the very next verse the example of the super Christians, of the super churchy church people, of the people who are who are really just relegated mission to the idea of maybe by some crazy chance someone who is lost will show up to our service. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:45.919 We're gonna see their same example in the religious leaders called the Pharisees. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:14:00.159 In verse 11, when the Pharisees saw this, when the Pharisees saw Jesus surrounded by canceled company, they asked Jesus' disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:09.120 And on hearing this, Jesus said, Now he asked the disciples, and I love this, because uh the disciples, maybe they knew how to answer, maybe they didn't. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:11.679 Honestly, this is pretty early in Jesus' ministry. 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:13.919 Maybe they're just as tripped out as everyone else. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:15.519 Like, what are we doing at this house? 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:17.200 What are we doing with the tax collectors? 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:19.919 We will never have any social capital again. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:27.679 They asked the disciples, Jesus heard, and Jesus answered, it is not the healthy who need a doctor. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:31.840 It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:59.120 That we are called to be like a hospital, to be a place that is providing for, creating for, living for, making decisions for those who are spiritually, emotionally, relationally sick. 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:12.159 People who are living and trying to thrive by putting their hope in all the things the world has to offer, but all the things in the world keep failing them, because nothing in this world can hold the weight of our hope. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:18.159 And what do you call a hospital where everyone there is healthy? 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:31.279 When I was 18, Jesus began burdening my heart for the lost, and there's a reason because there was no way of denying that I was the lost. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:40.399 I had spent years pursuing everything the world had to offer, years running from God as aggressively as one can. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:49.679 I had spent years in rebellion, and eventually I got to the end of what the world had to offer me. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:51.279 The bottom fell out. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:53.840 And many of you know my testimony. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:08.320 And when I had nowhere else to turn, I thought that I would turn and look back and see just how far I was from Jesus I'd been running for so long. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:18.159 And instead, I turned and found that the whole time Jesus had never stopped pursuing me. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:29.519 And all of a sudden, the church environments that I was around and that I grew up in and grew up around, I realized that they were not operating as hospitals. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:40.720 That the vast, vast majority of the people who sat in the seats, who sat in the pews, who sang the songs, who served on the weekends, they had had their heart transplant. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:45.200 They were the already convinced, they were the believers, they were not the lost. 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:47.519 They saw themselves as the found. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:56.080 And if the lost wanted to come in, they had to assimilate to the Christian culture because Christians were not going to the lost. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:59.360 What do you call a hospital where no one is sick? 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:05.920 And where by just showing up you get a little more social status, and where there's a lot of unwritten rules, and everyone's got to dress up. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:13.680 And if you don't follow all the different rules and all of the different ways that you're supposed to look and supposed to act and supposed to vote, then they will cancel your membership. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:14.559 What do you call it? 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:15.759 It's not a hospital. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:21.839 I realized I'd grown up around Christian environments that were operating as country clubs. 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:27.279 It shattered my worldview, what I thought of as the church. 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:37.839 And because I was so lost, I knew, I knew that we had to do whatever it takes to get to others who were living in the same way. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:42.160 Jesus said, It's not the healthy who need a doctor, it is the sick. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:45.440 And in verse 13, he says, but go and learn what this means. 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:52.000 I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:57.839 And we can never, ever, ever, metachurch, never, ever, ever forget this. 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:08.720 The moment that we take our eyes off the reason that this movement exists is the moment that we begin to dive into irrelevancy. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:20.160 This first example of Jesus surrounding himself with the tax collectors, the sinners, he was around all of the people who had already been canceled by their culture. 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:30.640 And here's what you have to understand: when you stand by someone that the culture has canceled, you yourself will be canceled as well. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:34.480 And so, how do we take application steps? 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:35.759 How do we think about this? 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:37.200 Because it is complicated. 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:38.400 It is complicated. 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:49.200 It's like on one hand, maybe we're not supposed to cancel, but what do we do with the fact that people are living their lives outside of how God desires for us to live our life? 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:52.880 How do we not cancel, but also not conform? 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:56.160 We're called to be in the world, but not of the world. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:58.559 We learned last week we can be uncancelable. 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:05.039 We can be content in the midst of cancellation if we keep our eyes focused on eternity, realizing that this world is not our home. 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:08.160 But what do we do with the other people around us? 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:16.799 How do we stay on mission, not compromise our beliefs, but not cancel those who don't yet know the truth of God? 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:27.359 In John chapter 8, it says, At dawn, Jesus went to the temple again, and all the people were coming to him, and he sat down and he began to teach them. 00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:37.519 And then the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders, they brought a woman who was caught in adultery, making her stand in the center. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:49.519 And this woman who was caught in the very act of adultery is now standing in the center of the temple, in the center of Jewish law and practice. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:54.480 She is on display, her shame for everyone to see. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:59.519 And I can imagine the crowds growing and going and pulling others aside. 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:00.240 It's time. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:01.039 Here she is. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:01.759 We caught her. 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:03.200 We knew she was the town whore. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:04.240 We always knew it. 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:07.599 She was doing it in secret, but now what is in secret has come to light. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:09.839 Man, it is time to cancel. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:19.279 Teacher, they said to Jesus, this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:21.759 Caught in the act. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:26.000 In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:27.839 So what do you say? 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:32.400 In verse 6, they asked this to trap him. 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:38.960 They asked this to trap him in order that they might have evidence to accuse him. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:41.279 It's a trap. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:46.960 She's standing in the temple, and everyone is ready to cancel her. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:50.640 And what options does the culture give us? 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:53.839 It's conformity or cancellation. 00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:58.559 And both sides of this cultural coin are a trap. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:00.880 On one side, you have conformity. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:06.079 Conformity for Jesus would be condoning her behavior. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:07.759 And we see this all the time. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:15.200 We see plainly immoral behavior that is conformed and condoned all of the time in the church and outside of it. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:17.759 Well, you know, I mean, I mean, it's just sex, you know. 00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:18.319 Everyone has sex. 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:20.880 I mean, we're we're really just like kind of a little bit higher animals. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:22.240 We have needs, you know what I'm saying? 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:22.960 Everyone has needs. 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:25.200 And so, I mean, it's just it's a way for her to make a living. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:27.920 Like, she's not married, she has no way of bringing in money. 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:29.359 Like, you don't want her to make money? 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:32.400 I guess she's a prostitute, but it's like, man, she's got to do something. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:37.279 I mean, Jesus can really go on the offensive here and conform and condone. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:40.960 Conformity is condoning her action. 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:42.400 It's a trap. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:50.240 As soon as he does that, he no longer has any moral foundation on which to stand. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:58.240 He can't move to conformity because now he is denying the very laws of God, his father. 00:21:58.559 --> 00:21:59.839 On the other side is cancellation. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.480 This is the other side of the trap. 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:06.880 Cancel her, stoner, killer for her sin. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:15.200 Well, how does this work with the Jesus who eats with the tax collectors and the sinners? 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:20.000 With Jesus who said that he has come not for the righteous, but to call sinners. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:30.400 With the Jesus who said that it is not the healthy, it's not these Pharisees and these scribes who think that they are so spiritually superior, who are looking for a doctor. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:34.079 It is those who are spiritually sick that he's come from. 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:39.680 And who is more spiritually sick than this woman who has now been shown right in the center of her shame? 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:42.640 It's a trap. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:45.920 And they need some evidence against Jesus. 00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:55.839 If he goes to confirmation, he condones her behavior, all of a sudden he has lost all legitimacy as a true scribe and teacher. 00:22:56.079 --> 00:23:07.599 If he goes to cancellation, which is condemnation, all of a sudden he has lost the legitimacy of the broken, jacked-up people who are following him. 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:09.920 It's a great trap. 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:12.079 It was put together so well. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:18.799 It's interesting to me that the man who was also in the act of committing adultery is nowhere to be found. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:24.559 It was a setup all the way from the beginning just to trap Jesus in this moment. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:25.440 It's interesting. 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:32.960 It says they asked us to trap him, and Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:34.559 This is the showdown. 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:35.680 Jesus. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:40.960 God in human flesh standing in the center of a temple that was built to worship him. 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:45.920 And in the building that was built to worship him, they're trying to trap him. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:48.000 Conformity, cancellation. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:49.200 What will he choose? 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:51.119 And Jesus does something very odd. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:54.160 He bends down and he begins writing in the sand. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:57.279 And there's a lot of debate over what Jesus was writing. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:06.640 Some people think that maybe he was writing the Shema, Hero Israel, the Lord our God is one, and you shall love the Lord with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength. 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:12.960 And maybe he was taking the picture off of condemnation and putting it back onto love. 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:17.359 And some people thought that maybe he was drawing some kind of inspirational picture. 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:27.359 And others have said that maybe he stooped down and he began writing in the sand the names of the Pharisees and scribes and the sins that they had committed that day. 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:29.279 The answer is we don't know. 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:32.000 But what we do know is Jesus took a minute. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:36.799 Whatever he was doing, tic-tac-toe, we don't know. 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:41.039 We don't know what he was up to in the sand, but we know he wasn't in a rush. 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:43.200 They were trying to trap him. 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:48.240 But Jesus was going to take a breath and take his time. 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:52.480 In verse 7, when they persisted in questioning him, what will it be? 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:54.240 Conformity or cancellation? 00:24:54.400 --> 00:25:08.079 When they persisted over and over again, he stood up and he said to them, The one who is without sin among you, that's who should be the first to throw a stone. 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:14.400 And then he stooped down again and he continued writing on the ground. 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:17.680 The one without sin. 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:30.880 So do you see what Jesus, the only human who has ever lived an entire life without sin, never once walking in opposition or rebellion to his father. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:32.720 Do you see what he did? 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:35.279 He did not conform. 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:37.680 He did not condone. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:44.559 He didn't pretend her sin was okay, or that somehow it was not offensive to the Most High God. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:50.160 But he doesn't cancel, he doesn't condemn. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:59.359 And this woman, in the most shameful moment of her life, is about to meet the source of all love in our universe. 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:07.279 In verse 9, when they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:17.599 Isn't that interesting that those who are most inclined to understand and accept wisdom were the first ones to get what Jesus had done. 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:22.079 He had taken away their stone throwing capabilities. 00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:26.880 Only Jesus was left with the woman in the center. 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:31.200 And when Jesus stood up, he asked a question. 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:46.880 And when I was preparing this message, this jumped off the page at me. 00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:55.839 Because I realized in my mind when I have pictured this moment, Jesus was always making a statement. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:59.359 Good news, no stones are gonna get thrown today. 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:02.240 Everybody left, you can go on your way. 00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:04.319 But he didn't. 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:07.440 Jesus asked questions. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:12.079 And if you want to change people's minds, you can make statements. 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:16.160 But often, if you want to change people's hearts, you ask questions. 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:31.119 And when we are asked the questions, and the answer to those questions are the truths of God, what it does is it forces us to speak out loud what God has done in our life. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:41.279 And these questions are like lifelines that Jesus is throwing to begin to pull this woman out of her shame. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:43.200 Where are they? 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.960 Has no one condemned you today? 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:53.839 In verse 11, she answered, No one, Lord. 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:58.319 And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you. 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:04.240 We miss this part of the story that there was still one person left to throw a stone. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:09.759 There was still one person who could have ended her life, who could have cemented her shame. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:11.519 Everyone else had walked away. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:16.799 Jesus said, Let the one who is without sin throw the first stone. 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:21.920 And we always think of it in terms of these Pharisees and scribes, that of course they had sin in their life. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:28.960 But what many of us haven't realized in the reading of the story is that Jesus was referencing himself. 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:33.680 The one without sin can throw the first stone. 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:35.279 That's Jesus. 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:39.359 He's the one person who could end her life. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:43.599 But Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, John 3:17. 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:45.359 He came to save it. 00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:49.039 He did not come to condemn and end her life. 00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:53.599 He did not come to condone her sin and her offense against God. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:56.880 He came to die in her place. 00:28:57.759 --> 00:29:00.160 This is what changes things. 00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:11.680 When I finally decided it was time to make my way back to God, everyone else left. 00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:23.680 All my relationships, all my status, everything I had going in life was built on and predicated on the fact that I was willing to do what everyone else was doing. 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:32.559 And when I was no longer willing to do the things of the world, my new beliefs were offensive to the culture. 00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:37.440 When you're offensive to the culture, you have set yourself up to be canceled. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:41.279 Where are they? 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:48.079 And more importantly for me was the question, Jesus, where are you? 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:54.880 It forced me to speak out loud the reality that Jesus had never left my side. 00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:56.400 Neither do I condemn you. 00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:57.759 I'm not gonna cancel. 00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:03.599 Now go and do not sin anymore. 00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:07.279 I don't cancel, I don't conform. 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:11.200 Jesus is showing us a third way. 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:17.839 As a follower of Jesus, if you're gonna live out the truths of our faith, you may get canceled. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:24.000 They might come for your status, your wealth, your relationships, your career, they might come for you. 00:30:24.319 --> 00:30:29.519 What you believe could end up and will end up offensive to the culture. 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:36.240 If we live with eternity in mind, we can be content in the midst of cancellation. 00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:53.599 Today the question is: what do you do when the culture, the individuals, the companies, the celebrities, the friends, the coworkers, the parents, the spouses, when what they believe becomes offensive to your Christianity? 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:56.559 How do you act? 00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:01.200 There is something broken at the core of cancellation thinking. 00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:04.559 We live in a world of the unknown. 00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:17.680 What we know in our very finite, very limited human minds is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of what is to be known outside of us. 00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:22.319 That means that there is infinitely more unknown than there is known. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:24.720 That makes being a human very difficult. 00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:26.160 We want to know. 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:27.680 We want to know a path forward. 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:29.519 We want a foundation to stand on. 00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:32.720 We want some way to orient our life. 00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:54.000 Following Jesus is submitting that there is a God above us who knows all, who is omniscient, he's all-knowing, who is omnipotent, he is all powerful, all powerful, who is omnipresent, he's everywhere all the time, omnibenevolent, he is all good, he is the source of all that is good and love. 00:31:56.079 --> 00:32:01.200 Our culture has traded in the idea of God and made culture God itself. 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:06.880 And the idea now is that culture is God, culture knows all, culture knows what is best. 00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:10.240 That's why when you offend the culture, you are canceled. 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:15.200 They are taking the place of God as judge, jury, and executioner. 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:22.240 Culture cancel is making culture elevated to the place of God. 00:32:24.319 --> 00:32:27.599 Canceling Christians do the same. 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:41.599 When we take it upon ourselves as followers of Jesus to be the arbiters of who gets canceled and who gets a pass, we are putting ourselves on God's throne. 00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:46.160 We're doing the same thing that culture is trying to do. 00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:58.160 And Jesus, the only one without sin, the one who at his name every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he's the Lord of all lords, the king of all kings, the ruler of all universe? 00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:03.839 Jesus, the only one who could throw the stone, set it aside. 00:33:04.160 --> 00:33:09.920 He didn't cancel, he didn't conform, he showed us a third way. 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:13.200 As followers of Jesus, we do not conform. 00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:17.359 If we conform, we become just like the world that we're trying to reach. 00:33:17.519 --> 00:33:23.920 And what motivates a world to come to Christ if there's no difference between Christians and the world? 00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:25.200 We do not conform. 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:28.319 As followers of Jesus, we do not cancel. 00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:32.400 And too many Christians are throwing stones. 00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:48.559 And if you are throwing stones, if you are trying to cancel people outside of yourself, it can only be because you have limited how much you yourself are in need of the grace that you're not willing to give. 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:53.599 We cannot throw stones because we ourselves are guilty. 00:33:53.839 --> 00:34:01.200 We do not conform and we do not cancel, we are called to a third way, we are called to compassion. 00:34:02.480 --> 00:34:14.800 And if we can live compassionate lives, if we're willing to live in the tension between conformity and cancellation, between condoning actions of the world and condemning actions of the world. 00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:21.920 If we can live in the center and live compassionate lives, then we can reach a world that is outside of Christ. 00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:31.119 We will not be forced to bend or compromise our beliefs, and we will not make the mistake of putting ourselves on God's throne. 00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:34.400 We are not the judge, we are the judged. 00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:41.679 We are the sinners, we are the prostitute who is in our shame in the center of the temple. 00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:44.400 We are the tax collectors and sinners. 00:34:44.559 --> 00:34:47.280 And Jesus came for us. 00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:50.400 He lived a third way. 00:34:50.880 --> 00:34:56.400 He was counter to the culture, and yet with compassion, he reached that very culture. 00:34:57.039 --> 00:35:06.800 He was willing to lay his life down, not on the hill of conformity or cancellation, but on the hill of compassion and love for all people. 00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:09.599 I thank God for my upbringing. 00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:19.039 I thank God that I spent a considerable amount of time around country club Christianity because it cemented for me what I never want to be a part of. 00:35:19.360 --> 00:35:22.639 Metachurch, we will live in a third way. 00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:24.079 We will not cancel. 00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:29.519 Some of you guys need to go back and delete almost every social media post for the last six months. 00:35:29.679 --> 00:35:33.039 You are throwing stone after stone after stone. 00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:34.400 We will not conform. 00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:38.639 We're not gonna give in and make excuses and rationalize our sin. 00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:46.719 We will live compassionate lives, knowing that we are desperately in need of compassion or self. 00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:49.360 I thank God for a third way. 00:35:49.679 --> 00:35:52.000 Not conforming, not canceling. 00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:54.000 I thank God for compassion. 00:35:54.239 --> 00:35:55.280 Would you pray with me? 00:35:55.440 --> 00:35:56.880 Father, we love you. 00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:03.840 I deserve to be canceled by you, the perfect almighty God. 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:09.119 I spent too much time spitting in your face, rebelling, running from you. 00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:12.000 God, too often I conform. 00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:15.920 It's so easy for me to rationalize my sin. 00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:17.920 It's so easy. 00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:20.719 God, I want to live in a third way. 00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:23.519 This movement wants to live in a third way. 00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:32.880 God, I pray that the next time we are motivated to throw the stones, the next time we're motivated to cancel someone, that we would stop. 00:36:34.239 --> 00:36:35.599 Take a breath. 00:36:37.519 --> 00:36:50.880 Maybe we could spend some time drawing in the sand, composing ourselves, remembering who we are, broken sinful people, who you are, the God who loves us anyway. 00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:57.440 And instead of conforming or canceling God, that we would live, we would live compassionate lives. 00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:07.360