This is KonnectveSkip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, we love to help you know God's Word better and apply it to your life through clear, practical Bible teaching and real encouragement. And if you'd like to keep growing in your walk with Jesus, sign up for Pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical insight, teaching highlights, and exclusive resource offers designed to help you stay strong in your faith, all delivered right to your inbox.
Signing up is quick and easy and you'll be glad you did. Go to connectwithskip.com and join the list today. That's connectwithskip.com.
Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Quick question, a show of hands. Let's take a quick poll. How many of you have heard of cancel culture? Raise your hand.
Okay. Um how many of you have been? Cancelled.
social media because of something you said or posted.
So cancel culture is a culture that says yes. You can say anything you want. You have First Amendment rights. You have the right of free speech. But If you exercise.
That right? We'll make sure you get fired. or at least slandered. or in the very least, marginalized. We will cancel you.
According to a Harris poll. Sixty-four percent who responded. See a growing cancel culture as a threat. to their freedom. 54% said they were concerned that if they expressed their opinions online, They would be banned.
Or fired. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, Cancel culture is defined as, and I'm quoting, a way of behaving in a society or group. especially on social media. in which it is common to completely reject or stop supporting someone because they have said or done something that offends you.
So cancel culture is essentially a culture. of shame. It is brought to you. By the internet. Brought to you by social media, brought to you by all the technology that we enjoy.
And it has become a tool that is used by groups. that find just about anything offensive. And so if you do not tow the line. If you don't say what they think you should say or represent the way you think they think you should represent it, then you are. or you will be cancelled.
There's some notable examples of this. I'm sure that if you know about cancel culture, you know these examples even. A few years ago, J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series. Also a defender of common sense.
And reality. She just simply believes that there are two biological Genders. And she stated that, and she tweeted about transgenderism, and she was absolutely, and still to this day is, blistered. on social media. Then another famous case is that of Joe Rogan, most popular podcast in the world.
He made comments about COVID-19 origins. He made comments about the vaccine. And he became the target. Of many people in the mainstream media. He became a target of the platform Spotify.
Musicians like Neil Young and others decided to go off Spotify if they would carry him, etc. That's the current culture. The current culture is if you say something out of step, With that culture. you will get shamed. In recent years, Christians have discovered that Sting of counterculture.
or of cancel culture. It's because they're counterculture that they get canceled. In January of 2021. Twitter, before it was purchased by Elon Musk, Twitter uh locked The account of a publication some of you may be familiar with called The Daily Citizen. It is the online magazine presence of focus on the family.
And Twitter locked their account. And the reason they locked their account is because They violated the rules. And They violated the rules because they posted something. on their Twitter feed. And here's what they posted.
On Tuesday, President-elect Joe Biden announced that he had chosen Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Levine is a transgender woman, that is, a man who believes he is a woman. That was the post.
Well Twitter sent immediately an email pointing out that and I'm quoting Repeated violations. Stating truth. Repeated violations may lead to a permanent Suspension of your account. End quote.
So What that means is it's perfectly acceptable. to be pro-abortion. to be pro-homosexual, to be pro-transgender. But if you are a Bible-believing follower of Christ in the 21st century, Look out. You could get cancelled.
We have now become a society. exactly like what Isaiah the prophet described in his day. A generation that calls evil good and good evil, who puts darkness for light and light for darkness, who puts bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Cancel culture. What I'd like to do in looking at 1 Peter chapter 3 is give you a few ways.
to handle Cancel culture. Let's look at our text. 1 Peter chapter 3, we're beginning in verse 13. Peter asks And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, You are blessed.
And do not be afraid of their threats. nor be troubled. But Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. and always be ready. To give a defense.
To everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. with meekness and fear. having a good conscience, that when they defame you as Evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ, may be ashamed. For it is better if in the will of God to suffer for doing good. than for doing evil.
That's the text. Let me give you a few principles now in handling cancel culture. Here's the first. React calmly. React calmly.
You will notice That In verse 13 and 14, he asks a question. He says, and it's a rhetorical question, by the way. And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? In other words, Who's gonna bother you if you? Live a good life.
is the question. The implied answer is Well, no one Should No one typically would. Any good society would Uh see the benefit. Of your trying to improve that society, they would applaud you for doing good. But Even if you do get hassled for doing good, verse 14, even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed.
And then notice what he says at the end of verse 14. He says, do not be afraid of their threats. nor be troubled. In other words, stay calm. React calmly.
Don't be afraid. Don't be troubled. And he says, you are blessed. You're blessed. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount?
Blessed are you. when they revile and persecute you. And say all kinds of evil against you falsely, rejoice and be exceedingly glad. For great is your reward in heaven. And then he added this, for so they persecuted the prophets who were Before you In other words, Cancel culture is nothing new.
It has been around. Since truth has been around. Every society that got a good dose of truth. has tried to cancel that truth. It's been around a long time.
Jesus mentioned the prophets. Let me just give you a few examples. There are literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of scriptural examples, but in the Bible itself, You recall that there was a queen in the northern kingdom of Israel named Jezebel. And her solution to the mouthpieces of God was to massacre all the prophets of the Lord. That's 1 Kings chapter 18.
And she even tried to kill. Elijah the prophet. Then it Few chapters later, 1 Kings chapter 22. There's a prophet named Miciah. We're going to see the parallel of that on Wednesday night for our Bible study.
Miciah was a prophet who got slapped in the face. And put in prison and rejected because he spoke truth to power. He spoke to King Ahab. Another example in the Old Testament is Jeremiah. Jeremiah was threatened.
He was beaten. They put them in stocks. And they threw him in a cistern full of mud, and he began to sink in the mire. That's Jeremiah chapter 20. By the time we get to the New Testament, And the Lord Jesus Christ comes on the scene.
We realize that Jesus himself was canceled. by the religious leaders of his day. They tried to throw him off a cliff. In Nazareth, that would be canceling. John chapter 10, when Jesus said, I and my Father are one.
The religious leaders picked up stones. to throw at him. In John chapter 11, he did the notable miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. It says And so they plotted to put him to death. From that day on.
Then, eventually, ultimately, They succeeded. In canceling His life, I would say crucifixion is the ultimate. Canceling. They put him on a cross after beating him. and they crucified him.
And Jesus predicted that if you're going to follow him Be prepared to be canceled. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Every day, the generosity of friends like you helps make clear, practical Bible teaching available to families who are searching for hope, healing, and God's truth. And this month, we want to thank you with a powerful resource focused on restoring God's design for family. When you give, you'll receive Reconnecting with Family, Pastor Skip's new book drawn from more than 30 years of biblical teaching and pastoral wisdom.
It speaks honestly to the real challenges families face. Financial stress, emotional distance, discouragement, and temptation while pointing you back to God's timeless plan for healthy, God-honoring relationships. We'll send Reconnecting with Family as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support the ministry of Connect with Skip-Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888. or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer.
Now let's return to today's teaching. He said this, you will be handed over to the courts. You'll be beaten in the synagogues. You will be accused before governors and kings. of being my followers.
and this will be your opportunity to tell them about me.
So he predicted that they would be hassled, hounded, canceled, marginalized. And of course they were. John the Baptist was permanently cancelled. by Herodias, who had him beheaded, because He dared speak the truth of her immoral actions with Herod. And then Just think for a moment about the early church.
The early church was birthed. into a cancel culture. They were mocked at Pentecost. They were shut down for preaching the gospel publicly in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 4 and Acts chapter 5. They even passed a law.
That said, you cannot speak anymore in this name. They try to cancel them. Paul the Apostle, before he was Paul the Apostle, what was his name?
Sol love. Tarsus. Talk about he was the counselor in chief. He was part of the cancel culture. He hunted down believers and had them arrested not only down south, but he moved all the way up to Damascus to take that campaign, that cancel culture campaign.
all the way up to the borders.
Well, we know what happened. He got saved. On the way to Damascus, And he joined. The very movement. He tried to cancel.
And so they tried to cancel him. Over and over again.
Now, let me just say something here. If you're gonna get canceled, Make sure you're getting canceled for the right thing. For the right reason, Jesus said, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, not for weirdness' sake, not for being obnoxious' sake, not for any other reason than you are just doing good, as it says. And if you're doing good, be calm. Don't be troubled.
In fact, There is not a Christian doctrine I can think of. That would not be seen as objectionable, insensitive, and cancelable. Let's just begin with the claims of Christ. I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by me. That is an exclusive statement.
And when somebody hears that, they immediately think, how dare you? Say that. because that immediately excludes Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims. Yes, it does.
So React calmly. This is to be expected. Even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake. Don't be troubled, don't be afraid. Number one.
React calmly. Resist firmly. What I mean by resist firmly is resist the temptation. That you will have when you are canceled to cancel those who cancel you.
Well, I canceled them then. Resist the temptation. To reject them.
Now, I'm going to take you back. I know we're looking at these verses, but you got to get a little context here. If you go back to verse 8, finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous. Not, watch this, not returning evil for evil, reviling for reviling. I would even say canceling for canceling.
But on the contrary, blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For he would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. You're going to face a temptation when you are marginalized, or when you are demonized, or you are written about, or slandered. or cancel. The temptation is to lash Out. at them.
They lash out at you, you're going to lash back at them.
Social media is notorious for this. That's what children do. When children Get yelled at they yell back when they have somebody lash out of them, they lash back. That's the practice of childishness childishness.
So Resist that, resist firmly. You know, some people. This is just a common psychological phenomenon.
Some people reject. other people before they can be rejected. I had a friend who used to call this rejection junkies. They just I'm gonna make I've been hurt enough By enough people. That I'm going to reject people before they can ever reject me.
I'm going to keep them at arm's length. And because of the mistrust of other people, they're very suspicious and even paranoid. And this is called rejection avoidance. You want to reject those who might reject you or even before they can do it.
So we cancel unkind co-workers. or classmates. What I'm saying is, you don't have to do that. You can make a choice. to do what Jesus said.
Turn the other cheek. Love your enemies. Jesus said, If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Or even the sinners do the same. Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
Can we say, and cancel you? That you may be sons. Children of your father in heaven. In other words, you show what family you're a part of. By responding in love.
So resist firmly that temptation. I just want you to think for a moment about Jesus. Before Jesus came, you think he knew what he was getting into? I think he knew that he was going to go to a society, a culture that would cancel him effectively, that would hate him. He was stepping right in the middle of cancel culture.
And of course he knew that a thousand years before he came. It was predicted in Isaiah the prophet. He is despised and rejected. By men. a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.
He knew that He would come to his own and his own would not. Receive him, they would reject him. And Knowing all that, He still came. And he didn't cancel Judas. even though he knew what Judas was going to do.
He didn't cancel Peter, even though Peter denied him three times. In fact, he went to The cross And from the cross itself. Said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.
So react calmly, resist firmly, third. little thing you can do. Reply. Clearly. Reply clearly.
Verse fifteen. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready, here it is, to give a defense. To everyone who asks you a reason. For the hope that is in you with meekness. and fear.
Now I know this is a very famous apologetics text. But I want you to consider it in light of this context. Just because people disagree with you and get offended by the truth that you speak. Should not cause you to stop speaking the truth. What it should do is make you get really good at explaining the truth.
Articulately, clearly, intelligently, and reasonably. Because people are going to ask you, why do you believe that? And you should have something ready to go. Prepared to speak clearly, reply clearly.
Now, when people ask you As he indicates here, why you believe what you believe. They might be asking the question because they're either considering Listening more to you? or they're on the verge of canceling you. They're considering, should I listen or should I just get rid of this person?
So, you should have reasons ready to share.
Now, notice what he says here. He says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. That is set. Said Jesus. Apart in your heart, set him apart as Lord of your life.
And just think of Daniel in Babylon. for a moment. says Daniel purposed in his heart. Before he ever went into the court of Nebuchadnezzar, something happened inside his head, his heart, his inner being, where he made a decision. He purposed in his heart not to defile himself with a portion of the king's delicacies.
So When it says sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. The idea is Who you are in Christ. Be firmly aware that you belong to him. You're his child. You're his representative in this world.
It always has to start inwardly in the heart before you ever take it outwardly to the world.
So that's the idea of sanctifying the Lord in your heart. That Jesus didn't cancel you. You belong to him. You're going into this as a child of God, as a representative of the kingdom. And then Also, in verse 15, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense.
Now, just. A couple notes about that word. Defense is the word apologia. or apologion in this context. And we get the word apologetics from that.
The idea of apologetics or an apologetic. A defense is not that you are saying, I'm sorry for what I believe. It's not an apology. It's a defense as it's translated here. It's a word that means a formal defense in a judicial courtroom.
That's the idea. You're going to state your case. We are always Do you know this? We're always in a courtroom. We're always in a courtroom.
The world is a living courtroom. And people are deciding. They're always deciding: am I going to reject Christ? Am I going to receive Christ? They're thinking about.
Those options. Especially when they hear the gospel. and perhaps when they're around you.
So it's really not about you. Or cancelling you? They're really deciding if they should cancel God or not.
So you want to go in sanctified in heart. ready to make an apologia. A defense A formal defense. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skiff Heitzig. Before we go, remember, your generosity helps share God's Word with families around the world, offering truth, hope, and encouragement where it's needed most.
And this month, we'd love to thank you for your gift of $50 or more by sending you Reconnecting with Family, Pastor Skiff's new book focused on restoring God's design for family and relationships. It's filled with biblical insight and practical encouragement to help families grow stronger even in challenging seasons. Give today at connectwithskiff.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time on Connect with Skip. Make a connection.
Make a connection. Should At the foot of the crosses. Castro with perfect. Insomnia. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
