Canceled: Getting Past the Past

Intro/Scripture

1 Timothy 1:14–16 NIV

The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Pray.

I have shared different parts of my story with you. This week I was writing a letter to encourage someone that was going on a spiritual retreat. This retreat is called Walk to Emmaus and it was something that was a radical moment in my life. I was involved in ministry. I had experience this salvific transformation in my life. From jail cell and really being lost to feeling like I couldnt shake away from spending my life with the church.

I couldn’t let go of the past. I knew Jesus forgave me, but just couldnt see how I could be qualified for this kind of calling.

Getting past the past....

Part three of cancel culture.

In this series called “Cancelled” we’ve been exploring the question “What is the Christian response to cancel culture?” Cancel culture is when an individual/entity/brand violates a social boundary and is de-credited and removed from public legitimacy and participation.

Christians shouldn’t see shame as a sport.

We want accountability for others and amnesty for ourselves

Jesus forgives, sometimes people need more time

Jesus offers radical forgiveness and inspires radical obedience

Questions we ask today, is how do we come back from failure? Should others be given the right to come back from failure? And how much room should they have to come back?

Can God really use me?

Paul: the comeback story

Again, we love to take our VBS versions of our heroes and forget the irony that they are hot messes. Paul is no exception. In our passage he says:

1 Timothy 1:13 NIV

Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

Paul was a Hebrew among Hebrews. He says as much....

Philippians 3:4–6 NIV

though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

But he was also brutal.

1 Corinthians 15:9 NIV

For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

and

Galatians 1:13–14 NIV

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

and

of course the first time we meet Paul, then called Saul, is in Acts for the stoning of the first Christian Martyr, Stephen. in Acts 7-8. Then check out what Acts 8 says...

Acts 8:3 NIV

But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

He was not just violent, or a criminal of some kind, he was one that sought out to specifically perpetrate hate crimes on Christians.

And this is who God calls to actually change the world.

While on the way to find some more christians to bully....

Acts 9:2–6 NIV

and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

And then Jesus commissions Paul....

Acts 9:15–16 NIV

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

A couple of thoughts here:

God often chooses unlikely persons because those are the people that will reveal God in the world.

he says as much...

1 Timothy 1:15–16 NIV

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

2. I believe we hesitate to do a lot of things because we limit God to our own perceived skills.

We consider our small experiences or training as the tool bag from which God can draw from, like he cannot do more than that. I think of Moses before God....sent to Pharoah, “Ah but Lord, I cannot speak well.” Paul, could have easily said “yes, but all i know is this other way of doing things.”

3. We often disqualify ourselves based on our own narratives or cultural narratives

small group leaders

From Enemy of Christ to Christ’s Agent of Salvation

So how does Paul make this come back story?

How does he get past the past?

Radical Forgiveness leads to radical obedience

Paul experiences an encounter with the resurrected Jesus that changes everything. The mercy of a crucified Jesus is matchless because it demands nothing from you except response. Paul realizes the truth of what he has caused. In his persecuting the church he was persecuting Jesus. He realizes that Jesus gives him a new life even with this nasty past.

But here is the deal about this forgiveness. It is not just hey, it’s ok Paul…sin no more. This forgiveness brings new life. Paul’s previous life is a thing of the past. There is a demarcation here that separates what comes next. That is why the name change from Saul to Paul. But his previous life is not erased like it didn’t happen, it actually becomes the first chapter of the salvific journey. Let me break this down a little:

Forgiveness from failure is redemptive

Teach this out....

2. The past is the chapter before Jesus restores but it does not restrict what is to come

Paul’s past is not a limitation on who he is becoming.

Past failures may limit job opportunities or may have consequences inter-relationally if you have harmed people. There are consequences and accountability....but it is not a limit on what Jesus can do with your person in the future. You are not some how cancelled from being fully human, from loving God and being loved, and for participating in the mission of God. As a matter of fact your past and the redemption actually prequalifies you for the mission. Which leads me to the next point....

Paul’s past is not erased but instead becomes the very avenue through which the world can see the glory of God.

I have spent my calling trying to do everything I can to serve young people. Can you imagine, that since I spent my teenage years chasing girls and partying and doing all the things. That if in my Christian calling, I said well when I was their age I just didnt get it so I am not qualified to go to them?

Paul teaches over and over again that the old way of life is gone and the new is here. “Forgetting what is behind, I press on to take hold of that which took hold of me.” But he also has texts like ours where he reminds people of his past. He is not bound to it, he is not insecure, but he reminds people of the goodness of Jesus to rescue from the worst place.

This why he writes...

2 Corinthians 4:6–7 NIV

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

We are but jars of clay holding the treasure and our imperfect containers give way to show the light that fills it.

I can get past my past but what about getting past your past?

Ok, for the sake of cancel culture, what do we do with other’s past?

Well first we started with our own stories because we should see others in this very light. Seeded in every heart is the potential to come alive in God again. We know how far we were when he found us. And for image bearers of God we also know that others were made in the image of God.

The scenarios that have plagued my friend Adam and I are what do we do with public leaders, theologians, pastors, politicians, artists who might bring good in the world but are plagued with moral and sinful character or decisions?

There is no easy answer here. I know we want a formula…I cannot offer that. But maybe some helpful true statements can encourage or challenge you.

God uses broken and sinful even corrupt and evil people to bring good in the world.

We often elevate people to a throne they shouldn’t occupy

Let me step in it a little. Your politician is not helping you to follow Jesus more closely. But we elevate people to these existential places emotionally, spiritually and they become our salvation.

We will also compartmentalize our faith from ethics and chose to follow people that suits us instead of acknowledging the messiness of that very choice. We will cancel someone on the other-side of partisan isles and look away from corruption right in front of us.

You might not cancel someone for corruption or moral deceitfulness but you can hold them accountable by not following them.

I think we spend more time seeing what is wrong instead of what God can potentially do in others.

We like justice when we are the oppressed, but it is hard to see when we have participated in the oppressing.

Friends it has occurred to me that we could have done this for 10 weeks. There is so much here and so much that we deal with. Here is my hope:

That we would engage in the world while thinking and acting Christianly. That we would have the mind of Christ

That we would be optimists about what God has done and can do in our lives and the lives of others

That we would not see shame as a sport but lament and weep when harm and evil persists

That we would actually be God’s agents of reconciliation in the world.

Because we are jars of clay and God’s light is eager to burst forth.