The Crossing Bible Church in Columbia, MO had an arts outreach ministry they were giving money to local artists. But because of a sermon on God vs. transgender behavior, the church is now on the cancel culture attack list in the arts. Galleries and theaters are pressured to stay away from the church’s support, or they themselves will get cancelled… In 1987 a young Navy pilot Niel Golightly wrote an opinion of why women should be kept out of combat roles. In 2020 this comment was discovered and Neil was targeted. He lost his job for having had a politically incorrect opinion. I am sure we have all heard that Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato Head, Miss Piggy, among others have been on the chopping block of Cancel Culture too.

The Cambridge Dictionary has define “cancel culture” as 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 you deem offensive. It has been a sad commentary to learn of people who have lost their jobs like Alexi McCammond. Teen Vogue parted company with her for something she tweeted when just a teenager. In a cancel culture, these elitist appoint themselves the arbiters of right and wrong and also the judge and jury, because thanks to social media, they get to dole out punishment. This kind of rejections hurts and it could happen to you or me since we are not in conformity with the current world-view. Folks, I have no easy answers for people who have been hurt like this.

I can only suggest that they look to the Lord Jesus, remembering how He experienced rejection. He was scorned by His brothers and His countrymen. Scripture tell us in John1:11, He came unto his own, and his own received him not. Jesus could be the poster symbol for the Cancel Culture. He was an excellent example of dealing with rejection… His life was full of rejection. Is.53:3 He is despised and rejected of men. He encountered rejection while ministering in His own home community. It proved to be very difficult. However, we can learn how to respond from his experience but first we must come to terms with it.

I. Rejection Psalms 41:7
All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.

1. Rejection can sting like a wasp and inflict pain like that of a cold dagger. The heart knows its pain and hurt. It communicates its unwanted message to kings and queens, statesmen’s and servants, preachers and presidents, mothers and fathers, boys and girls. It knows no bounties and we know that no-one is exempt. No one likes to be rejected. It damages and it cuts deep.

It makes you feel like you’re not good enough that others are better than you. A mistake can cancel you out and forgiveness is a hard sell. Rejection is not getting that job, not getting that loan from the bank or mortgage, not getting into that school or college or even a social club or forum. So, if you’ve been crushed by the cancel culture and rejected, welcome to the club. So many have! The greatest people who have ever lived have had to deal with rejection.

II. Jesus Encounter Rejections Vv. 1-3

1) Note in verse one, Thence means Jesus left Capernaum which had become his headquarters since Jerusalem was too dangerous for him to minister in. He then came into his own country, this would of course be the city of Nazareth. Look with me at Luke 9:22

2) Note in verse 2 that this was not his first time to teach here, in Luke Chapter 4, Jesus was rejected here once before. Read with me from Luke (4:16-17; 28 & 2.9) Jesus had been in Nazareth the year before. They tried to kill him on that occasion, because He looked rejection in the eyes and persist to please the Father. He comes back again and teaches in the synagogue. He does not allow rejection to defeat him. The grit of some determined leaders have enabled them to overcome rejection and even persecution. Jesus is a great example to us here. It didn’t matter that he was not popular. He didn’t have regard for the polls but for what was right.

Dr. Adrian Rogers once said,’’ A man who leads by the polls is not a true leader. He is an opportunist politician. Harry Truman once said, I wonder how far Moses would of gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt. – John Bunyan was rejected and imprison.

3) Note verse three, He was in his hometown, and with the people among whom he had grown up and whom he had served as a carpenter until he was thirty years of age. When they heard his words they said “From whence hath this man these things? That is something similar to: “Where did he get all this?” The unbelieving citizens of Nazareth asked this question about him: “Who is this?” and they are astonished. They ask the right questions: “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands?”? They focus on his occupation. Is this not the carpenter? They rejected who he was.

4) Why, he made that table in our house. He was just a carpenter! And his brothers and sisters live here — we know the whole family! They ridiculed him. They took offense at him, and began to discount all he had done. There was no recognition of his worth no honor afforded him in his own home-town. He had no acceptance at all in His hometown, none, not even from His intimate family. His family’s attitude is conveyed to us back in Mark 3;21 they thought He’d lost His mind. They thought He was a maniac. For all that they knew, He grew up there for thirty years as a quiet carpenter. The people of Nazareth referred to Jesus as the son of Mary (Mark 6:3). This reference may have been used in a derogatory way. Most Jewish men would be called after their father such as Simon Bar-Jonah meaning Simon son of Jonah. It perhaps indicates they were saying we know you, you were illegitimate.

III Jesus Responds to Rejection vv. 4-6

1) His reply struck at the very heart of their problem. They didn’t want to believe. It was a proverbial statement of those days that a hometown boy can’t get a break. Not even his own family, they rejected him too.

Application:

You might just find this same frustrating truth in your life. Such is the case of the cancel culture. Christians not permitted to be faithful to God because it violates the behaviors in our society. We must learn to deal with the fact that some people will reject our message and reject us, but we must remain faithful. You aren’t the first and you won’t be the last. – I Co. 10:13.

2) Notice in verse five of Mark 6 the consequences of rejecting the Messiah.
[5] And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. [6] And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching. As a result, there was no mighty work done there. He responded to the few who had faith, but there was nothing the town could boast of. And is it not amazing that through all these centuries, though Nazareth has never been forgotten as the town in which Jesus grew up, yet to this very day it is regarded in Palestine with some sense of embarrassment. Nothing honorable has ever been associated with Nazareth, except that Jesus grew up there.

3) The biblical principle comes to bear – no faith, no power and no results. Little faith, little power, little results. Don’t cast pearls among the swine. Jesus went to the suburbs.

III How Will you respond to Rejection?

1. Instead of harboring anger and bitterness and yes vengeance we can guard our hearts for out of it are the issues of life. Jesus was rejected by the people who knew him best. He is amazed at the unbelief in His own hometown. Their lack of faith prevented him from doing great things for the people he loved. It can happen to us. He did not focus on the rejection. He faced it as part of life reality. Most everyone has to face this monster in their lifetime. Yes, it has been overdone in today society but put it in proper perspective.

2. The reason why many of us are injured by rejection is because we care more about what people think than about what God thinks. You have to get over that. You have to roll up your sleeves and say, “I don’t care what these people say about me. The only thing I’m concerned about is what God thinks about me. God says that he loves me just as I am. And that’s all that really matters! We must care more about pleasing God than pleasing these critics.

That’s the only way you’re going to be able to overcome rejection. You’re going to have to start living your life for an audience of one. Jesus says that “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” God must come first in your life if you are going to over- come the fear of man’s rejection.

Conclusion:

People participating in cancel culture mean to deprive their victims of social legitimacy and the privileges of community and religious rights. As Christian we believe that God created us, and that Jesus redeemed us to be His children. We’re living for His sake. God’s tells us what is right and wrong. No other standard will do. From the Bible we learn how to relate to God, to live in righteousness, and to live peaceably with each other.