Christ Cancels Sin

We live in the age of what has been called the “cancel culture.” It involves a denial of most that has come before it, and will resort to destruction and violence to cancel it. So, monuments to the past are destroyed, because they do not fit this culture’s sensibilities. Don’t like the reality of our nation having a Civil War? Tear down statues, not just of the Confederate states, but attack the Lincoln monument as well. Don’t like the Constitution? Then try to eradicate everything in it. Think Christianity has been the problem with the world? Then do everything possible to negate it and make it look irrelevant for today’s world. Almost everything that is rooted in the past is targeted. But is removing everything from the past to manufacture a new reality even possible?

The short answer is no. Years ago Solomon pointed out there is nothing new under the sun (Eccl. 1:9). As an illustration, many have become enamored with socialism and communism. Think that is new? Speak to those who lived under the regimes of Lenin and Stalin in Russia, or those who currently live in China or N. Korea. Think you can do it differently? So, did those who joined in overthrowing the czars, but the number of government executions, and the poverty that became real for their lives was not what they bargained for either. But you see, there was the same promise of change with each new Pharaoh, or king, or Emperor, in so many nations that have come and gone. In the end, there are still those rich and those poor (Matt. 26:11), The joke told still seems to be true; “Remember the golden rule, that those with the gold make the rules.” It seems things like this will not be cancelled.

Many things of the past are not being changed as well. There is the cry of using green vehicles and the technology of computing and smartphones that are fundamental to this culture comes from their past; it just did not appear yesterday. What about all those involved making these things? Are they all untarnished in their actions and attitudes? Hate and violence as tools to advance many causes are as old as humanity. Just ask Abel (Gen. 4:8). Not only this, but what will the next culture that comes along do when it doesn’t like the cancel culture has established? It is a matter of what is convenient to keep, and what is disadvantageous that is removed. Again, it has been done, time and again. If one society can cancel its predecessors, do not think another will not rise to do that to this movement as well.

Cancel culture is based on the principle of getting what one wants or desires for today, without a consideration of the past, present, or future. This should not surprise us, as selfishness is rooted in sin, and Satan is the master of deception. He only cares about our destruction, and is the ultimate power behind these things, in seeking to cancel the good God provides through Christ.

Real change comes only in Christ, who makes it possible for us to change from sin to righteousness, from darkness to light, from despair to hope, from the flesh to the spiritual, from the temporal to the eternal. We can be a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), have the offer of an abundant life (John 10:10), everything for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3), and eternal life (John 3:16). Only the change that God offers through the blood of Christ, defined in His word, and accountable by us in judgment, is true and lasting change. It lasts while nothing in this life does. It offers freedom from the effects of sin, where there is no pain, sorrow, suffering, tears, or anything else sin brings (Rev. 21:4). In Christ, the culture of sin is removed for what is genuine, true, and real, that will never be cancelled. It offers us everything, while Satan and sin, who has deceived the world (1 John 5:19), offers only eternal condemnation.

The apostle Paul lived under the rule of Nero in the Roman Empire. It was corrupt and degrading. In Romans, Paul said to submit to its authority (13:1), because the ultimate authority, God, is in control. He also said to pray for those in authority, for their sake and the sake of the saved (1 Tim. 2:1-4). How did Paul envision cancelling the sinful culture of Rome? Through the preaching of the gospel of Christ. What we need is not a culture that cancels what has come before it for more of the same, wrapped in a different package. We need real change that cancels the effects of sin and offers real life. Live for Jesus. It is in Him real change is made, now and forever. That is what we really need and should desire. Is Christ making a change in you?

μαράνα θᾶ (Lord come)

Robert