By Mark Maynard 

It must be a very discouraging experience when someone in a coveted leadership role is forced to resign. Think about that experience, and what it would do to a person, how they would feel, how they might respond to it. Brendan Eich, who was the creator of JavaScript and was the co-founder of Mozilla, had served as a chief technology officer for 16 years and was then promoted to CEO. However, after only 11 days, he resigned.

Why such a sudden change? Here’s the answer: his appointment to CEO triggered widespread criticism and outrage due to his personal support of California Proposition number eight, a proposed law that said marriage should be between one man and one woman. All of the great work that Eich had done no longer mattered, all of the people who he had created jobs for no longer cared about that, they were no longer appreciative of the opportunities that Eich created from them. They wanted him out because of his personal convictions. So Brendan Eich was “canceled”.

In the New Testament we read about a man named Timothy. He was a protégé of the Apostle Paul. He had been given a difficult assignment, and his assignment was not without risks. The culture that Timothy was living in was trying to cancel him. So, Paul writes to Timothy, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8). 

If we’re honest with ourselves, we have felt the same at times. We can relate. Maybe there’s times in our life where we thought, “I should do this, I should say this, I should be bold, this is an opportunity.” Yet we did what? Nothing. A lot of us identify with timidity because we work in places where the majority of the people around us are not Christians. Maybe they are even anti-Christian, and sometimes aggressively. Unfortunately, our behavior changes in that environment and we stay quiet, we don't say anything. 

Well, this is the problem that Paul is addressing with Timothy. Timothy is ministering in this great pagan city of Ephesus, and it’s a tough situation. Paul is addressing the culture here. He’s admonishing Timothy (paraphrased): “Don't be ashamed of the Lord. Yes, you’re in a culture that believes that Caesar is God, that he’s the Lord. Yes, there’s tremendous pushback on anyone who says that there is any Lord other than Caesar, but don’t let that affect your life and don’t let it affect your ministry. Don’t let it affect your leadership. Don’t be ashamed, Timothy, of the Lord, because I know you have the tendency to do so.”

And then Paul said (paraphrased), “Timothy, don't be ashamed of me. I know that I’m a prisoner, I’m an exile, I’m an outcast. I know that about myself, but that is a good thing. Don’t have the tendency to be ashamed of me, even though I’m an enemy of the emperor.” And finally, “Timothy, don’t be ashamed of the gospel because there’s nothing like it. It’s the only thing that can bring salvation to mankind and move his dark heart into the light. Timothy, don’t be ashamed of these things, don’t be ashamed of the gospel.” Paul understood that the gospel message was offensive. 

The gospel message can be offensive. It is offensive because we are prideful. It insults us when somebody tells us that we are not adequate to solve our own issues of our life, to solve our own problems, and because of that, it’s difficult for men to admit when we need help. The gospel undercuts the pride of self-sufficiency and arrogance of men. But the question that might be bouncing around in the back of our minds in the world that we’re living in today is, “If I’m bold, will I be canceled? What's the culture going to do to me? Is it going to cancel me because I talk about things that are offensive and things people don't want to hear about?”

Our culture is becoming in ways a real-life rendition of George Orwell's 1984. Orwell wrote, “A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with sledgehammers, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one’s own will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic.” Maybe we’re not too far off from that. Orwell was predicting something he thought would happen in the future. 

What, then, is our response to “cancel culture”? Paul continues his conversation with Timothy: “So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.” (2 Timothy 1:8-11). Now, here it is in verse 12: “For this reason, I also suffered these things, but I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to keep me or guard me until that day.” 

What is Paul telling Timothy? (Paraphrased) “Timothy, don’t be afraid. Don’t be ashamed because there is one who is able to keep you, who is able to guard you, who is able to guard what you have entrusted to him until that day, that end day.”

What is it that we have entrusted? It is the gospel that has been entrusted to us. We’re in God’s hands and He holds us. We don’t need to be ashamed, we don’t need to be afraid, we don’t need to shrink back, and we certainly don’t need to be timid. But it is possible that we could be canceled—like Brendan Eich was, like other faithful men throughout history have been canceled. But here’s the silver lining: The truth in us can never be canceled, and the glory of the gospel can never be canceled.

In this letter from Paul, Timothy is taking a leadership torch that Paul is passing on. That same torch has been given to us. Through time this leadership torch as been passed from faithful men to faithful men, to faithful men, and now you have it. You have a torch in your hand. As leaders who have been saved by the gospel, our responsibility is to pass that torch to the next generation. That’s the way new and upcoming generations learn. They learn from faithful men, like Paul taught Timothy. We teach other faithful men. We teach them values, principles, the guidelines that will steady them, that will hold them in the midst of a swirling maelstrom of unbelief and immorality they are going to face. Today’s challenge for all of us is this: To be courageous and be leaders like Paul and Timothy, who rely on the gospel and are not ashamed.