Series: Diverse City

 

Title: We Are Better Together

 

Sol Deo gloria is a Latin term for “Glory to God alone.”  We live to display the glory of God.  Each of us were created by God in the image and likeness of God and hence we are image bearers of His glory here on earth.  We are all uniquely created according to His divine plan and His infinite wisdom. 

 

Which brings about the obvious question, why then are we all created differently?

 

I believe that God is so intricate and complex, that one person alone could not capture the glory of God in His entirety.  We are all created differently we each depict a different expression of who God is.

 

For example,

• Moses was a great leader who led the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised land
• Joshua a fearless warrior who headed up the conquest into the promised land
• David was a worshipper and a man after God’s own heart who taught us men how to be a warrior and a worshipper
• Samson was given superior strength to overcome the Philistines.
• Daniel was a man of wisdom and of prayer who remained faithful to God when facing the lions
• John was the one whom Jesus loved, he was content resting his head on Jesus’s chest
• Peter led 3000 people to Christ,
• Paul was forerunner for the gospel a true apostle etc…

 

The list goes on.  One person could not be all these things at once. 

 

But God used each of these stories for His glory, and as we read of their trials and adversities we are awestrickenof the goodness and faithfulness of our God who has brought them through by His might.  We are all created uniquely each an expression of the glory of God.

 

So, when we come together in a corporate setting to worship God, we are coming with many different backgrounds, many varying social economic backgrounds, different levels of education and income, many different occupations, some are rich others are poor some are in between, many different ethnicities, many different stories, many different testimonies of how God has intervened in our lives.  Though we are different, we are called to be one body, one with the Lord, through one baptism, one Holy Spirit.

 

The Prayer of Jesus before was that we would be one, as He and the Father are one. 

 

John 17:20-22

 

²⁰ “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 

 

Jesus is looking at His disciples, who were all Jews, and said “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe.” Who He had in mind you may ask?  Everyone I would say, Jews as well as Gentiles; the circumcision and the uncircumcision, the clean and those who were considered as dogs by the Jews.  

 

Jesus came to die for everyone and the invitation to be one with Christ and one with the Father extends to all who would believe in Jesus and confess Him with their mouths.  If you are a believer then we are family, you are my brother you are my sister regardless of our differences.

 

Accept Your Own Uniqueness

 

We will struggle to accept the differences of others if we cannot accept the differences about ourselves.

You don’t need to become like anyone else but the person whom God created you to be.  We must believe that when God created you, He intentionally thought out your unique design.  He put you in the family that you are in according to His design, to bring about His good purpose.

 

The Lord tells the prophet Jeremiah

 

Jeremiah 1:5

 

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

 

He is a personal God. He Formed Jeremiah, He knew who Jeremiah was and knew his purpose even before he was born.   He formed you, He knows you and He has a purpose for you.

 

The Lord did not mess up when He created you, for the Lord does not create junk.  You were not an accident nor were you a mistake, but you were fashioned by the Lord.  He crafted every detail about you for His good purpose.

 

Moses questioned whether God had picked the right man for the job when he was asked to lead His people out of Egypt. 

           

Exodus 4:10-11

 

¹⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” ¹¹ Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

 

As we mentioned previously, you are His workmanship

 

Ephesians 2:10

¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Yes, you are different, but God created you that way as a unique expression of His glory. 

If we spend our whole life trying to be like so and so, then we will miss out on the unique calling that God has called us to.  Furthermore, if we are not content with who God made us to be then eventually, we will be succumbed by jealousy and envy and will not be able to fully love our neighbor. 

When we accept our own personal differences and the fact that God made us the way we are on purpose, then we are in position to appreciate each other’s differences.

 

Mark 12:31

 

³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

 

Learn to Appreciate Each Other’s Differences

 

Being a Christian means that you are in the family of God.  Which makes you even more different (peculiar) than the rest of the world.   Being in a family requires loving and getting along with your siblings.  This often requires sacrifice.  Meaning sometimes you must lay down your right to be right for the sake of walking in unity. 

 

1 Peter 2:9-10

 

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

Notice the singularity in these expressions “a chosen race,” “a priesthood,” “a people”

Once you were not “a people” but now you are. The thing that connects us as “a people” is the fact that we have received God’s mercy.  We are a people a part of a kingdom.

 

Dr. Tony Evans

Kingdom race theology I define Kingdom race theology as the reconciled recognition, affirmation and celebration of other divinely created ethnicities through which God displays his multifaceted glory as his people justly, righteously and responsibly function personally and corporately in unity under the lordship of Jesus Christ

 

In the body of Christ there is one race, the Kingdom Race because we have been “born again” through the blood of Jesus.  We are still different, but we are one.  We might come from different sides of the bayou, but we are one. The key is learning to appreciate each other’s differences as we become one.

 

(Ice cream, Chocolate, Carmel, Nuts, cherry, sprinkles)

 

Our lives are enriched when we are in a community where there is a mixture of various people.  We might as well learn to enjoy our differences now, because you will be stuck with them for all eternity. 

 

Search Your Own Heart for Prejudice

 

Revelation 7:9-12

⁹ After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

 

Did you get that?  John the revelator is given a glimpse of heaven and he sees a great multitude of believers who were distinctly different from each other.  There were people from different nations, from different tribes and peoplesand even different languages. 

 

Has it ever occurred to you that in heaven you will retain much what makes you, you? Your glorified body will resemble the body in which you inhabit on earth.  Look at Jesus after He had risen from the grave.  He had a glorified body, and He resembled the man He was before the crucifixion.  There are several accounts when Jesus reveals himself to His disciples after He had resurrected, and they recognized Him.

 

How much more glorious Heaven will be that it will contain a mixture of all the different nations and languagestogether.  All coming together to display His glory

 

If you have a problem with this, then you need to examine your heart.  Because I get a newsletter every month from Voice of the Martyrs, and they tell of people coming to the knowledge of Christ Jesus throughout the world. 

 

For a moment let me highlight the country of China.  This is what is happening right now in China

• Churches are being demolished
• Christian Homes are being raided
• Pastors are being arrested.
• But Christians are remaining faithful.

 

While they may be enduring extreme persecution here on earth, you can be assured that we will see our Chinesebrothers and sisters in Christ in heaven.  Asians are coming to Christ, Arabs are coming to Christ, Africans,Muslims, etc…

 

There won’t be a white heaven or a black heaven, or a Hispanic heaven or an Asian heaven, but there will be the kingdom of heaven consisting of all God’s children from all nationalities who will retain distinction, each displayingthe glory of God.   

 

Search your own heart for prejudice.  While I must commend this church for doing a great job of accepting each other’s differences we can do better.

 

• When was the last time you had a conversation with someone from a different ethnic background?
• Do you only hang out with people who are like you? Why is that?
• Have you recently had someone over to your house who has a different skin color than you?
• Do you act differently in front of your friends when approached by someone of a different skin color?

 

Galatians 2:11-14

 

¹¹ But when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹²For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. ¹³ And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas (Peter) before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

 

Let’s make sure we get this picture.  Peter is eating with Gentiles which is a remarkable think. 

Up until this dispensation of grace, the gentiles have been excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and were considered as dogs in the Jews eyes.  So, Peter is doing a good thing by breaking down those walls and sitting down for a meal with these new gentile converts. 

 

But then his fellow Jews come along from Judea and suddenly, he leaves the gentiles to go sit with his Jewish friends.  Then the Jews who were with Peter also get up and follow his example.

 

Finally, Paul has enough and calls out Peter for being a hypocrite in trying to convert the gentiles to Christianitywhile acting like a heathen.  Before we are too hard on Peter lets reflect on our own lives.

 

Do you act differently whenever a friend of a different skin color approaches you when you are with your friends? Are you looking around to see who will see you? 

 

Search Your Own Heart for Prejudice

 

If you find yourself in a constant struggle regarding this issue, it could be that you’re fighting against a generational mindset that has been passed on to you through many generations.  It needs to be broken and your mind needs to be renewed with the washing of the water of the word. 

 

If you have unwarranted hatred against one ethnicity or another, then you need the power of Jesus Christ to free you from that mindset. 

 

Break Generational Mindsets of Prejudice

 

John 11:51-52

 

⁵¹ He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³ So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

Jesus came to die for the sins of all mankind.  If He was willing to do that we must be willing to accept & appreciateeach other’s differences. For we are better together.

Accept Your Uniqueness

Learn to Appreciate Each Other’s Differences

Search Your Heart for Prejudices

Break Generational Mindsets of Prejudices