Seeking Unity and Diversity

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

 Hi. Today I want to talk to us about how to pursue diversity and unity. Diversity without unity is very difficult. It can even be divisive. Unity without diversity is monolithic. It's plain, it's bland. What we wanna achieve is the fullness of united diversity, because then we are drawn together as a human people.

Paul praised this for the church. His desires at the church with different ethnic backgrounds and different socioeconomic places would be united, that there'd be no Greek slave Jew or free. There'd be no male or female. Paul has this vision that the church would be diverse but united, but that requires something unique.

And so he prays in 2nd Corinthians 13 for the church. And it's not just a prayer only about diversity, but what he prays is he prays that they would have the grace of Christ with them, that they would experience the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit. And these three things, the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Spirit, I think give us the right ingredients to pursue diversity and unity together. Let me tell you. First, the grace of Christ- when we consider the grace of Christ, it's really God revealing God's self through the person of Jesus and offering God's self freely, giving God's life through the person of Jesus.

So Jesus comes, loves the world, and then gives his life for the world. The church is to be a place that are free givers. Now, most of us are comfortable being matchers. We like to do the same thing for one another, and then we feel like we're on a level playing field. Of course, some people are takers and they're difficult people, but what we wanna be is we want to be givers.

We want to be people who freely give, and that's the only way to have unity and diversity together. You see, if we're each pursuing our own needs, then there's no way for unity to be accomplished. But if we want to be united with one another then and we all choose to be givers and we're giving to each other, then unity is possible.

And so if you wanna pursue diversity and unity, you want to take steps to grow as a giver. The second thing that Paul prays for is that the church would experience the love of God. Now, when we think about the love of God, what is demonstrated in the person of Christ and the love of God is that God loves the world.

God loves all the people in the world, and so God desires for the church to be a people that loves all the people. In this same little section, Paul says that they're to greet one another with a holy kiss. Now, I don't know about you, but the idea of kissing everyone that I greet feels a little bit over the top.

Now, the truth is I would have a hard time really kissing anyone that I don't love. And yet, it's interesting because what Paul is sketching out is a vision in which the church in all of its diversity, would push through this and greet one another with this holy kiss. It's a reminder to us that God desires for unity and diversity to coexist, that the love of God is a love, not just for you, not just for me, but for everyone.

In fact, the goalpost is set that we are even called to love our enemies. So how do we do that? Well, I think love of others begins with understanding how much God loves us, despite how difficult it is for us to be loved. You say, oh, you're not difficult to be loved. Well, I'm sure you're a wonderful person in so many ways, but just like me, you and I can be difficult to love.

We have different challenges in our life. We can be grumpy, we can be selfish. We can have all kinds of things that make us difficult to love, because ultimately, we're often prioritizing ourselves over others. We make idols out of ourself. We make idols out of our success. We make idols out of our safety, and each of these things makes us difficult to love.

We set ourselves apart from God and others, and yet God, despite that reality, loves you and I. He loves us. He loves us. He loves us. He loves us. And so we're called to be those kind of people that love others in the same way that God loves us. And so to begin to do that, we need to first understand how much God loves us, despite how difficult it is to be loved.

And then from there, I think thinking about concentric circles and maybe giving yourself a challenge, how might I grow in love for. Someone in my family, how might I grow in love for someone in work? How might I grow in love for someone I don't understand? And challenge yourself, stretch yourself. Because if we wanna achieve diversity and unity together, it's gonna require all of us to be givers. And it's also going to require all of us to love to offer care and affection to all in the same way that God does.

Finally, the last thing Paul prayed for is that they would have the communion of the spirit. Now it's easy for us to hear that and feel like, man, that's a nice warm fuzzy. When we look in the scriptures, the spirit regularly leads people towards sacrifice.

The spirit leads Jesus to give his life on the cross. The spirit leads Stephen, early church leader to be stoned. The spirit Paul tells us constantly leads him to a place in which imprisonment and persecution are promised. Now, that doesn't sound very warm and fuzzy, but it's this reminder that if we wanna pursue unity and diversity, we have to be a people that are willing to sacrifice, to give of ourselves, to be drawn in.

And so that's who we are to be. We are to be a people who give our lives. And so my question to you is, where might you be being asked by the spirit to be a person who sacrifices? Now, one cautionary tale I want to say is that many times I've heard people talk about how unity means that the spirit is present.

And I would just suggest that human beings are great at uniting around all kinds of things. We can unite around good things like a concert, a party. We can unite around bad things like the hatred of others and the persecution of people. And so just because there is unity does not mean the spirit is present.

If you want to check in, whether you think you're listening to the spirit, you can ask yourself, is this me being called to a community of sacrifice? Am I offering myself up to something else, to something greater? Am I being a giver? Am I offering this up as affection for all? If it's that, then you're on track for perhaps reflecting the spirit.

Unity and diversity, that's what we are called to. That is who we are to be as a people. And in order to do that, we have to be givers, not matchers. We have to offer love, care, and affection for all. We have to listen to the spirit where it might be leading us to sacrifice for the greater good and the good of others.

I hope you have a great week and you remember these principles as you pursue unity and diversity in your life. Take care of everybody.