Pensamientos para hoy (afterthought for today)
Unity in the midst of diversity
Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a Latino pastor. He was born in Brazil but grew up in Newark, New Jersey. He does not believe that the preoccupation in many Evangelical churches on racial diversity is biblical. I listened to him carefully and asked a few questions to try to understand his perspective. One of his main points was that the Bible puts emphasis on unity in Christ not on diversity, and he believes that much of Evangelicalism's emphasis on racial diversity is driven by worldly philosophy and secular political correctness. The Bible indeed does put much emphasis on unity. The Apostle Paul writes: "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus (Romans 15:5),"1 and "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3)." The Bible is very clear that there is one body of Christ. "so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others (Romans 12:5)". Jesus himself says: "I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. . . May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me (John 17:20-23)." Clearly the Bible gives great emphasis to unity. Especially in the context of a local church, God wants us to have unity in doctrine, unity in purpose, and unity in personal relationships. However, I believe also that God wants us to celebrate the ethnic diversity that we see in God's Church. God commands us to put aside racial distinctions and be united as a family of God, but this unity assumes diversity. Within the Church of God exists a mosaic of people from many diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, but God tells us to overcome these differences. God says, "Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. . . over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace (Colossians 3:11-15)." Therefore, I believe that when a local church is able to follow the Bible's command to discard discrimination and embrace unity in the midst of diversity, we should celebrate. God celebrates this kind of unity in the midst of diversity in heaven. The Bible says:After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb (Revelation 7:9-10).The goal of the Church is unity and harmony, but this unity is achieved in the context of racial and ethnic diversity. When the Church, in the power and grace of God, is able to reach across racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural differences and successfully live and worship in true love, then we should all rejoice and celebrate biblical unity in the context of diversity. Celebrating our unity in the midst of diversity, Pastor Steve
Footnotes1 Romans 15:5, NIV (New International Version). Unless otherwise noted all references to the Bible will be from the NIV.
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