Seek Serve Send - Pt 2: Unity in Diversity

If you were with us last week, you know, we started a new series called Seek, Serve and Send. And Pastor Ryan opened us up with this conversation about unity. He talked to us about a passage in John 17 that's traditionally called the great collaboration. And in John 17, there are these two Hannah clauses. A Hannah clause is a if then clause. If one thing happens, then there's something else that's guaranteed to happen. And what I love about that passage and his teaching from last week, it says, If we become one, two things are going to happen. One, the world will know that Jesus is who he said he is. Oh, that's good. And then the second guarantee is the world will know that they're loved by the father.

And so think about it. If those two things happen, that is our greatest apologetic that if if we become one, the world will know Jesus is we said He is in the world will know that they're loved by the father. And those things are extremely important. But as we move into our topic for today, I've found that sometimes this conversation gets hijacked by people's agendas and sometimes politics. And so you may be wondering, like, what does it mean to be a multiethnic church? What does it mean to pursue multiethnic ministry? And that's part of what I want to unpack today, not only with sound theology, but also sound ecclesiology. And we have this value of what's called unity in diversity. And so some of you in the room, maybe you're wondering like like why do we have that value?

You may be wondering, like, why aren't there more multiethnic churches like ours? Or maybe you're someone that you've been a part of one church, and it's been tough and seasons. And maybe you just need to be encouraged to say, don't grow weary in your will doing. But regardless where you stand in that spectrum, I want you to know that this this message is here to encourage all of us. Somebody shout all because guess what? I need Jesus. You need Jesus. We all need Jesus. Amen. But let me start with a story. So there's this guy. He was about to go vacationing with his wife, and it's been a tough season for them. They needed to get away and so they chose the Caribbean Islands and they they decided they were going to go. And he went ahead of her because she had some work stuff she had to take care of. So he goes down ahead of her. He's kind of rushing to to kind of get settled in. And he he texts her that he's you know, he made it right. But what he didn't realize in his haste. He doesn't text his wife.

He ends up texting an 80 year old woman, an 80 year old woman who had just lost her husband. And when she got that text, family were around and she began to smile and the family was like, what is she reading? Like, who's texting her? Because we haven't seen that smile since Papa left. Like what? What's going on? Is she. She begins to smile. And then she keeps reading and she passes out and she hits the floor and the family rushes in like, what's going on with me, Mom? What's going on with Mommy? And they grab this phone and they begin to read what the message says. The first two things said I made it here safely. Come on, come on. Somebody say, Oh, right. Second thing you said was, I miss you already. But then the third thing is what? Cause it hit the floor is it is hot down here that that that widow that widow was expecting this to be the last words. These words from her deceased husband. And and what I would suggest to you, like last words, last words are important.

If you only have 5 minutes with the people who are most important in your life, only have 5 minutes. Like, what would you say? Like like you would want those words to matter. You would want those words to be meaningful. You would want those words to echo in their hearts and in their minds long after you left them. But what I want you to understand is, is Jesus also had some last words. As a matter of fact, as Pastor Ryan was preaching last week, he talked to us about this. One of the last prayers is that Jesus prays before he goes to the cross. Now, I love the fact that Jesus goes to the cross. He dies on that rugged cross.

The Bible says that they took him down from the cross. They put him in a borrowed tomb. But I'm so glad he didn't stay there. The Bible says he got up. He got up with all power in his hands. And and it didn't stop there. But the Bible says that he showed himself to be alive. He showed himself to be alive to his disciples. And that is when we begin to hear some of Jesus's last words. We hear about him in the Gospels. We hear about him in the Book of Acts. And so there are a lot of last words we could give you words like Mark 1615 when he says, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all. Somebody shall all to all creation. The last time I check all still means all. Or maybe Acts one eight when it says, But you will receive power or somebody shout power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Judea, in Samarra and in Jerusalem at the very ends of the Earth. But if I had to choose one, if I had to choose one of those last words, it would be something we call the Great Commission.

Right. We talked about the great collaboration last week. I'm going to talk about the great commission this week, this round in Matthew, chapter 28, the last chapter. Turn there, if you don't mind. We're going to start around verse 18 and it says, then somebody shall. Then Jesus came to them and said, Oh, somebody shall. Oh, all authority and heaven on earth has been given to me, therefore go. Somebody shall go and make disciples of all nations. Somebody shout, all baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. And so I want to talk to you from the thought of from the subject. Last, last words. Let's pray, Father. We know the flower fades, the grass withers. But your word stands forever Speaking to this moment, move me at the background, maybe at the forefront. Let the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight or Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Speak now. Give us the courage to respond in obedience we pray this all in the matchless name of Jesus.

Everybody shout, Amen, Go and make disciples of all nations and the Greek. That word F.A. means nations, all nations. These were Jesus's last words. Not mine, not not Pastor Ryan's, but literally some of Jesus's last words in this brief passage at step sir, whose author and Mrs. Ologist he he says there's four things worth mentioning about some of Jesus's last words that I think we should talk about today. And remember it. One is we are to lift cent, but we're not just lift Cent, but we're to lift set to different groups of people. We're sent to different groups of people with a clear mission and message. And then we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit. Think about that. We we are to live. Sent somebody shout, sent to different groups of people. Somehow they shout different. But we have a very clear message and mission. Somebody shout clear, but we can't forget. You can't do this on your own. You got to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Somebody shall empowered power. So if these were Jesus last words, if these were some of the last things He said to His disciples, you would think that they would be pretty important.

Why? Why did the church in Jerusalem at the beginning pretty much stay there? Where to live sit two different groups of people clear mission and message power by the Holy Spirit. Why? Why did the early church mostly stay in Jerusalem? Something happened and may get in trouble because part of this story, the people involved are in the room. So you all pray for me. Come on. Same. But maybe if you bring me that bag it right there. So we had this moment. It was it was Christmas time and we were over at my in-laws house and we were having a great time. It was it was a blessing. Matter of fact, there in the room to Conaway. My in-laws in the room, yeah. Like thank you. We open to having a good time. It's such a blessing. We exchanging gifts. And my wife, she loves practical gifts. Right? So I think she knows what's in the box. Right before I do it. So I'm ripping into the box. She's ripping into the box. And when I open the box, I see a word that I'll never forget

It says Snuggie, yet only saying, Hey, man, it's a Snuggie. And and, you know, I'm a £235 manly man. And there's something about the word Snuggie. It just doesn't fit me. It doesn't fit me. And so, you know, you do what you're supposed to. You thank them, you know. God bless you. Thank you so much. I'm like, what am I going to do with this? And so, you know, I take that little box, you know, I take it to my house and Nicole puts it in our in our closet. I take mine and I take it to the garage. And I put it up on that top shelf, sitting in that shelf that nobody goes to. Well, let's, let's you move it. And I'm thinking I have no use for this Snuggie until one late evening and I'm downstairs watching the game and the kids have taken all the blankets upstairs and like this is dragging on my toes and I'm like, where? And I remember Snuggie. Oh, I go up in that garage, I tiptoe on the ladder, I slide that thing up off the top shelf. And yeah, I'm telling you, I'm telling you it's nothing but a rogue term backwards. That's all it is. That's all it is. That's all it is. And so I'm sitting on the couch and, you know, it's got pockets in the front yowling saying, I'm here, I'm sliding and my snacks and my drinks.

I mean, I am, oh, god, stop. And I begin to be thankful for something that I was given that I didn't fully appreciate initially. And what I've come to understand is that sometimes as believers, our expectation is our walk with Jesus is supposed to be like this Snuggie. Come on, are you with me? Like, comfortable? I mean, we think that it's supposed to be convenient. And and what I found is that that sometimes the issue in the early church was comfort and convenience. But I think it was also potentially a little bit of confusion. Yeah. Like they didn't, they didn't fully know who this message was for and they needed clarity. And so I love the fact that God, when we when we sometimes find ourselves so comfortable and trying to operate with convenience, that God will give us clarity about what our real mission is and what we're really supposed to be doing. I love the way Will Manzini says this. He says, We are often kept from our goals not always because of obstacles, but because of a clearer path to a lesser goal. Let me say that again, because that's good. We are often careful. My goals not always because of obstacles, but because sometimes we have a clearer path to a lesser a lesser goal.

Is there a lesser goal in the way of what God wants to do in you? Is there a lesser goal getting the way of what God wants to do through you? Or maybe what God wants to do through us? For some churches, the lesser goal is bigger buildings, bigger budgets, and more butts in seats. Come on, say man. For others, it's attraction of worship. Fog machines and a charismatic preacher and all the creature comforts of consumerism on a Sunday morning, and sometimes silently. If we're not careful, we say, Don't challenge me, don't. Don't push me to grow. Don't ask me to step up, don't, don't ask me to serve. And definitely don't ask me to sacrifice anything.

And and sometimes what we're saying is maybe, maybe not what our words, but sometimes with our actions leave me alone. That's what the pastors are for. That's what the professionals are for. But but I thought the goal of the local church was and its leaders was to equip God's people for the work of the ministry. I thought we served a water walker. I thought we served someone who has now given all power, has been given into his hands, one who took the sting out of death and victory out of the grave. Now, do you think Jesus went through all of that for us to be comfortable? I think he wants us to disrupt a false sense of peace and remind us of the mission, his mission, which has now become ours, which is to seek the loss to serve our community and to sin disciples, to transform the world. Now, in case you need more proof, right? In case you need more proof of why we have this emphasis on unity in diversity, let me give you a little more theological insight and how this value shows up in the New Testament. One of my good friends, Mark Demas, he's written multiple books. One of them is called Leading a Healthy, Multiethnic Church.

Some of you've been through a book study. We do here at one church called Multi-ethnic Conversations, but he says this, it says this, that Jesus envisioned the multiethnic church for the sake of the gospel on the night before he went to the cross. We talked about that last week. Right. We also understand that Luke described the multiethnic church in action at Antioch as a model for future congregations to follow.

That's what we're dealing with today. And then we also find that Paul prescribed the multiethnic church in order to advance a credible witness of God's love for all people. So Jesus envisioned it. Luke describes it, and Paul prescribes it. Now, how many all have ever gotten a new car? Maybe it wasn't brand new, but it was new to you. Come on. Say, man, like. Like when you get a new car, you start to notice all of the other cars like yours. When you get that new top. You know, I'm talking about like it's like how many people got a Toyota Avalon, right? Because I got one. Right. Like what you find, though, because this is this conversation we're having today is so much at the heart of God that when you begin to see it in the in the Scriptures today, you'll find that it shows up everywhere.

Like you don't have to work hard to find this in Scripture is everywhere. And so if you ever get distracted, which sometimes people do in this conversation, or if you ever get to it, I want you to remember this is simply about two things. It's about reconciling people to God and reconciling people to people. Yeah, let me say that again. It's really about two things reconciling people to God and reconciling people to people. But you may be wondering like, why is this such a hang up for so many people? Why I want to show you this video. We're just going to show the first minute and in a few seconds. And I encourage you to check out the the full length videos about 8 minutes at your leisure. It's called the backwards bicycle. Just Google backwards bicycle on YouTube and you'll find this. But this video sets up where I'm going with the rest of the message. Check this out.

Hey, it's me, Destin. Welcome back to Smarter. Every day you've heard people say it's just like riding a bike, meaning it's really easy and you can't forget how to do it right. But I did something. I did something that damaged my mind. It happened on the streets of Amsterdam and I got really scared. Honestly, I can't ride a bike like you can anymore before I show you the video of what happened, I need to tell you the back story. Like many six year olds with a MacGyver mullet, I learn how to ride a bike. When I was really young, I had learned a life skill and I was really proud of it. Everything changed, though, when my friend Barney called me 25 years later, where I work. The welders are geniuses and they like to play jokes on the engineers.

He had a challenge for me. He had built a special bicycle and he wanted me to try to ride it. He could only change one thing when he turned the handlebars to the left, the wheel goes to the right. When you turn it to the right, the wheel goes to the left. I thought this would be easy. So I hopped on the bike, ready to demonstrate how quickly I could conquer this. And here he is. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Destiny Stanley. First attempt riding the bicycle. Yeah, I could do it. You can see that I'm laughing, but I'm actually really frustrated in this moment. I had a really deep revelation. My thinking was in a rut. This bike revealed a very deep truth to me. I had the knowledge of how to operate the bike, but I did not have the understanding. Therefore, knowledge is not understanding.

We see here that Destine has the knowledge of how to ride the bike, but he doesn't quite have the understanding. Knowledge does not always equal understanding. What if that's not just true of riding altered bikes? What if that's also potentially true of people who are trying to seek out unity and diversity? Now, I say this partially because if you're struggling with this, our goal is not our goal is not to shame you, but to tell you that actually you are not alone. Our biggest challenge in this work is not really bigotry and overt racism. It is the silence of good and well, meaning people. Peter was there to hear this great commission that we talked about earlier from Jesus's lips himself, but yet he struggles and Acts ten because of his own cultural bias, because he has this bias to Gentiles and he doesn't know how to live it out.

And so God brings him to a place where He has to go to Cornelius House, a person, a soldier who was a part of the Roman government. And he has to go through the process of baptizing Cornelius in his home. This is hard stuff. It was hard for the early disciples. It's going to be hard for us. It's why we need the Holy Spirit help. But once Peter got it, it changed his lens. Somebody shot lens. Yeah. I remember that illustration from Pastor Ryan last week. It changed his lens. One shift can change how you see everything. How many of you, anybody here like to ride motorcycles? Any motorcycle bikers? Not very many of you. But how many of you know how to drive a stick?

A stick shift? Anybody? Okay, now more people. So what you know about a stick shift is that you have to change the gears at certain points when the the RPMs or the motor gets a little louder. Right. It's a signal. It's time to change gears now, you can ride from Greensboro to L.A. in first gear if you want to take time off like if you want to, like, you might get there. But by the time you get there, it's going to take you a whole lot longer. You're going to mess up your transmission and your engine like the gears are in the clutch and it's made so that when you get to a certain amount of speed and the RPMs race, it's time to shift. Now, what what I want you to know is that to 2020 and COVID really helped us understand some things that we already knew.

It just helped us to see it differently. And the reality is that it's time to shift. I believe God has put one church in this city for such a time as this to help move into a place to help the community understand it's time to shift. Like like a lot of people don't want to learn how to drive a stick shift, you know, like, I'll just drive my automatic car, somebody else, and I'm going to get there with my automatic and yes, you will. Yes, you will. But here's the thing. It limits your ability to drive all vehicles. You can't drive everything. And if you're some parts of the world like stick shift is all you got, right? Because they're cheaper to make. And the reality is God does not want us to put limits on what he's doing. God wants us to be able to have the full expression.

He wants us to reach everybody. And so that's why I want to lead to my first point. Shift number one is this from knowledge to a deeper level of understanding. Now, it's not enough to know this stuff. Knowledge does not equal understanding. Now, what do you got to understand about the rest of this video? I hate to spoil it for some of you, but but Destin, he tested this on other people from all over the world and he got the same result. Everybody found it impossible to simply ride the bike ten feet. He offered them hundreds of dollars. Nobody could do it because it wasn't about great balance. It wasn't about hand-eye coordination, because this thing was completely counter intuitive. Destin actually practiced this with this bicycle 5 minutes every day in his driveway. Guess. Guess how long it took him to figure out how to ride this bike? Eight months, eight long months. It required a paradigm shift, somebody short shift that can only come with personal persistence and practice. Somebody is going to get that. It required a paradigm shift that could only come with personal persistence and practice. And so what we're doing as a part of one church, it requires personal persistence, it requires practice, it requires the help of the Holy Spirit.

Once we have a rigid or fixed way of thinking, He helps us to understand that is hard to change. It's not impossible, but it's hard to change. Even even when we really want to. I used to think that people who don't engage these issues or or people who resist or maybe people who are a step away from this, do so because of a lack of knowledge or lack of effort or lack of desire. But but this video helps to remind me that. That I need to be more patient than that. I need to extend grace because all of this, although that's true for some people, it's not always true for everyone. Like some shifts, some change takes time. Like just like destined as we move towards God and as we move towards each other, God gives us the ability to do what we can't do on our own. Yeah, this is not about magic. This is about movement. Yeah. And in order to ride this kind of bike that one church is, you got to move, right? Come on. Say, man, you can't ride this bike standing still. Practicing unity and diversity is completely countercultural. It's not natural. It's super natural. It's not ordinary. It's extraordinary. Come on. Say, man.

So at least the second shift. Shift number two is from this being a diversity issue to an issue of discipleship and multiplication. So when someone asks, isn't the gospel enough? My answer is always absolutely yes. But then my question becomes like, What gospel are we talking about? Like are we talking about the knots? So great commission, like where you reach out to people who look like you and live like you, who vote like you, who think like you, or are you talking about something different because see, if we're talking about that kind of gospel that focuses on comfort and control and consumerism and not sacrifice and serving, then know that gospel or that gospel is never enough. But Jesus is clear in this great commission. He's clear in the great collaboration, and he's clear and something. We're going to end with the great commandment that this is a discipleship issue. If it were just the diversity issue, then that means it would be optional. But it's not a diversity issue. It's a discipleship issue. Somebody shall discipleship. And we we don't have this value because of changing demographics or because it's politically correct. We do so because it is the hope of the gospel or in an increasingly diverse and cynical society. Now, that's a good place for a and right there. It is not something we manufacture, but it is something that the Holy Spirit grows in us as we pursue this day by day, something we call sanctification.

Now, I've been cut my own hair since I was in middle school, and I had this moment where I was getting ready to go play basketball. I was a three sport athlete in high school football, basketball and baseball. And so I'm getting ready for the game, y'all. You know, you got to have a cook. You know, you got to have a nice cut for the game. Let the brothers say amen. And so, you know, I had already faded it up, you know, and I got the last thing you're supposed to do, which is that line. You know, I'm saying you got to get that line right, because if that line is right, everything is messed up. So I'm getting my line right and I've moved from the line to the part I'm saying. And back then, like, this was this was like late eighties going into the nineties. And there was this guy named Big Daddy Kane Donnelly. Donnelly saying, Hey, man, yeah, I'm going to be that okay. A No. Stephan Yeah, yeah. I'm not about to do screw it about that. Yeah, all of it. Like the young people in the room that just went over their heads.

All right. I want to talk about football. So I'm putting my last part in my head to look like Big Daddy Kane. And my mama walks in the room and calls my name and I got the mirror and I'm doing this. And she says, Saffy, and there's a patch of hair in my hand. And so it's game day. I did what any wise, innovative high schooler would do. I got me a black permanent marker jauntily saying, Hey, man. And I started filling in the gaps and everything was fine. I mean, everything was going good until, you know, it's halfway through the game and I'm at the free throw line because I just got fouled doing a layup. You're only saying, I mean, I got fouled doing a layup. I'm at the free throw line. I hit the first one and the guys on the line looking at me like, Oh, more, which I looked and I got fall. I go far and I'll wipe my brow Y'all. And there's purple and black all on my hand What I tell you the story. This is not something you can fake. What I will tell you, it took a week and a half for that hair to grow back. And I could try to use something else, something artificial, to make it look like it was right. But I knew it wasn't right, and everybody that was at the game knew it wasn't right. And so guess what?

I didn't pick up that magic marker anymore. I just went with it. Come on. Hey, man, I got a gas in my head. No need faking it. It's doll. It's going to grow back later. When it grow back, I'll be fine. But sometimes when we happen, we like to fake it till we make it. No, not with this. You can't fake this too. You make this. You just got to live it. Come on, say somebody live it. You got to live it. You got to live it. And it's hard. It's tough. So let's get back to this text. This challenge also came up with the early church, and it reminds us that we are not the first followers of Jesus to try to scale this wall. There was the early church in Jerusalem, but there was also a church, an Antioch. And what we found is that there are two churches. What kind of two different histories? There's two different churches were like two different area of focus, both of them have their place in history, but one focused primarily on one group of people, while the others seem to have this focus on the nations. So. So how many of you have have you like watching ESPN? Like you watch ESPN and you know, they have the top ten, you know, the top tier like the top ten is when there's kind of the the best plays and these are amazing moments in sports. But then on Fridays, they have something called the not so top ten.

Right? And on Fridays, the not so top ten is the bloopers, the errors where people mess up. So what I want to do is I want to give you some things about the early church that they got. Right? Right. Are you with me? There's some stuff the early church got right. And then I want to give you some things that the early church actually missed. And we see this in the book, in the Book of Acts. These are the not so positive things. So here are the positives. Everybody saw positives. They had the patience and obedience to wait for the Holy Spirit as Jesus instructed at Pentecost, they experience the miraculous. Peter preaches his first sermon and 3000 people come to Jesus daily. They devoted themselves to prayer and fellowship and the breaking of bread and the apostles teaching of the word.

They performed miraculous signs and wonders. The Lord added to their number daily. They pulled their resources where there was no needy person among them. They practice a cross cultural competence. When some widows were being overlooked in the distribution of food. And so they empowered leaders from that minority people group. And the numbers of people who came to the faith multiplied. The early church in Jerusalem got some stuff right. We should celebrate what the early church did in Jerusalem. But then they missed some stuff. There was some not so great stuff. After exponential growth, they focused inward and not outward. Yeah, it shouldn't have been an either or. It's always supposed to be a both. And but. But think about it like what would you have done if from Pastor Ryan's message last week to this week we quadrupled in number. Yeah. Like like what would happen if our children's ministry in our youth group quadrupled in number? As a matter of fact, like this past Wednesday, I think for both the children and for us, it was our largest group meeting of the year. But what would happen if we quadrupled? Like you would be excited, you would be astonished, you would be like, Praise God.

And then you'll be like, Whoa, where they go? Park when they go sit. Do we have enough coffee? Like, I don't know why. Because, like, what we do naturally, it's in our human DNA. What we do is we try to manage what the Holy Spirit is doing, so we shouldn't judge them too harshly, but it's supposed to be our focus outward and inward. And then they didn't leave Jerusalem. They stayed in one general geographical location. They had a singular focus on Jews. They focused on one group of people that they were skeptical. When people shared the gospel with Gentiles, they do it with Peter. They they cross-examined him like he was in a courtroom. But then the last one is probably the most egregious one is they did not affirm Paul's calling. Watch what it says. It acts verse nine, verse 26 or chapter nine, verse 26. After Paul's conversion, it says, When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples. But when? But they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was really a disciple. They felt like Paul's pass, which was a pretty sketchy pass. Say, man, he killed Christians, right?

He prosecuted Christians. They felt like Paul's past disqualified him. And they did not trust him. They gave up on Paul far too soon. And we must be careful not to ignore people because they don't fit our mold or our style or our method of doing things. We may be missing the answer to prayer that God has sent us if we do not see everyone. Somebody is now everyone. The Bible says, Oh, if we don't see everyone as having value. And so Barnabas, Barnabas steps in and he starts to vouch for Paul. He sees what others don't see, but we don't hear much about Paul after Acts nine until around Acts 11, which is what we're gonna talk about in just a moment. Now, I'm not saying I'm certainly not saying that the early church in Jerusalem was a failure.I'm not saying that at all. But it seems they missed part of Jesus's message and their intended mission. And the truth is we can to try Jesus's teaching challenged them. And if we're honest, Jesus is teaching challenges us. Following Jesus is very countercultural. I mean, the last will be first. I mean, love your enemies. Come on. That's that's a real hard one.

Come on. Say, man, like like the last will be first. The greatest among you will be those who serve. Like, turn your other cheek when people prosecute you. I mean, it is an upside down kingdom. And as disciples, let me say this, because sometimes our comforts get in the way. So let me say this. Don't let our church be a cul de sac on God's Great Commission highway, and don't let our church be a chorus. My daughter, my oldest daughter's 28. Some of you know, we have a grandbaby that's 19 months. And so for about five years, for about nine years of her life, I was a single father. This was before I recommitted my life to Christ. And what I love about this exchange was there was something that happened that that she didn't really understand, but it took some time for her to get it. She had never really seen me spend a lot of time with another woman because I decided not to do that until I knew that I was going to be marrying my wife. And so finally I meet Nicole and I introduce her to Nicole. But but there became a problem because for her initially it felt like letting Nicole in was pushing her out.

And when I had to help her to understand is, no, baby. That's not how that's not how this works. Our hearts have room for more. Yeah, like, just because we let somebody in doesn't necessarily mean we push someone else out. Like, you are not being replaced. Your mom is not being replaced. I'm letting Nicole in because of love and what's going to happen in this loving relationship and this new family that is forming like it's actually going to be for your benefit and not your detriment. But it took her a while before she could see that. But then there were these moments when she realized someone was going to love her unconditionally. Another person that she begin to articulate that this was actually something that was positive and not negative, that now having another another mom in her life that loved her through her different situations was was something that that she didn't have to have a scarcity mentality. It's not giving up one to get the other is actually a both and come on about somebody say man like like I think sometimes what we do in these conversations is we think, like, I'm going to lose out if I don't get this and you're going to win and I'm going to lose. And the reality is, no, our hearts have room for more.

What Jesus was trying to help the Pharisees understand in the early church to understand our hearts have room for more. Don't throw out the Gentiles. Don't throw out people who don't follow the ways you used to. Our hearts have room for more. This message is for all this message is for everyone. Our hearts have room for more. I don't know who I'm speaking to. I did one of my first weddings here in Greensboro and matter of fact, the couple that I did this wedding with, I saw them yesterday at homecoming at Guilford College. So I worked at Go for College for about nine years after I went to school there for four. And these were two of my students that were part they were interns in my office. And so they asked me to do their premarital. They asked me to their wedding. He's Ghanaian. And so his family flew in from Ghana. She's a U.S. citizen, but has Irish roots. And so it was this beautiful wedding about culture and love. And so we're outside at Guilford College, where we're doing the wedding by lake. It's a beautiful I don't know if the pictures that where you can see it but but we're at the lake and we're having this wedding and that's a picture of the two of us with Nicole and his his family's got on the kente cloth.

You know what I'm saying? I mean, they they drumming with the djembe. I mean, it's it's a beautiful scenery. She's coming in with her Irish garb and and cloth and and they're playing the Irish flute. And I'm watching her come down the aisle. I'm so excited for her. I'm looking at him. I'm so proud of him. And then all of a sudden, a mac was in my ear and I went from this beautiful sound and scenery to the citizens. And she's coming down the aisle and I'm doing it. She looked at me like he's like, Bro, you're good. It took me a while to get in there and get get the net out. But what am I saying this? Because if I'm honest, like we've got almost through this message. And for some people there have been words that I've said or things that you've had to deal with in your past that sometimes can be like that and that it can it can be so irritating, nagging that you can't even hear what's really going on because that net has has completely taken you out of the space. And so I want to say to you, if you have that net, if you have that obstacle, just ask the Holy Spirit to help you get in there like I got in there, come on and get that thing out. Because here are some of the obstacles here, some of the challenges. It is sometimes awkward, right? It's extremely uncomfortable.

It's weird at times. You start to say questions like, where do I begin? Like, What do we do if I disagree with somebody like I don't want to be called a racist or I'm tired of always having to explain myself and defend my experience. Another challenge is there's the danger of a single story, right? Like no one, no group of people is monolithic. We all have different views and experience and we must be willing to learn from each other. The other thing is that watch this, you and I. If we really do this work well, like if you are part of one church and you stick with it, you got a 100% chance. Not not 90, not 80. You got a 100% chance that eventually you're going to find somebody. Eventually you're going to be offended. And it was a chance I mean, 1% like live with a family long enough, be married long enough. Eventually you're going to say something. Are you going to do something that's offensive? All right. And somebody's going to do something to you. So you got 100% chance like we have to build trust. Our relationship has to be bigger than the offense.

Like there must be trust over tension. We must grow to have big relationships. I believe that sometimes the conflict is actually a means of grace where God takes us under the surface and we begin to build things we couldn't do before. And then the last thing, the obstacle is it brings up shame and or pain. And if it does, we have to name those things. Conviction is of the Holy Spirit, but shame is not from God. Brené Brown helps us to understand that guilt is a feeling that we have when we've done something bad. But shame is something that happens when we think we're something bad. Shame is not from God and that should never be our approach. So God allows persecution to break out in Acts eight, to move the church and Jerusalem beyond themselves and watch now. Now we get to act 11, where we begin to close this thing out. Acts 11, verse 19, and I'm reading from the Navy, it says, Now somebody shout now, now. Those who have been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. Somebody from Antioch. Yeah, spreading the only among Jews.

Some people still had a ned in their ear, some still didn't get it. Verse 20. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks, also telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. Watch this verse 21. The Lord's hand was with them. And what? And a great number that doesn't sound like adding that sounds like multiplying and a great number of people believed and turn to the Lord verse 22 news of this reached the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch when he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. Thank God for Barnabas, verse 24. He was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith was hears it in and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Now let's watch what happens next, because I think it's really important. First 25, then Barnabas went to Tarsus right a minute.

Yeah. I thought they sent you from Jerusalem. Why are you going to Tarsus? I'll tell you why. To look for Saul. He didn't go back to Jerusalem to give his report. And the Bible says here at the end of verse 26. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. Why did you do that? Barnabas knew he needed a high capacity person to give leadership to this emerging, multiethnic church in Antioch. Paul's unique blend of Jewish blood and Roman citizenship gave him insights to minister to people in the marketplace. And then it says this. So for a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples watched this were first called Christians at Jerusalem, Antioch. Henry Hock, being multiethnic, helped them to be more credible, a more credible witness of this wall destroying gospel.

They were proclaiming, Now you may ask, is there room for ethnic or language specific ministries? Absolutely. We saw that last week with our Korean brothers and sisters led by Pastor Sit Lin. People sometimes need the gospel shared in their heart language or sometimes in cultural realities that are more familiar to them. Another example is I spent 35 years of my life in the black church. Also, much of who I am to the black church. Many of you have been transformed by God and grown in your faith while at mono ethnic churches. This message and our mission is never, ever to devalue them. Never. But it is to communicate that Jesus message was always about something more, right? So we never want to completely separate people out. Our goal is to develop relations, townships and many ministry opportunities that bridge people in to a unified work where we can all become one. Now, remember, remember. Because somebody like, well, give me some examples. Now, remember before, because of the culture and the context that Jesus was born, he started with the ethnic specific and a gender specific discipleship model.

12 Jewish young men, most of them were teenagers, but it didn't stop there. It evolved from the 12 to the 72, from the 72 to the 144. He shifts people's thinking when he talks to the Samaritan woman at the wheel. He shifts people's thinking when he talks to the South Phoenician woman about the crumbs that fall from the master's table. I'm trying to preach this. Somebody help me. He shifts people's thinking when he helps them to understand that children have value in his kingdom. They're not to be left to the side. They need to be in a front row seat. By the time Jesus gives the great commission and ascends into heaven, he leaves behind disciples who are men and women who are clergy and lay, who are young and old, who are poor and wealthy, who are Jew and Gentile. And he breaks the rules and he pushes back against traditions and rituals when they don't value people. He models this seeking, serving and sending a church in Cincinnati that I'm close friends with the pastor, they do something. They did something for a number of years now. It's so much a part of their DNA. They don't talk about it anymore.

But I think it's worth mentioning in this context. I went to their church and years ago and they would say this almost like two or three times during a service. They would talk about this 8020 rule and and then they would say, like, when you come to our church, you're going to probably enjoy and value about 80% of what we do.And I'm like 85. Wow, 81, not 100. And then they said, we want you to understand, is the 20 that you are not connecting with or doesn't really make sense to you? Or maybe maybe it's song you don't know or maybe it's a language you don't speak that 20% is a part of somebody else's 80% love. Oh, is anybody getting this? And what we want is for your 80 to become 85. You're 85 to become 90. And I heard somebody say this, I think it was back to sometime ago talking about like now, like sometimes she can she can recite or sing in Spanish because of the value we have of singing in other languages, because there's a sense in which you begin to value and appreciate what somebody else's experience is like. And so now we begin to see that this is all about us. It's not about me. And maybe there are moments like, Come on, save me. Like last week for some of y'all, it was rough, you know, can I be honest? Because we're not used to that. Like, we're not used to translation, we're not used to hearing songs sung that we don't know completely.

Like when I used to that. But what Pastor Ryan was doing is he was taking a risk and trying to communicate not just with his words, but with actions. As a leader, we are one. There are some things we should do together. And some of us, like we, we trying. Come on, pass the rock. And maybe, maybe you should have done that on a Wednesday night. And I'm here to tell you, like, I'm glad he did it, because it communicates the disruptive message that sometimes we can be all we can be so much about us that we miss the fact that there are people right in front of us that we should be doing this with. So why why did the church at Antioch care so much about the world? Because it already reflected the world contextually. Antioch was a city that sat between the East and the West. It was the third largest city only behind Alexandria and Rome. Many Jews fled there from Jerusalem when they were persecuted, but it was also a place where where Gentiles and traveled to do business.

So so they would eventually return home from all over the world. So it became this perfect launching pad where God would use to start this Jesus movement. People would hear about Jesus and they would go back and share it with others. So this last shift and then I'm gonna need some help with this table. The last shift is moving from silence in an action to personal and community transformation. This Saturday, October 15th, we'll have our Walk for Freedom, which is part of our work to stop human trafficking in the Triad. And as a church, we simply want to not just say that we want to end this injustice with our lips, but we want to actually do it with our feet. Amen. So if you'll bring out the table and Trinity, if you'll join me, I want to show you something that I think is important, because some of you, like you want practical steps, right? Like, okay, I've heard the word, I believe this, I trust this. So let me give you a practice steps. One is let God's word be your filter. Don't, don't just let your feelings be your filter. Let God's word be your filter. Number two, like expand your table like you eat at least around 21 times a week. Like expand your table, use differences as a doorway to dialog, and then let God's love lead the way.

And lastly, trust the Holy Spirit to do the heavy lifting. Now, what I want you to do, Trinity, is how many of you've ever heard of a some people call it a multefire or emulsifier if you just pour that water in there. Yeah. About halfway till it gets about halfway to a three fourths way. Tony Evans did this illustration years ago and it's help me, I hope it helps you. There's some things chemically that just don't mix. Hey, man, it just don't mix. Um, two of those are oil and water. So if you get the oil and pour, you know about. Yeah, till about halfway. We know that oil and water, they don't mix. Um, some of us, you know, Duke and Carolina, you only see any man. It just. It just feels like it just. Come on. Are you with me? Like, I'm being a little facetious, but. But the reality is, if we're honest, there's some things in our lives and other people's like. It just feels like it doesn't mix. I can't make this work. And the reality is, like, if you just stir that up a little bit, like no matter how hard Trinity stirs this, the oil is not going to mix with the water.

What it needs is it needs an amount of fire. It needs to multiply it to get in there and begin to mix it. So so we got a little bit of mayonnaise here. Mayonnaise is an emulsifier. And what happens when she squirts this mayonnaise in the water is initially is going to look exactly like it did before. Right. Because just adding just adding the mayonnaise doesn't change the composition of the water and the oil. But when she starts to stir it, go ahead and start adding up. When she starts to stir up somebody say stir it up, stirred up, stir it up. Start a real good trendy start out real good. Well, some of you, your salad dressing is simply an emulsifier. It's a mixture of different elements put together. And when you start to mix those things together, what couldn't mix actually now becomes one thing. It's not two things, it's not three things. It's one thing. So let me give you this last story. I'm done. So my time preaching at my church in Detroit. I appreciate the message about Paul and how his life was transformed and and the message and at the end of the message, we're having kind of the altar call and there's this God is this older white gentleman who's at the front, and he's like yelling.

But because there's music playing and we're in worship, like, I'm trying to hear what he's saying, but I can't I can't make it out. Two of our pastors go over one is from Egypt and the other was from the U.S. They go over, they begin to pray with his brother. His loud sounds start to calm down a little bit.

00:53:45:25 - 00:54:00:13

Speaker 2

I can see the tears streaming down his face. And so we pray. I go to my seat and and when I get to my seat, he comes back up and he's he sits something on the altar and he goes back to his seat. And I'm trying to figure out what did he put on the altar? Like, what was that. After the service, my Egyptian pastor, who was the chair of our board, comes over to me. He says, You got to talk to this guy that we were praying with. And I was like, Tell me the story. He's like, I'm not going to tell you. He's got to tell you. And around that time, this guy comes up and he like bear hugs. I mean, he just bear hugs me and he says he looks at me, looks when Ozzy's tears are still streaming down his face and he says, I can't believe this happened. I was like, what? He said, a middle Eastern man. He didn't realize the guy was Egyptian in northern Africa. But this was semantics, he said he said a middle Eastern man and another man led me to Christ.

But now my pastor is a black man and I'm like, there's got to be a story like, where is this going, bruh? I said, Well, tell me what that thing was you put on the altar. He says, it was a ring from the Aryan Nation that my father gave me when I made the transition into the group. I said, What were you yelling? He said, They lied to me. They lied to me, they lied to me. I can love these people. These people love me. And what I want you to understand, what we all knew is that like this, this separate, this this thing that it felt like could never mix this this thing that Trinity is helping us to see, like we can become one this God I disciple to him for about eight months. Every Thursday for about an hour and a half for eight months. Will name is Will Will is now going on to let us lead other people to Jesus. Will is contemplating trying to think through how and when will he go back and begin to share what has happened with his family. He's not feeling led to do so right now because it could cost him his life.

But he's navigating that season because he knows eventually God is going to send him back. He's just not ready to do so. Yeah. And so he's leading people to Christ in the Detroit area. Why? Because the two are to become one. And what looks like it can't mix can mix. And what God wants to do in one church is to bring us together so that we can reach the loss and hurting people in high point and to try it and beyond. We can go there. We can't do this. We are two live set in two different groups of people with a clear mission and message. We've been empowered by the Holy Spirit. If you study closely that oneness that we see in John 17, that oneness we see in Ephesians Chapter four, that one spirit, that one Lord, that one faith, that one baptism, that is that thing that as it happens, it was the first time in the history of the world that these two groups, men and women, that these groups of poor and rich, these groups of Jew and Gentile, were coming together.

And so as you stand all over the building, I want to I want to challenge you. I know sometimes it's going to be hard. I know at moments you're going to have frustration and discomfort, but I want to challenge you. Don't give up on Jesus's last words. They are transformative. They are not just to transform your life, but they are to transform others, and they are to transform this community. Jesus, last words have power. They have purpose, and it is what our mission embodies to seek to serve and to send. Let's pray, Father. Thank you for this moment. Thank you for this time. And your word. God, I know that sometimes in these situations we feel like they're gnats and ears and there's a lot going on. There's a lot going on outside of us, a lot going on inside of us.

But would you make us that kind of church where the Holy Spirit, where love, where grace becomes the amounts of fire and the thing where the two can't seem to jail? But because of your love, we can come together. The two don't seem to jail, but because of your grace we can come together The two don't seem to jail, but because of the forgiveness that exists in our lives, we can extend that forgiveness to others that we have in amounts of fire. And that is you, the Holy Spirit, working in and through us to be where we can't be on our own. So we thank you. We trust you, and we commend all of this to the power of Your Grace in Jesus name that the people of God say.