Embracing Diversity: The Strength of Unity in Christ

We like people who are like us. Think about your friend, your circle of friends. The only reason they're in your circle is because they're like you. We have a similar background, maybe a similar style of upbringing, a similar set of morals, similar set of beliefs. [00:02:22]

Sameness doesn't make us strong. In fact, that sameness makes us stuck. It makes us stuck. Think of it like this: if every wall in your house has the same image repeated over and over and over, we call that wallpaper, right? [00:03:40]

If each wall features different and beautiful and this vibrant valuable artwork, it's not wallpaper, that's an art gallery. And nobody breaks into a house to steal wallpaper, right? But a gallery, boy, they have alarm systems and they have the unbreakable glass. [00:04:24]

There's value there. That's why God did not create cookie cutter Christians. You ever driven through a neighborhood and every house is exactly the same, those cookie cutter neighborhoods? You ever gone to a church where it seems like everybody's the same? [00:05:10]

There's beauty in diversity. God did not create cookie cutter Christians. Instead, he designed a diverse body of believers. [00:05:39]

Paul writes to the church in Corinth, a city full of people from all over the place. There's Jews there, there's Gentiles, there's Greeks, there's slaves, there's free people, there's rich people, there's poor people, and everything in between. [00:06:08]

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we share the same Spirit. [00:07:41]

Paul uses this image of the human body to make his point, and he said, "We all have different parts, we all have different functions, but they're all essential. Every single one, they are all essential. A body made entirely of hands or eyes, it doesn't work." [00:09:07]

It's the diversity that gives it life. So don't be afraid if you are different. Celebrate that. Rejoice in that. If we were to read further in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 27, it says you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it. [00:09:26]

You are a masterpiece. The person sitting next to you, behind you, in front of you, across the sanctuary from you, they are masterpieces designed on purpose. [00:09:57]

Whatever—one arm, two arms, ten toes, eight toes, doesn't matter—a voice, no voice, whatever your skill set is, big, small, you are essential to the body of Christ. You are, and don't let anyone ever tell you that you're not. [00:11:45]

I want you to learn to develop your gifts, your skills, your talents, and your passions to serve. Simple as that. Gifts—that means like finding out what you're good at, figuring out what that is. [00:12:31]

Try something new, fail a little bit, that's okay. Use those things to serve, and then maybe last, we use those passions, those things that you hold so dear, those things that you love. What if you were to use those passions to start something brand new? [00:16:24]

Imagine if everyone came and started to use their gifts and their skills and their talents and their passions to serve. Now notice we left that serve—we'll serve who, serve what—so we're going to leave that open-ended. [00:17:38]

Understanding that you yourself, you are a masterpiece, your neighbor, they are also a masterpiece, right? You have gifts and skills and talents and abilities that no one else has. And so what if we use those things, understanding that our neighbors are masterpieces, and began to serve our neighborhood and treat them like valuable pieces of artwork? [00:19:15]

When we're all together and we all celebrate that togetherness, but also that diversity and that difference, I want you to know that we are more than the sum of our individual parts. And folks, when we do that, when we celebrate that and we operate in that diversity, in that being different, in not trying to mimic one another but instead operate in the way, giftings, and the graces that God has blessed us with, folks, the church becomes unstoppable. [00:20:40]