The Difference Maker

Well before we dive into God’s word here I want issue somewhat of a disclaimer about this sermon series… Today we start our new series called You, Me and the color of my skin.  And there’s just a couple of things you need to know before we get rolling…. The first one is this: This is a sermon series.  Which is to say… this is really one sermon that’s gonna be broken up over 4 weeks.  Today we’ll break the ice and today will serve more as a setup if anything… so with that said, please commit yourselves to each of these four weeks.  And if you must form an opinion about the series, please wait till the end of the series… then shoot me an email… and I’ll forward it on to my wife.   The second thing I want to say is something you already know… I don’t have all the answers. Throughout this series I will not be speaking as an expert, but simply as a Christ-follower and the leader of this church who believes that this is a conversation with starting.  I love what one pastor said, he said “Racial unity is not the gospel. But the gospel beckons us to strive for racial unity.” And I wholeheartedly agree with that. Before we get started today I want to open up with Psalm 139 and this is going to serve as our theme verse for the entire series.  I like to call Psalm 139 the scariest, yet most powerful prayer you can every pray… because here’s what it asks God to do:

Psalm 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

1 Corinthians 12:12

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.

The Title of our first message in this series is : The Difference Maker ---- Let’s lighten up the mood before your seated by high fiving 5 people around you and tell them “seeing you, just made my day.”

I feel like this delicious (cookie/brownie) is much like the analogy that Paul uses of the human body… cuz much like the human body analogy, this (cookie/brownie) illustrates so powerfully… what  awesomeness can happen… when different parts…different ingredients… come together…  Let me tell ya… diverse unity is delicious. Y’all are mean-mugging me so bad right now… and I knew you would… so I asked Jacky to pick up the different ingredients that are used to make these cookies… cuz I knew that you’d want me to make some for you.  (Guys can you bring up those ingredients…)   I mean just look at this table church… all these different ingredients… it’s amazing what happens when they come together… allow me to illustrate…. (mix ingredients in a bowl)  feel like I should have some cooking music on right now… (spotify)  Okay let’s mix this up here… okay… now unfortunately I don’t have an oven so some cookie dough will have to do… Who like’s cookie dough? (taste it and cringe)... alright don’t all rush up here at once… please form an orderly line… hmm… This illustration went south real quick… huh… I had planned to illustrated how… our differences are a difference-maker… but having now made something completely foreign from my wife’s chocolate chip cookie… The differences aren’t the difference maker… but it’s what you make of the differences.

How many of y’all know that you can make a lot of different things out of differences?

If there’s one demographic that knows what I’m talking about - it’s my married folk… Because during the dating stage… differences are attractive… and intriguing… but then after you got married and really started getting into the thick of life together… all of a sudden those differences weren’t so adorable… and the differences that once made for some fantastic date nights…  now make up some very dangerous date fights…

I hear people say, our differences make us stronger.  Well… they can.  But our differences also can make us into some very ugly people on facebook.  And differences have been known to be the reason for all out wars.  Cuz you make a lot of different things out of differences.

This isn’t even just a relationship thing… this is a life thing. I’ve found in my own life that much of how I experience life is defined by what I make of the differences. I know y’all don’t struggle with the petty things I do… but one of the things I struggle with is not when God does something in my life but I struggle when God does something in my life that  different from what I was expecting Him to do.  And for me… again this is just for me I know no one can relate, I’ll often whip up a batch of disbelief out of the different thing God did…not cuz it was a bad thing… but just because it was… different…  cuz if I’m being transparent… by default… I don’t like different.  Okay… I’ll admit… I know I’m not the only one…  who does…   Case in point… a lot of people who rejected Jesus and refused to believe in Jesus did so not because of a lack of evidence that He was God (cuz Jesus was doing all sorts of miracles… by the time Jesus had been resurrected he had fulfilled like 300 old testament prophecies)... but a lot of highly educated, highly trained Jews rejected Jesus… because He was different. He was different from what they expected. And while Jesus was making salvation available to the world… they sat back, disconnected and made up their minds that he wasn’t the savior… all because he was different.  There’s a lot of things we can make out of different.

This is a series about what we are making out of our differences.

I was drawn to 1 Corinthians 12, because the apostle Paul is writing to a group of Christ-followers who are trying to figure out... what to make of their differences.

You see, The city of corinth because of it’s location and history it was incredibly diverse.  Up until 146 BC Corinth was mostly a Grecian city, a city made up of Greeks, but in 146 BC the romans picked a fight with Greece and burned down the city of Corinth. About a hundred years later, Julius Caesar, the roman dictator rebuilt the city and made it the provincial capitol of Greece before he was assassinated in 44 BC.  And by the time that Paul got to Corinth to plant a church there at around 50 AD, Corinth had become one of the most populated cities in Greece with a great number of Greeks, Romans, Jews and Gentiles… Subsequently, the church that Paul planted and was then writing to in 1 Corinthians 12 was a very very ethnically diverse church. And yet… as we just read Paul is instructing them, not along the lines of being diverse… or diversifying their church… they already were diverse and different… but he was writing to them on what to make of their diversity… what to make of their differences.

Here’s the first thing I want to make sure we get out of this series… is that DIVERSITY can happen by default… DIVERSE UNITY only happens by DESIGN.

This (batter)... this is diversity… a lot of different things… in the same place… mixed together. But without design… without intention...the diversity doesn’t really serve a purpose…

Paul said the body of Christ aka the church… it’s diverse. It’s made up of every tongue, every tribe, every nation… It’s diverse. He said in verse 14, the church isn’t just one part… but it’s like our human body… it’s got a lot of different parts. God has made us that way… The church is diverse… but diverse unity… working together… that’s an intentional mindset… That’s a decision.  That only happens by design and on purpose… The reason why we’re doing this series… is because DIVERSE UNITY isn’t just gonna happen.

Last year, before Brave Church started, I was talking with a gentleman about our vision for the church and I told him that we wanted to be a ethnically diverse and unified church. And he responded and said that’s cool.. But then he said, if I could give you some advice… ya know… let it happen...don’t try to manufacture it and make it happen…..just let it happen organically…   And I looked at him and asked… do you really think that it can just happen? Cuz it doesn’t just happen in my life… and this word… organically… (can I go on a rant for a second?) I really dislike that word especially when it comes to the things of God… the kingdom of God… the works of God… cuz it gets thrown around and misused so much in the church world…. Just let it happen organically…Two things I’ve learned: nothing just happens in my life… nothing good or purposeful just happens… Left to my own devices… left to my own default mode… nothing of value or importance… just happens…. I’ve also discovered that it’s really nice sounding cop out for not having any ambition or intention to do what God has called us to do… but if God wants it to happen… it’ll happen.  Really? Please point that out in Scripture for me?  1 Samuel 17 and David woke up and his dad Jesse brought in the head of goliath and said “Look what you did your sleep David” Thank you!!!  FALSE. Jesse walked in and said you better get this bread and cheese to your brothers or I’ll have your head… And because David was willing to do the thing that he had to do (uber eats/bread and cheese) and he was willing to do the thing that no one else had the courage to do (confront Goliath) David by the Spirit of God walked off the battlefield with the head of giant

Talk to a farmer this week and ask them to describe how they farm their organic produce… You know what they’re not gonna say… well we just pray over the field… Remember that one time when we forgot to sow the seed into the ground and we had the best harvest ever… yeah neither do I….

Diversity can happen by default… but diverse unity only happens by design… it only happens when we make up our mind to be the unified body that God has designed us to be…

Paul said the body has different parts… and as Christ-followers we are all a part of the same body…Stop right there cuz I gotta make something crystal clear… And this is gonna be kind of a 3-4 minute tangent and then we’ll get back to today’s topic::::  This is a series on the unity of the church - the body of Jesus… this is not a series on unity across the religious landscape and across the world as a whole. In John 17, when Jesus talked about unity, he talked about unity within the church…He never talked about unifying the world as a whole.  I gotta go further on this, because it’s important and I don’t want anyone ever thinking Brave Church is something that it’s not…. So here’s two quick points about Brave Church and please do not disconnect these two points… they are meant to be in tandem with each other. Point number one: Brave Church is all about Jesus and only about Jesus.  We believe Jesus is the way the truth and the life… why… because Jesus said so: John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And we believe in what he said because after Jesus said that, he predicted his own death and resurrection… and pulled it off. And as Andy Stanley says… when someone predicts their own death and resurrection and then they pull it off… you believe every word they say.

Jesus is HIGHLY EXCLUSIVE.  I am the way the truth and the life… But…. Jesus is always WIDELY ACCEPTING.   John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that…. WHOSOEVER believes in Him will have everlasting life.”  Whosoever. Who? Whosever.  In other words;;;;; ANYONE.  Somebody say: ANYONE.  You mean it doesn’t matter what I’ve done? ANYONE. You mean it doesn’t matter where I’ve been? ANYONE. You mean it doesn’t matter that I’m still jacked up:  ANYONE. You mean it doesn’t matter that I still got issues? Anyone anyone anyone anyone anyone.  Anyone here thankful to be an anyone?

We are all about Jesus and only about Jesus.

We are all about loving the people who Jesus loves. (EVERYONE)  For God so loved the people who would end up accepting Him… nope. For God so loved the people who would learn to appreciate and acknowledge who He is. Nope.  For God so loved Christians… Nope.  For God so loved the world that He sent His son Jesus to die for them.  You mean Jesus died for people who would never believe in Him? Yup. You mean God loves people who don’t love him back. Yup. And we’re called to do the same.

Here’s Brave’s official stance towards every single type of person, regardless of religious beliefs, political preferences, regardless of sexuality, regardless of  NFL team allegiance (thinking about my Cowboys friends today… and I hope we can still stay friends after the packers win) Here’s our official stance:  WE LOVE YOU.

We are not expecting to be unified with everyone… and we aren’t expecting that everyone is gonna get along with us…Jesus said we should expect to persecuted for our relationship with Him.. We should expect to be ridiculed… and slandered… we should expect to cut down... that’s what we expect to experience… here’s what the world should expect from us:::: We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. Well I don’t want them to think that i support their lifestyle… and I won’t want them to think that I agree with with them… Let me let you in on a secret: they don’t. They know you don’t agree. They know you believe differently. What they’re wondering… is will you love them the way your Jesus says he loves me.    Here’s something you can take to the bank: Brave Church is a church that will.  I ain’t saying we got it all figured out and I ain’t saying we’ll be perfect: But we sure as heck are gonna try to make love our bullseye. Because Jesus is LOVE. If you’re with me say Amen. If you’re with me go on and give God some praise for it.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Paul said that the body of Christ is like the human body. It’s not one part, it’s different parts… but then oddly enough… he dives into the psyche of a foot and of an ear and then the psyche of a eye and of the head and points out what they are prone to thinking… and he said this:

1 Corinthians 12:15-16

If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body?

Then in verse 21 Paul said….   The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”

And it’s a really strange sort of thing that Paul is illustrating… you got feet talking about hands… ears talking about eyes… eyes talking about hands… and the head talking about feet… It’s strange… And I wonder if that’s what our thinking must seem like (strange) to Jesus when we start to isolate ourselves and think of ourselves as individual parts rather than what we’re a part of.  Look at your neighbor and say: You’re only strange… in isolation.

Cuz when we isolate ourselves… who we are… by our functions/gifts… by our ethnicity and skin color… by our worldviews and our job titles… by our ages and abilities… when we isolate ourselves by our differences… that’s when we start to make strange stuff out of our differences… one of the key things that Paul points out that we often make of our differences… is that we make comparisons out of our differences.

We stop thinking of ourselves as what we’re a part of (Jesus) we’ll start making very damaging and detrimental comparisons out of our differences.

When the foot stops focusing on what it’s a part of… only then will the foot become envious of what the hand is… only then will the foot think of itself as insignificant in comparison to another part of the body.   On the other hand (get it?)... only when the head starts thinking of itself in isolation will it be prone to think of itself as superior and better than the feet.

When we think about ourselves as individual parts instead of what we are a part of… our isolation will lead us to make comparisons out of our differences.  And here’s why this is a big deal:  Because nothing kills CONNECTION like COMPARISON

When the foot compared itself to the hand… what did it say? I must not be a part of body. Disconnection. And when the head started to compare itself to the foot, it said “I don’t need you.” Disconnection.  But Paul said not with the body of Christ. You can’t say I don’t need each other.

At our worst... When we compare we disconnect… cuz we can’t imagine how we can work together… cuz we’re so different.  And at best when we compare… we’re diverse… we’re together… but still separated... but we’re not making difference.   Today I want to cast a vision for our church that only when we embrace why were made with differences… when we embrace the mind of Jesus… when we begin to focus on what we’re a part of and not who are as individual parts… that’s when our differences can make a difference… cuz we’re connected on purpose… for a purpose.

And as the body of Christ, we are not called to make comparisons of each other…. We’re called to connect with each other.  We are not called to make comparisons of each others perspectives… we’re called to connect with each other.

We are not called to compare each other’s stories… we are called to connect with each other’s stories… we are not called to compare each other’s hurts and struggles… we’re called to connect with each others hurts and struggles.   Paul said when one part hurts… the whole body hurts… when one part is honored… the whole body is honored.

As the band comes… Here’s the challenge for this first week:  STOP COMPARING. START CONNECTING.

Only when we focus on what we’re a part of and allow Jesus to lead us and define how we live and function, breathe, speak and act…. Only then will our differences make a difference. The early church of Corinth experienced explosive growth because they agreed on everything? It wasn’t because they were all the same… was it because they had Facebook? Was it because they had the Bible…. it was because they allowed Jesus to be their difference maker.   And my prayer and my hope through this series is that God does it again.  Cuz I believe He can.  I believe God can do something fresh and new here in Milwaukee the most segregated city in America.  And I know this cuz there’s already churches doing it… Brave Church is joining a movement that started moving well before we got here.

Stand with me Church…