United In Difference

Introduction

Sermon Intro: Group Projects

For all of our students and former students today, I’m curious: How many of you like group projects? Anyone here actually like them? What about those of you who dislike them? Is there anyone here who would rather just work alone?

I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t enjoy them. Inevitably, one person would do more work than another. And there were always personality differences. Every group I was part of had one really annoying person. I was a little sad when I found out that it was me.

Group projects are difficult because they require people who see things differently, work differently, and expect different things to work together—to be united. And sometimes getting the people to work together is harder than the actual project itself.

But being a member of a church, a member of the body of Christ, is very much a group project. You can pray to God on your own. You can praise God on your own. You can study the Bible on your own. But you can’t be part of the body on your own. God’s mission for the church, and God’s mission for every believer, is very much a group project.

Sometimes this is an easy message to hear. On the one hand, we’re not on this journey through life alone. But other times it is challenging as we learn to walk with, work with, and most importantly, love people who see things differently, who work differently, and who have different expectations.

But when we go back to the very beginning of God’s mission, as Noah and his family leave the ark, we see that God has a group-project mindset from the start. As we look at Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, we’ll see how our differences are part of God’s design. And as we look ahead to where all of this is going, we’ll see how, in eternity, diverse voices will join together, united in worshiping our God.

Text Intro

So let’s start by reading Genesis 11:1–9. In chapter 10, we just saw how Noah’s descendants formed the various nations and filled the earth, just as God had planned. That’s the outcome. But in chapter 11, we back up to before all of this happened, when people gathered together in the city of Babel, or Babylon, and sought to unite in a way that resisted God’s purposes.

Will you join me in reading Genesis 11, starting in verse 1?

Scripture

Genesis 11:1–9 NKJV

1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, as we come to your Word this morning that you will open our minds to understand what You are revealing. We pray that you might soften our hearts, that we will not be like the people of Babel who sought their own way, but we will be receptive to following Your way. In Jesus name, amen.

1. Appreciate the differences God has designed in His people. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Explanation of Genesis

It’s easy to read this account of God confusing languages and scattering people as taking a negative view on unity and diversity. The people were punished for being united. And diverse languages is that punishment.

But remember Genesis 10, where we read the table of nations. That was God’s plan for the earth to be filled with diverse groups of people.

Starting with the very first people, Adam and Eve, we see that God designed humanity to be diverse, to be different from one another. Each person is unique, with something to offer.

This was God’s plan for Noah’s family as well: that these different people would spread throughout the earth, filling it with different cultures, experiences, foods, and ways of life. God did not confuse their language because cultural diversity is bad, but in order to to achieve His plan of filling the earth with a diverse people.

Bridge to the Church

As we move to the New Testament, many scholars see Pentecost as a reversal of Babel. They point out that at Babel God confused languages, while at Pentecost God gives people the supernatural ability to speak in other languages.

But I think that can miss something important about what God is doing at Babel and in the church. In both, God’s plan is for a diverse people to spread into the world.

Just as Noah’s family was called by God to go and fill the earth, God’s new family, the church, is called to go into the world with the Gospel.

The difference is less about language and more about willingness to follow God’s plan. At Babel, God used language differences to move an unwilling people toward filling the earth as diverse nations.

In Acts, God uses the miraculous gift of languages to move a willing people toward filling the earth with the Gospel and gathering God’s people from diverse nations.

But notice that the miracle of speaking in other languages only lasts for that moment. As we keep reading through Acts, we see that the church—the gathered people of God who are called to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth—is a diverse bunch. And that's one of the main challenges they face throughout the book of Acts. Because, like a group project, a diverse group of people working together isn’t always easy.

Paul’s Letter to Ephesus (Ephesians 4:15-16)

This is part of what Paul is addressing in his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 4. He wants them to recognize that the differences between them are not simply obstacles to overcome. Christ has given different gifts and different roles to His people, and those differences are part of how He builds up a healthy church body.

Different backgrounds—Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor.

Different personalities.

Different spiritual gifts.

Different natural abilities.

These differences are part of God’s design for the body of Christ.

Look how Paul describes it in Ephesians 4:15–16:

Ephesians 4:15–16 NKJV

15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Each body part matters to the whole. Each contribution matters.

Now, it’s true that Paul would have had an easier time if the church were not a group project. If it were more like Babel—people speaking the same language, pursuing the same goal, staying in one place, building themselves up, and trying to make themselves self-sufficient.

But the church is nothing like Babel.

The church isn’t built around unity in rejecting God. It is built around diverse members coming together to follow Christ together. And because Christ is the Head, we don’t all have to be the same. We need one another.

Paul is telling the church to recognize that the differences which can sometimes cause challenges in the church are also part of how God has designed the church to grow toward maturity. Each person has a contribution to make, and the body needs every part.

Application

One of the things I love about this church, Haven Fellowship Church, is that we aren’t a church like Babel.

Oh, Babel certainly looks easier—and it was probably much more productive at laying bricks. Everyone spoke the same language and had the same goal.

But I’m so thankful that our church is much more like the church Paul describes in Ephesians.

First, because we genuinely recognize that Christ is the Head, and we are trying to follow His lead.

But second, like the church in Ephesus, we have a diverse congregation making up one body with Christ as the Head.

We have:

Different denominational backgrounds: But we are united in Christ.

Different personalities: But we are united in Christ.

Different cultural backgrounds: But we are united in Christ.

Different food: Okay, I know that one is part of culture, but I like it so much I’ve got to point it out. Different food, but united at the table in fellowship and united in Christ.

Different gifts: But we are united in Christ.

Different struggles: But we are united in Christ.

And it is true that at times, a fellowship made up of a united body of very different people can be a challenge. It was a challenge in Acts, but God used that challenge to grow the church spiritually. It was a challenge in Ephesus, but God used that challenge to grow the church.

And the more successful we are at connecting with one another as members of one body, the more we too will experience some of those challenges.

But I encourage you to appreciate that challenge.

When someone sees something differently than you do, don't immediately assume that something is wrong with them. Take the time to understand them.

And when we disagree, remember that we don't all have to get our way. We are different members of the same body, and Christ is the Head of us all.

So let's appreciate the people God has brought into this church, appreciate the differences He has given us, and learn to follow Christ together.

2. Work toward unity without sacrificing God’s mission. (Genesis 11:1-9)

Transition

Following Christ together means working toward unity. But it is important to remember that unity is not the end goal. It is unity under Christ, the Head. And sometimes it can be tempting to find unity by sacrificing God’s mission.

Explanation of Genesis

That’s exactly what we see in Genesis 11 at the tower of Babel.

Look at verse 4:

Genesis 11:4 NKJV

4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

They had unity.

Unity in building themselves a city and a tower reaching up to the heavens.

Unity in making a name for themselves.

And unity in one more thing: not being scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.

But was God’s mission for them to have unity in a city?

Was His mission for them to build upward and not outward?

Was His mission for them to stay united in one place and never scatter across the earth?

No!

Look back at Genesis 9:1, when Noah and his family came off the ark:

Genesis 9:1 NKJV

1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

God repeats this mission in verse 7, and then in the next verse He establishes His covenant relationship with Noah and his descendants.

And it is these descendants, tasked with filling the earth, who now unite around a new mission.

It is not unity in glorifying the name of the God who established a covenant relationship with them. It is unity in glorifying their own name apart from God.

It is not unity in being fruitful and filling the earth. It is unity in doing the exact opposite—staying in Babylon precisely so that they would not fill the earth.

Bridge to the Church

Sometimes the struggle for God’s people is finding unity—recognizing how each different body part is connected and needs the others. Sometimes unity is hard.

But another struggle that God’s people face is when unity is easy because we are united around the wrong things.

That was the story of Babel. It was often the story of Israel throughout the Old Testament, and even when Jesus the Messiah arrived.

And tragically, even within the church—the new covenant people of God, tasked with filling the earth with the Gospel and glorifying the name of Jesus—we can at times find unity in building our own cities and making a name for ourselves.

We can find unity in caring more about our buildings, our institutions, or how the world around us sees us—building a name for ourselves and forgetting about the name of Christ.

We can find unity in our own strength and power, focusing on what we are capable of building with our own hands, and forgetting God’s mission—the people He calls us to reach and God’s power at work through the Holy Spirit.

Like Babel, we can see unity as the goal and look for the lowest common denominator. We can strip away parts of God’s mission that feel uncomfortable or challenging. We can find unity in the areas where all of us can agree.

But sadly, since God’s mission challenges us and God’s holiness is different from us, unity built around ourselves can mean, like Babel, that we sacrifice God’s mission.

Application

The solution is clear, but it is not always easy:

Don’t find unity in yourselves. Find unity in Christ.

Remember that He is the Head. Find unity in Christ and in His mission for the church.

Don’t find unity simply in what you have in common. Truthfully, you have both good and bad things in common with every person in the church. But neither of those things—whether it is a shared love for barbecue or a shared temptation toward laziness—is where our unity starts.

Find unity in this: our covenant relationship with God through Christ Jesus.

That offers a foundation strong enough to build true unity—a unity that transcends our differences, enables growth, faces challenges, and weathers storms.

Imagine if the residents of Babel had built their unity around knowing and trusting the God who had established a covenant relationship with them. They would have joyfully filled the earth.

What if you embrace unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ based on our shared covenant relationship with God through Jesus?

Friends, this unity won’t be built on the shifting sands of our own feelings. It won’t collapse when the waves come in. It won’t collapse when we are faced with the reality that not everyone sees things the same way we do. And it won’t easily shift away from God’s mission.

No, unity that is built on our covenant relationship with God will stand firm as we work together as one body, following Christ the Head, in the mission God has given us.

3. Celebrate how God uses diversity for His glory and mission. (Revelation 7:9-10)

Transition

Now, both passages we have been looking at this morning deal with the challenges that come when different people come together—the reality that people are different from one another, and the challenge of bringing those different people together in unity.

But within these passages we also see the joy and purpose of God’s mission through the diverse people He has created, and the way His mission can unite us.

And I want to make sure we don’t miss that joy. So I want to take you to where this story that began at Babel, continued at Pentecost and in the church at Ephesus, and continues in the church today is ultimately going.

Will you look with me at Revelation 7:9–10?

Many of you know that I grew up as a missionary kid in the Philippines, and the missions organization my family was part of was called New Tribes Mission. These verses are where that name comes from.

Will you join me in reading Revelation 7:9–10?

Explanation of Revelation

Revelation 7:9–10 NKJV

9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

The vision of New Tribes Mission was to reach every nation, but not just the nations—the tribes within them. The people groups that make up those nations.

They had that mission because this is God’s calling and mission for His covenant people, the church.

But they also had that mission because of the scene we see here in Revelation.

Can you picture it? Can you picture the vision shown to John?

A vast multitude, as far as the eye could see. People from every nation, tribe, people, and language gathered together as one. People with different backgrounds, different cultures, different languages, all lifting their voices together in true unity, crying out in worship and praise to God:

“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!”

Now here on earth sometimes people are divided by nations, they are divided by tribes, they are divided by peoples and they are divided by languages. But in Heaven, those differences are no longer barriers that divide God's people. Instead, all of these different people are gathered together around the throne of God and the Lamb.

And this is not lowest-common-denominator unity.

This isn't a multitude that has become one by stripping away everything that makes them different. This is true unity in heart and mind and soul—a great, diverse multitude of people glorifying God together for His salvation and acknowledging His rightful place on the throne.

This is where the story is going.

Bridge to the Church

I hope this vision stirs within you a longing for that day when we will stand together among that diverse multitude.

But here’s the good news: you don’t actually have to wait.

Look around right now. To your left. To your right. You can already see a glimpse of that heavenly multitude here at Haven.

Our church body is already made up of people from many nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. And our mission to share Christ’s love here in Conyers, in the surrounding areas, in our nation, and around the world is part of how God is gathering that heavenly multitude.

Every time someone hears the Gospel and puts their faith in Jesus, another person is added to that multitude that John saw.

So when we look around this room, I hope we see something beautiful: God bringing all kinds of people together as one body in Christ.

Conclusion

Remember what I said at the beginning about group projects?

They can be difficult because you bring together people who think differently, work differently, and have different ideas about how things should be done.

And the church is a group project that brings together people who are different from one another.

But unlike Babel’s building project, this isn't our project. It's God's project. He has brought us together as different people, given us different gifts, and called us to follow one Head, Jesus Christ, and join together in His mission.

So let's appreciate the people God has brought into this body. Let's work toward unity without demanding sameness and without losing sight of God’s mission. And let's remember that our differences don't have to divide us.

Because one day, we will stand together with people from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue, united around the throne of God and the Lamb.

We are united in difference. And that's exactly how God intended His church to be.

Invitation

As we respond to God’s Word this morning, I want to challenge you to take a step toward deeper relationships within the church family.

Maybe that first step is becoming part of God’s family through salvation. If you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ, today can be the day you become part of His family.

Maybe your next step is becoming united to our local church family through membership.

Or maybe your step is simply to seek out an opportunity to build a deeper relationship with someone here at Haven—especially someone you don't know well or someone who is different from you.

We are different people, but we are one body. We are united in Christ.

As we sing, “Family of God,” I want you to consider: What step is God calling you to take toward your church family?

Benediction

May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. —Amen.

Go in peace to love and serve.

Sermon Notes & Further Study

1. Genesis Resources

Introduction to Genesis: https://www.havenfellowship.org/genesis/

Commentary Recommendations (works I found useful in preparing this series) https://www.havenfellowship.org/genesis-commentary-recommendations/

Reading Plan: https://www.havenfellowship.org/genesis-reading-plan/

Choosing a Bible Translation: https://www.havenfellowship.org/choosing-a-bible-translation/

2. References & Citations

The New American Commentary- Genesis

The postdiluvian community resisted the divine command to “increase” and “fill the earth” (1:28; 9:1). In their eyes their security rested on their homogeneity, and thus they set about to preserve their union by building the city as a haven with its symbolic tower of corporate achievement. This act of arrogant defiance resulted in disbandment. By their own measure the Babelites would have reckoned their dissolution as punishment, but in the larger scheme of God’s purposes it was an act of gracious intervention to insure that humanity would eventually attain the promissory “blessing.” In this case God opposed unity and favored disunity, the very thing the Babelites feared. God’s purposes included the diversity that a dispersal of Noah’s family would have ultimately meant, but the wicked aims of the Noahic offspring required God to intervene to save them, so to speak, from themselves.

K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 473–474.

Exalting Jesus In Genesis

The structure discussed in this story has traditionally been called the “Tower of Babel.” That name is a transliteration of the Hebrew name for the tower: babel. That same Hebrew name babel is used in the rest of the Old Testament to refer to the city of Babylon, home to enemies of the people of God (2 Kgs 20:17; 24:1; Jer 21:7; Ezek 17:12). It is, in fact, the earliest people of Babylon who are building this tower. We will gain a deeper understanding of this event by connecting it to the rest of the history of the city of Babylon (Gen 10:10; Dan 4:30; also 1 Pet 5:13; Rev 14:8; 17:5; 18:10, 21).

Phillip Bethancourt, Exalting Jesus in Genesis, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2024), 87.

3. Additional Scriptures

Genesis 9:1–17 — God's covenant and the command to fill the earth Genesis 10:1–32 — The nations of the earth Genesis 11:1–9 — Babel and humanity's resistance to God's mission Ephesians 4:1–16 — One body with many members Revelation 7:9–17 — God's people from every nation united before the throne

4. From the Study: Questions the Passage Raises ✨

Trace the relationship between Babel, Pentecost, and Heaven

These three events form an arc of redemptive history that moves from judgment through restoration toward consummation. At Babel, humanity resisted God’s command to scatter and fill the earth, instead seeking security through homogeneity and building a tower as a monument to collective human achievement.[1] God’s response—dividing humanity through language confusion—was reversed as Christ’s redemptive work united people “from every nation under heaven” at Pentecost.[2]

Yet Pentecost represents something more nuanced than a simple undoing of Babel. While some describe Pentecost as a reversal of Babel, where God introduced diverse languages that scattered humanity, at Pentecost he united everyone in Jerusalem by allowing the gospel to cross language barriers.[3] However, God didn’t restore a single language at Pentecost; instead, unique languages were preserved as everyone heard the same message.[3] This demonstrates that God is glorified in Christ-exalting unity amid blessed diversity.[3]

This pattern finds its ultimate expression in Revelation. John’s vision of the heavenly family includes diverse peoples from “every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.”[1] Pentecost serves as a foretaste of the global multitude that will one day unite in praise to the Lamb.[3] Rather than erasing cultural and linguistic distinctions, the glorious unity in the new heaven and new earth embraces equally glorious diversity of race, nation, and language.[4]

The progression reveals God’s redemptive design: Babel scattered humanity as judgment for rebellion; Pentecost demonstrated that Christ’s sacrifice could reconcile divided peoples while honoring their distinctiveness; and Revelation envisions the final gathering of redeemed humanity from every corner of creation, worshiping together while retaining their cultural identities. Diversity itself is not the curse—rather, it becomes the canvas upon which God’s redemptive purposes are displayed.

[1] K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 1a:473–474. [2] Douglas Mangum, Miles Custis, and Wendy Widder, Genesis 1–11, Logos Research Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2026). [See here.] [3] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Acts (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2017), 25. [4] D. A. Carson, Christ and Culture Revisited (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 74–75.

5. About Haven Fellowship Church

Haven Fellowship Church is a non-denominational, Bible-believing church in Conyers, Georgia where we experience the love of God, grow in His Word, and share His love with others.

https://havenfellowship.org/