The Multiethnic NT Church (Expanded)

INTRODUCTION:

Interest:

Over the past few weeks, I have been watching a documentary series on ship designs during my lunchtime. Being from ND, about as far as you can get in the US from an ocean, my knowledge of large ships is minimal. The only direct experience I have is a 5-day vacation cruise that Grace and I took a few years ago. Watching this series, I have found it fascinating how different basic designs for ships allow different functions to be performed efficiently. A design that might allow for speed is not beneficial for stability in rough seas. A design for hauling one sort of cargo may not work as good for a different type of cargo, and so forth.

Involvement:

All we must do is look around us and we quickly see that man has come up with several designs for local churches. Yet, God is the One who must be allowed to design the church, after all, it is His church. Tonight, we are going to look at one element of God’s design for His church.

Context:

This morning we spent time in Ephesians looking at the things that we should celebrate based on our shared salvation. We saw that what we share in Christ is intended to transcend all our differences. As we celebrate that transcendent reality, we bring glory to God and magnify our Savior. My goal in sharing these things that we have in common is that we might see the beauty of God’s design that unites people from all ethnicities together in His church. I hope that as we see it, we will increasingly yearn for it in our church. Our desire, I hope, is that we would shine the brightest light possible on God’s wisdom in our community. I want us to see that emphasizing our salvation as transcending ethnic distinctions can help us serve that end.

Preview:

As you might suspect from the title of the sermon tonight, this evening we will have more of the same. I have decided to take a brief look at several verses in the NT epistles that demonstrate that the NT church is instructed to embrace ethnic diversity. As I said last week, I am not trying to paint a vision for you of what I want our church to become. Rather, I am trying to demonstrate that the NT has a model that we need to follow—a model of ethnic integration within local assemblies in ethnically diverse communities. God has designed the church this way.

Because of the number of verses that we will look at this evening, I will minimize my comments to rather simple explanations of the context of the verses and point out the implications for ethnic integration within the church in them. The cumulative weight of God’s word can speak more loudly than I ever could anyway. The main point that will ring out over and over is that Ethnic integration is God’s design for His church.

Transition from introduction to body:

Ethnic integration is God’s design for His church. To make things easier tonight, I have chosen to arrange the verses in NT sequence. The first verses are the ones we have been using as our theme verses for the year, the ones represented by the banners hanging behind me,…

BODY:

I. Romans 1:16–17

We looked briefly at these verses in the Wednesday night bible study that I am leading through Romans this past week. As I mentioned then, these are theologically dense verses given to explain why Paul has just stated in the letter that he is eager to preach the gospel in Rome. Paul writes,

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

Paul wants to preach the gospel because the gospel message is the only mechanism for applying God’s saving power to people. The Gospel brings salvation to everyone who believes. Paul states that it is God’s power “to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” In this clause, Paul uses the word “Greek” as an equivalent to Gentile. The word stands in distinction to the word “Jews” to indicate all non-Jews. Paul is encapsulating two of the key themes of the letter in this clause. One, the Gentiles are incorporated within the saving work of God. And, two, Israel still has a significant place in God’s plan.

I will admit that there is some debate as to what Paul means by Jew first, but there is no mistaking that Paul envisions a universal reach for the gospel that extends to both Jew and Gentile.

Application

We have seen this multiple times over the past two weeks, but I want to make sure we are comprehending this idea; in the two-class system that Paul uses, Jew and Gentile or Jew and Greek, includes everyone. He does not divide the Gentiles into various nations or ethnicities; they are simply non-Jews. All of us would fit under that category. The point that Paul is making using the language of his day is that the gospel is intended for all peoples—all ethnicities. And as these ethnicities are joined in a local church, an ethnically integrated church will result.

Transition:

Ethnic integration is God’s design for His church. From Romans 1, let’s jump over to Romans chapter 10,…

II. Romans 10:12

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;

Here, Paul states, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.” This verse is in the middle of a section spanning chapters 9–11 in which Paul wrestles with the problem of Israel’s unbelief. How can he explain that Gentiles are responding to Jesus’ saving work while Jews, by and large, are rejecting it?

In the prior verse, Paul stated that those who believe will be vindicated by God. Then in verse 12, he explains more precisely what he means by stating that there is no “distinction” between the Jews and Gentiles. This is really looping back to an argument that he made in returning to an argument from 3:22-23, 29–30.

In Rom 3 Paul had written, “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Jews and Gentiles are lost alike due to their sin.

That was verses 21–23. In verses 29 and 30 he went on, “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.” God is the God of both Jews and Gentiles and, as God, is able to save both.

In chapter 10, Paul pulls from these ideas of chapter 3 to empathize with the inclusion of Gentiles in God’s saving plan. Jews had always been part of God’s saving plan, they were the elect nation. Sure, many individual Jews were condemned for their rejection of God, but the nation was solidly within the scope of God’s plan. The amazing thing now is that both Jew and Gentile have equal footing through the gospel. They both are saved in the exact same way—through Jesus Christ!

Transition:

Ethnic integration is God’s design for His church. We see similar ideas repeated at least three times in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians,…

III. 1 Corinthians examples

We could spend time on each of the passages that refer to Jews and Gentiles in 1 Corinthians, but our time will go quickly, I’m afraid, so I will limit us to very brief observations. Paul is repeating ideas that we have seen either in the letter to the Romans or this morning in the letter to the Ephesians. To me, the important point for us to observe is the frequency with which these ideas show up in the NT. As Paul deals with different cities, different churches, different groups of people; these same themes keep repeating.

The first verse is 1 Cor 1:24:

but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Both the Jews and the Greeks are among “those who are the called” and who have experienced through Christ “the power of God and the wisdom of God.” As with the verses reviewed in Romans, the gospel is available to everyone without distinction.

1 Cor 10:32:

Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God;

We see the common divisions of Jews and Greeks again, but we also see a third group, “the church of God.” Very much like what we saw this morning in Ephesians, all humanity is included under the three categories. There is a discontinuity with the people of God partly redefined and no longer connected directly with either prior category. There are Jews, Greeks, and now also the church of God.

A third verse, 1 Cor 12:13:

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

A comparison of various English translations reveals that there are several translation difficulties in this verse. Still, when Paul writes that “by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks,…of one Spirit,” he is emphasizing the spiritual solidarity that exists between believers regardless of their ethnicity.

Transition:

Ethnic integration is God’s design for His church. Let’s move on to another letter that Paul sent, probably the first letter he wrote, the letter to the Galatians,…

IV. Galatians 3:28

I love this verse:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Through Christ, believers have become part of a spiritual unity in which human distinctions are irrelevant. Of course, Paul is not negating all human distinctions. The individuals are still ethnically Jews or ethnically Gentiles just as much as they are still male or female. Paul’s point is that there are social implications that come because of their unity in Christ. The church should not be marked by distinctions; it should be marked by transcendent unity in Christ. As long as the church is on earth, various distinctions must be recognized and taken into account. In fact, as we saw last week, such distinctions may well have meaning even in the eternal state. Still, these earthly distinctions, such as ethnicity, must remain secondary for the church of Jesus Christ.

Transition:

Ethnic integration is God’s design for His church. We have certainly not exhausted every reference to Jew or Gentile in Paul’s writings, but I want to leave Paul behind and look at two final verses from Peter,…

V. 1 Peter 2:9–10

In 1 Peter 2:9–10, Peter seeks to communicate to his readers that all that they are is owed to the amazing grace of God. Peter writes

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

Peter was writing to churches filled primarily with Gentile believers. Yet he ascribes these lofty titles to them, titles that he plucked from the OT descriptions of Israel, as he states that God’s purpose was “so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him.” The “excellencies” deal with both who God is and what He has done. This is the same purpose that we saw in Ephesians this morning, but Peter says it in a different way. God has done what He has done in the church so that His glory will be on display—His wisdom—His excellencies.

Focus on that first title, “chosen race.” Peter indicates that the believers belong to God because they have been elected by him, they are chosen. This means that all those who believe in Jesus Christ, as one commentator stated it, “whether Jew, Gentile, Greek, Roman, Cappadocian, Bithynian, or whatever—though from many races, constitute a new race of those who have been born again into the living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Similarly, the title “holy nation.” This title identifies the church now as a people set apart for God. Collectively, all four phrases describe the new corporate presence that constitutes the church. Peter intends for his readers—that includes you and me now—to understand the situation through these lofty titles. Regardless of how their society labels them, there is now a new reality. They are integrated into the church of God which transcends other distinctions.

Transition:

Ethnic integration is God’s design for His church. That really is the overall point that keeps ringing out of every verse that we have looked that this evening. It is not an isolated idea; it flows throughout the NT epistles.

I’m going to stop listing verses at this point even though there are more places that we could go. Let’s take a moment now and summarize what we have seen,…

VI. Summarizing

One, there is no doubt that the instructions for the NT church—the epistles—anticipate multiethnic assemblies. Early on, Christianity's congregations were multiethnic bodies, meeting and ministering in multiethnic urban settings. The sheer number of times we find references to Jew and Gentile makes this obvious.

Two, the NT church displayed unity with ethnic diversity. The inspired record of the epistles shows that the church was to remain united, celebrating that Jewish and Gentile believers were joined in the body of Christ. Numerous times the focus is on the shared salvation that both Jew and Gentile experience and that that salvation ushered them into the corporate fellowship of the church.

Three, the NT church unity transcended normal societal categories. The early church’s unity was so significant that it transcended the normal categories that society used to distinguish people. The church emerged as an entity in the cities that was identified separately from historical identities. The church was clearly a group, a new group that needed to be referred to as such. Yet, there was not a historical category that would work. Since the historical categories failed, the new group was called the church.

Transition:

These points all demonstrate our main idea: Ethnic integration is God’s design for His church.

So, since we have seen this idea clearly extracted from the NT, what are we to do about it? How can we apply the points that we just summarized so that we are faithful to God’s design for His church?

VII. Applying

I want to specifically think about applying the points we just mentioned. You might think of several other applicational ideas beyond the ones I will share. In fact, I have been encouraged by several conversations with various people over the past week which tell me that as a church we are beginning to think about these things. I pray that such will continue, not only that we keep thinking about these things, but that we also do things because of our thoughts.

One, we should seek to share Christ with various ethnicities. There are several ways to do this. An incorrect way, though, is for us to specifically try to target a certain ethnicity. Rather, we should organically seek to share Christ with everyone that He brings into our lives. In this community, if we put effort into building relationships with the people around us, we will find ourselves interacting with several different ethnicities.

Illustration

Let me take my neighbors, for example. On one side of my house is a traditional white American couple. On the other side is an Asian-Indian family. Two houses across the street have African American families and a third house has a Chaldean family. All of these are people God has placed into my life that I can attempt to build relationships with. Of course, that does not mean that all of them are necessarily gospel-targets; the one African American family is already saved and we have a great time talking about the Bible together.

Still, my point is that we should work to build relationships with all the people that God has placed in our lives because of the design that we see in the NT. I should not focus more specifically on the white family next to me because I might be more comfortable with them. I should ask God to help me build relationships with all of them. We should seek to share Christ with various ethnicities.

Two, we should work hard to display unity in our church. This unity should be intentional with all people. What does unity look like? It looks like a joyful fellowship with each other. It looks like a family that loves to be together. It looks like people who love each other.

Illustration

I mentioned last week that several of the leaders and I had a Zoom call with leaders of a multiethnic church in Illinois. This week I had a follow-up call with our men to hear their thoughts. One of the things that struck our men were the degree to which the members of that church were involved in each other’s lives. They had each other over for meals during the week. They hung out together after church. They exchanged text messages during the week. And they did all of this regardless of the ethnicities of one another…which meant that frequently they crossed ethnic lines. They looked for opportunities to be together, and this created unity within the church.

Are you having other church members into your home for meals? Do you get together to play games or to let the kids play together? Do you make the effort to communicate with other members during the week? The trick to creating unity is not a secret; it is time spent together. We should work hard to display unity in our church.

Three, we should intentionally create ethnic discomfort for ourselves. Interacting with someone who has a different frame of reference than you have is uncomfortable. It can be awkward to not know whether I should greet someone with a hug, a handshake, or a bow. It can be awkward to make a joke and have the other person stare blankly at you because the joke used a cultural reference that was unknown to the other person. It can be awkward to have no idea what the food set before you might be because it certainly does not look like the meat and potatoes that I am used to. Interacting across ethnic lines can be awkward. But it also shows brilliantly that Christ’s love and Christ’s work transcends ethnic lines.

Illustration

Friday night, as I drove up to the Women and Teens event, I was listening to an audiobook on the construction of the Panama Canal. The book mentioned that there were dozens of societies formed for the workers and their families in the canal zone. People naturally wanted to get together with other people who shared common life experiences and common interests. One stark reality, though, was that none of these societies were open to the black laborers who made up nearly three-quarters of the workforce in the canal zone. The white canal zone workers wanted to interact with people who were like them in the areas that the world considers significant.

The church should be drastically different. The only thing that the church ultimately has in common is Jesus Christ, but what a shared experience salvation is! Salvation surpasses all other experiences. It is a significant thing for the believer. When we allow Christ to transcend all else, we display His power and glory to the world around us. In order to do that we should intentionally create ethnic discomfort for ourselves.

Transition from body to conclusion:

Ethnic integration is God’s design for His church.

CONCLUSION

Ethnic integration is God’s design for His church.

God designed His church as an integrated entity. The New Testament makes that clear. I love the way one commentator expressed the NT reality of the early church as he describes the early church's perspective of ethnic distinctives. “In Christ, these old distinctions have been obliterated, not in the sense that one is no longer Jew or Greek, etc., but in the sense of their having significance. And of course, having significance is what gives them value as distinctives. So in effect, their common life in the Spirit had eliminated the significance of the old distinctions, hence they had become one body. (emphasis original)

May our ethnic distinctives lose their significance as Christ becomes the driving reality of our lives. Ethnic integration is God’s design for His church.