Genuine Christian maturity celebrates the wonderful unity in diversity seen in the body of Christ, His church. That diversity is seen in more than just the red and yellow, black and white skin colors of God’s people. It is also seen in the different perspectives or world views we have.
As pastor of Seoul International Baptist Church (SIBC), I was responsible for leading Christian citizens of nations with governments and philosophies quite different from my own. Like Americans, they were not immune from complaining about their government and leaders. But like Americans, they loved their country and their people.
One of our favorite young adults was Grace from China. Her father was a Communist Party worker in the Northeast section of the country. Because of this, even though she was a Christian, Grace saw some things differently than me. If my Christian faith was bound up in my Americanism, I might have tried to persuade Grace to see things my way. Instead, I listened and learned. And what I learned most was that in spite of our differences, Grace was as deeply committed to God’s kingdom as I was.
Grace lived with us for a while, and when she became engaged to a young Korean man, her parents came to Seoul for a visit. Knowing that we had been her surrogate parents, Grace’s father was eager to hear what I had to say about her fiancé. After our lunch together, he gave me a decorative bottle of Chinese rice wine (kind of like sake) and a thank you note personally written in excellent Mandarin script on a piece of rice paper.
Both of Grace’s Chinese parents recognized the family-type relationship my wife and I shared with Grace. They understood that this relationship wasn’t based on nationality, political philosophy, or any other worldly litmus test, and they rejoiced in it.
In Jesus’ high priestly prayer found in chapter seventeen of John’s gospel, he asks the Father to lead his disciples into “complete unity.” (Jn. 17:23) That unity is a witness to the world. The result, says Jesus, is that the world will know the Father has sent him.
Having built deep and lasting relationships through Christ with people from different cultures, even different faith perspectives as followers of Jesus, I am distressed by inflammatory remarks often made by Christian leaders about those with views different from their own. Some time ago, I read about a well-known Christian leader in the United States who questioned the Christian faith and commitment of anyone who voted for the Democratic party.
His words not only served to promote like-minded thinking in those who follow his ministry, but they also implicitly taught that this kind of boisterous Christianity was a sign of an uncompromising commitment to Christ. Worst of all, his leadership served to promote division and disunity in our nation and in God’s kingdom.
Until we recognize and embrace the diversity found among God’s people through faith in Christ, we will remain short-sighted, culture-bound Christians reflecting the same broken philosophies and ways of a world that stands opposed to God’s kingdom.
And I’ll come back and say more about this later, but until Christian leaders demonstrate this loving acceptance of God’s multi-national, kaleidoscope kingdom, the people in the pew will have a hard time growing up.
In Christ,
Dan
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