Diversity: In the church as it is at the cross

I preached last Sunday from Revelation 4 and 5 on heavenly corporate worship and what we can learn from it. One of the main points of the sermon -- which is one of the main points of the text, I believe -- is that such worship is about the gospel, its centerpiece (the slain Lamb) and its reach (people from every group.)

Rev. 5:9 reports the heavenly worshipers sing this song to the Lamb: “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation."

I intended to talk about diversity in the church in applying this truth of the reach of the gospel, but I didn't.

This song quoted from this corporate worship experience points to the truth Jesus, the Lamb of God, has died for a body that cuts across ethnicities, languages and people groups. The gospel that He and His work are at the heart of is for all people. Not all will be saved, but some from all people groups will be saved.

Regrettably, such a diverse gathering of worshipers is not reflected in our church and most other evangelical churches. Church growth principles say homogeneity -- which refers in this context to people who are alike -- is a key to growing a congregation numerically. In other words, a church might try to reach a particular demographic -- such as upper-middle class Baby Boomers or hipster singles in their 20s and 30s or young, professional blacks -- as a strategy for growing in numbers.

As a church, we don't agree with such an approach. That is not what we see in the New Testament, which describes churches that include Jews and Gentiles, slave and free.

We don't intentionally seek to be homogenous as a church. Yet, it seems we -- as Christians and as a church, apparently along with many other evangelical congregations -- struggle to avoid it. There seems to be something in our natures that causes us to befriend, spend time with and make to feel welcome those who are like us -- maybe in ethnicity, maybe in lifestyle choices, maybe in convictions. As a result, we don't reach out in the same way to those who are different than us. It is a natural pull I have to work to resist, and I've witnessed the same struggle in other disciples of Jesus.

Yet, the gospel teaches us it is the blood of Christ that has created a new people group that draws from all kinds of ethnicities, languages, social classes and interests. The gospel enables us to live in community with those we otherwise would have nothing in common.

Trillia Newbell -- a young black author of the new book United: Captured by God's Vision for Diversity -- said it well recently:

When Christ calls us to Himself, He does not look at who we are in terms of ethnicity, nor does He call us because of who we are in any other way except that we are dead and in need of new life. We are equally saved. As a result, our churches should be the most gracious environments on the planet. More than any other places, the church should be more open to and excited about having people unlike themselves.

May this be the increasing reality of our church and other churches. May we pray that it would be so, and may we live with a gospel-centeredness that creates an environment in which it would become a reality.