Passage: Romans 14:1–12
Speaker: Steve Hands
Series: Heaven Touching Earth – Diversity
Honoring Christ
Navigating diversity is hard. Whether it is different ways of doing church, or political views, or of sports teams, we should not let differences divide. Sadly though, America has not done a good job in navigating differences as 11 AM Sunday morning remains its most segregated hours. How do we navigate differences? Assimilation bulldozes differences with a false uniformity where one culture dominates and others defer. Pluralism maximizes differences with a limp relativism; scared to offend, we nod politely to other’s very different viewpoints but ultimately keep our distance and are not changed in relationship. Yet Jesus’ prayer (John 17:21), the early church’s pattern (Acts 13:1–3), and Paul’s command (Eph 2:19–22; 3:6) all called for a church with unity in diversity. At Wellspring our value of diversity calls us to honor and love one another in our differences, which is easier said than done! Problems of diversity and division are not unique to modern American church; Paul addresses these issues in Romans 14–15. In the face of our differences we are called to embrace with charity, stand with clarity, and kneel in humility to worship him!