Unity Together And Celebrating Differences

Sun, Oct 27, 2024

Teacher: Cody Clark Series: Jesus is Our Hope Scripture: Galatians 3:36-29 & 1 Corinthians 12:12-17

Galatians 3:26-29 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 1 Corinthians tells us that there are many parts of the church that need to work together. In the same way we have different giftings, we also have different opinions and tactics to reach an outcome (even if we want the same thing). As the church, we need to model unity to the world around us, especially when we disagree.

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JESUS IS OUR HOPE

UNITY TOGETHER AND CELEBRATING DIFFERENCES

Unity Together

The first thing that we need to take a look at this morning is if we are going to pursue this idea of unity, we need to establish our individual identity.

We have to know who we are, where we come from, and what we value before we can begin to understand where someone else's values and decisions may come from based on who they are. - Talor Clark

We live in a society and time that pushes this idea of radical individualism down our throats on a continual basis, yet I would submit to you that even so, most of us in the room struggle to understand WHO we are and WHO’S we are. Although so many of us love the idea of ourselves more than most things, if we claim that we love Jesus, then our lives are made up of a different set of ingredients.

Galatians 3:26: “26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

Paul is writing this book to a new church in Galatia that is wrestling with the transition from living under God's law to living under God's grace. The church was riddled with arguments regarding grace and law. This prompts Paul to get down to the foundational level of the problem to inform this church that much more than the current issue that they are facing, they must remember that “through faith, you are ALL the sons of God in Christ Jesus. It is only through faith in Jesus that we get to live boldly and freely in the grace of God. Let us not ever fall to the fallacy that we have somehow earned that place.

Galatians 3:27–28: “27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

This is a nod to Paul's letter to the church at Corinth, but let’s save that bit for a little later. I want to highlight that when we all become sons and daughters of God, we get our wardrobe updated a little bit. We don’t have to wear those uncomfortable identities we tried to make ourselves anymore, we get a new set that was tailor-made for us.
Through salvation and water baptism, we are placed into the body of Christ, where all believers have now become united as FAMILY. We have “put on Christ”.
In addition, you have clothed yourselves with Christ. In Roman society, when a youth became old enough to be considered an adult, he took his children’s clothes and put on an adult’s toga. This switch indicated that he had adult citizenship and responsibilities. In the same way, the Galatians had laid aside the old clothes of the law and had put on Christ’s new robes of righteousness.

Holman Concise Bible Commentary
In Christ, human distinctions lose their significance. Regardless of race, profession, or gender, all who come to Christ must come the same way—through faith and repentance. As a result, with all distinctions erased, all believers are united in Christ. This does not mean that all distinctions are erased on the human level. A slave was still a slave in the eyes of Rome but not in the eyes of God.

Galatians 3:29: “29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

If you are unfamiliar with Abraham, there is so much to know. But especially in the context of this passage, Abraham was an incredible man of faith who walked closely with God, and God promised him that all of his offspring would become a great nation that God would give a high place of honor. Since you and I are now in the family, that same promise applies to you and me!

Amid this polarizing election season, there is a very real battle for your heart, mind, and soul. You will be made to feel like if you do not side with a particular party or candidate, you are stupid, uneducated, or irrelevant. I am here today to let you know that before you are a libertarian, democrat, republican, or any other party, you are a son or a daughter of the Most High God. Just like actual siblings, there are going to be some differences due to personalities, preferences, and passions, but at the end of the day, we must keep the main thing, the main thing, and that is the simple fact that we belong to Jesus Christ.

“Celebrating Differences”

1 Corinthians 12:12–18 ESV
"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. & If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. "And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose."

I am so indescribably thankful for diversity not only within the body here at Living Faith Irvington but also Near West. There are so many different people from so many different backgrounds that God, in His infinite grace, has woven together to create the beautiful mosaic of a family.

We have:
• New babies and chronologically gifted saints
• Black, Hispanic, Asian, and white brothers and sisters
• We have people with a little bit of money and a lot of it
• We have artists and athletes
• We have dreamers and doers

So many different people are a part of the Living Faith family, and that is not even mentioning our mission partners and other brothers and sisters around the world. If you zoom WAY in, you see a certain group of people that live in a local area that are similar in a lot of ways. But if you zoom WAY out, then you get a much clearer picture of God’s church and His children.

I have always loved this passage because the church is one of the only places, if not the only place, where diversity is not only welcomed but celebrated. I think historically, that has not always been the case. But in recent years, things have shifted. Worship services, life groups, and personal relationships are getting more and more diverse, and let me just say that I am here for it!

There is an underlying thought process that, left unchecked, makes us believe that unity looks like conformity. That is not true, and this passage teaches the exact opposite. What the Apostle Paul is writing here is something that God taught me in this passage a long time ago. Unity is not sameness; it’s oneness.

In other words, God has given us the one family, the church. God has given us one mission: to tell others about Him. He has given us one commandment: to love God and love others. There are big themes, but little instruction on how to do it. Yet, oftentimes in church, we think that our way is the only way or the best way to do it. Or, on a more personal level, we convince ourselves that God has designed us as “model children” and that everyone should look, think, and talk just like us, and that is simply not the case.
As the church, our job is to help brothers and sisters in the family find their calling or sweet spot and then be their biggest cheerleaders.

CONNECTION CARD

I will take time this week to see other’s points of view in the church and give them the benefit of the doubt.
I will take time to pray for people that I disagree with.
I will make sure my words this week build unity in the church and don’t work to create divides.

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