True Diversity and Unity

There is a modern civil war in America between those who carry the banner of “diversity” and those who seek unity for the nation. What does God think about all of this? The Bible gives a clear answer.

Unity with Diversity

Growing up in a family of four boys and four girls, we saw a lot of diversity. My older brother was left handed and I am right handed. I have blue eyes and my two younger brothers have brown eyes. Socially, I was pretty outgoing while some brothers and sisters were shy. We all liked different foods and we all married different kinds of people. Yet, having the same Dad and Mom still keeps us united by our love of family.

My wife and I are very different. She is very logical and comes from a scientific family. I’m a little more emotional and come from a more religious background. She measures her words and may take a little time to warm up to someone. I’ve never met a stranger and usually let the conversation flow. But we both love God and each other—and are committed to being “one flesh” in thought and action.

I have been a part of many sports teams over the years. In Little League Baseball, I often played in the outfield, and I greatly appreciated those in the infield who grounded balls so well. In soccer, I enjoyed playing halfback and especially fullback, where I was the final player to keep our opponents away from the goalie. Yet I was thankful for those on the forward line who scored for our team. In basketball, I was a forward and got rebounds or made corner shots. But I loved working with the guards who passed the ball to me.

The Family of God

I love the adventure of meeting other Christians on a daily basis. Sometimes we have only five or ten minutes together in this life (just talking and moving on). But we will have eternity together after the return of Christ. Often these brothers and sisters look very different from me or may even normally speak another language than I speak. But we learn to communicate with our Father’s love because we have his gift of holy spirit inside. That is what unifies us.

Ephesians 2:18:
For through him [Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 

When we confess with our mouth that Jesus is lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we are saved (Romans 10:9). At that point, we are “born again” of incorruptible seed by the Word of God (I Peter 1:23). We are in God’s family.

Ephesians 3:14-18:
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height.

We have our Father’s spirit in the “inner man,” and that allows us to comprehend things together. Together, we can know how broad and long and deep and wide life is to be. God is our Father, and as His children we are named after Him. But what happens when we begin to notice the diversity in our spiritual family?

I Corinthians 3:4,8:
For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 

The family of God at Corinth began to look at things from a worldly viewpoint rather than a spiritual one. Some aligned with Paul’s preaching and others with the preaching of Apollos. Even though they had the same Father, they began to focus on the differences between them. But God had Paul remind the believers there that even though he and Apollos did different things, they both were “one” in service to the Lord. And each would receive a fair reward for their different labor.

The Body of Christ

Take a moment to look at your own physical body. Here’s a little poem:

Fingers, arms, legs and toes,
Chest and torso, eyes, ears, and nose.
Lungs and kidneys, heart, liver, spleen.
Bones, nerves, and muscles, what does it mean?

I Corinthians 12:12:
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 

Romans 12:4,5:
For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office [function]: 
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 

The body of Christ (like the human body) is the greatest example of diversity in unity. Notice that we all aren’t to be an arm or a leg or a nose or an eye. It takes all together, each doing its own specific function.

I Corinthians 12:17-20:
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 
And if they were all one member, where were the body? 
But now are they many members, yet but one body. 

Each part is designed to carry out a unique purpose, and each contributes to the overall good of the whole body.

Ephesians 4:16:
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. 

Christian Marriage

Remember that Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean. They were very different indeed, as are many married couples. They sometimes say that “opposites attract.” The positive side of such differences between married couples is that each can add strength where the other is weak. The point of marriage is not to dwell on the weakness of a spouse so that both are dragged down. Rather, as couples look to the strengths of one another, both become better. They become “one flesh” in heart and mind and love for God.

Ephesians 5:30,31:
For we are members of his [Christ’s] body. 
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

One of the great truths about diversity and unity is that we all need each other. God did not design every person to “have it all.” True, we are complete in Christ, but that practically happens when we become humble enough to learn from each other.

I Corinthians 11:8,11,12:
For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. 
Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. 
For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. 

Eve was formed from the genetic material already found in Adam’s bone marrow (Genesis 2:21,22). Every person since that time has been born of a woman. God designed life to show that we need each other. That is especially true in a marriage that is “in the Lord.”

Teamwork

I love seeing great “teams” in the Bible. David put together an amazing group of very different individuals. When they first arrived, David offered to “knit” his heart to them. They responded that “yours we are, and we are on your side.”

I Chronicles 12:17,18:
And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you: but if ye be come to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it. 
Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.

Verses 19-37 then show the diversity and unique abilities of those who joined David in service to him and to God. They came from different tribes and backgrounds, but they had a common purpose.

I Chronicles 12:38:
All these men of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king.

They could “keep rank” because they each had a “perfect heart.” There example of unified service was so inspiring that all the rest of Israel became of “one heart” to make David their leader. The son of David, Jesus Christ, was the greatest leader of all time. He put together a team of very different men.

Luke 6:12-16:
And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 
And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; 
Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, 
Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, 
And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. 

Look at how different these twelve were: two sets of brothers who were fishermen, some of their friends from the area, a tax collector for Rome, a zealot who hated anything Roman, and others equally unique. But they were unified to serve the master, and all (but Judas Iscariot) saw their commitment through to the end.

Modern Diversity

We cannot close this topic until we take a brief look at what the world calls diversity and unity. The adversary is the father of lies. The Devil loves to use these terms to confuse people about how God has designed life. Corinth was similar to many of our modern cultures.

I Corinthians 6:1-3,9-11:
Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 
Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? 
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind [homosexuals], 
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 

The Corinthian believers were getting so divided by the culture that they began to take each other to court, just as legal disputes between “Christians” are common today. Even “sexual orientation” and “gender issues” were a concern in Corinth. Note that those who were previously homosexual and the like—all were “washed” in Christ so that they were sanctified (set apart spiritually) and justified by Jesus Christ. They received the gift of holy spirit (“the spirit of our God”) and became new in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17).

God designed men and women to have sexual relationships, as Jesus Christ said: “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh” (Mark 10:6-8). When people do not believe the truth of God’s Word, they believe “the lie” and worship other things. This can lead to sexual perversity.

Romans 1:25-27 [New Testament in Modern English]:
These men deliberately forfeited the truth of God and accepted a lie, paying homage and giving service to the creature instead of to the Creator, who alone is worthy to be worshipped for ever and ever, amen.
God therefore handed them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged the normal practices of sexual intercourse for something which is abnormal and unnatural.
Similarly the men, turning from natural intercourse with women, were swept into lustful passions for one another. Men with men performed these shameful horrors, receiving, of course, in their own personalities the consequences of sexual perversity.

Do not be fooled by so-called diversity that is contrary to God’s Word. We can enjoy our uniqueness in the Body of Christ. But that is never an excuse to accept perversion or sin.

Thankful for Diversity and Unity

Notice that Paul did not treat those who had come from a perverse past in an unkind way. He just recognized that their lifestyle did not fit with the way that God intended for it to be lived. And he was thankful that they had been set free in Christ. He knew that the change was by God’s great grace.

I Corinthians 1:2-7:
Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul saw that these believers were enriched by being together and growing in what they spoke and understood. They were behind in no gift as they stayed unified and drew strength from each other. And they had God’s help to be their best.

I Corinthians 1:8,9:
Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Each believer was thankful to have their own unique abilities and strengths. And they were to be of the same opinion according to the truth of God’s Word. They did not follow the latest cultural fads, but stood together on the truth.

I Corinthians 1:10:
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment [opinion].

Let’s enjoy the great diversity all around us in life that God has provided. As we stay unified on truth and keep our opinion lined up with God’s Word, we will know how to help those who have believed the lies of our time. Let’s grow in love and stay thankful for each other!

II Thessalonians 1:3:
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity [love] of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth.