Habits and Attiudes of Highly Effective Churches (Part 3)
A Congregation’s Greatest Asset? Diversity! - Romans 2:1-4

Let's suppose that God spoke to this congregation directly this morning,
and that He said this to us:
· "You are growing in your faith in my Son.
· Your confidence in His death, His resurrection, and My power is
increasing.
· You’re opening your lives to my Word and my Spirit.
· You are praying with a new earnestness.
· Because you are placing more faith in me and less faith in yourselves,
your potential is growing.
· Therefore, I will bless you with a tremendous asset. This asset will
increase your outreach. Your capacity to do my work will increase. Your
vision will grow. This asset will be an open door for serving me in ways
that will amaze all who see you."

If God gave us that asset, what would it be? Someone says, "It is money."
With the right attitude and proper stewardship, money can be an asset.
But having money will not create those blessings and opportunities.

Someone says, "It is removing our debt." That would be an asset. But no
indebtedness will not create those blessings and opportunities.

What is this internal asset that God could give us? Let's ask God.
God responds, "The great asset I give you that creates great potential
for outreach and ministry is diversity."
   
· "Wait a minute, God. Let me get this straight.
· You want us to believe that diversity is an asset that creates
extraordinary potential?"
· "Diversity is not asset or potential--diversity is a handicap."
· "Diversity means that we are not alike within the congregation; that we
are in fact very different."
· "The fact that we are different in our membership is a problem, or at
least the beginning of problems; it’s disadvantage, not advantage."

If you’re convinced that diversity in a congregation is a problem rather
than an asset, may I ask:
· how you formed that conclusion?
· why do you think diversity to be a spiritual liability?

I anticipate that most of us would say that the goal of the church is to
be uniform and to produce uniformity. If the goal of Christ's church is
uniformity, then diversity would be a problem.

An important example of diversity
· Matthew the tax collector and Simeon the Zealot.
· Matthew, prior to becoming one of the twelve, collected taxes from Jews
for the Roman government. Because he collected taxes for the government
that destroyed Israel's independence and stationed an occupation force in
their country, Matthew was regarded to be a traitor to his own nation by
many of his fellow Jews.
· Simeon, before becoming one of the twelve, belonged to the Zealots, a
radical re-ligious/political group that believed Jews who collected taxes
for the Roman government were committing treason against God. They
believed that God expected them to assassinate Jews who assisted the
Roman government. So Zealots killed tax collectors when it was possible.
· Thus Simeon would have killed Matthew prior to discipleship. How could
Jesus select as two of the twelve men that were that different? That
defies our expectation and understanding.
· Matthew and Simeon had nothing in common before they followed Jesus,
and the only thing they had in common as disciples was that they both
followed Jesus.

Jesus deliberately creating such diversity within the twelve declares an
important lesson that we must see and understand clearly.
· The diversity that Jesus established within the discipleship clearly
emphasizes his determination to save all kinds of people.
· Peter could never have worked effectively with the people Matthew could
identify with, and Matthew could never identify with and effectively
communicate to the people that Simeon could teach.

If we understand the diversity Jesus deliberately created within the
twelve, it should not surprise us that he deliberately designed the
church to be diverse.
   
· Look at what the book of Acts clearly reveals to us about the
establishment and growth of the church under the specific guidance of
Christ and the Spirit. From day one in Acts 2 it existed in a complex
diversity.
· Those who first heard and responded to the good news about Jesus'
resurrection in-cluded Jews from Galilee and Jews from Judea--who had
major differences; Jews from Palestine and Jews from non-Jewish
nations--which had even greater differences; and converted non-Jews, who
had even more differences.
· Then, under the direct guidance of Jesus and the Spirit, the gospel was
extended to non-Jews who already believed in God in Acts 10.
· Then in Acts 11 we learn that the gospel was extended to non-Jews who
did not believe in God
· Acts 13 that God commissioned two of his best preachers to work in the
Roman world among non-Jews who worshipped idols.
   
Romans 12:3-8 is clear documentation of that fact.  There are many
different body parts that have totally different functions, completely
different purposes, and dissimilar abili-ties. Determine your gift that
God has given you as a part of the body and function dili-gently doing
what God enabled you to do.
   
God placed each person in the body; our differences come from God; and
God has a use for each one of us within the body that will bring health
and strength to the body. God never intended for all of us to be alike
doing the same things.

Forbearance and the Corinthian Church
Forbearance is such a difficult spiritual quality to embrace.

First, we never need to be forbearing unless there is a tension, a
stress, or a problem. When everything is fine, there is no call or need
to be forbearing.

Second, being forbearing goes against our natures. When we are disturbed,
or upset, or offended, or wounded, or suffering from injustice, the last
thing we want to do is to "hold ourselves back" or "restrain ourselves."
Our natural inclination is to "get in there swinging and straighten this
mess out." We want resolution, not forbearance. We want justice, not
forbearance. Forbearance is like mercy and forgiveness. The only time we
are whole heartedly in favor of it is when it is not needed.

The most powerful motivation to be forbearing is gained by considering
God. God is perfect purity, perfect holiness, perfect goodness, and
perfect righteous. And this pure, holy, good, righteous God looks down on
the mess humanity produces every day.

No human being is ever insulted or offended as unjustly, as extensively,
as unreasonably as is God. God sees everything. He knows everything that
happens. You and I never see it all; God sees it all every second. Yet,
He holds Himself back, He restrains Himself.

Now I want you to examine a case of New Testament forbearance in the
church at Corinth.

First, examine their astounding congregational problems.
Problem one: they were a deeply fractured congregation, and their
factions were quarreling over leadership (1:11-17). Some found
proclaiming a Savior who was exe-cuted by the Roman government
disgusting--people would think they followed a crimi-nal. They preferred
to teach the gospel that emphasized Greek philosophy in the area of
wisdom instead of talking about the crucifixion of Jesus.
   
Problem two: they ignored open immorality in a family by pretending the
problem did not exist (5:1-13).

Problem three: They were taking each other to civil court to settle their
problems and differences (6:1-11).

Problem four: there was an enormous disagreement about marriage (7).

Problem five: there was serious confusion and disagreement about eating
the meat of animals that were killed as a sacrifice to idols (8).

Problem six: there was serious confusion and disagreement about hair and
veils in worship assemblies (11:1-16).

Problem seven: they were taking communion in a manner that hurt
fellowship and divided the congregation (11:17-34).

Problem eight: they were using spiritual gifts in worship assemblies to
compete with each other and creating major confusion (14).

Problem nine: some were teaching that there was no resurrection from the
dead (15).
   
Look at the types of problems they had:
Open congregational division (the factions).
Sexual immorality problems (the man living with his father's wife).
Relationship problems (taking each other to court).
Fellowship problems (discrimination in abuse of the Lord's supper).
Personal conviction and conscience problems (the question of meat offered
to idols).
Cultural problems (the hair and veil questions).
Worship problems (using the assembly for competition).
Doctrinal problems (rejection of resurrection).

As a Christian, what is your reaction to that mix of problems in that
church? Should they be disfellowshipped as a congregation? Should certain
groups in the congregation be forced to submit or leave? Should they no
longer be considered either Christians or in Christ?

Do not form your conclusion until you consider all the evidence.
· In the letter, 23 times Paul called them "brethren," "my brethren," or
"my beloved brethren"    
· He called them his children and said that he was their spiritual father
(4:14, 15).

He repeatedly affirmed their continuing relationship with God through
Christ.    
1:2--He called them the church of God in Corinth.
1:3--He bade them grace and peace from God and Christ.
1:4--He thanked God for them and the grace they received.
1:30--He said, "By God's doing you are in Christ."
3:16--He said they are a temple of God (as a congregation) and that the
spirit of God dwells in them (as a congregation).
6:10, 11--Paul stressed the fact that they had been ungodly, but now they
were washed, were sanctified, were justified.
12:12-27--They did not understand what it meant to be Christ's body; they
did not understand that they were not supposed to be duplicates of each
other.

Even though they did not understand that they were Christ's body and did
not act like Christ's body, Paul said, "Now you are Christ's body, and
individually members of it" (vs. 27).

16:1-5--Paul included them in a cooperative benevolent effort that
included all the churches in the area.
16:6--He planned to come stay with them and hoped that they would support
him in the future (Paul had no doubt that this congregation had a
future).
16:10, 11--He was sending Timothy to them and asked them to take care of
him.
16:12--He promised that Apollos would come back.
16:19,20--He sent them greetings from other Christians.
16:23--He declared, "The grace of Jesus be with you."
16:24--"My love be with you."

This is obvious:
· With all their problems, they were not out of Christ.
· With all their problems, they were not out of the brotherhood.
· With all their problems, they were not out of fellowship with other
congregations.
· With all their problems, they were not out of fellowship with Paul.

Paul is insistent in his instructions.
· "Address your problems:
· "With love for Jesus Christ.
· "With a better understanding of Jesus Christ.
· "In a manner that will bring healing."
· He pointedly discussed the spiritual damage their problems created, and
he held them responsible to open their eyes and address the problems.
· That is a powerful example of God's forbearance with those who are in
Christ Jesus.

Forbearance:
· Is not concerned about exercising control.
· Is not concerned about assigning blame.
· Is concerned about promoting peace and unity through love.
· Is concerned about being forgiving, kind, and gentle.

I want to focus your attention for a moment on the good moral person.
It is common for a person committed to a moral code to judge everyone who
fails to measure up to that moral code--that is very characteristic of
people committed to a moral code. It is also common for few people to
meet his/her moral expectations.
   
Paul said what the moral person fails to realize that each time he or she
passes judgment on other's failure to meet his or her moral code, he or
she automatically passes judgment on himself or herself.
   
Why? Because no moral person perfectly meets the standards of his or her
moral code--thus condemning the short comings of others automatically
condemns his or her own shortcomings.
   
Paul said in verse 4 that the moralist makes this mistake because he or
she places too little significance, to little importance on God's
kindness, forbearance, and patience. Forbearance is a divine attribute, a
part of God's divine nature that is reflected in His di-vine character.
Understanding God's kindness, forbearance, and patience is extremely
important, for that is the understanding that motivates a person to
repent. Divine forbearance keeps some close friends: divine kindness,
divine patience, and divine mercy.

Last modified: April 18, 2006