Unity in Diversity

Title: Unity in Diversity
Text: Revelation 7:9-10

Introduction: It has been great fun to devote the sermons this Christmas season to Christ's work in history.

Tom Holland —

For a millennium and more, the civilization into which I had been born was Christendom. Assumptions that I had grown up with – about how a society should properly be organized, and the principles that it should uphold – were not bred of classical antiquity, still less of “human nature,” but very distinctively of the civilization’s Christian past. So profound has been the impact of Christianity on the development of Western civilization that it has come to be hidden from view. It is the incomplete revolutions which are remembered; the fate of those which triumph is to be taken for granted.

The ambition of Dominion is to trace the course of what one Christian, writing in the third century AD, termed “the flood-tide of Christ” (Acts of Thomas 31): how the belief that the Son of the one God of the Jews had been tortured to death on a cross came to be so enduringly and widely held that today most of us in the West are dulled to just how scandalous it originally was. This book explores what it was that made Christianity so subversive and disruptive; how completely it came to saturate the mindset of Latin Christendom; and why, in a West that is often doubtful of religion’s claims, so many of its instincts remain – for good and ill – thoroughly Christian.

Jesus has been at work. Holland never goes that far. He seems to be persuaded that the ideas themselves are the revolution. But we agree with Athanasius

“For now that the Saviour works so great things among men, and day by day is invisibly persuading so great a multitude from every side, both from them that dwell in Greece and in foreign lands, to come over to His faith, and all to obey His teaching…”

Which lines up with what we are told in Ephesians 2:17

“And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”

The idea is that He is reconciling the world to himself. That's the way Paul puts it in Colossians.

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” — Colossians 1:19-20

Or… we could say He is uniting all things. That’s the way Paul puts it in Ephesians.

…making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. — Ephesians 1:9–10

I like the word unite. It brings to mind a very important concept — over which Christianity has a firm monopoly -- namely the idea of unity and diversity.

We have this idea in the trinity. Three persons one substance.
We have the same notion on display in the Bible. 66 books // 40 authors. Written over 2000 years. Three languages. Three continents — one harmonious message.

Look at the cross-reference chart.

http://chrisharrison.net/projects/bibleviz/BibleVizArc7WiderOTNTsmall.png

That’s what Jesus is doing to the whole world. I think of this as his reharmonizing of the world.

The great genius Leibniz used the concept of “harmony” in a similar way. “Harmony, he writes, is when many [things] are restored to some kind of unity.”

Things which appear to us to be discordant are not actually ontologically discordant. They are simply instruments in an orchestra — originally designed to play together which are not tuned properly, not played properly, not conducted properly.

Take for instance the issue of ethnic diversity. Race or ethnicity is really an imperfect approximation of culture. Culture is the real question. But the big idea is that they don’t naturally harmonize. They are naturally discordant.

But take a look at this in the book of Revelation:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” — Revelation 7:9–10.

This is a fulfillment of many OT prophecies involving the Christianizing of people from many nations.

Malachi 1:11

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

Zechariah 2:11

11 And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

Isaiah 66:18

“For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory,

Habakkuk 2:14

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”

What is different in Revelation is that we see how the unity in diversity comes about. In all the OT passages, we have a general promise — but in Revelation 7 — we see that Christ is the power behind that promise.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” — Revelation 7:9–10.

Now, once again, this isn’t supposed to happen. We are so awash in Christian ideas that we assume multi-cultural unity is just a matter of deciding to do it. Not true. Distinct cultures are historically at odds with one another — most definitely not functioning in harmony.

That’s what I’ve been hoping to do with this series. Clear up any misconceptions about the origin of some of our culture’s deepest values.

I heard something written by George Orwell — from his experience in the Spanish Civil War.

Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as heroes of imaginary victories; and I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that never happened.

Secular Humanism was born on third base, thinking it hit a triple. It is Christianity that has made qualities like equality ubiquitous. And it is Christianity that makes any kind of unity within cultural diversity possible.

And in this Revelation text we are reminded that it is all of Christ.

1. Different Cultures Common King

Look at vs. 9

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb”

Here we see different cultures with a common king. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb.

And what kind of king? A dying king. A sacrificial king. A king who leads out of love.

1. Different Cultures Common Covering

Looking back at vs. 9 we see, “…After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes…”

In the Scriptures, the history of clothing is obviously quite interesting. We go in the beginning of the Bible to naked and unashamed, to naked and ashamed (gluing on fig leaves), and we could keep going all the way to Christ being stripped before his crucifixion and dying in a very shameful way.

By the time we get to Revelation, we understand that white robes are a picture of justification. Of forgiveness. Of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness.

It is white because we’re forgiven and made righteous in Christ.
It is a robe, because that’s what priests wear. And we are told in Revelation 5:9-10 we have,

“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

1. Different Cultures Common Celebration

Continuing in our text, we see:

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Jesus is their king, he is their covering, and he is the cause of their celebration.

Jesus Christ is such a weighty substantial powerful individual — he is like the sun in our solar system. His substance brings unity of orbit to the diversity of planets.

And he teaches the nations.

Every culture has a distinct view of leadership. Jesus provides the right one. The sovereign savior.

Every culture has a way of handling shame and a way of projecting status. Jesus provides white robes of meritless justification.

Every culture has some vision of triumph. Some kind of common celebration. Jesus shows us that the triumph of humanity is merely to be forgiven and to be his.

Conclusion So Far:

So that’s a little bit about Christian Unity in Diversity. Now I want to take a moment to apply this in a distinctly New Years Eve kind of way.

You are a diversity of things.

You have a diversity of roles. You have a diversity of ways of viewing the world. Thoughts and feelings.

You can think of yourself as a kind of solar system. You have all these different planets floating inside of you. And it is pretty common for a Christian to lack internal unity. To have some parts of him/her in conformity to Christ. And other parts not so much.

For some people it is days — I’m orbiting around Jesus on Sunday — but by Thursday, not so much.

For some people it is certain areas of their life — Christ is the center of much of their life — but when it comes to their finances, their fantasies, etc…

Now you see a group of nations gathered in unity and see the beauty in that. Well, I want to suggest that a man or a woman who, through the grace of Christ, gathers all of himself or herself to the service of the Lord is a pretty beautiful sight.

I think that’s what Ireneaus was getting at with his statement, “the glory of God is fully alive.”

Now some might say, “I don’t know Chris, this seems like a bit of a stretch. Revelation is talking about unity of nations before the throne — now you’re talking about the unity of a person’s life unto Christ.”

Its like well, how do you suppose the nations thing happens?

Look back at the text one more time:

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number…”

Well, I can think of one person who can number it, has numbered it, knows the number of hairs on the heads of each person there…”

From every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

What’s the salvation they are celebrating? National salvations? No. Maybe God has saved various nations. Wouldn’t surprise me at all.

But that’s not what they’re celebrating. Their celebrating individual conversions. Individual justifications, individual sanctifications.

And this in turn does something to the character of a nation — and indeed of the whole world.

But if we want harmony in the world — conformity to Christ in the world — we ought to start with ourselves — bringing unity to the diversity of our many motives and members.

And this… and only this… will have a broader cultural affect…

Theologian James B Jordan wrote an article called The Dominion Trap

Christian activist literature too often reduces or even perverts Christianity into an ideology, a set of ideas. Christianity is not, however, an ideology to be implemented through crusading activism. Rather, Christianity is a new creation. It grows holistically and organically out of the life of faith and prayer. It is as men draw near to God and acquire wisdom and maturity from the Scriptures that they are built up and prepared for dominical responsibilities, and God will confer these upon His people in due time.

The point is simply this. Every Christian who wants to see Christ’s kingdom advance in the world must take great care to see it advance in his own life.

So this year, join me in gathering all of yourself. All of your feelings, thoughts, dreams, ambitions, your work life, your relationships, your intellectual curiosities, your physical appetites gather all of you before the throne of Christ.

And see that all of you worships Christ in unity.

Every part of you has the same king.
Every part of you has the same covering.
Every part of you celebrates the same thing.

Be like Patrick of Ireland

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

This is the kind of thing you need to do from time to time. Get all of your internal sled dogs pulling in the same direction. Today is a good day to do that.

We have records throughout church history of many people renewing themselves before the Lord many times throughout their lives.

Here’s an account Jonathan Edwards records that sums it up well…

I have, this day, solemnly renewed my baptismal covenant and self-dedication, which I renewed when I was taken into the communion of the church. I have been before God, and have given myself, all that I am and have, to God; so that I am not, in any respect, my own. I can challenge no right in this understanding, this will, these affections, which are in me. Neither have I any right to this body, or any of its members—no right to this tongue, these hands, these feet; no right to these senses, these eyes, these ears, this smell, or this taste. I have given myself clear away, and have not retained any thing as my own.

Wouldn’t it be fitting and proper and good for both you, your relationships, and the world at large if you joined with Jonathan Edwards today and said — “Today… I have renewed my whole self to the Lord. Today… I have given myself clear away.”