WEBVTT 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:07.160 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:09.419 Sermons. This week we're launching a brand new 00:00:09.419 --> 00:00:12.000 teaching series called Cross Culture, where we're 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.400 looking at questions of identity, culture, language, 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:18.420 and ethnicity to see what God has to say to us 00:00:18.420 --> 00:00:21.120 about all of those things. And we're launching 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:23.679 this series with a quick overview of the entire 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:26.940 story of Scripture. From Genesis to Revelation, 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:30.480 what does God have to tell us about culture? 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:35.000 Was God's plan that we should always be a multicultural, 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:39.320 multilingual world or was God looking for uniformity? 00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:41.460 Those are just some of the questions that Rob 00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:43.859 is going to unpack for us in today's sermon. 00:00:59.070 --> 00:01:02.509 all the people's chief priests and teachers of 00:01:02.509 --> 00:01:05.909 the law, he asked them where the Messiah was 00:01:05.909 --> 00:01:10.069 to be born. In Bethlehem and Judea, they replied, 00:01:10.450 --> 00:01:15.090 for this is what the prophet has written. But 00:01:15.090 --> 00:01:18.849 you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by 00:01:18.849 --> 00:01:22.849 no means least among the rulers of Judah, for 00:01:22.849 --> 00:01:26.810 out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd 00:01:26.810 --> 00:01:31.219 my people Israel. Then Herod called the Magi 00:01:31.219 --> 00:01:35.239 secretly and found out from them the exact time 00:01:35.239 --> 00:01:39.200 the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:43.120 and said, go and search carefully for the child. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:47.359 As soon as you find him, report to me so that 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:51.560 I too may go and worship him. After they had 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:54.739 heard the king, They went on their way, and the 00:01:54.739 --> 00:01:58.579 star they had seen when it rose went ahead of 00:01:58.579 --> 00:02:02.180 them until it stopped over the place where the 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:06.379 child was. When they saw the star, they were 00:02:06.379 --> 00:02:10.020 overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the 00:02:10.020 --> 00:02:13.379 child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down 00:02:13.379 --> 00:02:17.080 and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:20.919 and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:24.469 and myrrh. and having been warned in a dream 00:02:24.469 --> 00:02:27.969 not to go back to Herod, they returned to their 00:02:27.969 --> 00:02:31.330 country by another route. The word of the Lord. 00:02:32.360 --> 00:02:35.500 That story that you just heard is one that we 00:02:35.500 --> 00:02:38.580 have heard lots of times before. Most of us have, 00:02:38.780 --> 00:02:41.780 right? The Magi follow a star, they journey far, 00:02:41.860 --> 00:02:44.580 they come to Jesus, they bring their gifts of 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:47.780 gold and frankincense and myrrh, and then they 00:02:47.780 --> 00:02:49.819 don't want to get caught in Herod's trap, so 00:02:49.819 --> 00:02:52.780 they head back to their own country by a different 00:02:52.780 --> 00:02:55.360 route. We've heard that story a thousand times. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:57.819 But the question that we don't often stop to 00:02:57.819 --> 00:03:02.120 ask is why are they there at all? I mean, why 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:05.180 include this strange story of foreigners who 00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:08.939 were coming to worship the Jewish Messiah? And 00:03:08.939 --> 00:03:11.180 where were they from, actually? Where were they 00:03:11.180 --> 00:03:13.599 from? And some people think they were from Yemen. 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:16.520 Some say that they were from India, maybe even 00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:19.439 China, right? Some of the early Christian art 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:22.300 has them dressed in Persian garb. So maybe they 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:25.199 were from Persia, but maybe also like Jordan 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:28.419 or Iran or Iraq, you know, present day countries 00:03:28.419 --> 00:03:32.000 that we know of. But why does... include these 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:35.360 guys at all. It is not because he needed more 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:38.159 characters for his Christmas pageant and it is 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:40.879 not because he wanted a nice sentimental ending 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:45.159 to the Christmas story. No, the Magi are a flashing 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:49.639 neon sign that is saying pay attention to this. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:54.319 This is more important than you know because 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:57.860 the Magi are reminding us about something that 00:03:57.860 --> 00:04:01.639 has been building through throughout the entire 00:04:01.639 --> 00:04:05.659 Bible, right? And that is that God has a plan 00:04:05.659 --> 00:04:08.139 from the very beginning of the Bible. God has 00:04:08.139 --> 00:04:11.379 a plan that every tribe and every tongue and 00:04:11.379 --> 00:04:17.209 every nation would be drawn to Jesus. And there 00:04:17.209 --> 00:04:20.730 they are, the Magi, to remind us that God's kingdom 00:04:20.730 --> 00:04:23.649 is meant to be filled with people who don't look 00:04:23.649 --> 00:04:25.790 like us, people who don't speak like us, and 00:04:25.790 --> 00:04:27.769 people who don't come from the same countries 00:04:27.769 --> 00:04:31.970 as us, and yet all of these diverse people coming 00:04:31.970 --> 00:04:36.769 and bringing their gifts to Jesus. This is a 00:04:36.769 --> 00:04:40.750 picture of a multicultural kingdom. And today 00:04:40.750 --> 00:04:42.990 we are beginning a brand new teaching series 00:04:42.990 --> 00:04:44.910 that we are calling Cross Culture and we're going 00:04:44.910 --> 00:04:47.329 to be going through this for the whole month 00:04:47.329 --> 00:04:50.350 of January and over the next few weeks we are 00:04:50.350 --> 00:04:53.449 going to be exploring what it means to follow 00:04:53.449 --> 00:04:57.889 Jesus in a world and in a city especially that 00:04:57.889 --> 00:05:03.089 is shaped by deep cultural diversity and and 00:05:03.089 --> 00:05:05.230 we're going to be joined by some wonderful voices 00:05:05.230 --> 00:05:07.589 some other teachers in the weeks ahead so that's 00:05:07.589 --> 00:05:09.829 going to be amazing but basically that the premise 00:05:09.829 --> 00:05:12.990 of this series is really really simple God has 00:05:12.990 --> 00:05:16.420 a great plan God's great plan is to create a 00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:19.819 multicultural, multilingual, multinational group 00:05:19.819 --> 00:05:24.600 of people that is called the church. And those 00:05:24.600 --> 00:05:29.879 Magi, they are just one example of what that 00:05:29.879 --> 00:05:33.949 looks like. Now this is going to be both a challenge 00:05:33.949 --> 00:05:37.629 and an opportunity for us. It's a challenge because 00:05:37.629 --> 00:05:40.170 we live in Mississauga. And Mississauga is one 00:05:40.170 --> 00:05:43.730 of the most diverse cities in the country. There 00:05:43.730 --> 00:05:47.970 are over 200 nations that live here in Mississauga, 00:05:48.029 --> 00:05:52.189 speaking over 150 languages. And they're all 00:05:52.189 --> 00:05:54.709 living close together. And Trinity streetsville 00:05:54.709 --> 00:05:57.269 sits like right at the intersection of all that 00:05:57.269 --> 00:05:59.329 that is going on. So the question is, what does 00:05:59.329 --> 00:06:02.000 that mean for us? mean for you? What does that 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:04.360 mean for us as a church? How do we reflect some 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:07.060 of that diversity in our life here? These are 00:06:07.060 --> 00:06:09.480 not easy questions. If we knew the answers to 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:11.040 those questions, we might not need to do this 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:13.439 whole teaching series. But that's the challenge. 00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:16.839 But there is also an opportunity that comes with 00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:20.240 that. Because the diversity of our city gives 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:23.829 us a chance gives us an opportunity to do something 00:06:23.829 --> 00:06:26.269 that many churches in many other parts of the 00:06:26.269 --> 00:06:30.170 world just cannot do and that is we can rediscover. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:33.399 what the church was always meant to be. Not a 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:36.160 community where everybody comes in and then we 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:38.160 assimilate them and say, you need to look like 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:40.800 us. And yet not a church where people come in 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:43.699 and then they all go to their own areas and we 00:06:43.699 --> 00:06:45.879 segregate them and we say, you know, you stay 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:47.879 over there. No, no, no. What would it look like 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:51.259 to be a church where diversity on the one hand 00:06:51.259 --> 00:06:56.459 and unity on the other hand, both exist together? 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:00.089 We get that chance. Right? And so like the Magi, 00:07:00.310 --> 00:07:02.930 we are going to set out on a journey. It is a 00:07:02.930 --> 00:07:06.910 journey to discover God's heart for diversity. 00:07:07.069 --> 00:07:10.129 It is a journey to discover God's vision for 00:07:10.129 --> 00:07:13.329 a multi -ethnic church. It is a journey to discover 00:07:13.329 --> 00:07:17.029 God's mission that has brought, believe me, it 00:07:17.029 --> 00:07:21.029 has brought the nations of the world to our very 00:07:21.029 --> 00:07:24.519 doorstep. Now, Some people may say, Rob, you 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:26.180 seem really hyped up about this. Why are you 00:07:26.180 --> 00:07:28.959 so so energized? And why is this so important? 00:07:28.980 --> 00:07:31.860 Because, Rob, after all, I've read the Bible 00:07:31.860 --> 00:07:33.660 and I know that in the Bible it says that in 00:07:33.660 --> 00:07:36.759 Christ we are all one. And therefore all those 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:39.620 differences like race and culture, those all 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:42.180 kind of fade into the background. Aren't we all 00:07:42.180 --> 00:07:46.019 just one, Rob? And that's true. We are one. But 00:07:46.019 --> 00:07:50.399 just because we are one in Christ does not mean 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:54.709 that we are all the same. Unity. is not the same 00:07:54.709 --> 00:07:58.170 as uniformity. And in Christ, yes, we are all 00:07:58.170 --> 00:08:02.310 equal, but we're not identical. We are all one, 00:08:02.550 --> 00:08:06.250 but we're not the same. We're all united, but 00:08:06.250 --> 00:08:10.259 we're not uniform. And then somebody else might 00:08:10.259 --> 00:08:12.139 raise another objection and say, well, listen, 00:08:12.139 --> 00:08:15.199 Rob, you know, I've read the Bible and come on, 00:08:15.379 --> 00:08:18.139 surely God's original plan was that we were all 00:08:18.139 --> 00:08:20.480 one culture, that we were all one language, that 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:22.899 we are all kind of one ethnic group, right? Adam 00:08:22.899 --> 00:08:26.560 and Eve, the Garden of Eden, wasn't that God's 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:29.300 original plan? Wasn't that God's plan? And all 00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:31.860 this diversity that we see in the world, actually, 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:35.889 Rob, they say, isn't that a result of sin? because 00:08:35.889 --> 00:08:38.149 Rob I read the Bible and I know that there was 00:08:38.149 --> 00:08:39.970 a story in the Bible and they're talking about 00:08:39.970 --> 00:08:43.009 Genesis chapter 11 the story of the Tower of 00:08:43.009 --> 00:08:46.570 Babel and they'll say in that story Rob humanity 00:08:46.570 --> 00:08:50.090 sinned and they wanted to build this great big 00:08:50.090 --> 00:08:53.269 tower and God got angry and he said no you're 00:08:53.269 --> 00:08:55.509 not gonna do that so he confused their language 00:08:55.509 --> 00:08:58.690 and then he sent them all across the earth and 00:08:58.690 --> 00:09:01.230 and that's where culture comes from that's where 00:09:01.230 --> 00:09:04.240 all the linguistic difference comes from It's 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:08.899 a result of human sin. Diversity was never God's 00:09:08.899 --> 00:09:11.240 plan A. Maybe it was God's plan B or plan C, 00:09:11.259 --> 00:09:15.299 but it was never God's plan A. And that is actually, 00:09:15.320 --> 00:09:18.590 I think, a very common reading. But today I'm 00:09:18.590 --> 00:09:21.909 going to show you how deeply mistaken that reading 00:09:21.909 --> 00:09:25.129 is. What I am going to show you is that diversity 00:09:25.129 --> 00:09:28.710 and a multi -ethnic, multicultural, multilingual 00:09:28.710 --> 00:09:34.110 people was always God's plan A from the very 00:09:34.110 --> 00:09:36.570 beginning. And I'm going to take you through 00:09:36.570 --> 00:09:38.769 the Bible and show you that. But before I share 00:09:38.769 --> 00:09:41.389 with you the biblical story about that, I thought 00:09:41.389 --> 00:09:43.830 I should share a little bit about my own story 00:09:43.830 --> 00:09:47.690 because How we hear this whole conversation has 00:09:47.690 --> 00:09:52.190 a lot to do with where we came from ourselves. 00:09:52.549 --> 00:09:56.049 And I want to let you know that I was born and 00:09:56.049 --> 00:09:58.549 raised in a very monocultural setting. I was 00:09:58.549 --> 00:10:00.669 from a little town called Fisherville, Ontario. 00:10:01.009 --> 00:10:03.330 There was about 250 families that lived there 00:10:03.330 --> 00:10:05.710 and they all look the same. They all look like 00:10:05.710 --> 00:10:08.750 me. If I was to show you the class photos of 00:10:08.750 --> 00:10:10.850 my elementary upbringing, you would say they 00:10:10.850 --> 00:10:13.330 all look like you, Rob. They all look the same. 00:10:13.409 --> 00:10:16.710 There was no people of color in any of my classes. 00:10:16.889 --> 00:10:19.870 But I do remember the first time that a black 00:10:19.870 --> 00:10:23.730 student joined our school. And I remember it 00:10:23.730 --> 00:10:27.789 because it was so different. That's where I come 00:10:27.789 --> 00:10:30.350 from. And then when I went to high school, things 00:10:30.350 --> 00:10:34.370 got maybe better, but maybe not. At our high 00:10:34.370 --> 00:10:36.850 school, about 10 % of the student population 00:10:36.850 --> 00:10:39.250 came from the Six Nations Reservation, which 00:10:39.250 --> 00:10:42.210 was right nearby our high school. But the truth 00:10:42.210 --> 00:10:45.149 is, right, all the indigenous students mostly 00:10:45.149 --> 00:10:47.570 kept to themselves, and we kept to ourselves, 00:10:48.090 --> 00:10:49.649 right? We were in the same building, we were 00:10:49.649 --> 00:10:52.610 in the same hallways, but we were worlds apart 00:10:52.610 --> 00:10:56.590 as people. And then I want to say that even the 00:10:56.590 --> 00:10:59.039 very first churches I attended and the first 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:01.299 churches that I pastored, if I admit to you that 00:11:01.299 --> 00:11:04.759 they were all very, as they say, waspy, right? 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:08.120 White, Anglo -Saxon, Protestant. And I don't 00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:10.259 mean that to be insulting. I don't mean that 00:11:10.259 --> 00:11:12.779 to be disparaging in any way. What I'm just trying 00:11:12.779 --> 00:11:14.980 to say is that's what life was like for me. That's 00:11:14.980 --> 00:11:18.809 kind of where I... come from. And at some point 00:11:18.809 --> 00:11:22.049 I realized I needed a bigger vision of the world. 00:11:22.889 --> 00:11:25.629 I needed to experience a more multicultural context. 00:11:25.669 --> 00:11:27.450 And I'm not lying to say that this is one of 00:11:27.450 --> 00:11:31.629 the reasons why we decided to relocate to Toronto. 00:11:31.730 --> 00:11:34.409 And I worked for two years at a big downtown 00:11:34.409 --> 00:11:38.169 church. And man, oh, man, the script was flipped. 00:11:38.269 --> 00:11:40.149 All of a sudden I was part of a very diverse 00:11:40.149 --> 00:11:42.889 congregation. I was part of a very diverse staff 00:11:42.889 --> 00:11:46.629 team. And every morning when I got on the subway 00:11:46.629 --> 00:11:50.330 I was deeply aware that I was usually the only 00:11:50.330 --> 00:11:55.990 white person on the subway car and I wish that 00:11:55.990 --> 00:12:00.370 meant that now I understand diversity and I wish 00:12:00.370 --> 00:12:03.149 that meant to say now I know how to pastor a 00:12:03.149 --> 00:12:06.950 multicultural multi -ethnic church but I still 00:12:06.950 --> 00:12:11.090 have a long way to go maybe you still have a 00:12:11.090 --> 00:12:14.029 long way to go But I'll tell you what better 00:12:14.029 --> 00:12:17.409 place to learn about God's multicolored vision 00:12:17.409 --> 00:12:20.470 for the kingdom of God than right here at Trinity 00:12:20.470 --> 00:12:22.870 together. And so as we go through this month, 00:12:22.909 --> 00:12:25.269 I shared my story. I want you to think about 00:12:25.269 --> 00:12:28.090 your own story. Some of you, maybe you also grew 00:12:28.090 --> 00:12:30.570 up like me in a very monocultural setting. Others, 00:12:30.889 --> 00:12:32.850 completely opposite. Maybe it was a very diverse 00:12:32.850 --> 00:12:35.610 setting where you grew up and were formed. Some 00:12:35.610 --> 00:12:37.289 of you grew up in another country and you're 00:12:37.289 --> 00:12:40.309 just now trying to figure out the culture here 00:12:40.309 --> 00:12:43.639 in Canada for the first time. Some of you never 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:47.179 had to think about race at all until you had 00:12:47.179 --> 00:12:51.379 to think about race. We've all got different 00:12:51.379 --> 00:12:54.320 stories, different starting points, but here's 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:59.019 the key thing. However, multiculturalism intersects 00:12:59.019 --> 00:13:04.519 with your story. It is deeply embedded in God's 00:13:04.519 --> 00:13:08.860 story from beginning to end. And so in the time 00:13:08.860 --> 00:13:10.600 that I've got left with you this morning, I am 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:12.899 going to whisk you through the whole Bible. Yeah, 00:13:13.019 --> 00:13:15.379 that's not ambitious. Take you through the whole 00:13:15.379 --> 00:13:20.759 Bible and show you that God's plan A has always 00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:24.129 been. to create a diverse church. I've given 00:13:24.129 --> 00:13:26.149 you some notes to follow along. This is going 00:13:26.149 --> 00:13:28.409 to be a bit of a blitz. And if you're new to 00:13:28.409 --> 00:13:31.570 the Bible or if you're not familiar with some 00:13:31.570 --> 00:13:33.509 of the stories I'm about to share, I've put little 00:13:33.509 --> 00:13:35.649 references in those notes so maybe after church 00:13:35.649 --> 00:13:37.769 you can go back and you can read the stories 00:13:37.769 --> 00:13:40.950 in their entirety. But let's begin at the very 00:13:40.950 --> 00:13:44.850 best place. Let's begin at the beginning. with 00:13:44.850 --> 00:13:48.529 God. Did you know that before God created a single 00:13:48.529 --> 00:13:54.110 thing, diversity already existed within God? 00:13:54.690 --> 00:13:57.590 Scripture tells us that God is one and yet God 00:13:57.590 --> 00:14:00.850 is three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And these 00:14:00.850 --> 00:14:03.389 three persons are different and distinct on the 00:14:03.389 --> 00:14:06.730 one hand, but they are united on the other hand. 00:14:06.870 --> 00:14:12.259 So you see what God is? God is a diverse community. 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:14.980 Diversity isn't something that God created. It 00:14:14.980 --> 00:14:19.059 is something that God is. It is part of the very 00:14:19.059 --> 00:14:22.440 fabric of our reality. And that means, that means 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:27.419 this, that when Genesis 1 says, Let's make humans 00:14:27.419 --> 00:14:32.659 in our image that we too then are made for this 00:14:32.659 --> 00:14:35.679 diversity and distinctiveness and yet we're also 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:38.899 made for unity on the other hand. Diversity is 00:14:38.899 --> 00:14:42.720 baked into who God is and therefore it is baked 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:46.919 into who we are as image bearers of God. That 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:49.620 is before God has created a single thing or a 00:14:49.620 --> 00:14:52.559 single human being. Diversity is at the center 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:56.879 of reality, right? Genesis 1 though doesn't just 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:01.539 tell us who we are, it tells us what we're for. 00:15:01.870 --> 00:15:04.649 And what God does is he blesses humanity. He 00:15:04.649 --> 00:15:06.509 says, now I want you to go and I want you to 00:15:06.509 --> 00:15:08.789 go and be fruitful and I want you to multiply 00:15:08.789 --> 00:15:13.649 and I want you to to fill the earth. Right. And 00:15:13.649 --> 00:15:16.950 so and so notice this does not say, hey, I want 00:15:16.950 --> 00:15:19.490 you to stay in one place. It doesn't say I want 00:15:19.490 --> 00:15:21.429 you to build one culture. It doesn't say I want 00:15:21.429 --> 00:15:23.970 you to speak one language. God says fill the 00:15:23.970 --> 00:15:27.350 earth, which means that human beings spreading 00:15:27.350 --> 00:15:30.820 around the world wasn't a curse. It wasn't a 00:15:30.820 --> 00:15:33.720 curse. It wasn't Plan B. It was God's Plan A 00:15:33.720 --> 00:15:36.519 from the very beginning. And that's exactly what 00:15:36.519 --> 00:15:39.220 happens. By the time we read Genesis 10, we read 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:42.220 that people are spreading into other lands, that 00:15:42.220 --> 00:15:44.940 people from the coast are moving around and language 00:15:44.940 --> 00:15:48.740 and clans and nations are all forming. That was 00:15:48.740 --> 00:15:53.179 God's original plan. Go, spread, multiply, create 00:15:53.179 --> 00:15:56.259 culture, right? That humanity would do all this. 00:15:56.820 --> 00:16:01.299 Absolutely beautiful, beautiful. But then comes 00:16:01.299 --> 00:16:04.600 the Tower of Babel that I spoke to you about 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:08.100 and and yes God may have wanted a multi -ethnic 00:16:08.100 --> 00:16:12.059 multilingual world But humans wanted sameness 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:16.080 Humans wanted monoculture, and so they resisted 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:19.559 God's plan to fill the earth. They said, I don't 00:16:19.559 --> 00:16:20.899 think so, God. They said, I think we're going 00:16:20.899 --> 00:16:22.779 to stay here in this place, and we're going to 00:16:22.779 --> 00:16:24.340 build just a great big city, and we're going 00:16:24.340 --> 00:16:26.799 to build a great big tower that reaches to the 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:28.679 heavens, because if we don't do that, you know 00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:30.039 what's going to happen? I know what's going to 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:31.919 happen. We're going to get scattered all over 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:35.620 the whole earth, and we don't want that. Humanity 00:16:35.620 --> 00:16:39.899 is resisting God's plan A. They're choosing sameness 00:16:39.899 --> 00:16:45.179 over diversity. And and we still do this today. 00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:49.320 As the theologian Letty Russell said, we like 00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:52.080 these tower builders continue to struggle with 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:54.820 difference, differences of race and ethnicity 00:16:54.820 --> 00:16:59.759 and gender and age and so on. We like those people 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:03.000 of Babel feel it's easier sometimes if we were 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.480 all just the same, right? If we all just came 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:08.180 from the same place, if we all just look the 00:17:08.180 --> 00:17:11.519 same, but that is not God's plan. God's plan, 00:17:11.940 --> 00:17:16.940 plan A has always been diversity. And so God 00:17:16.940 --> 00:17:21.480 confuses the people's language and they have 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:23.700 to therefore stop building the city, stop building 00:17:23.700 --> 00:17:25.980 this monocultural city and they're scattered. 00:17:26.420 --> 00:17:30.680 But hear me on this. This scattering is not a 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:35.130 punishment. It is simply. God getting us back 00:17:35.130 --> 00:17:38.549 on track, God getting back to plan A, God getting 00:17:38.549 --> 00:17:43.670 back to his multicultural plan A. It's all part 00:17:43.670 --> 00:17:47.750 of the plan. Now, immediately after Babel, God 00:17:47.750 --> 00:17:50.230 calls this guy Abraham. He says, Abraham, listen. 00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:53.779 I want to make you into a great nation. I will 00:17:53.779 --> 00:17:55.980 bless you. Well, wait a second, guy. What? You're 00:17:55.980 --> 00:17:58.079 just going to bless him? You're just going to 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:01.000 bless his people? You're just taking care of 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:03.259 one nation? No, no, no. Because we read on, he 00:18:03.259 --> 00:18:07.440 says, through you, all the people of the earth 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:11.660 will be blessed. So you see what God's doing 00:18:11.660 --> 00:18:15.019 here. God's plan is to use Abraham to accomplish 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:19.279 His multi -national vision, right? Israel is 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:23.079 chosen not instead of the nations. Israel is 00:18:23.079 --> 00:18:27.400 chosen for the nations. Abraham and Israel afterwards 00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:30.880 were supposed to be agents of God's plan A, right? 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:34.819 To bless the nations of the world, to take the 00:18:34.819 --> 00:18:37.640 good news of God to the world and to create a 00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:41.940 unity, but in diversity. And that sounds like 00:18:41.940 --> 00:18:43.539 a great big job. You might say, well, how on 00:18:43.539 --> 00:18:45.940 earth could one man, one family, one people group 00:18:45.940 --> 00:18:48.519 bless the whole nations of the world? Well, the 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:50.779 answer was this. They were supposed to live their 00:18:50.779 --> 00:18:53.980 lives in such a way, according to God's command, 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:57.400 to live their lives in such a way, embodying 00:18:57.400 --> 00:18:59.740 God's love that the nations of the world would 00:18:59.740 --> 00:19:01.559 look at them and say, oh my gosh, do you see 00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:04.039 that people group over there? And they would 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:07.720 be drawn back to the God of Israel. They would 00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:10.240 not be drawn back into one culture. They would 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:19.220 not be but they would be drawn back to God. in 00:19:19.220 --> 00:19:23.680 diversity. Again, this was plan A all along. 00:19:24.019 --> 00:19:27.299 And if you read through Israel's song book during 00:19:27.299 --> 00:19:30.279 that time, the book of Psalms, you'd see there 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:33.900 are songs in there for the nations and not just 00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:37.000 for one people, right? Psalm 67, for example, 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:40.119 says, May God be gracious to us and bless us, 00:19:40.220 --> 00:19:43.720 just us. No, so that your ways may be known on 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:48.670 earth and your salvation known among all nations 00:19:48.670 --> 00:19:51.269 these songs that Israel was singing were not 00:19:51.269 --> 00:19:54.970 meant to be sung solo the whole world all the 00:19:54.970 --> 00:19:56.990 nations all the cultures were supposed to join 00:19:56.990 --> 00:20:00.710 them in singing these songs of worship it's almost 00:20:00.710 --> 00:20:04.049 like it's almost like God wanted Israel to be 00:20:04.049 --> 00:20:07.769 like this lighthouse Where his light and love 00:20:07.769 --> 00:20:11.309 would shine through the glass of their lives 00:20:11.309 --> 00:20:14.829 So that the nations all the nations might worship 00:20:14.829 --> 00:20:19.609 him this way unity in diversity And it sounds 00:20:19.609 --> 00:20:24.990 good but over time those windows became more 00:20:24.990 --> 00:20:28.910 like mirrors and Instead of shining God's light 00:20:28.910 --> 00:20:31.009 to the nations Israel wanted to save that light 00:20:31.009 --> 00:20:33.650 for themselves Do you remember for example the 00:20:33.650 --> 00:20:36.039 story of Jonah? You guys remember the story of 00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:39.019 Jonah? God sends Jonah to go preach to another 00:20:39.019 --> 00:20:41.619 nation, the nation of Nineveh. Why? Because that's 00:20:41.619 --> 00:20:44.960 plan A, right? To go to the nations, right? But 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:48.160 Jonah says, no, I'm not going. No way. He refuses. 00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:51.079 He doesn't want to cross that cultural boundary. 00:20:51.980 --> 00:20:56.400 He is fixated on his own ethnic purity. He believes 00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:59.140 that only his culture is good enough to receive 00:20:59.140 --> 00:21:03.750 God's love and grace. And so he won't go. And 00:21:03.750 --> 00:21:06.230 so God has to use a storm and he has to use a 00:21:06.230 --> 00:21:11.009 whale to get Jonah back on course for Plan A. 00:21:11.250 --> 00:21:15.049 And we are all a little bit like Jonah, I would 00:21:15.049 --> 00:21:19.089 say. We are often uncomfortable with those who 00:21:19.089 --> 00:21:21.089 don't look like us, those who don't dress like 00:21:21.089 --> 00:21:25.829 us, those who don't speak like us. And Israel 00:21:25.829 --> 00:21:29.890 was uncomfortable again and again, and they fail 00:21:29.890 --> 00:21:34.970 to carry out Plan A. Israel fails to bless the 00:21:34.970 --> 00:21:36.710 nations, and as a result, guess what God has 00:21:36.710 --> 00:21:41.349 to do? He has to scatter them again. God sends 00:21:41.349 --> 00:21:43.109 Israel into exile, and here's the funny part. 00:21:43.109 --> 00:21:45.369 Guess where he sends them? He sends them to Babylon, 00:21:45.690 --> 00:21:47.809 which is the exact same place where the Tower 00:21:47.809 --> 00:21:51.009 of Babel was, right? It's almost as if God is 00:21:51.009 --> 00:21:53.730 saying, oh, we have to do this again. Guys, do 00:21:53.730 --> 00:21:58.430 you remember plan A? I want unity in diversity. 00:21:58.670 --> 00:22:01.369 I want a multicultural people of God, and I'm 00:22:01.369 --> 00:22:04.359 sending you back then into the nations, into 00:22:04.359 --> 00:22:08.920 exile, and forcing them almost to live again 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:13.359 as light among other cultures, right? Even in 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:17.079 exile, they are to seek the peace and the prosperity 00:22:17.079 --> 00:22:20.640 of this city that they've been sent into. In 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:23.960 other words, God's like, get back to plan A, 00:22:24.099 --> 00:22:27.160 get back to blessing the nations, shine your 00:22:27.160 --> 00:22:32.240 light wherever you go. Now that brings us to 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:36.859 Christmas. And now do you see why these foreign 00:22:36.859 --> 00:22:40.960 Magi showing up to worship Jesus makes a lot 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:43.539 more sense? This has always been part of the 00:22:43.539 --> 00:22:48.559 plan. This child, this Messiah, is for all the 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:51.619 nations, for all ethnic groups, not just one. 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:55.500 And the Magi are just there at the beginning 00:22:55.500 --> 00:22:59.329 of Jesus' story. to remind us that Jesus is the 00:22:59.329 --> 00:23:02.150 king of the Jews, but he is the savior of the 00:23:02.150 --> 00:23:06.750 world. He is the savior of the nations. And I 00:23:06.750 --> 00:23:09.190 mean, we could spend days just talking about 00:23:09.190 --> 00:23:13.109 how Jesus was the model of cross -cultural mission, 00:23:13.369 --> 00:23:17.410 crossing every border, every boundary in his 00:23:17.410 --> 00:23:20.710 life and death and in his resurrection. For example, 00:23:20.789 --> 00:23:24.220 do you remember? That time that Jesus sat down 00:23:24.220 --> 00:23:27.440 and talked to this woman from Samaria She was 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:30.640 getting water at a well and Jesus engages her 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:33.059 in this amazing Conversation because she was 00:23:33.059 --> 00:23:34.940 from a different nation. She was from a different 00:23:34.940 --> 00:23:37.480 religion. She was from a different ethnicity 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:40.960 and yet Jesus sits down with her and he builds 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:44.980 a bridge to overcome all of those barriers of 00:23:44.980 --> 00:23:49.160 gender and race and religion and class It's almost 00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:52.000 like Jesus is saying to his disciples. Hey Look 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:55.019 at what I'm doing here. This is what Plan A looks 00:23:55.019 --> 00:23:59.779 like, right? This is how we grow a multicultural 00:23:59.779 --> 00:24:05.539 kingdom. And as in his life, so in his death. 00:24:05.849 --> 00:24:09.009 When Jesus dies on the cross, he says that he 00:24:09.009 --> 00:24:12.549 will draw all people to himself. The cross is 00:24:12.549 --> 00:24:15.329 not just about your personal salvation. It is 00:24:15.329 --> 00:24:20.049 about this cosmic reconciliation. It isn't just 00:24:20.049 --> 00:24:22.910 Jesus merely forgiving you your sins. This is 00:24:22.910 --> 00:24:26.470 Jesus breaking down all the powers and all the 00:24:26.470 --> 00:24:29.990 barriers that divide humanity so that he can 00:24:29.990 --> 00:24:34.950 create one reconciled people drawn together in 00:24:34.950 --> 00:24:40.420 himself. The cross is like the engine that drives 00:24:40.420 --> 00:24:44.619 God's plan A forward. And after he is risen, 00:24:44.900 --> 00:24:49.640 man, Jesus is still all about plan A. He is telling 00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:53.400 his disciples, now go and make this multinational 00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:55.460 family. In the Great Commission, he says, go 00:24:55.460 --> 00:24:57.500 and make disciples, say it with me, go and make 00:24:57.500 --> 00:25:01.740 disciples of. all nations. Plan A, right? Just 00:25:01.740 --> 00:25:04.099 as Abraham and his family were to bless all the 00:25:04.099 --> 00:25:06.720 nations, now God's new family, which is you, 00:25:07.180 --> 00:25:09.980 which is the church, is given the same mission, 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:15.400 which means Plan A is now our plan. I'm almost 00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:17.759 through the end here, but then comes Pentecost 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:21.380 when the spirit descends when the spirit comes 00:25:21.380 --> 00:25:23.859 you know what happens the gospel is proclaimed 00:25:23.859 --> 00:25:27.740 not in one language but in every language all 00:25:27.740 --> 00:25:30.900 at once pentecost is this beautiful moment not 00:25:30.900 --> 00:25:34.779 when god's people all become the same but it's 00:25:34.779 --> 00:25:37.740 when god's people understand one another across 00:25:37.740 --> 00:25:41.440 language and ethnic barriers and people groups 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:45.759 get along right pentecost just affirms this plan 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:50.900 we are unified in our diversity One of the greatest 00:25:50.900 --> 00:25:54.480 church planters the Bible Talks about maybe the 00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:56.200 world's greatest church planter was this guy 00:25:56.200 --> 00:26:00.319 named Paul and he spent his life Planting multi 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:03.740 -ethnic churches that embodied the gospel in 00:26:03.740 --> 00:26:06.539 all sorts of diverse Cultural settings in fact 00:26:06.539 --> 00:26:09.160 of one of his letters Paul goes so far. He says 00:26:09.160 --> 00:26:11.980 that what God has done is he is creating one 00:26:11.980 --> 00:26:16.019 new Humanity, but that doesn't mean that our 00:26:16.019 --> 00:26:19.160 differences disappear It just means that our 00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:22.759 divisions no longer keep us apart And so whenever 00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:24.920 Paul goes to plant a new church, he's a master 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:27.839 at this He always translates the gospel into 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:31.160 their different cultural context so that people 00:26:31.160 --> 00:26:34.099 from every background could truly belong and 00:26:34.099 --> 00:26:37.680 they didn't need to change their culture in order 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:41.920 to belong and Then finally this brings us to 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:44.599 the last book of the Bible the book of Revelation 00:26:44.599 --> 00:26:48.730 where we catch a glimpse of heaven And what do 00:26:48.730 --> 00:26:53.029 we see in this heavenly picture? A great multitude 00:26:53.029 --> 00:26:59.529 that no one could count from every nation, tribe. 00:27:00.309 --> 00:27:03.369 people and language. This is where history is 00:27:03.369 --> 00:27:05.670 going. This is the destination. This is where 00:27:05.670 --> 00:27:09.950 Plan A takes us. Heaven is not monochrome. It's 00:27:09.950 --> 00:27:12.430 multicolored. And that means that whenever we, 00:27:12.609 --> 00:27:14.650 even here at Trinity Straitsville, are able to 00:27:14.650 --> 00:27:16.950 reflect a little bit of that diversity, you know 00:27:16.950 --> 00:27:19.829 what we're doing? We're getting a hold of a little 00:27:19.829 --> 00:27:22.269 piece of heaven. We're getting a glimpse of heaven. 00:27:22.829 --> 00:27:25.490 But we don't have to wait till heaven. We can 00:27:25.490 --> 00:27:28.990 start. Plan A right now. So there it is. There 00:27:28.990 --> 00:27:31.309 it is. You see that from Genesis to Revelation, 00:27:31.569 --> 00:27:34.349 from creation to new creation, from Adam and 00:27:34.349 --> 00:27:39.309 Eve to Abraham, to Jesus and Paul. God's plan 00:27:39.309 --> 00:27:41.730 has always been to create a people who are united 00:27:41.730 --> 00:27:45.410 around Christ in this rich diversity. Diversity 00:27:45.410 --> 00:27:47.869 is not a problem. God is trying to fix. Diversity 00:27:47.869 --> 00:27:54.750 was never Plan B. It's always been Plan A. there 00:27:54.750 --> 00:27:56.970 can be no doubt. I hope that after hearing all 00:27:56.970 --> 00:27:59.210 that from me, there's no doubt in your mind that, 00:27:59.450 --> 00:28:05.230 okay, yes, that's what the Bible says. But are 00:28:05.230 --> 00:28:09.609 we willing to live it? Are we willing to live 00:28:09.609 --> 00:28:13.769 it? Now, in closing, let me suggest a few different 00:28:13.769 --> 00:28:17.430 ways to start both as a church and as individuals. 00:28:19.049 --> 00:28:23.440 First, we got to move from merely being a welcoming 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:25.420 people to be a reconciling people. You know, 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:27.640 one of the traps we can fall into a church like 00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:31.019 this is that we welcome people into our church. 00:28:31.400 --> 00:28:33.779 We say, welcome to our church. This is how we 00:28:33.779 --> 00:28:38.079 do things around here. I hope you fit in. That 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:40.859 is not the biblical vision of a multicultural 00:28:40.859 --> 00:28:45.279 church. The vision is an assimilation. It's it's 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:48.160 reconciliation, right? And in a couple of weeks, 00:28:48.779 --> 00:28:52.980 a PhD student from Fuller. University, his name 00:28:52.980 --> 00:28:56.680 is Alexander Lee, is going to be preaching and 00:28:56.680 --> 00:28:58.480 he's going to be helping us understand what does 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:01.200 it look like for a church to practice hospitality 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:03.960 that is not assimilation? What does it look like 00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:06.220 for you to extend hospitality to people around 00:29:06.220 --> 00:29:09.220 you without trying to change them, without trying 00:29:09.220 --> 00:29:12.920 to hold power over them? That is a big learning. 00:29:13.799 --> 00:29:17.480 But secondly, we also need to move from nations 00:29:17.480 --> 00:29:20.240 to neighbors, right? We live in this remarkable 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:22.500 moment in history. I hope you understand that 00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:25.640 for most of the Bible, God had to send his people 00:29:25.640 --> 00:29:28.880 to the nations. But in our particular moment, 00:29:28.900 --> 00:29:32.119 God has brought the nations to us. Mississauga 00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:35.660 is not a problem to be solved. It is a mission 00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:38.740 field that God has entrusted to us. How do we 00:29:38.740 --> 00:29:41.380 make the most of this like historic opportunity 00:29:41.380 --> 00:29:45.180 that we have in front of us? three weeks, Dorothy 00:29:45.180 --> 00:29:48.319 Pang from Tyndale's Intercultural Ministry Center 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:52.160 is going to be sharing how we can cross boundaries 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:54.480 around us and join in God's mission to the nations, 00:29:54.500 --> 00:29:57.960 even if it's right on our own doorstep. And finally, 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:03.500 we want to end this month of learning with a 00:30:03.500 --> 00:30:06.559 celebration. I want to invite you to come and 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:10.539 celebrate Trinity's growing ethnically diverse 00:30:10.539 --> 00:30:14.279 community with our taste of the world potluck. 00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:16.440 I don't know. We don't have that slide up there. 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:20.619 I was hoping we would. We on January 31st, we're 00:30:20.619 --> 00:30:23.259 going to be having a big, big potluck dinner 00:30:23.259 --> 00:30:25.680 here full of music and food and entertainment 00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:27.400 from around the world. And we want to invite 00:30:27.400 --> 00:30:31.519 you. contribute a dish something from your cultural 00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:34.920 heritage you can wear traditional dress you can 00:30:34.920 --> 00:30:37.880 share a poem share a story share a song in your 00:30:37.880 --> 00:30:40.640 country's language it's it's gonna be an opportunity 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:44.680 for us to gather as a community not just to consume 00:30:44.680 --> 00:30:46.319 each other's culture that's not what we're doing 00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:50.440 here but to embrace and to celebrate the diverse 00:30:50.440 --> 00:30:54.059 culture that God has given us right here at Trinity 00:30:54.059 --> 00:30:55.920 streetsville and you can register for that event 00:30:55.920 --> 00:31:00.099 even today on our church website or on the church 00:31:00.099 --> 00:31:05.079 app, okay? The taste of the world potluck. From 00:31:05.079 --> 00:31:08.380 the very beginning, God's plan was not monochrome. 00:31:09.259 --> 00:31:12.460 It was multicolored. The Magi weren't an accident. 00:31:13.099 --> 00:31:16.960 Pentecost wasn't a surprise. Revelation isn't 00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:20.900 a metaphor. This is where the story has always 00:31:20.900 --> 00:31:24.779 been going. This diverse, beautiful, challenging, 00:31:24.859 --> 00:31:27.759 multi -ethnic community we call the church was 00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:32.160 always God's plan A. Let's make it our plan A, 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:39.279 too. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks for tuning 00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:41.559 into this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. 00:31:41.779 --> 00:31:44.720 This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church, Streetsville 00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:49.599 in Mississauga, Ontario on January 4th, 2026.