Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This week we're launching a brand new
teaching series called Cross Culture, where we're
looking at questions of identity, culture, language,
and ethnicity to see what God has to say to us
about all of those things. And we're launching
this series with a quick overview of the entire
story of Scripture. From Genesis to Revelation,
what does God have to tell us about culture?
Was God's plan that we should always be a multicultural,
multilingual world or was God looking for uniformity?
Those are just some of the questions that Rob
is going to unpack for us in today's sermon.
all the people's chief priests and teachers of
the law, he asked them where the Messiah was
to be born. In Bethlehem and Judea, they replied,
for this is what the prophet has written. But
you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by
no means least among the rulers of Judah, for
out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd
my people Israel. Then Herod called the Magi
secretly and found out from them the exact time
the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem
and said, go and search carefully for the child.
As soon as you find him, report to me so that
I too may go and worship him. After they had
heard the king, They went on their way, and the
star they had seen when it rose went ahead of
them until it stopped over the place where the
child was. When they saw the star, they were
overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the
child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down
and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures
and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense,
and myrrh. and having been warned in a dream
not to go back to Herod, they returned to their
country by another route. The word of the Lord.
That story that you just heard is one that we
have heard lots of times before. Most of us have,
right? The Magi follow a star, they journey far,
they come to Jesus, they bring their gifts of
gold and frankincense and myrrh, and then they
don't want to get caught in Herod's trap, so
they head back to their own country by a different
route. We've heard that story a thousand times.
But the question that we don't often stop to
ask is why are they there at all? I mean, why
include this strange story of foreigners who
were coming to worship the Jewish Messiah? And
where were they from, actually? Where were they
from? And some people think they were from Yemen.
Some say that they were from India, maybe even
China, right? Some of the early Christian art
has them dressed in Persian garb. So maybe they
were from Persia, but maybe also like Jordan
or Iran or Iraq, you know, present day countries
that we know of. But why does... include these
guys at all. It is not because he needed more
characters for his Christmas pageant and it is
not because he wanted a nice sentimental ending
to the Christmas story. No, the Magi are a flashing
neon sign that is saying pay attention to this.
This is more important than you know because
the Magi are reminding us about something that
has been building through throughout the entire
Bible, right? And that is that God has a plan
from the very beginning of the Bible. God has
a plan that every tribe and every tongue and
every nation would be drawn to Jesus. And there
they are, the Magi, to remind us that God's kingdom
is meant to be filled with people who don't look
like us, people who don't speak like us, and
people who don't come from the same countries
as us, and yet all of these diverse people coming
and bringing their gifts to Jesus. This is a
picture of a multicultural kingdom. And today
we are beginning a brand new teaching series
that we are calling Cross Culture and we're going
to be going through this for the whole month
of January and over the next few weeks we are
going to be exploring what it means to follow
Jesus in a world and in a city especially that
is shaped by deep cultural diversity and and
we're going to be joined by some wonderful voices
some other teachers in the weeks ahead so that's
going to be amazing but basically that the premise
of this series is really really simple God has
a great plan God's great plan is to create a
multicultural, multilingual, multinational group
of people that is called the church. And those
Magi, they are just one example of what that
looks like. Now this is going to be both a challenge
and an opportunity for us. It's a challenge because
we live in Mississauga. And Mississauga is one
of the most diverse cities in the country. There
are over 200 nations that live here in Mississauga,
speaking over 150 languages. And they're all
living close together. And Trinity streetsville
sits like right at the intersection of all that
that is going on. So the question is, what does
that mean for us? mean for you? What does that
mean for us as a church? How do we reflect some
of that diversity in our life here? These are
not easy questions. If we knew the answers to
those questions, we might not need to do this
whole teaching series. But that's the challenge.
But there is also an opportunity that comes with
that. Because the diversity of our city gives
us a chance gives us an opportunity to do something
that many churches in many other parts of the
world just cannot do and that is we can rediscover.
what the church was always meant to be. Not a
community where everybody comes in and then we
assimilate them and say, you need to look like
us. And yet not a church where people come in
and then they all go to their own areas and we
segregate them and we say, you know, you stay
over there. No, no, no. What would it look like
to be a church where diversity on the one hand
and unity on the other hand, both exist together?
We get that chance. Right? And so like the Magi,
we are going to set out on a journey. It is a
journey to discover God's heart for diversity.
It is a journey to discover God's vision for
a multi -ethnic church. It is a journey to discover
God's mission that has brought, believe me, it
has brought the nations of the world to our very
doorstep. Now, Some people may say, Rob, you
seem really hyped up about this. Why are you
so so energized? And why is this so important?
Because, Rob, after all, I've read the Bible
and I know that in the Bible it says that in
Christ we are all one. And therefore all those
differences like race and culture, those all
kind of fade into the background. Aren't we all
just one, Rob? And that's true. We are one. But
just because we are one in Christ does not mean
that we are all the same. Unity. is not the same
as uniformity. And in Christ, yes, we are all
equal, but we're not identical. We are all one,
but we're not the same. We're all united, but
we're not uniform. And then somebody else might
raise another objection and say, well, listen,
Rob, you know, I've read the Bible and come on,
surely God's original plan was that we were all
one culture, that we were all one language, that
we are all kind of one ethnic group, right? Adam
and Eve, the Garden of Eden, wasn't that God's
original plan? Wasn't that God's plan? And all
this diversity that we see in the world, actually,
Rob, they say, isn't that a result of sin? because
Rob I read the Bible and I know that there was
a story in the Bible and they're talking about
Genesis chapter 11 the story of the Tower of
Babel and they'll say in that story Rob humanity
sinned and they wanted to build this great big
tower and God got angry and he said no you're
not gonna do that so he confused their language
and then he sent them all across the earth and
and that's where culture comes from that's where
all the linguistic difference comes from It's
a result of human sin. Diversity was never God's
plan A. Maybe it was God's plan B or plan C,
but it was never God's plan A. And that is actually,
I think, a very common reading. But today I'm
going to show you how deeply mistaken that reading
is. What I am going to show you is that diversity
and a multi -ethnic, multicultural, multilingual
people was always God's plan A from the very
beginning. And I'm going to take you through
the Bible and show you that. But before I share
with you the biblical story about that, I thought
I should share a little bit about my own story
because How we hear this whole conversation has
a lot to do with where we came from ourselves.
And I want to let you know that I was born and
raised in a very monocultural setting. I was
from a little town called Fisherville, Ontario.
There was about 250 families that lived there
and they all look the same. They all look like
me. If I was to show you the class photos of
my elementary upbringing, you would say they
all look like you, Rob. They all look the same.
There was no people of color in any of my classes.
But I do remember the first time that a black
student joined our school. And I remember it
because it was so different. That's where I come
from. And then when I went to high school, things
got maybe better, but maybe not. At our high
school, about 10 % of the student population
came from the Six Nations Reservation, which
was right nearby our high school. But the truth
is, right, all the indigenous students mostly
kept to themselves, and we kept to ourselves,
right? We were in the same building, we were
in the same hallways, but we were worlds apart
as people. And then I want to say that even the
very first churches I attended and the first
churches that I pastored, if I admit to you that
they were all very, as they say, waspy, right?
White, Anglo -Saxon, Protestant. And I don't
mean that to be insulting. I don't mean that
to be disparaging in any way. What I'm just trying
to say is that's what life was like for me. That's
kind of where I... come from. And at some point
I realized I needed a bigger vision of the world.
I needed to experience a more multicultural context.
And I'm not lying to say that this is one of
the reasons why we decided to relocate to Toronto.
And I worked for two years at a big downtown
church. And man, oh, man, the script was flipped.
All of a sudden I was part of a very diverse
congregation. I was part of a very diverse staff
team. And every morning when I got on the subway
I was deeply aware that I was usually the only
white person on the subway car and I wish that
meant that now I understand diversity and I wish
that meant to say now I know how to pastor a
multicultural multi -ethnic church but I still
have a long way to go maybe you still have a
long way to go But I'll tell you what better
place to learn about God's multicolored vision
for the kingdom of God than right here at Trinity
together. And so as we go through this month,
I shared my story. I want you to think about
your own story. Some of you, maybe you also grew
up like me in a very monocultural setting. Others,
completely opposite. Maybe it was a very diverse
setting where you grew up and were formed. Some
of you grew up in another country and you're
just now trying to figure out the culture here
in Canada for the first time. Some of you never
had to think about race at all until you had
to think about race. We've all got different
stories, different starting points, but here's
the key thing. However, multiculturalism intersects
with your story. It is deeply embedded in God's
story from beginning to end. And so in the time
that I've got left with you this morning, I am
going to whisk you through the whole Bible. Yeah,
that's not ambitious. Take you through the whole
Bible and show you that God's plan A has always
been. to create a diverse church. I've given
you some notes to follow along. This is going
to be a bit of a blitz. And if you're new to
the Bible or if you're not familiar with some
of the stories I'm about to share, I've put little
references in those notes so maybe after church
you can go back and you can read the stories
in their entirety. But let's begin at the very
best place. Let's begin at the beginning. with
God. Did you know that before God created a single
thing, diversity already existed within God?
Scripture tells us that God is one and yet God
is three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And these
three persons are different and distinct on the
one hand, but they are united on the other hand.
So you see what God is? God is a diverse community.
Diversity isn't something that God created. It
is something that God is. It is part of the very
fabric of our reality. And that means, that means
this, that when Genesis 1 says, Let's make humans
in our image that we too then are made for this
diversity and distinctiveness and yet we're also
made for unity on the other hand. Diversity is
baked into who God is and therefore it is baked
into who we are as image bearers of God. That
is before God has created a single thing or a
single human being. Diversity is at the center
of reality, right? Genesis 1 though doesn't just
tell us who we are, it tells us what we're for.
And what God does is he blesses humanity. He
says, now I want you to go and I want you to
go and be fruitful and I want you to multiply
and I want you to to fill the earth. Right. And
so and so notice this does not say, hey, I want
you to stay in one place. It doesn't say I want
you to build one culture. It doesn't say I want
you to speak one language. God says fill the
earth, which means that human beings spreading
around the world wasn't a curse. It wasn't a
curse. It wasn't Plan B. It was God's Plan A
from the very beginning. And that's exactly what
happens. By the time we read Genesis 10, we read
that people are spreading into other lands, that
people from the coast are moving around and language
and clans and nations are all forming. That was
God's original plan. Go, spread, multiply, create
culture, right? That humanity would do all this.
Absolutely beautiful, beautiful. But then comes
the Tower of Babel that I spoke to you about
and and yes God may have wanted a multi -ethnic
multilingual world But humans wanted sameness
Humans wanted monoculture, and so they resisted
God's plan to fill the earth. They said, I don't
think so, God. They said, I think we're going
to stay here in this place, and we're going to
build just a great big city, and we're going
to build a great big tower that reaches to the
heavens, because if we don't do that, you know
what's going to happen? I know what's going to
happen. We're going to get scattered all over
the whole earth, and we don't want that. Humanity
is resisting God's plan A. They're choosing sameness
over diversity. And and we still do this today.
As the theologian Letty Russell said, we like
these tower builders continue to struggle with
difference, differences of race and ethnicity
and gender and age and so on. We like those people
of Babel feel it's easier sometimes if we were
all just the same, right? If we all just came
from the same place, if we all just look the
same, but that is not God's plan. God's plan,
plan A has always been diversity. And so God
confuses the people's language and they have
to therefore stop building the city, stop building
this monocultural city and they're scattered.
But hear me on this. This scattering is not a
punishment. It is simply. God getting us back
on track, God getting back to plan A, God getting
back to his multicultural plan A. It's all part
of the plan. Now, immediately after Babel, God
calls this guy Abraham. He says, Abraham, listen.
I want to make you into a great nation. I will
bless you. Well, wait a second, guy. What? You're
just going to bless him? You're just going to
bless his people? You're just taking care of
one nation? No, no, no. Because we read on, he
says, through you, all the people of the earth
will be blessed. So you see what God's doing
here. God's plan is to use Abraham to accomplish
His multi -national vision, right? Israel is
chosen not instead of the nations. Israel is
chosen for the nations. Abraham and Israel afterwards
were supposed to be agents of God's plan A, right?
To bless the nations of the world, to take the
good news of God to the world and to create a
unity, but in diversity. And that sounds like
a great big job. You might say, well, how on
earth could one man, one family, one people group
bless the whole nations of the world? Well, the
answer was this. They were supposed to live their
lives in such a way, according to God's command,
to live their lives in such a way, embodying
God's love that the nations of the world would
look at them and say, oh my gosh, do you see
that people group over there? And they would
be drawn back to the God of Israel. They would
not be drawn back into one culture. They would
not be but they would be drawn back to God. in
diversity. Again, this was plan A all along.
And if you read through Israel's song book during
that time, the book of Psalms, you'd see there
are songs in there for the nations and not just
for one people, right? Psalm 67, for example,
says, May God be gracious to us and bless us,
just us. No, so that your ways may be known on
earth and your salvation known among all nations
these songs that Israel was singing were not
meant to be sung solo the whole world all the
nations all the cultures were supposed to join
them in singing these songs of worship it's almost
like it's almost like God wanted Israel to be
like this lighthouse Where his light and love
would shine through the glass of their lives
So that the nations all the nations might worship
him this way unity in diversity And it sounds
good but over time those windows became more
like mirrors and Instead of shining God's light
to the nations Israel wanted to save that light
for themselves Do you remember for example the
story of Jonah? You guys remember the story of
Jonah? God sends Jonah to go preach to another
nation, the nation of Nineveh. Why? Because that's
plan A, right? To go to the nations, right? But
Jonah says, no, I'm not going. No way. He refuses.
He doesn't want to cross that cultural boundary.
He is fixated on his own ethnic purity. He believes
that only his culture is good enough to receive
God's love and grace. And so he won't go. And
so God has to use a storm and he has to use a
whale to get Jonah back on course for Plan A.
And we are all a little bit like Jonah, I would
say. We are often uncomfortable with those who
don't look like us, those who don't dress like
us, those who don't speak like us. And Israel
was uncomfortable again and again, and they fail
to carry out Plan A. Israel fails to bless the
nations, and as a result, guess what God has
to do? He has to scatter them again. God sends
Israel into exile, and here's the funny part.
Guess where he sends them? He sends them to Babylon,
which is the exact same place where the Tower
of Babel was, right? It's almost as if God is
saying, oh, we have to do this again. Guys, do
you remember plan A? I want unity in diversity.
I want a multicultural people of God, and I'm
sending you back then into the nations, into
exile, and forcing them almost to live again
as light among other cultures, right? Even in
exile, they are to seek the peace and the prosperity
of this city that they've been sent into. In
other words, God's like, get back to plan A,
get back to blessing the nations, shine your
light wherever you go. Now that brings us to
Christmas. And now do you see why these foreign
Magi showing up to worship Jesus makes a lot
more sense? This has always been part of the
plan. This child, this Messiah, is for all the
nations, for all ethnic groups, not just one.
And the Magi are just there at the beginning
of Jesus' story. to remind us that Jesus is the
king of the Jews, but he is the savior of the
world. He is the savior of the nations. And I
mean, we could spend days just talking about
how Jesus was the model of cross -cultural mission,
crossing every border, every boundary in his
life and death and in his resurrection. For example,
do you remember? That time that Jesus sat down
and talked to this woman from Samaria She was
getting water at a well and Jesus engages her
in this amazing Conversation because she was
from a different nation. She was from a different
religion. She was from a different ethnicity
and yet Jesus sits down with her and he builds
a bridge to overcome all of those barriers of
gender and race and religion and class It's almost
like Jesus is saying to his disciples. Hey Look
at what I'm doing here. This is what Plan A looks
like, right? This is how we grow a multicultural
kingdom. And as in his life, so in his death.
When Jesus dies on the cross, he says that he
will draw all people to himself. The cross is
not just about your personal salvation. It is
about this cosmic reconciliation. It isn't just
Jesus merely forgiving you your sins. This is
Jesus breaking down all the powers and all the
barriers that divide humanity so that he can
create one reconciled people drawn together in
himself. The cross is like the engine that drives
God's plan A forward. And after he is risen,
man, Jesus is still all about plan A. He is telling
his disciples, now go and make this multinational
family. In the Great Commission, he says, go
and make disciples, say it with me, go and make
disciples of. all nations. Plan A, right? Just
as Abraham and his family were to bless all the
nations, now God's new family, which is you,
which is the church, is given the same mission,
which means Plan A is now our plan. I'm almost
through the end here, but then comes Pentecost
when the spirit descends when the spirit comes
you know what happens the gospel is proclaimed
not in one language but in every language all
at once pentecost is this beautiful moment not
when god's people all become the same but it's
when god's people understand one another across
language and ethnic barriers and people groups
get along right pentecost just affirms this plan
we are unified in our diversity One of the greatest
church planters the Bible Talks about maybe the
world's greatest church planter was this guy
named Paul and he spent his life Planting multi
-ethnic churches that embodied the gospel in
all sorts of diverse Cultural settings in fact
of one of his letters Paul goes so far. He says
that what God has done is he is creating one
new Humanity, but that doesn't mean that our
differences disappear It just means that our
divisions no longer keep us apart And so whenever
Paul goes to plant a new church, he's a master
at this He always translates the gospel into
their different cultural context so that people
from every background could truly belong and
they didn't need to change their culture in order
to belong and Then finally this brings us to
the last book of the Bible the book of Revelation
where we catch a glimpse of heaven And what do
we see in this heavenly picture? A great multitude
that no one could count from every nation, tribe.
people and language. This is where history is
going. This is the destination. This is where
Plan A takes us. Heaven is not monochrome. It's
multicolored. And that means that whenever we,
even here at Trinity Straitsville, are able to
reflect a little bit of that diversity, you know
what we're doing? We're getting a hold of a little
piece of heaven. We're getting a glimpse of heaven.
But we don't have to wait till heaven. We can
start. Plan A right now. So there it is. There
it is. You see that from Genesis to Revelation,
from creation to new creation, from Adam and
Eve to Abraham, to Jesus and Paul. God's plan
has always been to create a people who are united
around Christ in this rich diversity. Diversity
is not a problem. God is trying to fix. Diversity
was never Plan B. It's always been Plan A. there
can be no doubt. I hope that after hearing all
that from me, there's no doubt in your mind that,
okay, yes, that's what the Bible says. But are
we willing to live it? Are we willing to live
it? Now, in closing, let me suggest a few different
ways to start both as a church and as individuals.
First, we got to move from merely being a welcoming
people to be a reconciling people. You know,
one of the traps we can fall into a church like
this is that we welcome people into our church.
We say, welcome to our church. This is how we
do things around here. I hope you fit in. That
is not the biblical vision of a multicultural
church. The vision is an assimilation. It's it's
reconciliation, right? And in a couple of weeks,
a PhD student from Fuller. University, his name
is Alexander Lee, is going to be preaching and
he's going to be helping us understand what does
it look like for a church to practice hospitality
that is not assimilation? What does it look like
for you to extend hospitality to people around
you without trying to change them, without trying
to hold power over them? That is a big learning.
But secondly, we also need to move from nations
to neighbors, right? We live in this remarkable
moment in history. I hope you understand that
for most of the Bible, God had to send his people
to the nations. But in our particular moment,
God has brought the nations to us. Mississauga
is not a problem to be solved. It is a mission
field that God has entrusted to us. How do we
make the most of this like historic opportunity
that we have in front of us? three weeks, Dorothy
Pang from Tyndale's Intercultural Ministry Center
is going to be sharing how we can cross boundaries
around us and join in God's mission to the nations,
even if it's right on our own doorstep. And finally,
we want to end this month of learning with a
celebration. I want to invite you to come and
celebrate Trinity's growing ethnically diverse
community with our taste of the world potluck.
I don't know. We don't have that slide up there.
I was hoping we would. We on January 31st, we're
going to be having a big, big potluck dinner
here full of music and food and entertainment
from around the world. And we want to invite
you. contribute a dish something from your cultural
heritage you can wear traditional dress you can
share a poem share a story share a song in your
country's language it's it's gonna be an opportunity
for us to gather as a community not just to consume
each other's culture that's not what we're doing
here but to embrace and to celebrate the diverse
culture that God has given us right here at Trinity
streetsville and you can register for that event
even today on our church website or on the church
app, okay? The taste of the world potluck. From
the very beginning, God's plan was not monochrome.
It was multicolored. The Magi weren't an accident.
Pentecost wasn't a surprise. Revelation isn't
a metaphor. This is where the story has always
been going. This diverse, beautiful, challenging,
multi -ethnic community we call the church was
always God's plan A. Let's make it our plan A,
too. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks for tuning
into this week's episode of Trinity Sermons.
This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church, Streetsville
in Mississauga, Ontario on January 4th, 2026.