A Congregation’s Greatest Asset

Posted by on November 24, 1996 under Sermons

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 are opening your lives to my Word and my Spirit. You arepraying with a new earnestness. Because you are placing more faith in me and less faith inyourselves, your potential is growing. Therefore, I will bless you with a tremendous asset. Thisasset will increase your outreach. Your capacity to do my work will increase. Your vision willgrow. 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 rightattitude and proper stewardship, money can be an asset. But having money will not create thoseblessings and opportunities.

Someone says, “It is removing our debt.” That would be an asset. But no indebtedness will notcreate those blessings and opportunities.

What is this internal asset that God could give us? Let’s ask God.

  1. “God, what is this incredible asset?”
    1. God responds, “The great asset I give you that creates great potential for outreach andministry is diversity.”
      1. “Wait a minute, God. Let me get this straight. You want us to believe thatdiversity is an asset that creates extraordinary potential?”
        1. “God, diversity is not asset or potential–diversity is handicap.”
        2. “Diversity means that we are not alike within the congregation; that weare in fact very different.”
        3. “The fact that we are different in our membership is a problem, or atleast the beginning of problems; it is disadvantage, not advantage.”
      2. If you are convinced that diversity in a congregation is problem rather than anasset, may I ask how you formed that conclusion? Why do you think diversityto be a spiritual liability?
        1. I anticipate that most of us would say that the goal of the church is to beuniform and to produce uniformity.
        2. If the goal of Christ’s church is uniformity, then diversity would be aproblem.
    2. From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, diversity was used to generate opportunity toachieve God’s greatest purposes.
      1. How many intimate disciples did Jesus have? Even the children would replythat Jesus had twelve disciples.
        1. In those twelve men, do you see uniformity or diversity?
        2. You see incredible diversity–I could easily illustrate that diversity inmany ways.
        3. To me, the most striking illustration of their diversity is seen in Matthewthe tax collector and Simeon the Zealot.
          1. Matthew, prior to becoming one of the twelve, collected taxesfrom Jews for the Roman government.
            1. Because he collected taxes for the government thatdestroyed Israel’s independence and stationed an occupationforce in their country, Matthew was regarded to be a traitorito his own nation by many of his fellow Jews.
            2. Many Jews were insulted by Jesus choosing a tax collectorto be one of the twelve.
          2. Simeon, before becoming one of the twelve, belonged to theZealots, a radical religious/political group that believed Jews whocollected taxes for the Roman government were committingtreason against God.
            1. They believed that God expected them to assassinate Jewswho assisted the Roman government.
            2. So Zealots killed tax collectors when it was possible.
          3. Thus Simeon would have killed Matthew prior to discipleship.
            1. How could Jesus select as two of the twelve men that werethat different? That defies our expectation andunderstanding.
            2. Matthew and Simeon had nothing in common before theyfollowed Jesus, and the only thing they had in common asdisciples was that they both followed Jesus.
            3. In fact, neither Matthew or Simeon would have had much incommon with the other 10 disciples.
        4. Jesus deliberately creating such diversity within the twelve declares an important lesson that we must see and understand clearly.
          1. The diversity that Jesus established within the discipleship clearly emphasizes his determination to save all kinds of people.
          2. Peter could never have worked effectively with the peopleMatthew could identify with, and Matthew could never identifywith and effectively communicate to the people that Simeon couldteach.
      2. 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.
  2. Is the church by divine design to be diverse? Is diversity within the church the intent of God, Christ, and the Spirit?
    1. Unquestionably!
      1. Look at what the book of Acts clearly reveals to us about the establishment andgrowth of the church under the specific guidance of Christ and the Spirit.
        1. From day one in Acts 2 it existed in a complex diversity.
          1. The first converts were made from the people who came toJerusalem to observe the Passover.
          2. Those who first heard and responded to the good newsabout Jesus’ resurrection included Jews from Galilee andJews from Judea–who had major differences; Jews fromPalestine and Jews from non-Jewish nations–which hadeven greater differences; and converted non-Jews, who hadeven more differences.
          3. Then, under the direct guidance of Jesus and the Spirit, thegospel was extended to non-Jews who already believed inGod in Acts 10.
          4. Then in Acts 11 we learn that the gospel was extended tonon-Jews who did not believe in God, and from Acts 13 thatGod commissioned two of his best preachers to work in theRoman world among non-Jews who worshipped idols.
          5. Within a few years after the church was established, it wasincredibly diverse–more diverse than any of us have everknown it in our lifetimes.
        2. In fact, congregations were so diverse that it was common for thecongregations to have problems accepting their own diversity.
        3. Romans 12:3-8 is clear documentation of that fact.
          1. Within your diversity, don’t be concerned about yourown significance and importance.
          2. Focus your concern on a desire to have soundjudgment in using your God-given potential for faith.
          3. A congregation, in its diversity, is like the physicalbody of a person.
          4. There are many different body parts that have totallydifferent functions, completely different purposes,and dissimilar abilities.
          5. Determine your gift that God has given you as a partof the body and function diligently doing what Godenabled you to do.
      2. 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 documents God’s design for a congregationto be diverse in even greater detail.
        1. Paul told the diverse congregation at Corinth that the churchand the physical body are alike because the church exists asChrist’s body in this world.
        2. It is formed from Jews and non-Jews, from slaves andpeople who are free–you do not find any greater differencesthan are found in those two groupings.
        3. If you do not have diversity, you do not have a body becausea body must function in many distinctly different ways toexist.
        4. God placed each person in the body; our differences comefrom God; and God has a use for each one of us within thebody that will bring health and strength to the body.
        5. God never intended for all of us to be alike doing the samethings.
  3. Allow me to give a clear, practical illustration of the blessing of diversity.
    1. David Chadwell has one body, and all its parts are interconnected and mutuallydependent.
      1. My eyeball and my thumb have absolutely nothing in common as body parts.
        1. They have nothing in common in their individual functions.
        2. Their purposes are not even remotely similar.
        3. They are not even made of the same tissue and certainly do not have thesame structure–an eyeball and a thumb are about as dissimilar as you canget.
      2. My eyeball could arrogantly say, “The body would be in a terrible fix if it didnot have me.”
        1. “I am the body’s light.”
        2. “I am the body’s guidance system.”
        3. “Without me, the body can’t function.”
      3. The thumb is a very low-profile member of our bodies.
        1. We use it constantly without realizing that we are using it.
        2. Our thumbs probably find themselves in more critical, dangeroussituations every single day than any other part of our body.
        3. Yet, we take thumbs so for granted that we never consider how importanta thumb is.
        4. Tape your thumb securely to the palm of your hand for a half a day.
          1. See how much you miss it; see how often you think aboutit-not having your thumb available.
          2. You will be astounded at the hundreds of things that youcannot do within only four or five hours, things that youconstantly do without even thinking.
      4. My eyeball and my thumb are very essential parts of my body.
      5. But the only two things my eyeball and my thumb have in common isthat they are both a part of my body and they both are sustained by thesame life force.
        1. But my thumb and my eyeball need each other and are dedicated totaking care of each other.
        2. If some trash gets in my eye, my thumb is instantly there to be ofassistance.
        3. My eye is constantly giving guidance to my thumb as it dailymaneuvers through dangerous situations.

To see the incredible blessing of diversity, look at your own body. When all members of your body are healthy and strong, your body is incredibly capable.

As a congregation, the greatest practical blessing God can give us is diversity. But we cannot accept or use that blessing without knowledgeable faith and understanding. The more diverse we are, the more God can use us for all His purposes. The more diverse we are, the more people we can touch with the love and forgiveness of Jesus.

Thank God everyone in the congregation is not exactly like me. Thank God everyone is not exactly like you. Because you and I are so evil? No. Because if everyone were exactly alike, there would not be a body.