Here are the summaries from our recent five-week sermon series on multi-ethnic vision.
Our vision here at Grace Church is pretty straightforward: We want to love and serve our community and the world with the amazing news of Jesus Christ. A huge part of that vision is bringing people together across different races and classes to worship and follow Jesus. It’s beautiful to see how the love of Christ can heal our relationships with God and with each other, bringing us together to worship as one.
We believe that when we come together in our diversity—different races, cultures, and backgrounds—our lives are richer for it. But it doesn’t stop at worship. It’s also about learning and growing together, sharing our everyday lives, and then going out to love and serve our community with the Gospel.
One main point we covered was the necessity of this multi-ethnic vision. It’s super important because if we don’t live in step with this gospel vision, we might end up putting up barriers and dividing walls, leading others astray. But when we embrace this vision, it draws us into unity and sanctifies us to become more like Christ.
“Led Astray By Hypocrisy”
Sunday’s sermon outlined the start of a new church year with various planned activities and events, such as retreats, holiday celebrations, neighborhood parties, and Sunday schools. The core message emphasized the importance of understanding and living out the gospel vision, which is about uniting all people across different ethnic, cultural, and social backgrounds to worship God.
Pastor Joshua explained that the gospel is the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and that God’s vision is to gather people from all nations to worship Him. This vision is evident throughout the Bible, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and culminates in the mission to “make disciples of all nations” as per Matthew 28:19-20.
He challenged the notion that simply preaching the gospel will not resolve all racial and cultural divides, highlighting that intentional efforts are required to overcome biases and promote unity. He critiqued church growth models that focus on homogeneous groups, asserting that true gospel living involves crossing these barriers. Pastor Joshua called for deliberate actions to love and serve each other across racial lines, emphasizing that this aligns with Jesus’s teachings and the gospel vision.
“But If You Show Partiality…”
Sunday’s sermon discussed the issue of partiality and discrimination within the church, specifically focusing on how these behaviors damage the church’s witness and misrepresent the teachings of Jesus Christ. It begins with an anecdote about a woman’s difficulty in joining a fashionable church, highlighting the exclusion she faced. The sermon then transitioned to a broader discussion, emphasizing that partiality and discrimination, particularly against the poor, contradict the gospel’s message and harm the faith.
Using the Book of James (James 2:1-9) as a foundation, Pastor Kenny agrees that showing partiality is a sin that dishonors both God and fellow humans. It underscores that the early Christian community included both rich and poor, and treated everyone equally, which was radical at the time. He stressed that Christians should love their neighbors as themselves, following the royal law mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. This love transcends social and economic barriers.
Pastor Kenny highlighted that true faith in Jesus Christ, who humbled himself for humanity’s sake, should lead to impartial love and service. He calls for the modern church to embody this inclusive and selfless love, removing any barriers of class or discrimination, thus reflecting the true nature of Christ and strengthening the community of faith.
“That the Next Generation Might Know”
This sermon explored the natural human tendency to create divides based on generational lines, often using age distinctions as reasons for separation and biases. Pastor Joshua highlighted how society categorizes people into generational cohorts like Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, etc., which sometimes lead to stereotypes. While understanding generational differences can be beneficial, it often results in unhealthy biases.
Pastor Joshua then examined Korean culture, where age plays a significant role in social hierarchy influenced by Shamanism and Confucianism, making it challenging to form close relationships across different age categories.
His core message advocates for unity across generations in the Christian church, emphasizing the importance of older generations teaching and guiding the younger ones in faith. He referenced biblical passages (Ephesians and Psalms) to support the idea that older generations should pass on the knowledge and praise of God’s works to the younger ones, ensuring a continuous and unified worship of God.
The ultimate goal is to break generational barriers through the teachings of Christ, fostering a community where every age group is united in faith and purpose. Pastor Joshua encouraged older generations to nurture younger ones spiritually, echoing the importance of sharing personal testimonies and experiences of God’s salvation, thereby leaving a lasting spiritual inheritance.
“The Mighty Works of God In Every Language”
The sermon focuses on the multi-ethnic gospel vision of the church, emphasizing how the gospel breaks down language barriers. Today’s bilingual service in English and Spanish exemplifies the church’s commitment to unity and reconciliation among diverse languages. The story of Babel from Genesis 11 is used to illustrate how different languages caused division due to pride and rebellion. In contrast, the New Testament story of Pentecost shows God enabling disciples to speak various languages, symbolizing unity through diversity for proclaiming God’s works.
The message concludes by urging intentional living in breaking language barriers, promoting love, patience, and understanding, as language diversity is a gift from God that enhances collective worship. Through Christ, differences are reconciled, making it possible to worship together in unity despite linguistic diversity. Pastor Joshua shared his personal example of his marriage, despite language differences, underscores the practicality of living out this vision. The ultimate goal is to practice the unity that reflects heavenly worship, embracing and valuing everyone’s linguistic and cultural uniqueness as part of God’s divine plan.
“Pursue What Makes for Peace”
Sunday’s sermon used the story of “The Wizard of Oz” as a metaphor to discuss how Christians can live in a world that is not their true home. Dorothy’s longing to return home parallels the Christian’s journey in living in a divided and polarized society while awaiting the ultimate ‘home’ in God’s eternal kingdom.
The sermon on the multiethnic vision of Grace emphasizes overcoming natural and sinful barriers, such as ethnicity and class, through the power of the gospel. It addresses the contentious nature of politics within church communities, affirming that politics is inescapable wherever people congregate. The key challenge is maintaining unity and peace despite political differences.
Pastor Kenny expanded on Romans 14, emphasizing not to judge others on non-essential matters and encouraging mutual upbuilding. It stressed valuing Christ’s sacrifice over personal political opinions, pointing out that division in these matters can be destructive to the community. The idea is to foster solidarity through shared identity in Christ rather than letting politics create rifts.
Two main duties emerged: not allowing personal opinions to destroy God’s work and bearing each other’s burdens as Christ bore ours. Christians are urged to represent God faithfully, even within political frameworks, ultimately working towards unity and the vision of God’s kingdom.
Pastor Kenny concluded with the significance of the Lord’s Supper as a reminder of unity and the true citizenship that resides in heaven, reinforcing the idea of living as exiles faithfully awaiting the ultimate return to God’s eternal kingdom.