Multicultural Worship Lecture 5

As long as I'm the Lord, oh my soul, praise the Lord, oh my soul. I won't be quiet. My God is alive. I'm going to keep it inside the clouds. Praise the Lord, oh my soul.

Welcome to lecture 5, practicing the table. Today, we're going to look in scripture to see the importance of dining together and how that relates to us as the body of Christ. Uh you're saying, why is a meal so important? Well, because a meal in biblical times had great significance. You wouldn't dine with just anybody. You wouldn't go to McDonald's or Chick-fil-A and just sit down and have a meal with whoever was there. If you dine with somebody, you identified with them. You welcomed them. You said that you were willing to share life with them. And so that's important as we consider multicultural worship to understand this concept because it paints a picture of how God wants us to work together.

Much of what we're getting today we're getting from a book called the next worship by Sandre Maria Vanopstol and uh as well as other authors and speakers. But this is this is a good basis if you want to dig in further. This is a great book for you to check out.

So what do we mean practicing the table? By practicing the table, we're exploring the table as a place of hospitality, tension, and disciplehip in a multithnic church. Uh how do we come together? How do we show hospitality to each other? And what does that mean? Uh how is tension actually a good thing? And how does disciplehip take place through all of this? We're going to look at that together.

So the big idea is that table is much more than eating. It's belonging. It's a place to be seen and heard and really known as an individual and as a follower of Christ. Meals reveal who's included, who's excluded, and how power is to be shared. And yes, power takes place in relationships. So, who are we going to welcome in? Who are we not going to welcome in? What are we going to do when we are in relationship with one another and we are going to show humility instead of preference for ourselves?

So the table is seen throughout in scripture as an important thing. It's something that marks many of the major events in scripture. As a matter of fact, when we go back to Genesis 18, there were three that came to see Abraham. And these three were act actually angels which uh Abraham wasn't aware who he was entertaining. But these angels came to reveal to him that God was going to give him a son. and out of the sun was going to come a great nation, the nation of Israel. Well, he showed them love and and preference and difference by allowing them to come in and to dine with him, imploring them to have a meal with him and with Sarah.

In Exodus 12, we see another major time, one of the most pivotal points in all of Israelite history when they are in Egypt. They are in captivity and God says it's time. I've worn Pharaoh out with all these plagues and he's going to let you go, but there's one more plague to come and you need to be ready for it and you need to do exactly what I want to say if what I say if you want to be spared from this plague. And what he told them to do was to prepare a meal in a very very specific way. a way that not only would show God's provision, but a way that would prepare them for the journey that was ahead for the haste at which they would have to leave Egypt. And that's what came known as Passover. And Passover is observed in a very specific way year after year after year to show honor to God who delivered the nation of Israel.

In Luke 5, Jesus shows the importance of dining because he he's willing to dine with people that people don't others don't normally want to be with. Tax collectors were seen as very bad people because not only did they work for the Romans, but they also often took more than they were supposed to. And so there were tax collectors uh that were they were wealthy and influential but they were also outcasts from the nation of Israel because they were taxing their own people on behalf of Israel. And there were sinners. Well, all of us are known as sinners. Those who were publicly known as sinners are the ones that it's talking about here. Because the religious leaders of the time gave Jesus a difficult time because he would eat with tax collectors and sinners. And we're going to see more about that later in some of the passages we read.

And then in Luke 24, uh it talks about the risen Christ and what happens. And we're going to we're going to see what what that in a moment. What Jesus did by breaking bread with with some people on the way to Emmas. He he did this in such a way that um this is after he had already been risen, but they didn't know who he was. And it wasn't until he dined with them that they understood who he was and God revealed this is Jesus who's come back from the dead.

So God uses the table to go to those that are in need. He uses the table to bring people together. Uses the table to give important messages and to mark incredible, incredibly important times in the history of Israel. God gathers at the table. He does not scatter. God brings us together at the table. All of us, no matter who we are and how different we are.

It says in Proverbs 23:5 when talking about the Lord says, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows." Again, emphasizing the importance of God's provision. God, you you love me so much that even when I'm surrounded by enemies, you you take care of me. You meet my needs. You show me your love. You show me your presence. You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. A sign that there's so much that God just keeps pouring it out more than they can even handle.

So when Jesus wanted to explain what his death would accomplish, he didn't give a theory. He gave a meal. Think about this. He didn't sit down and have a theological lecture like I'm doing to you today. Jesus gathered them together and he broke bread. This is my body broken for you. And as often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me. And he gave them wine. And in that wine, he said, taking this cup, he said, "This cup is my blood that I'm going to shed for you. It's going to cleanse you. It's going to care for you." They didn't understand what all it meant, but they did after he died and was buried and rose again. and his blood paid for their sins. He used a meal to give them a meaningful memorial that they could take over and over again, never forgetting what he did. Why? Well, we eat and drink every day. If we don't, we don't last. But as we do this, we're to do it and we're to remember him. We have special meals that we do it. But we also give thanks at every meal. At least we should. And when we do, it's a it's a type of memorial, a type of remembrance of God's provision. And more importantly, a a memorial, a remembrance of what God did for us by breaking the bread of his body and spilling the blood of the cup as he did it as he did for us when he died on the cross.

Tables are theological spaces. Uh they teach us they they come out with our true theology. You know, we talk about values are more caught than taught. Well, our theology is more lived than said, how we live our life really reflects what we believe. If we always keep for ourselves and we try to to hoard or we try to just take care of us and we exclude others or we only try to eat with people we like or we only try to spend time with people we like and not those maybe we don't get along with as well or those that aren't like us. Um we are communicating our theology. Theology means a study of God. It's we're communicating what we believe about God. Do we really believe God is God? Do we really believe he's told us to do what he's told us to do? And do we really believe that his sacrifice for us is so much more than we could ever do for others that we would not want to give our best and honor him by blessing others.

Tables are theological spaces where we can show that where we can show value. And it also says power. Now you may think that's an interesting word but what do we mean by and how power is shared? There are places where each of us have uh positions of influence, positions of control. Um do you you know we used to joke when when my uh my youngest was in preschool and we would go to uh we would go to the nursery at church and we would see him in preschool and uh I had a guy on my staff and went and checked on him one time to see how preschool was going. not just my son, but all of them. I said, "Well, how's it going downstairs?" And he came back and he said, "Well, it's interesting." He said, "Your son, who is not even two yet, is down there organizing all the other kids and showing them what to play with and and and what to do, and they're doing it." And we kind of joked, his name's Kendall. He said, "Kendall, use your powers for good. You you've got power in this situation." And uh so we need to all understand that there are times because of a situation we can use what God's given us for good or for selfish reasons.

Therefore, welcome one another just as Christ also welcomed you to the glory of God. Again, the definitive is Jesus. Uh we Jesus gave us examples. Jesus had absolutely no obligation to do what he did for us. He had no obligation to welcome us. no obligation obligation to care for us. Yet Jesus chose not only to welcome us but to give everything his own life for us. How could we choose to do anything else? At any time you think you're above somebody or you don't need to share or you don't need to invite or include you're you're saying well I don't even need to do what Jesus did yet. He's God and you're not. How much more should we live out his example and welcome others?

So the table is a lesson. It is a teaching. It is a school of love. It's a place where you can practice humility, patience, forgiveness, and unity. In order to come together, sometimes you you take less you take a lesser seat in order that you can show difference to somebody else. Uh there are times when I go to people that are in ministry or in education or something and really they're they're they're not my peers. They're ahead of me. Yet I go to their house and they give me a great place to sit while they sit on the piano bench with their spouse and kind of huddle together because they don't want their guests to have less than they do. Uh the meal is a great place to show patience. Um not just, you know, hurry up and pass potatoes. what's taken you so long. But we have to show patience with those that maybe we've got tension with and we need to show them forgiveness. Uh we need to come together in a way that that requires us to set things aside and that leads us to unity. I believe fully that often when we have a problem with someone, when we have a battle with someone, when you sit down with them and you break bread together, you have a meal with them, a lot of that hostility goes away. It's a lot easier to mock or hate or hold a vendetta or a grudge against somebody who's not around than it is somebody who's sitting right in front of you. And I found many times conflicts that were there could be lessened if I just got the people in the room that were having a conflict. And scripture tells us to do that over and over again.

And it's important to understand that hospitality is not a preference. It is presence. It's not just do I feel like it. It's a command of God. We can't say, "Well, I'm just not a hospitable person. I don't really like people, so so I don't need to do it." Scripture doesn't give us that option. You can't say, "Gary, I'm not an extrovert like you. I'm an introvert, so I'm not ever going to be with people. I'm not going to spend time with people." It may be harder for you, but it's still a command. We are to be obedient and to be present with people.

Henry Nen puts it this way. Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives. Precisely the instrument God uses to form you. It's not truly a community. It's not truly a church if we only hang out with people that we always get along with. Uh families have conflict. I don't know about you, but if a stranger says something mean to me that upsets me for a moment, maybe or I might even just scoff and go, "What do you know?" I might just blow it off. But if a family member says something mean to me, it hurts. And those that we're in community with, our family, we're going to have a lot greater chance that being in community with them is going to cause pain. It's going to cause hurt. But it's through that that we can grow to become more and more like Jesus. It's something that we can move past uh if we allow ourselves to truly be guided by God's word and by his spirit.

God's table is wide and it's often uncomfortable. Jesus again redefineses hospitality beyond comfort and reciprocity. Jesus did not bring people together that were going to pay him back. We don't see in scripture that Jesus hosted a meal just so he'd get an invitation somewhere else. As a matter of fact, he tells us not to do that. Uh but instead, he went out and he sought those that were in low positions. He sought those that were outcasts because the way they treated others. He saw those that were outcasts because of the lifestyle they lived. Jesus redefined what hospitality is for us. Hospitality means pime primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Have a meal with somebody you don't get along with. Not with an agenda, not to tell them how wrong they are, but just say, "Hey, we've been having problem. I just we don't even need to talk about the topic today. Let's just get together and have a meal and let's let's talk about life. Let's talk about family. Let's talk about whatever. And then over that you build a relationship and over time maybe it takes you can you can build that kind of relationship where you can deal with the difficult things.

Again, we're talking about the all these things with meal and you're like, well, I thought this was a worship class. Well, it it impacts who we're going to worship with. This is a not only a model of how we're to do it, a meal being an example, but meals can actually bring us together to do things together. Uh that sometimes can't happen when we're in a worship setting, if you will.

Luke 14 starting in verse 12. He, meaning Jesus, also said to the one who had invited him, "When you give a lunch or a dinner, don't invite your friends, your brothers, or your sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid. On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard this, heard him say these things. He said to him, "Blessed is the one who eat the bread in the kingdom of God."

Then he being Jesus again against told him a man was giving a large banquet and invited many at the time of the banquet. He sent his servant to tell those who were invited, "Come because everything is now ready." But without exception, they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, "I have bought a field and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me." Another said, "I have bought five yolk of oxin and I'm going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me. Another said, I just got married and therefore I'm unable to come.

So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, "Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame." "Master," the servant said, "what you ordered has been done, and there's still room." Then the master told him the servant, "Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, not one of these people who were invited will enjoy my banquet."

Now, there's several things that we see in this passage. A couple things I want you to understand, to remember, is these weren't people being invited to a banquet last minute. He said, "Go get the people that were invited." And in that time when you were invited, you responded. You let them know you're coming. You were expected to come. And it took a long time to prepare a feast. It wasn't like they threw together some Triscuits and cheese at the last minute. It was a big deal. And these banquetss would often go on for several days. Took massive preparations, great amount of resources to make them happen. And then at the last minute, he says, "Go, these people haven't shown up. Go get the people that are supposed to come to the banquet." And they all made excuses. I bought a field. I got to go see. Well, who buys a field and doesn't look at it? I bought five oak of oxen and tried them out. You would try them out before you bought them. I have a wife and can't come. Okay, you knew you had a wife when you said you were coming. It was It's not a surprise that you're married now. All these people are just making excuses.

So, they went out to others and had them come in and still more. So, what do we see see from this story that Jesus is giving? First of all, in this story, God is the host. He's the one saying, "I'm inviting people to my banquet, the ultimate banquet. I'm inviting you here." And salvation is the invitation to come to this banquet. I'm inviting you. And this story had to cut to the hearts of the nation of Israel because he's saying, "Look, you were the ones. You're my chosen people. You said you're with me. I'm telling you it's time." And they're like, you know, we're good. We've got all our own stuff to take care of. we're self-sufficient. We don't need to be there. And Jesus is warning them, hey, if you take this attitude when when invited to salvation and you reject it, you're going to miss out on the feast.

Yet those that recognize they need a savior. The poor and the broken enter gladly coming to receive it all. As a matter of fact, they enter with humility and almost surprised. Why would God forgive somebody who's as messed up as I am? And that's really the attitude we should come to God with. It's like, God, I might think I've done all this for you, but if I know my heart and you know my heart better, I don't deserve any of this. I don't deserve you. And yet, you're allowing me to come in. So, it's this grace from God that actually redefineses who the guests are um in in man's economy. Hey, I've done all these great things. I've got all this wealth. I'm a good person. I get in. But in God's economy, that's not how it works. It's grace that gets you in, not reciprocity. It's God's mercy that gets you in, not what you can do for God. Uh we are to invite those who cannot repay. And you say, "Well, how do we know?" Well, let me give you a little tip. That's everybody. Nobody can repay Jesus for what he's done for us. And anybody thinks they can is just fooling themselves. uh hospitality resists this I've earned my way this transactional kind of relationship instead it's redefined by God's mercy and grace that the guest list is there to many as many as receive him to them he gave power to become the children of God you have to receive the grace giving gift for this to make sense if you haven't done that pause the video now's a great time to pray to God and say God, I've been trying to barter with you. I've been trying to earn my way and I'm trying to be a good person. But you know me and you know I'm not. Cuz let me just tell you, if you're watching this video or whether you're not, you're not a good person compared to God. You can never reach his goodness. And it's only by receiving this grace that he's giving you that you are on the guest list. Get that right with God.

Now, now Jesus himself prayed that that would then draw us to him and we become unified. We've talked about this before. We don't become unified by getting everybody to agree with me. We have unity because we are all striving to be more like Jesus. Unity, therefore, is not optional. It is missional. This is how they'll know your disciples because you love one another. That's where unity comes from is from us loving one another in into a relationship with Jesus Christ and in a relationship with one another. Unity is a great witness to the world. And we've talked about that some before. Living out a life of unity, not uniformity, but unity where we are all striving for the same thing. Where we are all trying to become more like Jesus. And we're not doing it of our own strength. We're doing it from God's work in our lives. That is a witness to the world. That is missional to the world.

John Sto puts this way. He says, "Our love must be active, costly, and inclusive. We open our homes, our hearts, and our tables." The point I want you to see here from Mr. Sto is that uh this is not just a passive thing. Yeah, I love you. Okay, prove it. How show how do you show your love for one another? By sharing what you have. by actively engaging with others, by paying the cost, by being inclusive. This is what comes from this unity is striving to care for one another. And our love is then shown to each other and to the world as we love God by loving others.

Proverbs 22:9 says, "A generous person will be blessed for he shares his food with the poor." We be we are to be generous. Again, we're not I'm not saying all of you are wealthy, but all of us have something we can share. And uh there are us there you can usually find someone who's less welloff than you are. And it's not always just the person on the street corner. And unfortunately, many of those I don't know about your area, but many of those in my area are professionals. They they make more money than I do because they're panhandling to to take advantage of people's kindness. Uh there are many people that do that that are in need. And we are to share with people. We're to care for those that are truly in need. But we're also not just those on the street, but there are people in your church that may have come to church hungry that morning because they didn't have money for breakfast. Uh there are people in your church that they they don't have heat turned on in their house. They don't have adequate clothing. We're not to look down at them. We're to thank God for the opportunity to humbly and quietly be a blessing to them. Not seeking their favor or approval or applause or that of anyone else, but instead doing it as an offering to the Lord.

Jesus in his plan reversed the way that the world looks at things. As a matter of fact, his disciples were arguing over who should be the greatest, who should sit at Jesus' right hand and his left hand. And Jesus said, "If you want to be first, you're to be a servant of all because the first will be last and the last will be first." We don't look at things the way the world looks at it. We also don't look at things the way the world looks at it when it comes to those that are enemies. And you may go, "Well, I don't have any enemies." Do you have somebody you're not speaking to anymore? Somebody you have a conflict with? Maybe you're not even you're not even doing anything to them. It's all them to you. So, you're to love those people to pray for those who persecute you. Uh, this this goes against what the world teaches us. Uh, it goes against what what many would say, "Hey, man, I'm going to get even with them." And Jesus on the sermon on the mount says that's not how it should be. You should pray for them. You should pray for God's blessings on them. You should show care to them. And who knows, maybe through this you win a friend.

So when we look at the table, one of the questions we need to ask is who's missing from the table? Are we looking for uh potluck comfort or are we looking for kingdom compassion? Well, what do I mean by that? Well, potluck comfort is uh I want all the people at the table that just make me happy. I want all the foods at the table that make me happy. Or do I look at it from a kingdom enterprise? When you have holiday celebrations, do you look for those who don't have some place to go? When you are just having a meal on Sunday, do you have ways to care for those that maybe don't have anybody to go home to? Look for who's absent, not just who's present.

There are some churches that I've been in that they will have name tags for everybody printed up ahead of time. And the reason why they do that is one, when you come in, you see your name, it makes you feel welcome. but also they can go afterwards and they can look at all the people that weren't there and uh and say, "Oh, hey, this is who's not here. Let's not forget about them. Let's go and take care of them. Let's go and look for them and let them know that they are valued." So, who do you know that's not been there? Who do you know? Think about who haven't you seen for a while? Because if somebody doesn't come for several weeks and be a part of your group or come to your gatherings or be in worship and you don't reach out to them, they're going to think, well, they didn't really care that I was there anyway. And they're going to feel marginalized and disenfranchised. They're not going to feel like they are part of that family.

My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Don't give preference or difference to some. Yes, you have friends. you have people you like hanging out with. I'm not saying don't ever do that, but find somebody who doesn't get included. Uh it's amazing. We'll see some Facebook story of somebody who includes somebody who normally is mocked or or excluded at school and we'll we'll all give it a like or a love and we'll say how great that is. Yet, we don't make the same effort to do the things that we see middle schoolers and high schoolers doing when we're in the body of Christ. We have people in our own churches that are are just isolated and it's difficult for them to come together and worship because they don't really feel apart. Sundays are feasts of fellowship. We need to ask who feels unwelcome because of language, class, race or story. We need to pursue hospitality. Uh, do we have people coming from different nationalities? Do they feel like they belong? Do they feel like they have any hope of being a someone who serves or leads or helps as a part of worship? Do we include things from their heritage and how they worship? Do we ever sit down and have a conversation with them just to hear their story like what is worship like for you and where your home was? And do we pursue that with them and find ways of making them included? Not just something that's incremental or like here's a little little task we're doing to make you think, okay, yeah, we're cool. But how do we really make them feel included?

Romans 12 says, "Share with the saints and their needs and pursue hospitality." It is not a passive thing. It is an active thing to engage with others. Hospitality is not intended to change people, but to offer them a space where change can take place. So, we're not coming here to try to change you. Come in and be like us. Do things like us. We want this to be a safe place where you can encounter God and you can grow as a follower of Christ. You can grow as a disciple.

So, think about a potluck. We talked some about that in a previous session. Having a potluck where our only dish one dish is good enough uh puts preference over the gospel. Think about that. What if you came to a potluck and there was just one dish at that meal? Everybody had to eat my ramen noodles and that's the only dish we could have. Well, that's just silly. Yet, we often try to do that when it comes to worship. We try to do that when it comes to being with together with people of other nationalities or languages or affinities. We try to say you need to be like us in order to worship here. Uh that is not a healthy diet. Instead, we ought to learn from all. There are some that are quiet and contemplative in their worship. And there's others that dance and wave banners. Uh there are some that sing songs that were that were key to the history of their people and how God cared for them. uh do we have all those things uh taking place in our worship in in meaningful and appropriate ways?

Uh Vanopsel says not to avoid tension but to disciple people through it. Uh we are not to see the differences and let those things just be things that we're just not going to deal with it. We don't want to have conflict because if we do something there, we're going to have people people that uh don't like it. She told this story in her book of uh there was a church that was very multicultural. It was reaching a lot of people and there were some people that were saying, "Yeah, we don't like this. We don't we don't like this kind of thing of worship and that kind of thing of worship." And they were core people and big givers. And unfortunately, the the leaders of the church didn't want to lose the people that were complaining. So, they went away from being inclusive of others. And before long, they became more of a monocultural church again. uh instead we need to work through the tension and when you have tension it becomes a great opportunity to disciple people and say let's talk about this why is it that you don't like it what is it you don't like about it and why is it important that we kind of work through that and help people to grow help people to become more mature just because you've been a Christian a long time doesn't mean you're mature you can have things that you need to grow through and having tension actually makes us have to deal with things. We don't grow when everything is just peachy keen, everything's easy. We grow when there's adversity. We grow when there's trial. We need to grow through that tension. Iron sharpens iron and one person sharpens another. When we look at this passage in Proverbs, we also often think of it as we're just teaching each other. Well, the reality is that iron sharpening iron is can be a a painful process. It it it requires force and friction, maybe sparks, but you you've got things happening there where both get sharper because they've worked through the tension that is in those tools or weapons.

Conflict then is not the opposite of community is where community becomes real. The church at the table is where we practice the kingdom, wrestle with the difference, formed into Christ. We have community, we're going to have conflict. And when we have conflict, that's when we know we're really a community. If you just get there and you're like, "How you doing, brother?" And, "Oh, I'm blessed in the Lord." And we never ever uh have any tension between us that we need to work through, we're probably not living that close of a life together. Now, I'm not saying go out and artificially create conflict or good, Gary just gave me permission to go be a real pain to somebody at church. That's not the point. If you're in community, conflict is going to come naturally. You don't need to seek it out. But when it comes, that's the time when we can learn to be more mature, to put aside our preferences for the sake of the community.

Colossians 3 says, "Therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has his grievance against another, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity." If everyone agrees all the time, somebody's probably just being quiet. It's going to come. And as we saw in Colossians, when we do that, we then strive to get back to unity. Not just suppressing things, but really working through it together, seeking the unity in the in the body of Christ.

My dear brothers and sisters, understand this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. for human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness. This is a great tip on how to to work through some of these tensions and conflict. If you're natural tendency is to get the first and last word in to make your point and make sure that everybody sees it the way you are, you're not living out this passage. Instead, we're to be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to anger. So if we're calm and listen, we might learn something. We might grow in some ways. Uh I've I've learned often, and this is in scripture, that when we listen a lot of times we can turn away anger. You know how sometimes I deal with someone attacking with me? I say absolutely nothing. I'm not ignoring them. I'm listening. I'm being attentive. They can tell I'm paying attention to what they say, but I sit there and listen. And part of that is silence lets them listen to what they just said. And it becomes part of their maturing process when they have to think through this and think, "Yeah, what I just said was really mean or was really stupid and I apologize." You don't have to correct them. They correct themselves. Whereas if you just make point and counterpoint, hit and counter hit and you're battling, it just ramps up and anger takes over and wisdom is left the building. Instead, we need to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and above all, slow to anger.

So, in scripture, we have what's maybe ideal, but what's real. It says in Luke 22, there was a dispute that also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest. I mentioned this before. Uh we we're wanting our preference and instead of seeking our own and trying to elevate ourselves, we need to look at the way that Jesus did it. Jesus came in and in John 13 as he's preparing for his death, he didn't come and start saying, "Okay guys, here's the deal. I'm in charge every and and just started hammering it." That's not where he started. He did give them instructions, but what he started with is he came in and he he took off his outer cloak and he washed their feet. He said, "So if I, your Lord and teacher," he's recognizing who he is, "have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you." If we go into the situation seeking our own conflicts, arise and build. But if we go into a conflict situation and say, "I just want to I just want to show you love. I just want to care for you. Let me wash your feet." Not in a hottie way, not in I'm better than you way, but just truly with a servant's heart with humility and love, we can be an example to others and we can diffuse much what's going on.

So hospitality, hospitality isn't about avoiding conflict. Hospital, I can't even say it. Hospitality is about inviting the spirit to transform us through it. We're not trying to get away from all conflict. Instead, we're trying to have God's spirit guide us how to love one another and be with one another and grow with one another. This is important when coming together from many cultures. It's important in any church, but especially when we have such great diversity.

The test of spiritual maturity is not how much we know but how well we love those who disagree with us. Dallas Willard. Uh that is the mature one. Uh too many people equate biblical maturity is being able to recite much scripture or knowing the stories well or knowing who's who's the son of the son of the son of the son in the lineage. Those are good things to know. I'm not mocking those. It's important to have Bible knowledge. But if you have a choice of obeying a certain amount of scripture or knowing more scripture and not obeying it, I'd rather obey what I know and continue to grow. That's true spiritual maturity. And it's not how much we know, but how much we love. That we can understand. That one's pretty clear from the beginning that God is love and he expects us to love one another.

So there's some common tensions that we see. I'm going to give you four main categories of common tensions and kind of break those down a bit. What are some of the kind of tensions that come in a multicultural church uh when it comes to worship u when it comes to doing life together?

First of all, cultural and musical. What do we mean by that? Well, there's there's so much difference. You know, we have different music and different dance and different things from our cultures. Why would that not take place in our worship? The idea of worship isn't for all of us to do hymns from Europe or all of us to do contemporary Christian music. Uh the idea of worship is for us to worship in our heart language and tone and rhythms and to give our best expression of that as an offering to God. Uh so our time tone and communication styles are going to be very different. You're going to have some that are very upbeat and expressive and some that are very reverent. You're going to have different song choices. It shouldn't just be taking all the American songs and putting them in other languages or all the Spanish songs or Portuguese songs and saying, "Everybody else has to sing these songs. We're just going to translate them." Yeah, we do some of that and that's great. We can share, but we also should have things from our own language, things that come up from our own history and how God has provided or delivered or blessed or helped us in times of loss. uh every song that we have creates a culture of hospitality when we're inclusive of others.

The second category is leadership and economic. Uh how can we come together and be the church when only certain people have have all the leadership. You know, you've got to be a professional, you've got to have an advanced degree, you you have to be this and that in order to lead. And you you may be a highly educated uh very successful business person or attorney or doctor but be spiritually immature. That doesn't mean you should be the leader because you've got all this credibility in the world. Those who are spiritually mature and who are called specifically to lead are the ones that should lead. But we also need to include all the people of the church and empower people intentionally to be a part of that process. Another thing is in how we share resources. We shouldn't come to the table. And it's talking about in Acts 2 uh 46-47. It's it's the passage where it talks about how so many came to faith in Christ, the those that thousands that came to faith at Pentecost and others after this story, but they came together and they they worshiped together and they met from home to home and they shared what they had and nobody was lacking because they shared everything they had in common. Uh we need to take care of inequality in the church. We shouldn't have those who are absolutely affluent and those who who can't feed their family or care for them.

There's theological differences and now some of that's because we come from different faith backgrounds, some of that's because we come from different cultures. But the theological differences um we need to stay true to the gospel. There are some things that are non-negotiable. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And no one gets to the father except through him. Uh it is by faith in him. It's by faith in him that we are saved. It's by grace alone that we're saved. And as we come to faith, we are baptized uh out of obedience and out of a witness to the world that we are his. These are things that are non-negotiable. These are things that are made very clear in scripture. There are other issues that are secondary issues or even tertiary issues that are more debatable and uh we can have differences on those things. So um we what we mean by this is in the essentials we need to have unity. We need to agree uh in things that are non-essential we can have liberty. Okay, I don't see it that way but that's okay. That's not going to be a point where we can't fellowship together. But in all these things, we need to show love. We need to be loving in the way that we speak the truth to one another. And we see this throughout scripture. Uh when there's disagreement, show show love to people. Have maturity and love people through that tension.

And then mercy at the table. Jesus reframes holiness as mercy. And we're going to look at this passage in a moment in Matthew 9. The community was formed around the table. So let's let's take a look at this passage.

While Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked the disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Now when he heard this, he said, 'It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Uh we should be in the world but not of the world. Uh when scripture tells us that, it's saying spend time with those who don't know Jesus. I have to tell you, there are a lot of times I seem I tend to have more patience with those who do not know Jesus than I do some that do because I get frustrated with those that do know Jesus when they act like they don't know Jesus. But those that don't know Jesus, uh, I recognize that I can't expect them to live by the teachings of scripture. I can't expect them to live as if the Holy Spirit is within them. So, I have much more patience with them. uh and not that I shouldn't have patience with everyone, but I have patience with them and give grace to them and and try to love them to the point where they are in that loving relationship with Jesus Christ. Whereas those who are believers and don't live like it, that one uh I need to have patience, but I also still need to speak the truth with with them. Well, Jesus said, "I'm coming to spend time with those that don't know the way, that don't think they're righteous. I'm coming to reach those who are sinners. Come and have breakfast, Jesus told them. This is what hap this passage, by the way, in John 21 is after Jesus had been he had died. He'd been crucified. He

was buried and resurrected. He'd already appeared to the disciples a couple of times. And here it is. Uh, this is a a morning when the disciples, some of them are out fishing. And he says to them, "Come and have breakfast." Jesus told them. None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish.

So, what happened in this passage is that Jesus went to them in a time when uh, he could have shunned them. I mean, they all ran from him when he was taken prisoner. They all ran away and hid and Peter stuck around, but just as Jesus told him, you're going to deny me three times. So here here are people that have left him to be crucified. Uh, here's Peter who denied he even knew him. Yet he's saying come have breakfast. And as we know in scripture, you don't do that with somebody you don't care about. You don't do that with somebody you're not welcoming. Jesus was discipling them even by what he was doing and saying, "Come have breakfast with me. It's okay. We're going to be fine. We're all right."

So what can we do uh to be more like Jesus? When we when we are discipling through tension, we want to assume the best about people. Uh, be quick to listen as we heard and and that helps us to to not just come in with certain agendas or beliefs in mind. Uh, speak the truth in love. We still need to be honest with people. When sin is in the camp, we need to address that sin, but we need to do it in a way that's redemptive. We need to stay focused on the gospel. We need to center in the good news of the gospel. Um, keep bringing it back to Jesus, not about our feelings or whatever. Not saying we can't we can't encounter those things, but try to get them back to the gospel and then ultimately stay at the table. Um, don't just go, well, I'm done with them and walk away. Do your best to restore a brother.

Now, eventually it tells us in Matthew 18, if you have a brother who's living in sin and you confront him about it and he won't repent, you are to you are not to be at the table with him. But it's for their sake to help them hopefully wake up to their sin and and have a chance to be saved from that, to recover from that. But otherwise, we're to stay at the table with people. And as we do this, we see through again throughout scripture that God is working in this. In Psalm 23, you prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies. Uh, you you see this happening. Uh, Jesus hosts people in a meal in Luke 22 when he brings them together and and shares about what's going to happen to them. The spirit extends the meal and cares for people as it's telling us in Acts two as they ate together. And then ultimately we're we're aiming for the ultimate potluck, the ultimate banquet where we come together and we get to celebrate the wedding feast of the lamb when we're together ultimately with God in heaven. Uh, over and over and over again through the table we are hearing the story of redemption and how it is a blessing to us. In Revelation 19:9 he said Jesus talking. He said he said to me write blessed are those invited to the marriage feast of the lamb. He also said to me these words of God are true. God wants to bless us and our ultimate destination is that banquet of the redeemed. That is the mission that we're on and it ends in a beautiful meal.

So keep in mind this central theme. Tension in the body does not equal failure. Tension means that we're a family. And staying at the table makes grace visible and gives the church credibility to each other and to the world. And Jesus wants us to be at that table with him. In Revelation 3:20, he says, "See, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me." Uh, Jesus isn't barging in. He's saying, "I want to be there with you." But we have to welcome him in. And again, he wouldn't do that if he didn't think we're important because we know that dining with somebody in Jesus' time, uh, that was a meaningful thing, a meaningful commitment. When the church eats and drinks together across its barriers, it announces the new creation has begun. We're to pray that thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We're not supposed to wait for heaven to get together for the big banquet. We're to do it now as the nations come together. So I encourage you in God's love, go and do that. Bond with each other and out of that our true worship, our multicultural worship can happen. God bless you all. Praise [Music] the Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How can I keep it inside? Praise the Lord, oh my soul.