Session 4: How the Gospel Transforms Ethnic Divisions
- John Onwuchekwa
- Jan 10, 2012
- Series: JBC 2012
- Categories: January Bible Conference
Genesis 1:28 – “…be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth…”
Genesis 9:1 – “..be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth…”
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.
This produces…..
Complete contention against God. His will is an obstacle in the way of experiencing what they want.
5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of man had built.
6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
Corporate Narcissism has become Ethnic Narcissim
This can only produce…
Division, competition and contention.
These distinctions aren’t something to be repaired….they’ll be preserved.
Revelation 5:9-10/7:9-10 – People of every tribe, nation, and tongue will worship together
Ethnic distinctions are opportunities for God’s glory, not obstacles that need to be overcome
6 And at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language{…}11 we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. 12And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
The fame and greatness and worth of an object of beauty increases in proportion to the diversity of those who recognize it’s beauty. If a work of art is regarded as great among a small and like-minded group of people, but not by anyone else, the art is probably not truly great. It’s qualities are such that it does not appeal to the deep universals in our hearts, but only to provincial biases…
…But, if a work of art continues to win more and more admirers not only across cultures but also across decades and centuries, then its greatness is irresistibly manifested.”
- John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad