OPEN HEARTS
" After this I looked, and behold, a great
Continued from page 6
own thing. We don’t need to be in the are in heaven, culture and ethnicity must
same spaces; we just want to have equal be good and intended. They should not be
standing. It’s what they’ve tried in Canada erased but affirmed.
and Europe under a multicultural banner,
but that’s struggling, too.
In recent times a third view has arisen:
Still, our primary identity is in Christ. As
2 Corinthians 5:17 teaches, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation. Because of this,
“Make America great again.” For many reconciliation is possible. Galatians 3:28 is
ethnic minorities, the idea again is there to remind us that, although we have a
problematic: diversity of ethnic
When was identities, we are
America great
for us?
With three
competing
versions, which
should the
church embrace?
We might ask:
THIS IS GOD’S KINGDOM:
EVERY ETHNICITY, NATION, TRIBE AND
PEOPLE PRESENT AT THE THRONE. AND
BECAUSE THEY ARE IN HEAVEN, CULTURE
AND ETHNICITY MUST BE GOOD AND
INTENDED. THEY SHOULD NOT BE
ERASED BUT AFFIRMED.
But isn’t God
Jesus.
Given this,
let’s avoid these
three competing
visions for
multiculturalism.
What if we looked
at ourselves as
colorblind? Doesn’t he say in Galatians a “world-class symphony,” where every
3:28 that there is “neither Jew nor Gentile, part is valued and encouraged, where we
neither slave nor free, nor is there male and work together instead of each doing our
female” (NIV)? own thing? Where we are encouraged to
But in Revelation 7:9, heaven contains a
succeed and grow. Where we have many
multitude from every nation, tribe, people parts—but still, together, make beautiful
and tongue. Here, the word “nation” comes music.
from the Greek ethnos, where we get the
word “ethnicity.” This is God’s kingdom:
every ethnicity, nation, tribe and people
present at the throne. And because they
8
still one in Christ
F O U R S Q U A R E Leade r
Rev. Dr. James Choung is vice president of strategy and
innovation at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. This article
is adapted from the message he presented to the Foursquare
cabinet last spring.
multitude that no one could number,
from every nation, from all tribes
and peoples and languages,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed in white robes, with palm branches in
their hands, and crying out with a loud voice,
'Salvation belongs to
our God who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb!' "
REVELATION 7:9-10 (ESV)