Was Diversity God's Original Plan? | Cross Culture

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This week we're launching a brand new

teaching series called Cross Culture, where we're

looking at questions of identity, culture, language,

and ethnicity to see what God has to say to us

about all of those things. And we're launching

this series with a quick overview of the entire

story of Scripture. From Genesis to Revelation,

what does God have to tell us about culture?

Was God's plan that we should always be a multicultural,

multilingual world or was God looking for uniformity?

Those are just some of the questions that Rob

is going to unpack for us in today's sermon.

all the people's chief priests and teachers of

the law, he asked them where the Messiah was

to be born. In Bethlehem and Judea, they replied,

for this is what the prophet has written. But

you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by

no means least among the rulers of Judah, for

out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd

my people Israel. Then Herod called the Magi

secretly and found out from them the exact time

the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem

and said, go and search carefully for the child.

As soon as you find him, report to me so that

I too may go and worship him. After they had

heard the king, They went on their way, and the

star they had seen when it rose went ahead of

them until it stopped over the place where the

child was. When they saw the star, they were

overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the

child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down

and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures

and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense,

and myrrh. and having been warned in a dream

not to go back to Herod, they returned to their

country by another route. The word of the Lord.

That story that you just heard is one that we

have heard lots of times before. Most of us have,

right? The Magi follow a star, they journey far,

they come to Jesus, they bring their gifts of

gold and frankincense and myrrh, and then they

don't want to get caught in Herod's trap, so

they head back to their own country by a different

route. We've heard that story a thousand times.

But the question that we don't often stop to

ask is why are they there at all? I mean, why

include this strange story of foreigners who

were coming to worship the Jewish Messiah? And

where were they from, actually? Where were they

from? And some people think they were from Yemen.

Some say that they were from India, maybe even

China, right? Some of the early Christian art

has them dressed in Persian garb. So maybe they

were from Persia, but maybe also like Jordan

or Iran or Iraq, you know, present day countries

that we know of. But why does... include these

guys at all. It is not because he needed more

characters for his Christmas pageant and it is

not because he wanted a nice sentimental ending

to the Christmas story. No, the Magi are a flashing

neon sign that is saying pay attention to this.

This is more important than you know because

the Magi are reminding us about something that

has been building through throughout the entire

Bible, right? And that is that God has a plan

from the very beginning of the Bible. God has

a plan that every tribe and every tongue and

every nation would be drawn to Jesus. And there

they are, the Magi, to remind us that God's kingdom

is meant to be filled with people who don't look

like us, people who don't speak like us, and

people who don't come from the same countries

as us, and yet all of these diverse people coming

and bringing their gifts to Jesus. This is a

picture of a multicultural kingdom. And today

we are beginning a brand new teaching series

that we are calling Cross Culture and we're going

to be going through this for the whole month

of January and over the next few weeks we are

going to be exploring what it means to follow

Jesus in a world and in a city especially that

is shaped by deep cultural diversity and and

we're going to be joined by some wonderful voices

some other teachers in the weeks ahead so that's

going to be amazing but basically that the premise

of this series is really really simple God has

a great plan God's great plan is to create a

multicultural, multilingual, multinational group

of people that is called the church. And those

Magi, they are just one example of what that

looks like. Now this is going to be both a challenge

and an opportunity for us. It's a challenge because

we live in Mississauga. And Mississauga is one

of the most diverse cities in the country. There

are over 200 nations that live here in Mississauga,

speaking over 150 languages. And they're all

living close together. And Trinity streetsville

sits like right at the intersection of all that

that is going on. So the question is, what does

that mean for us? mean for you? What does that

mean for us as a church? How do we reflect some

of that diversity in our life here? These are

not easy questions. If we knew the answers to

those questions, we might not need to do this

whole teaching series. But that's the challenge.

But there is also an opportunity that comes with

that. Because the diversity of our city gives

us a chance gives us an opportunity to do something

that many churches in many other parts of the

world just cannot do and that is we can rediscover.

what the church was always meant to be. Not a

community where everybody comes in and then we

assimilate them and say, you need to look like

us. And yet not a church where people come in

and then they all go to their own areas and we

segregate them and we say, you know, you stay

over there. No, no, no. What would it look like

to be a church where diversity on the one hand

and unity on the other hand, both exist together?

We get that chance. Right? And so like the Magi,

we are going to set out on a journey. It is a

journey to discover God's heart for diversity.

It is a journey to discover God's vision for

a multi -ethnic church. It is a journey to discover

God's mission that has brought, believe me, it

has brought the nations of the world to our very

doorstep. Now, Some people may say, Rob, you

seem really hyped up about this. Why are you

so so energized? And why is this so important?

Because, Rob, after all, I've read the Bible

and I know that in the Bible it says that in

Christ we are all one. And therefore all those

differences like race and culture, those all

kind of fade into the background. Aren't we all

just one, Rob? And that's true. We are one. But

just because we are one in Christ does not mean

that we are all the same. Unity. is not the same

as uniformity. And in Christ, yes, we are all

equal, but we're not identical. We are all one,

but we're not the same. We're all united, but

we're not uniform. And then somebody else might

raise another objection and say, well, listen,

Rob, you know, I've read the Bible and come on,

surely God's original plan was that we were all

one culture, that we were all one language, that

we are all kind of one ethnic group, right? Adam

and Eve, the Garden of Eden, wasn't that God's

original plan? Wasn't that God's plan? And all

this diversity that we see in the world, actually,

Rob, they say, isn't that a result of sin? because

Rob I read the Bible and I know that there was

a story in the Bible and they're talking about

Genesis chapter 11 the story of the Tower of

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

Babel and they'll say in that story Rob humanity

sinned and they wanted to build this great big

tower and God got angry and he said no you're

not gonna do that so he confused their language

and then he sent them all across the earth and

and that's where culture comes from that's where

all the linguistic difference comes from It's

a result of human sin. Diversity was never God's

plan A. Maybe it was God's plan B or plan C,

but it was never God's plan A. And that is actually,

I think, a very common reading. But today I'm

going to show you how deeply mistaken that reading

is. What I am going to show you is that diversity

and a multi -ethnic, multicultural, multilingual

people was always God's plan A from the very

beginning. And I'm going to take you through

the Bible and show you that. But before I share

with you the biblical story about that, I thought

I should share a little bit about my own story

because How we hear this whole conversation has

a lot to do with where we came from ourselves.

And I want to let you know that I was born and

raised in a very monocultural setting. I was

from a little town called Fisherville, Ontario.

There was about 250 families that lived there

and they all look the same. They all look like

me. If I was to show you the class photos of

my elementary upbringing, you would say they

all look like you, Rob. They all look the same.

There was no people of color in any of my classes.

But I do remember the first time that a black

student joined our school. And I remember it

because it was so different. That's where I come

from. And then when I went to high school, things

got maybe better, but maybe not. At our high

school, about 10 % of the student population

came from the Six Nations Reservation, which

was right nearby our high school. But the truth

is, right, all the indigenous students mostly

kept to themselves, and we kept to ourselves,

right? We were in the same building, we were

in the same hallways, but we were worlds apart

as people. And then I want to say that even the

very first churches I attended and the first

churches that I pastored, if I admit to you that

they were all very, as they say, waspy, right?

White, Anglo -Saxon, Protestant. And I don't

mean that to be insulting. I don't mean that

to be disparaging in any way. What I'm just trying

to say is that's what life was like for me. That's

kind of where I... come from. And at some point

I realized I needed a bigger vision of the world.

I needed to experience a more multicultural context.

And I'm not lying to say that this is one of

the reasons why we decided to relocate to Toronto.

And I worked for two years at a big downtown

church. And man, oh, man, the script was flipped.

All of a sudden I was part of a very diverse

congregation. I was part of a very diverse staff

team. And every morning when I got on the subway

I was deeply aware that I was usually the only

white person on the subway car and I wish that

meant that now I understand diversity and I wish

that meant to say now I know how to pastor a

multicultural multi -ethnic church but I still

have a long way to go maybe you still have a

long way to go But I'll tell you what better

place to learn about God's multicolored vision

for the kingdom of God than right here at Trinity

together. And so as we go through this month,

I shared my story. I want you to think about

your own story. Some of you, maybe you also grew

up like me in a very monocultural setting. Others,

completely opposite. Maybe it was a very diverse

setting where you grew up and were formed. Some

of you grew up in another country and you're

just now trying to figure out the culture here

in Canada for the first time. Some of you never

had to think about race at all until you had

to think about race. We've all got different

stories, different starting points, but here's

the key thing. However, multiculturalism intersects

with your story. It is deeply embedded in God's

story from beginning to end. And so in the time

that I've got left with you this morning, I am

going to whisk you through the whole Bible. Yeah,

that's not ambitious. Take you through the whole

Bible and show you that God's plan A has always

been. to create a diverse church. I've given

you some notes to follow along. This is going

to be a bit of a blitz. And if you're new to

the Bible or if you're not familiar with some

of the stories I'm about to share, I've put little

references in those notes so maybe after church

you can go back and you can read the stories

in their entirety. But let's begin at the very

best place. Let's begin at the beginning. with

God. Did you know that before God created a single

thing, diversity already existed within God?

Scripture tells us that God is one and yet God

is three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And these

three persons are different and distinct on the

one hand, but they are united on the other hand.

So you see what God is? God is a diverse community.

Diversity isn't something that God created. It

is something that God is. It is part of the very

fabric of our reality. And that means, that means

this, that when Genesis 1 says, Let's make humans

in our image that we too then are made for this

diversity and distinctiveness and yet we're also

made for unity on the other hand. Diversity is

baked into who God is and therefore it is baked

into who we are as image bearers of God. That

is before God has created a single thing or a

single human being. Diversity is at the center

of reality, right? Genesis 1 though doesn't just

tell us who we are, it tells us what we're for.

And what God does is he blesses humanity. He

says, now I want you to go and I want you to

go and be fruitful and I want you to multiply

and I want you to to fill the earth. Right. And

so and so notice this does not say, hey, I want

you to stay in one place. It doesn't say I want

you to build one culture. It doesn't say I want

you to speak one language. God says fill the

earth, which means that human beings spreading

around the world wasn't a curse. It wasn't a

curse. It wasn't Plan B. It was God's Plan A

from the very beginning. And that's exactly what

happens. By the time we read Genesis 10, we read

that people are spreading into other lands, that

people from the coast are moving around and language

and clans and nations are all forming. That was

God's original plan. Go, spread, multiply, create

culture, right? That humanity would do all this.

Absolutely beautiful, beautiful. But then comes

the Tower of Babel that I spoke to you about

and and yes God may have wanted a multi -ethnic

multilingual world But humans wanted sameness

Humans wanted monoculture, and so they resisted

God's plan to fill the earth. They said, I don't

think so, God. They said, I think we're going

to stay here in this place, and we're going to

build just a great big city, and we're going

to build a great big tower that reaches to the

heavens, because if we don't do that, you know

what's going to happen? I know what's going to

happen. We're going to get scattered all over

the whole earth, and we don't want that. Humanity

is resisting God's plan A. They're choosing sameness

over diversity. And and we still do this today.

As the theologian Letty Russell said, we like

these tower builders continue to struggle with

difference, differences of race and ethnicity

and gender and age and so on. We like those people

of Babel feel it's easier sometimes if we were

all just the same, right? If we all just came

from the same place, if we all just look the

same, but that is not God's plan. God's plan,

plan A has always been diversity. And so God

confuses the people's language and they have

to therefore stop building the city, stop building

this monocultural city and they're scattered.

But hear me on this. This scattering is not a

punishment. It is simply. God getting us back

on track, God getting back to plan A, God getting

back to his multicultural plan A. It's all part

of the plan. Now, immediately after Babel, God

calls this guy Abraham. He says, Abraham, listen.

I want to make you into a great nation. I will

bless you. Well, wait a second, guy. What? You're

just going to bless him? You're just going to

bless his people? You're just taking care of

one nation? No, no, no. Because we read on, he

says, through you, all the people of the earth

will be blessed. So you see what God's doing

here. God's plan is to use Abraham to accomplish

His multi -national vision, right? Israel is

chosen not instead of the nations. Israel is

chosen for the nations. Abraham and Israel afterwards

were supposed to be agents of God's plan A, right?

To bless the nations of the world, to take the

good news of God to the world and to create a

unity, but in diversity. And that sounds like

a great big job. You might say, well, how on

earth could one man, one family, one people group

bless the whole nations of the world? Well, the

answer was this. They were supposed to live their

lives in such a way, according to God's command,

to live their lives in such a way, embodying

God's love that the nations of the world would

look at them and say, oh my gosh, do you see

that people group over there? And they would

be drawn back to the God of Israel. They would

not be drawn back into one culture. They would

not be but they would be drawn back to God. in

diversity. Again, this was plan A all along.

And if you read through Israel's song book during

that time, the book of Psalms, you'd see there

are songs in there for the nations and not just

for one people, right? Psalm 67, for example,

says, May God be gracious to us and bless us,

just us. No, so that your ways may be known on

earth and your salvation known among all nations

these songs that Israel was singing were not

meant to be sung solo the whole world all the

nations all the cultures were supposed to join

them in singing these songs of worship it's almost

like it's almost like God wanted Israel to be

like this lighthouse Where his light and love

would shine through the glass of their lives

So that the nations all the nations might worship

him this way unity in diversity And it sounds

good but over time those windows became more

like mirrors and Instead of shining God's light

to the nations Israel wanted to save that light

for themselves Do you remember for example the

story of Jonah? You guys remember the story of

Jonah? God sends Jonah to go preach to another

nation, the nation of Nineveh. Why? Because that's

plan A, right? To go to the nations, right? But

Jonah says, no, I'm not going. No way. He refuses.

He doesn't want to cross that cultural boundary.

He is fixated on his own ethnic purity. He believes

that only his culture is good enough to receive

God's love and grace. And so he won't go. And

so God has to use a storm and he has to use a

whale to get Jonah back on course for Plan A.

And we are all a little bit like Jonah, I would

say. We are often uncomfortable with those who

don't look like us, those who don't dress like

us, those who don't speak like us. And Israel

was uncomfortable again and again, and they fail

to carry out Plan A. Israel fails to bless the

nations, and as a result, guess what God has

to do? He has to scatter them again. God sends

Israel into exile, and here's the funny part.

Guess where he sends them? He sends them to Babylon,

which is the exact same place where the Tower

of Babel was, right? It's almost as if God is

saying, oh, we have to do this again. Guys, do

you remember plan A? I want unity in diversity.

I want a multicultural people of God, and I'm

sending you back then into the nations, into

exile, and forcing them almost to live again

as light among other cultures, right? Even in

exile, they are to seek the peace and the prosperity

of this city that they've been sent into. In

other words, God's like, get back to plan A,

get back to blessing the nations, shine your

light wherever you go. Now that brings us to

Christmas. And now do you see why these foreign

Magi showing up to worship Jesus makes a lot

more sense? This has always been part of the

plan. This child, this Messiah, is for all the

nations, for all ethnic groups, not just one.

And the Magi are just there at the beginning

of Jesus' story. to remind us that Jesus is the

king of the Jews, but he is the savior of the

world. He is the savior of the nations. And I

mean, we could spend days just talking about

how Jesus was the model of cross -cultural mission,

crossing every border, every boundary in his

life and death and in his resurrection. For example,

do you remember? That time that Jesus sat down

and talked to this woman from Samaria She was

getting water at a well and Jesus engages her

in this amazing Conversation because she was

from a different nation. She was from a different

religion. She was from a different ethnicity

and yet Jesus sits down with her and he builds

a bridge to overcome all of those barriers of

gender and race and religion and class It's almost

like Jesus is saying to his disciples. Hey Look

at what I'm doing here. This is what Plan A looks

like, right? This is how we grow a multicultural

kingdom. And as in his life, so in his death.

When Jesus dies on the cross, he says that he

will draw all people to himself. The cross is

not just about your personal salvation. It is

about this cosmic reconciliation. It isn't just

Jesus merely forgiving you your sins. This is

Jesus breaking down all the powers and all the

barriers that divide humanity so that he can

create one reconciled people drawn together in

himself. The cross is like the engine that drives

God's plan A forward. And after he is risen,

man, Jesus is still all about plan A. He is telling

his disciples, now go and make this multinational

family. In the Great Commission, he says, go

and make disciples, say it with me, go and make

disciples of. all nations. Plan A, right? Just

as Abraham and his family were to bless all the

nations, now God's new family, which is you,

which is the church, is given the same mission,

which means Plan A is now our plan. I'm almost

through the end here, but then comes Pentecost

when the spirit descends when the spirit comes

you know what happens the gospel is proclaimed

not in one language but in every language all

at once pentecost is this beautiful moment not

when god's people all become the same but it's

when god's people understand one another across

language and ethnic barriers and people groups

get along right pentecost just affirms this plan

we are unified in our diversity One of the greatest

church planters the Bible Talks about maybe the

world's greatest church planter was this guy

named Paul and he spent his life Planting multi

-ethnic churches that embodied the gospel in

all sorts of diverse Cultural settings in fact

of one of his letters Paul goes so far. He says

that what God has done is he is creating one

new Humanity, but that doesn't mean that our

differences disappear It just means that our

divisions no longer keep us apart And so whenever

Paul goes to plant a new church, he's a master

at this He always translates the gospel into

their different cultural context so that people

from every background could truly belong and

they didn't need to change their culture in order

to belong and Then finally this brings us to

the last book of the Bible the book of Revelation

where we catch a glimpse of heaven And what do

we see in this heavenly picture? A great multitude

that no one could count from every nation, tribe.

people and language. This is where history is

going. This is the destination. This is where

Plan A takes us. Heaven is not monochrome. It's

multicolored. And that means that whenever we,

even here at Trinity Straitsville, are able to

reflect a little bit of that diversity, you know

what we're doing? We're getting a hold of a little

piece of heaven. We're getting a glimpse of heaven.

But we don't have to wait till heaven. We can

start. Plan A right now. So there it is. There

it is. You see that from Genesis to Revelation,

from creation to new creation, from Adam and

Eve to Abraham, to Jesus and Paul. God's plan

has always been to create a people who are united

around Christ in this rich diversity. Diversity

is not a problem. God is trying to fix. Diversity

was never Plan B. It's always been Plan A. there

can be no doubt. I hope that after hearing all

that from me, there's no doubt in your mind that,

okay, yes, that's what the Bible says. But are

we willing to live it? Are we willing to live

it? Now, in closing, let me suggest a few different

ways to start both as a church and as individuals.

First, we got to move from merely being a welcoming

people to be a reconciling people. You know,

one of the traps we can fall into a church like

this is that we welcome people into our church.

We say, welcome to our church. This is how we

do things around here. I hope you fit in. That

is not the biblical vision of a multicultural

church. The vision is an assimilation. It's it's

reconciliation, right? And in a couple of weeks,

a PhD student from Fuller. University, his name

is Alexander Lee, is going to be preaching and

he's going to be helping us understand what does

it look like for a church to practice hospitality

that is not assimilation? What does it look like

for you to extend hospitality to people around

you without trying to change them, without trying

to hold power over them? That is a big learning.

But secondly, we also need to move from nations

to neighbors, right? We live in this remarkable

moment in history. I hope you understand that

for most of the Bible, God had to send his people

to the nations. But in our particular moment,

God has brought the nations to us. Mississauga

is not a problem to be solved. It is a mission

field that God has entrusted to us. How do we

make the most of this like historic opportunity

that we have in front of us? three weeks, Dorothy

Pang from Tyndale's Intercultural Ministry Center

is going to be sharing how we can cross boundaries

around us and join in God's mission to the nations,

even if it's right on our own doorstep. And finally,

we want to end this month of learning with a

celebration. I want to invite you to come and

celebrate Trinity's growing ethnically diverse

community with our taste of the world potluck.

I don't know. We don't have that slide up there.

I was hoping we would. We on January 31st, we're

going to be having a big, big potluck dinner

here full of music and food and entertainment

from around the world. And we want to invite

you. contribute a dish something from your cultural

heritage you can wear traditional dress you can

share a poem share a story share a song in your

country's language it's it's gonna be an opportunity

for us to gather as a community not just to consume

each other's culture that's not what we're doing

here but to embrace and to celebrate the diverse

culture that God has given us right here at Trinity

streetsville and you can register for that event

even today on our church website or on the church

app, okay? The taste of the world potluck. From

the very beginning, God's plan was not monochrome.

It was multicolored. The Magi weren't an accident.

Pentecost wasn't a surprise. Revelation isn't

a metaphor. This is where the story has always

been going. This diverse, beautiful, challenging,

multi -ethnic community we call the church was

always God's plan A. Let's make it our plan A,

too. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks for tuning

into this week's episode of Trinity Sermons.

This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church, Streetsville

in Mississauga, Ontario on January 4th, 2026.