Letters From Grandpa #353

LETTERS FROM GRANDPA

• 353

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will deal with “diversity”. “Diversity” is a popular word but it can have more than one meaning. “Diversity” can be either good or bad. This is true of many words: “Cleave” can mean to adhere or to split. “Dust” can mean to wipe clean or to sprinkle with powder. “Buckle” can mean to fasten or to collapse. “Finished” can mean completed or destroyed. “Overlook” can mean to watch or to not watch. Etc. So, as we have said, “diversity” can be either good or bad.

Today, we live in a diverse world. There are 193 different countries in the United Nations. There are also 7,117 different languages in the world. Not only are people diverse, but angels are diverse too. Just as we have good people and bad people, there are also good angels and bad angels. It is the eternal plan of God, however, to unite all the divergent elements of heaven and earth into one Body with Christ as the Head (Eph. 1:10). All who reject this unity in Christ will be destroyed.

Unity in Christ is not an afterthought, it is God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 3:2-12). Christ was chosen for this purpose before the creation of the world (1 Pet. 1:20). The fact that this unity involved all the people of earth was made clear when Christ commanded His apostles to make disciples from every nation (Matt. 28:18-20). Everyone from every nation is welcome to follow Jesus regardless of race, ethnicity, or life style. The book of Revelation speaks of “a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Rev. 7:9). This multitude is composed of saved individuals that have renounced loyalty to earth and become citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20). These converts to Christ are crying out in a loud voice “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Rev. 7:10). Note that these previously diverse people now speak with one voice. They are now united in Christ. This is possible because in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free, male or female. In Christ we are all “one” (Gal. 3:28).

While converts come from different countries, like sheep converging on a shepherd, the closer we get to Christ the closer we get to one another. Also, the closer we get to Christ the more we become like Christ. Our ultimate goal is to “reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). When we attain the “whole measure of the fulness of Christ” diversity will end. We will not only be “one” with Christ, we will also be “one” with one another. In Christ we are “one” (Gal. 3:28).

Jesus once told a parable about a man sowing good seeds and an enemy sowing weeds (Matt. 13:24-30; 36-43). Jesus explained that the “Son of man” sowed the good seeds, and the devil sowed the weeds. Jesus further explained that: “The field is the world” (Matt. 13:38). Please note that the “weeds” are in the world, and not in the church. While every sinner is welcome, only those who repent are added by God to His church. In Christ there are no weeds. In Christ bad people are “born again” and become “new creations” (2 Cor. 5:17). In Christ we can be changed! Rapists, for example, must change before God adds them to His Church. No one should fear being raped in church. Rapists may be everywhere in the “world” but not in the “church”. Men from the Tribe of Benjamin, for example, were rapists. They were so evil that they gang raped an innocent woman all night long until she died. They refused to repent of their crime and even went to war to preserve their “right” to rape and murder

(See Judges 20:17- 21:25). To welcome evil and unrepentant sinners like this into the church in the name of “diversity” is not only wrong, it is spiritual suicide.

Perhaps the word “synergy” can help us understand the kind of unity we are striving for. “Synergy” literally means “working together” (syn = together and ergon = work). The dictionary defines it as: “The joint action of agents so that their combined effect is greater than the algebraic sum of their individual parts” R. Buckminister Fuller illustrates “synergy” in his book “Synergetics” by making reference to the tensile strength of four different metals. (tensile strength refers to the energy required to pull a piece of metal apart). The tensile strength of iron is 60,000 lbs p.s.i., chromium is 70,000 lbs. p.s.i., nickel is 80,000 lbs. p.s.i., and carbon is 50,000 lbs. p.s.i.

If these four metals are made into a chain, the chain will break at it’s weakest link (Carbon at 50,000 lbs. p.s.i.). If these four metals are wrapped together into a cable you add their combined strengths for a total of 260,000 lbs. p.s.i. Synergy, however, requires that each of these four metals be melted together so that each component loses it own identity. The result is an alloy called “chrome nickel steel”. The strength of this new alloy is 350,000 lbs. p.s.i. which is greater than the mathematical sum of all four metals combined. Without metal as strong as chrome nickel steel the jet engine would not be possible. Touche! When we lose our own identity and become one in Christ, we achieve new power that is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20).

The Bible word to describe this “transformation” is “metamorphoo”, from which we get our English word “metamorphosis”. This word is used to describe the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. The Scriptures teach we are “transformed” by the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2). Conversion is instantaneous, but transformation is not. So, day by day we are being “transformed” into the likeness of Jesus (2 Cor. 3:18). Caterpillars can destroy your garden, but butterflies do not. So converts to Christ are to be transformed. We are to: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Col. 3:5-11). This radical transformation into the likeness of Christ is beautifully symbolized by baptism (Rom. 6:1-14).

Please prayerfully consider Paul’s personal testimony: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life” (1 Tim. 1:15-16). In other words, if a sinner as bad as Paul can be transformed, anyone can be transformed.

I love you.

Grandpa Boyce