This Sunday Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church will come together for ONE combined service. Those who prefer a “contemporary” service and those who favor a “traditional” service will unite as ONE under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God never designed His demonstration community to be segregated in any way, especially as it relates to particular styles of music. “There is one body and one Spirit,” Paul explained to the Ephesians, “—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6) . . . and there is to be one demonstration community. This is the clear teaching of the Scriptures and the vision of my good friend and pastor, Tullian Tchividjian.
Regrettably, we see evidences of segregation throughout our culture—race, age, and socioeconomic status being the three most obvious. But when this “tribal” mind-set, as Tullian has called it, pokes its haughty face into our congregations, we deny God’s divine design for His demonstration community to the world. God has made us one in Christ, and we do violence to our calling when we erect walls to keep those who are like us in and those who are unlike us out. Tullian wrote in Unfashionable:
Most churches would agree that any segregation arising from racial or economic bigotry runs contrary to the nature of the gospel and should not be tolerated. But there’s another segregation, perhaps more subtle, that many churches today have embraced. Following the lead of the advertising world, many churches and worship services target specific age groups to the exclusion of others. They forget that, according to the Bible, the church is an all-age community, and instead they organize themselves around distinctives dividing the generations: Busters, Boomers, Millennials, Generations X, Y, and Z. Many churches offer a traditional service for the tribe who prefer older music and a contemporary service for the tribe who prefer newer music.
I understand the good intentions behind these seemingly harmless efforts, but they evidence a fundamental failure to comprehend the heart of the gospel. We’re not only feeding toxic tribalism; we’re also saying the gospel can’t successfully bring these two different groups together. It’s a declaration of doubt about the unifying power of God’s gospel. Generational appeal in worship is an unintentional admission that the gospel is powerless to join together what man has separated. Building the church on stylistic preferences or age appeal (whether old or young) is just as contrary to the reconciling effect of the gospel as building it on class, race, or gender distinctions.
We disregard the divine design of our one demonstration community when we divide our congregations along any arbitrary lines that are drawn by society. The end result is a functional denial of the unifying power of the gospel, declaring to all who enter our doors that the Word of God has no authority in the church of Jesus Christ!
Only when we see ourselves for what we truly are—undeserving sinners receiving unconditional grace from an unobligated Savior—will we begin dismantling the artificial and ungodly barriers we have erected around our own little kingdoms. When the gospel is truly instructing and shaping our lives, self-protection will be replaced by self-sacrifice. We will lift others up by laying our lives down. We will forsake our atrophied agendas for God’s awesome assignments. God did not save us and bring us into the body of Christ because of all the good we can gain from it, inasmuch as there is great good to be experienced; He quickened our hard hearts and called us into His community because of all the good we can give to it!
As long as we view our salvation as being all about us, we ignore our calling to live for the benefit and edification of our brother and sisters in Christ. We will come to church because of what we can get out of it, not looking for what we can pour into it. We will worship the god we want rather than the God who is. We will be characterized by a mind-set of consumption rather than a heart of contribution. The songs we sing will matter more to us than the One to whom we should be singing!
When God unites us to Christ He unites us to one another. As Steve Brown said so well, “All those who belong to Jesus belong to all those who belong to Jesus.” God forbid that societal segregation would characterize our sanctuaries!
In His last prayer with His disciples, just hours before His arrest and execution, Jesus appealed to His Father, “I do not pray for these [the apostles] alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (John 17:20-21, NKJV). And the truth of these words are the focus of this Sunday at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, as we gather to be ONE demonstration community, living out practically what we already are positionally. We will join together to “offer up a sacrifice of praise to God,” as the Scripture commands, “that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Hebrews 13:15).
I can’t say it any better than my beloved pastor did in Unfashionable:
As we live together in a way that’s consistent with who we’ve been remade to be, we become a blessing to the world by showing it how sweet life can be in a community of individuals who love one another, care for one another, defer to one another, are patient with one another, and serve one another. The world will take notice of a community of men and women who refreshingly and joyfully bear one another’s burdens and who actively look to lay down their lives for others in need because Jesus laid down his life for them.
This is the DNA of the gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 