"Diversity is Good" - a prequel to Pentecost (Genesis 11:1-9)

1. God’s Plan for Diversity

In Genesis chapter 10, the descendents of Noah start dispersing around the world. This is in line with God’s creational call to humanity to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (Gen 1:28), a call which was reinforced to Noah following the flood (Gen 9:1). The multiplication of humanity across the earth was God’s unchanged plan before and after the fall. The Bible then centres its attention on God’s relationship with those people groups who came to form Ancient Israel. These people would provide a backdrop for an understanding of God’s love, commitment and care for all humanity, as they were guided by a succession of leaders and prophets beginning with Abraham.

Then, in time, God’s love was epitomised in the life and ministry of Jesus. Eventually, through the leading of God’s Holy Spirit, people from all the dispersed nations and cultures across the earth will be touched by the good news of Jesus and offered a place in the Kingdom of God.

See how easy that all is ... how much sense it all makes!! God creates humankind in a way that they can disperse all over the earth, undoubtedly involving different culture, language and religious forms. People do go astray in all sorts of deviant behaviour and unhelpful belief systems – but ultimately God seeks to deal with the fallen nature of humankind by sending Jesus, so that no-one has to miss out on a relationship with their Creator.

So why is life on earth all so antagonistic, self-seeking and violent? Genesis chapter 11 gives us a clue. People were resistant to God – it seems people are always resistant to God; especially when God’s way doesn’t suit them.

2. Human Resistance

There was a resistance to this spreading out, this dispersal across the earth. The people thought they knew better than God. They thought that if they could stay in their own defined place, build their own idealistic city, with the greatest and largest and most elaborate sky-scraper ever built, while determining their own agenda, and relying on their own abilities, then they would be better off. In a nutshell, they preferred being their own god! They preferred the easy life defined by one culture and one language.

But this is not the way of the God who willingly created us all with very different personalities and looks and interests and abilities and weaknesses. And this is not the way of God who has determined that the most creative way forward for humankind is to find ways of bringing unity of purpose out of such diversity, so that we might fully grow. Uniformity is not unity; true unity is only found in bringing together diversity.

These misguided people, preferring their own agenda to God’s, said, “... let us make a name for ourselves” (Gen 11:4) – wanting to be able to say, “we are the ones who single-handedly built the tallest and best tower in the world ... look at us”. Humankind cannot seek to make their own name great by their own ways and means – really only God’s Name can be deemed great. There may be those who God lifts to that status ... like the promise made to Abraham, “I will make of you a great nation ... and make your name great” (Gen 12:2), but this is because of God’s blessing, not human achievement.

The only name we should want to promote for praise is the Good Name of God, the rest of us are far too fragile to be placed on any pedestal. What danger these people were bringing on themselves and everybody else! Undoubtedly, with the complete rejection of God’s ways involved here, whatever plans they would conjure up and implement would not be in humankind’s interests – far from it (refer 11:6), and would not succeed! These people would think that they were all-powerful, all-knowing and unstoppable, and such absolute power would no doubt absolutely corrupt them. They built a tower to heaven to try to throw God off the throne. Derek Kidner writes that, “The narrative captures the simultaneous absurdity and gravity of it”.

All such plans are completely misguided and ill-conceived. God given boundaries (like happened previously in the ‘Garden of Eden’) are again being crossed. “Our human sin is that we fail to recognise that God is God, and we try, both individually and corporately, to take God’s place ... [this is] an assertion of human autonomy without God; a refusal to live in dependence on the Creator who is the Covenant Lord” (D. Atkinson, p.177-8).

It seems that this city and tower project (in Gen 11) was viewed as the ultimate achievement to show than humankind could live without God and find their salvation from within themselves – and such projects have been repeated over the centuries for the same reason. For, there are already ‘hints’ in this incident, of the negative impacts of political power and technological advances (Atkinson/Westermann). Perhaps then, we should learn, that the only major projects (and political structures) we should attempt are those where God has laid down the blueprints.

3. Diversity is a gift / the Gifts of diversity

This passage in Genesis 11 has sometimes been simply interpreted as God bringing the punishment of scattering because of human pride, but this misses the point (from the context in Genesis) that the scattering of peoples and languages was part of God’s command for the people to be fruitful and fill the earth. This passage is essentially a challenge to any behaviour pattern that resists God’s will. This scattering would always be necessary as God’s preventative approach to the very real threat of human beings getting above themselves and self-destructing (in arrogance), or seeking to dominant others (through their own insecurities). God responds caringly to the threat that this building project posed, seeking the welfare of his people; God has actually bestowed the deliberate gift of diversity as a, “creative step for the enrichment of humanity” (“A Garden of Many Colours”, p.32).

We know that such diversity is good, because of the way Paul embraces this in his first letter to the Corinthians (chapter 12 verse 7). Here Paul talks about the diverse gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit being brought together in unity for the common good (of all humanity). Then Paul uses the example of the human body and all its different component parts being brought together to make a complete whole. Without each component part having a specific role and purpose, then there wouldn’t be any sort of functioning collective whole. If everyone was the same, then there would be no medium for everything to fit together in a complimentary way. See how God has always known best! Like with a car, when things don’t work out as they should, it’s always one or more of the components that are at fault, not the idea of the car itself.

4. Being Peacemakers

So the dynamics of God’s creativity are perfect, it’s just that human freewill has played havoc with it. The major area of disruption in the world, is individual people and whole people groups failing to get on with one another. Instead of difference being embraced and celebrated, again and again it has been resisted and rejected. Dominant cultures have sought to undermine and destroy minority cultures. Certain splinter groups have terrorised citizens, all in an attempt to gain power and control. Nations defend their right to avenge themselves. Some have tried to take actions like these in the name of religion, when actually all violence can only be regarded as demonic. When we put aside all so-called ‘worldly wisdom’ and bring ourselves back to Jesus, we can only say this, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9).

5. Welcoming Others (Romans 15:7)

Paul writes, in his letter to the Romans, the sweeping and radical statement, “accept one another” or “welcome one another”. Romans 15:7 says, “Welcome one another ... just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God”. Because of the grace we have already received, we should be well and truly prepared to ensure that such ‘grace’ is accessible to all those who need to hear the gospel message. We can’t pick and choose who we welcome or accept, because the context of this verse in Romans, is our responsibility to put ourselves out for the sake of the needy neighbour, and not to be put off by any of their more undesirable traits.

There are at least two areas in which we can fulfil this idea of “welcoming” or “accepting” one another. The first is to “accept” one another’s faults, because we all have human fallibilities. The second is to “accept” one another’s differences. There are different backgrounds (both national and economic), different cultures, and certainly different life orientations, belief systems and behaviour patterns. We don’t have to like the way some of this difference plays out, and certainly we have to critique and legally control some behaviours. But this very attitude sometimes blocks our way to embracing diversity; a diversity first generated by God.

The next stage of accepting one another’s differences is to be able to celebrate such difference (as being of God’s creation) and then find ways of drawing people of difference together in human and spiritual community. To learn to accept each others' faults and to choose to celebrate each others' differences are two of the most important aspects in the Jesus following life. In this way we can show to our community and the world that embracing God does make a positive difference. Through embracing diversity, and loving people as they are (despite how different they are to us), we will be much more credible sources of light and hope.

Certainly when Paul said, “accept one another”, he was first thinking of the Christian community’s inner workings, and their need, if ever they were going to make a positive difference in their society, to “accept” one another’s shortcomings, idiosyncrasies and personality differences. But then of course, this self-same attitude, needed to be expressed to neighbours and family and other contacts through life, if such as these were going to be encouraged to accept Jesus into their life and adopt the Jesus way of living. But at the same time, the Jesus following community would always have to stand against evil and abuse and violence (in all its forms).

6. Living in the Light

But having said this, we can’t let the prevalence of darkness around us, make us miss a hurting person just trying to find their way. We all would want to find ways of breaking the pattern of violence of certain misguided young people lashing out against vulnerable others. Yet we can never agree with a policy that utilises the word “retribution” in all its current vengeful overtones, for, like it or not, this is not consistent with the gospel. All legal measures taken against those guilty of crimes must have an element of rehabilitation and an opportunity of repentance, or it ceases to be human and ceases to be Godly. Let’s not let our frustration and fear give way to vengefulness (Romans 12:17).

7. The Challenge of Post-Christendom

Now there are those in our society who are becoming very vocal in their opposition to Christian influence in places like schools and in the political process. Now we can regret this – not so much because it makes our life harder, but more so because children and families may miss out on some of the God honouring values that have served our society so well. And so we can pray for continuing opportunities to share the love of God in public forums ... and we shall pray for this, and we shall go on praying for this. But the time has gone for the church to have an easy ride. If we are going to make a difference we will now have to stand against the tide, not bemoaning that the past has gone, but rather living out credible caring creative lives ourselves.

This is the very situation the early disciples, then the fledgling house churches, and then the growing Jesus movement faced. And under decades of persecution, the church grew remarkably and strongly and widely. They gained their credibility, and earned their influence, for not just looking after each other, but by looking after those in the community that had been left behind and were lost on the margins on society.

Yet from the 4th Century, when Christianity became the recognised state church around parts of Europe and Asia, it soon became difficult to recognise the true believers from the hangers on. Children were just baptised into the church as a normal everyday routine cultural rite, in some cases just on the basis of some sort of token acknowledgement of God’s existence, and from that day were regarded as Christian. How close to the gospel message do you think that is? I’m not unhappy with the death of that style of Christendom.

It might just be that the death of cultural or nominal Christianity ... by that I mean people who claim to be Christian just because they were born in a certain place but don’t actually put any of its key teachings into practice ... means that the real Jesus followers will rise up, the ones who are thoroughly committed to the Jesus cause will emerge, and the presentation of the true gospel message will be stronger and more convincing. When the gospel of Jesus is shared effectively in cohesion with caring acts of social justice and reconciliation, people will take notice – for these are the ones who will have the blessing and the empowerment of God. These are the ones who have the true prophetic voice of God’s kingdom, as against those more convenient and rebellious “Tower of Babel” type deceptions.

8. Looking Forward (Acts 2)

It will be on the Day of Pentecost that people gathered in Jerusalem from various nations will remarkably hear others speaking about God in language that they can fully understand. Many from far afield respond and are added to the band of believers. This shows that the Gospel of Jesus can break through all cultural boundaries, and that people with very diverse backgrounds can join together in the Jesus movement.

So diversity begins and completes itself with the God who creatively operates in that diverse “Trinity” of Father, Son, & Spirit – of Loving Creative Parent, Living Redeeming Lord, & Giving Guiding Spirit – where these particular roles are brought together in perfect unity for the benefit of all humanity and all creation. Amen!