How do you make a salad?
I am not an expert on salads, but I do enjoy a good salad from time to time.
In his book, A Fellowship of Differents, Scot McKnight suggests there are three ways to make a salad. The American Way, the Weird Way, and the Right Way.
You probably know what the American Way of making a salad is without me even describing it to you. You take your iceberg lettuce, maybe a few tomatoes, shredded carrots, and croutons. Maybe even some bacon bits, can I get an Amen!? And then, you take a big bottle of Ranch Dressing and you smother it!
How many of you, this is the way to make a salad?
That’s the American Way, then there’s the Weird Way.
The Weird Way to make a salad is to take all the parts of the salad and separate them on your plate and then eat it. Lettuce here, tomatoes there, carrots over here, croutons over there.
That’s weird. Maybe you do that. I’m not saying your weird, I’m just saying…
Same & Likes
What’s happened in our world and especially in our churches is that instead of celebrating our differences and coming together as one family is that we’ve found every reason under the sun to separate ourselves and be divided so that we only gather with others who are the SAME as us.
OR we’ve tried to cover and smother everyone and everything so that we all appear to look the same, believe the same, act the same, and fit the same mold. Anyone who doesn’t fit gets ignored, shelved, and eventually leaves.
Like you, I am so thankful for the diversity we have in many of our local churches today, but you know like I know that Sunday morning continues to be one the most divided times in America. Most of the churches we grew up in were churches of sames and likes, people who looked like us, talked like us, dressed like us, people who liked the same kind of music, two songs and a prayer, and… that’s not all bad.
There’s something about us that tends to want to gather with other people who are like us.
But, Jesus was famous for welcoming everyone to His table.
Jesus had a reputation for bringing all kinds of different people together. Jesus was known for befriending saint and sinner alike. He welcomed children, elevated women, called fishermen disciples, tax collectors friends, he ate at table with the religious elite and the outcast, he touched the untouchable and went through Samaria to reach those most Jews thought were reprehensible.
And after His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, the church gathered as a family and reflected this beautiful diversity of different people who once were LOST but had now been FOUND and the church becomes this beautiful fellowship of different people coming together into one family under one Name. The Name above all names: Jesus.
Let’s just take a quick walk through the early parts of the story of the beginning of the church and let me show you what I mean.
How It All Started
If you have your Bible or the YouVersion Bible App, let’s begin in Acts. Acts is the sequel to the gospel of Luke. It was written by Luke as part 2 of the story he was telling about the life and ministry of Jesus and the beginnings of the church.
3 During the forty days after he suffered and died, he [Jesus] appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. – Acts 1.3
And listen to what Jesus told them…
7 “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:7-8
Who are they going to tell about His death, burial, and resurrection?
Up until this point in history, Israel had been God’s chosen people. They were supposed to be a light to all the nations pointing everyone everywhere to the One True God. But they had failed in their mission and mandate. Time and time again they forgot who they were and who their God was. They had made it nearly impossible for their own people to keep all the commandments they had come up with in order to please God, much less welcome outsiders in.
God had told Abraham from the very beginning that… “All the nations on earth will be blessed through you.” – Genesis 12.3
But that hadn’t happened. So Jesus came to be that Light to all the nations, to bless all the nations on the earth so that everyone, everywhere could now know the great love of the One True God!
So Jesus tells his disciples… you’re going to be my witnesses NOT just to the people of Israel. Yes, tell them! But don’t stop with them. Keep going. Tell everyone. Everywhere! Tell the Samaritans! Tell everyone in every corner of the earth.
Jerusalem
After saying that, Jesus ascends to heaven. And then this happened…
12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. 13 When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying.
Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James). 14 They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. – Acts 1:12-14
Just for a moment, think about how different these guys were.
Andrew, James, John, & Peter were all fishermen by trade when Jesus called them to come follow Him and be his disciples. To be a part of His family.
Matthew was a despised tax collector.
Simon was a Zealot, a part of a revolutionary group trying to work against the Roman occupation.
We don’t know much about what Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, James or the other Judas (not Iscariot) did when Jesus found them. But suffice it to say, these first followers and friends of Jesus were very diverse! They normally would not have been friends much less disciples of the same Rabbi. Yet these are the ones Jesus called to follow Him for three years and then be in charge of starting his church?
120
But it wasn’t just them. After His ascension, Luke says this in v15…
15 During this time, …about 120 believers were together in one place… – Acts 1:15
At this point in the story, there are 120 people who believe in Jesus. That’s counting men and women. 120 total. If you didn’t already know how this story was going to unfold, you might be tempted to think this Jesus movement is all but over. He died on a cross but three days later rose from the grave. For the last 40 days He’s been seen by more than 500 people.
Yet there are only 120 who believe in Him? Only 120 left. Maybe they should just close up shop, go home, and go back to the way their lives were before they ever met Jesus.
But they didn’t do that. They couldn’t do that. Jesus had told them to go to Jerusalem and wait. Wait for what? For the Holy Spirit. And that’s what they did.
And then, it happened. The Holy Spirit comes on the 120, then they start preaching the gospel, all of them, in different languages. People from all over are in Jerusalem for Pentecost. And Luke writes…
7 They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, 8 and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! 9 Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” 12 They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other. – Acts 2.7-12
People from all over have gathered in Jerusalem yet they can hear the gospel in their own language thanks to the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.
3000
Peter then steps forward and preaches the first gospel sermon. People are cut to the heart and they ask, “What do we do now?” They come to the realization that Jesus really is God’s Messiah and that they had crucified Him.
38 Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” 40 Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.
What started with 120 believers has now become 3000 believers. And the church begins. 3000 people, all different, have come together under one Name. Jesus. And what did they do?
42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. – Acts 2.38-42
You might think after 3000 people are baptized, everyone could just relax, show up for Sunday worship, maybe start a quilting ministry or something like that. But that’s not what happened. They were not content. And they were not done spreading the good news. Why? Because, remember what Jesus had said….
You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!
5000
So Peter continued to preach the gospel in Jerusalem (Acts 3) and the church continues to grow. And in Acts 4, Luke tells us…
Acts 4
4 But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000. – Acts 4.4
So the early church, which at this point is only in Jerusalem yet filled with all kinds of different people, experience something in the church that you can’t experience anywhere else.
32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. – Acts 4.32
This church, this fellowship of differents, this family, experiences unity. Not uniformity.
They aren’t all covered and smothered in Ranch! They are different but they have all gathered under one Name. The Name of Jesus.
Now that the church is growing exponentially, the religious leaders are jealous (Acts 5.17). So much so that they begin to persecute the church.
Followers of Jesus are being put in jail, beaten, and one of them is even stoned to death. His name was Stephen. The first Christian martyr. After that, the church that had gathered in Jerusalem begins to scatter! And God uses this persecution, this suffering, to spread the gospel.
Don’t miss that. Sometimes, often times, we pray for God to remove the pain, the problem, the persecution, the suffering. But sometimes, often times, that difficulty we’re facing is our greatest opportunity to spread the gospel.
Samaria
Philip, one of the men chosen in Acts 6 to serve as a deacon in the church, leaves Jerusalem and goes to Samaria. Samaria!? Remember, Jesus said the gospel would go from Jerusalem, Judea, then to Samaria! (Acts 1.8!). And listen to what happened when Philip preached the gospel, the Good News about Jesus in Samaria…
12 But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized. – Acts 8.12
That’s amazing! You don’t get much different than Jews and Samaritans! They disagreed about almost everything! Yet they are coming to faith in Jesus?
Don’t forget, Jesus himself once went through Samaria and many people believed in Him back then. Can you imagine some of those same people hearing the rest of the story as Philip comes and tells them what happened to Jesus. How he had been crucified, buried, resurrected, and then how He ascended!? Samaria is not that far from Jerusalem. I bet they wondered why the world went dark on that Friday Jesus was crucified. Philip told them what happened. And they believed!
Ends of the Earth
But Philip wasn’t done yet. After sharing the Good News about the great love of God revealed in Jesus in Samaria, this happened…
26 As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. – Acts 8.26-27
Philip tells this Ethiopian about Jesus, he believes and he is baptized! Now, the gospel is going to Ethiopia! Remember Jesus said the gospel would go from Jerusalem, Judea, then to Samaria, then to the ends of the earth?! It’s happening.
And as it happens different people from different backgrounds and different places and different ideas are all coming together as one family under the name of Jesus. It doesn’t get much different than an Ethiopian eunuch. Yet everyone in every place from every tribe and every background is welcomed in the church of Jesus Christ.
The Right Way to Make a Salad
So today, what I want you to know, is that no matter how different you may feel or you may think you are, you are FOUND here, you can FIND your place here, in this church because we are striving to be this kind of church. This kind of family.
Our differences could separate us. OR, we could pour RANCH all over us and try to make us all the same.
OR, we could look at the RIGHT WAY to make a salad. The third way.
The Right way to make a salad is to take some good spinach, kale, arugula, lettuce, cut them up and mix them up. Then take your tomatoes, carrots, onions, red pepper, and purple cabbage and add them to the mix. You may want to add some cheese or other ingredients. I’ve always thought that a good salad doesn’t even need salad dressing. Maybe add a little olive oil to bring out all the flavors. Now you’ve got a beautiful, rich, mixed salad.
As we come together in the Name of Jesus…
Our fellowship of differents becomes our witness to the world around us about the goodness of our God.
No matter how different you may think you are, no matter how different you may feel you are, you are FOUND here and you can FIND your place here in the family of God. You can be FOUND here.
BUT…
You are NOT the only one who can be FOUND here and who can FIND your place here in this family.
We are to be a fellowship of differents. United in heart and mind. Yes! But remember that Jesus welcomed and continues to welcome all kinds of different people to come together in His name to be His church.
So may we be and may we welcome different people, people who may not look like us, talk like us, think like us, people who may be different but who are welcome, who are FOUND, to be a part of the FAMILY of God.
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