If you look through examples in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, you will see that the disciples and the young New Testament church had to deal with a lot of cultural diversity. In Biblical times the main diversity came between the Jews and Gentiles. However when you look at the epistles you’ll see that there was diversity between Christians and each of the cities represented. Paul wrote to the people in Corinth about differences in cultural practices. Paul wrote to the Romans about differences in cultural practices. Paul wrote to different individuals like Timothy and spoke to him about how to deal with these differences.

Why am I talking about this? Because represented across Raytown and KCMO There are different ethnicities, there are different theological persuasions, and different levels of conservative practice.

Paul, in all cases, treated each of these cultures with love and respect. He was never afraid to disagree, but his ultimate goal was to help them find Christ! His ultimate goal was to help them grow spiritually! My question for you this morning is how do you treat different cultures? How do you act around and treat someone who might be much more or much less conservative than you? How do you act around and treat someone who isn’t of the same ethnic background as you?

We need to be sure to love everyone as Christ loves them. Do you? Is it something you could work on? In God’s eyes we’re all equal. I know that this is sort of deep on a Monday morning, but it is important.