One big topic in today’s politically correct, morally corrupt landscape is inclusivity. According to secularists and apostate Christianity alike, inclusivity means accepting people regardless of race, gender (or lack thereof [!!]), religion, or sexual orientation—unless you are a Bible-practicing Christian or white or both, of course. The very fact that such discrimination exists means “inclusivity” as it is promoted is a lie. As fundamental Christians (some of whom happen to be white), we have a concept or definition of inclusivity also. Ours, however, is significantly different in some ways, especially since it is based on the bona fide Word of God.
Acts 17:26-31: “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
In Acts 17, the apostle Paul had traveled to Athens, Greece, and was brought to a place called the Areopagus, or Mars Hill, a hill named after Ares, the mythical Greek god of war. In response to an altar inscribed with the words TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, Paul preached Jesus to the crowd of people who were gathered there. The Scripture passage above is a lengthy excerpt from his message. Notice in the first sentence the word “blood.” The word in the Greek New Testament writing is haima (pronounced HYE-ma), which can mean , among other things, blood, the blood of man or animals, or the seat of life. In this context it is clearly referring to the blood of mankind. You will note that Paul said every nation of men to dwell on the earth, et cetera, were made by God from one blood. This is very significant.
As you know, a major hot-button issue which factors into today’s (false) inclusivity narrative is race. In God’s view there is absolutely no room whatsoever for racism. That not only includes racial prejudice against blacks and other minorities, it also includes racial prejudice against white people. Blood is the seat of life whether in man or animals, or whether in Caucasians, Africans, Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, and so forth. We are all created by God. We are all human beings! That is the first part of the Biblical definition of inclusivity. What else is there in it besides this?
Paul goes on to speak about God’s desire to redeem lost mankind, His command for men everywhere to repent, the impending time of judgment upon the world, and the Man (Jesus Christ) who was raised from the dead. The second part of the Biblical definition of inclusivity is that apart from salvation in Jesus we are all lost sinners. If you’re black, white, gay, heterosexual, Buddhist, Muslim, and so on, outside of Christ you will be condemned to the lake of fire for all eternity. By the way, your sin is not your identity. Regardless of what politicized, secularized science says, you were not born an alcoholic, or of a different or biologically nonexistent gender, or gay, or what have you. You were born lost!
And that brings us to the third part of the Biblical definition of inclusivity: Regardless of who you are or what you have done, God loves you and wants to save your soul. He has given one name under heaven, Jesus Christ, by which people can be saved. “All” is a very inclusive word, is it not? I would say so.
Putting it all together, the Biblical definition of inclusivity is: All races of mankind make up the human race, all are born lost, and all can be saved by repenting of their sins and trusting in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. For the body of Christ, which is made up of all who have been born again, thereby adopted into God’s family, the Biblical definition of inclusivity expands to mean that as believers we do not discriminate against one another. Rather, we have a discriminating (discerning) knowledge of right and wrong Biblical doctrine, of what is sin and what is not. We do not accept multiple genders, the gay lifestyle, and so on. In short, we do not tolerate sin, but we love the sinner and the erring brother or sister in Christ.
Our sense of right and wrong are guided by the Holy Spirit who is, in turn, the Author of the Bible, which we are to live by. All of you who are lost can be reached through genuine repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. All of us who belong to Christ have a place in God’s kingdom and at His table. Now that is real inclusivity!
2 Responses
Amen. Good word, I love that we are all of One Blood. This shows me that regardless of our skin tone we are all the same, and we should treat others as so. Thank you Jesus that we all can be forgiven of our sin and turn from our sin and live a life well and pleasing to the Lord
AMEN!! PREACH!!! Good word! 🙂