Unity From Humility

The church can be a place of potential conflict. People have different cultures, different political parties, and even different beliefs about secondary doctrines. And yet God calls us to work together as the body of Christ. So how can any group of people who are so different from each other hold on to unity? How can we keep from dividing when there is so much occasion for conflict? In this passage from Romans 11, we see that there is a basic mindset that should permeate every aspect of a believer's life; the concept of humility.

If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you (meaning you Gentiles), although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

- Romans 11:16-24