July 15
2 Chronicles 6-7
Psalm 80:8-11
Proverbs 18:1-2
Romans 11
Grafted In
“Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways! For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
Romans 11:17, 33,36 HCSB
Although Israel, as a whole, rejected Jesus as the Messiah, there is still a remnant chosen by grace. Their rejection of the Messiah opened the door for the Gentiles. This chapter explains that even though the Jews were God’s chosen people, when they rejected Him, He then offered salvation to the Gentiles. One day, after all of those who have believed and accepted Him are raptured, God will return His focus to the Jews and many of them will believe and be saved. While we are not of physical descent, we have been grafted into the branch. The Jews who rejected Him were cut off and we were joined to the vine in their place. This is a beautiful picture of adoption. We are not a separate tree growing apart from the vine, but we are part of the vine, joined to it. All believers, Jew and Gentile alike, who accept Christ are part of the same vine. We are one body of believers. On a tree, you do not look at the individual branches and marvel at their beauty. You see the tree as a whole. Jew and Gentile, men and women, different races, different ethnicities, different cultures, are all one in Christ.
Brian and I have a new friend from South Africa. He came to visit right before the pandemic hit. He is a pastor and found Brian through his Healthy Church Initiative website. (Brian does a lot of legal work for churches helping them prepare and update their church documents.) When we met TK, we had an instant bond with him, and he has become a dear friend. We have not seen him since then, but He and Brian meet on Zoom often and have become very close. He is a different race, his life experience has been very different from ours, we do not share the same hobbies or interests. Basically, we have very little in common, except that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. I have had this same experience with many other people over the years. The common bond we have in Christ produces a love that does not happen naturally. We are part of the same vine. Our differences are not as important as what we have in common. Satan seeks to divide people based on their differences. God brings people together in unity and love. I am not suggesting we compromise scriptural truth, but as a body of believers we need to be more focused on what binds us than on our differences. Focusing on the differences creates division and dissension. If we keep our focus on Jesus, He will unite us together in love.
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