Romans 15:4-12 (NIV)

Romans 15:4-12 (NIV)
4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,
6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs
9 so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name."
10 Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people."
11 And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples."
12 And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him."

For a moment focus on just verse four. Paul is talking about a controversy over religious holidays and more so what a believer can eat. It is as if Paul knew the people reading these words would need a little encouragement and he sticks these words in about the Word of God. Sometimes, I have wondered, why do we have the Old Testament? It is written here that everything in the O.T. is there to teach us. The result of that teaching is through the endurance and the encouragement of God's Word we can have hope. I believe that the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1 are those who have gone before us. The O.T. is full of stories of people who endured many trials for the sake of their faith in Yahweh. We are part of that story of faith in God. The Lord wants us to be encouraged as you see this in Paul's prayer in verse five. Paul prayed for the Roman believers, "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus...". Paul prays for the these believers that this same God who gives endurance and encouragement may now give a spirit of unity in the church at Rome. Our hope is in the Lord to live a life of love, faith and peace. The result of this unity that Paul prays for is that with one heart and mouth they may glorify the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not unity for unity's sake. It is a witness to those around us that we know and can glorify the Lord together. In verse seven we have one of the references to "one another" in God's Word. There are at least 32 different "one another" references found in Scripture. Here we are told to accept one another just as Christ has accepted us. You can tell there are Jewish believers in this church because now Paul goes into how the Gentiles have been brought in on the promise. There are many reasons not to accept people, but there is a grand reason to accept people and that is on the basis of people's faith in Christ. At the center of our unity stands not a truth but a person who is called Jesus Christ. It is Christ who can bring unity to the church. Of course the big question then is, "Who is Jesus?"