God calls us to difficult things. He calls us not only to be part of a church but even to love the people of the church. We may find it easy enough to love a building or an institution or a particular form of worship. But people? That can be a much greater challenge. It may be one of the greatest challenges we ever face because people are sinful, people are messy, people are needy.
Yet our love for people cannot be separated from our love for God, for “if anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:20-21). Or as Voddie Baucham expresses it, if we don’t love the church, we don’t actually love Jesus.
If we truly love Jesus, we will love the body of Jesus, the people of Jesus, the church of Jesus. Sinclair Ferguson says much the same thing in a slightly different way: “If Christ is not ashamed to indwell them I will not be slow to embrace them.” Who are we to turn away from the ones that Christ has accepted? Who are we to reject the ones Christ has so dearly loved?
