The Peanuts character, Linus, is famous for his statement, "I love mankind; it's people I can't stand." It's humor. That's how humor works. You set up a thought -- "I love mankind" -- and then you take a sudden, unexpected turn. Funny stuff. But not always. Like the parallel version, "I love Christ; it's Christians I can't stand." Oh, of course, it's not generally laid out that way. It's usually more subtle. "I love Jesus, just not the people who ... make up His church."
How does that work? How does one love God but not the people of God? How do we love Christ's presence but not the presence of His people? Why is it so easy for some to be believers but not church goers ... of any sort? "I'm religious but I don't like religion."
There are, of course, reasons given. "Churches have too many hypocrites." Yes, they do, drawn directly from the ranks of the hypocrites outside of church. "I don't need organized religion to be tight with Jesus." Nice sentiment, I'm sure, but Scripture disagrees. If Christianity was merely a relationship with Jesus, perhaps some of this would make sense, would be reasonable. But it's not.
Jesus told us how the world would know we belong to Him. It was not "If you're really prayerful and holy." It wasn't "If you're sincere in your belief." It was this: "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35) Huh ... that doesn't seem to fit, does it? I mean, it is absolutely true that we are saved by having a saving relationship with Christ and He wants worship that is in spirit and truth, but here Jesus seems to say that our primary proof of that saving relationship is not our love for Him, but our love for each other. How does that "I only need Christ; I don't need to be with God's people" sound now?
In His High Priestly prayer, Jesus prayed, "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. (John 17:22-23) Did you catch that? What is our primary proof that God sent His Son? It isn't doctrinal purity, warm feelings toward God, or a really tight apologetic. It is in our unity with one another. What unity? That love He mentioned earlier. Jesus, in effect, gave the world a test. "Here you go, world. Want to know if My claim that I came from the Father is true? Here's how you can see it. Look at My people. Are they united? Do they love one another? Then believe it. Otherwise ..."
Turns out this version isn't quite as funny as Linus was. When we prefer not to be with God's people, we are offering a Jesus-provided denial of His deity and our relationship with Him. Our fierce independence or our reasonable wariness of bad churches doesn't provide the evidence God offered the world. It's only in our unity in love for each other that they'll see it. And we can't do that as Lone Ranger Christians.
What about you? Will you be with believers on the Lord's Day? And, note, attending and leaving is not "love" and "unity". Will you be part of the body of Christ by actually being part?
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