The baggage of sticking to the same social circle – people like us.
v 47. If you are kind only to your friends how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.
During the Nineteenth Century the Church of England suffered serious decline as the urban congregations became the preserve of the better-educated and increasingly prosperous middle classes. The average working class family did not feel at home in that situation, and attendance fell away. It is much easier to be in a group of people that is pretty much like ourselves. Friendship, love and care are much easier in a group of people that mirror our own social condition, values and beliefs. (You might like to reflect on whether that remains true in your experience of Church.)
It takes a real effort to move out of the comfort zone of fellowship with people just like ourselves. So Jesus calls us to enlarge our vision of the Christian family to include those who differ from us
Wherever people are walking ‘In the light’ as John puts it in 1 John 1:7, which means living consistently in obedience to God’s commands, then fellowship will exist within a huge variety of people. When individuals are walking faithfully with God they learn to walk faithfully and graciously with one another. We have to think bigger and wider to catch a glimpse of the Church God is calling us to be.
—