The Table Fences Us

In our epistle reading this morning, we heard Paul warn the Corinthian church against an improper practice of the sacraments. Paul told the story of Israel in the wilderness, and reminded the Corinthian Christians that Israel was baptized in the Sea and in the Cloud when they crossed the Red Sea, and that they all ate the Manna in the wilderness and drank the water from the Rock. Israel in the wilderness had the sacrament of baptism, and they had the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and Paul’s point is that they had these great gifts, which were intended to help them faithfully make their journey from Egypt into the land of promise, and yet they didn’t believe God, and they disobeyed, and they fell in the wilderness and did not receive the things promised.

The Lord’s Supper is a wonderful blessing. In the supper, as I’ve told you numerous times already in our short time together, we feast with the King of kings, and he feeds our whole selves, body and spirit, that we may be nourished to live the life to which he has called us. But it is also a dangerous blessing, because if we do not come in faith, and if we will not, out of that trust in the Lord, obey him in everything, we “eat and drink judgment upon ourselves”. Now, this is the part where some would tell you, “if you aren’t going to obey, don’t take the Lord’s Supper”. But your Lord commands you to come, and you have no right to refuse his bidding. To “fence the table” in this way is to misunderstand Paul’s warning in the next chapter of First Corinthians. The session of this church fences the table in the sense that we do not permit the unbaptized or the excommunicated (of which we presently have none, thankfully) to come. But to borrow the words of another pastor, beyond that, we don’t “fence the table”. The table fences us. It sets us apart as the people of God, and sets before us covenant blessings and covenant cursings. The Lord’s Table, when we come in faith, is the feast to strengthen us for the narrow way. When we come in rebellion, the Supper becomes the way that leads to destruction. Therefore come, and be blessed, or if you will not be blessed, be judged and chastened by your Lord, in order that you may be brought to repentance. But dear ones, we are convinced of better things concerning you, things accompanying salvation and the way that leads to life.

This is the Lord’s Table…