Fathers feed their children. One of the ways we know that we are children of God is that He provides food for us here. We come in faith rejoicing at what He has provided for us here.
Now some might wonder if this is really true. Do not hypocrites join churches? Don’t they participate in this meal? How could God be telling them that they belong to Him when they clearly don’t?
Well, the answer is that God never tells lies, but men do. Since Christ is only food for those who come in faith, He is not food for those who don’t. What is He for them then? He is Christ to all, but Christ is food to the faithful and poison to the unfaithful. This image is not intended to be disrespectful—it is an image straight from Scripture. The Corinthians are warned against falling into the same sin committed by the Jews in the wilderness—the sin of drinking from Christ in such a way as to die (1 Cor. 10:2-5). The Israelites in the wilderness ate and drank Christ, but God was not pleased with many of them, and their bodies were scattered over the desert.
As the Puritans were fond of saying, not everyone who hangs around the court speaks with the king. Not every one who touches this meal eats it as food. Not everyone whose lips touch the cup drink nourishment from the cup. But no one is just going through the motions. Everyone is here. There is no neutrality anywhere, especially here.