This observance does not just knit believers together in the great koinonia—although it certainly does that. It also deals with obstacles to us being knit together, and if we keep coming to the Table in faith, it overcomes those obstacles.
We are partaking of Christ as we eat and drink here. But we are partaking of the entire Christ—head and body together, totus Christus—as we do so. This means that you can never commune with Jesus all by yourself. If we walk in the light, John says, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. In that context of mutual fellowship, mutual partaking, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
This means that God deals with us here, and He deals with us, He deals also with all the sins, faults, quirks, and foibles that interrupt our fellowship with our brothers and sisters. Sometimes the problem is in them, and we think it is in us. Sometimes, more frequently, the problem is in us, and we think it is in them. Sometimes we think the problem is in them, and we are right—it is in them. Sometimes we realized that we are the problem, and we really are the problem. But the location of the problem doesn’t really matter. What matters is the location of the solution.
The solution is here, in the grace of God. We come here to be knit more closely together. And the true prayer of evangelical faith is, “Lord, do what it takes. Change me, if that is what it takes.”
The Lord, as you can see, put everything on the Table. You come in response and do the same—you also are to put everything on the table. As you do, the Lord will strengthen and establish what is right in you, and correct and remove that which is not right. This is not the time of confession we have at the beginning of the service, so your demeanor ought not to be one of guilt, gloom, and sadness. Rather, this is the time of edification and a positive kind of discipline. Rejoice in it.