As we engage with the powers and principalities of this age, we do so by spiritual means, and not by carnal means. We declare the gospel, and we baptize the nations, and we offer wine and bread. But that is not all. The rest of the Great Commission says that we are called to teach obedience to everything that Christ has commanded.
When we teach this obedience, we are not teaching obedience that must be offered for a mere two hours on Sunday morning. We are teaching obedience as a lifestyle. Obedience around the dinner table, obedience in front of the television set, obedience in the bedroom, obedience as we vote, obedience as we undertake our vocational calling, obedience as we invest, and obedience as we educate our children. Christ is Lord, and this means that all other competing lords must acknowledge this—and either resign their place entirely, or take their appropriate place of subordination.
This Table is not the place where this happens. Your life is where it happens. This Table is, however, why it happens. This worship service is why it happens. Worship and covenant renewal are the engine that drives the kingdom of God. They are the root that makes the tree by the river flourish. Without the root, the leaves on the tree will not provide healing for the nations. Without the root, the twelve kinds of fruit, scattered throughout every aspect of our lives, will not be there, and we will be left to figure out what to do, and how to live, as though we were pagans without God and without hope in the world.
This Table is a means of grace. Grace strengthens you for what God has called you to do. A good breakfast is necessary if you are going to work hard in the field all day. But a good breakfast is not a substitute for working hard in the field all day. Our focus on worship is not designed to make us gluttons of grace. Grace is taken in so that it might be expended. Work out your salvation, for God is at work in you.