In the covenant the Lord draws near to us. Because He draws near to us we are commanded to draw near to Him by faith.
This is the table of the covenant, a central means which God has provided for us to draw near to Him in faith. He has engaged with us to be our God, and has bound Himself to us. But God never binds Himself to sinners without also binding those sinners to Himself. He does so with the strongest bonds possible—love, gratitude, faith, hope. So as we approach Him, we do in love, thanksgiving, faith, and hope. But remember, the greatest is love.
You are baptized and invited. You believe in God and in His Son Jesus Christ—and are therefore invited to sit down. In this meal, God is pulling you, drawing you to Himself through His Son. The response that you must therefore offer is one of reciprocal faith. You come here in order to pull Christ to yourself. But never forget the order; we pull because He first pulled us.
You do this with the solitary instrument of faith, but this solitary instrument of faith gives necessary and immediate rise to actions of the body. In this case, those actions include taking with your hands, opening your mouth, chewing the bread, tasting the wine, and swallowing. The one who hears the words of institution without doing, deceives himself. The one who believes without chewing and swallowing has the same kind of faith that the devils do. And of course, it should go without saying that the one who chews and swallows in a spirit of unbelief in God’s covenant promises is one who is chewing up and swallowing his own covenant disaster.
You are here for one reason, which is to participate by faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit, in the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do so now with thanksgiving and gratitude.