We have gathered here at a meal, the Lord’s Meal, and so we should want to be aware of anything that might get between us and the food.
Table manners can present that kind of barrier. This happens when you don’t have any manners, and you have table anarchy, or if you have a complex set of rigorist manners which don’t let people come to the table unless they have passed a series of high level tests. In the former situation, you have a condition of bedlam—quarrels and fights get in the way of table fellowship. In the latter, you have a rigorist purity, which also gets in the way of table fellowship. The devil’s strategy is manifested in both situations—to keep God’s people away from the food.
The discipline that surrounds this Table is important and significant. You ought not to approach God this way if you are engaged in blasphemy or adultery. The discipline that surrounds this Table also warns us . . . by means of gracious invitation . . . to refrain from endless bouts of introspection, and perpetual motive-scratching. The discipline here is a servant—bringing the food to us, and us to the food.
Discipline guards the fellowship; that is what it is for. The oath-taking aspect of this meal guards the fellowship, since fellowship with God is the point. The fact that some are excluded from the Table is regrettable, but the point is to make sure the Table remains a place of sweet fellowship for all those who love the Lord of the Table. You are among those people, and so come, and welcome.