An Unworthy Objection

We are told in Scripture to walk worthy of the calling we have received. We do this by knowing that we are unworthy, and have been made fit to approach God in this fashion by the grace that He offers us in Jesus Christ. We are to walk worthy in the Lord Jesus.

If you try to walk worthy in your own name, you will have to resort to walking on the spindly stilts of your own self-righteousness—and they will bend, break and snap at every attempted step. Your self-righteousness cannot hold you.

Those who are unworthy are so because they think they are worthy. Those who are worthy are so because they know they are unworthy. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. But this knowledge of unworthiness is a gift of God, and the one who is given it is raised up by God. Christians are not to wallow in their depravity. Christians are not to remain stuck in sin. Christians know the gospel, and the cross is always followed by resurrection.

So to hang back from this Table because you are unworthy is itself an unworthy objection. The premise is true, but the reasoning flawed. You are unworthy to come to the blood and body of the perfect sacrifice, but the perfect sacrifice was made so that unworthy sinners could come to Him in faith.

“As the body lives by breathing, so the soul lives by believing.” Believe what God has promised, and come to Him in faith. Do not look around at your own life and conclude that you are a mess. As the Puritan Thomas Brooks put it, if you are swayed by carnal reason, you will prefer to believe your five senses rather than the four evangelists. Do not give way to that temptation. You are invited by the goodness and kindness and graciousness of God.

So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.