We know from the Word of God that the ways of the flesh and the ways of the Spirit cannot be reconciled. They are mortal enemies, and can be nothing but mortal enemies. As long as God is holy, and as long as sin is filthy, the two will be at odds — that is to say, they will be at odds everlastingly. Paul pictures this in Corinthians as a matter of eating at one of two tables. You may not, he says, partake of the table of demons and the table of the Lord. One may physically do it, certainly, but such a one may also physically die or get seriously ill.
The antithesis between good and evil extends into everything, and this antithesis is marked by how we eat and drink. The point is not that you may not eat here if you have sinned at all (for all sin is in some manner partaking of what the devil has cooked for you). The point is that you must not eat here with the formed and settled intention of continuing to eat from both tables. That is high-handed arrogance, of the kind that God strikes.
But of course, the point of such warnings is not to chase you from the Lord’s Table. Realize the force of the argument here. If you are baptized, and have not been lawfully excommunicated from the Church, then you are not just invited to come and partake. Rather, we insist that You come, and we do not do this on our own authority. The Lord of the Table, the Lord Jesus, insists that You come to Him, and partake with Him, and in Him. If you are baptized, you must come.
At the same time, you may not deliberately partake of both tables. And this means that there is only one real option for you. If you are clutching to any known sin, you are not just invited to repent, or asked to repent. Rather, this solemn and joyful moment constitutes a command that you repent.
Bread in hand, the name of this sin that must be forsaken is the sin of divided loyalties. Garden variety sins are confessed in the first part of the service. Divided loyalties must be dealt with here.
So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.
Note: I have been delivering these short homilies in our celebration of the Supper for over a decade now, and so we have quite a collection of them. In fact, in a week or so, Canon Press is going to be releasing So Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ, a daily devotional with morning and evening readings made up of these meditations. For various reasons, rather than continuing to compose new ones, in 2017 I am going to be pulling them from the archives—but I will continue to post them here. But if you want to get them all in one place, that will be possible this coming week.
Reaction, not attention. The sheep feed from their shepherd’s hand without making any noise or calling attention to themselves. Love,
Actually, I have noticed it. But the overwhelming number of my readers are Christians, and my “let’s love Jesus more” posts are not controversial. But in areas where we are unaccustomed to the application of biblical principles, there is frequently controversy. And also the trolls have more scope.
“But the overwhelming number of my readers are Christians, and my “let’s love Jesus more” posts are not controversial” Really? How can you tell “an overwhelming number of your readers are Christians?” I cannot tell sometimes. The words may be right, but the heart so often is not. “Let’s love Jesus more” is exceedingly controversial, always, because the very next step is “let’s love one another more.” Except of course, the liberals, feminists, non calvanists, Democrats, Trump supporters, racists, Jews, Catholics, immigrants, etc etc. You get the point. The most controversial thing you can ever do is to actually preach… Read more »
Do you believe Hell is a real place?
I know I can only handle reading an occasional post from an atheist blog (love, joy, feminism) – I’m pretty sure atheists would feel the same way about reading Doug’s posts. These communion posts are some of my favorites, but usually all I have to say after reading them is “amen.”
Well,we can scratch the feminism, but just the same the atheist blogs are speaking of love and joy? And the Christian blogs? Why are we not speaking of these things,or better yet, showing the world what these things look like? I don’t mean to sound critical, it is just what I see all over the internet, “evangelicals should be deeply troubled” about false prophets, Trump, liberals, feminists, the end of the world…. No. We should be deeply troubled when we grow so complacent we start to believe, “let’s love Jesus” more is not the most controversial thing we can ever… Read more »
G’, while Wilson spoke well for himself, a short version of the issue might be,
“Milk goes down easier than meat!”????
‘Do not! ; – )
Will if I want to.
Thus this has been my favorite Doug Wilson book for nearly a month now.
The name of the book (and the way Pastor Wilson finishes every Communion homily/exhortation) is such a potent way to explain the gospel in a hortatory sentence. Every situation under the sun can (and should) end with “So come and welcome to Jesus Christ.” Those are the ultimate comforting words. The invitation is always open. There is no situation, no sin, no difficulty, that doesn’t invite us to turn our faces to Jesus, and eat. So this book will basically be a collection of “yeah, that too. And that. And that. Yup, even THAT – come and welcome to Jesus… Read more »
The pastor that married my wife and me eventually left our church and his wife, shacked up with another woman, and continued going to an Episcopal church with her, and told the session and the presbytery that he knew God would forgive him for doing so.
He died of pancreatic cancer within two years.
In my church, both men and women individually approach the chalice. It’s my understanding that this isn’t the practice at Wilson’s Christ Reformed church. If I’m wrong, then I’ve been misinformed by former members. If I’m right, then I must say, I find that odd…very odd.