So Come And Welcome To Jesus ChristSample

Table of Strength

This glorious occasion is not the time for confessing sins. You wash your hands, and then you come to the dinner table. The table is a place for laughter, fellowship, and food, not desperate introspection. 

But this presupposes that the sin is really dealt with—that it is not an ongoing issue. I am not speaking here of any sins of high defiance and hypocrisy, but of a trouble in the conscience, of a sin you committed two years ago or have confessed a thousand times. You are not still committing it, but you are afraid to get help for your conscience. You are afraid to tell your parents, or your spouse, or the pastor, because then the consequences you fear would probably come upon you. 

You are not defiant, but you are stuck. You have trouble coming to this Table with rejoicing because all you can think about is that lie you told, or your lost virginity, or the abortion you never told anyone about—not a sin that you are still clinging to, but one that is still clinging to you. If you are in this position, should you come to this Table? You have been coming, because if you refrained, someone would ask you why, and you are afraid of the consequences of telling. In one sense you are afraid of the relief that would follow. So what should you do if you are in this position? 

You are still welcome to come to this Table and to partake fully, but with one provision. As you come, you must pray that God be using this Supper as a provision of His grace to strengthen you to do—and soon—what you know you need to do. Confessing sin this way is always a little like cliff diving. You know that you are going to do it, but you need to fidget on the edge just a bit more. If you come to commune this way, you are not being a hypocrite. But you are weak, and you need to know you are coming to a Table of Strength. 

So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.