The Table Fences Us

Throughout the history of the church there have been instances of ministers fencing this table in a fashion that would leave you thinking they were building prison walls. This has left several on the outside preferring not to enter and many on the inside secretly wishing they could exit. While there are boundaries to this meal, the only standard for participation is, “Believe and be baptized.” And it is a special glory of the Lord’s hospitality that he was a friend of sinners, welcoming the riff raff of the world to dine with Him.

It has been wisely said that we do not so much fence this table as this table fences us. And that fence around us is a fence of grace, as the bread and wine on the table is grace. Grace is before you and behind you, hounding you all the way to heaven. We have our faults but there are no faults in the bread and wine. We wobble, unstable citizens we are, but the lamb’s blood on the door post doesn’t stumble or falter. It is understandable that the saints grow anxious given our many shortcomings, shortcomings that are very much like those of the Egyptians who suffered the wrath of the angel of death.

The fundamental difference is not that their actions deserve judgment and our actions do not. The difference is the blood of the lamb. We are inside, feeding on that lamb who was slain. That lamb guards you like a lion. He fences you and yours and will until the end. To the world, the flesh, and the devil, He only roars. But to you He says, “Come and welcome.” So come and welcome to Jesus Christ.

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