It is a wonderful privilege to receive in His Name, at His table, those who have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
Once our consciences are satisfied that the person to be received is saved and has been baptized…
There are three things we should consider:
The desire: I cannot invite someone to have supper at your house. You are the one to do the inviting. In like manner, the Lord is the One who invites the individual believers at His table by putting in their hearts the desire to remember Him in His death for them. We cannot produce this ourselves; we may substitute our suggestions and exhortations to the work of the Spirit but I believe that we all loose out in the end if by our human energy and influence we short circuit the work of the Lord in the soul.
The intelligence: Those whom the Lord calls to partake of His supper at His table need to discern the significance of what they are doing by this supper ( 1 Cor. 10:15-17, 11:27-29). Although we cannot fathom the depths of fellowship that this remembrance produces in the soul, we need to understand, even if young, what we are doing and what this means (Ex. 12:26).
The eligibility: one saved and having the desire and intelligence might still not be able to partake of the Lord’s supper at His table because of unjudged sin or misbehaviour in his or her life. Without suspecting evil you have to know something about a person before you can vouch for them; some responsible ones have to give them a good report (2 Cor. 13 :1). Persons may not be able to remember the Lord in harmony with those in fellowship at the Lord’s table because of association with that which is not honouring to the Lord. This may be from participation in other fellowships from which many saints have separated at much cost and sorrow to obey the Lord alone (2 Tim. 2:19-21). When we partake of a table we express fellowship with all the principles, doctrines and persons in association with it. This is the main reason why there needs to be special care taken if ever allowing (without permanently receiving them at the Table) someone to break bread which is connected with denominations or other groups of believers (1 Tim. 5:22).
NOTE: All Bible references are from the King James Version unless otherwise specified. All unsigned material is in the spirit of Ecc. 12:11. Send all correspondence, comments, suggestions to: dailysowers@tlb.sympatico.ca
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