"This question is a serious one, and all who are gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ are responsible to find the answer. What a comfort it is to know the truth of the Lord's presence with us. We can turn to Him for wisdom and grace and all we need. If we do so He will meet our every difficulty. It is His presence that makes the action of the 'two or three' binding on the whole assembly of God.
"It is plain that all the gathered saints share the responsibilities according to the word, 'Do not ye judge them that are within' (1 Cor. 5:1212For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? (1 Corinthians 5:12)). Opportunity must be given to show the state of those who desire to break bread. Let us weigh this before the Lord. Is it right for brothers to introduce persons that they are satisfied with, without first obtaining the consent of the gathering? Does not the word 'Lay hands suddenly on no man' (1 Tim. 5:2222Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure. (1 Timothy 5:22)) forbid haste in receiving? We must remember it is not our table but the Lord's, we are only guests there. We cannot make rules. His word and the sense of His presence can alone keep order and the cleanness that becomes His house.
"A person received to the Lord's Table is received because the place belongs to him as one of the Lord's people, as a member of Christ; and when received is subject to the discipline of the house of God.
"Where saints are newly converted and have not associated with systems of men, there is no difficulty; we receive them because they are the Lord's; there may be little intelligence about their position, but they ought to have hearts exercised to please the Lord.
"We must not allow fear of hurting souls to lead us out of the path of obedience. 'It is better to obey God than man.' Some may feel hurt at not being received at once. This is because of usage in man's systems; godly souls will learn the lesson better and sooner by seeing care exercised for the Lord's glory." ( J. N. D.)
But some will say, "Since each member of the body of Christ has a place at the Lord's table, on what grounds then are some denied that place?" This question has often been answered, and again we answer in the same words, "We must not forget that the One who welcomes is the 'Holy and True' and He cannot give up His nature. Suppose we do, as some suggest, 'invite all Christians' and the invitation is accepted and we are able to gather all at the table of the Lord—bring them together with their jarring views, their various states of soul, their entanglements with the world, their evil associations; how far then would the Lord indeed be owned and honored in our thus coming together? How far, do you suppose, would the Lord's Table answer to the character implied in its being the Lord's Table? What about all the causes of all the scatterings not searched out and judged, what would our gathering be but a defiance of the holy discipline by which the Church has been scattered? What would it be but another Babel?
If we really seek the blessing of souls, we shall guard with more carefulness, not with less, the entrance into fellowship. We shall see that it be "Holy and True" as He is with whom all fellowship first of all is to be. Careless reception is the cause of abundant trouble, and may be of general decline. "Evil communications corrupt good Manners." Men cannot walk together except they be agreed. When trial comes those who have never been firm of purpose, never, perhaps convinced of the divine warrant for the position they have taken, carry with them wherever they go, an evil report of what they have turned their backs upon, and often develop into bitter enemies of the truth." ("Bible Treasury.")
"When some are refused fellowship at the Lord's Table because of ecclesiastical affiliations we are told, 'But, you are cutting off Christians who have a right to be there.' No, we say, we are not cutting off Christians, but we are cutting off evil. If a Christian allies himself with evil we are sorry for him and would rejoice to get him to see it and help him out of it if we could; but if a Christian is united to evil, (such as an independent table) though he may say, (through ignorance) he is not, we cannot let him be the means of uniting us to it. If we should let him break bread where we are we should be breaking bread with him where he is, and therefore we have to inquire where he is breaking bread, and whether his loaf is leavened or not; for, if he takes the ground of the Body, whatever is his loaf is our loaf too, there are not two 'Breads'. We must then in love explain to him why we cannot walk with him." (G. P.)
"There is a danger now lest in a mistaken humility we should call all the tables of men, 'The tables of the Lord: All tables but one are, and must be, tables of schism, 'for Christ is not divided.' We dare not connect division with His holy Name by calling a table set up on schismatic basis, however ignorantly it may have been done, the table of the Lord: for 'there should be no schism in the body.'
"To join hands, and compromise the truth in so doing is what is being urgently pressed on all sides today, but it is offered to us under the words 'Reconciliation and brotherly love.' A gathering storm forewarns us to prepare for a tremendous attack upon the truth of the 'One Body'. Are we preparing for it by 'HOLDING THE HEAD'?" (G. P.)