I’ve been having a remarkable number of conversations with unbelievers and unchurched people lately. I know that I have prayed for that — and sought to put myself in situations where that would be more likely to happen — but still, I am thankful to God for providing these opportunities.
One result of this may be that we will start to see people coming to church who don’t normally go to any church. Some of these people may be doing things that God forbids. They may not yet realize that what they are doing is sinful. And when they hear the “fencing of the table” — they may not yet realize that this is speaking to them! And since they were baptized, and they think of themselves as professing Christians, they may even come to the Lord’s Table.
This is not a good thing — and the goal is to bring them to an understanding of the truth — but we must remember that the gospel comes to people where they are. It will not leave them where they are — it will change them and transform them more and more into the image of Christ (just like the gospel will not leave you where you are!). The only other alternative is that they will reject the Word and be hardened in their sin and rebellion.
But we do not expect them to change in order to be saved! To use an example: in Ephesus the gospel came to a bunch of people who believed in magic and sorcery. They came to faith and were baptized — and only then, after they were part of the church, did they come “confessing and divulging their practices,” and thus burned all their books on magic. (Acts 19:18-19)
In the modern day we have a somewhat different problem: there are lots of people who are baptized, and say they believe (and perhaps really do believe!) but who have very skewed views of the Christian faith. We want to “take hold of them by their baptism” and call them to the reality of faith in Jesus Christ. If you tell them “you don’t really believe” — they won’t listen, because they do believe — or, at least, they think they believe (maybe their faith is misguided — what they need to be guided back into the path of the Word). So you take them at their word!
And that means (since they are professing believers who have been baptized) that you don’t fuss when they come to the Lord’s Table. Rather, you disciple them — you teach them to observe all that Christ has commanded. This takes time — at least, it has taken time for me to “unlearn” many of the faulty things that I once thought I knew! In the end, if they won’t listen (or won’t do) what Christ commands, then they will need to be “excommunicated” — but if you start from the judgment of charity (“love believes all things, hopes all things…”), then you give people the benefit of the doubt from the start, and trust the gospel to do its work!
Some who know the history of these debates might ask, “Are you saying that the Lord’s Supper is a converting ordinance?” (Namely, that partaking of the Lord’s Supper is designed to convert people). My answer is, No, the Lord’s Supper is not a converting ordinance — that is not its design and purpose. The Lord’s Supper is designed to nourish and sustain us in our sanctification. What I am saying is that we must use the judgment of charity in our dealing with people who profess faith in Christ — and especially when they have been neglected and abused by the church in the past. I do not want to see wolves creep in among the flock — and will do all in my power to defend you from such! — but as Ezekiel 34 says, the strong sheep should not push aside a weak, bedraggled sheep. When a weak, frail sheep returns to the fold, the first priority is to feed and nourish the sheep — in time, we will deal with its bad habit of barking like a dog as we help it learn how to live like a sheep again!
