Assembly: Open table?

That brings me to another issue that sometimes we run into and it seems to be more prevalent. That is, why is it that we do not believe that you would receive a person just to the Lord's Supper? Why is it that we don't let any Christian that comes along participate? In other words, what is called an open table. There are those, of course, that believe and they would teach that if a person professes to belong to the Lord Jesus, they're part of the body of Christ, they're seeking to follow the Lord Jesus and be obedient to him, then as a result, they should have the privilege of partaking of the Lord's Supper after all is what the Lord Jesus told them to do.

Do you this until I come? And so the argument is given that if they are exercising that way and they desire to do so, it's their responsibility to search themselves and if there's no hindrance so far as sin in their life, then they should have that privilege. And you know, you or I could walk into any denominational place for the most part and if it happened to be the occasional time of the year when they had the Lord's Supper, it might be every three months, it might be every month, it might be twice a year, you never know. But if it happened to be that time, you would likely, at least if no one knew you, you'd be welcome to take part.

I was at a wedding, it happened to be the wedding of my niece, so it was my sister's daughter, my sister's daughter. I brought a pretty close home. But during that wedding ceremony, as a part of it, they had the Lord's Supper.

It didn't make any difference if it wasn't Sunday, they just had it anyway. And there were all kinds of people there and all kinds of different backgrounds and I'm not sure that a good number of them were even saved. But nevertheless, this is open to anybody.

It's your own responsibility to judge yourself and determine whether you should or shouldn't. I just assure you we didn't. We didn't participate with that.

This is kind of close as well to my family because once we had a family reunion out in Colorado and my brother, who is ten years older than I am, he was organizing the affair over the weekend. And on the schedule of events that was going to take place out there at that lodge on the west side of the mountains in Colorado on Sunday morning, he says, we'll all remember the Lord together and the Lord's Supper. My wife and I left Saturday evening and we were on the way back.

So, you see, that's the kind of thing that is prevalent. It's sort of a, in the minds of many, it's a privilege that is to be afforded to anyone that professes to be a Christian, no matter who they are. And I think that it fails to realize something very important.

That is, in the New Testament, reception of a believer is not to the Lord's Supper. It's to the assembly. You know, when you come back to Acts chapter 2, and I'm just referring to these that are in your mind, I'm sure you can write them down and look them up, but you notice in the case of that day when we have the institution of the church age on the day of Pentecost, we read that they that gladly received his word were baptized.

They were added to that number of disciples. And it says, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers, and the fellowship of the prayer. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in the fellowship.

And in the breaking of bread and in the prayers. Now, let's get the order there properly. Because it was believing on the Lord Jesus and being baptized, the result of them being received as to be a part of a number of the believers.

And that formed the fellowship. It's the fellowship, because it's the fellowship of a local gallery there in Jerusalem, however it might have been constituted. So, there was the fellowship that was formed.

And that fellowship was expressed in the breaking of bread and in the prayers. Those are the two public expressions of the fellowship of that gallery there in Jerusalem. We find that they continued in that way in a commonality of genuine fellowship with one another.

But the point is that there's the fellowship that is being expressed by the breaking of bread and by the prayers. And, of course, they both have a great importance to an assembly of believers. So, then we find in the New Testament that they were those who were added to the number first.

And then they participated in the Lord's Supper. Now, let's not get that order reversed. Because you know very well that there are those who would be glad to come on the Lord's Day morning and enjoy the privilege of remembering the Lord, taking the bread of the cup.

They have no desire to be in the assembly whatsoever. They have no interest in the principles of the assembly. They have no desire to be a part of the testimony of the assembly.

They're not really in fellowship with that local assembly at all. And the point needs to be understood that the Lord's Supper is not only a remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ as he instituted it, but according to what I read in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, it is also an expression of the fellowship of the saints in that assembly. So, when you and I take bread together, in that act, we're expressing the fact that we're in fellowship.

When we drink out of the cup, that is an indication that we're all in fellowship together on the grounds of the suffering and the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. So, that is an act of commemoration, remembrance, but it's also an act of communion and fellowship with the Lord's people. Now, those that would indicate to us that every believer, everyone that's a disciple of the Lord Jesus ought to have a part of the Lord's Supper, should ask the question, why were there only 11 when the Lord instituted it? You know, there were 120, and there were over 500, we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, that the Lord appeared to.

So, why were there only 11 when the Lord instituted supper? He didn't include every one of them either. Now, I'm just indicating that there's a certain major restriction, that only those that had followed closely with him and were publicly identified with him in that particular way were the ones that he brought into the upper room. He celebrated the Passover and then instituted supper.

So, that you find that the principle of the New Testament, and we find that again, and we look at it very quickly in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, but chapter 10 and chapter 11 go together in this respect, but you find that what is involved is that Paul is addressing a local assembly of believers. He's not writing to Christians, or I should say, he's not writing to those that are outside the assembly, this is a letter addressed to the assembly in Corinth. And so that when he says, let a man examine himself in chapter 11, and verse 28, he's not writing that to people outside the assembly to decide whether they should participate in the Lord's supper.

He's writing to people that are in the assembly already. They are already in the fellowship of the assembly, but the condition is not right spiritually and morally, so he wants them to examine themselves so that they might not eat and drink in an unworthy manner. Now, when you think about that a little bit, you'll realize the fact that in terms of the assembly here, reception to the assembly is an aspect of maintaining godly order in the assembly.

That is, if a person were to come in and just come and go if they wanted to, whatever they wanted to, and take on the Lord's supper, how can there be any discipline? How can there be any determination that they should not do that if they are really not qualified to do so? There are many issues that come in in relation to that. I don't want to belabor the point, but the God is a God of order, and the assembly is to be a place of order as well. And I believe you'll see in the New Testament that God desires that every genuine believer should be a part of the testimony of a local assembly.

To participate in all the activities of it, to bear the responsibilities of it, and to seek to contribute to it in every way possible. But one part of that great privilege of being in the assembly is to participate with other believers in remembering the Lord Jesus, and to carry on his word. A thought comes back to me, and that is that in relation to the chronological order in which our books have been written and read and given to us, what we have in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 precedes the Gospels.

So that the first written institution, the first written instruction regarding the Lord's supper is given to a local assembly before you ever have the records that are in the Gospels. So that it indicates to me that that's the environment in which God desires that to be carried out. Let me add just a few more things to that.

Now this is something that is current, it is something that is local. Because I heard it from a good authoritative source. And that is that this brother encountered, because he had to be involved in work at one particular time on the Lord's day, he had to be away in another part, and he encountered a group of ladies from an assembly, or assemblies in Iowa.

And they were on the way back from somewhere else on the Lord's day afternoon. And they told him, this one lady anyway, one sister told him, don't worry, she said, we remembered the Lord before we left the motel this morning. There was something wrong with that brother.

Some wrong teaching there. Because first of all, they had no right to do that, it was not an assembly. Not an assembly gathering.

There was also no brethren there to lead in the worship publicly. And of course all that was being done was simply a matter of convenience. It was contradictory to the Word of God.

That's all the more serious because, so far as I know, those are people that should have known better. So we need to be very careful, brethren. It's easy to compromise.

It's easy to do things out of convenience. But I believe that if we study and examine this blessed book as we ought, we'll appreciate the fact that God does have an order for us to follow. He has reasons for it.

He has principles for us to obey. May God help us not to do it solely out of an external conformity to rules, shall we say, or practices. And we do it out of a desire just to please Him, just to do His will, and just to honor His name.

May God help in this respect. Lord willing, tomorrow night we'll go on to consider other subjects, primarily in relation to a local assembly gathering.