The Lord's Table for Sinners

Christians should regularly celebrate the Lord's Supper. We must always prepare ourselves for the Lord's Table. Before we go to the Lord's Table, we must come to the point where we say, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

In Luke 18, when Christ looked at some worshippers in the temple, he saw that some relied for their salvation on their own righteousness, on their own works and on their moral purity, rather than on the mercy of God. (Luke 18:9) To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable.

To destroy this wicked self-confidence, Jesus told them the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. (Luke 18: 10 – 13): "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'”

They are part of a crowd of worshippers. But before they or any of the worshippers can pray, a lamb is first offered on the altar as an atoning sacrifice for sins and incense is sent up to heaven.

Jesus draws our attention to a Pharisee. The Pharisee not only acts like he is better than all other men, but he also says he is better than all other men. Here is a man who prides himself on his more than perfect life. He congratulates himself. He also condemns a nearby tax collector. This man is convinced he is a notch above all other men. He believes he has made himself right in God's eyes. This Pharisee has no awareness of sin; he sees no need for repentance; he doesn't think he needs grace. The Pharisee says and does all of this right after a lamb has been slaughtered, cut up, and sacrificed on the altar in order to atone for the sins of the people. He is saying, then, that the atoning sacrifice is not for him because he doesn't need it.

In Jesus' parable a tax collector also went into the temple to pray. Scripture tells us he stands "at a distance." He stands apart, because he does not think he is worthy to stand before God or with God's people.

The words of his prayer indicate his sorrow. The man prayed, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." A lamb had just been slaughtered, cut up, and sacrificed to make atonement for the sins of the people. Incense is burning and prayers are being offered up to God. "I am a sinner," says the tax collector, "and I need this lamb's atoning sacrifice."
He prays this not because he is a law-abiding man, but because a lamb has been sacrificed for his sins and he therefore begs forgiveness.

Jesus has a hard-hitting conclusion. "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God." The Pharisee was wasting his time and breath in the temple. This good man with nothing to confess returned home unjustified in God's sight. Ironic that his trip to the temple made him more in need of the atoning sacrifice than ever before.

The tax collector went home right with God and justified in God's sight. He approached God with a broken heart. He approached God as an unworthy sinner. He approached God not trusting in himself but in the grace of God, because he saw the atoning sacrifice of a lamb. And he went home justified.

When we receive the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper in church, we will see represented before us, in the bread and the wine, the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Will we go dressed up with our own righteousness, or will we be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ? Will we go because we think we are good enough, or will we come because we need forgiveness?

If you come to the Lord's Table with even a hint of the Pharisee’s self earned goodness, you will leave the Table empty and will go home unjustified.

No, come to God realizing and confessing your sin. Come to God confessing your need for the Saviour. Come to God confessing your need for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, and, by the grace of God and through the work of his Holy Spirit, you will leave loved, forgiven, cleansed – yes even justified before God.