This may be a bit touchy to some, but I only present this as what God says in His word. Before all of this virus came about, I attended a funeral and did not walk up to take communion. There were a few who looked at me like I should have, but some also stayed put in their pews.
In this parable, God compares His Kingdom to the workers. Some came early and were hired early and others toward the end of the day. All of the workers were paid the same yet many who started earlier in the day grumbled about the late comers getting paid the same price.
Each individual is on their own walk with the Lord. Some are more into their belief while others are seeking to find Him. I think I mentioned before in an earlier post about the story of the vineyard workers. In Matthew 20:1-16, you can read the Parable Of The Workers.
This is the concept of what I mean in the second paragraph here. We all seek and find Him and truth at different times, yet, God says when we find Him that we get our reward of Heaven. Now, back to the communion topic.
I learned early in my 20’s that I had to seek Him diligently. He guided me through my life from every corner and this urgency to want more overtook my every thought. I questioned so many about what I had learned growing up in our religion, but the questions as to some of the why’s went unexplained. Many of the priests told me that the Western Orthodox church has changed many of the things that the Bible was telling me and we were no longer practicing.
One of those topics was on Communion. During this part of the service, called the mass, they turned the bread literally into Jesus and wine into His blood. Then, they would say, “We offer up this sacrifice…” Hebrews 10:10 says we have been made holy by the sacrifice of Jesus once and for all. Hebrews 7:27 reads basically the same in that He offered Himself once and for all.
His Word, not mine, is specific when it says His sacrifice was once and for all. It also continues and says that He was sacrificed once for sin and if we keep sinning, then there is no more sacrificing for forgiveness. In other words, when we take that step and seek, believe, and be Baptized, we have sacrificed Jesus and have been buried with Him in Baptism. This is a one time thing and if you have to keep coming back and want to keep being Baptized, then you don’t have the true heart for Jesus yet.
So, when this particular religion is adamant that they turn Him into the bread and wine, they are only mocking what He did. They do not realize the implications of turning Him literally into those emblems that they are not getting His message.
Also, this religion only follows half of the rules about the leavening not being allowed in the remembrance of Him. When Jesus met with the apostles for the last meal, it was the Passover they were celebrating. During the Passover, which He specifically gave instruction to “DO THIS” in remembrance of Him, there was to be no leavening or yeast in any home or meal. They followed that for the bread but used wine for the blood. Wine has yeast and is leavening. It is contradicting to His rules.
He says during His last Supper that He wants them to do these things in memory of Him. Turning the bread and wine into His person literally and eating Him was not what He did when He met with His 12 apostles. Had He wanted them to do so, He would have told them to do so then at that time. Nope, no where in The Bible does it say to go against His wishes and sacrifice Him over and over.
I hope I am making this clear for all of you to understand. God says to follow His ways and if anyone adds or changes His Word, they are eternally condemned. This, you will find in the first chapter of Galatians and the last paragraphs in Revelation. I consciously could not take their sacrificing when He was sacrificed already once and for all. I could not join in with this because it was going against His wishes.
When you get down to the nitty gritty and study history of His Word, The Bible, Bible Dictionary, and other resources, you become more like what He wishes. You begin to fall away from worldly wishes and follow Him. I did not care if those people looked at me with expectation or side glances. I have to do what God expects of me. Period!
Also. He says in 1 Corinthians 11:34 to eat before you go to service so that you are not hungry and wont be judged. This religion forbid you to eat an hour before you went to church because they wanted you to concentrate on His sacrificial meal. You cannot change God’s Word. If you get up and are hungry before church, then God says to eat!
God commands us to remember Him and we are suppose to do this as the apostles did. Acts 20:7 says that on the first day of the week is when they met to break bread. The first day of the week is Sunday. It is not Saturday nor did they wait every so many months to remember Him as He commanded. This too, was another reason for not taking the communion. They did not randomly take and break bread at every celebration.
Once again, please refer back to those verses in Galatians and Revelation when He talks about what happens to those who change His Word. The Bible was written by man yes. But, it was inspired by God and He gave it so we had a way to follow His wishes and live. It is our instructions. If you are a parent and your child does not follow your rules, you discipline that child. God will discipline those who do not believe nor follow Him.
