Communion

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Communion

Communion
I’ve taken communion many times before, and I knew what it represented, but
until a few years ago it was, for me, really just a ritual. Something happened that time though that changed the way I will take communion again forever and I want to share with you my experience.

Our pastor had gotten a message on communion a few years ago. I’m not sure I can relate it to you as he gave it to us but I will try. He said that the bread represented Christ’s body; His ‘Broken Body’. A body that was broken for our sins. Christ’s body was absolutely perfect; without blemish, without sin, and He took upon His perfect body All the sin and disease and sickness of mankind. He became sin for us, and took the punishment for those sins of ours upon His body. Every stripe He took on His body was to pay for a sin He did not committ Himself, but for the sin we committed.. He took on all the diseases and sicknesses of man that resulted from that sin in our lives as well and paid for it with His broken body. Each piece of bread at communion represents a piece of Christ’s broken body, a piece that was torn from His body so that we might be healed and forgiven. When you take that piece of bread into your body you are eating a piece of His body! Think of it like this: Jesus gave His entire body for our healing much like an organ donor gives an organ to save the life of another, only in Jesus’ case He did it while He was still alive! When an organ is donated it is usually the result of a terrible accident that took someone’s life, but Christ voluntarily gave His life up so that we could live! When you eat that piece of bread you are receiving a donation of life. When you take it into your body you name the sickness in your life and call that piece of Christ’s body the piece that you need to be whole, believe that it is what it represents and be healed!
Next we talked about the wine which represents the blood of Christ. The bible tells us that blood is life. In other words the life force is contained in the blood. Now when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the garden their blood was contaminated with sin, and every man, woman and child born since then has received that contaminated blood in themselves. Everyone that is except Jesus. Jesus was born without sin, He was perfect from birth. His blood was pure. In order for us to be saved from death because of our contaminated blood Christ’s pure blood had to be spilled out upon the Earth. His blood changes ours; it makes our pure once again. When we take in that tiny amount of wine that represents His blood we are getting an infusion of pure blood; and infusion of life; Christ’s life. We are taking in the life force of Christ himself into our bodies. His very life now flows in our veins!
The next time you take communion think about what you’ve read here. Really think about what you’re doing! It is not just a ritual. Christ asked us to do this in rememberance of Him and in remembering Him we must not forget to remember what He did for us on that cross. He was born to die so that we could live. If He hadn’t come and given His life we might not have even been born, or maybe we might have been born but we would have died much earlier because of the disease and sickness caused by our sins. He willingly gave His life up so that we could be here today.
Like I said in the beginning, I have taken communion many times in the past and I knew all of this, but this time the reality of it all finally hit me. It hit me so hard in fact that I fell to the floor crying and begging forgiveness for the life I wasted so many years in selfish sin and shame. I owe my entire life to Christ, because He gave His life for me. He was executed because of me! Because I was a filthy sinner He suffered terrible punishment and death. He did it for you, too. I accepted Christ as my Saviour six years ago and I knew then that I had been forgiven, but when I take communion from now on I will remember the terrible price paid by Christ for that forgiveness, and I hope that you will too. I hope that if you are reading this and don’t know Christ as your personal Saviour that you will consider what He did on that cross and realize that He did it for you just the same as He did it for me. And I hope that you will take a minute to pray and ask for His forgiveness so that you too might saved from your sin and rescued from the torment of an eternity in hell.
 
Christs body was in deed broken for us unto death. When we take of the Lords supper we are to always remember what He did for us and to test ourselves and make sure we are right with God before taking of it..

However the bread we take and the wine or juice we drink in rememberance of Him does not change its actually state and become real flesh in our mouths or actual blood.
This is something taught from people and not from the Bible.

The lords supper is like you say not a ritual and something to be taken seriously.

Good post:)
 
There are four basic theological schools of thought here.
Roman, Lutheran, Zwinglian, and Calvinist.

The Roman (Catholic) understanding is that the bread and the wine literally transform into physical flesh and blood. This is called the doctrine of transubstantiation. The substance transforms quite literally into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
In addition, the Roman church denied the words of Christ and the proper institution, and only gave the layity the body, denying them the blood of Christ.

At the polar opposite, you had Zwingli who taught that the eucharist was purely a symbolic ritual, that it held no real benefit, was not sacramental. He did not view the eucharist as instituted by God, rather that is was a ceremony of thanksgiving initiated by man.

Then you had the Lutheran doctrine. The Lord's Supper is a sacrament, and by which we recieve the forgiveness of sins, and where there is forgiveness of sins there is also life and salvation.
Also, Christ IS truly present in Body and in Blood, just as He said, however, the substance of the elements still remain. Luther denied the doctrine of transubstantiation but said Christ is truly present "Within and Under" the elements. (Consubstantiation)

Later, a fella named Calvin came along and claimed that Christ wasn't really necessary in any of this and so none of it really mattered anyway. Calvin believed that Christ could not be present both in heaven and here at the same time, but that His presence was not necessary for Him to be gracious to us. (Also known as a christological heresy.) Calvin denied the Roman doctrine of the physical presence of Christ, as well as the Lutheran ontological presence, and taught that the benefit to the Eucharist came from the actions (Works) of man initiating the supper.

Unlike Zwingli, Calvin did believe that there was great benefit from partaking in the Lords Supper, however he credited the works of man, and not the presence of Christ for that benefit.
 
Of course it is not a ritual . It is to be taken very seriously . We are to ask God if there be anysin in our lives and to cleanse of all unrighteousness before we partake of the bread and the wine .

The wine represents ... the blood of Jesus Christ who bled and died for our salvation and the blood means .... life..... and goes back to the OT when the people had to sacrifice animals for the atonement of their sins and the blodd was always the focal point of the ceremony . The blood was put on the doorposts of the Israelites so that when the angel of death came all those insde where the blood was covered were saved .

Even one of the plagues where the river was turned to blood was also pointing to Jesus in the NT.

Jesus is now the sacraficial , spotless Lamb of God and all the sacrifices in the OT had to be first born and without spot or defect.


Like wise now when we remember the shed blood of Jesus Christ .... He saves us from our sins and we do all this as a remembrance of Him till He comes .

The wine and the bread are a symbolic remembrance of Jesus Christ death and resurrection and we do it to remember what He did for us .
 
The wine and the bread are a symbolic remembrance of Jesus Christ death and resurrection and we do it to remember what He did for us .
I have tremendous respect and love for my brothers and sisters in Christ who hold to that doctrinal belief.

Myself, I do not share that same view.
When I read the words of our Lord in Matthew 26:26-27 I read "Is" to mean "Is".

There are over 100 other words Jesus could have used that would have meant, Looks like, smells like, represents, appears like, symbolizes...etc.
But Jesus used the one word, the only word that means "IS".

These words were spoken by the same God who created light by saying "Let there be light" and who created the expanse by saying the words; "Let there be an expanse."

So when He says; "This IS my body, this IS my blood." I see it as the true presence.

How He does it??, I don't know. I do not believe in transubstantiation. As I can tell the taste of blood from the taste of Concord Grape wine, and I know that the wine is still present, it has not changed into blood.

But if Christ said it IS, then I believe that it IS.

This theological discussion is the primary distinction between most of the protestant denominations today.

I am not attempting to elevate any belief above another in here, but I am going to say, and I say this again with the highest respect for all of the other 30 plus thousand denominations in the world.

Before you take of the Holy Eucharist, you had better give it serious consideration, research the scriptures and understand what you are publically confessing and taking part in.

Because, just as others have posted here... this is serious. It is of the most extreme importance that it be taken with the respect and reverence it deserves.
:heart:
 
Michael, I agree with you that anything extraneous to the Bible is non-authoritative, however Holy Communion is commanded, not recommended.

"TAKE, EAT"...TAKE, DRINK"..."DO THIS"...

These are not suggestions, they are commands. But when we do them, we stand among an assembly and before God Almighty and publically profess our faith.

That is why I said that it is imperative that a person examine themselves and understand precicely what it is that they are professing.

Some people do not bellieve in the Holy Supper at all, some see it as symbolic, some see it as sacramental, I am saying that a person needs to understand what they believe, what the Holy Spirit has placed in their heart, and what exactly it is that the assembly they are standing in believes, teaches, and confesses so that they do not find themselves confessing something they do not believe in.
 
Christ himself said my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" John 6:53–56 .

If the Jews in John 6:51–52 disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’". It must mean that bread is flesh indeed.
 
Christ himself said my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" John 6:53–56 .

If the Jews in John 6:51–52 disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’". It must mean that bread is flesh indeed.

yes they disputed and left because they thought He wanted them to eat him. they did not understand.

We see in the same text

6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.


Jesus was certainly speaking of spiritual things to the people. To eat flesh is cannibalism and to drink blood is against Gods law as He himself said"thou shalt not drink blood for in the blood is life"
 
I have tremendous respect and love for my brothers and sisters in Christ who hold to that doctrinal belief.

Myself, I do not share that same view.
When I read the words of our Lord in Matthew 26:26-27 I read "Is" to mean "Is".

There are over 100 other words Jesus could have used that would have meant, Looks like, smells like, represents, appears like, symbolizes...etc.
But Jesus used the one word, the only word that means "IS".

These words were spoken by the same God who created light by saying "Let there be light" and who created the expanse by saying the words; "Let there be an expanse."

So when He says; "This IS my body, this IS my blood." I see it as the true presence.

How He does it??, I don't know. I do not believe in transubstantiation. As I can tell the taste of blood from the taste of Concord Grape wine, and I know that the wine is still present, it has not changed into blood.

But if Christ said it IS, then I believe that it IS.

This theological discussion is the primary distinction between most of the protestant denominations today.

I am not attempting to elevate any belief above another in here, but I am going to say, and I say this again with the highest respect for all of the other 30 plus thousand denominations in the world.

Before you take of the Holy Eucharist, you had better give it serious consideration, research the scriptures and understand what you are publically confessing and taking part in.

Because, just as others have posted here... this is serious. It is of the most extreme importance that it be taken with the respect and reverence it deserves.
:heart:

Thank you for your reply of respect as I too have respect to others here as well .


Maybe sympbolic was the wrong word to use . I will retract that and say that Communion is a memorial of a sacrifice and is a sacrifice of praise offered to God . Each time we have Communion at our church we honour God with our sacrifices of praise and worship by singing many praise and worship songs as well as lifting up Holy hands and praising our Lord for what He has done for us .

We do all this before we partake of the bread and the wine .

Communion I would say is a proclamation of the Lord's Death , sacrimentally untill he returns .
 
yes they disputed and left because they thought He wanted them to eat him. they did not understand.

We see in the same text

6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.


Jesus was certainly speaking of spiritual things to the people. To eat flesh is cannibalism and to drink blood is against Gods law as He himself said"thou shalt not drink blood for in the blood is life"


I do take John 6:53-56 literally, I have no choose, its every clear their and elsewhere.

your point about John 6 :63 is true, remember the bread and wine does not look like blood or flesh so something spiritual indeed is happening for it to be the real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Ref:
Jn 6:35-71 - Eucharist promised
Mt 26:26ff (Mk 14:22., Lk 22:17) - Eucharist instituted
1Cor 10:16 - Eucharist = participation in Christ's body & blood
1 Cor 11:23-29 - receiving unworthily his body & blood
Ex 12:8, 46 - Paschal lamb had to be eaten
Jn 1:29 - Jesus called "Lamb of God"
1 Cor 5:7 - Jesus called "paschal lamb who has been sacrificed
Jn 4:31-34; Mt 16;5-12 - Jesus talking symbolically about food
1Cor 2:14-3:4 - explains what "the flesh" means in Jn 6:63
Ps 14:4; Is 9:18-20; Is 49:26; Mic 3:3; 2Sm 23:15-17; Rv 17:6, 16 -
to symbolically eat & drink one's body & blood = assault
 
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