A Wine Party
W. Carl Ketcherside
[Page 11] |
"I have been running references on the Communion for a long time, and I honestly believe Wine is what should be used in the Communion Service. Since I've decided Wine should be used, for a long time I've not been going anywhere to Church. I wish I had somewhere to worship, where they use Wine. But everybody here uses grape juice. Maybe some day I can go where they use Wine."With the spirit and attitude expressed, it will make little difference if the writer goes anywhere or not, for he indicates that he is walking after the flesh and not after the Spirit. Among the works of the flesh which are said to be plain are mentioned "selfishness, dissension, and the party spirit." He has built a party around the state or condition of the liquid served at the royal feast, and now seeks to un-Christianize every child of God who does not bow to his regulation. His problem is not over using grape juice. It is over the processing of it, or how long it has been left uncovered. Wine is grape juice! To rend and tear, to cut and slash the blessed body of God's dear Son, over such matters is almost unthinkable. What will men not do when driven by selfishness and a factious spirit?
The brother has not learned his divisive way by "running references on the Communion," for the Lord's Supper is, nowhere called "the communion." It is a part of the communion or fellowship' of the saints, but every act we do in joint service is part of the communion. The Lord's Supper is the communion of the body and blood of the Lord, but to call it "the communion is as misleading as to talk about "going to church." It is the church which does the going!
It is sinful to split the body of Christ into wrangling parties over the very Supper which the Son of God ordained as an expression of corporate fellowship. The word of God does not say if the grape juice shall be fermented or unfermented, if the bread shall be leavened or unleavened. I shall not refuse to eat or drink with my brethren over the state of the bread or grape juice, or over some manner of breaking the loaf or distributing the drink element. We need to rise above these partisan divisions and look unto Jesus!