World Communion Sunday and Death

World Communion Sunday and Death

World Communion Sunday is celebrated today all around the world by millions of people, but unfortunately it all too often includes death.

World Communion Sunday and Death

World Communion Sunday and Death

A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church

5 October 2014

Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References:

Exodus 20:1–20
Matthew 21:33–46

World Communion Sunday is celebrated today all around the world by millions of people, but unfortunately it all too often includes death.

The original celebration of communion included only unleavened bread which was made with flour and water, and served with wine or water; and, it was vegan, which was the way the people honored God.

With some religions the people must abstain from eating any animal products before receiving communion, as a way of purifying themselves before God, for they know that killing and eating animals does not honor God.

Unfortunately, today most Christian communities include the eating of animals and the wearing of their fur and hides in their churches, and actually promote it to their parishioners.

Let’s think about these things as we look at Exodus 20:1-20…

  1. Then God spoke all these words, saying,
  2. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
  3. “You shall have no other gods before Me.

Any god or anything we value equally or more importantly than our true God is really having another god before Him.

Note how God defines this in the following verse:

  1. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

We can most likely understand not making a likeness of any animal and worshiping it, but in the above commandment God somewhat separates this from making an idol, which speaks to the problem that we addressed above.

If people are addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs, and can’t live without them and we often hear them say, “I need it,” we need to realize that they have also made an idol before God.

We have also heard people say the same thing about eating meat, which means that they have made flesh eating an idol before God.

They have made death an idol before God!

  1. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

God considers these kinds of things the same as hating Him; is this the way we should want to celebrate World Communion Sunday or any other communion with God?

Absolutely not!

  1. but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

We should purify ourselves, not only to celebrate World Communion Sunday, but every day of our lives, so that we are constantly honoring God.

We have found that the more we change our lives in this way, the more we find that we naturally obey all the other commandments God has set before us.

  1. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
  2. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
  3. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
  4. but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
  5. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

We find it very interesting that Jesus didn’t teach about the Sabbath in this formal way, and opened the door to making Sunday, or any other day of the week a sabbath day; in fact, if we purify our entire lifestyle, which vegan living really helps to do, we make every day a sabbath day, or a day dedicated to honoring God.

In this light, it also seems very logical that every vegan meal can be a communion meal that honors God, and we could be celebrating World Communion Sunday every day of the week, even several times a day throughout the year.

  1. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
  2. “You shall not murder.

This is probably a better understanding of the intent of “you shall not kill,” for it implies premeditation in the act of killing; which, if we think about it, includes every person who hunts land or sea animals, or who raises animals for food, and even every person who buys and/or eats the remains of these animals, for all these people have planned before hand to do this.

  1. “You shall not commit adultery.
  2. “You shall not steal.
  3. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
  4. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
  5. And all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance.
  6. Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.”

They said this because they knew that they were not living in the heavenly will of God, and that these commandments applied to their ungodly acts and ways of living.

  1. And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.”
    NASB

Fear comes when we are not in communion with the Lord our God; it is a sign of our lack of love, and indicates that we are not living in the heavenly will of God.

The problem stems from the fact that most of the Israelites in the wilderness and most of the people today are still intent on living in the ways of the world that is filled with pain, suffering, violence, bloodshed, and death.

They are not ready for World Communion Sunday or for any other communion service, or to live in God’s heavenly will.

Think about these things as we look at Matthew 21:33-46…

  1. “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey.

The landowner is an example of God our Father, and those He intends to rent to are those who hopefully wish to live in the heavenly will of God.

  1. “And when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce.

The term “slave” as translated in these verses is better understood as servant or employee.

  1. “And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third.

These vine-growers are an example of the people of the world including their leaders; they are not peacemaking children of God that our Father hoped they would be.

  1. “Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.

This is the violent way of the world; they are not in communion with the Lord.

There are many people in the world today, including our religious leaders who even support and teach these violent ways, particularly when it comes to animals.

The shed blood they cause is upon their hands and souls, and they will have to answer to God for their actions.

  1. “But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

The son of this parable is an example of Jesus; for Jesus is prophesying about the way the world will treat Him.

  1. “But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and seize his inheritance.’
  2. “And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

If we really think about this, this is the way that most of the world treats Jesus and His teachings.

They are far from having communion with the Lord our God, and any celebration of World Communion Sunday by them would be a farce.

They are like the vine-growers.

  1. “Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?”
  2. They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”

This is absolute proof that these people knew the truth all along, even if they pretended not to, which is exactly what we are seeing all over the world and in most of our churches.

  1. Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,
    ‘The stone which the builders rejected,
    This became the chief corner stone;
    This came about from the Lord,
    And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
  2. “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.

This is what the true peacemaking children of God are doing; they are seeking to free creation from its present corruption, and bring the heavenly will of God to earth as it is in heaven.

And Jesus goes on and tells the people what will befall those who live in the ways of this corrupted world.

  1. “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
  2. And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.
  3. And when they sought to seize Him, they feared the multitudes, because they held Him to be a prophet.
    NASB

Even what Jesus told these religious leaders had no effect on them; they still wanted to commit murder and only stopped because they feared the Godly people.

For it is we who live in the heavenly will of God, who are the ones who hold the evil ways of this world in check, and it is we who can force the evil ways of this world back to hell where they belong.

Don’t fear the evil ones of this world; stand firm against them for we really do have the power.

And as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God we can free creation from corruption.

This is the only way we can truly celebrate World Communion Sunday, and have communion with the Lord every day of our lives.

Amen.

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