Wine and not Grape Juice

I believe the scriptures are very clear that on the night Jesus instituted the Lord’s supper, they partook of wine, the fruit of the vine, a fermented beverage made from grapes.  I also believe that Scripture and history are very clear that wine was an appropriate drink for Christians throughout the history of the church – and no one used to check your ID.

And here is another place where we could have divisions among us.  Because of the sin of drunkenness and a humanistic and statist approach at dealing with it, we now have all kinds of regulations surrounding the partaking of this drink – a drink Jesus used in order to reveal His divine nature in His first public miracle at a wedding in Cana.

But because of generations of confusion in our culture – and generations now in the church of mixed messages surrounding alcohol, we also offer grape juice.  We do so knowing that we are dividing the tray – but we’d rather do that right now than divide the congregation.  But here is another exhortation to start where you are – where we are – and grow in our maturity of understanding the scriptures.  Let’s study together, with charity and gentleness, but with sober Bible Study.  There is an answer to be found.