April Communion: In Remembrance of Me

1 Corinthians 11:23-34

Godly Communion and Fellowship is Wonderful

“Dinner is ready!” “Supper is ready!” Mom is yelling out the window or across the yard. We are working with dad or we are playing somewhere around the house. And we all come in, sit down at the table, pray, eat, and talk.

The Sundays that we get together these days… We do basically the same thing, but now the family is so large that we need two tables… one just for the children.

From the Baby Boomers on back, families use to to participate in this, in the home and at the table on a regular basis. But today, the percentage is around 30% or fewer.

Over 70% of families eat out and if they do sit down together in the place… They are most likely on their phones or tablets.

The dinner table in the home use to be a wonderful meeting place. A place of communion and enjoyment. A place to pray, enjoy one another’s company, tell stories, and discuss life… while we ate.

I believe that God loves this. I believe that God loves His people being together, in one accord, praying, and enjoying one another’s company, rejoicing, laughing… and feasting.

How do I know this? From the Bible.

God would do something in the life of His people, and then He would make a feast to commemorate the event. He would work in the lives of Israel, and call the people to hold a feast to commemorate the whole thing. And this was a good time. It was a time of enjoyment. It was a time for God’s people, God’s family… to come together, be together… commune and fellowship, eat and drink… And remember what God has done for them.

God loves Holy Communion. God loves Holy Fellowship.

Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:14 and John 13... all will point to this very specific feast called the Feast of the Passover or the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Passover commemorates the time when the Hebrew people were enslaved to Egypt and God would set them free… after the last plague that would come to the first-born.

All of the households that were under the blood of the lamb would be saved from death. The destroyer would “pass over” their houses and lives and they would be protected. All who were not under the blood of the lamb… the firstborn of that house would be slain.

From this time on… The Hebrew people would feast, celebrate and remember what God has done.

Jesus is here, before His arrest and crucifixion, partaking of this Passover meal with His disciples… remembering what God had done… remembering the Lamb, remembering the slavery, remembering the power of God, and the death of the firstborn.

And it is here… during this time of remembrance… that Jesus infuses this Feast, this Communion and Celebration… with new meaning.

1 Cor. 11:24 - Jesus picks up the bread that was on the table and He holds it up, He gives thanks (prays), and then He looks at His followers… and breaks the bread… with these words:

“This is My body which is for you. This is My body which is given for you… Take and eat… Do this in remembrance of Me.”

What did the Bread mean before Jesus says this in the upper room?

The Jews would have understood that the unleavened bread used at Passover would have meant that the children of Israel would have to move very quickly, to not use yeast, which represents sin. The bread was called the bread of affliction, or the bread of suffering.

But throughout Jesus’ ministry Jesus has been teaching this:

John 6:35 - Jesus says that He is the Bread of Life; he who comes to Him will not hunger, and He who believes in Him will never thirst.

Jesus, the Bread of Life, is the Life without sin. He is the suffering servant Who will be afflicted, broken, and given to whosoever will have Him.

John 6:53-54 - If you want life, eternal life, you must take in Jesus; He is the Bread that has come down from heaven.

He is the Bread from heaven that will never rot or go away like the manna in the desert. He is the living giving Bread from Heaven Who will provide for you eternally.

What about the cup?

The cup came to represent judgment and salvation in the Bible. It came to represent blessings and suffering. When Jesus was praying in the Garden, He prayed that the cup would pass from Him. This was the cup of suffering and divine wrath.

Though Jesus would drink the cup of judgment and of divine wrath, He would in turn give the cup of salvation to whosoever would partake of it. The cup now represents life, blessings and promises of the New Covenant. Through Christ we now may obtain these.

God loves Holy Communion with His People.

The Lord’s Supper is Not a Dead Religious Ritual

This meal, this Holy Communion, is about a Person. Its not about church or just religious practices. This Supper… is about a Person and what He has done.

Jesus tells us… Whenever you come together… And by the way, we are called by Jesus to come to gether as do this together, to enjoy this together, to remember together… Church family, brothers and sisters, come together and remember Me.

Do not stay at home by yourself, come together with your family and do this...

And… Remember Me together. Remember where you were. Remember your sin. Remember that the Lamb of God came into this world and laid down His life for you, so that death would not come near you, and that you would be set free to worship and serve the Living God.

Remember Me. Come together and remember Me.

“I have come to save you. Remember me. I have come to deliver you. Remember me. I have come to make a New Covenant with you… Remember Me. I have come to give you eternal life. Remember Me. I have kept and will keep my promises with you… Remember Me. Talk about Me. Worship Me together.”

The Passover event is a story and a celebration of Redemption, of Life, of Freedom. God was faithful and He delivered His people from the tyrant and slave master, who was over them.

But all of this pointed to Jesus.

The Cross and Resurrection is a celebration of redemption, of life, and of freedom. God has been faithful to us. God has been gracious and merciful towards us. God has delivered us from our sin and from Satan Himself, so that we may know and have communion with the Living God.

And God loves it when we come together and do this.

What are doing, when we do this as Christians?

Verse 26 - We are proclaiming something as the people of God; we are proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes again.

We are claiming that we know Christ. We are claiming that we know and we believe the Gospel. We proclaim that we are recipients of this grace and that we are living by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone.

Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection mean something to us: Eternal life.

We are proclaiming that we know this Jesus and this Jesus is in us. And we are doing this as One Body, as One Faith in Christ alone.

John 17:23-26 - Jesus prays for all those who will come to faith in Him. Father that they be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them… and I have made Your Name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.

This is the prayer of Jesus… the will of Jesus.

And when we come together around the table, we proclaim that we are One in Christ and that we belong to one another as a Family of God.

Getting back to 1 Cor. 11:

Verse 27-34 - But something is happening here. People are coming together and they are not remembering Christ. It is not a Holy Communion. What is going on in this church, in the city of Corinth, is not worshipful but blasphemous. It’s not about Jesus. It’s about them.

People are coming together and there are factions among the assembly. People are not reflecting or representing Christ as they come together, and they show no regard for others. They were selfish. This particular imagery is that of a big meal and there were people who came in and gorged themselves and they even become inebriated off their wine consumption.

For them, it has nothing to do with Jesus. It has everything to do with them.

For the Christian, it has everything to do with Jesus.

God loves Holy Communion with His People. 2. Holy Communion is Not a Dead Ritual, but a worshipful, life giving time with God.

What should the church do? What should everyone in the assembly do before they partake of the Lord’s Table?

3. We must Examine ourselves.

Verse 27-28 - They must examine themselves… They must examine their hearts and lives. They are not to take the meal in an unworthy manner, or they shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

What was happening to these people who would do this?

They were becoming weak, sick, and they were dying… Because of the Lord’s discipline upon them.

What could be some ways that we could partake of this meal in an unworthy manner?

Taking it without a worshipful spirit.

Taking it without remembering the Lord.

Taking it with an unrepentant heart, or an ungodly or bitter heart.

If we were to take Ephesians 4: To walk in a worthy manner is to love your people with humility, gentleness, patience, and tolerance… to be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

So, to walk in an unworthy manner would be the opposite: We would operate in pride, anger, impatience, and no tolerance… with no effort to work on Christian relationships.

Matthew 5:23 - Gives us a picture of reconciling with our church family before we worship.

God cares about our hearts. He cares about our relationships.

God cares about us coming together and being One Family together, in one accord.

It is not about going through the motions. It is not just about showing up. And it is not about my place at the table. No, we are Christ-centered/God-centered. No, we are others focused. We are concerned about what makes God happy. And God is happy with a united church under Christ.

Listen: Self-examination is to be a preparation for Holy Communion. Self-examination brings us to confession and repentance. Self-examination is to bring us to the table and not keep us from it.

All are sinners. All are in need of grace and mercy… even our church family.

When we partake of Holy Communion… we are proclaiming that we understand this. That is why we are quick to reconcile, quick to confront, forgive, and to serve one another.

Why? This is what Christ has done for us.

God is looking for a heart that is worshipping in spirit and in truth.

And brothers and sisters who are not seeking reconciliation has lost sight of the Lord Who has reconciled them to God.

The brothers and sisters who are being selfish and are causing problems and not resolving problems, have forgotten… The Lord Who has come to fix our problems.

The brothers and sisters that are happy with division… Has forgotten the Lord Who was broken to eliminate division and to bring all of God’s people together into One Body.

God loves Holy Communion with His people… Not division.

God’s Holy Communion is life giving to the People of God who are gathered with the right spirit.

God’s Holy Communion demands that we examine ourselves… lest we may suffer the Father’s discipline.

Church: We are to worship and celebrate together in one accord. We are to eat together and drink together with our minds and our hearts linked together on One Person: Christ Jesus.

Here we are together… Remembering.

Here we are together… Forgiving.

Here we are together… Serving.

Here we are together… Joyfully worshipping.

God loves this. God loves His people. God loves His people being in one accord together… looking to Jesus.

Today, we gather around this table remembering Jesus.

And today, we examine ourselves again.

Have I lost sight of Jesus? Have I become bitter with my church family? Have I hurt them? Do I need to confess and repent of something before participate in this Holy event?

May we all examine ourselves, and prepare ourselves as we come together.

Music for preparation.

Prayer.

Serve.

Close.