Communion as commemoration.

Exodus 12:7–17 NIV

7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. 12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. 14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do. 17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.

God commanded the people of israel to rember the passover.

You would have thought that with such an outstanding dramatic event as the deliverance from egypt would stick in the minds of the children of isreal, you would have thought that they would be taliking about it everyday not just once a year.

Why would they need a visible and concrete reminder about the event in the form of a seven day feast. I think God gave them this instruction because he knows the tendancy of the human heart to forget.

Not only the painful, unplesent things of the past but also the great and significant events as well.

God knows us so well. through out the old testement he would instruct the children of Isreal to build alters, name place and people as a reminder of what God had done for them

We have an astonishing capacity to forget

Paraphrase this...

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 3

Now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Chest of GOD, Master of all the earth, touch the Jordan’s water, the flow of water will be stopped—the water coming from upstream will pile up in a heap.”

14–16  And that’s what happened. The people left their tents to cross the Jordan, led by the priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant. When the priests got to the Jordan and their feet touched the water at the edge (the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest), the flow of water stopped. It piled up in a heap—a long way off—at Adam, which is near Zarethan. The river went dry all the way down to the Arabah Sea (the Salt Sea). And the people crossed, facing Jericho.

17  And there they stood; those priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant stood firmly planted on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground. Finally the whole nation was across the Jordan, and not one wet foot.

God Knowswe have a tendancy to forget

It is beacuse of this that God instructed the children of Isreal after they had miraculously crossed over the jordan to construct a monument of stones...

Joshua 4:6–7 NIV

6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

God know we have a tendancy to forget

One of the most devestating effects of living in this falled world is the paralasys it brings to both mind and memory

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jonses said

“We are so dull and stupid becasue of sin that we might even forget the death of the Son of God for us if the Lord himself had not ordained and commanded that we should meet together and take bread and wine. It is the setting up of the stones in Gilgal again”

It is interesting to note that Jesus does not simply invite us to this table there is an insistance. “Do this in remembrance of me”

not I suggest you do this

or

Why not give this a try once in a while

or if you feel like it and the wind is blowing in the right direction.

The command is to DO THIS..

We are as a community to commeorate his loving death.

The word do in the greek here - implies repetiition.

Also the words in 1 Corinthians 11:23

1 Corinthians 11:23 NIV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,

These words revelw teh command to be a instruction for the whole church. In the light of this and His loving sacrifice for us. One of the purposes of communion is to commemorate jesus’ attoning death on the cross.

The feast banishes forgetfulness

I don’t know about about you, but whenever I read the words do this in Remembrance of Me

One of my first thoughts is -How sad and slightly odd is that we need a reminder at all. You would think that once we had come to Christ and understand just what his death and resurrection means for us, that fact would surely remain in our consciousness throughout every moment of the day. But as you know that's not the case is it. We tend to forget.

How is it that we can remember words of songs and trivia from 20 years ago and yet struggle to remember this life, Changing event that literally transforms our lives; that also changes everything.

To help us remember Jesus initiated the sacrament for, he knew how this simple act would help to quicken our memories.

We look at the bread and the wine and the site of these emblems trigger our memories and Calvary comes clearly into focus.

Our infirmity of memory is a contributory factor to our frequent failure to focus on Jesus death and its meaning for our lives and the finest antidote to this is doing this on a regular basis and contenplating what it means, what it represents. The actions that took place to lead us here and the impact it is has had on our lives and will have on our eternal futures.

The feast banishes forgetfulness. The bread and the wine. Are an amazing visual aid.

A God who is here and yet is not.

Another reason why we can so easily forget is because of his non physicality. Putting it simply God is invisible. We know that is alive, but our eyes never see him.

There are no photographs or statues. No canvas carries his portrait and the gospels do not give so much as a hint concerning his physical appearance. Because Jesus is for the present invisible to our gaze. It's all too easy to overlook his reality.

Ian McPherson puts it like this. “What we see seems real and what we cannot see unreal the visible impinges vividly upon our consciousness the invisible inclines to recede into oblivion.”

The invisibility of Jesus is another reason why we occasionally forget him.

DONT LET the VISIBLE world push out the invisible.

The Lords table with its simple emblems revives and refreshes our memory.

The bread is graphically reminiscent of his flesh, the wine of his blood. And if you are usure Jesyus points this out.

These significant emblems bring to reality the Unseen Redeemer and recall his atoning death and sacrificed for us.

We remember Because we reminded.

And when we remember, we can look forward to the day when we will see Jesus face to face.

For you, read that for now, we see only a reflection in a mirror then we shall see him face to face now. I know in part, then I shall know fully even as I am fully known.

1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV

12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

A further reason why we so easily forget Jesus redemptive sacrificed for us on the cross is the constant pressure of the world around us. As Wordsworth put it “the world is too much with us” at times. It feels almost overwhelming. The current population of Earth is somewhere in excess of 7 billion inhabitants. But as someone once put it there is always one whose name is never taken into account on any census, the living Christ himself. The people that bustle around us every day of our lives have an amazing influence upon us because we carry with us or be it subconsciously, there words there laughter. There tears, there.angry words and their remarks. They work within us because we see them, we hear them and we touch them. It's only natural that the people that we rub shoulders with day by day tend to influence us at times more than the spiritual realities, which we know exist but cannot be seen with our physical eyes or heard with our physical ears.

Thankfully, and brilliantly Jesus anticipated this problem when he gave us the communion table. This awesome feast of memory knowing how the world would press upon us and how influential that would be He ordained that in the life of the church community. There will be regular punctuation's of Remembrance when with the graphic symbols of his presence before us. Where we would deliberately and with set purpose call him to mind.

I've always amazed how powerfully Jesus can make himself known in the breaking of bread.

Jesus prescribed actions with the bread and wine. The taking breaking eating and drinking make the Remembrance. Vivid and dramatic.

It's interesting, however, that Jesus doesn't ask us to remember the date or the place of his death or event the manner of it, although we focus on the cross as a symbol of the sacrifical death he had.

Jesus command in rembembrance was to remember Himself: what He is, what he achieved and what he is to us in our past, presnet and future. Do this in remberance of what I am to you.

This is what makes this commemorative act different. Other acts of commemoration rember the actions of the past. This meal is in the now and in the future as we recognise the pressence of our saviour and the trandformative and redemptive actions he has set in motion.

There are many reasons that could be given for the benefit that comes from commemoration. But, perhaps the biggest reason is this. It reminds us of facts. Our security as Christians rests not on theories ideas or suppositions, but facts.

The exodus of the children of Israel, from Egypt was a fact, the daily supply of manna in the wilderness was a fact, the crossing of the Jordan was a fact these are all great. Glorious amazing facts. Facts of God.

The death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is also affect something that belongs clearly in history.

When the future generations of Israel would ask what do these stones mean the reply would be given something miraculous and wonderful happened here.

When today the question is asked of us - What does the bread and the wine on the Lords table mean? that same reply can be given something the Regulus and wonderful as happened here.

Communion

As we take communion together let us take time to remember.

To Remember Jesus as he was, what he did and what this means for us.

sin redeemed.

brokeness restored

death turned to life - etenral life.

There few barriers to coming to this table. Non of us are perfect, Jesus makes us that.

Non of us are worthy and yet the father declares us his own adopted children

if you belive a little and desire more come to this table, if you need to remember his goodness come to this table

​1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NIV23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.