Memories

Introduction: (What?)

Most of us have memories that we cling to either because of the persons involved or the events that occurred. In Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, he noted that when Jesus broke the bread and gave it to the disciples, he said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” He said after the cup, “Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” Today as we partake of the Lord’s Supper, I want to remind us some things we should remember.

Explanation: (Why?)

Remember the fall of mankind (Gen. 3:1-19)

As we approach the LORD’s Supper, we must remember that just as Adam and Eve sinned, so did we. (read passage) Paul reminds us in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” John later reminds us in his first letter “If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9)

However, God had a plan from the beginning. As we read a moment ago in Gen. 3:15, He revealed His plan. “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike His heel.”

2. Remember the Love of God (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8)

The second thing we must remember as we come to the table with Jesus is the ENORMITY of the love of God. Just as the old song puts it, “The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell.”

The scripture verse that many of us grew up quoting tells the vastness of God’s love. John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way; He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” Other translations read, “should not perish” or “shall not perish”. However the better translation is WILL NOT perish. There is a certainty about it. You have probably been urged at some point to personalize this verse by inserting your name instead of the word “everyone”. While this promise of God is universal, it is also extremely intimate and personal for those who believe in Christ.

Paul reminds us in Romans 5:7-8 that God’s love was extended to us even before we responded to it. “For rarely will someone die for a just person---though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The next two verses explain even further the impact of God’s love for us. “How much more then, since we have been declared righteous by His blood, will we be saved through Him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life.”

3. Remember the price Jesus paid (Lk 22:63-65; 23: 32-38; 44-48)

Many people did not care to see “The Passion of the Christ” because of the brutality toward Jesus. However, we must not sanitize the pre-crucifixion and the crucifixion experiences of Jesus because to do so is to miss God’s extreme wrath toward sin. For those who do not surrender to Christ as their Savior in this life, there is waiting a brutality beyond belief that will never end. Dr. Luke recorded the events surrounding the crucifixion this way. (read passage and comment)

Jesus preached a sermon that caused many of His followers to leave. In John 6:53 and following He said, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, because My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him.”

So we cannot and must not approach the LORD’s Supper lightly.

Partake of the Lord’s Supper

“On the night when He was betrayed, the LORD Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, (pause for prayer) broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’

In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’”