Remember

ME

*Peru Table pic*

One of the things Iove about going to Peru is the food. The different flavors, spices, roasted chicken with three different sauces, and surprisingly the best burgers on the planet.

But even more than the food, what I love is that almost every meal we gather at a big ole' table to eat. Folks from California, Alabama, Kentucky, and other parts of the US who speak only English, others who speak a little Spanish and one old guy Larry who speaks great Spanish. Doctors and Pastors from the capitol city of Lima, Peru (a city that has waay more people than New York,) and Pastors and friends from the beautiful jungle city of Tarapoto and surrounding villages.

We all get together and pray, eat, laugh and get to know each other better.

We break bread together- except the bread there is waaay better.

*Chancay bread pic*

It's called "Chancay" (Chawn-ky)

Then you slap some butter and this amazing jelly on it, and it's the cheat meal you've waited on your whole life!

*Peru Fruit pic

Chica Morada pic

Inca Kola pic

And then we drink juice from fruits you ain't even heard, juice made from dark corn some Inca Cola (Peru's coke)

*Title Slide*

We're a bunch of Christians together, praying, eating, laughing, and reflecting on life with each other.

You know what I see and experience when I'm at that table with my friends from different hemispheres?

Communion.

Gathering together with my brothers and sisters reminds me that we're there together, in Jesus's name, to remember what He's done for us.

WE

We’ve all had meals kinda like this at some point in our lives:

Hanging with friends at McDonald’s or Baxter’s after school.

Pre-game meals with the football team or with friends eating terrible school food at lunch time.

Or maybe it’s at a church potluck or family reunion where there’s like twenty different casseroles and so much dessert there that everyone needs an insulin shot afterwards.

We love the food at these meals, but it’s the people we’re around that make it a meal to remember.

GOD

2,000 years ago, the most important meal in history was eaten, with 13 mean sitting on the floor. Some were scared, others confused, but one knew exactly what was happening, what He and His friends were going to go through soon, and with this meal, He gave them a special way to remember Him and meet with Him, even after His body left the earth.

1 Corinthians 11:23–34 NIV

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 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.” 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.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world. So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.

Fun Fact: Since the letter to the Corinthians was written before any of the four Gospels, this is actually the first recorded account we have of any word of Jesus.

Past, Present, & Future

There is nothing in Christian worship that looks to the past, the present and the future, as the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper does.

We remember the night that Jesus was betrayed. He knew what was going to happen, but He spent His last free hours pouring Words of Life into His friends. Even to the friend who betrayed Him.

We remember that Jesus poured out His blood and His body was broken on the cross.

We understand that Christ’s blood saves us now from our sins AND from a life of sin, even in the midst of a culture that loves to sin.

And we look forward to the greatest meal of all:

Revelation 19:7–9 The Message

Let us celebrate, let us rejoice, let us give him the glory! The Marriage of the Lamb has come; his Wife has made herself ready. She was given a bridal gown of bright and shining linen. The linen is the righteousness of the saints. The Angel said to me, “Write this: ‘Blessed are those invited to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.’ ” He added, “These are the true words of God!”

We look back, we look around, and we look forward to some amazing things.

We Need to Check Ourselves as Christians EVERY Time We Eat Together

1 Corinthians 11:28 The Message

Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.

There were people in Corinth chowing down the food before other people who were starving had a chance to eat any.

Think of it like this:

You go to a homeless shelter down the road at dinner time. There’s a big line of people who are hungry, maybe waiting for their only meal of the day. And you cut line, barge through the door, lock it behind you and eat all the food while looking out at these hungry people. That’s a jerk move, right?

That’s basically what the people at this church were doing. And it was supposed to be a meal where they remembered Jesus.

But it’s like they were spitting in Jesus’s face by the way they were acting.

Just like the Corinthian church, if you’re a Christian but not living like it at all, doing things like thinking you’re more important and better than others, living a life of open sin outside the church walls, or living a life of hidden sin that God only knows about, you need to listen to the words of Ice Cube and

*Show Ice Cube Meme*

The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is not so much the place where we realize the real presence of our Lord, as the place where we realize the reality of the real presence of our Lord.

-Barclay

The community we share around communion also serves to strengthen us as a church as we remember him together.

COMMUNION REMINDS US THAT WE’RE ONE TOGETHER WITH JESUS

Pic of Duke of Wellington and Napoleon

After his defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, the British general Duke of Wellington attended a small church where he came forward and knelt down to receive Communion. An old man in tattered clothes knelt beside him. A deacon approached the old man, placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, and whispered for him to keep his distance from the duke. Overhearing this, the duke immediately clasped the old man’s hand and told him, ‘Don’t move—we’re all equal here’

-John Armstrong

Communion pic

At this table, no one is better than the other. But all are equal together at the table of God’s grace.

YOU

My brother, sister and I sang a song for our Momma at her funeral. She was a lady that always made you feel welcome in her home and would serve you until she was exhausted.

A whole lot like Jesus. Listen to these words:

Table of Grace Lyrics

Hear the good news, you've been invited

No matter what others may say,

Your darkest sins will be forgiven

You will always have a place.

At the table of grace the cup's never empty.

The plate's always full and it's never too late.

To come and be filled with love never ending

You're always welcome at the table of grace.

So come weak, and heavy hearted (heavy hearted)

Don't try to hide your earthly scars.

In His eyes, we all are equal (yes, we are)

Don't be afraid, come as you are.

Communion pic

There’s a place for you at this table.

A place for your sins to be forgiven.

For you to find new life and be clean.

A place where you can feel the incredible love of Jesus and others.

A place where you can get a preview of the greatest meal of all: when you get to eat with the God of the Universe face to face and be with Him forever.

A place of grace.

The invitation’s out… will you come?

Prayer

WE

What if the Christians in this room invited the people we know who are far from God to this Table?

What if we didn’t look down on or try to avoid people who aren’t like us and instead chose to invite them to a meal?

Those people would stop looking at Christians like a bunch of hypocrites and find out that Christians are the most welcoming people on the planet.

Because we’ve been invited to dinner at the most expensive meal ever- paid for by the precious blood of Jesus… who wouldn’t want to invite someone to that?