May, 2007
Communion Sermon
What Are We Supposed to Remember?
Luke 22:1-20
Focus: “…this do in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19
INTRODUCTION: We had a speaker at our school who lived in Duncan Falls when he was in third grade. I didn’t recognize his name, and I was looking forward to meeting him to see if he were someone I had been in class with at Duncan Falls School. I found out that we both had the same 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Roberts. He told me he used to go to Alton Moore’s grocery store to buy candy--I did too. He used to march in the Memorial Day parade down to Duncan Falls Cemetery--I did too. He related good memories and painful memories of his childhood in Duncan Falls--I did too. These memories of his third grade, over 50 years ago, created a link with my childhood in Duncan Falls even though he was not in my third grade class, and he had moved to Dayton at the end of the school year. We remembered different people and where they lived. It was a nice break in the day to talk with this person who had shared in similar experiences.
We can all probably remember third grade. You may remember good things that stand out, but you probably also remember very painful, humiliating experiences.
TRANSITION: The world crowds out much of our time to reminisce about our experiences of the past as well as to think about spiritual things. Jesus knew that we need time to remember Him, and the communion service is such a planned time to come together and think about what He did for us.
After the Passover supper consisting of roast lamb, herbs, and unleavened bread had been eaten, Jesus took the bread and broke it into pieces and gave it to His disciples. Then he took the cup of wine from the table and passed it from one to another of the disciples.
Jesus said, “I want you to do this in the future--in remembrance of me.” He knew that such a time would help them to relive that special, sacred time with Him. In the future, the communion service was a simple ceremony as compared with the Passover feast, but it was given as a continuing link stretching all the way back from His place at the table to His followers in all ages and in all places down through history. It was given to memorialize the death of Jesus and to keep fresh in our minds the fact that Jesus wants to be as near to us today as He was with the disciples that evening around the table.
Our scripture says, “…this do in remembrance of me.”
In another scripture in I Corinthians 11, Paul told the people that they were not grasping the meaning of the communion. They did not remember the man, Jesus, and hold him in their minds as a living person. They did not commemorate His sacrifice on the cross or celebrate their deliverance from sin through His death.
Maybe we do not grasp what He is trying to tell us either. But today is a time set apart to think about it. What are we supposed to remember about Jesus? There are probably a lot of things.
There are four things I would like to point out today:
1. Remember to Focus on Jesus: The disciples had focused their full attention on Jesus. He was at the center of their lives. They heard only His word. They put Jesus first, and this was the key to their continuing development spiritually. It was not this and this, and this and THEN Jesus. It was Jesus and _____, _____, _____. Because of Him their lives had been completely changed.
In the communion we also have an encounter with Jesus. It is as if we are face to face with Him. We focus our eyes and ears on Him just as the disciples did and bring Him back to center stage. Can we say that He has changed our lives and made us new creations or are we simply unchanged church attenders? Does He make a difference in our life on Monday morning as well as on Sunday? In our world it is easy to get OUT OF FOCUS because we tend to take on the culture in which we live. So much of the time there is no thought of Jesus or no focus on Him whatsoever. We have to take time out to get realigned and refocused to what He is saying to us. To hear his Voice saying, “This is the way I want you to go.”
We are to remember to put Him first in our lives by choosing to go His way in our daily decisions. The communion is a time to refocus on Jesus and to think about what He wants us to be, and to correct things that are not in line with His will for our lives.
There is a song we used to sing, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. Then the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” Why is this important? I think it will become more important to focus on Jesus because the things of life will not be as important when we see the light of heaven. When we see the eternal we will not cling so tightly to the earthly. When we focus on Jesus, I believe we will get our priorities straight. We will steer around the non-essentials and put the essential things at the top of our things to do list. We will begin to sift through all of the “busyness” and all of the things we think we have to do in our lives.
I don’t think that the Lord intended for us to live such frantic, crazy lives as we do today. When we focus on Jesus and take time out to think about what really matters, we can realign ourselves to live as He wants us to live. Let’s refocus on Jesus today during our communion experience.
2. Remember That the Cross is Empty: He wants us to remember that the cross is empty. We can look back to the cross and remember the sadness and the pain of the cross. The center of Christianity is the Cross of Jesus, and we testify to the world that we are saved by the work on the cross--that Christ died for our sins.
The communion goes beyond the cross. We must never stop at the crucifixion for this supper celebrates the Resurrection also. This was what the disciples came to know. That which seemed to be the worst that could ever happen was turned into something used to bring about the best that could ever happen--the redemption of all humankind. Christ could take the crucifixion and turn it into a Resurrection. He could take what looked bad and bring good out of it. It is a time for rejoicing because the cross is empty, the tomb is empty, and Jesus lives! As we remember Him on the cross, we know that our sins drove Him there, but in the process, He lifted our condemnation. We are no longer dead in sins and trespasses. You are no longer under condemnation.
F. B. Meyer, an English preacher of the last century, traveled miles on the train preaching everywhere. He never forgot at the end of his trip to go seek out the engineer and thank him for getting him there safely. This is why we can give thanks to God because we know that, as we continue to hold on to Him, he will get us safely through this experience of life. He will not let us be derailed if we continue to put our trust in Him. The communion is a time to thank Him for forgiveness of sins and for the new life that is ours in Jesus.
There was a jewelry department who was showing cross necklaces to a woman. She said, “do you want the one with the little man on it or the plain one.” We who are in Christ Jesus know who the man on the cross was and know the significance of why He was on the cross. Remember that today the cross is empty.
3. We Have ACCESS by Faith: In the communion we have ACCESS to everything that Christ is in time and in eternity. Long after He had gone back to heaven He can come to us when we take the communion. We can reach out in faith to receive what we need--a constant renewing of the inner and outer person--a renewing of the WHOLE person through communion.
He wants us to remember that all He was to them, he will be to us. Why? Because Jesus is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever” ( Hebrews 13:8). It is not something that is just historical in nature--that he was a good teacher, a good person. What He did for those people He will do for us. When we need healing, we should ask. When we need answers, we need to ask for them. When we are frustrated by our jobs, we need to ask for His guidance. This is all a part of our relationship with Him today. We have access by faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Can we grasp this by faith and bring those things from the realm of unreality into the realm of reality? I believe we can.
We should not come to church and go through the motions of singing and reading and praying--but come to church knowing that we are touched by what happens each Sunday in the worship service. We are changed. We are renewed. We are hearing from heaven.
4. He Wants You to Remember that Because [He] Lives, You Shall Live Also: John 14:19 reminds us of our blessed hope not only in this life but in the life to come. We are saddened at the death of our family and friends. We miss them and feel the sorrow from the separation, but what is good to remember is that this life is not the end. We have the hope of eternal life where there is no pain or sorrow. He wants us to remember to prepare for this day when our life on this earth is completed that we will be ready to walk through the door into life eternal. Paul said that if we only had hope in this life we would be most miserable because there are things that cause us pain and suffering. But we have hope of life everlasting with the Lord because He overcame the last enemy, death and the grave. Let us remember in the communion that “because He lives, we shall live also.”
Let us Pray:
Lord, we ask that You will help us to pause and focus on You and what You have done for us on the Cross. Help us not to live our lives in a nonchalant, haphazard way but rather in a new and sincere commitment to you. Help us not just to be members of a church but to be members of the family of God. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen”
