"In Remembrance Of Me"
Do you ever have trouble forgetting things?
Do you ever forget where you put your keys?, Wallet? Checkbook? a telephone number you’ve written down? someone’s name? a birthday or an anniversary?
Well everyone forgets at one time or another, according to Karen Bolla, a John Hopkins University researcher. These are the things people most often forget;
. names . where something is . telephone numbers . words . what was said . faces
It’s said that there are really only 3 kinds of memory - good, bad and convenient.
I’ve always liked the story of the 3 old widows who lived together. One sister got up to go to bed, half way up the stairs she stopped and asked "was I going up or was I coming down"
One sister replied with hint of aggravation, "you were going up to bed."
A second sister headed into the kitchen to make herself a sandwich. Once in the kitchen she hollered back to her sister who was still down stairs; "what did I come in here for"
The sister responded again with a trace of irritation, "you went in to make yourself a sandwich" after which she said; "I’m so glad I am not as forgetful as the both of you are" as she knock on the end table.
And then she got up and walked over to the door and said "Who is it?"
Yes, we are a forgetful people. And from my vast experience I have concluded that forgetfulness is not a respecter of age. And there fore we come up with all kinds of ways to help us remember; (string around finger; post it notes, day planners, memory courses). And most of us do need a little help to remember.
This weekend is the observance of a very special holiday in our country. This as you all know is Memorial Day Weekend. And contrary to popular practice and understanding this day means much more than: cook outs, boating, beach trips, BBQ’S, pool openings, or 4 day weekends. NOW I’m saying that those things are bad - they are fine and good, but memorial day has a much deeper meaning - it is a time set aside every year, to both remember and honor those men & women who have died, who have given the ultimate gift, their life’s in battle for our country.
Memorial Day originated during the Civil War when some southern women choose May 30 to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers. And these women honored the dead of both the Union and Confederate armies. A war that took over 600,000 lives. And remember the population was much less and therefor just about the entire country was touched in one way or another with the death of a loved one.
Now fortunately because of the sacrifices of those in our past most of us in this room today have not had to suffer the loss of a loved one in battle. So on this day let us not fail to remember those whose lives brought us this freedom we now enjoy to go to the beach and have BBQ’S.
Yes we are a forgetful people, and not only do we forget names, where we put our wallet, the meaning of memorial day - but we also tend to forget God and all that he has done for us... - THAT IS WHY throughout the bible God’s people are exhorted to remember him. (over 100 examples of this in the bible)
"Remember well what the Lord your God did..." Dt 7:18
"Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there..." Dt 24:18
"Remember the wonders he has done..." Ps 105:5
"Remember this, fix it in your mind take it to heart..." Is 46:8
"Remember that in the past you were without Christ. You were not citizens of Israel, and you had no part in the agreements with the promise that God made to his people. You had no hope and you did not know God. But know in Christ jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of Christ’s death..."
Eph 2:12,13
2 PETER 1:12-15
We are a forgetful people - that is why God through out His Word exhorts us to remember and that is why for nearly 3,500 years God’s people have had a memorial feast (a string around their finger) that they were commanded to observe in order to aid their memory.
Today’s message is entitle "Do This in remembrance of me" now these are familiar words to us - they are even engraved on the front of this table.
Luke 22:7-24
As I reflected on this passage this week - I found it to be interesting - significant and intriguing... Let me explain.
Interesting;
Do you know what I find interesting about this passage. Of all the gospel writers who record this event only Luke mentions that the Lord’s Supper was to become a memorial feast.
You see the words, "Do this in remembrance of me" are not found in the other gospel accounts of that night in the upper room. You won’t find them in Matthew, Mark or John. In fact the only other place where we find these words are in 1 Cor 11 where Paul discusses the Lord’s Supper.
I find it very interesting that the only ones who recorded those words of Jesus that night were 2 people who were not even the upper room. (no doubt aided by the Holy Spirit in this knowledge).
Why didn’t Matthew, Mark or John mention them?
We are a forgetful people.
That night in the upper room was a very emotional night, here was a lot going on. We see Jesus telling them of His arrest and death; we see the disciples arguing about which of them is the greatest and then we see Jesus sending them all into emotional turmoil when he said, that one of them would betray Him.... They all in turn asked themselves - "Is it I?"
With all that was happening that night it is apparent that the 12 either didn’t hr Jesus or they forgot.
To me the fact that only Luke and Paul mentions this underscores the fact that we are a forgetful people who are in constant need of helps to aid us in remembering.
Significant
Do you know what I find significant about this passage? The timing of it. You see it was no accident that this night in the upper room fell on the very night of the Passover celebration.
The passover was a night that God’s people had observed every year (except for a few missed years during periods of disobedience) for nearly 1500 years. The passover was a special memorial feast celebrated each year to aid God’s people in remembering there deliverance from slavery in Egypt.
You remember that first passover... even after all the plagues Pharaoh still refused to let God’s people go. And then God brought about a plague that would break both the backs and the will of Egypt - the plague of the death of all the firstborn in Egypt - man and animal.
During the passover God’s people were to celebrate a special meal... The meal involved eating bitter herbs (to remind them of the bitterness of the years of slavery), it also involved the eating of bread without yeast (to remind them of the speed at which the needed to leave Egypt) and it involved the sacrifice of a lamb whose blood was to spread over the door posts of their homes, so that when the "destroyer" send from God came he would pass over there homes and they would live.
EXODUS 12:24-27
It was God’s providential hand the led Jesus to the upper room that thursday night...
Listen to 1 Cor 5:7;
"Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast - as you really are. FOR CHRIST OUR PASSOVER LAMB, HAS BEEN SACRIFICED."
For 1500 hundreds years God’s people had observed the passover. Jesus had observed the passover meal - he and his disciples had no doubt had this meal together before.
But the old ways, the old meal and the old covenant were about to be replaced, they were about to take on their greater and fuller meaning.
Each year as God’s people observed this feast they were pointing out to, they anticipating the time when the true passover lamb of God would be sacrificed -- they were looking forward to the time when His shed blood would allow for their sins to be passed over once and for all time..
Intriguing
2 things intrigue me about this passage in Luke.
Why would Jesus choose this supper - this memorial feast (what we call the Lord’s Supper) as the chief vehicle for remembering Him?
What was (is) this supper intended to cause us to remember?
What did Jesus not want them (or us) to forget?
As I said earlier Jesus had no doubt celebrated this meal with them before... But this meal was different. This meal was to have an added significance.
In our text in Luke 22:15 Jesus said, "I have eagerly desired to have this meal with you...."
In the original language the same word is actually used twice and Jesus is saying is, "with desire I desire to have this meal with you...." This was no routine passover meal - it was significant to Jesus and He very passionately wanted to share it..
I believe that Jesus’ "double desire" was fueled by 2 things; First; His desire for His disciples to know the true meaning of the passover... For years his people had only celebrated a shadow -but now the real thing was here! The true lamb of God was standing before them and the real Passover was about to be celebrated.
No longer would God’s people celebrated the shadow every year... This was to be the last - the final passover meal. The passover meal was handing the baton of memory to another memorial feast.
A second thing that fueled Jesus desire to have this meal with His disciples and equally flammable was His desire for them to remember Him. he was about to go to the cross, he was about to die.. The close fellowship they shared was about to be no more...
I remember as Judy (my first wife) was nearing the end of her earthly life - when she knew that she would soon going home to be with the Lord - one of her "double desires" that she shared with me on more than 1 occasion was that John & Chelsea would always remember her and not forget her....
What was it that Jesus didn’t want us to forget about Him?
What is it that we are to remember as we partake of the Lord’s Supper?
I reflected long and hard on this all week, and though I know my list is by no means exhaustive, I came up with 7 things Jesus wants us to remember as we celebrate the new covenant’s memorial feast.
1. JESUS WANTS US TO REMEMBER OUR WORTH
"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming - not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifice repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship...those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood and bulls and goats to take away sins..." Heb 10:1,3
"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as gold or silver that you were redeemed form the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect...."
Every year on the passover when the city of Jerusalem swelled to a million or more, scholars estimate that over 100,000 lambs were sacrificed, when the smells of blood and burning animals filled the air - the people were reminded of the cost of their sins.
And every time we hold the cup and the bread we ar reminded of the tremendous cost of our sins... The broken body and the shed blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Back in the days of the Great Depression a Missouri man named John Griffith was the controller of a great railroad drawbridge across the Mississippi River. One day in the summer of 1937 he decided to take his 8 year old son, Greg, with him to work.
At noon John griffith put the bridge up to allow ship to pass and he sat on the observation deck with his son to eat lunch. Time passed quickly. Suddenly he was startled by the shrieking of a train whistle in the distance. He quickly looked at his watch and noticed it was 1:07 - the memphis Express, with 400 passengers on board was roaring toward the raised bridge!
He leaped from the observation deck and ran back to the control tower. Just before throwing the master lever he glanced down at the ships below. There a sight caught his eye that caused his heart to leap pounding into his throat. greg had slipped from the observation deck and had fallen into the massive gears that operate the bridge. His left leg was caught in the cogs of the two main gears!
Desperately John’s mind whirled to devise a rescue plan. But as soon as he thought of a possibility he knew there was no way it could be done.
Again with alarming closeness, the train whistle shrieked in the air. He could hear the clicking of the locomotive wheels over the tracks. That was his son down there - yet there were 400 passengers on the train. John knew what he had to do, so he buried his head in his left arm and pushed the master control switch forward. The great massive bride lower it’s gears crushing his son, as the Memphis express began to roar across the river.
Do you feel valuable? many don’t?
Well, How do we determine the value of something? The value of something is determined by how much someone is willing to pay for it. What makes the Hope Diamond, books, antiques, gold, baseball cards, princess Diana’s clothes valuable?
The fact that someone is willing to pay a large price for them...
What price was God willing to pay in order to save you and I from our sin?
The death, the cruel death on a rugged cross of His Son... who he loved... No higher price could have been paid.
Whenever we take communion, Jesus wants us to remember our worth.
2. JESUS WANTS YOU TO REMEMBER GOD’S LOVE
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life..."
Jn 3:16
"God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were sinners, Christ died for us...."
Rm 5:8
God so loved the world that he gave.....
God demonstrated his love for us....
Let’s Personalize Rm 5:8; (God demonstrated His own love for me in this, while I was a sinner, Christ died for me...)
A father was tucking in his 6 year old son for the night. The father asked him, "son, when does daddy love you the most? When you’ve been fighting with your sister and getting into a lot of trouble? Or when you’ve been real helpful to Mommy and real nice to everyone?"
The son thought for a moment and then said, "both times!"
"Right," the father said, "and do you know why?"
"Cause I’m your special guy," replied the boy. You see, the boy knew his father loved him, no matter what, because he was daddy’s special guy."
Understand that you are special to God (you are his special guy or girl) - And His love for you in unconditional - it so strong so powerful that you can’t ever outrun it.... And you don’t have to earn it - it is just there! As the mountains surround Jerusalem so does God’s love surround his people!!!!
God’s love for us is hard to grasp; That why Paul wrote in Eph 3:17,18
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power with the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge..." Eph 3:17,18
The Lord Supper reminds of our worth and of God’s great love for us!!!
3. JESUS WANTS US TO REMEMBER HIS CROSS
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends..." Jn 15:13
Jesus wants us to remember His cross.
To remember the sacrifice that he made.
The cross and the road to calvary was not an Easy one to walk (in fact Jesus asked the Father if there was another way) YET Jesus was willing to take up that cross... He was willing to deny himself for you and for me.
Don’t ever forget His cross, OR that he has called you and I like him - though the way is not always easy, TO DENY OURSELVES (PUT HIM AND OTHERS FIRST) - TO TAKE UP OUR CROSS, DAILY, AS WE FOLLOW HIM.
It is hard for us to remember His cross without remembering our own.
4. JESUS WANTS US TO REMEMBER OUR NEED
When we take communion we do not simply hold the bread and the cup in our hands -- but we partake of them - in a way they become a part of us..
This reminds us of our greatest need, which is to not only know about Jesus (hold him in our hands) but to take Him into our lives - to make Him a part of us.
How do we do that? by being obedient to God’s will and God’s word.
5. JESUS WANT YOU TO REMEMBER WHAT SAVES YOU
2 stanzas of a popular hymn make this clear
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Nothing can for sin atone - nothing but the blood of Jesus
Naught of good that I have done - nothing but the blood of Jesus.
O! precious is the flow That makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
It is His blood that saves not the good you do or the bad you don’t do.
And that blood is contacted according to the bible at the moment a repentant believer is immersed into Jesus Christ.
"Arise be baptized washing your sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Acts 22:16
6. JESUS WANTS US TO REMEMBER OUR ONENESS
When we take the Lord’s Supper we are not only declaring our "oneness" our "fellowship" with God but with each other.
Alexander Campbell (one of the founding father’s of the Restoration Movement)
Each disciple, in handing the symbols to his fellow disciple, says, "You ar my brother, once an alien, are now a citizen of heaven, once a stranger, are now brought home to the family of God. You have owned my Lord as your Lord, my people as your people. Under Jesus the Messiah we are one. Mutually embraced in the everlasting arms, I embrace you in mine: thy sorrows shall be ny sorrows, and they joys my joys. Joint debtors to the favor of God and the love of Jesus, we shall jointly suffer with Him, that we may jointly reign with him. Let us then renew our strength, remember our king and hold fast our boasted hope unshaken to the end.."
7. JESUS WANTS US TO REMEMBER OUR FUTURE
"For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes...."
1 Cor 11:26
"...I am going to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am"
Jn 14:2,3
Have you ever noticed how some things go together - you mention one and the other immediately pops up into your mind;
peanut butter and jelly
Abott and costello
Laruel and Hardy
Lewis and Clark
Sonny and Cher
Proctor and gamble
Sears and Roebuck
In like manner you can’t think of Jesus death with out immediately thinking of his resurrection.
His death is not the end of the story, in fact it is the beginning of our story of eternity... You see we know the rest of the story....
"For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes..."
1 Cor 11:26
