The Unforgettable

Mention the Power and intention of National/Personal Memorials -- Washington Monument; Alamo; Gettysburg; USS Lexington, etc.

* Lord's Supper was the Focal Point of the Early Church -- Acts 2.42; 20.7

Symbolism of the Bread and the Fruit of the Vine

Bread = Provision -- unleavened bread in Egypt

Fruit of the Vine = blood; covering; deliverance -- doorposts and lintels in Egypt

Jews had understood for 1400 years

Gentiles had no knowledge -- reduced it to a common meal (1 Corinthians 11.20-22)

20When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. 21For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

Greater than an ordinary meal -- 1 Corinthians 11.23-26

23For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Bread = Body of Yeshua (Jesus)

Blood = New Covenant in his blood (remission of sins -- Matthew 26.28)

* LS Demands Examination -- 1 Corinthians 11.27-30

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

This is not just the realization of our sinfulness or beating ourselves up for sins -- ALL of Us are Sinners

This is when we most need to come to the table -- to find forgiveness in the body and blood of our Redeemer

Failure to appreciate the accomplishments of Yeshua causes a failure to receive benefits

Author Max Lucado tells of an episode from his youth. He was part of a group of young people from his church who, as a service ministry, took the Lord's Supper to homebound or hospitalized members of the church. He and his friends visited one elderly gentleman in particular who was in the hospital--nothing serious, just a minor illness--and these young people were disappointed to find that the gentleman was fast asleep. Nothing they did, it seemed, could stir him from his sleep.

Well, they were crestfallen; they hated to leave without performing their duty. So, one of the eleven-year-olds pointed out that the gentleman's mouth was open. The young boys looked at each other, as if to say, "Why not?" and they broke off a tiny little piece of a wafer, and placed it in the elderly gentleman's mouth, and poured in a tiny sip of grape juice; and sure enough, the man swallowed.

He never woke up. Max Lucado goes on to write: "Neither do many people today."

SONG

Part I -- "This is My Body"

LS comes from the Passover Seder -- Includes 4 Cups of Wine and Use of Matzo

First Cup of Wine -- Cup of Sanctification

* Washing of Hands (Yeshua washed feet -- John 13.5)

* Bitter herbs and salt water

* 4 Questions of how this night is different than all others

* Bread of Affliction (middle piece of Matzah)-- Isaiah 53.5-6

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned--every one--to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

Psalm 22.16

16For dogs encompass me;

a company of evildoers encircles me;

they have pierced my hands and feet

Breaking, Wrapping, and Hiding of Afikomen ("I have come" -- Psalm 40.7-8)

7Then I said, "Behold, I have come;

in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

8 I delight to do your will, O my God;

your law is within my heart."

God's Lamb has already come in Yeshua -- sinless (without leaven); to take on himself our punishment; our sins; to be pierced for us