Why Remember

Why Remember

Luke 23:13-54

This morning we are about to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. On the table these words are engraved “In Remembrance of me”. The question this morning that begs to be asked is two fold who are we to remember and why are we to remember? For many people the Lord’s Supper has become a ritual something you do in church. The deacon’s pass out the bread you chew and swallow and then they pass out the juice and drink then you get to go home hopefully early. They see it as something you do as a church member. But this morning I want to remind you who we are to remember, Jesus Christ, and why we are to remember Him, His sacrifice on the cross.

Today there may be some in here who don’t understand why we do this. They don’t realize the importance of attending and participating in the Lord’s Supper. Today I want us to examine why we do this so that in the future you will be able to tell others why. The Lord’s Supper is the only ritual we are commanded by Jesus to perform found in the New Testament. So it must be important if our Lord has commanded us to carry it out. He has commanded us to perform the Lord’s Supper so we can remember Him and what He did for us.

What are we to remember? Well first we are to remember the strips that we placed on His back as the Roman Soldier delivered the blows from the cat of nine tales. We must remember the flesh that was ripped from His back and sides as the cat of nine tales was pulled back from His body.

Lu 23:15 No, nor yet Herod: for he sent him back unto us; and behold, nothing worthy of death hath been done by him.

Lu 23:16 I will therefore chastise him, and release him.

John 19:1-3 says this

Joh 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.

Joh 19:2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple garment;

Joh 19:3 and they came unto him, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they struck him with their hands.

We are to remember that Jesus knew no sin yet He bore our sin on the cross for so that we might have salvation. Every strip, every drop of blood He spilt, ever blow he received, and every thorn driven into His scalp was our responsibility. You and I did every bit of the humiliation that was given to Him. We are to remember that here was the King of Kings and Lord of lords, God’s only begotten son, and we are to remember the humiliation as the Roman Soldier mocked Him as king of the Jews. That we were responsible for this also. Because if we had not sinned Jesus would not have had to die on the cross and bear our sins. We are to remember the Blood and the pain our Lord and Savior bore for us.

We are to remember when His people turned on Him and said Crucify Him we have not king except Caesar.

Lu 23:2 And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king.

Lu 23:18 But they cried out all together, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas: --

Lu 23:19 one who for a certain insurrection made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.

Lu 23:20 And Pilate spake unto them again, desiring to release Jesus;

Lu 23:21 but they shouted, saying, Crucify, crucify him.

Lu 23:22 And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath this man done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him and release him.

Lu 23:23 But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified. And their voices prevailed.

That was us. Don’t we also say the same thing when we don’t place Him first in our lives? Don’t we place Caesar, the World, first often in our lives? The Lord’s Supper is a time of reflection and remembrance. It is a time of self-examination where we are to examine our life and see if Jesus truly comes first in it. It is easy for us to say yes we place Jesus first but when it comes to put the rubber to the road it is difficult. Jesus wants doers not sayers.

I can’t help but remember the stripes my sins put on Jesus, I can’t help but see the flesh torn from His body because of my wilfullness my refusal to follow God. I caused the flesh to be torn from His body. But not just me alone but everyone of us is guilty. I think about the thorns that I drove into His crown, the Blood I caused to be split because of my sinful nature. I think about all my sinful ways because I did not want to allow Jesus leadership over me. We are just as responsible as the Jews, Pilate, the Roman soldiers or any other sinner. That is the reason we are to remember. We are no better than any unbeliever. The only difference between us and unbeliever is that we have Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We do this to remember that with out Him we would all be unbelievers condemned to the judgment and Hell for eternity. Because we are unable to pay the debt that we owe. For the wages of sin is death and Jesus paid the debt so we would not have to.