May 24 2009

The Need to Remember

Psalms 30:4 (NKJV)  Sing praise to the LORD, You saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.

Psalm 30 is a platform for praising God’s faithfulness in a “time of need.”  We are needy people, and that is why and how we most often pray … for God to meet a need.  This morning as the saints (holy ones) of God our greatest need is to remember. And not unlike the psalmist the cry to remember is prompted in the midst of forgiveness and deliverance.

Today we come together at this table to eat and drink from the Lord’s Supper, and with this meal we need to remember. The whole intent of the meal is to remember!  As I looked over my past messages for the Lord’s Supper they have engaged the matter of remembering … that is the body and blood of Christ.  With chagrin I thought to myself, “Another message on remembering!  I wonder if they remember the last message I preach on the Lord Supper?”   But whatever we might think, it is the undeniable and unavoidable subject of this meal.  Even our Lord said so … “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Lk 22:19)  And it is the Apostle Paul who reminds us of the aspect of “remembering” the Lord in this meal.  Listen to this paraphrase, “The Message” of 1 Corinthians 11:23-28.

1 Corinthians 11:23-28 (The Message) Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,  This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me.  After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:  This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me. What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt. Anyone who eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death.  Is that the kind of “remembrance” you want to be a part of?  Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.

The Need to Remember the Central Importance

Central Is the Gospel

Probably all of us succumb to a lot of “important” things in our lives.  However, there is that which is of “first importance” … that which takes “center/central stage” in our lives … and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (NIV)  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

Central Is the Gospel to Salvation

It is of central importance for it is the way of salvation.

1 Corinthians 15:2 (NIV)  By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

1 Timothy 1:15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  (vss 16,17)

Central Is the Gospel to Salvation and Life

As the “Central Nervous System” (brain & spinal cord) is needed to coordinate the activity of all parts of the bodies, so the Lord Supper speaks to the “central importance” to the body life of the church, as it is the body and blood that identifies, designates, coordinates and controls its functions.

Because this meal is of central importance to us, portraying the Gospel, we must remember the significance of Christ’s body and blood.  For without it we have no “good news” to comfort our own hearts, and nothing to share with the lost.

John 1:4 (NKJV)  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The Need to Remember the Life & Death of Christ

Remember Body Life

This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me. 

The broken body is the pleasing sacrifice and price for sin …

(son of man did not come to serve but) “to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.” (Mt 20:28, The Message)

The broken body is the formation of life in the body.

Christ giving His life was not just to save us from death, but to give us life!

Romans 6:10-11 (ESV) For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Remember Covenant Life

This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me.

To be a part of the family of God is not being in a “club” but rather a “covenant.”

Old covenant (law & rules keeping) was to our demise, whereas the new covenant is to our deliverance.  By way of the covenant of grace we are … grace saved, kept, encouraged, and established.

2 Corinthians 3:6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

As we live, let us live in Christ so as to dispense the life of Christ to all we are in contact with.  My His life become an epidemic among us

Remember Regarded Life

Jesus’ words are … “Do this to remember Me”   We are not to pass lightly over such words, for they convey the slippage of remembering in the mind and heart of man.

“It seems that Christians may forget. … it is, alas, too well confirmed in our experience, not as a possibility, but a lamentable fact.” – Charles Spurgeon

Deuteronomy 8:11a (NIV) Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, (by not keeping His Word)

• Let us not forget Him who poured out His blood and body for our sins! 
• Let us not forget Him who loved us to the end and even to death!
• Let us not forget Him who gave us salvation!

So on this day of memorial … we remember Him who gave Himself for us!

Prayer … Give us minds that remember you Lord Jesus.  You who gave  Yourself willingly and freely to pay the price of our sin, so as save us from sin, death and hell.  Let us remember Your body and Your blood today.  – Amen