Good evening and welcome to the Panhandle. For those who watched our church stream today this will be a repeat, but that's okay I'm sure. Well it is still Resurrection Sunday here for an hour or so and that is what has prompted me to post this. So let's open God's Word and sit a spell.
At sunrise of Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, three-hundred-fifty Japanese war planes flew through a mountain pass on the island of Oahu and rained death and destruction on Pearl Harbor. Eight battleships and ten smaller warships were sunk or put out of commission. Two hundred American planes were destroyed and 3,581 servicemen were killed or wounded. The USS Arizona took a bomb down its stack. The boilers, oil tanks, and munitions magazine exploded! The battleship went down in eight minutes, entombing 1,177 sailors. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the day of the sneak attack, “a day of infamy.” The national battle cry with which the United States entered World War II was “Remember Pearl Harbor!” Other battle cries have marked our nation’s two-hundred-year history such as “Remember the Alamo!” and “Remember the Maine!”
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."I know today is Resurrection Sunday and so to preach a sermon out of 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 may seem odd. And yet, while the Lord’s Supper is not a battle cry it too is a call to remember.
Folks there are some things we should never forget.
1. We Should Never Forget To Remember
The Lord’s Supper is a meal that we receive. Just as you take the bread and the juice and receive them into your body; you have taken Christ Jesus and received Him into your life.
But the Lord’s Supper is more than a meal; it is a memorial. When we share in the bread and juice we not only have the responsibility of receiving but also of remembering. 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 Apostle Paul; 1 Corinthians 11:23; The Message)
On
the night before Christ Jesus was executed He celebrated the Passover
with His disciples one final time. In just a few hours He would be
hauled away by the Jewish and Roman authorities to be crucified. As
Christ Jesus shared the Passover meal with His closest friends He
said some things that they had a hard time understanding.
Then Jesus “took bread, gave
thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘This is My body,
which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me’” (Luke
22:19). Notice
that here in 1 Corinthians 11:24-25, Paul recorded Christ Jesus twice
saying “in remembrance of Me.”
The word remembrance means much more than just recalling something or someone from the past. To remember is to make vivid, to make real, to recall and make current the reality of the deed. In this case, it is remembering Christ Jesus’ words, life, deeds, death, and resurrection that brings life to you.
Because
of Christ Jesus, you were redeemed, you are redeemed, and you will be
redeemed when He returns. In him we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in
accordance with the riches of God's grace
(Ephesians 1:7)...My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give
them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone
snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is
greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My
Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29).
This is what
you should never forget to remember.
2. Mementos From a Friend and Saviour
To aid our memory, Christ Jesus chose two symbols as constant reminders for us. Bread and wine (juice.) The simplest of elements. Yet when they are associated with Christ Jesus they become powerful mementos.
These keepsakes when taken during the Lord's Supper should stir up emotional remembrances in your heart., much like an intimate photo album does or a well-read and worn letter from a friend or a special gift from a mentor.
A young man had been killed in a horrible accident near his home. While a funeral was held for the young man at his home in another state, a memorial service was held at the college chapel. Friends were asked to bring items to the service that reminded them of the young man. Where the casket would have been placed were tenderly placed pictures, school assignments, flowers, a letterman’s jacket, a football, and a whole assortment of miscellaneous objects that suddenly carried more meaning than they had just weeks before. One by one, individuals rose to their feet and emotionally recounted stories of pranks, words of reflection, instances of love and devotion about this young man’s life. There wasn’t an unmoved heart in the house. Laughter was mixed with tears, smiles, and quivering lips.
This is similar to how our Lord, Christ Jesus wants to be remembered. When the mementos of the bread and cup are before you, He desires that you simply remember Him and be caught up in the memories about His life. A life freely given for you.
He wants our time together as His spiritual family to be as comfortable and familiar as an evening meal around the family photo album—not dryly lamenting something ancient and far removed, but instead recalling with awe and warmth His life, death, burial, and resurrection.
Do you worship the risen Saviour today? Do you stand in awe when you remember what He has done for you?
We need
to remember the cross.
3. The Deed That Saved
Us!
It is tragic when a Christian loses the wonder of what it means to be redeemed. It is even more horrific when a believer forgets the Redeemer. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (a Welsh Protestant minister and medical doctor)once defined a Christian as a person “who is amazed at the fact that he is forgiven. He does not take it for granted.”
One reason that Christ Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper is to remind us of the price He paid to save us. The Lord’s Supper is Christ Jesus' way of saying “never forget what has been done for you on the cross.” Never forget the pain, never forget the suffering, never forget the sacrifice. Through the broken bread, Christ Jesus reminds you of His body that was broken to meet your hunger for salvation. In His brokenness, Christ Jesus received your sins.
Through the poured wine, Christ Jesus reminds you of His blood that was spilled out to meet your thirst for life. Through His blood, Christ Jesus erased your sin.
Through
His broken body and spilled blood, Christ Jesus became the perfect
sacrifice. He freely atoned for your sins. Through His broken body
and spilled blood, Christ Jesus redeemed you for all eternity. Never
forget the deed that saved you!
4. A Response To A Grand Invitation
When you hear what Christ Jesus has done for you, there can be only one response. When you understand His love all you should want do is give your life to Him.
Let’s go back to that upper room where Christ Jesus shared His last meal with His disciples. Sharing a meal with friends was as common a practice then as it is today. As Jewish men, sharing the Passover meal was as familiar as families today sharing a Thanksgiving meal.
The Passover was a call to remembrance—remembering God’s deliverance of the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage. But on that night when Christ Jesus said, “This cup is the new agreement that is sealed with the blood of my death. When you drink this, do it to remember me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25 NCV), something highly uncommon was done.
In the first century, when a young Jewish man reached marrying age and his family selected an appropriate wife for him, the young man and his father would meet the young woman and her father to negotiate the “bride price,” the figurative cost of replacing a daughter. The price was usually very high.
When the negotiations were complete, the custom was for the young man’s father to pour a cup of wine and hand it to his son. His son would turn to the young woman, lift the cup and hold it out to her, saying, “This cup is a new covenant in my blood, which I offer to you.” In other words, it was his way of saying, “I love you, and I’ll give you my life. Will you marry me?”
The young woman had a choice. She could take the cup and return it and say no. Or she could answer without saying a word—by drinking the cup. This act was her way of saying, “I accept your offer, and I will marry you and give you my life.”
On the night of the Last Supper, Christ Jesus and His disciples sat down together celebrating Passover. The disciples knew the liturgy very well; they had celebrated Passover all their lives. When it came time to drink the third cup of wine, the cup of redemption, Christ Jesus lifted the cup and the disciples expected Him to offer the traditional Seder thanks. The same words that are used to this very day: “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, for giving us the fruit of the vine.”
As He offered it to them Christ Jesus said something that they did not expect: “This cup is a new covenant in my blood, which I offer to you.” (1 Corinthians 11:25).
Many meanings to that statement are possible, but one of them, in common, ordinary language, was, “I love you, and the only picture I can think of that will describe the power of my love for you is the pure love of a husband for his wife.” It’s hard to know what those disciples thought that night. Maybe a few chuckled a bit at Christ Jesus making a marriage proposal, which must have seemed totally out of place in a Passover Seder.
And yet, they may have understood Christ Jesus’ willingness to die for them, to say, “I love you, and as my Father promised your fathers, I’ll pay the price for you. And in response will you love me back by giving me your life?”
When you celebrate the Lord’s Supper, there is one more thing to be mindful of and that is the empty tomb. The empty tomb is evidence that Christ Jesus is able to back up His offer of redemption. Through His death, burial, and resurrection Christ Jesus said, “I love you.” He still says, “I love you.” But Christ Jesus didn't just say, “I love you.” He proved the extent of His love by dying on a cross for your sins. And He prove the power behind that love by walking out of the tomb three days later.
The taking of the bread and the cup is a reflective moment, a sentimental moment, it is in that moment that one looks to the Heavenly Father and says, “Yes, I accept Your offer, and I give You my life in response to Your grand offer.”
As you celebrate Easter today have you accepted Christ Jesus’ offer? Have you given your life in response to His sacrifice? This Easter will you remember the Last Supper? This Easter do you remember the mementos from a friend and Saviour? This Easter do you remember the deed that saved you? This Easter have you responded to God's grand invitation? If the answer to any of these questions is no, then today, right now is the time to answer them with a resounding YES!
I pray you have had an awesome Resurrection Day. And remember there are some things we must never forget!
Biblesurfer
No comments:
Post a Comment