Sermon Snippet – Remember
INTRODUCTION – Last week, from Malachi 3:16, we saw that our Savior God has written each believer’s name down in “a book [scroll] of remembrance,” not because He forgets but because we need to be reminded. Similarly, because we are prone to forget (or to focus on the wrong things), our Lord sets the Communion table before us to direct our attention back to Him: “This do in remembrance of Me” (I Corinthians 11:23-26).
1. WE REMEMBER THE HISTORICAL DETAIL
Verse 23 tells us that Jesus instituted the Communion service “the same night in which He was betrayed.” The event was the Jewish Passover, and the place was an upper room in the city of Jerusalem (Luke 22:7-14). The names of the leading disciples, including the traitor Judas, are sprinkled throughout the account. We know that Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor and that Herod was the local leader. Annas and Caiaphas (father-in-law and son-in-law) ruled at the Temple. These are precise details, supported by other historical documents. We are remembering something that truly happened, most likely on April 2-3, A.D. 33. Our faith is not based on wistful wishes. No, it is based on real history.
2. WE REMEMBER THE THEOLOGICAL NECESSITY
Jesus directs us to His “body” (verse 24) and His “blood” (verse 25). The Bible is clear that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). Occasionally, someone will object to the reality of sin in his life, but even that claim is sinful (I John 1:8, 10 – “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us… If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us”). We need the Savior, Who came to us as fully human (and also fully divine) in order to be our substitute; His “body” confirms that He has substituted Himself for us, and His “blood” confirms that He suffered death – our deaths, your death, my death – real death, both physical and spiritual. His cry from the Cross captures the separation of God the Son from God the Father: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46b). Why would Jesus go through this torture? It was the only way; it was a theological necessity. He did what had to be done and what no one else could do.
3. WE REMEMBER THE PERSONAL TOUCH
Paul records that he “received of the Lord” (verse 23) this precise historical and theological information. Lest we think that Paul was puffed up about this communication from Christ, let us recall that Paul elsewhere calls himself the “chief” of “sinners” (I Timothy 1:15) and “not meet [worthy] to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church” (I Corinthians 15:9). The Savior’s intervention in Paul’s life on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1-6) was spectacularly dramatic; it was the type of personal touch that Paul needed. However, the hand of Jesus in your life and in my life is no less miraculous. Think about this for a moment: each Christian has this personal touch of Jesus, but the details of each salvation account are unique. Millions have been saved – perhaps billions; O Lord, may it be! – and each Christian has a different story to tell about how God worked to bring about salvation. I think often about the people and circumstances that the Lord placed in my life to prepare me to trust in Him for His eternal salvation. It is truly awesome to then know that He has done similar work in the lives of countless others. God, eternally creative, employs all at His infinite disposal to reach into our quite different lives to bring us to the same place – a saving faith in Jesus that brings us to heaven forever. We remember His personal touch; let us also remark upon His remarkable touch in the lives of so many others.
CONCLUSION – Jesus has done all of this for us. May each of us trust in Him for salvation. May we also know that He is doing even more. For example, “for as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come” (verse 27); He will keep that promise of His return – and all other promises, as well.