Help Me Remember

All of us, I fear, have had the experience of attending some Christian worship service and walking out at the end with a feeling of extraordinary unreality. And we ask the question, “What exactly did we just do in there and why?”

Once in a while it is very important to go back to basics and articulate just what the Lord’s Supper is supposed to be about: what it does and how it functions in the life of the Christian and in the life of the church.

The Lord’s Supper symbolizes our unity and our oneness, in the body of Christ.

The Lord’s Supper has been introduced by the apostle Paul already in 1 Corinthians 10, and now 1 Corinthians 11:17. Paul corrects them concerning their absence of fellowship.

This particular meeting where they are breaking bread together, is a disaster. All the divisions in society are being brought right into the church in the very rite that ought to be an expression of fundamental Christian unity.

The Lord’s Supper reminds us of Jesus’ death.

Paul writes to remind them what Jesus said. This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this,
whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.

Here, by this simple rite, Jesus insists that we go back to basics.

How can we be unconcerned about gaining heaven and living in holiness when we remember Jesus and His death? Tell me the old, old story as to a little child. For I am weak and simple, and I forget so soon.

The Lord’s Supper is the seal of the new covenant.

Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood.” It is the seal of the new covenant, and within those simple words He spoke, there is a whole biblical theology. The old covenant has been completed and superseded by the new.

Here is the place for great rejoicing.vIf we know Christ then we participate in the new covenant.
God is a covenantal God. He who has begun a good work in you, He will perform it. He will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Of course, it is a covenantal commitment.vSo we remember the new covenant; Jesus’ death sealed it.

The Lord’s Supper ought to help us function more evangelistically.

We read verse 26, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” The word for proclaim is the regular Pauline word for preaching, for heralding, and for evangelizing.

It’s because it is fundamentally important to speak again and again, of Jesus’ death, and remember what it means.

The Lord’s Supper is a temporary rite of anticipation.

This is one way we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. This is not something we are going to continue to do in eternity. When the new heaven and the new earth finally dawn, no one will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper, no one. This is only until he comes.

In Remembrance.

The Lord’s Supper provides an opportunity for self-examination.

1 Corinthians 11: 27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.”

This is an adverb describing how we come, not an adjective describing who we are. Of course we’re unworthy; that’s why Christ died!

For us to say: I remember that He died for my sins, yet all the while we are nurturing sin is to approach it in an unworthy manner.

The Lord’s Supper reminds us of covenantal judgment.

Some, you see, do not examine themselves; some take of the elements and nurture their sin. Paul says, That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

If we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. When we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.

The Lord’s Supper is for a memorial to remind us of all that Christ has done for us. Remembering what He has done should motivate us to strive for unity with others. We remember the price paid for us and we tell others what has been done for all.

It should help us long for His coming, and encourage us to examine our lives and insure what we say we believe is being lived out.

Others will be more prone to believe in Jesus if our lives reveal more of the life that Christ lived.

This Christmas…Remember. Really celebrate all Christ has done.