One of the consequences of being a sinful-and therefore flawed-human being is forgetfulness. I mean, no matter what our age, all of us have what are known as “senior moments” when our memories fail us. Think of it. How many times have you met someone you haven’t seen for a long time-someone you know very well-but your mind freezes up and suddenly you can’t remember their name? Husbands-have you ever ended up in the doghouse because you forgot your wedding anniversary or your wife’s birthday? Wives-how many times have you caused your husband frustration because you forgot your purse at a restaurant 90 miles back down the road? Young people-have you ever forgotten a homework assignment…or forgotten the answer to a test question in spite of the fact that you knew the material? The truth is we ALL struggle with forgetfulness.$Sermon:
One of the places that our flawed memories can cause the most damage is in our Christian walk. Perhaps this is why God spends so much time encouraging His people to REMEMBER in His Word. I mean over and over again, in the Old Testament God says to the people of Israel:”REMEMBER! Remember that you were a slave in Egypt. Remember all the way that I, the Lord your God, have led you! Remember your Creator in the days of your youth! Remember and obey My commandments! Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy!”
Now one thing that helps us remember is what you might call a memory tool. For example: My stole this morning is a gift that the women of the Amani Ya Ju ministry gave me in Kenya this summer. When I wear it, I am reminded of those courageous women. Well, in the 15th chapter of Numbers God gave the people of Israel a memory tool. God made a COVENANT with them. On HIS side of the covenant, God promised continued protection. On their side they were to obey God’s loving commands….His TENder commandments. Well, God knew their weakness when it came to memory. So He ordered Moses to have the people make themselves a memory-jogging tool. Take your Bibles and let’s read about it together. Numbers 15 verses 37- 41…
37 – The Lord said to Moses,
38 – “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.
39 – You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes.
40 – Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God.
41 – I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.'”
In this text God told them to put tassels on their robes and to tie a chord around each one to help them remember their part of the covenant in much the same way that you and I would tie a string around our finger to help us remember something important. Well, when God in the flesh-Jesus the Christ-was about to leave His first disciples, He knew that they too would soon FORGET His offer of grace and His call to discipleship so He also gave them a memory tool as well. I’m referring to communion…for, like the tassels on the robes of the Hebrews, the BREAD and the CUP are to remind us of vital truth. Well, let’s review a bit. What is this memory tool supposed to remind us of?
1. First of all the bread and the cup reminds us of CHRIST’S SACRIFICE.
You see, that night as they shared their last supper, the did so in the shadow of the cross. The disciples didn’t realize this but Jesus did. Our Lord was KEENLY AWARE of what was ahead for Him that night. REMEMBER? He said of Himself,
“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to GIVE HIS LIFE a ransom for many.”
And so one thing these elements are supposed to remind us of is this fact…that by dying on Calvary’s cross, Jesus paid our ransom. He SACRIFICED His own life for each of us. He died in our place to pay our sin debt.
Harry Ironside tells the story of a young man who was a soldier in the Russian army during the reign of Czar Nicholas I. Due to the fact that the young man’s father was a friend of the Czar he had been given a very important post in the army. He was the paymaster for one of the barracks and this made it his responsibility to see that the right amount of money was distributed each month to the soldiers. Now, this young man meant well, but his character was not up to this much responsibility. He took to gambling and eventually he realized that he had gambled away a great deal of the government’s money as well as all of his own. A few weeks later he received notice that a representative of the czar was coming to check the accounts, and he knew that he was in very serious trouble. He got out the books and totaled up the funds owed. Then he went to the safe and got out the small amount of money that remained. He was overwhelmed with panic as he calculated the vast difference between how much money he was supposed to have and how much he actually did. He was hopelessly in the red. He was ruined! He knew he would be imprisoned and his whole family disgraced so he decided to take his life. He pulled out his revolver, placed it on the table before him, and wrote a note in which he summarized his crimes.
And then, at the bottom of the ledger where he had totaled up the amount of his illegal borrowing, he wrote: “A great debt! Who can pay?” He planned to end his life at the stroke of midnight but, as the evening wore on, he grew drowsy and fell into a fitful sleep. Later that evening, as was his custom, Czar Nicholas I made the rounds and came to this particular barracks. Seeing a light, he stopped, looked in, and saw the young man asleep. He recognized him immediately and tip-toed in. Then, looking over the young man’s shoulder, the czar saw the ledger book and realized all that had taken place. He was about to awaken the man and put him under arrest when his eyes fastened on the young man’s hand written note: “A great debt! Who can pay?” Then, suddenly, with a surge of magnanimity, he reached over, wrote one word at the bottom of the ledger, and slipped out. A few moments later, the young man woke, realized it was after midnight, reached for his revolver to shoot himself, but as he did, his eye fell on the ledger. He saw that underneath his own handwriting where he had written, “A great debt! Who can pay?” was the czar’s written reply, “NICHOLAS.” He was dumbfounded but checked the signature against the czar’s official signature that he had on file and realized what had happened.
He saw that the czar had come by, and was willing to forgive him this great debt, even though he knew what he had done. The next morning a messenger came from the czar’s palace with exactly the amount needed to meet the deficit. Only the czar could pay, and he did. Well it is the same way with us. Only Jesus could pay our enormous debt to God for, when we compare the moral requirement of God’s righteousness with our own sin-filled performance, we can mirror the young man’s words and ask: “A great debt to God! Who can pay?” And you see, because of the cross, Jesus has stepped forward and signed His name to the ledger of our lives: “Jesus Christ.”
Only Jesus can pay, and He has. Like the old youth chorus goes,
“He paid a debt He did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay.
I needed Someone to wash my sin away.
And now I sing a brand new song, ‘Amazing Grace’ all day long.
Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.”
So, this bread and cup are not meant to FEED us but to REMIND us of Christ and His sacrifice on our behalf for, in a way that we can never fully understand on this side of eternity, on Calvary’s cross, Jesus’ sacrifice paid our sin debt.
2. And then, the Lord’s supper is also a reminder of the LOVE that Jesus’ sacrifice expressed.
In the 15th chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus said, “Greater LOVE has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Well, that is what Jesus did on the cross for you and me. It was not the nails that held Him to the cross. It was His LOVE for you and me.
In preparing for this service I read about a man named Benjamin Harrison Brewster. Brewster was a brilliant Philadelphia lawyer who served as the attorney General of the United States under Presidents Garfield and Arthur. Now, Brewster’s FACE was horribly scarred. However, it’s said that he had so much grace and dignity, and such a warm winsome smile, that most people soon forgot about his scars. Well, while serving as counselor at one trial, the opposing lawyer, in a moment of anger, referred to Brewster’s horribly scarred face. For a moment everyone in the courtroom just sat there in stunned silence. Then Brewster-speaking in a very low, but distinct voice said this,
“My colleague here has referred to my scarred face-to the RAVAGES which appear on my countenance. I will only say that when I was a boy, I was playing with my little brother in the library of our home, when by some chance he fell over into the fireplace. I hurried forward to save him and I did. But by doing so, I myself fell face forward on the glowing coals and a skin that was as fair as that of any child, was in that instance SEARED by the hot coals, so that I have born on my face ever since the terrible story of that misfortune. But I have always been GLAD that, though I myself suffered, I was able to save my little brother from destruction.”
Having said that, Brewster took his seat…and for several minutes, the courtroom was AGAIN engulfed in silence.
My point is this. Just as Brewster’s scars were visible reminders of his LOVE for his brother, and the SACRIFICE Brewster made to save him so the Lord’s supper is a visible memorial of Jesus’ great LOVE for you and me.
3. And then the third thing the Lord’s Supper helps us never forget is Jesus’ FUTURE RETURN.
In 1 Cor. 11, the apostle Paul wrote concerning the Lord’s Supper and said, “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you show the Lord’s death TILL HE COME.” You see, we observe the LORD’S SUPPER in the MIDST of history-but we do so with an eye to the END of history and our Lord’s triumphant return. This is our great hope as Christians-that the Christ Who was born in Bethlehem, Crucified on Calvary, and RAISED on that first EASTER morning-is coming again. The risen Christ with Whom we have fellowship here at this table-is going to return to earth someday-visibly and in victory. And this is something we must never forget-for it is a promise that gives us bright hope even in the darkest hours of life.
This week I read about a church building in Poland that had been reduced to rubble by repeated bombing in WWII. After the war, the congregation was TOO POOR to buy new materials to rebuild the church, so they broke the rubble into smaller pieces, mixed in concrete and rebuilt the church with those recycled materials from the first building. When it was complete they wrote the following words over the door, “LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS!”
Well, the Lord’s Supper is also a heart-lifting experience. It’s a time to LIFT UP OUR HEARTS to the glad and sure promise of Christ’s return. Do you remember when Jesus’ first disciples stood looking upward-after having watched His ascension-angels came to them and said,
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand her looking into the sky? This same Jesus, Who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”
This is God’s promise!
So, the Lord’s Supper reminds us-as forgetful human beings-of Jesus’ sacrifice…of His great Love…and of His promised return. This morning before we partake, I want us to jar our memories even further so that we recall all we can about our Lord’s coming to earth. I want us to use all the tools we have at our disposal in this so take your Bibles and hymnals, and let’s do this-for above all, the Lord’s supper is REMEMBERING…
SPECIAL SERVICE OF REMEMBERING
ORDINANCE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
As we have remembered Jesus and all that He has done for us you may see the need to respond. Perhaps as a Christian you feel the need to simply say, “Help me remember God…Help me never forget all You have done for me. Keep me near the cross. So I can live for You in light of it…” God may be leading you to join this church or it may be that this morning is the first time you heard of Jesus Christ…and His sacrifice on your behalf and your response is to decide to follow Him as Savior and Lord. However God leads, won’t you come now and share your decision with me as we stand now and sing