Sermon Central
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Remember Him! Series
Contributed by Billy Noel on Dec 6, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: We are so caught up with the sights and sounds of Christmas and we often forget who it is about.
Illustration:
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Arlington Va.)
In life everyone wants to be remembered, but many people live and are forgotten when they die
Traveling 288 on any given Saturday you will see a hearse and maybe a family car which may suggest that the deceased was unknown or already forgotten.
We remember people like Dr. King, President Kennedy, Emmet Till, Rosa Parks, Dr. George Washington, Carver, Booker T. Washington and others, and although they made significant contributions and although we have even set aside time to remember them, their contributions only help us in this lifetime.
We applaud and remember them, but their contributions won’t help us in eternity.
But Jesus wanted to be remembered and we have set aside time in this season to remember Him, and celebrate His birth, but is that what he meant when He said “Remember Me”?
No!
What He had in mind is far deeper and greater
That is why He instituted the Lord’s Supper, the fellowship or communal meal so that we would remember Him not just once a year but always
He gathers privately with a small group of timid men on a night that will be remembered throughout eternity
They meet to celebrate the Passover
The Passover was a carefully ordered ritual in which each element of the meal reminded the participants of their redemption from Egypt.17 At the end of the meal someone (usually the youngest son) was designated to ask, “Why is this night different from other nights?” The host of the meal, in this instance Jesus, would recount the exodus story. The story tells of God’s remembering his covenant (cf. “new covenant” in Luke 22:20); deliverance from slavery in Egypt
This is the beginning of the events that the old testament signs pointed to
The tabernacle the brazen alter, the mercy seat, the laver, the High Priest and of course the animal sacrifice
On this night this meal would be transformed forever
The event is takes a look backwards and forward
It remembers the celebrated past but also signals a new beginning and a new future in the lives of Gods people
It forecasts things to come
Jesus looked to a time when there would be a grand reunion and banquet
This celebration was in advance of the culmination of all He had come to do
The Lord, with bread and a cup of wine, taught the disciples very profound spiritual truths about communion with him and with one another.
The disciples saw He who said that He was living bread holding bread and saying this represents my body, it is given for you
When we hold and partake of the bread we ought tremble at the thought of what it represents.
The vicarious gift of him on the cross, His bruised body, the horrific suffering, being abandoned by his Father
The memorial of the bread is meant to graciously assault our fickle memories
Then He takes the cup to remind us of the cost of salvation
The read about but now they will see it
The old covenant is launched in a sea of blood
Blood on the alter, blood on the people, blood on the scroll
Blood everywhere
It should remind us that the blood shall never lose its power
It should remind us of the extent of its reach, the highest mountain, the lowest valley
Our salvation rest in an ocean of divine blood
This event that we approach very casually is about more than we make of it
Remember God’s Faithfulness to His People
This reminds us of God’sf love for His people
Celebrating the Passover reminded Gods people the He is faithful
Corinthians 5:7, Paul describes Christ’s death in this way: ‘Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us
a. He Protects life
It should remind us of the lengths that God will go to, to protect the investment that He has made in us.
It is His desire that no one perishes
b. He Provides life
He would provide for us a way, a scapegoat if you will an eternal sacrifice
c. He Preserves life
He would preserve life in the face of death and life beyond death
Remember That the Focus is on God’s Son
By and large, churches have encouraged us to focus on confession of our individual sins, and thereby on our individual worthiness to partake of the Lord’s Supper rather than on Christ. As a result, believers tend to approach the Lord’s Supper timidly, tuning out the rest of the congregation so they may “get themselves right with God.”
***The Lord’s Supper is not so much an opportunity for all the members of the church to engage in personal piety at the same time, but for all the members of the church to experience together their relationships with Christ and with one another and to proclaim the gospel.
