Remember

Pastor Rod Thompson

Midland SDA Church

March 30, 2019

Read 1 Corinthians 11: 23-24 do this – it’s a command

When we share the Holy Communion we are doing what almost all Christians do: celebrating a relationship with the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, by taking seriously his own words on the night before he died—“Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood poured out for you

Why do we observe the Lord’s Supper
1. To Remember
Look at verses 23-25:
Paul is describing the last supper, of course, and interestingly, at his last Supper Jesus did two things:

A. Jesus interpreted something old
Jesus was interpreting the Passover meal
Ex. 12:3      describes the 1st Passover, which included: a lamb
Announce to the whole community that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice.
Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Also a part of the meal was:   · pure bread, called “unleavened”
Celebrate this Festival of Unleavened Bread, for it will remind you that I brought you out of the land of Egypt on this very day. … during those days you must not eat anything made with yeast. Wherever you live, eat only bread that has no yeast in it.” (Ex. 12:17, 20)    wine, though not specified in Ex. 12, was also a part of the meal

B. Jesus instituted something new
The Lord’s Supper is a ceremony that quickly came to be celebrated in the church much more regularly than the annual Passover

During the war in Vietnam, a young West Point graduate was sent over to lead a group of new recruits into battle. He did his job well, trying his best to keep them from ambush and death. But one night when they had been under attack, he was unable to get just one of his men to safety.  The soldier left behind had been severely wounded. From their trenches, the young lieutenant and his men could hear him in his pain. They all knew any attempt to save him – even if it was successful—would almost certainly mean death for the would-be rescuer.  Eventually the young lieutenant crawled out of hiding toward the dying man. He got to him safely but was killed before he could save himself.  After the rescued man returned to the States, the lieutenant’s parents heard that he was in their vicinity. Wanting to know this young man whose life was spared at such a great cost to them, they invited him to dinner.   When their honored guest arrived, he was obviously drunk. He was rowdy and obnoxious. He told off-color jokes and showed no gratitude for the sacrifice of the man who died to save him. The grieving parents did the best they could to make the man’s visit worthwhile, but their efforts went unrewarded. 
Their guest finally left. As the dad closed the door behind him, the mother collapsed in tears and cried, “To think that our precious son had to die for somebody like that.”

That’s what Jesus did.

That’s what we are to remember as we come to Communio: Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

We share in Communion to remember, Secondly,

2. To Rejoice

Look at verse 26:
MAX LUCADO, in his book, Six Hours One Friday, tells the story of a missionary in Brazil who discovered a tribe of Indians in a remote part of the jungle. They lived near a large river. The tribe was in need of medical attention. A contagious disease was ravaging the population. People were dying daily.   A hospital was not too terribly far away—across the river, but the Indians would not cross it because they believed it was inhabited by evil spirits. To enter the water would mean certain death. The missionary explained how he had crossed the river and was unharmed. They were not impressed. He then took them to the bank and placed his hand in the water. They still wouldn’t go in. He walked into the water up to his waist and splashed water on his face. It didn’t matter. They were still afraid to enter the river. Finally, he dove into the river, swam beneath the surface until he emerged on the other side. He punched a triumphant fist into the air. He had entered the water and escaped. It was then that the Indians broke out into a cheer and followed him across.

That’s exactly what Jesus did! He told the people of His day that they need not fear the river of death, but they wouldn’t believe.
He touched a dead boy and called him back to life. They still didn’t believe. He whispered life into the body of a dead girl and got the same result. He let a dead man spend 4 days in a tomb and then called him out and the people still didn’t believe Him. Finally, He entered the river of death and came out on the other side. And this is what we celebrated in today’s Communion and every time we come to the Lord’s Supper. We are here to rejoice at both his death and resurrection and to make this proclamation until he returns:

As at Easter: “He is risen/He is risen indeed,”
So in communion: “He died for you/He died for you”
So we remember, we rejoice and next, we have the opportunity
3. To Repent

Look at verse 27-28:

Sharing communion provides opportunity to examine ourselves and, if the Holy Spirit shines his piercing light on anything in our lives that is unworthy of the body and blood of the Lord, we have the opportunity to repent and experience his forgiveness and cleansing anew so that we might celebrate worthily.

In 1818 one out of six women who had children died of something called “childbirth fever.” A doctor’s daily routine back then started in the dissecting room, where he performed autopsies, and from there he made his rounds to examine expectant mothers. No one even thought to wash his hands...at least not until a doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis began to practice strict hand washing. He was the very first doctor to associate a lack of hand washing with the huge fatality rate.
Dr. Semmelweis only lost one in fifty, yet his colleagues laughed at him. Once he said, “Childbirth fever is caused by decomposed material conveyed to a wound...I have shown how it can be prevented. I have proven all that I’ve said. But while we talk, talk, talk, women are dying.. I’m not asking for anything world shaking, only that you wash your hands.” Yet virtually no one believed him. Communion is a time to confess our sins, to regularly wash our souls before God, it’s essential, the failure to confess our sins will result in spiritual infection that will hinder our ability in the spiritual journey.
Today I invite you to repent—to change your mind about the direction of your life. We may not feel worthy or good enough to receive Communion—but thank God it is not about our goodness!
It’s ultimately about God’s goodness—This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.
We share Communion to remember, rejoice, repent and finally

4. To Reconcile
Look at verse 29:
We are all a part of the one body—The church of Jesus Christ. If I have resentment toward even one person here I really am judging myself. I’m no better than anyone of you here. At this table we are on equal standing.
It was related that once when the Duke of Wellington remained to take communion at his parish church, a very poor old man went up to the opposite aisle, and reaching the Communion table, knelt down close by the side of the Duke. (Immediately, tension and commotion interrupted the silence of the church.) Someone came and touched the poor man on the shoulder, and whispered to him to move farther away, or to rise and wait until the Duke had received the bread and the wine.

But the eagle eye and the quick ear of the great commander caught the meaning of that touch and that whisper. He clasped the old man’s hand and held him to prevent his rising; and in a reverential but distinct undertone, the Duke said, “Do not move; we are equal here.”

Read  vs 33-34

Wait for each other