Sermon #1403                                        Miscellaneous Sermons

 

          Title:            “This Do In Remembrance of Me”

          Text:            1 Corinthians 11:24

          Subject:       Remembering Christ in the Lord’s Supper

          Date:            Sunday Afternoon – April 30, 2000

          Tape #         V-81a

          Readings:     Lindsay Campbell and Ron Wood

          Introduction:

 

There are two, and only two ordinances of worshipnot sacraments, ordinances: -- Baptism, the believer’s confession of Christ, and the Lord’s Supper, the blessed remembrance of Christ.

 

1 Corinthians 11:24  "And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me."

 

The only purpose of our gathering this afternoon is that we might once more observe the Lord's Supper. What a blessed ordinance of the gospel this is. We are commanded to do it often. And we have chosen to keep this feast in memory of our Savior every Sunday evening, as the early church did. Yet, I like to take these afternoon services we have every fifth Sunday and devote them strictly to the observance of this ordinance. I want our minds to be focused only on this one thing. I want us to keep this ordinance in memory of our beloved Lord and Redeemer.

 

The title of my message today is taken directly from my text in I Corinthians 11:24. "THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME."

 

Proposition: The purpose of the Lord's Supper is to keep the Person and work of our Savior constantly before our hearts and minds.

 

Through the centuries, men have perverted this ordinance terribly. Some have made it a piece of superstition and idolatry. Others try to make this simple ordinance of worship a sacramental means of grace. Others make it to be nothing but a sentimental rite and ceremony of religion, having nothing to do with the remembrance of Christ.

 

Those who pervert the ordinance are without excuse. The Scriptures are not the least bit obscure about it. The Word of God is very plain. When talking about the Lord's Supper, nothing is ever said in the Bible about a sacrifice, an altar, or a priest.

 

When it is presented in the Scriptures, the Supper is always very simple. It is a service of remembrance, an ordinance of testimony and communion, nothing more. No pompous ceremony is involved with it. We are not even told what posture we are to be in when receiving it. We are not told to sit or stand, to kneel or to bow. Nothing is prescribed except bread and wine, eating the bread and drinking the wine, and remembering. Nothing more.

 

The spiritual action particularly prescribed, the act of remembering Christ is what I want to talk to you about today, as we prepare to observe this ordinance. When we eat the bread and drink the wine, we must remember our Redeemer, or we have failed to keep the ordinance.

 

Divisions: Let me briefly call your attention to four things to direct our thoughts in the worship of Christ.

 

1.     It will be profitable for us to remember many things as we come to the Lord's Table.

2.     The ordinance is designed to turn our memories to Christ himself.

3.     The remembrance of Christ is most needful.

4.     This blessed ordinance, when properly observed, does exactly what it is supposed to do.

 

I.     IT WILL BE PROFITABLE FOR US TO REMEMBER MANY THINGS AS WE COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE.

 

The primary thing to remember is Christ himself. We must let nothing turn our minds from him. But there are some secondary things that might assist us in remembering him.

 

A.   Let us remember ourselves when we were without Christ.

 

B.    Remember the first time you came to the table.

 

C.   We might do well to remember our departed friends with whom we often kept this feast.

 

D.   Let us each now remember our brothers and sisters with whom we now break bread.

 

1 Corinthians 10:16  "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"

 

·        - What Grace Has Done For Them.

·        - Their Usefulness and Benefit to the Church of God.

·        - Their Needs and What You Can Do for Them.

 

E.   Remember the apostates, like Judas, who once sat here with us.

 

·        - Do not become presumptuous.

·        - Thank God for his grace.

·        - Consecrate yourself anew to Christ.

 

II.  However, THIS ORDINANCE IS DESIGNED AND INTENDED TO TURN OUR MEMORIES TO CHRIST HIMSELF.

 

A.   The bread and the wine set before us are representative of our Savior's person.

 

B.    Placed here on this table, in our very presence, the bread and wine suggest our Lord's nearness to us and his familiarity with us. -- "The Lord is at hand!"

 

C.   The broken bread and the wine poured out show the sufferings of Christ as our Substitute.

 

D.   The bread and the wine, the body and the blood, separated declare our Savior's death.

 

E.    Eating the bread and drinking the wine are pictures of faith, receiving Christ and living upon him.

 

F.    Even the fragments that remain, the bread and wine that is left over are significant. – We never eat all the bread or drink all the wine.

 

·        Christ is an abundant, all-sufficient Savior! There is plenty in him for all who come to him.

·        Every particle of this ordinance points to Christ. Here we behold the Lamb of God for sinners slain!

 

III. Thirdly, I want you to see that THIS REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST IS VERY NEEDFUL.

 

It is shameful on our part that we should need this ordinance, but blessed and gracious on our Lord's part that he gave it.

 

A. It is given to help sustain our faith.

 

B. It is given to stimulate our love.

 

C. It is intended to strengthen our hope.

 

D. It is designed to call us to our Savior.

 

By this blessed ordinance our Savior calls us away from care, away from strife, away from labor, away from the world, away from ourselves to him.

 

Song 2:10-13 -- "My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away."

 

The object of Christ in this ordinance is to keep his name engraved upon our hearts.

 

IV. Lastly, I want you to see that THIS BLESSED ORDINANCE, WHEN PROPERLY OBSERVED, DOES EXACTLY WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO DO.

 

A.  It links that which is material with that which is altogether spiritual.

 

We have a tendency to either too much emphasize the material or to too much emphasize the spiritual. Here the remembrance of Christ is directly connected to bread and wine. Our God, who is the infinite Spirit, actually did assume human flesh. And you and I shall dwell with him in the spirit world in bodies of human flesh forever in the resurrection.

 

B.  Christ, knowing our forgetfulness, appointed this feast of love to keep our hearts clinging to him, to keep us from forgetting him.

 

How I bless him and give him thanks for accommodating my weakness. Often I do forget him. But here, every Lord's day, I am made to remember him!

 

C.  While reviving the memories of the saints, this ordinance has also been used of God to draw sinners to Christ.

 

Oh, may our God be pleased to draw some of you now to him who loved us and gave himself for us!

 

Application: It is the privilege and duty of all believers to observe this blessed ordinance often. It is a reveille call. It calls our hearts up to heaven. It is the prelude to the great marriage supper of the Lamb. It is the glorious celebration of redemption. Yet, it is useful only as it reminds us of Christ. Seek grace now to lovingly remember him.

 

·        - His Person!

·        - His Work!

·        - His Grace!

·        - His Promises!

 

This is the ordinance of our Lord. "And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take , eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come.”    -- (1 Cor 11:24-26). Let us now eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of him who loved us and gave himself for us.                                                                       AMEN.