“Do this in remembrance of Me.” Luke 22:19. In this short sermon, we take a look at just what we remember when we celebrate the ordinances of humility and the communion service.

<p>“Do this in remembrance of Me.” Luke 22:19. In this short sermon, we take a look at just what we remember when we celebrate the ordinances of humility and the communion service.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

Remembering


Have you ever had amnesia? Just forgotten something that you should have remembered? Boys and girls, did you ever forget something your parents asked you to remember? I remember when I was a boy, I think my mom often accused me of having selective amnesia. There were certain things that I was sure to remember and certain things that it seemed I was quite likely to forget.

You know what I'm talking about, right? Those things that we often forget. We're prone to forget. In fact, we have minds, faulty minds, that as amazing as they are, they sometimes lose things. I've heard the mind described, the memory described like a steel strainer.

And some things just go right on through, right? It reminds me of a story I read 1 time of a man who had a new car. And he was so excited about his new car. This was his dream car and he was driving home from the dealership and he kept having this nagging sensation that he was forgetting something. And he checked his pockets, his phone was there, his wallet was there, he just kept thinking he was forgetting something until he drove up in his driveway and his daughter came running out and she stopped in her tracks and says, Daddy, where's Mommy?

Too often, our minds become preoccupied with the urgent. They become preoccupied with what we are enjoying, what we are doing, what we're thinking about. And there's some things that it's easy for us to forget. You know, There was a time when we used to say, we'll tie a string around our finger, right? You remember that saying?

I don't know if, I don't know very many people that actually did it, but I remember once or twice thinking it would be a good idea, and maybe even doing it as a boy. Tie a string around my finger so I'll remember that event or that time or that phone call or whatever it is I'm supposed to do. Today we no longer tie strings around our fingers, we ask our smartphones to remind us, right? We set events, we set calendars, we might even ask our spouse to remind us. There are high-tech ways of tying strings around our fingers today.

And yet, too often we still forget. And that's why, before Jesus left, thinking about our propensity to forget, he said we ought to remember. And you know, there are some things that, some things that help us to remember. In the ancient days, in the Hebrew times in the wilderness, like we were talking about with the sanctuary, and we'll be studying about a lot more this summer when Messiah's Mansion comes, in the ancient times they would often build pillars. Remember when they crossed the Jordan River, they built a pillar, they piled stones, 12 large stones, 1 for each tribe, and each of the tribes got to select their stone and position their stone, and those stones were piled up into a pillar so that every time they passed by that way, they would remember something.

They would remember how God miraculously brought them out of Egypt by His strong hand and brought them through signs and wonders, fed them in the wilderness, provided them water from a rock, fed them with manna from heaven, took them through the Red Sea, took them through the Jordan River. They would see those pillars, and those pillars would jog their memory. God believes in memory jogs, in little reminders, updates, notices, whatever you call them. God believes in those. And when Jesus was about to leave, He was thinking with His 12 disciples, He was having that last Passover with them, that Passover which was to end all Passovers, because the Passover was simply pointing forward to who?

Jesus. What was the Passover a part of? The sanctuary service, right? That's what Messiah's mansion is illustrating. It's talking about how each part of the sanctuary service pointed forward to Jesus.

And Jesus is here on this Thursday night, He's eating the Last Supper with His disciples, and He's thinking, humans are prone to forget. And they're going to get busy. They might even get busy doing good things. They might even get busy going to church and doing things that are, you know, that are supposed to be done. But they might get so busy that they forget the most important thing.

And so He built us His own pillar. It's a wonderful thing. You don't need a pile of rocks. It doesn't matter where you are geographically in this world. It doesn't matter where you are in time.

He gave us a memorial to remind us of Who? Of Him. That's our Scripture today. Luke chapter 22 and verse 19. Jesus, as He's eating the last supper with the disciples, He says to them, He says to them in verse 19, this is My body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of Me.

In remembrance of Jesus. You see, there are things that we need to remember. Oh, of course we know historically about Jesus. We know that Jesus lived and Jesus died. I don't think that we're that prone to forgetting those things.

I think, though, it's easy for us to let those things slip out of the forefront of our consciousness and into the back of our consciousness, maybe even our subconscious. You know what I'm talking about? We know Jesus, yes, but we're busy with our lives. We know Jesus, yes, but we're busy doing good things. And Jesus says, I want you to do this as often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me.

You see, David, the psalmist, he wrote in Psalm 103, in verse 2, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. God does not want us to forget his benefits. Ecclesiastes 12, verse 1 says, Remember now, thy Creator, in the days of your youth. You see, God wants us to remember, and Jesus would have us focus our minds on His life and death for us. Now, what are we going to remember?

Today is our, we are celebrating the communion service and in the Adventist church we do this periodically, several times a year, 4 times a year or so. What are we to remember? Why do we do this as we meet together? Well, we do it because Jesus said to, right? And although the New Testament church met often, they were to at times do this service and we're following in that example.

But what are we to remember? We're to remember Jesus. And what do we remember about Jesus? Well, as we look back at Jesus' life and especially the events surrounding this last Passover, we start to remember several attributes of Jesus. First of all, we remember Jesus' humility.

Humility. You remember what happened? The disciples and Jesus were on their way back to Jerusalem. The disciples, little knowing that it was their last trip with Jesus to the city. It would be their last Passover with Jesus.

And as they are on the way to the city, a familiar topic was on their minds and in their conversation. They were debating and discussing among themselves who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. You remember that? And as they're making their way towards Jerusalem, they were sort of a little embarrassed. I'm sure they could sort of tell by the way Jesus conducted Himself that Jesus really wished they wouldn't talk about these things.

They noticed Jesus never argued about those things, did He? He was just serving and giving and loving. But as they hung back a little ways behind him, Jesus was forced to walk to Jerusalem practically alone, ahead of His disciples. And when they get there, they find the upper room and everything's in order, the table's set, the water and basin is there, the towel was there, but what was missing? The servant.

There was no servant. There was no 1 to wash their feet. And as they had just come in from this conversation about who was going to be the leader of the 12 once Jesus established His kingdom in Jerusalem, His kingdom on earth, not 1 of the disciples was willing to condescend to do the job of a servant. I mean that would sort of refute their argument they had just made that they were going to be the greatest, right? And so they stood around in this awkward silence, you can just sort of imagine like, we're not going to eat with our dirty feet, but I'm not going to wash.

John said, I'm not going to wash. Peter said, I'm not going to wash. 1 by 1, they all went around the circle, and someone else should. And then out of that awkward silence, Jesus steps forward. And Jesus, the 1 who the Bible says spoke and it was done, who created all things by the word of his mouth.

Jesus, the Son of God, Jesus, the Bible says, girded a towel, and he got the water, And he began to wash the disciples' feet. If there's 1 thing that we ought to remember when we celebrate his ordinances, it ought to be the humility of Jesus. Now let me ask us a question today, and I'm directing this not just to you, but to myself as well. Is the disciple greater than his Lord? If we are Jesus' disciples, ought we not to be able to wash each other's feet?

And this ordinance of humility is designed to remind us of Jesus. Oh, it's too easy for human nature to get into our relationships. You know what I'm talking about. Maybe a little disagreement, a little jealousy, perhaps a little gossip, or here or there, a little rumor, and we begin thinking things we shouldn't think, and thinking it beneath us to be the servant of someone else. Jesus gave us an example.

If the king of the universe could wash Judas' feet, and Peter's feet, and John's feet, and each of the disciples' feet, then we ought to be able to wash 1 another's feet. The second thing that we ought to remember after Jesus' humility, we ought to remember His sacrifice. By the time Jesus was here at His last Passover, He had already made an amazing sacrifice. Just becoming a human being, incarnate in humanity, was an amazing condescension, Wouldn't you agree? For the God of the universe, for God himself to become man, not just loaned to humanity for a short period of time, but given to humanity for all of eternity.

Jesus, who the Bible refers to as our elder brother, is for all eternity to be 1 of us. He will be a human being though he is God. And that's an amazing condescension, amazing gift, an amazing sacrifice. But the Bible says that Jesus did not just humble himself to be found in fashion as a man. He did not just humble Himself to become a servant of men, but He humbled Himself even to the death of the cross.

Heaven was astonished to see their commander-in-chief, their God whom they adored, stooping willingly, lovingly, of His own volition, of His own choice, choosing to die in the place of a rebellious planet, in the place of a rebellious race, in the place of a rebellious planet, in the place of a rebellious race, in the place of a rebellious heart like mine. You see, my friends, thank you, Jesus. You see, my friends, it's 1 thing for a man to give his life for his friend. The Bible says, greater love hath no man than this, that a man should give his life for his friend. But we were not friends.

Jesus stooped to die for us while we were his enemies. He died for us in our rebellion. He died for us in our insularity. He came unto His own and His own received Him not and He gave His life for them. What an amazing sacrifice that Jesus has given and we are called to remember.

Jesus says, do this in remembrance of me. Jesus would have us remember his humility. Jesus would have us remember his sacrifice. The third thing I think Jesus would have us remember is his patience. Oh, I don't know about you, but I can just imagine the devil was whispering into Jesus' ear, Jesus, you've given 3 and a half years for these 12 men.

They're losers, they're never gonna get it. I mean, have you ever struggled with someone? Maybe parents, teachers? You ever struggled with someone? They just don't seem to learn.

You tell them and you tell them, and they keep doing it the same way, habits change hard, right? Old, bad habits especially seem to change hard. I've heard they're like comfortable beds, they're easy to get into and hard to get out of. And so Jesus has worked with these 12 men for 3 and a half years, and these are to be the leaders of the Christian church. These are to be the ones who would take his message to the world.

And here they're arguing about who's going to be the greatest. They're standing around with their hands in their pockets, with their arms crossed, not wanting to be the 1 to wash the other's feet. Oh, I don't know about you, but in my humanity, if it were me, if I were Jesus in that case, I think I would have just felt like losing it. Like just rebuking them. Like just telling them how it is.

Don't you know I'm God? Don't you know who you are? But Jesus instead is patiently loving them and giving them an example to follow. Wow! It gives me hope because if Jesus was that patient with them, it gives me hope that He can be patient with us today.

Amen. I was talking to someone this week who was discouraged. And they were saying to me, you know, when I think about God, I just get more discouraged, more depressed. Because it seems like God is the 1 interested in all the good people out there. You know, the people that go to church and the people that have their lives together.

God blesses them, He doesn't bless people like me. And I said, you've got it all backwards. You've Got it all backwards. When Jesus came here, he avoided the company of the self-righteous religious. The problem with many of us churchgoers is that we don't realize our need for Jesus.

And so Jesus, when he was here, who did he hang out with? The publicans and the prostitutes. The mafia bosses and the prostitutes, in today's vernacular, right? That's who he hung out with. Not because he was 1 of them, no, but because there was something in their hearts, They knew they were lost and they needed a Savior, and so they wanted what He could give them, and He was willing to be a Savior for them.

When I see the patience Jesus had with the 12 disciples, it gives me hope that He must also have enough patience for me. He has enough patience for you, my friends. And also, when we remember Jesus, we ought to remember to be patient to 1 another. We ought to remember to be patient to 1 another. We ought to remember to be patient.

We are to remember His humility, remember His sacrifice, remember His patience. And fourth and final, I think we ought to remember His love. Jesus says as often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me. The reason He lived His life of humility, The reason he gave himself as a sacrifice, the reason that he was so patient and is so patient still today, is because he loves us with what the Bible calls, and I'm not making this up, the Bible calls it an everlasting love. That means no matter what we do, no matter how long we do it, Nothing we possibly can do would make Him not love us.

He loves us still. His love is not based upon our performance. His love is not based upon our condition. His love is an everlasting, eternal, unconditional love. And the Bible says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

I've heard John 3, 16 described as the 4 dimensions of God's love. Have you ever thought of it that way? For God so loved... That's the width, the breadth of God's love. God so loved the world that He gave.

That's the length of His love, the length He was willing to go to save the world. That He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, whosoever is the depth of God's love. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter how far you've fallen, doesn't matter how low you've sunk, Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have what? The height of God's love. You see, God so loved the world that he gave.

Today we have an opportunity. We have an opportunity to remember Jesus. Would you like to do that with me today? Remember His humility, remember His sacrifice, remember His patience, remember His love, and maybe in remembering it we might even ask Him to make us a little more like Jesus. That we might have the heart of Jesus for 1 another.

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Remembering

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