Preached at Markham Baptist Church, January 7, 2001

"and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'"
(I Corinthians 11:24,25) (NRSV)

So we come to this table today with a very clear focus. Our focus is to remember our Lord Jesus Christ. As in all things we do in the Christian life Jesus Christ is to be the focus, Jesus Christ is to be the centre of the celebration; Jesus Christ is to be in the forefront of our thoughts; Jesus Christ is to be the focal point of our eating the bread and drinking the cup.

Do other thoughts crowd our minds? They are to be done away with. Do other preoccupations fill us? They are to be abandoned. Jesus Christ is the one who is to be remembered here.

Consider for a moment the thoughts that attempt to take centre stage during this important act.

For some people, they can only think of how long Communion Sunday is. It is the service that all kids dread. I know because I once was a kid. I remember entering the sanctuary as a kid on the first Sunday of the month and seeing the communion table set at the front of the sanctuary and feeling all the energy drain out of my body. "O its communion Sunday." That meant the service, which I found hard to endure at the best of times, would go at least an extra 20 minutes longer. It meant at least 1 maybe 2 extra hymns each of 4 verses. And it meant at least 2 extra prayers, one before the bread and one before the cup, and it meant the ushers would serve people not once but twice and all the while I had to sit quietly and wait. Communion Sunday can be a long Sunday for a kid.

Even some adults feel this way. "O it's communion Sunday - we don't have to attend that Sunday, it's the long Sunday let's skip that Sunday. We never get out till 20 after or so. We've got things to do let's skip that Sunday."

Communion Sunday is often called the long Sunday.

But it doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to drag on like a boring Calculus class for which you no interest. It doesn't have to be humdrum like that slide show you sat through - 4 carousals - of a country that you aren't the least bit interested in or ever feel that you want to visit. Communion doesn't have to be that way.

It could be quiet different for you - "Do this in remembrance of me." Jesus is saying, "Put me in the centre of this meal, let your thoughts be dominated by me, loose yourself here to me." And when we do that when we allow ourselves to remember Jesus Christ this meal cannot be ordinary, it cannot be humdrum, it cannot be blah, it cannot be long, indeed it cannot be long enough.

For here we remember the vibrant, living, divine personality of Jesus Christ. When you take the bread remember Jesus Christ - remember his life. Remember how he said, "I have come to give my life as a ransom for many." He gave of himself not just on Calvary but all day and every day - he threw himself away for strangers he would never see again. No one was to weary or to hurt or too sinful or troubled for Christ. He gave himself wholeheartedly to them seeking to help - feeling all the while that everything he had was given to him not for his own use but to be spent on others.

John Calvin when speaking of Christ's kingship said, "He reigns more for us than for himself." Power and dominion mean nothing to Jesus Christ, except as instruments he can use on behalf of the broken hearted, the desperate, and the defeated.

And so it is today. He meets us here today and says to us, as you put this bread to your lips and take it in, remember that I gave my whole life for you. All that I have is yours; all that I am is yours.

Whatever he can do for you, you can be sure that he will do it. Whatever he can offer to you to help you along the way you can be sure that he will give it.

O the thrill of it - this is no dead, dry, dull personality we remember here but the giver of life, the creator of life, the one who is life itself and who lives forever and ever to the glory of God.

In my childhood, and even today there were people that I was in no rush to spend time with. I remember when I was a kid, going with my parents to spend the day with some of my parent's friends, they didn't have any kids my age to play with, and there was nothing to do at their house, it truly was boring, watching them sit and talk. And on the way there I was in no rush to get there, I was in no hurry to arrive.

But there were other people I would love to visit. My cousin Craig for instance. Cousin Craig was 12 years older than I was. We lived in Scarborough and he lived in Wishing Well, not far but to a little kid they were miles apart and I couldn't wait until the next family reunion, or the next family dinner at his house. I couldn't wait to see him. Did we have much in common? No. Craig was brilliant, he spoke seven languages, played the piano magnificently, had a grasp of history and political science that would put the best professor to shame. He was a genius of a man. And I think - what did I have in common with him that I wanted so much to spend time with him? Nothing. But this - Craig took an interest in me. He told the most marvellous stories of kings and queens, of battles in far off lands and he had a set of hand puppets that he would use to entertain me. He was always willing to play and spend time with me.

He gave me a glimpse of Jesus. For that is how Jesus is with you and me. He is immensely interested in you and in me. He is always willing to give of himself, always willing to share of his time and all that belongs to him he offers to us.

And every time we come to this table he asks to remember that. To remember that he has held nothing back from us. That even though we are worlds apart in our ability and position and mental ability. Even though we may at times think that we have nothing in common with our Lord there is this to remember He is interested in you and has held nothing back from us.

O that we would come eagerly,

O that we could come enthusiastically

O that we would come ready and eager to meet the One who gave his very life for us.

If you think the celebration of the Lord's supper is long, then maybe it's because you haven't yet met the one who hosts this meal, maybe it's because you don't know the one who is the focus of this meal.

And if you realize this - that's not a bad realization. In fact it's magnificent, for it could be the start of your spiritual journey if out of it you ask God to reveal Jesus to you. And he will do it. He will open your spiritual eyes and he will give you the sight that you desire.

Once you know the host of this table the meal isn't long, it isn't long enough. "Do this in remembrance of me."

But there are others who have their thoughts crowded with questions of relevance. What does this ceremony have to do with anything in our world? It is an act that was instituted 2,000 years ago. What does the Lord's supper have to do with anything here in our age and in our day? Our thoughts are filled with family issues, with the complexities of business, project deadlines, world issues, the amount of snow that has fallen.

"Do this in remembrance of me." Says Jesus. The lord knew of our busyness and our short memories. He knew that we would be a society of post-it-notes hanging on the fridge door reminding us of that appointment. He knew that we would need a constant reminder of him. He knew there would be attractions and distractions in this world that would threaten to take our focus off of Him. And so he gave us this meal saying, "Do this in remembrance of me."

He knew that there would be events in this world, wars, and terrorist bombings, and mass murders, and perverted thinking, that would fill us with despair and sorrow, and worry. And so he gave us this meal, saying, "Do this in remembrance of me."

It's as if Jesus were saying to us, "When you eat this bread and drink this cup remember what evil I endured, remember the shame I endured, remember the nails plunged into my hands. Remember the mockery that was made of me. Remember how I faced evil square in the face that day and died and was buried. But remember that I won the victory.

"Remember me" says Jesus. Remember that he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. O how we need to remember this when the world seems to falling apart all around us. Ravaged by sin, torn apart by evil, remember that we do not worship a dead hero but a risen Lord who has overcome this world. This is what John was reminded of in the Revelation (3:21)

"To him who overcomes (Says the Lord) I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne."

And again in 6:2

"I looked, said John, and there before me was a white horse! It's rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest."

So our Lord Jesus Christ. "Remember me," he says to us. Relevance? What could be more relevant for an age filled with anguish and sin to remember the one ho has come to put away anguish and sin? The one who conquered.

And what could be more important for our world than our proclamation of Jesus Christ through our gathering around this table.

During this past holiday season it seems that our news reports were filled with mass murders throughout the states. A disgruntled computer programmer, angry with the IRS, shoots up his office. Then there was a Crack house massacre. In a world that seems to have found the solution to it's problems through the end of a loaded gun - in a world that has forgotten God and treated him as trivial. In a world that has ignored his Word and made Christ to be a good man among many - how important it is for us to gather round this table and remember Him - to proclaim the Lord's death until he comes - to say to the world Jesus Christ is real and until we are in a right relationship with him nothing in this world will be right.

Relevance? This table could not be more relevant in lives with busy schedules and a world torn apart by sin - For here we remember the one who came to put sin away.

Remember me" says Jesus. He asks to be the centre and circumference of our lives and of this celebration.

III

There is one other thought you may have, it may be boredom, it may be relevance, or it may be this - it may be hesitancy, you may be saying that this table is not for you.

To be sure, this table is not for everyone. For some there is absolutely no meaning to it. For one "Walking in off the street" with absolutely no knowledge of Christ's death and its purpose, this table is nothing. For one who knows only superficially of person named Jesus who did something, somewhere, sometime, this table is nothing. For someone who has a working knowledge of Jesus, with a few brain-held details of his birth, life and death, but no concept of His deity and His redemptive work this table is nothing. For anyone who has not believed that Jesus is God's Son who died for your sins and who has not made Him Saviour and Lord this table is nothing. This is not a table for everyone.

And so if you have not confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour you should pass the elements by and not participate.

BUT. BUT. Having said that, let none of us hesitate to come to this table because we feel that this table cannot be for us because of our sin, it is.

The story is told of a man, who refused to come to the table of the Lord, he felt he was too unworthy. He sat there miserable until he saw the girl next to him break down and weeping pass the cup by without tasting it. At the sight, the man's fears disappeared and he whispered t her, "Take it girl, take it, it is for us sinners." And then he stretched out his eager hand.

"Do this in remembrance of me." Says Jesus. Remember how he sat and ate with what the Pharisees called tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus quickly answered, "It is no the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

And so it was on that last night of his life when he shared this meal with his disciples he took the broken bread and placed it into each of his disciple's hands and then similarly the cup saying, "for you, for you for you". Twelve separate times. Not one of them was missed.

John, he had a temper like you and me and he was not passed by.

"For you" said Christ.

Peter? Impetuous, would deny Jesus vehemently. Yet he received it. "For you" said Christ.

Thomas was slow, he had doubts and difficulties and no capacity for the spiritual things in his mind. "For you"

Judas had dark things in his mind. "For you" said Christ, putting it in his hand in a last generous appeal.

All of them were disappointing and heartbreaking, all had walked into that room wanting to be first, their faces hot with anger at one another and temper in their eyes, but not one of them was left out. "For you"

And so he looks to us today. This is my body, which is for you. It was broken for you, and instead of you.

Because of your sin and my sin Jesus died and paid the penalty of sin, which is death. "Do this in remembrance of me."

So often we fail to come to this table because we are overwhelmed by our sin. We think our wrongs are too great, we have ignored him for so long, surely I can't come to him now, he won't accept me.

That is exactly why Jesus says to us, "remember me." Let ME be the focus of this table, come to me and eat with me at table and bring your sin with you and let me put it away.

I John 1:7 "The blood of Jesus purifies us from every sin."

So come, come; let us come eagerly to meet again the one who is immensely interested in you, who has held nothing back from us.

Let us come with anticipation for how he will yet again minister to us, knowing that Jesus is forever our contemporary, forever relevant in our stress filled, hate filled, war torn world.

Let us come wanting to proclaim to the world that Jesus is the King.

Let us come knowing that we are sinners but we have a great and marvellous Saviour.