Remember Your Salvation with Jesus’ Special Supper
Confirmation, graduation, birthday, anniversary, retirement or a big team victory, do you ever think about how we celebrate and commemorate these milestones in our lives? Each are special occasions are usually marked with among other things, a special meal. Family and friends gather. Perhaps the person being honored gets to choose the menu.
We spent the last six weeks focusing on our Lord’s suffering and death for our salvation. We remember it is special and do not forget it. Jesus gave us a special meal for our benefit. We do not often think of it as a meal, we more often call it a sacrament.
The Apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 11:23-28 “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.”
Those words, which God inspired Paul to write, remind us as we eat earthly bread and drink earthly wine, we also receive the spiritual meal of Jesus’s body and blood. This meal has a very special purpose to assure us of the forgiveness of our sins. Because of the great blessing we receive in the Lord’s Supper and that we do not handle it carelessly. Paul adds the reminder “So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.”
It is all too easy to just take the sacrament because “that’s what Christians do” or “everyone else is going up for communion, so I will to.” Paul’s final reminder helps us remember we need to come to The Lord’ Supper with a heart which is repentant of our sins and ready to receive God’s forgiveness.
There is an amazing thing which happens with an interesting bird, the pelican. A mother pelican will feed her young with her own blood to help them when they have been bitten by snakes. So God, when we have been bitten by the snakebite of sin gives us the body and blood of his Son. As you have the opportunity, not only today as we remember Jesus’ institution of that special meal, but every time you receive The Lord’s Supper, may it not only assure you of the forgiveness of all your sins, but may it also help you to remember your salvation and how much God loves you.