Easter 2025 - Day 4: Remembering to be Resurrection Ready

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood…" Lk 22:19–20
 
How many reminders do you have in your life? I have never had a good memory but the older I get the more systems are required to remember important things. Paper calendars, phone calendars, computer calendars and alarms and buzzers and bells. We need reminders, especially when it comes to spiritual things. The Lord's Supper helps us remember the right things to be Resurrection Ready. I recently read a public confession from a Christian leader who had been caught in sin some months earlier. He wrote about the repentance, accountability and counseling that he now had in place and then he mentioned one last thing… "And I am taking communion weekly." As I considered what he had written, a crucial truth came to my mind. The reason we fail and sin, is because we are not remembering the right things. In fact the believer's biggest problem is that we forget to think about the right thing. And that’s what communion is, remembering the right thing. When we were first justified, we knew we were sinners and we looked to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. "This is the will of the Father …everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life…" (Jn 6:40). And Paul writes, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him… (Col 2:6). But we have trouble with that, don’t we? We forget and we walk without remembering His sacrifice. And we walk into all kinds of trouble. Forgetting is what gets us into ruts that can be difficult to steer out of and sins that should have been overcome and in some cases major falls (2Pe 1:9).
 
And so as a remembrance of Him, on this very day of the week, Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. Two simple elements, bread and cup. Bread represents His broken body. A body was necessary for an actual sacrifice. Jesus did not come as a spirit (1Jn 4:2). He was fully man and He had a real body and suffered real pain and real death. …when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ” and then Vs.10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (He 10:5–10). So at the table, the broken bread reminds us of His body, broken for us. He is the bread of life come down from heaven, perfect, sinless and whole given into the hands of sinful men to be broken, marred, and made sin for us. (Jn 6:48/Lk 24:7/1Co 11:24/2Co 5:21). And then there is the cup which He says is "poured out for you". "Poured out" was the language of the Old Testament drink offering and in addition the sacrificial blood of the bulls and goats were "poured out" at the base of the alter (Lev 8:15/Ezek 20:28). When Jesus used that familiar phase, there was no doubt about what He was saying. This was the vivid representation of the life blood of Jesus poured out as an offering to God and a sacrifice for you. That’s what He says you know, "This cup that is poured out for you…" The life was drained out of Him, for you (Lev 17:11). And this He says is the new covenant in His blood. Jesus’ blood was necessary to institute a wonderful New covenant. He was the Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29). The Lamb who was slain (Re 5:12). And a covenant made in blood is binding (He 9:12). And this covenant was new in part because it would be written not on tablets of stone, but upon the hearts of its people and sealed by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Je 31:31-34). His body broken for you, His blood shed for you and sealed or guaranteed by the Spirit. The Lord knows those who are His (2Ti 2:19).
 
So you see, under this wonderful New covenant you can never be forgotten, but you can forget. So, we do this in remembrance of Him. It is preferable to build the good habit of remembering and avoid a fall, as opposed to falling and then remembering. Paul says that’s why so many Christians are spiritually sick - they don’t remember Jesus’ sacrifice (1Co 11:30). A habit of remembering makes us Resurrection Ready. What are you thinking about today?