Thoughts on Communion

1 Cor. 11

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ 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.” ²⁵ 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.” ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

I want to look at the word “remembrance” in these passages.  When I was looking over this passage that is the word that stood out to me.  Remembrance… remember.  

In Luke 22 we see Jesus at the Last Supper asking the disciples to remember Him when they take the Lord’s supper.  One chapter later, someone would be asking Jesus to remember them.  

In Luke 23 we see the thief next to Jesus ask Him... 
⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
⁴³ Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

You see, the word remember means a little more than we think it does.  The word remember is not just about thinking about someone and what they did.   Remembering is redemptive.  The thief is asking Jesus, re-member me when you enter your kingdom.  Re-member… put me back together.  Put my members back together.  Make me whole, Jesus.  And what does Jesus do, He redeems the thief.  He restores the thief.  Remembering is redemptive.  

In Genesis 40 we have the story of Joseph in prison interpreting the dreams of the Cupbearer and the Baker.  Joseph interprets the dream of the Cupbearer in a favorable way and he asks that when the Cupbearer is restored to his position, he would remember Joseph.  It says the Cupbearer did not remember him.  At least not initially.  Joseph had to stay in prison… in his lowly position.  For 2 whole years, Joseph stayed in prison until the Cupbearer remembered him.  Once he was remembered, he was restored… out of this remembrance, Joseph was made the 2nd most powerful man in Egypt.  Remembering is redemptive.  

When we remember someone in the way that God talks about in His word, we restore them to their rightful place.  We put them back together.  And the great thing about the Lord’s supper is when we put Christ in His rightful place, He restores us.  So how do you remember Christ?  How do we re-member Christ?  Is not each of us a member in the body of Christ?  The instructions of Paul that I gave you earlier are preceded by these scriptures in 1 Cor. 11.

  ¹⁷ In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. ¹⁸ In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. ¹⁹ No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. ²⁰ So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, ²¹ for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. ²² Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!

Paul is teaching on the Lord’s Supper here and what is his focus?  It is on the horizontal relationships we have with each other.  He is speaking to a broken body.  Often times when we take the Lord’s Supper we are only focusing on us and God.  On our individual relationship with God.  Yet Paul’s emphasis is on the members of Christ’s body.  The Lord’s Supper wasn’t administered to just one person… but to many people.  All the disciples.  It was given in the context of other people.  Why?  Because each and every one of us is a member of the body of Christ.  And God seeks unity in His body.   

Colossians 3:15 states:  

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 

Ephesians 4:25 states:

²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

Thankfulness.  Peace with each other.  Speaking truthfully to our neighbors.  Being in unity.  Those are ways to remember Christ.  When we partake of the Lord’s Supper, what is one of the rules?  That if you have something against your brother, go and make it right and then take Communion.  If you can’t make it right beforehand, let it pass you by.  We who are believers, are members of the Body of Christ.  We take communion together because insodoing… we put Christ’s members back together… we re-member Him.  And that is a picture of the redemption by which He has bought each one of us.  When we remember Christ and his redemptive sacrifice… when we ponder His body and His blood being poured out… and when we do it together in unity… an amazing thing happens.  We become a picture of Christ’s body restored.  We become a picture of Christ’s body being made whole again.  And then we are restored.  Remembering is redemptive.  When we remember what Christ has done and what He has accomplished over sin and death… we see it not only in our lives, but in the lives of our brothers and sisters around us.  We see each other as being restored… we see Princes and Princesses in Christ instead of broken sinners.

The last thing that Paul says about taking the Lord’s Supper is in verse 33.  
³³ So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together.
 
Take communion together.  As a family.  As the restored Body of Christ. 

Lord we remember you and thank you for your body being broken for us.  We remember and thank you for your blood being spilled for us.  Thank you for restoring us.  Thank you for redeeming us.