That evening, after the breaking and sharing of the bread, and again in connection with sharing the cup, Jesus said, Do this in remembrance of me. This act of worship is to be done in remembrance of Christ, but why? Because in His absence, Christ desires all believers to continually remember Him in the fullness of the benefits of His death and life because He and He alone is to be the source of our spiritual lives. It is His desire that we regularly partake of these elements as they speak of His offer of His life, of sharing in the fruits of His sacrifice for us, and in the reality of His spiritual presence and life in our midst as the dynamic of the Christian life.

The Lord�s Supper is not just a religious exercise, and certainly not a religious work by which we keep ourselves in Gods grace, a totally contradictory idea. Nor is it to be a religious experience through which we obtain a rosy glow and have a religious encounter with ourselves. Rather it is to be a time in which we remember Him so that we personally relate to the Savior with the goal of living in greater dependence on Him for every aspect of life.

Many of us Christians have become extremely skillful in arranging our lives so as to admit the truth of Christianity without being embarrassed by its implications. We arrange things so that we can get on well enough without divine aid, while at the same time ostensibly seeking it. We boast in the Lord but watch carefully that we never get caught depending on Him. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Pseudo faith always arranges a way out to serve in case God fails it. Real faith knows only one way and gladly allows itself to be stripped of any second way or makeshift substitutes. For true faith, it is either God or total collapse

In other words, we want to be religious, but we want to maintain control so we never get into the predicament of having to trust the living Christ as the only source of our daily experience.

Then just what does doing this in remembrance of Him entail? It is not simply a recalling of a past event, but a dynamic and personal recalling of and reflection on certain spiritual truths, past, present and future, so that those truths become a present and vivid reality in which one may share and from which one may draw strength.

No longer were His disciples to look back to redemptive shadows and types, or depend on themselves as the source of their spiritual lives.

(1) From now on they were to remember Him as the perfect and final sacrifice for sin.

(2) From now on they were to remember Him as the means of their life both for the present and the future. But why is that?

(3) Because from now on they were to remember Him as the greatest manifestation in history of the power and kingdom of God, greater than even creation itself. Jesus Christ becomes the new standard for the power of God in human history both for the present and for the future.

(4) The reason is because in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone does man find Gods solution to sin and death, to an abundant life, a life that pleases God, and to life eternal.

Life is to be found not in religion, nor science, nor psychology, nor humanism, nor materialism, nor the great American dream, and certainly not in the eastern mystery religions of the new age or of any other age.

Application: So whenever we partake of the Lords Supper, let us partake together in a very reflective way that we may truly recall who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, will do, and how essential it is that we live in dependence on Him.

The Lords Supper is a sharing or partaking, or to use the Greek words of the New Testament, a koinonia and a metochos. It is an act of worship in which we, in a very real way, can share, have fellowship with our Lord and with one another as we share and think together on the person and work of Christ, past, present, and future as portrayed in (1) the meaning of the elements and (2) the acts or worship connected with them.

1 Cor. 10:15-17 I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say. 16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing (koinonia) in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing (koinonia) in the body of Christ?

Explanation:

Luke 22:14 At the appointed time, the Apostles gathered together and met with the Lord for this celebration of worship and fellowship. Please note the order. He reclined, He took the lead, and the apostles with Him, that is, they followed His lead and reclined together around the table to share in the events of the evening. As it was then, so it should be now. The Lord Jesus is just as much with us, though unseen, as He was present with them. He said, where two or three are gathered together in My Name there am I in the midst of them.

In Johns vision of the glorified Savior in Revelation 1:13, the Lord is portrayed as standing in the middle of the seven golden lampstands which were the seven churches of Asia Minor and which many believe are also representative of the church throughout history. In Revelation 2:1 we read that the Lord Jesus is the one who �walks among the seven golden lampstands. Here is a beautiful picture of the continuing ministry of the Savior in the midst of His church.

(1) His position in the center of the seven lampstands highlights the centrality of Jesus Christ to the life and worship of the church.

(2) His action of walking in the midst of the lampstands highlights His activity in our midst to minister, observe, direct, protect, supply, and even discipline His church as is needed.

The Lord, as the living and glorified Savior, though physically unseen, is nevertheless very much in our midst to lead us in our fellowship and worship of Him. How we need to be ever mindful of His presence and ministry.

The Lord, though physically unseen, is in our presence to minister to our needs through His Spirit, His Word, and through the truths of the Lords Supper. And by faith, we are responsible to respond to His ministry and presence.

Application: The irony of all this is that though the disciples were with the Lord physically, they were not with it spiritually, they were not sharing with Him and relating to what He was doing because they were occupied with their position in the kingdom, rather than with the Lord Jesus and who He was, what He meant to them, and was attempting to teach them.

Though reclining at the table was the custom of the day, it clearly portrayed the concept of fellowship, rest, and spiritual sustenance that our worship and fellowship with Jesus Christ in the Word and around the Lords table should bring into our lives. Reclining at the table pictures (1) feeding and drawing sustenance and strength from the Lord and (2) having fellowship with one another as we share together in the things of Christ.

Our time around the Lords table should never be just a religious experience, or a ritual, or a ho-hum habit, but a very significant time where believers together earnestly reflect on His person, work, and life.