Jesus was born in a little village called Bethlehem, meaning “house of bread.”  That was very fitting because the babe born in Bethlehem would become the bread of life for mankind, ultimately giving His own life for us as the Lamb of God.

Not only is this God’s scheme of redemption, but it is also something that God wants us to remember.  As a result of this, God has set up a memorial to help us remember.  It is called the Lord’s Supper because Jesus instituted it just after observing the Passover with His apostles (Matthew 26:26-30).  This memorial is to be observed until Jesus returns to deliver us up to the Father.

1 Corinthians 11:23-27 (ESV)
²³  For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when 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 also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. ²⁷  Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

When we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we are proclaiming our Lord’s death by remembering what He did for us on the cross.  Important things happen in this world all the time but then are just forgotten.  The death of Jesus must not fall into that category for Christians.  We must remember Jesus.  The world might forget all about Him, society might move on from His story, and the devil will most certainly try to fill our minds with things other than the sacrifice of our Lord, but we must remember Jesus.

We should not only remember Jesus on the Lord’s Day, though that is the only day we actually partake of the Lord’s Supper.  Jesus did not say “do this remembering me,” He said, “do this in remembrance of me.”  That means that we partake of the Lord’s Supper specifically because we have been remembering Jesus all through the previous week.  In fact, our love for Him and appreciation of all that He has done for us, will cause us to remember Him every day.  We will remember Jesus at home, at work, in good times, bad times, happy times, and sad times.  We remember Jesus in every decision that we make and every action that we take.  We always remember Jesus, and then, on the first day of the week, we partake of the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him.   

What should we remember as we are partaking of the Lord’s Supper?  We remember what the emblems represent.  The fruit of the vine represents the blood Jesus shed on our behalf.  Thank God for the blood of Christ.  We sometimes sing, “What can wash away my sin?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”  These words are scripturally accurate.  When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, He said, “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).  This is what we should never forget, and be thankful for every day of our lives, that is, the pain and suffering that our Savior endured just to bring us salvation.

The other emblem is, of course, the bread and I am afraid we do not always appreciate the significance of what it represents.  We know it represents the body of Christ, but do we appreciate His body as we should?  Without Jesus being willing to take on the form of a servant in a human body, we could have no propitiation for our sins.  The sacrificing and humiliation of our Lord did not start on the cross.  The cross was the end of it.  The beginning of it was His incarnation, without which we would all be eternally lost.  Let’s all be thankful that Jesus was willing to be made poor so that we might be rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).  Let’s remember Jesus, not just one day a week, but every day of our lives.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things