Gtcotr/ss053022
Today is Family Sunday at Church On The Rock. How do we determine which Sundays are Family Sundays? Normally each month will have only 4 Sundays. However, about 4 times each year a month will end up with 5 Sundays. We plan these Sundays to give our Children’s Church team and our families a chance to worship together in what they call “Big Church.”
Family Sunday is a time when we take advantage of the opportunity for families to worship and hear the word together. For those of you joining us at ChurchOnline, take some time, if possible, to interact with your younger family members during this service to insure they understand why we attend and support the Church and what the message is about.
This morning we are going to be going to the New Testament Gospel of Luke, specifically chapter 22. The Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, give us details about the birth, life, ministry, death, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Today’s message will be taken from the evening just prior to Jesus being arrested in Jerusalem.
Jesus was 33½ years old at this time. He wanted to enjoy eating one “Last Supper” with His 12 disciples who were also His friends. This meal was a very important meal … it was the annual Passover meal which was commissioned by God for the Children of Israel to remember all that God did through Moses to deliver their ancestors from bondage to Pharoah in Egypt.
Every year since Moses, about 1500 years before Christ, the whole nation of Israel had observed the Feast of Passover to remember how God had delivered and blessed them. It was even a command of God that the people observe this Feast every year on a special day so that they and their children would never forget.
During this special Passover meal that year in Jerusalem, Jesus called for the group to give Him their full attention. We pick up with the actual account in:
Luke 22: 19 And Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
About 20 years later the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Church in Corinth and recounted that moment. Paul instructed the Church on what Jesus did and what He meant. As well, Paul told us that we also should follow these same instructions as a way of teaching and remembering what Jesus did and how Jesus willingly gave His life for us.
1 Corinthians 11
24 And when Jesus had
given thanks, He broke the bread and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which
is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
In the Old Testament period, God wanted the Children to Israel to set aside a special day each year to remember what He had done for them and how He had delivered them from Egypt. At the Last Supper Jesus told His friends to also set aside a time to remember what it cost Him to pay for their freedom from sin, sickness, poverty, and the defeat.
What did it cost Jesus to save your soul and set your free? It cost Him His life. And the hope of Christ is that we would not forget what He did.
1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Remembering what it cost and honoring the sacrifices made by others for us is an attribute of the Godly. Jesus said:
John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
I am so grateful to God and thankful to Jesus who gave His life for me, so that I could be saved, delivered, set free, and be blessed. Salvation and eternal life come only through faith in Jesus Christ as we call upon His name for forgiveness of our sins and accept Him as our Lord and Savior.
Remembrance and thanksgiving, however, do not stop there.
We dare not put men on the same pedestal as Christ nor worship them as we do our eternal Savior, but we do, and by the grace of God we should, give our thanks and show our gratitude to those who also laid down their lives for us because of their great love.
Tomorrow, Monday, May the 30th, the United States of America will observe Memorial Day 2022. Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, is a federal holiday designated for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces.
For 102 years, (1868 to 1970), Decoration Day, as it was called, was celebrated on the 30th day of May each year. It was originally established in honor and remembrance of those American soldiers who died in the Civil War. However, after WW I and WW II, the day broadened its scope to include all U.S. military from all branches of the armed services who gave their lives in defense of our nation.
In 1971 Congress standardized the holiday as “Memorial Day” and set its observance to the last Monday in May. This year the observance falls on the same date as originally set by General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic 154 years ago – May 30th.
We are a grateful nation and although we deeply appreciate and owe a great debt of thanks to all of our U.S. military veterans and have designated a day to celebrate their service each November 11th, Memorial Day is not that day. If you thank a veteran for his or her service tomorrow, they will no doubt smile and be gracious and kind, however, we all know that Memorial Day is not about us, it is about those honored brothers and sisters who bravely and willingly gave their all for us and will never come home again.
The Bible records God pronouncing judgment on the nation and the people of Amalek. God was angry with them and decided to do to them one of the worst things possible.
Exodus 17:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
God wanted His children to know that one of the worst things imaginable would be to be forgotten. This shall not be the testimony of America.
We are a Christian nation, founded on the principles of God’s Word and destined to accomplish the purpose to which we have been called. And as I said earlier, we are a grateful nation, and we will never forget.
However you choose to spend the holiday tomorrow, I encourage you to include a time to remember those who gave their lives so you could enjoy the benefits and fruits of living in America. Say a prayer of thanksgiving and teach your children and your children’s children the meaning of Memorial Day and the need to remember.
We are a grateful nation, and we will never forget.
First and foremost we will pray this morning for people to be born-again by the perfect sacrifice and the spilled blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus. If you want to be saved from the penalty of your sins, pray with me now and ask Jesus to come into your heart. Salvation is free to you because Jesus paid for it.
We will close our prayer this morning honoring and remembering the men and women who gave their lives to secure and protect the freedoms we have and the blessings we enjoy as citizens, friends, and beneficiaries of the United States of America.
Please
stand and let’s pray …
