Remember Me

Remember Me

11/30/16

How important is this phrase when it is directed towards God and His Son Jesus or for any relationship for that matter?  Do we continually remember His Word and hide its passages in our hearts or do we occasionally or hardly consider His teachings at all?  Do we realize that the physical actually reflects the spiritual?  This phrase should mean our eternity and should be held in the highest regard for our existence, yet it saddens God to know that we do not hold this phrase in high esteem but many do not hold to it at all.  This lack of understanding concerning this sacrificial process was the key that lost Israel its status and favor from God and is also the key to our survival or destruction as well.  Communion serves that the symbol of sacrifice that God established a long time ago and unless we do not conform to the origins of its creation, we shall never know true peace again. 

It is common knowledge that the act of sacrifice was practiced by the children of Israel for God’s Word states this process being completed many times on different occasions throughout the Old Testament.  The first example of a sacrifice occurred in the Garden of Eden when God gave Adam and Eve skin coverings before they left the Garden.  We have another example of a sacrifice occurring when their two sons were completing this act, we all know the story that one son lived and the other died through the actions of such sacrificial planning.  It was here that the concept of relationship with God and with the world came into focus and if we did not understand the consequences of such choices in the Garden of Eden, God gave us a dandy one here.  Why is it so difficult to get this truth through our thick skulls and allow it to grow within our hearts so that our spirit can help us fight the evil that dwells all around us?

One of my favorite Christian artists has a song out entitled “Remember Me” and the artist’s name is Steve Camp.  This song is an older one but it is still one that grabs my heart every time I hear it played for it speaks a deep meaning of life that I recognize as the most vital necessity I require to live.  The song is based on the words of Jesus when He was speaking to His disciples at the Last Supper and it is through those words of Christ that every Christian should live through each day they draw breath. Communion with a holy and pure heart represents the exact form of living that God intended us to have, for it conquers self and it places the wants far down the list of our existence all the while placing God and His Ways first.

A few years back, God shared with me some details about the communion service and what the symbols of this process mean.  I shared this information with others in an article when God had finished giving me the details.  And, typical of God He decided to add to that wonderful article and further define how important it is to have a relationship with Him based on keeping communion practices through His Word and NOT through denominational and trivial markings.  For us to understand the importance of this practice is we first must consider that the act of a sacrifice is a living and constant act.  As God has shared with us a few times previously, if the children of Israel would have understood this truth and had lived completely under the concept of sacrifice things would have been totally different in their lives.  This communion truth is still in effect and shall provide the same results as it did when Jesus walked the earth if we only decide to live under the exact set of ways.  Communion and purely understanding the phrase that Jesus said about His body and His blood we could have totally different living conditions today as well.

In Matthew Chapter 26 Jesus commands His disciples to go and prepare a room for Passover.  After the preliminaries are completed the setting is ready for the true meaning of sacrifice to be known and the vitality of such a process made pure through God and His Word.  In verses 26-29 of chapter 26 reads as follows: “As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying; Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”  What a powerful statement of truth that Jesus gives us here.  We cannot honestly live under the Blood Covenant of Christ unless we remember Jesus as being the ultimate Sacrifice for our sins, thus proclaiming that God had eternally established this process back in the Garden of Eden right before Adam and Eve left because of their disobedience.

A logical and finite question that many will ask is if this process was so important to our eternal survival why didn’t God make it a daily practice?  It is because the act of sacrifice comes from the heart and it is through the relationship with God that this act of sacrifice is based, not on a routinely construed symbol that looks good on the outside surface.  Communion is the symbolic act that initiates our relationship with God for if we truly live under the act of sacrifice we can differentiate what is right and what is wrong according to God’s Word and not the world.  Do you know that if you are not fully living under the act of sacrifice you are living under the sacrifice of the world?  While the physical act of sacrifice was not required in the Old Testament its process and procedures should have registered closely enough to the Israelite’s lives that it should have been easy to understand, but the world and its ruler were allowed to infiltrate and things changed into a routine and bore instead of a living condition.

Obedience is a direct act and result of someone who is living under communion and sacrifice.  Obedience is the daily reflection of our covenant with God and a public show to the world and the humans that live around us that we are committed to the separation of our lives from the world.  It is this reason that God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden every day for it represented the relationship that both parties desired to have.  God’s desire never wavered or fainted but it is clear that Adam and Eve had other ideas while God was away, which means that they had already established that the concept of sacrifice was a routine; a hard pill to swallow but it is truth made alive.  I guarantee that if we do not live through the origins of God’s holy Sacrifice we shall not have a daily communion and relationship with God as we are supposed to.

When the Lord’s Prayer was stated by Jesus a specific portion of that passage says that we should ask God to give us our daily bread. Now, of course, we need food in order to survive and thrive accordingly but the daily bread that is mentioned here comes from God on a spiritual level so that we may have and keep our direct communication line open with God.  If we do not strive to live through Communion with God our sacrificial process cannot be considered complete and holy either.  Daily bread is just that a constant supply which means that if we do not recognize this truth about sacrifice and Communion and the meaning behind these acts our spiritual bread supply will dwindle and if left long enough be no more.  God understands that there is no way that in our physical conditions can we ever approach His throne and look at His holiness, but it is through the Covenant of His Son’s blood that allows us the privilege to enter His presence. 

The communion table is the living sacrifice symbol that Jesus wanted His disciples to understand historically and currently and what He wants us to understand historically and presently as well.  The Communion table is a relationship builder or a relationship destroyer.  If a person or nation lives under the confines of God then their relationship with God is built up and their relationship with the world is torn down or destroyed, vice versa is accordance as well.  

This is why it is more important to obey God than to complete a sacrifice to God for if one does not wish to obey God (everyday activities) then the reasons why you sacrifice plays into the hands of religion instead of relationship.  If one believes that Jesus is alive and does not live like He is alive inside them, then they have fallen into the routine sacrificial status and therefore are in danger of being spewed from God’s mouth.  Anyone who is in a relationship must know that it takes two sides to make that relationship work and when this is present there are no demands that need to be made for both parties are willing to sacrifice their efforts to honor the other party.  There is no wonder as to why the ruler of the world wishes so much to destroy every relationship that God deems as holy.

I have mentioned an old song before entitled “To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice” written and sung by Keith Green.  It is because of this truth that Keith wrote this song and it is also through this truth that many people did not wish for him to publish this song or wanted him to change the words so that it was not so harsh.  But Keith flat out refused and kept the Word of God intact and proclaimed this truth until the day he tragically lost his life.  Because it continues the truth that through daily obedience to God one shall keep the law of His Word with a pure and whole heart.  It is also through this truth that should be the defined reasoning that we wish to be separate from the world, for Communion and Sacrifice commend the loss of self and the choice of God instead.  A relationship will only grow if constant communication is achieved, not just on an occasional basis. 

Church, if your desire to obey God every day of your life and to be separated from the world with every breath you take, you must know that you are in danger of losing your eternal life and be separated from God.  If it is not your desire to live under Covenant and have daily communion with God, then your sacrificial offering will turn sideways and not be a sweet smell to God’s nostrils.  God does not care for ritual, He cares about relationship.  God cares about having a relationship with you, wholly, holy and complete with no worldly input present.  The desire to rid yourself of the worldly baggage represents a daily communion status with God and a relationship that is advancing through God’s ways. 

It is through this lack of daily relationship and communion with God and a retaliatory display sacrificial penance that has brought us to the position that we are in today.  Our nation is sinking fast and since we are considered the ideal standard of living for the world that means the rest of the nations will sink just as fast, maybe even faster than we are.  We can turn to any human being for help and answers and all we will find is a failing system that will lead to one conclusion, our demise.  Only if we return to God and allow Him to restore our daily bread, to keep His command of remembering Him as the true, the only, and complete sacrifice necessary to be blameless before God can we remain in Communion with God.

We are precious in God’s eyes and it is His desire to ensure that everyone under His heart live with Him eternally, but this cannot and will not occur unless we surrender our selfish wants to Him and turn from the ways of the world.  Taking communion does not automatically mean that you are living under Covenant with God, nor does it mean that your status as a Christian is present either, but it is your daily communion and desire to live for God that represents a relationship with God and thus you shall be remembered by Jesus’ Father just as you have remembered His Son.  Church, allow God to search your heart and see if there is anything part of it that is hindering your Communion with God.  Jesus was in total Communion with His Father and it is through our daily bread of obedience that will allow our sacrifice to eternally live in the heart of God and be the proof that you really do understand who we remember.

When we remember a family member that has left us what type of memories do we project towards them?  It has always been said not to speak ill of the dead but in reality, there are those who we have encountered that it would be hard not to say things of ill nature.  This is a sad representation of the human race but unfortunately, this type of bad remembrances has defined many a life throughout human history.  Do we remember God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in like contexts, or do we regard them as a different category?  God has always interjected into our hearts that He wants nothing less than for us to have a daily conversation with Him about any subject and topic and Jesus said the exact same thing at the Last Supper.  So why do we continue to lack in this area when it evidently is so important that we have such direct communication with God?

My grandparents are all gone now and for the most part, I can only really recall three of the four because my grandfather on my dad’s side passed away when I was very young.  I hold tight the words that my parents tell me about pawpaw and how he loved me and wanted nothing but the best for his grandchildren.  Sometimes I sit back and remember the times we spent in Arkansas with my grandmother yet I could not help but do my best to include pawpaw in my thoughts.  I was older when we lost my grandmother on my mother’s side but my memories of her still remain even though my age was still considered to be of the younger sort.  Pimento cheese salad and wilted lettuce salad are two of the memories I have about my grandparents and as long as I have breath and a holiday passes where a family meal is served, I shall remember my grandparents and the influences that they continue to have in my life with those dishes.

How can we honestly say that we remember Jesus and His life if we do not come to Him every day?  How can we honestly believe in God if we do not daily seek to understand His ways and laws?  How can we remember the ways of God if we do not hide them in our hearts and teach them to our children?  If we do not live with God and communicate – honest communication – with Him and then turn around and say we do, they we are liars for if we cannot remember things about our grandparents and parents whom we have most likely grew up with then how can we say that we know God whom we have not physically witnessed?  

Judas can be used as a prime example of this portion of the article and I can guarantee that we can deny Jesus just as he did.  We claim on a daily basis that we want to hope and truth in our lives and to make our nation great again, these acclamations are noble in themselves but are rendered a foolish fantasy if God is not placed first in our hearts.  It is through God’s Son and the blood that He shed for us that will represent the only way that these requests from our hearts are granted, but we shall never see our greatness return until we surrender our crowns and place them at the feet of Christ first.  Take heed to the Covenant in which Jesus proclaimed during the Passover for it is the only way that we can stand before God and be blameless in His eyes.  Church, God loves us with all His heart and it is our duty to drop the world and its standards and pick up the Covenant arms of Christ and teach the world the true gospel of salvation.

DLB