The Remembrance

by R.I. Shaw, Wembley, England | Category: The Disciple Life | May 1990

They continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42).

The Remembrance is the name we give to the Breaking of Bread. We do so because the Master who gave the ceremony gave it to His disciples as a memorial. He said, "This do in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19). The Remembrance then is a ceremony instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ by which disciples gather together at His command to remember Him.

Remembrance is a very important aspect of life. It enables us to bring to mind, concerning someone absent from us, the character and virtue of that person, how he behaved among us, what he said, what he did and how it all affected us. So Christ, by means of His abounding grace, gave this ceremony in order that His disciples in every age, longing to see Him, might gather together on earth under His authority to remember Him. Precious as may be our remembrance of His words or His deeds, more precious still is our remembrance of Himself.

The Institution of the Remembrance: The Beginning

It happened first in Jerusalem in a large furnished room which the Lord called 'My guest chamber'. Evidently the man who owned the house had met Jesus and knew Him. He also would appear to have been a recent friend of the Master who, like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, came out of the shadows in the service of the Lord. It was His purpose to keep the passover in this room with His disciples, and this they did. The passover, so often discarded by unfaithful Israel, was an annual remembrance of their redemption from Egypt, shortly to give way to a much more precious remembrance.

The Lord knew that His work on earth would soon be completed and that He would return to heaven. He would leave with His disciples teaching to regulate their lives, conduct and spiritual vision. He would send the Holy Spirit whose indwelling and enabling power would fit them to carry it out. Central to their service together was to be the Breaking of the Bread, the precious remembrance of their Lord. At the passover supper therefore He did something new and arresting. What He did was very simple, but the meaning was profound.

The Recipients

Those present in "the Upper Room" were the Lord and His disciples. The Lord instituted the memorial quietly and suddenly to the considerable interest, no doubt, of His faithful disciples. They caught every word and noticed every act. No formalism or casual attitude! Let us remember that the ceremony and the commandment were given, not to the world at large nor to fruitless Israel nor to any incidental group of men not having His teaching, but to faithful disciples, having been taught in and having become obedient to His Word. We set this over against the multiplicity of elaborate "communion" services organized by men, and we see their error.

The Ceremony

The Lord observed the passover supper and then took a loaf (RVM). He gave thanks to God in the presence of the disciples, after which He broke the loaf and gave it to them. He said, "This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19). Was the bread then His actual body as the Church of Rome teach? We believe not. When the Lord said "I am the door" He was illustrating graphically to His audience that He was the means by which men enter into the possession of eternal life. In symbol therefore He is "the door". The loaf likewise is a symbol of His body. When something is broken it is wholly given, and in the breaking of the loaf there is clear instruction that He gave Himself wholly at Calvary. Next He took a cup of wine and when, similarly, He had given thanks He gave it to the disciples saying, among other words recorded, "This is My blood of the covenant which is shed for many" (Mark 14:24). They all drank of it. The poured out cup symbolizes the blood of Christ by which the New Covenant has been ratified, bringing eternal blessing to men. Marvellous thought! It is not dependent upon us in any way.

The Significance of the Remembrance To the Life of the Disciple

The ceremony of the Breaking of Bread is central in the Lord's teaching concerning the kingdom of God. We need not be surprised when the purpose was that disciples might remember their Lord and "proclaim the Lord's death till He come" (1 Cor. 11:26). It is of course a command of our Lord to His disciples. Its importance is further emphasized when Paul by the Spirit says, "I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, how that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread" (1 Cor. 11:23). In that passage Paul speaks of Him always as the Lord, emphasizing the authority which is His and under which we gladly serve Him. By its importance it became, it seems, the first collective act of service in the week of the early disciples (Acts 20:7) and it was something in which they "continued steadfastly" (Acts 2:42). We can readily imagine the heart-warming exercise this would be for the disciples who loved their Lord. Without doubt this would produce a spirit of true worship and praise. So it should ever be.

The letters Paul wrote to the Church of God in Corinth abound with exhortation as to the conduct and behaviour of God's people in a church of God. The Breaking of Bread is spoken of at length, emphasizing its importance, purpose and solemnity. In 1 Corinthians 10:16 it is spoken of as "a communion". So in the Breaking of

Bread we share together in the blessed realization of who Christ is and of what He has done through His atoning death.

The Spiritual Significance

The collective worship of God's people finds its source in the Breaking of Bread. In respect of collective worship based upon the sacrifice of Christ, the writer to the Hebrews opens up something very precious (10:19-25). In spirit we enter into God's holy place in heaven and draw near at His invitation to offer our sacrifice of worship and praise. Man cannot have direct access to God, so we come through Christ, our Great High Priest. What a marvel this is! What a wonderful privilege to come with boldness, resting in His work! What sobering responsibility since He has invited us! Can we ever be lacking in interest?

Sadly, some Christians teach from Matthew 18:20 that a few of them may meet casually to break bread and that, to such gatherings, Christ comes down from heaven to be present to bless. This we believe to be a misinterpretation of scripture. Matthew 18:20 is not at all a basis for Christian gathering as the context of the passage explains. Matthew 18:15-20 has to do with church discipline under Christ's authority where the church is taking action in regard to one of its number. Christ then is present to ratify the action in full fellowship with His own. Our Preparation and Presentation God, who has revealed Himself to us in the day of His grace as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (See 1 Pet. 1:3 etc.) and has given us every blessing in Christ, allows us, through eternal love, to give to Him in worship. We can never therefore give Him less than the best, carefully prepared thoughts set in order. 'I speak the things which I have made touching the King' (Ps. 45:1). This emerges from an overflowing heart. The things that are made are things we toil over. Preparation is essential. In our case this means meditation on the Person and work of Christ. Our aim must be to consider Him daily so as to present Him to God on the first day of the week. He is the poorer who feeds only upon the thoughts of others. He is rich who quietly waits to hear through God's Holy Spirit what He discloses to us of Christ from His Word.

Our remembrance is of One who said, "I come again". When that day dawns remembrance will be over; We shall be with Him. In the meantime let us be diligent to keep His commandment and so to "proclaim the Lord's death till He come" (1 Cor. 11:26).

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh (Heb. 10:25).

R.I. Shaw, Wembley, England | May 1990
The Disciple Life