Fueling Up: Communion

Acts 20:7-12
On the first day of the week, we gathered to observe the Lord's Supper. Paul was preaching; and since he was leaving the next day, he talked until midnight. The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he sank into a deep sleep and fell three stories to his death below. Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. "Don't worry," he said, "he's alive!" Then they all went back upstairs and ate the Lord's Supper together. And Paul continued talking to them until dawn; then he left. Meanwhile, the young man was taken home unhurt, and everyone was greatly relieved.

One of the biggest challenges we face spiritually is forgetting what we should remember and remembering what we should forget.

The following three passages highlight the building of altars to remember the work of God:

Joshua 4:19-24
The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month--the month that marked their exodus from Egypt. They camped at Gilgal, east of Jericho. It was there at Gilgal that Joshua piled up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River. Then Joshua said to the Israelites, "In the future, your children will ask, `What do these stones mean?' Then you can tell them, `This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the LORD your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over. He did this so that all the nations of the earth might know the power of the LORD, and that you might fear the LORD your God forever."

1 Samuel 7:3-12
Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, "If you are really serious about wanting to return to the LORD, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Determine to obey only the LORD; then he will rescue you from the Philistines." So the Israelites destroyed their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the LORD. Then Samuel told them, "Come to Mizpah, all of you. I will pray to the LORD for you." So they gathered there and, in a great ceremony, drew water from a well and poured it out before the LORD. They also went without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the LORD. So it was at Mizpah that Samuel became Israel's judge. When the Philistine rulers heard that all Israel had gathered at Mizpah, they mobilized their army and advanced. The Israelites were badly frightened when they learned that the Philistines were approaching. "Plead with the LORD our God to save us from the Philistines!" they begged Samuel. So Samuel took a young lamb and offered it to the LORD as a whole burnt offering. He pleaded with the LORD to help Israel, and the LORD answered. Just as Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived for battle. But the LORD spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them. The men of Israel chased them from Mizpah to Beth-car, slaughtering them all along the way. Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer--"the stone of help"--for he said, "Up to this point the LORD has helped us!"

Genesis 35:1-12
God said to Jacob, "Now move on to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to worship me--the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother, Esau." So Jacob told everyone in his household, "Destroy your idols, wash yourselves, and put on clean clothing. We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has stayed with me wherever I have gone." So they gave Jacob all their idols and their earrings, and he buried them beneath the tree near Shechem. When they set out again, terror from God came over the people in all the towns of that area, and no one attacked them. Finally, they arrived at Luz (now called Bethel) in Canaan. Jacob built an altar there and named it El-bethel, because God had appeared to him there at Bethel when he was fleeing from Esau. Soon after this, Rebekah's old nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried beneath the oak tree in the valley below Bethel. Ever since, the tree has been called the "Oak of Weeping." God appeared to Jacob once again when he arrived at Bethel after traveling from Paddan-aram. God blessed him and said, "Your name is no longer Jacob; you will now be called Israel." Then God said, "I am God Almighty. Multiply and fill the earth! Become a great nation, even many nations. Kings will be among your descendants! And I will pass on to you the land I gave to Abraham and Isaac. Yes, I will give it to you and your descendants."

In the following passage, Paul highlights what our memory should be of Jesus during communion:

1 Corinthians 11:23
"For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 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.' In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

Joseph had his memories re-positioned by God:

Genesis 50:20
As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil. He brought me to the high position I have today so I could save the lives of many people.

Part of staying on track in your spiritual life is revisiting those places of spiritual significance from the past, mainly through memories. We do that to refill our faith tanks.

Most of our oldest memories are the product of repeated rehearsal and reconstruction. Ulric Neisser

"You'll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind. " Irish Proverb

Ephesians 2:8
"God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so that none of us can boast about it."

A feeling of entitlement is the beginning of the end of our spirituality.

James 1:17
"Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above."

"Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace. Every day should be a day of relating to God on the basis of His grace alone." Jerry Bridges

Let God recast your past memories into meaningful steps of growth.