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• Most people are familiar with the words, "Do this in remembrance of me."
• It's important for us to figure out what Jesus wants us to remember.

• Much of the church is preoccupied with the process of Jesus' death.
  -Illustration: Many churches require people to become members, or to belong to a certain denomination, before they can partake in communion.
• In these verses, Paul is confronting the Corinthian church for turning Communion into a separatist, disorderly party.
• Paul had originally taught Communion as a time of rejoicing, not sober self-examination.

• We are not supposed to examine ourselves to see if we are worthy of partaking.
• It's ludicrous to say that those who are weak cannot come to the Communion table.
  -Illustration: A church in Latin America will not allow divorced people to participate in Communion.
• The purpose of Communion is to make us strong.
• Nobody is worthy of coming to the table.

• Christ died to make us worthy of a relationship with the Father.
  -John 6:53
• We must approach Communion by reflecting on the worth of Christ's sacrifice, not our own worthiness to participate.
• Paul says that people were becoming sick and dying because they were ignoring the value of what Jesus did for them.
  -Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24
• The rituals of the sacraments are powerless without faith.

• Jesus is not asking us to remember the pain he endured on the cross, or the fact that it was our fault.
• Jesus wants us to remember that his death provides forgiveness and strength for each day.
• As we do remember, let us rejoice.