April 10, 2020
“This do in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:18
Jesus does not remind us one time in scripture to celebrate his birthday. Yet, we go all out at Christmas. He does not even tell us to celebrate the miracle of his resurrection. He did not throw a big party and neither did His disciples. He does tell us to remember his work on the cross. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26: “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he (Jesus) had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”
I give you at least two hundred and forty trillion reasons why Jesus told us to remember him. Stay with me, please.
According to the United Nations in March 2020, 7.8 billion people occupied earth. If each person lives to be 80 years old and committs only an average of one sin per day, that calculates to about 30,000 sins in a life time. Remember, I am only calculating one sin per day. If we multiply, 7,800,000,000/current population of earth x 30,000/sins in a life time that equal 240,000,000,000,000 sins.
Two hundred and forty trillion sins.
Let’s be for real… that is not a realistic number. It is pretty conservative.
Let’s calculate an average of five sins a day for eighty years. (Before Jesus becomes Lord in your life that number is probably much higher.) Eighty years equal twenty-nine thousand two hundred days. 29,200 days times 5 sins a day equals 146,000 sins in a lifetime. Round that number to 150,000. Multiply 150,000 by 7.8 billion which equals 1,170,000,000,000,000!
One quadrillion, one hundred and seventy trillion sins
If this does not blow your mind, this number does not include past or future generations but only the current population on earth. Sadly, I think the sins of the earth rival the numbers of stars in the universe. Just say if each person in the United States tried to pay of that debt, we would each owe about $3,577,981.65.
But if you think that’s insane, think of lining up a trillion $1 bills end-to-end. They could reach the sun, 96,906,565 miles worth of dollar bills. If we equate sin to a dollar bill, Jesus would have to travel to the sun 230 to save us. He did so much more than that.
Why does Jesus say remember me? Remember my death on the cross? Remember what my body and the blood shed for us? His sacrifice and death was priceless. IT WAS PRICELESS! It was a magnanimous. He paid debt we could not pay but he could. I apologize for talking so much about sin. However, I wanted to show how big the sin was to help illustrate how gargantuan what he did for us was. It cost him his life, his body, his blood.
Talk about pressure! Can you imagine the weight he felt the night and the morning before he walked to his death? Think about how one sin feels in our spirit.
Why does Jesus say remember? We take sin way to lightly. We need to remember what it cost him before we choose to sin one more time.
I enCOURAGE you to join me in remembering what our Savior did for us. Remember, they laughed in his face. They mocked him. They spit in his face. They beat him unmercifully. They treated him as a criminal and he did nothing wrong. They crucified him. They hurled offenses at him as he hung in shame, dying for us all. He lovingly said, “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.” Remember, his body was broken and his blood was shed for you and I. We sent him to the cross as much as they did. One man, Jesus willingly went and took our place.
One body. One death paid for it all for all of us.
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)
Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Father. Thank you for your sacrifice on our behalf. Thank you could never be enough. Help us to sin no more! Worthy is the Lamb!
Worthy is the Lamb by Hillsong (click link to get your praise on)
Complete in Him 