The Gracious Discipline of Remembrance
Remember (verb)
I. To bring to mind or think of again
II. To keep in mind for attention or consideration
III. To retain in the memory
Throughout His word, God calls His people to the discipline of remembrance. God called the Israelites to remember how He delivered them out of their slavery in Egypt (Deuteronomy 4:9-11). He later called them to remember how He guided and protected them on the way to the Promised Land (Joshua 4:5-7). He called psalmists and those they led in worship to remember His “ancient wonders,” “faithful love,” and “wonderful works for all humanity” (Psalm 77:11-20, Psalm 107:8,15,21,31). And He continues to call His church to remember His life, death, resurrection in the celebratory acts of worship and communion (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
"Without remembering, we lose clarity of truth and fill in gaps with lies and falsehoods."
In college, I was taught to “preach the gospel to myself daily,” or rather to flex my mental muscles and engage in the discipline of remembrance. Without remembering, I-- we-- lose clarity of truth and fill in gaps with lies and falsehoods. Jerry Bridges once penned, “We need to continue to hear the gospel everyday of our Christian lives… It is only the joy of hearing the gospel and being reminded that our sins are forgiven in Christ that will keep the demands of discipleship from becoming drudgery. It is only gratitude and love to God that comes from knowing that He no longer counts our sins against us (Romans 4:8) that provides the proper motive for responding to the claims of discipleship.” (The Discipline of Grace, 21).
Thus, let us heed God’s call to remembrance and properly respond to the claims of discipleship with joy and gratitude. Let us remember Jesus. Below is a poem written by pastor Milton Vincent outlining the story of the gospel. I hope this poem serves to effectively stir our remembrance of and devotion to Jesus.
A Gospel Primer (Poem)
(from A Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent, pgs 59-78)
Beholding the heavens, I now understand
God measured them all with the breadth of His hand.
He fashioned the trillions of stars in the sky,
The sun and the moon He established on high.
All heaven and earth, which He made in six days,
Show daily and nightly His merit of praise.
So wondrously caring is God ev’ry day,
Creating, sustaining my life ev’ry way.
Each breath I intake, ev’ry beat of my heart,
All pleasures well-tasted are His to impart.
Indeed, for such blessings He should be adored
And honored supremely as eminent Lord.
In fact, for this purpose He brought me to be,
That I might His glory and kindliness see
And cherish Him fully in all of my days,
Obeying with pleasure whatever He says,
Fulfilling the calling He’s laid upon me
To show forth His glory deliberately.
Yet I could not fail God much worse than I’ve done.
Ignoring His glory, for mine I have run.
I’ve spurned a life under His wisdom and care,
Begrudged Him the throne and pretended me there.
A prideful and lust-laden path I have trod,
Transgressing all Ten great Commandments of God.
My foolish rebellion gives God ev’ry right
To damn me with haste to the mis’rable plight
Of terrible judgments in His Lake of Fire,
Where wrath is most fierce and will never expire.
With wickedest sinners I truly should know
The worst of Hell’s furies for failing God so.
So this is my status and these are my flaws
Apart from Christ Jesus and His saving cause:
I carry sin’s guilt and am gripped by sin’s pow’r,
Held fast to its various lusts ev’ry hour,
Deserving of flames, both within and without,
And sliding t’ward Hell as I toss all about,
Too reprobate even to play a small part
In clearing my record or changing my heart
To pacify wrath and be worthy of grace,
To make myself lovely and win God’s embrace.
Completely condemned by God’s Law in its whole,
I’ve nothing to offer to ransom my soul.
But wonder of wonders, so great to behold,
My God chose to save me with method so bold.
What I could not render, God fully has done,
And doing, He rendered it all through His Son.
He sent Christ to die on the cross for my sin
To suffer my anguish, my pardon to win.
Amazing it is, when I stop to regard,
That God would consent to an anguish so hard,
Surrend’ring His Son unto mayhem and death,
To torturous writhing ‘til His final breath.
‘Why does God forsake Me?’ alone Jesus cried;
Yet God left Him hanging until He had died.
That Jesus was willing His life to lay down,
Be scourged and insulted and wear thorny crown
For one such as I who had spited God so,
Amazes and blesses and makes me to know
That greater a lover is no man than He,
Who laid down His life for a sinner like me.
Now after Christ died He was placed in a tomb,
Which first was a grave, but then served as a womb,
Travailing and quaking the day He was raised
And brought forth by God to be handled and praised.
The Firstborn from death on that day emerged He
With power to save to the utmost degree.
At God’s own right hand Christ now reigns from on high,
A Friend in high places to sinners who cry
To Him for forgiveness, their evils confessed.
He gives them a pardon and then makes them blessed.
As Prince He is Savior to all who believe,
Who come to Him humbly His grace to receive.
Now when my time came and to Jesus I cried,
He gave me the pardon for which I had sighed,
He cleansed me completely from wrongs I had done,
Released me from bondage to sins, ev’ry one.
He shattered sin’s chains which had held me before,
And thus made me free not to sin any more.
A child of the Father He made me to be
And gave me the Spirit as His guarantee
That, being God’s child, I will one day obtain
A heavenly treasure that never will wane.
While in me, the Spirit gives power and love
And sweet premonitions of glory above.
In saving, God also did justify me,
Accounting me righteous by His own decree,
Declaring me guiltless of all of my sin,
And bringing His wrath against me to an end.
This wrath Christ appeased in full brunt on the Tree,
When, bearing my sin, He endured it for me.
So now God relates to me only with grace –
The former wrath banished without any trace!
And each day I’m made a bit more as I should,
His grace using all things to render me good.
Yes, even in trials God’s grace abounds too
And does me the good He assigns it to do.
And when I am sinning, God’s grace does abound,
Insuring my justified status is sound.
No wrath is awakened in God at my sin,
Because Christ appeased it – to say so again.
God’s heart pulses only with passionate grace,
Which jealously wants me back in His embrace.
God does not require even that I confess,
Before He desires His forgiveness to press.
Forgiveness has been in His heart all along;
And when I approach Him to make right my wrong,
He runs up to greet me and draws to me near,
Embracing and kissing and ready to clear.
God does see my sins and He grieves at them so,
For when I am sinning, His love I don’t know.
He even will send me some heart-rending pain,
So I’ll learn new ways and His holiness gain.
His disciplines always are with love imbued,
A love that seeks ever my ultimate good.
So this is my story; ongoing it is.
How shall I thank God for this gospel of His?
A gift that keeps giving, the gospel confers
The bounty of heaven each time I rehearse.
Deserve it? I don’t on my holiest day;
But this is salvation, and herein I’ll stay.