Tie A Yellow Ribbon

In 1979 Americans were taken hostage in Iran during the overthrow of the Shah. For over one year Americans stayed in contact with their TVs to learn the latest detail. The popular TV nighttime news program Nightline was born around the crisis.

In a sign of solidarity Americans began tying yellow ribbons to the trees in their front yards. Car antennas, office doors, street signs and lapels bore the yellow ribbons. Americans agreed the yellow ribbons would not come down until our captive American brothers were safely home.

On the night of His betrayal Jesus was in an upper room with His disciples. He gave to them what is called the Lord’s Supper. “...the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25).

The bread reminds Christians of Jesus’ pierced hands, feet and side. The cup, the fruit of the vine, reminds Christians of Jesus’ shed blood that provided the remission of sins. Together they remind of the death that God substituted for the death that we deserve because of our sins. They remind us of the love Jesus demonstrated toward us by living to die for all men.

Another purpose of the Lord’s Supper is given in 1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.” The Lord’s Supper is designed to cause us to look backward to Jesus’ death and to look forward to His return. We proclaim the gospel, Jesus’ death, resurrection, and pending return, by partaking of the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is not a ritual nor an ordinance. It is an expression of the Christian’s love, his devotion to God and His Son, and a commitment to a life that looks forward to a heavenly home.

In Acts 20:7 we learn that it was the practice of the early disciples to partake of the Lord’s Supper, called breaking bread, on the first day of the week, the day we call Sunday. “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” Their practice seems to have been to do this each first day of the week. The writing of men just after the close of the New Testament confirms that the early churches did take the Lord’s Supper regularly on the first day of the week.

The Lord’s Supper is the yellow ribbon tied around the Christian’s heart. We participate in the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week and will do so until He comes. There is no way to prove it, but imagine an unbroken chain of Christians passing down the weekly keeping of the Lord’s Supper. From generation to generation, down to our day, and beyond, the observance continues until He returns.

Like Americans committed to the return of the hostages, Christians commit themselves to the return of the Lord and keep His feast until it is no longer necessary to do so.

At North Hixson, we also partake of the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week as those early disciples did. We do so, as they did, committed to His return and committed to proclaiming the gospel through this great feast.