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Strictly speaking, six verses in the New Testament say something about how the believers should meet — Acts 2:46; 1, 5:42 Corinthians 14:23 and 26; Hebrews 10:25; and Matthew 18:20. In Acts 20:6-12 there is an account of a meeting in Troas in which the apostle Paul gave a message, but this passage of Scripture cannot give us a hint concerning how the church should meet locally since the local church meeting is different from a meeting for ministry.
Hebrews 10:25 says, “Not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.” This verse gives us a little window to show us how the saints met in the early days of the church life. They met to exhort one another, and they were to exhort one another even more as they saw the day drawing near. In the saints’ meetings they did not have a big speaker, but they assembled themselves together to mutually exhort one another. Hebrews 10:25 shows us the mutuality.
All of the six verses we have referred to show that in the early days the believers always met in the way of mutuality in speaking. If you compare such a view with the practice among all the Christians through the centuries, you can see that their practice is really off from what the Bible reveals. They deviated from the proper way to meet because they took the natural way and the easy, “shortcut” way.
Matthew 18:20, strictly speaking, is the only verse in the Gospels that tells us something about the believers’ meetings. In the King James Version this verse says, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.” Actually, in My name should read “into My name” since the Greek word here is eis, meaning “into.” In our translation we should have the boldness to take care of the spiritual significance of the holy Word. Also, the word for in this verse indicates that it is a continuation of the preceding verses.
The heading for Matthew 18 in the outline of the Recovery Version is “Relationships in the Kingdom.” In the kingdom there are the relationships between the kingdom people, the believers. The entire thirty-five verses of Matthew 18 deal with our relationships with one another in the kingdom. Matthew 18 unveils four major points concerning this topic: (1) to be humble (vv. 1-5); (2) not stumbling anyone (vv. 6-10); (3) recovering the backsliding saints (vv. 11-20); and (4) forgiving up to seventy times seven (vv. 21-35). In order for a proper relationship to be maintained between the believers, these four items are absolutely necessary. The believers should exercise to be humble. Only the proud ones would be a stumbling block to others. One who is humble would not stumble others, would take care of the sinning ones, the backsliding saints, and would always forgive others.
Verses 15 through 17 say, “Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go, reprove him between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to hear the church also, let him be to you just like the Gentile and the tax collector.” You must try to recover the sinning brother with frankness, with reproof. If he does not hear you, you should take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. If he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. This means that these two or three are not the church, but they are part of the church. They need to tell this matter to the church. If the sinning brother refuses to hear the church, the Word tells us to let him be to us just like a Gentile and a tax collector. This does not mean to exclude him, to excommunicate him. The Word says to “let him be.” Let him be what he is.
In the 1984 elders’ training I pointed out that I was strongly against the practice of excluding brothers. To drive a backsliding brother out of the church is absolutely wrong. If a brother does not listen to the church, “let him be.” This matter is up to him. If any believer refuses to hear the church, he will lose the fellowship of the church like the Gentile, the heathen, and the tax collector, the sinners who are outside the fellowship of the church.
Verse 18 says, “Truly I say to you, Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” This verse indicates that on the one hand you let the brother be what he is, but on the other hand you have to pray for him. Do not exercise the visible authority but the spiritual authority. Verses 19 and 20 continue, “Again, truly I say to you that if two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter for which they ask, it will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens. For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.” When verse 19 says, “If two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter,” this, no doubt, concerns the dealing with such a sinning brother who is not willing to repent. According to the context, the two or three are gathered into the Lord’s name for the purpose of praying for the sinning one. When these two or three are gathered in such a way, the Lord is there in their midst.
Then Peter proceeded to ask the Lord how often he should forgive his brother when his brother sins against him. Peter thought that perhaps seven times was the maximum amount. Jesus said to him, however, “I do not say to you, Up to seven times, but, Up to seventy times seven” (v. 22). After this, the Lord gave a long illustration showing how we have to forgive our brothers. It is in such a context that the matter of the believers’ meeting came out of the Lord’s mouth.
In Matthew 16 the Lord spoke about the church, and in Matthew 18 He spoke about the church again. The church referred to by the Lord in Matthew 16 refers to the universal aspect of the Body of Christ. The Lord told Peter that He would build His church upon this rock, which means that the universal church, the unique church, would be built upon the proper revelation of Christ that Peter had seen. What Peter had seen as a direct revelation from the Father was the rock, the foundation, upon which the Lord would build His church, His universal Body. To build up the universal church there is the need of the local churches. Matthew 18 affords us a small window to see something concerning the building up of the local churches. In this context the Lord picks up something concerning the local church. If we have some problem, we can go and tell the church. This is surely the local church. To build up the local church, there is the need of the proper relationship toward the other believers. The proper relationship involves humility, no stumbling blocks, and a situation that is full of the recovery of the sinning ones and full of forgiveness to the uttermost. It is only by these four factors that a good relationship can be maintained between the believers for the building up of a local church. I doubt whether there is a church today on this earth that is full of these four items — humility, no stumbling blocks, full of recovery of the sinning ones, and full of forgiveness.
Even all the leading ones in the churches need to check with themselves as to whether they do not have any pride or still hold on to something that is a stumbling block to others. Do you love all the sinning ones and try your best to recover them? Have you forgiven all those who have offended you from your heart? Charles Spurgeon, who was a master at using illustrations to prove a point, once said that when many Christians forgive others, it is like a person burying a dead dog and leaving the tail of the dog standing up out of the earth, visible for all to see. You may be offended by a certain brother and forgive him. Then you would go to two other brothers and say, “That brother offended me to the uttermost, but I forgave him.” In this kind of forgiveness the dog tail can still be seen. Many of us hold “the dog tail” secretly. For an elder not to be offended is the greatest miracle. To be an elder means that you become a target of others’ criticism. Many of the brothers love the elders, but at the same time some have “a bow and arrow” pointed at the elders. Also, all the elders must admit that humanly speaking they all love to see everyone respect them. If we expect others to respect us, we are ready to be offended. Once an elder gets offended, it is hard for him to forget it. Not to forget the offense is to “hold the tail” of the offense.
From my youth I have been studying the truth concerning the kingdom. Quite often I ask myself, “Could I really be there in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens?” After reading Matthew 18 once more, I asked myself, “Have you forgiven all the ones who have offended you?” If you do not forgive your brother, according to the Lord you shall by no means be forgiven in the millennium “until you pay the last quadrans” (5:26). In other words, you will not be forgiven until you forgive your offending brother from your heart (18:35; cf. Luke 6:37). I doubt whether we really forgive every offender from our heart. Generally speaking, you forgive, but you may still be holding on to “the dog tail.”
All of us need to keep a good relationship with our fellow believers. In order to do this, you have to humble yourself. Do not think that you are somebody. Rather, you are nobody. We all need to humble ourselves by becoming as little children (Matt. 18:2, 4). Then we have to clear up all the blocks that stumble others. After this we have to take care of and recover the sinning brothers. Then we have to forgive them even up to seventy times seven. In order to maintain this kind of relationship in the kingdom, there is the need of a gathering according to Matthew 18:20, which gives us another small window to see how we believers should meet.
Basically speaking, we should not meet in big meetings but with a small number. The smallest number for gathering is two. The Lord refers to two or three meeting together into His name. Without two, you cannot have any gathering. To build up the local church you need to go to the bottom of the required number for meetings. Do not require twenty or two hundred for a meeting. Just require two. Let the saints meet with two or three, with a small number. By the Lord’s word in Matthew 18:20 we can realize that in the Lord’s intention He did not want to have big gatherings in the local church for practical help. Big gatherings can only be good for general teaching and could never be good to give some practical help. You cannot practically help any brother merely by attending a big meeting with him. It is nearly impossible to render any practical help in a big meeting. You must have a little gathering of two or three to render such help. Sometimes if the number of saints meeting is over ten, it would still be hard for you to render the practical help. We need the small number for our meetings so that we can take care of everyone’s need practically. I hope that we could all be impressed with this point in the Word of the Lord.
In Matthew 18:20 the Lord did not say where two or three meet together but where two or three are gathered together. The verb is not in the active voice but in the passive voice. The two or three are gathered. By whom are they gathered? Surely they are not gathered by the elders. They are gathered by the Lord. If we say the two or three meet together, this meeting is initiated by the ones who meet. For two or three to be gathered together, however, indicates that someone is doing the gathering. These two or three are gathered by the unseen Lord because they love the Lord and they are concerned for the Lord’s members.
Furthermore, they are gathered not in the name but into the name. In order for someone to come into something, he must come out of something. To get into something you have to leave something. To be gathered into the name of the Lord means to get yourself out of anything that is besides the Lord Himself. Especially, you need to get out of your self. Too many times when we come together, we come together remaining in our self. If we are gathered by the Lord into His name, we have to get out of ourselves. If you remain in the self, you could never be gathered into the name of the Lord. Into the name of the Lord means into the Lord Himself. The name denotes the person. Matthew 18:20 does not mean that we are gathered in the name of the Lord but that we are gathered out of self into Him. Therefore, He is in our midst. Suppose we are gathered, not out of ourselves but still remaining in ourselves. Do you believe that in that condition the Lord is with us? It is when we are gathered out of ourselves and out of all things other than the Lord and into Him that He is among us.
In a locality for the building up of a local church we should meet by small numbers, and we should meet by being gathered. We do not initiate the gathering, but He does. We should also meet in a way to be gathered out of our self, out of our home, out of the world, out of our family, out of our business, out of our care for money, and out of so many things. Too many times we meet and still remain in so many things other than Christ. We have to be gathered out of so many things into His name, His person. It seems as if the Lord was saying, “Do not remain in anything other than Me when you are gathered together.”
By putting Matthew 18:20; Acts 2:46; 1, 5:42 Corinthians 14:23 and 26; and Hebrews 10:25 together, we can see that the main point in these verses is mutuality in speaking. If you have seen this, you can realize how off today’s Christians are in the matter of meeting. The reason for the deviation in the way that today’s Christians meet is mainly due to hierarchy. Without the building up of hierarchy, there is no need of having big gatherings all the time. We ourselves must admit that we are still under the influence not only of tradition but also of hierarchy. For a local church to practice having big meetings all the time is the practice of hierarchy. You may say that among us there is no clergy and laity. Actually, however, as long as all the meetings in your locality are big meetings, laity is there, and a very secret, hidden clergy is being built up. The only thing that can kill and tear down the clergy-laity system and destroy the foundation of hierarchy is to have the small meetings.
In 1976 when I was sharing on Matthew 23, I spoke strongly against the matter of control. In February of 1984 in the elders’ training, I spoke against the matter of control even more strongly. For some, however, this speaking was disregarded. As long as there is control in a local church, there is the building up of hierarchy.
All the leading ones need to release the church to the saints. In the New Testament there is no such thing as the church of the apostles, the church of the elders, or the church of the evangelists. In the New Testament there are only three designations of the church: the church of God (1 Cor. 1:2), the church of Christ (Rom. 16:16), and the church of the saints (1 Cor. 14:33). The elders, apostles, evangelists, preachers, and Christian workers are not the owners of the church. The owners of the church are God the Father; Christ the Savior, the Redeemer; and the redeemed ones. The elders and the apostles are the slaves. May the Lord open our eyes to see this matter. If you have seen this, you would never agree with any kind of control.
I fully realize that as long as the small groups could be established, there would be no control. Who can control the three hundred ninety-nine small groups in Taipei? I made it clear to every group that they did not need to go to the elders to get permission, because every believer has the full right to set up a meeting in his home. On the day of Pentecost the three thousand all met in their homes, from house to house (Acts 2:46). Did these three thousand receive permission from Peter to meet in their homes? Did they say, “Apostle Peter, may I have a meeting in my home?” This would have been ugly. As long as you are a believer, you have the full right to open up a meeting in your home. You even have to be encouraged, charged, and burdened to do this.
Peter did not control the saints, but Peter presented the heavenly vision to them. Let the vision control, let the vision direct, and let the vision govern. The poor situation among us is because we may have exercised so much control, yet we never labored on the Word to release some vision, some revelation, to the saints that they may have the heavenly vision controlling them. My burden is to release the divine revelation to all the saints. All my teachings and all my messages impart a vision to all the churches, and this vision controls. This kind of control is not human control but a heavenly control by the heavenly vision. I encourage all the elders to do this. Turn from controlling the saints to laboring on the Word. Some of the elders are afraid of losing their eldership. They are trembling and fearful to keep their position and to keep the church in their locality under their hand.
The root of the problem today is that with the elders there is the desire to keep a little empire, and with the co-workers there is the temptation to do a work in the realm of the Lord’s blessed recovery. If the elders had no intention of keeping their empire, there would be no problem. The elders would not control, they would not be afraid of losing their position, and they would like to see everybody be better than they are. The recovery is really something unique. If you stay in the recovery, you enjoy the blessing. If you stay outside the recovery, there is nearly no blessing. Some of the co-workers, though, like to stay in the recovery and yet do a separate work. The root of the problem is to do “a work in the work.”
The entire globe is open to the Lord’s recovery, and we are short of hands. If we had two hundred full-time workers going to South America, this would still not be sufficient. In like manner, if we had two hundred full-time workers going to Africa or Europe, this still would not be sufficient. Who can close the door to the Lord’s recovery? The Lord told the church in Philadelphia that He had the key of David and that He had put before them an opened door which no one could shut (Rev. 3:7-8). No one can shut the door to the Lord’s recovery. Who opened the doors in the United States for the Lord’s recovery? I did not do it, and I was not qualified or able to do it. The Lord did it. Who opened the doors in Europe and South America? The Lord Himself. The entire world is open to the Lord’s recovery. I hate to see that we do not have that many proper persons going out to spread the recovery. I expect and hope that many of you will be raised up to be more useful than I was. Many of you can testify that I do not keep any of the Lord’s work “in my pocket.”
I beg you to forget about controlling others. Let us be the slaves serving the saints. Do not have any intention to do another work within the Lord’s recovery, which already has a unique work. If there was not such a work, how could the recovery be here? The recovery has been existing on this earth for sixty years among us, and it has been existing in a prevailing way. The Lord began His recovery among us with a small group of young Chinese natives. The Lord’s recovery has been spreading over the entire earth, and the ministry of my senior co-worker, Brother Nee, is so prevailing around the globe. I am proud of this. What can compare with that ministry? Who did this? The Lord Jesus did this. The enemy hates this ministry. We must realize that there is only one work for one recovery.
If you consider what I give as a message to be Witness Lee’s work, you should stay away and forget about this work and the recovery. If I had considered that whatever Watchman Nee said was his work, his word, I should have stayed away and gone back to north China to do my work. Why do I need to follow a man? Anyone who tries to do another work within the realm of the recovery will suffer a loss. He will waste his time. If you have a heart to carry out what the Lord has shown you as a vision, then do the same work as I did from my beginning. If you realize that this is the Lord’s recovery and that there is no other way for you to take, yet you want to do another work in the recovery, you will fail. You will damage others, damage yourself, and waste your time.
We must remember that the root of the problems in the recovery is first that the elders want to keep an empire and that the co-workers want to do another work utilizing the realm and the blessing of the recovery. Forget about your empire, and forget about your own work. Let us come back to take the laboring way, diligently laboring together with the Lord in His work.
