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Scripture Reading: Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 14:23, 26; Acts 2:46; 5:42; 12:12
One of the principles of how to have proper meetings for the church life is that we must help people learn to enjoy Christ. Without the enjoyment of Christ, it is difficult to have meetings that are profitable for the church life. What we have, what we are, and what we can do, apart from the enjoyment of Christ, are altogether useless. We should not use anything we have, anything we are, or anything we can do to benefit the church meetings. We must abandon all of this because it is altogether unprofitable for the church meeting.
The only thing worthwhile for the church meeting is Christ Himself, the Christ who has passed through all the processes to become the completed Christ. We must learn to enjoy Him, minister Him, and help others to enjoy Him. Then whenever we come together, we come with something of the Christ we have experienced in our daily life. Only Christ in our experience becoming our enjoyment avails for the Christian meetings.
In God’s eternal economy the completed Christ is the center, the factor, for us to have Christian meetings for the church life. In this chapter we must go on to see some of the details of Christian meetings. First, we have to help the new ones in the home meetings realize that Christian meetings are a gathering into the name of the Lord for the enjoyment of His presence (Matt. 18:20). We are not gathered into an organization, a teaching, or a practice. We are gathered into the name of the Lord Jesus. The name of the Lord always denotes His person. A name denotes a real and practical person, and the person of the Lord Jesus is the Spirit. Jesus Christ today is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.”
We must teach and lead all the new ones into the realization that they need to call on the name of the Lord whenever they come to a meeting. The more times they call on the name of the Lord Jesus the better. Neither we nor the new ones should come to the meeting silently, dumbly, without opening our mouths to call on the name of the Lord. Calling “Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus” will bring life into the meeting and make the meeting atmosphere living, high, and rich. To some extent, we have to train the new believers to call on the Lord’s name, saying, “Lord Jesus!” First Corinthians 12:3 says, “No one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” This indicates that when we say with a proper spirit “Lord Jesus,” we are in the Holy Spirit. Hence, to call on the Lord Jesus is the way to participate in, to enjoy, and to experience the Holy Spirit.
We must link Matthew 18:20 and 1 Corinthians 12:3 together. First, to meet together is to be gathered into the person of the Lord Jesus, and to be gathered into His person means to be gathered into the Spirit. Second, whenever we come together, regardless of how large or small the gathering is, we must practice to call on the name of the Lord that we may get into the Spirit. When we get into the Spirit, we are in the person of the Lord Jesus. When we are in the person of the Lord Jesus, we are in the reality of the name of the Lord Jesus. If we practice setting up home meetings with this realization, we must first take the lead to call on the name of the Lord for the new believers to follow. If they would not follow, then we must take the lead to call and ask them to follow our example. We should call on the name of the Lord and encourage them to follow our calling on the name. Gradually, they will get into the practice. We must tell them that it is not a small thing to have this practice, because when they call on the name of the Lord, they get into the Spirit, who is the very person of the Lord Jesus.
Matthew 18:20 in the King James Version of the New Testament, along with other versions, says that two or three are gathered “in My name.” Actually, the preposition in is into in Greek. We are gathered into the name of the Lord. Before the meeting we may be occupied with many things. The sisters may be occupied with their children, home affairs, and many anxieties. Thus, when the meeting comes, the Lord Jesus gathers us out of these preoccupations. We then turn our heart to the Lord and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus from deep within our spirit. As a result, we get into the name, the person, the Spirit, of the Lord. In such a Spirit, under such a condition, we have a meeting. We must practice calling on the Lord’s name until we are rescued and pulled out of all of our preoccupations.
We should not wait until we enter into the meeting place to call on the Lord Jesus. Before entering the meeting place, whenever we have the thought to go to the meeting, we should begin to call “O Lord Jesus.” While we are driving to the place of meeting, we should start calling “O Lord Jesus,” the earlier the better. When we call on the name, we touch the Lord’s person, and His person is the Spirit. Therefore, as we are calling, we are in the Spirit already, even though we have not yet entered the meeting place.
We come together into the reality of the Lord’s presence, which is the Spirit. The Spirit is the Lord’s person and the Lord’s presence. Following the mention of two or three being gathered into the Lord’s name in Matthew 18:20, the Lord said, “There am I in their midst.” Thus, we enjoy the presence of the Lord.
We should not go to the meetings silently according to our old custom, habit, or practice. We must forget our old practice. In setting up and holding the meetings with the new believers, we must practice calling on the name of the Lord. First, in our homes we should start to call on the Lord’s name before we go to the meetings. Then on our way to the meeting we should continue calling on His name. Arriving at the meeting place, we will be fully in the Spirit; then we can take the initiative to call, and the new believers will take us as their example. They will follow and imitate us. Hence, all the new believers will be the callers. When we come together by calling upon the name of the Lord, we are in a meeting that is a genuine Christian gathering.
First Corinthians is the unique book regarding Christian meetings (11:17; 14:23, 26, 34, 35), revealing that the Christian meetings are to build up the church (14:4-5, 12, 26). We should keep this thought in our understanding whenever we take the lead to help the home meetings. Our purpose is not just to save sinners or to edify the new believers. Our ultimate purpose, our final goal, is to build up the church. From the beginning we must have this understanding, and with this understanding we will impress people. Whatever we are will impress people. If you are a happy person, your happy face will impress people. If you are a sad person, your sad face and sad appearance will impress people. We must learn to impress people by what we are, what we think, and what we understand. What we understand is that we are here to build up the church. Our standing is to build up the church. Thus, in every kind of activity, whether preaching the gospel, edifying the saints, or going to the meetings, our goal is to build up the church.
Many times we do not need to mention the term church. We should simply do whatever we do with the realization of the building up of the church. Then whatever we do, whatever we say, and whatever we are will impress people, and all of the new ones will be brought into this same realization concerning the building up of the church.
We build up the church in the church meetings by the Spirit’s gifts, the Lord’s ministries, and God’s operations (1 Cor. 12:3-7). We enjoy the Spirit’s gifts by enjoying Christ, and following our enjoyment of Christ, we call upon His name. During our day, in our daily life, we need to enjoy Christ all the time. Then we need to practice calling on the name of the Lord according to what we have enjoyed of the Lord. By these two things we will have the gift.
The gift comes out of the growth in life, and the growth in life comes out of our enjoyment of Christ. If we do not enjoy Christ, there is no growth in Him. However, the more we enjoy Him as our life supply, the more we grow in life; and the more we grow in life, the more the gift is produced. The gift is an issue of the enjoyment of Christ. This is different from the so-called Pentecostal teaching, but it is completely according to the Bible’s revelation. The so-called Pentecostal gift that comes suddenly does not last long. There is the need of the gift as an issue of the growth in life. When there is the growth in life, that growth produces a certain gift.
A baby boy has very little gift because there is little growth in life. He needs some measure of growth in life, which develops his gift. As he grows day after day, month after month, and year after year, the growth in life brings the gift. He begins to speak, crawl, stand, and walk. These are all gifts brought in through the growth in life. Growth brings the gift. We must help the new believers to enjoy Christ, to grow in Christ, and by this growth and calling on the name of the Lord, the gifts will be produced. When the gifts are produced, the new believers simply need to function. When they function, they accomplish the Lord’s ministries by preaching the gospel to save sinners and by ministering life to edify the saints for the building up of the church life. The result is not just that sinners are saved or saints are edified but that the church is built up.
The Spirit’s gifts, the Lord’s ministries, and the operations of God should be manifested among all the attendants in the meetings, including the meetings of the new believers. Therefore, we do not go to a new believers’ meeting and only teach them to pray or teach them with Life Lessons or Truth Lessons. This alone is inadequate. We must be a person who enjoys Christ daily; then as we take the lead among the new believers, they will follow us to enjoy Christ. We must become callers, learning to call on the name of the Lord Jesus all the time. As callers, we set up an example for the new ones, and they too will follow us to call on the Lord’s name. As they call, they will get into the Spirit. Then whenever we come together with the new believers, the gifts will be manifested among them, and the functions will follow. Thus, the operation of God will be accomplished.
God’s ordained way for Christian meetings is to have two different sizes of meetings: small and large. The smaller size is to be held, or practiced, in the believers’ homes. Do not despise the small meetings. You may meet with only another couple or with parents and their little child. Apparently, such a small meeting seems insignificant. But you have to realize that human society is composed of small homes with small families. A community or society of millions of people comes from small families. No human society can be built up without the small families in their small homes. In human society big gatherings are not held that regularly. Instead, the husband, wife, and children come together in their own home every day. If every family is strong, the community and society will be strong.
In the past we followed Christianity’s way to esteem the big meetings. When we held big meetings, we felt good and happy, and we felt that we had something of which to boast. But when we had a small meeting of only three or four persons, we were disappointed. Within the last year in Taipei, however, nearly three thousand new home meetings have been established. Each home meeting is composed of about three or four. If you look at a single home meeting, it seems that it is too small and insignificant. But when you put them all together, they mean a great deal.
The believers first met in the homes beginning on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:46). Three thousand met from house to house. The Greek indicates that they met according to houses, which means that every house had a meeting. There was a meeting in every new believer’s house. This could only happen by the Spirit. Furthermore, there were many calling on the name of the Lord (v. 21).
In the home meetings, according to Acts 2:46 and 5:42, there was preaching the gospel, teaching the truth, breaking bread to remember the Lord, and prayers. The saints around the time of Pentecost broke bread every day; that is, they had the remembrance of the Lord by practicing the Lord’s table. The saints also prayed in their homes. Acts 12:12 tells us that when Peter was released from prison, he went to the house of Mary where a group of saints were praying.
Meeting in the believers’ homes is for all the members of Christ to function. In any big meeting it is hard for the saints to function. But in a small meeting with four or five, or two or three, even a small boy or girl could function. He or she could say, “The Lord Jesus loves me, and it is so good that I love Him.” This is a small function, but do not despise it. The new believers will function in a small way at first, but from that point, they will continue to progress in life and in function. By the functioning of all the members, the small home meetings will grow and be built up. When a new couple brings forth a little infant, they have the faith that their family will be built up. The same applies to the home meetings. We should exercise our faith and practice the home meetings with much expectation.
In Matthew 18:20, in speaking about Christian gatherings, the Lord Jesus used the number of two or three: “Where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.” Two or three is a precious number in the Bible and should be the starting number of the church life. When the church increases through the home meetings, the big meetings will be meaningful. But when the church does not have anything and expects to have a big meeting, that big meeting may be empty. To start the church life from a small meeting of two or three is best.
All of us like to start a meeting with a lot of people, yet the more people you have as a start in a meeting, the more trouble you will suffer. In 1949, when we began the ministry on the island of Taiwan, we called a conference. On the first Lord’s Day morning, close to four hundred came. Most of them were newcomers who had just come from mainland China. They were Christians who did not have a place to worship, so when they heard about the gathering at the meeting hall, they came. When I looked at the number, I realized that it was too many, so I immediately gave a message, saying, “The church here does not help people in marriage, nor does it help people get jobs, nor does it help people financially. The church here only preaches Christ and ministers Christ to people as their life supply. If you are seeking after Christ, you are the right person to come here. Otherwise, you have the wrong place.”
I then gave an illustration about the different kinds of restaurants among the Chinese people. There are the Shanghainese who like to eat Shanghai food and the Cantonese who like to eat Canton food. Different Christian assemblies stress different things like different restaurants. If you are Shanghainese and go to a Cantonese restaurant, you will feel that you are in the wrong place because you cannot get the Shanghai food. Then I told them again, “The church here does not help people in marriage, finance, or employment. We only help people to know the Lord Jesus, receive Him, and enjoy Him. If you are such a person, you have come to the right place. Please continue to come.” After I gave that message, half of the number returned for the next meeting. I said to myself, “These are the genuine ones seeking after Christ Himself.” When the saints recorded the names, there were nearly two hundred. This number formed the start of the church life in Taiwan. To begin the church life with a lesser number is better. Do not despise the small meetings. In these small meetings we should preach the gospel, teach the truth, break bread to remember the Lord, pray, and give the opportunity for each attendant to function.
The church should also have large meetings in a larger place for the whole church to come together (1 Cor. 14:23). There are two kinds of meetings: small meetings in the homes of the believers and large meetings in a larger meeting place. These large meetings should not be held often. To have these larger meetings should not be a constant practice. If you practice the large meetings constantly, you will deaden the situation. You must learn to have the two kinds of meetings.
We must be balanced. God’s design of our body is symmetrical. We have two ears, two eyes, two nostrils, two lips, two shoulders, two arms, two hands, two thighs, two legs, and two feet. On the one hand, we need to begin the meeting in small homes; on the other hand, when the need arises, we should hold large meetings in a larger meeting place. In the larger meeting place we should not have any definite speaker with all the congregation listening to this speaker. We must kill this practice. In such a meeting all the attendants should participate in the building up of the church through their functions (v. 26). When we come together, one may have a revelation, another may have a hymn, another one may have a teaching, and others may have another portion. Everyone can and should have something of Christ for the meeting. We all need to have something so that we can function in the meetings for the building up of the church.
In both the small and large meetings there should be no chairman, no leaders, and no formalities. This will annul Christianity. If the chairman, leaders, and formalities are taken away from Christianity, there is nothing left. In every meeting all the attendants should participate. They can pray, offer some praise to God, call a hymn, take the lead to sing a hymn, read the Scriptures, or give a testimony. This makes the meeting different from Christianity. By practicing to give time and opportunity to all the attendants to function, all the saints may render their help, and the entire church will get the benefit (vv. 26, 31).
