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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:58; 1 Thes. 1:3
In this chapter we will fellowship concerning how to lead the meetings and the service. Meeting in the districts has a very important purpose; that is, it enables the saints to take part in the service. The activities in the church meetings can be considered as the service that a Christian renders to the Lord. This is an important matter. If a Christian is not active in the meetings, he must be a dead Christian. In other words, he is a Christian at a standstill in regard to service.
From our experience we know that if a person lives in the presence of God, his condition in the meetings will be living. Even though this is not the only indication of a person’s condition before the Lord, a living Christian will be active in the meetings. For this reason we need to pay attention to how active the brothers and sisters are in the meetings.
The record in Acts reveals the initial condition of the church, and from it we have gained much light concerning the activities of the saints. First Corinthians 14 also speaks of the activities that the saints carried out in the meetings in the early days. Later, the church began to lose the Lord’s presence as well as the power of the Holy Spirit and fell into the hands of men and the scheme of the enemy. As a result, the church became organized Christianity, and the saints ceased to be active in the meetings.
Because of the desolation of the church, the activities of the church fell into the hands of a small number who were given clerical authority. Hence, not only the Catholic mass but also Protestant worship services are conducted by clergy, such as priests, pastors, and ministers. These ones do everything, whereas the majority of the saints do not have any responsibility or function in the meetings. In other words, the saints attend services, listen to sermons, and watch others and thus become completely passive. This is a degraded situation.
We have been looking to the Lord to recover one thing in the church; that is, whenever the brothers and sisters come together, all would serve God. In this way a small number of saints will not replace the majority in worship and service. The only exception is the ministry meetings. In such meetings the ministers have a message to speak to God’s children for their edification; thus, either one brother or a few brothers need to bear this responsibility, and the rest of the saints need not carry out many activities during the meeting. However, in all the other church meetings, such as the Lord’s table, the prayer meeting, the gift-exercising meeting, and the Bible-reading meeting, every saint should be active. The reason that we have smaller meetings in the districts is to provide the brothers and sisters with an opportunity to be active under the leading of the Holy Spirit.
The larger a meeting is, the more afraid the saints are to release their spirit because their spirit is more likely to be suppressed. If the saints are divided into smaller meetings in the districts, they will be able to release their spirit easily. I hope that the responsible ones will understand that this is the purpose of meeting in the districts. How then should they facilitate this purpose? First, everything depends on what is in their heart. Some responsible ones are afraid and do not know how to be active in the meetings. Thus, they dare not pray or speak. Because of their fearful heart, they hope that others will do something for them. This is not right. On the other hand, some like to speak in the meetings. They formerly did not have the opportunity, but after becoming responsible ones, they seize every opportunity to be active in the meetings. This also is wrong. Both errors should be avoided.
We must have a proper heart. It is not a matter of fearing activities or of loving activities; rather, it is a matter of realizing that all the brothers and sisters in the meetings should be active. Our heart’s intention is often revealed through our spirit. If some of us are afraid to stand up and speak in the meetings, when we rise up to speak, we may want to give the impression that we are not afraid but rather love to speak. This is dishonest. Such a dishonest heart kills the spirit of service in the brothers and sisters. However, if we love to speak in the meetings, it will suppress the spirit of service in the meeting. Both tendencies damage the spirit of a meeting.
Second, before every meeting, the responsible ones should have a proper heart of service. They should pray, “Lord, we pray that You will revive the spirit of all the brothers and sisters who are coming to the meeting so that they will not only come to a meeting but will come to serve You. May they not only come to the meeting, but may they come to break bread and to pray.” The normal condition is for us to come to the meetings to pray, fellowship, read the Bible, use our gifts, and break bread. Hence, the responsible ones should pray before each meeting that the Lord would enable the brothers and sisters not only to come and meet but even more to come and pray, serve, break bread, fellowship, read the Bible, and use their gifts. The responsible ones should pray that the Lord would cause all the brothers and sisters to have a living spirit and be prepared in their spirit for the meeting. They should not come merely to listen to others pray and watch others be active.
Third, they should explain to the brothers and sisters that even though there are responsible ones in the home meetings, the responsible ones are not pastors or teachers taking care of the activities in the meeting. The meetings are for everyone to serve and bear responsibility together. The responsible ones should not do everything for the saints; rather, every brother and sister should be active. If there are some who do not understand this point, we should explain it to them. If there are some who are worried, we need to help remove their fear. For instance, if there is a prayer meeting, we should use a little time at the beginning to tell the brothers and sisters that they should not be concerned about whether or not the content of their prayer is organized, the words they use are spiritual, or their tone is gentle. We should also tell them that they should not expect the meetings to always be orderly and that they should not wait to open their mouth until their speech is polished enough to impress others. When we help the saints in the meetings, we should not correct or criticize too much; rather, we should lead, instruct, and explain. We should do this once or twice. After a period of time has passed, we can again remind and encourage the brothers and sisters to exercise their spirit in the meetings.
Fourth, the amount of responsible ones’ activity in the meetings should be appropriate. If they do nothing in order to provide the brothers and sisters with an opportunity to be active, they are wrong, and they will kill the spirit of the meeting. However, if they become overactive because they are concerned that the lack of functioning may kill the spirit of the meeting, they will bring in an atmosphere in which they do everything and others have no need to do anything. For this reason the responsible ones need to be very wise. They should function but not in the place of others, and whenever they function, they should incite others to also function. Their functioning should kindle a fire so that others are caught on fire.
Two situations are often seen in a meeting. The first situation involves the responsible ones always giving others an opportunity; this attitude is wrong. Another situation involves the responsible ones assuming that they have to be active because the saints are not active. This also is wrong. The responsible ones should be wise in a meeting, knowing when and how to act appropriately, even kindling the fire in others. When some people pray, they open up the prayer for others to follow, whereas when other people pray, they close the door to others. The responsible ones need to learn and exercise in these matters.
Fifth, the responsible ones should fellowship and help the saints individually. For instance, they should not force a certain brother to open his mouth to pray or to choose a hymn in the Lord’s table meeting; instead, they should observe this brother and see how his spirit is before God. If his spirit is kindled with a burden to choose hymns, even though he does not know how to do it, they can fellowship with him and teach him, encouraging him to be prepared for the next Lord’s Day. This can be compared to a little child who is learning to walk and needs assistance from others. All the above points require the responsible ones to practice and exercise.
How should we meet? The meeting we have for exercising gifts often does not reach the level described in 1 Corinthians 14. A gift-exercising meeting is not a meeting for bread breaking or for giving messages. It is a meeting where all the saved ones come together to exercise their spiritual gifts. If a person has a prayer, a testimony, or a psalm, he can use his gift in the meeting. More than twenty years ago we hoped that our fellowship meeting would reach the level of everyone using their gifts as described in 1 Corinthians 14. In practice, however, as the years went by, it became more and more difficult to attain this goal in the fellowship meeting; hence, we had a heavy burden inwardly and felt that we needed to change the meeting. We saw that in order to have a gift-exercising meeting, we must pay attention to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The meeting for using the gifts in 1 Corinthians 14 is inseparable from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Hence, we need to lead the saints to pursue both the infilling and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
When a meeting has fallen into a deadened and downward situation, it means that there are no gifts and no way to use the gifts. This is due to the brothers and sisters not experiencing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The use of gifts requires the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Surely this requires exercise. First Corinthians 14 is an exercise. Such an exercise should begin with the responsible ones. This means that when the saints come together, they need to exercise according to the grace and the gifts that they have received. This requires that all the responsible ones exercise in this matter.
The responsible brothers should take the lead to exercise and bring such an atmosphere of exercise to the meetings. In this way all the brothers will gradually have some gifts. When a brother stands up and reads a portion from the Bible, there will be much light and people will feel happy. Then when another brother stands up and gives a word of encouragement, the saints will be inwardly lifted up. In order to have such an atmosphere in the meetings, the responsible ones need to take the lead to exercise.
We must maintain the purpose of meeting in the districts. The meetings in the homes are entirely according to the nature of the church and not according to the nature of a ministry meeting. If our intention is to give a message, there is no need to divide up the meetings into districts. Meeting in the districts is not for a minister of the word to release a message to God’s children; these meetings are absolutely in mutuality and for the whole church. If we feel that we have a message to release to God’s children, it is right to release it in a ministry meeting. In the district meetings, however, there must be an opportunity for all the saints to serve. I hope that God will have mercy on us and cause us to see that we are not serving merely as individuals but that we need to enable the brothers and sisters to serve together. The district meeting is not for one person to speak while the rest listen. This meeting is for the brothers and sisters to serve together.
An entire district meeting should be used to help the brothers and sisters serve together according to the five points mentioned above. If a brother intends to give a message in the Bible-reading meeting on Saturday, it is wrong. He is changing the nature of the Bible-reading meeting to that of a ministry meeting. Instead, the intention of the Bible-reading meeting is that all the saints read the Lord’s word together. They need the Lord to have mercy on them, to give them light, and to pour out His Spirit upon them so that they can be bold and open their mouths to read the Word in a released way. If we have such an intention, we will pray accordingly, and we will help the saints to see that each one of them is responsible to open his mouth to speak God’s word.
Furthermore, we need to be wise in how we begin a meeting so that people’s spirit will be opened up, and we will be able to lead the meeting in a living way. For instance, we must take care of the fact that a certain brother is moved by the Spirit to speak something. If we help him a little, he will be able to speak next time. Practicing in this way for three or four weeks will create an atmosphere among the saints so that when they come together, each one will immediately open his mouth to speak. Thus, the purpose of our meeting in the districts will be fulfilled.
We should never think that the saints do not know how to function and that we should take their place and do everything for them. The saints have heard enough messages. Now they need practical exercise, practical help, in order to practice the things that they have heard. They do not need one man speaking and the rest listening. Instead, the responsible ones need to take the lead and help the brothers and sisters to use their gifts and exercise according to what they have heard. We should not expect this work to proceed quickly, nor should we expect it to take shape within a week. This is impossible. This kind of work is a cultivating work that requires a long time. A flower or a plant requires more than one or two days of watering. Some flowers require six months of cultivation before they blossom, and some trees require two to five years of cultivation before they bear fruit.
A meeting in a home is like a garden. We cannot expect leaves to sprout after we pray only a few times. Likewise, we need to cultivate the meetings, helping the brothers and sisters to use their gifts. Perhaps after six months our “little garden” will sprout leaves or bloom. Eventually, the meeting in the home will become a beautiful garden. In other words, when all the saints come together, they will use their gifts. Everyone will speak, one for three minutes, another for five minutes, and still another for seven minutes. All will speak in a fresh way.
Right now the need is for the responsible ones to take the lead to practice perfecting the saints, watering them, and helping them to grow. Gradually, the saints will receive this way of meeting with joy and want to participate even more. The saints will enjoy coming to the meetings and will also bring others. Our gospel has not been effective because we have not been able to hold and support the new ones. We were able to give birth to new ones, but we could not raise them up. This was not because we did not love the Lord or were not capable but because we lost the supporting and holding ability.
Our present endeavor is to make our meetings smaller in order to increase our ability to support and hold. We do not need to preach the gospel to more people. Instead, we should find those who can feed others. Preaching the gospel fervently is no longer sufficient. We need to aggressively find those who can hold and support others. If we want to beget children, we need to prepare a home for them.
I hope that the responsible ones will not remain in the theory but will put everything into practice. If we succeed in this exercise, all the ones who attend the meetings will be supported. Then it will not be difficult for fifteen hundred people to support an additional fifteen hundred. After six months we will have sixty homes and five thousand saints meeting. Then our baptisms will be fresh, and under such circumstances there will be strong support for many new ones. For this reason we must render practical help in all the districts. All the responsible brothers and sisters should help the saints practically rather than merely giving them messages.
