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Now we come to the matter of how to come to the meetings — not how to carry on the meetings or how to behave ourselves in the meetings, but how to come to the meetings before we arrive. Our coming to the meeting should be a kind of preparation; it is our opportunity to be properly prepared for the meeting. Many of us frequently come to the meetings without preparation — we come in a wrong way.
We will look shortly into some verses in the Psalms which show how the Old Testament saints came to their meetings. But before we do, I must confess the sense of shame I have had in comparing our situation with theirs. They were the Old Testament saints; they were under the law. We are the New Testament saints; we are under grace. But when we look at these verses in the Psalms and consider their experiences in coming to the congregation of the Lord’s people, we see how backward we are. Is not this a shame? The Old Testament saints were in the shadow; we are in the reality. Certainly our experience should surpass theirs in the matter of coming to the meetings, but in fact we have fallen far behind. The Lord, however, is recovering us and will recover us even in this matter.
In the Psalms we see that when the saints of ancient times came to the congregation of the Lord’s people, they came with at least seven things.
First, they came with a love for the Lord’s dwelling place. In Psalm 84:1-2 the psalmist exclaims, “How lovely are Your tabernacles, / O Jehovah of hosts! / My soul longs, indeed even faints, / For the courts of Jehovah; / My heart and my flesh cry out / To the living God.” A love for the Lord’s dwelling place, practically speaking, is a love for the meetings. The psalmist said that he was even homesick for the Lord’s dwelling place. We need this kind of love for the meetings. We should be able to say, “Without the meetings I am homesick.” I could testify that it is rather difficult to keep me away from the meetings for one week. You could withhold my food for a week, and I would not feel so empty. But if you kept me from the meetings for one week, you would kill me. We need a love for the meetings. If we do not come to the meetings, we should feel homesick.
Let me check with you: where is your home on earth today? If you really love the meetings, you will say that the church meetings are your practical home, your practical family life. Consider the people of the world today. Do they have a home? Yes, in a sense almost everybody does. But why are so many not content to stay at home? Because they have a deep sense, though they may not realize it, that that is not their home. They are searching desperately for something more, but they have not found it; so they run to nightclubs, parties, movies, and many other things. But where is our home? Yes, the church meetings. When we are in the meetings of the church, we simply feel at home. Without the meetings we are homesick. Is that your experience? So many of us can testify to this.
Are the meetings you are attending really of the Lord? How can you determine whether or not they are? You can do so by the inner sense. If you come to a meeting without a sense deep within you that you are enjoying the meeting as your home, something is wrong either with you or with the meeting. You must be clear. If the problem is not with you, perhaps that is not the place where you should meet. Do not attempt to analyze these matters with your mind. Something deep within you, your spirit, has a taste, has a sense. Your spirit knows. When you enter the right meeting, the spirit within you, indwelt by and mingled with the Holy Spirit, gives you the sense that you are home. You simply feel that this is the place. If you are asked to explain, you cannot. But you know from deep within that you are home.
We all must learn the lesson of loving the meetings. Unless circumstances definitely hinder, we must certainly come to the meetings. If we really love the meetings, we can frequently find a way around the circumstances or through the circumstances to be there. Sometimes we like to get away to the sea or the mountains. But we all can testify that the Lord does not grant us a great amount of comfort simply by contacting Him in nature. We are exceedingly more comforted by being in the meetings.
With everything, both tangible and intangible, there are two sides, and the Christian life is no exception. There are both the individual and corporate, private and public, aspects of our life in Christ. Some saints say that since the Lord is everywhere, it is not necessary to attend the meetings. Why should we drive all the way to the meetings, they say, when the Lord is with us at home. At home we can fellowship with the Lord and at the same time care for many other things; we can kill two birds with one stone. If we go to the meetings, we are limited. But, I tell you, nothing can take the place of the meetings. Nothing else can give us the blessing, the comfort, the life, the light, the edification, and the building up, etc., that we receive from the meetings. You may complain that the noise of the meeting bothers you, that you cannot bear a meeting so full of the sound of praise. All right, stay at home, keep yourself silent for two weeks, and see what will result. I guarantee that you will be cold and dead. I do realize that so many in the local churches, especially the young people, like to make a joyful noise to the Lord. You, however, prefer to be silent. I will not argue but simply ask you to put my proposition to the test. The problem is that you are under the influence of your background, you still have your human concept, and you are too religious.
Let me interject here a further word on the matter of noise in the meetings. I have already pointed out how the Bible clearly tells us to make a joyful noise and even to shout for joy to the Lord. We are to come to the courts of God with a voice of joy. You may say that it is sufficient to have joy within and not necessary to express it also without. But this is tantamount to saying, “As long as I have air, there is no need for me to breathe.” In my early Christian life I used to say that I did not like this or that. But we must be careful: we may not like something, but the Lord likes it; we may not like the noise, but the Lord likes it. In several places friends have come to me saying that they cannot go along with the noise in the meetings. I have replied, “If the Lord can go along, can you not also go along?” Some have told how they have brought friends to the meetings who were offended by the noise. To this I have answered that while their friends could not bear it, so many other friends can. Ninety percent of the newcomers to the meetings accept the noise of joy and praise; only about ten percent turn away. Should we go along with the ninety percent or the ten percent? The brothers of the church in Los Angeles can testify that when their meetings were silent they had very little increase. When their meetings began to be filled with shouting and praising, however, the attendance in the meetings doubled; so many seeking ones were solidly added to the church life. Then who is right and who is wrong?
On the other hand, we can point to some groups who are quite silent: thirty years ago they counted fifty in their number, but today they have fifteen — they have been reduced by being silent. Which way would you take? We must be like the businessmen: they do not care how they make money as long as they make money. Likewise, we should not care whether we are silent or noisy as long as the Body is increased. Our business is the increase of the Body of Christ. We certainly cannot say that noise is a matter of sin. As long as the church is not sinful, the best lesson to learn is to go along with the church. You may say that the church is wrong. The church could be wrong, and many times the church is wrong, because the church is composed of so many fallible human beings. But we must realize that to be wrong is one thing while to be sinful is another. Wherever we go, we must learn to submit ourselves to the local church.
Let us return now to our subject. We need to come prepared to the meeting. First, we need to prepare ourselves with a loving heart. We need to love the meetings; without the meetings we should be homesick.
The second matter is this — “We were in sweet counsel together; / We walked with the throng to the house of God” (Psa. 55:14). Before we come to the meeting, it is good to have some fellowship. We can say to others who live nearby, “Brother, are you going to the meeting? Good, let us go together.” Perhaps you are surprised that there is such a verse in the Bible. Yes, it is there: “We were in sweet counsel together; / We walked with the throng to the house of God.” It is so good to hold sweet counsel with brothers and sisters on the way to the meeting, to fellowship or to praise together in anticipation of the coming feast. This is the second way to prepare ourselves and to come to the meeting. In so doing, our hearts are turned to the Lord, and our spirits are refreshed and released. The psalmist also says, “I rejoiced when they said to me, / Let us go to the house of Jehovah” (122:1). When he heard others saying, “Let us go to the meeting,” he rejoiced — this is the sweet counsel.
Third, we should not go to the house of God individually, but in company if possible; not just one by one, but group by group. The psalmist said, “I passed through with the throng; / I led them to the house of God” (42:4). And again, “Jerusalem has been built as a city / That has been compacted together; / To which the tribes go up, / The tribes of Jehovah — / A testimony for Israel — / To give thanks to the name of Jehovah” (122:3-4). We need to practice this. Even in coming to the meetings, we need some kind of coordination; we need to come together in company. Just consider how the ancient saints conducted themselves in coming together. I do not know why they were so much better than we are today. They went in company; they attended the congregation in multitude. How pitiful and poor when I go my way and you go yours. Why do we not go to the meetings together? I tell you, it really helps. This is a real testimony to the enemy and our neighbors in the world who are watching.
Fourth, we need to come to the meetings with a voice of joy. “I led them to the house of God / With the voice of a joyous shout and praise, / The festal multitude” (42:4). We need not wait till we enter the meeting hall before we shout our hallelujahs and sing our praises to the Lord. While we are walking, while we are driving, while we are still on the way, we should begin. This is the way we should come to the meetings — with a voice of joy. It is rather difficult, however, for you to do this by yourself. If you come individually to the meetings, you may easily be quenched and defeated. You need a company; you need a multitude. Perhaps four or five of you can come together, shouting, “Hallelujah! Amen! Jesus is Lord!”
Fifth, not only come with rejoicing, but also come with thanksgiving and praise. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, / His courts with praise; / Give thanks to Him; bless His name” (100:4). Before arriving at the meeting, while we are still on the way, how good it is to begin to offer our thanksgivings and praises to Christ. Thank and praise Him for the precious blood which cleanses you from all your sins and shortcomings. Thank and praise Him for all He has been to you today. Thank and praise Him for all that He will do in the coming meeting. By so doing, you will be well prepared. This should not be abnormal but our normal experience.
Sixth, we have to give glory to the Lord, we have to glorify Him on the way. “Ascribe to Jehovah the glory of His name...and come into His courts” (96:8). We have to let others know that we are on our way to the meeting. This is a real glory to the Lord’s name.
Seventh and last, we must come with some offerings, either burnt offerings or other offerings. Psalm 96:8 says, “Bring an offering, and come into His courts.” We all need to come to the meetings with something of Christ as the offerings that we may offer to God. None of us should come empty-handed.
By these seven ways we may prepare ourselves for the meetings. We need the love of the meetings, we need the sweet counsel or fellowship, we need to come in company with a multitude, we need to come with a voice of joy, we need to come with thanksgiving and praise, we need to come giving glory unto God, and finally we need to come with our spiritual hands full of offerings to be offered to God. I beg you to put all these things into practice.
If you get into the Word of God and compare what is there with what exists in today’s Christianity, you will be amazed. It is absolutely different. The proper Christian meetings do not require the forms, the gifts, and the teachings as much as a daily life and walk in the spirit, a life of taking Christ as everything by the exercise of our spirit. The proper Christian meetings require this kind of preparation, plus the seven items we have just mentioned. As far as the Word of God is concerned, this is simply the normal way for Christian meetings, but as far as Christianity is concerned, this is certainly novel and revolutionary. We must be those who keep the Word of God. Brothers and sisters, if we come to the meetings prepared in such a way, we will be in a sense “noisy” people. We will be those who continually make noise by singing, praising, and testifying. If we come to the meetings with such preparation, how could we keep ourselves silent? Our spirit will be strong, uplifted, released, and releasing others all the time. Are you dumb and silent, flat and “out of it,” when you come to the meeting? If so, it is because you have not had this kind of preparation. If everyone is like that, of course, the meeting will really be dull and dead. In that case, you need some actors. The speakers become actors, speaking something for your entertainment. What a poor meeting, and what a shame to the Lord!
Let us come to the meeting prepared to demonstrate our spirit so boldly that Satan will be put into the corner, the Lord will be exalted, God will be glorified, all the saints will be edified, and the newcomers will be attracted, caught, and built up in the Body. Let us look to the Lord, pray much, and even claim this matter for the recovery of the church. I do believe the day will come when there will not be much speaking in our meetings as far as messages are concerned — most of the time will be for the demonstration of the spirit. Everyone, at least to some extent, will demonstrate his spirit in praising, testifying, and sharing.
Let us take these seven points, pray-read all these verses, and see what the Lord will do. Remember well that all these verses speak of how the saints in the ancient time came together. Today we should have more than this; today we should outshine them. Will you seek by the Lord’s grace to come to the meetings in such a way? If so, the meetings will be greatly uplifted and improved.
