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Heb. 10:25; Col. 1:2; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:20, 23-25; 14:23, 26; Matt. 18:19-20; Acts 2:46; Col. 3:16; 1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Cor. 3:17; Eph. 5:18-19
I. The church meetings are ordained by God for the believers
II. The believers are a meeting people
III. The purpose of the church meetings — to exhibit Christ in all the saints
IV. The goal of the church meetings
V. The types of church meetings
А. Meeting to break bread
B. Meeting to pray
C. Meeting to exercise the spiritual gifts
D. Meeting to read the Word
E. Meeting to listen to messages
VI. The size of the church meetings
А. In the believers’ homes
B. In a larger meeting place
VII. Examples of the meetings in the New Testament
А. The first meeting of the church before Pentecost
B. The first meetings of the church after Pentecost
VIII. How to meet
А. Being gathered into the Lord’s name
B. Meeting with the basic factors and elements — the Word, the Spirit, praying, and singing
[Since the church is the assembly called out by God from the world, it should meet continually. Meetings enable God’s called out congregation to be supplied, established, and perfected, that the goal of God’s calling this assembly may be accomplished.] Meetings are actually the practical expression of a local church. A local church without meetings is not a church. Meetings supply the saints with the Spirit, teach the saints with the Word, and keep the saints in the fellowship of the Triune God. Meetings express the fullness of the Triune God. Meetings defeat the enemy. Meetings save sinners. Meetings build up the church. Meetings are crucial and necessary. Without the meetings, a church cannot go on and will not arrive at the goal of being built up.
Hebrew 10:25 says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.’’ [Here the assembling of ourselves together refers to our Christian meetings. God has ordained the way in which every living thing in the universe should exist. God’s ordination is the very law by which a particular living thing lives. If the living thing obeys that law, it will survive and be blessed. God is the same towards us who have believed in Christ. God’s ordination for us, which becomes our law of existence and blessing, is the meetings. As water is to the fish, and air to the birds, so are the meetings to the Christians. As the fish must live in the water and the birds must exist in the air, so the Christians must maintain their spiritual existence and living by the meetings.]
[Every kind of life has its own characteristic, and usually, many characteristics. The spiritual life we believers have received, being the life of God in us, also possesses many characteristics. For example, the hatred for sin and the separation from sin are characteristics of this life. The desire to draw near to God and the willingness to serve Him are also its characteristics. One of the many characteristics of our spiritual life is to flock together, to meet together. John 10:3 and 16 show us that since we are saved, we are the Lord’s sheep. The characteristic of the sheep’s life is to flock together and to dislike isolation from the other sheep. Hence, the Bible says that we are not only the Lord’s sheep, but even more, His flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2). In order to be a sheep which shares in the blessing of the flock, we must meet together with the flock. The characteristic of the spiritual “sheep life’’ within us requires this of us.]
The purpose of the church meetings is multifaceted. First, the meetings are to remember the Lord and to worship the Father. When the Lord established His supper (Luke 22:7-23), He said that we should do this in remembrance of Him. After the supper they sang a hymn (Matt. 26:30). According to Hebrew 2:12, the Lord may have sung a hymn of praise to the Father with His disciples. Second, the church meetings are for prayer. The Lord said that the church has the authority to bind and to loose what has been bound and loosed in heaven (Matt. 16:19; 18:18-19). This indicates that the church should get together to pray. The church began with prayer (Acts 1:14) and continued in prayer (Acts 2:42). Third, the church meetings are for preaching the gospel to save sinners. The disciples preached the gospel in the temple and from house to house (Acts 5:42). Fourth, the church meetings afford the believers an opportunity to care for one another in love (1 Thes. 4:9) and to grow in life (John 21:15-17). Fifth, the meetings are for teaching the truth to perfect one another (Acts 20:20). Finally, the meetings are for building up the church (1 Cor. 14:26). After seeing the purpose of the church meetings, we should meet as much as possible. Even meeting everyday is not too much.
[We have all received the all-inclusive Christ as the good land (Col. 1:12). It is a land flowing with milk and honey. In our daily life we should experience this rich Christ all the time. When we come together we should present this Christ whom we have experienced and offer Him to God to be His food. Then we can all enjoy this Christ together as our enjoyment. If you were to enter into Jerusalem during one of the feasts of the children of Israel, you would have seen the temple surrounded by all kinds of produce of the good land. This is truly an exhibition. It is an exhibition before God of all the produce that the children of Israel harvested.
The way of meeting as revealed in the Bible is not like today’s Christian worship services. The way of worship services in Christianity is completely natural and religious. It is a product of habits and traditions. As it takes doctors to handle sickness, and lawyers to handle legal disputes, so some assume that it takes pastors to handle Christian worship. They consider preaching to be the job of the pastors; the rest have nothing to do but listen. The Lord’s way for us is not like this. He wants us to gather together to exhibit Christ.]
Acts 20:7 says, “And on the first day of the week, when we gathered together to break bread.’’ [To break bread is to eat the Lord’s supper, remembering the Lord who died for us (1 Cor. 11:20, 23-25). This should be the first kind of regular meeting for us who have been redeemed by the Lord’s death.]
In Matthew 18:19-20 the Lord says, “If two of you agree on earth concerning anything, whatever they may ask, it shall come to them from My Father who is in the heavens. For where two or three are gathered together.’’ [Here the Lord is speaking concerning the prayer of a meeting. This kind of prayer is more powerful than the prayer of an individual, being able to bind on earth what has been bound in heaven, and to loose on earth what has been loosed in heaven (Matt. 18:18).] Acts 1:14 says, “These all were persevering with one accord in prayer, together with the women.’’ [Here again, the prayer of a meeting is mentioned. It was this prayer that brought in the blessing of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.] Then in Acts 4:24-31 it is recorded, “And when they heard this, they lifted up their voice with one accord to God and said. And as they were beseeching, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness.’’ [It says here that in those days when the disciples were under persecution, they met together to pray with one accord. That kind of prayer caused them to be filled outwardly with the Holy Spirit and to speak the word of God with boldness.] The Bible also says, “Prayer was being made fervently by the church to God concerning him’’ (Acts 12:5); “where [the house of Mary] a considerable number were assembled together praying’’ (12:12). [On the day when Peter was imprisoned, the church prayed fervently for him, and a considerable number were assembled together in a sister’s house, praying for him specifically. That prayer caused God to perform a great miracle, delivering Peter out of prison.]
1 Corinthians 14:26 says, “Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.’’ [The meeting mentioned here is for the exercise of spiritual gifts and for mutual building up. In this kind of meeting, there should not be a special person doing a specific thing, but everyone should exercise the spiritual gifts: one has a psalm, one has a teaching, one has a revelation, one does this, and another does that. Each one may participate with the goal of building up and edifying others.]
Acts 15:30-31 says, “And having gathered the multitude together, they handed them the letter [written by the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem]. And when they read it, they rejoiced at the consolation.’’ [Here it says that when Paul and his companions arrived in Antioch, they gathered the saints together to read to them the letter written by the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem under the leading of the Holy Spirit. Hence, we may also need to meet together occasionally to read the word of God in the Bible.]
Acts 20:7 says, “When we gathered together…Paul discoursed with them, about to go forth on the next day.’’ [On that day, the believers in Troas met together to listen to Paul discoursing with them concerning the spiritual things of God, that they might be edified and established. Therefore, sometimes we should also meet to listen to spiritual messages spoken for God by the Lord’s minister of the word that we may be edified and established.]
[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 your family or with a few other brothers or sisters. [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.]
[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 (Acts 2:21).
In the home meetings, according to Acts 2:46 and 5:42, they were 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.]
[In Matthew 18:20, in speaking about Christian gatherings, the Lord Jesus used the number of two or three: “For where two or three are gathered together into My name, there I am 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 becomes big 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.]
[The church should also have large meetings in a larger place for the whole church to come together (l 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 meetings 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 (l Cor. 14:26). 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.]
[After His resurrection, the Lord came to meet with His disciples, starting from the evening of the first day. Thus, in the Lord’s resurrection, the matter of meeting with the saints is crucial. Mary the Magdalene met the Lord personally in the morning and obtained the blessing (John 20:16-18), but she still needed to be in the meeting with the saints in the evening to meet the Lord in a corporate way to obtain more and greater blessings (20:19-23). In this first meeting of the Lord with His disciples after His resurrection, we have the Lord’s presence, the peace, the Lord’s sending, the breathing, and the authority to bind and loose. These are the blessings which the Lord brought to His disciples in that church meeting. However good Mary’s fellowship was with the Lord during the morning watch, she still needed to come to the evening meeting to obtain all these blessings. These blessings are greater and more important. We may receive something from the Lord and even of the Lord during the morning watch, but this is something we need personally and individually. We must also come to the meetings to receive something more important. The morning watch and the church meetings are two aspects. We need the personal blessing of the first aspect as well as the corporate blessing of the second.
Thomas missed the first meeting the Lord held with His disciples after His resurrection. However, he was compensated for what he missed in that meeting by attending the second meeting (John 20:25-28). Oh, we must not miss any of the church meetings! We should not say that it does not matter and that we shall rest at home. If the Lord comes, we, like Thomas, may miss Him. Thomas missed the Lord’s appearing. Due to his absence from that church meeting, he really lacked something. This chapter is full of revelation, but Thomas missed it all. He missed the revelation, the discovery, and the experience of the Lord’s resurrection because he missed the morning watch and the church meeting. He missed the revelation that the disciples are the brothers of the Lord and the sons of God. He missed the peace, the breathing of the Holy Spirit, the divine commission, and the authority. He was saved and he was a brother, but because he did not attend that meeting, he missed a great deal.]
After seeing the Lord openly ascend to the heavens on a cloud, the disciples stayed in Jerusalem to wait for the power from on high (Luke 24:49). They did not idly wait but met together for ten days to pray in one accord (Acts 1:14). There was no division, only oneness in the Spirit. Their meeting brought about a major step in God’s economy for the building up of the church. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit was poured out upon them for the formation of the Body of Christ. If they had not met, the Spirit would have had no place to be poured out. If they had been praying at home, the Spirit could not have been poured out upon the assembled believers in order to form the Body. Because they were meeting together, the Spirit was poured out upon them. This again shows us the importance of meeting. After His resurrection, the Lord showed Himself to over five hundred brothers at one time (1 Cor. 15:6); however, many of the brothers were not present. They may have had “more important’’ things to do. Unfortunately, they missed one of the greatest events of church history.
On the day of Pentecost, after the outpouring of the Spirit, the disciples preached the gospel and 3,000 people were baptized. The church life in Jerusalem had begun.
[According to Acts 2:46, day by day the believers broke bread from house to house. The early believers remembered the Lord by breaking bread daily in their houses. This shows their love and enthusiasm toward the Lord.
The Greek words rendered “from house to house’’ also mean “at home,’’ in contrast with “in the temple.’’ The Christian way of meeting together is fitting to God’s New Testament economy, differing from the Judaic way of meeting in the synagogues (Acts 6:9). The Christian way of meeting in homes became a continual and general practice in the churches (cf. Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philem. 2).
In Acts 2:46 we see that the believers “took their food with exultation and simplicity of heart.’’ The Greek word for “simplicity’’ also means singleness. Here it describes the heart being simple, single, and plain, having one love and desire and one goal in seeking the Lord. These early believers were simple, single, sincere, and pure in heart.
According to Acts 2:47a, the believers in the early church life praised God and had favor with all the people. They lived a life that expressed God’s attributes in human virtues, as Jesus the Man-Savior did (Luke 2:52).]
Matthew 18:20 says, “For where…are gathered together into My name, there I am in their midst.’’ [The most crucial thing in the believers’ meeting is to be gathered into the Lord’s name. This means that we have to meet in the name of the Lord. Since we are the Lord’s and were saved by His name, we should gather only into that name and meet in that name. We must not gather into and meet in any other name, whether it is the name of an individual, of a corporate body, of a mission, or of a denomination.] When we meet in His name, we are meeting in His person, because the name denotes the person. Now the Lord is the Spirit. So, to meet in His name means to call on His name and to be in spirit where His Spirit dwells.
[In all of our meetings there should be four basic factors and elements: the word, the spirit, praying, and singing. If we handle these four elements in a proper and living way, there will be a rich display and expression of Christ in all of our meetings.
The word is the holy word revealed in the Scriptures, either the constant Word or the instant word. If we are going to be the speaking ones in our meetings, we must let the word of Christ dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16). The riches of Christ are in His word. The word of the Lord must have adequate room within us that it may operate and minister these riches into our being. Then our speaking of the word in the meetings will be an exhibition of the riches of Christ.
When we refer to the spirit, we are following the apostle Paul to denote our spirit indwelt by and mingled with the Holy Spirit. According to the New Testament, the divine Spirit and our human spirit are mingled together as one spirit. He that is joined to the Lord, who is the Spirit, is one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Cor. 3:17). In a regenerated person, the divine Spirit and the human spirit are no longer two separate spirits. The Spirit of the Lord and the spirit as our inward being are one spirit.]
[Our Christian heritage today is in two things — the Word and the Spirit. We have the Word without and the Spirit within, and these two are one. The Word is the Spirit and the Spirit is the Word. When I have the Word in my hands it is the Word outside of me, but when I pray-read the Word, it gets into me and becomes the Spirit. When I speak the Spirit out to you, the Spirit becomes the word, and when you receive this word into you, it becomes the Spirit. As I am speaking the word, you are receiving the Spirit. But the strangest thing is this — we are supposed to be the speaking people of the speaking God, yet we do not speak. We need to learn how to handle the Word and the Spirit. My intention and my burden is that the saints would learn how to speak forth Christ properly, to speak in the Spirit and with the Spirit.
Another basic factor and element in our meetings is prayer. We have to learn to pray. The word and the Spirit must issue in our praying. In our meetings there should be many prayers.] [Actually, our church meetings need to be full of spontaneous and living prayers. We offer too many religious, duty-fulfilling prayers. Our prayers are not that spontaneous, real, genuine, or true. They are not that much in our spirit. We should not plan what to pray ahead of time. Our prayers should come out of us spontaneously in the way that we breathe. Our meetings are dead because we are short of these living, spontaneous prayers.
Another basic factor and element in our meetings is singing. Both speaking and singing are the issue of the infilling of our spirit. If we are filled in our spirit something will flow out of us in speaking and singing. In Ephesians 5:18-19, Paul tells us to “be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.’’]
The meetings of the church are crucial to God, the church, ourselves, and others. Without the meetings, there can be no practical expression of the church, and the Lord’s speaking is restricted. Without the meetings, the economy of God is not carried out and the church is not built up. Therefore, we must give ourselves to the Lord to be in every meeting of the church. We should never excuse ourselves from the meetings, regardless of the reason; otherwise, we may excuse ourselves from the church life and the kingdom reward.
