Search
Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:2, 4; Gal. 5:16, 25
This time the Lord has led us to have a number of special weekly conference meetings. Because of this, my spirit is leaping. I am especially happy when I see so many young people attending these meetings. In October 1984 we were led by the Lord in Taiwan to see how Christians should meet. At that time the Lord opened up to us all the verses in the New Testament concerning the matter of Christian meetings. We had a thorough study of this matter. As a result, the Lord showed us that at the beginning of God’s New Testament economy, that is, at the beginning of the New Testament age, the Holy Spirit led the first group of Christians, those who were freshly saved at Pentecost, to have two kinds of meetings. On the one hand, there were the big meetings, and on the other hand, there were the small meetings in the homes. The big meetings were held in public, while the small meetings were conducted from house to house (Acts 2:46). At the beginning of Acts, the believers had the big meetings as well as the house-to-house meetings. Not one house was excepted or excluded.
Strictly speaking, it is not easy to have the big meetings. The reason is that not everyone is gifted or has the spiritual capacity to conduct a big meeting. On the day of Pentecost the leading ones were Peter, James, and John. But according to the record in Acts, it seems that only Peter took the lead in the big meetings. However, in the small home gatherings there is no need for the spiritual “giants.” To use an illustration, the big meetings are like preparing a big feast; not everyone can make such a preparation. But the small home meetings are like home cooking; everyone can do it, and comparatively speaking it is easier than preparing a big feast.
On the other hand, it is a simpler matter to have a big meeting. As long as you have a spiritual giant, you can have such a meeting. However, the small meetings are not that simple. If you are alone, you might be satisfied with burnt or uncooked food. But if others are with you, it would not be adequate to offer them this kind of food. For a big feast you only need to hire a few good cooks with a few helpers, and you will have many delicious dishes. But it is not easy for every home to have that same kind of cooking.
At the time of Pentecost there were the big meetings and there were the small meetings. The believers met in every home. This was an entirely new move of God. All of God’s move is perfect and complete. But as soon as it falls into man’s hand, there is degradation and regression. From the record of the Bible and from history, we can see that the way Christians meet has always been on a downward course. In the book of Acts we have the creative move of God. This was a beginning initiated by the Holy Spirit. In this beginning there were the big meetings and the small meetings, and the standard was high. But gradually there was a downward trend. By the end of the first century and the beginning of the second century, the emphasis had shifted. Virtually no more attention was paid to the small meetings, and all the attention was paid to the big meetings.
When the big meetings became prevailing, the students of theology were forced into existence. This is because without these students of theology, no one could preach, and if no one could speak in public, the big meetings could not be maintained. For this reason many theology students and preachers were produced. This matches the natural concept and the way of organization. From that time on, the big meetings began to replace the small meetings, and gradually a clergy-laity system like that in today’s Christianity came into being.
At the time of the Reformation Martin Luther did not touch this matter. He only saw one aspect of the truth. Two centuries after Luther, at the time of Count Zinzendorf and the Moravian Brethren, the matter of church meetings was touched. We might say that this was the beginning of the recovery of the church life in the Lord’s recovery. However, at that time they did not see the importance of the small home gatherings. Another century passed, and in the nineteenth century the Brethren were raised up by the Lord in England. They were more advanced than Zinzendorf in the matter of the recovery of the practice of the church life. But if you read the history and writings of the Brethren, you will not find much evidence that they emphasized meeting from house to house. Most of their meetings were held in their meeting halls.
Sixty years ago when the Lord raised us up in China, we saw something concerning the home meetings, but what we saw in the beginning was not very much. It was not until a number of years later that we saw the importance of this matter. However, while we were in mainland China, there was very little practice of home meetings. The church in Shanghai did not subdivide into two “home” meetings until 1934. Although the term suggests something close to a home meeting, actually the two meetings were in two different districts of Shanghai. One was in Hu-si, and the other in Jia-bei. From home one in Hu-si to home two in Jia-bei there was a tram ride of over one hour. At that time we met every other week in the two “homes.” But actually they could not be considered as two home meetings; they could only be considered as two meeting halls in two different districts of Shanghai. They were not meetings in homes.
When we went to Taiwan, there was a further progression. Not only did we have meeting halls in every district, but under each meeting hall we had the small groups. However, we still had not moved the small groups into the homes. Some small groups began with meetings in the homes, but gradually they also moved to schools or other larger facilities. There was not the serious practice of meeting in the homes. And in less than ten years even this kind of small group meeting gradually deteriorated. By October of last year, there were no small groups left.
It is difficult to have the small meetings. Consider the church in Taipei as an example. Last October we divided the church there into three hundred ninety-nine small groups. If the meetings of these groups were to be conducted by gifted preachers, we would need three hundred ninety-nine preachers. A simpler way would be to consolidate the small groups into twenty-one meeting halls. By having only twenty-one speakers, the problem would be greatly simplified. This is the reason why all the denominations must have seminaries. However, this way of organization is not found in the Bible. We cannot take the way of the denominations, emphasizing only the big meetings, with only a small number of people who can deliver messages. This way is appealing only to the natural taste. We must see that although the big meetings can gather and stir up people, they cannot build them up.
The meeting hall in Anaheim did not come into being suddenly. It was not that there were piles of material lying around, and one day they all came together suddenly to become a building. The design of that hall was first drafted by me personally. Then it was handed over to the brothers to lay out the architectural plan. Every day I came to supervise. Truckloads of material came in, but there was the need for some to do the fine work of building all the wood, stones, and steel together. Only then would there be the building. If we only gathered the material, but there was no one to build, then after all these years of rain and wear, the material would all be ruined.
For this reason we say that the work of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was absolutely right. God is the Creator, and whatever He has created is good. There were the big meetings under Peter’s leadership, which attracted the three thousand and then the five thousand (Acts 2:41; 4:4), and there were the homes into which these new ones were added. It was in the homes that these believers as building materials were practically built together. It is not sufficient merely to gather the materials together. That is easy to do. But to put the materials together to form a building is not the work of one man. There must be many small groups working together. Only then will the building be gradually completed.
The big meetings can gather the people, but how can they be built up? Many evangelists can bring thousands of people to the Lord, but where is the building? At most, these evangelists have caused sinners to become believers. But all the materials are piled up, and there is no building. This principle may also be applied to us. Among us, group after group of people have been saved and baptized. But today we have lost contact with many of them. Not many have remained and been built up together. I believe many of the saints in the Lord’s recovery have a desire to seek after the Lord. But my question to you is, how many of us are built up together?
History shows us that up until today there is very little building in Christianity. What has been accomplished through all the centuries is only a work of revival. The entire history of Christianity is a story of revivals. It is like the book of Judges. Every time a spiritual giant such as Samson was raised up, the Israelites were revived. But when the spiritual giant died, the revival was buried with him. This is the problem in Christianity. The way of Christianity is the way of big meetings. But God’s created way of meeting, as recorded in the first few chapters of Acts, is to have small meetings as well as big meetings.
The foundation of the building of the church is in the small meetings. It is not in the big meetings. We need the big meetings to gather in the building material, for without the material there can be no building. But the job is not completed when the materials have arrived. There is still the need for the fine building work. Just as an airplane requires both wings to fly, these two sides must have a proper balance. To have big meetings alone is like having only one wing; it is impossible to fly that way. To have only the small meetings would likewise be inadequate. Only when we have both the big meetings and the small meetings can we take off with both wings. The same is true in God’s creation. We all have two legs, two hands, two ears, and two eyes. In a similar way, we need both the big meetings and the small meetings.
The big meetings can attract the people, but only the small meetings can build people up. Our present need is to find a way to improve the small meetings so that they will become rich, strong, fresh, living, attractive, and able to uphold all the saints. The small meetings are the foundation of the building of the church; this is an unshakable law. If we do not keep this law, we will not have any building. It is easy to gather materials, but it is not easy to build them together. In Christianity we only see the gathering in of the material; we do not see the building. However, we ourselves have made the same mistake. For this reason, we all must have a change. We all need to be balanced. It does not mean that we do not need to go out and gather people in. It only means that we should not gather at the expense of sacrificing the building.
In the past six months, after much seeking of the Lord, I have realized a basic problem. As long as a man has the gift, the eloquence, and the biblical knowledge and is logical in organization and quick in grasping doctrinal points, he can conduct a big meeting. His daily living has little relationship to the meeting, and he does not need to grow in life. But for a man to build up the small groups, it is not sufficient to depend on eloquence. There must be adequate life plus truth.
Every human being has his basic needs in life. These needs cannot be met by human eloquence. We must take care of the small groups in a basic way. We must have some basic elements in us. When people come and taste of this basic thing, no one can chase them away. In brief, this basic thing is our life and our living. The first subject of these few weeks of training is to see the living that a Christian should have. What kind of living do we need for the building up of the church life? In a word, it is a living that is out of the Holy Spirit and through the human spirit.
The Bible is all-inclusive. According to my understanding of the Bible and my experience through so many years, I can say that in summary what the Bible talks about is this kind of living — a living that is out of the Holy Spirit and through the human spirit. The Christian life is not a life of ethics and morality; neither is it a life of purity in conscience. It is true that the Bible speaks of these things. In fact, it speaks of them in an even higher way than Confucius and all the sages spoke of them. However, these things are not the focus of the Bible. The reason that the ethics and morality mentioned in the Bible are higher than those of all other teachings is that they are produced out of the Holy Spirit and through the human spirit.
Many Christians have read Ephesians 5. They see in verses 22 and 25 that husbands should love their wives and that wives should be subject to their husbands, and they determine to keep these words. But no one has ever succeeded. Even the minister who conducts the wedding does not succeed. Actually, they forget that in the earlier chapters of Ephesians there is a basis for the teachings in chapter 5. This basis is that the Holy Spirit has entered into our spirit. When we live by this spirit, spontaneously the husbands can love their wives, and automatically the wives can submit to their husbands. This is not produced by teaching; it is produced out of the Holy Spirit and through the human spirit.
For example, the Bible says, “Children...honor your father and mother,” “Fathers, do not provoke your children,” and “Be angry, yet do not sin” (Eph. 6:1-2, 4; 4:26). All these words are right, but when your anger rises up, it is so easy to sin. When you are stirred up, you forget that you are to honor your parents or that you are not to provoke your children. These words are from the latter half of Ephesians. In the first half Paul explains clearly that the Triune God has become the Spirit, that He has entered into you, and that He has filled you in your spirit so that you can live by this spirit to live out a superb living. This living is out of the Holy Spirit and through the human spirit. Only this kind of living can build the church.
Stanza 1 of Hymns, #499 says,
Oh, what a life! Oh, what a peace!
The Christ who’s all within me lives.
With Him I have been crucified;
This glorious fact to me He gives.
Now it’s no longer I that live,
But Christ the Lord within me lives.
You can sing this hymn enthusiastically, but you may not have the reality of what it says. Christ indeed lives within you, but you may not have much realization of what it means to be crucified with Christ. You can sing, “Now it’s no longer I that live,” but how much have you really experienced this? How much have you understood this? This is not a doctrine. This requires us to exercise and to deny ourselves in our daily life. Only then will we experience the fact of being crucified with Christ and living with Christ.
It is easy to preach, and it is easy to listen. It is easy to sing, and it is not difficult to pray. But when it comes to the real situation of our daily life, it is a different story. Christ is gone, the Spirit is gone, and we are all left with nothing but self and the flesh.
Stanza 2 of Hymns, #499 continues,
Oh, what a joy! Oh, what a rest! Christ now is being formed in me. His very nature and life divine In my whole being inwrought shall be. All that I am came to an end, And all of Christ is all to me.We must experience all these things in our daily lives. When a situation arises and circumstances become difficult, we should tell the Lord, “Lord, grant me grace, that I may allow You to constitute Your life and nature into my whole being. I desire that all that I am would come to an end and that all of You would be all to me.”
I know that it is easy to sing this kind of hymn, but it takes time to experience these things. This experience cannot be ours simply by being excited in the meetings. We must allow all these things to be constituted into us in our daily life. This is an organic metabolism. It terminates everything of ourselves and makes all of Christ to be all to us.
Stanza 1 of Hymns, #841 says,
Thou art all my life, Lord,
In me Thou dost live;
With Thee all God’s fulness
Thou to me dost give.
By Thy holy nature
I am sanctified,
By Thy resurrection,
Vict’ry is supplied.
How can His holy nature sanctify you? This requires much work of permeation. How can His resurrection supply you with victory? This also requires a kind of transforming work.
Hence, stanza 2 continues,
Now Thy flowing life, Lord,
Doth enlighten me,
Bringing in the spirit
Fellowship with Thee;
All my need supplying,
Making Thy demand,
Leading me to cleansing
And in Thee to stand.
When the Lord’s life flows, we will be enlightened. If we live in the light of the Holy Spirit, the light and fellowship of that life will not only bring us all kinds of supply but will also bring in demands. It will ask you to deal with your problems. It will ask you to deal with the hidden world within you. It will ask you to deal with your sins, your trespasses, your selfishness, and even your self, your disposition. Since you love the Lord, come to meetings, seek after the Lord, and pray, surely the Holy Spirit will flow through you. But here is an unbreakable law: every time He flows, you will be enlightened. If you do not have any light within, it shows that you have no flowing; you are still in darkness. If you have not experienced this enlightening recently, you must realize that this is a proof that you are definitely not in the flow of life. Life has no way to flow within you. As long as life flows, this life will become light. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” When this life flows, it shines within you, causing you to see your own corruption, sin, desire for the world, and selfishness. You will realize that you belong to the flesh and are filled with the self. Then you will pray, “Lord, take away the world here and my self there, and put to death the flesh here.” If you will pray this way, you will be cleansed, and you will enjoy all that the Lord is. Only then will you truly enjoy His riches.
Stanza 3 of Hymns, #841 says,
Thy anointing Spirit
Me shall permeate,
All my soul and spirit
Thou wouldst saturate;
Every part transforming
Till conformed to Thee,
Till Thy life shall bring me
To maturity.
All this takes time and work. It is by this process of life and transformation that your whole being is transformed.
In a small group meeting, if two or three would have this kind of living, then the small group meeting would surely be rich, strong, fresh, living, attractive, and supporting. Furthermore, it will be difficult to find out who the “leaders” are in the small groups. In all the small groups we have not assigned any leaders, because we all can be wrong. All of our assignments can be wrong. In the Lord’s recovery we should avoid this kind of assignment as much as possible. Everyone has an opportunity; everyone can rise up. But if you try to rise up by your flesh or self, that is not genuine. You can cheat others, but you cannot cheat their spirits. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit will not testify to it; He will not follow you or bless you. In that case, you are not the riches and strength of the home meeting. Neither are you the freshness, vitality, attraction, and support of that meeting.
But if you would be in the reality of Hymns, #499 and #841, if you would allow life to flow and would fellowship with the Lord, you will be enlightened. You will see that many things in you need to be dealt with. You will confess your sins before the Lord and will deal with them one by one. Consequently, the blood will wash you, and the Holy Spirit will be in you to deal with all the elements that need to be dealt with and will replace them with Himself. If you are such a person, whenever you come to the meetings, you do not need to say much, and you do not have to exhibit yourself. The minute you pray, sing, or share, you are the riches, the strength, the freshness, the vitality, the attraction, and the support of that meeting.
Brothers and sisters, if we love the Lord, if we love the church, and if we have a heart for the Lord’s recovery, we need to see clearly that we must put our efforts here. We must put our effort into the growth in life, so that daily Christ can be formed in us, and daily His life and nature can be constituted into us so that all of Himself can be all to us. This must become our daily experience. Furthermore, when His life flows, we will be enlightened, and we will be able to have fellowship with God. In this fellowship God will make demands on us, and we will realize what is the world, sin, the flesh, the self, and everything of the old creation within us. By allowing Him to remove these things little by little, we will be cleansed and will be able to enjoy all that He is. In this way we will spontaneously grow and be matured. If every small group would have two or three such persons, that small group meeting would surely be rich, strong, fresh, and living and would be full of attraction and supporting power.
May the Lord be merciful to us, that we would not take this merely as a message. Surely I have a heavy burden concerning this matter. I would even fast and pray for this, hoping that the church would be brought into the reality of the small group gatherings. This is a high mountain, and we have to climb over it. May we all strive for this.
A concluding prayer: Lord, You know that we desire to accomplish Your purpose. Lord, may You bless these words. Bless every heart and spirit so that we would touch You from within, and we would touch this way of the spirit. May we live this kind of living day by day and moment by moment, a living that is out of the Holy Spirit and through our human spirit. Lord, hear this prayer. Pour down Your answer so that we would see a real revival. Amen.
