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Scripture Reading: Heb. 10:24-25
In our study over the past five years, the Lord has shown us His ordained way for meeting and serving in the church. The God-ordained way comprises four steps: gospel preaching; the home meetings for feeding the young ones; the group meetings for shepherding, teaching, and perfecting the saints that they may be able to carry out the work of the New Testament ministry, that is, the building up of the Body of Christ; and prophesying in the church meetings. However, we have not yet found the practical way to carry out each of these steps. Our study of how to carry out door-knocking for the preaching of the gospel is not yet complete. There are many ways to visit people by knocking on their doors, and we are still not satisfied with our present way. Likewise, we also need more study on how to feed our spiritual children in the home meetings. We know what the God-ordained way to meet and to serve is, but we do not know how to carry out that way. Therefore, we need more study.
An article in a recent newspaper reported that the Mormons have had a great success in knocking on people’s doors. They have had a good increase especially among the ethnic minority groups. In Orange County in 1980 the Mormons had only about eight hundred members from the different minority groups. Today, however, their membership in the minority groups in Orange County comprises over four thousand. They have had a fivefold increase in less than ten years. In contrast to this, the number of saints in our Chinese-speaking meetings has barely doubled since 1983. The Mormons teach one of the greatest heresies in Christianity, but they have learned the proper way to do things. In Taiwan they have even picked up some of the terminology we use in the Lord’s recovery. They study their situations and always try to find a better way. When they go to visit Korean or Vietnamese homes, they send two Caucasians who can speak Korean or Vietnamese fluently. However, we have sent the saints out loosely. Those among us who go to visit Korean homes may not be able to speak any Korean. We trust blindly that the people in those homes can speak English, but some of them cannot. Our practice may be compared to asking a brother who has never had piano lessons to play the piano for us. This is the unlearned way. We have not learned the adequate way to carry out the God-ordained way.
The Mormon teaching is one of the greatest heresies, yet no one can deny that they have had a great success in the last century. They do not carry out their way loosely. The total number of missionaries sent out by the denominations is just over fifty thousand. The Mormons, however, have forty thousand missionaries in the foreign fields. Moreover, these young men have been restricted, balanced, trained, corrected, and adjusted. They are very punctual, faithful, and well behaved. In some airports there are often two young, well-dressed Mormons. They may be Caucasian, but when a Chinese person gets off an airplane, they greet him in proper Mandarin and ask him if he needs a ride. They then take the Chinese person to his destination while they continue to speak with him. They try to learn what the person’s needs are, and they offer to help him. Even the quality of their Mandarin speech draws admiration from others.
We have not practiced the proper way because we have not had the adequate learning. We know what the God-ordained way is, but we do not have the way to carry it out. When we go to middle-class Caucasian families, we may practice to send brothers who do not speak English properly or speak with an accent. These brothers will not be properly received by those families. If we would instead send three well-dressed brothers who speak properly, the middle-class families would not refuse to open their doors to them. Some have said that visiting people for the gospel by knocking on their doors does not work, at least not in America. We should not blame God’s ordained way and say that it does not work. Rather, it is our way of carrying it out that does not work. Even the Son of God came into the world to visit people where they were, and He sent the twelve (Matt. 10:1, 5-6) and then the seventy (Luke 10:1) to visit others. This is God’s way, but we must learn the proper way to carry it out. We have not yet seen the real issue of the God-ordained way because our way to carry it out is not satisfactory. This is why we have concluded that we need more study.
Some have said that to build up the church we do not need the work. They claim that we need only a proper living as a testimony. However, Paul not only worked, but he labored (Col. 1:29a), struggled (v. 29b), and strived (Phil. 1:27). Struggle and strive are expressions used in relation to athletics. The Greek word for struggle can also be translated “wrestle.” In his work Paul considered himself an Olympic athlete. The New Testament also likens Christians to farmers (2 Tim. 2:6). A farmer who is lazy or who does not know how to farm cannot be successful. Farmers must learn much. They must learn about the seasons and the weather. They also must work diligently day and night. They must have the way, and they must also have diligence and wisdom.
We have been too loose in our way. The old way of Christianity not only annuls the function of the members of the Body of Christ but also makes everyone lazy. In the denominations it is sufficient to go to a meeting and leave an offering. A preacher is hired to work for the members. However, this is not the way of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ does not hire anyone. Rather, it should stir up everyone to learn the way to meet and to serve.
In the old way of meeting we came together in the meeting hall to listen to a brother who was knowledgeable in the Bible. Since then we may have divided the large meeting into several group meetings. However, in these group meetings some of the new ones may ask questions that we are not able to answer. If we are not able to answer the new ones’ questions in a practical way, this indicates that we do not know how to meet in the group meetings. We know that we should not return to the old way of meeting, so we may eventually compromise by inviting a knowledgeable brother to come to our group meeting to take care of its needs. This brother then becomes the Bible teacher, the “pastor,” of the group meeting. On the one hand, we do have the group meetings, but on the other hand, we may still be in the old way. Although we may no longer meet under one roof but in several homes, we may still not be in the new way. We may appear to be in the new way but may still be practicing the old way.
To carry out the group meetings we need to learn how to have a practical fellowship, a mutual prayer, the care for one another, and the shepherding of the young ones. The first thing that we need to care for is a practical fellowship among the attendants related to their daily life. The fellowship in the small groups should include such practical matters as the health and circumstances of the saints in the group. All the matters related to the practical life of all the persons meeting in the group should be covered in the fellowship. This kind of fellowship will spontaneously issue in prayer. According to the need, we can intercede for each other. This prayer need not be after the fellowship is over but should be mingled with the fellowship.
Then we must practically care for the saints. We should not merely pray in spiritual terms; we must also be sent by the Lord to the needy ones. If we pray that the Lord would do something, we may be sent by Him to do it. The Lord is omnipotent, but if we do not do something practically to help the brother or sister for whom we pray, our prayer may not be answered. We may pray that the Lord would meet the need of a brother who is in need of money, but the Lord may tell us that we must first meet his need from our own resources. The New Testament tells us that we need to love in practicality and not merely in word (1 John 3:16-18). We must have practical fellowship with practical prayer and practical care. Following this, some can go to visit the person for whom they have prayed. We must go to visit those who are in any suffering situation and participate in their suffering. This is to shepherd one another.
Our group meetings should be like this every time. This will attract people. Regardless of how strong, rich, or knowledgeable one is, he still desires help from others. Some saints feel lonely but are afraid to seek out fellowship with stronger ones. It is in the group meeting that we can render an adequate, sufficient care for the saints. It is in the group meeting that every saint’s current situation can be made known. All the attendants of a proper group meeting will be built up together. This is the practical building up of the Body of Christ. Without the group meetings we may talk about building up but never experience it.
The practical fellowship, prayer, care, and shepherding are the basic factors of the group meetings. If we do not practice these, we will have no way to take care of every saint’s need. It would take twenty honest, diligent, knowledgeable, and capable elders to shepherd a church of two hundred saints. If they went out every day to visit and shepherd the saints, the church would be very strong. However, it is not practical to have this many full-time elders. Moreover, to care for the saints in this way is against the principle of the Body. The Body consists of all the members, and the members take care of the Body. We cannot hire others to take care of the Body. Every member should share in the care of the Body.
Hebrews 10:25 says, “Not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.” The phrase our own assembling together indicates that the meeting spoken of in this verse is “our” meeting. We should not forsake the group meetings, which are our meetings. The small group meetings are the meetings of the members of the Body. Without a proper practice of the group meetings, it is not possible to care for and shepherd all the saints.
In human society the way to teach people is to gather them together as students with a single teacher. The traditional way of meeting in Christianity is also for a number of people to come together with a Bible teacher. However, Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “Let us consider one another so as to incite one another to love and good works, not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.” The phrases consider one another, incite one another to love and good works, and exhorting one another indicate that the meeting spoken of in these verses is not a meeting for one to teach and the others to listen. This is a meeting in which all the attendants are the same, inciting and exhorting each other.
Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” All four categories of gifted persons perfect the saints. The evangelist may have a burden to perfect the saints in the matter of gospel preaching, to stir them up and teach the truths concerning the gospel. According to the natural way of thinking, he will ask the elders to arrange a meeting for this purpose once a week. Then each category of gifted ones will in turn arrange their own special meetings for perfecting the saints. This is not the way in which the gifted ones should perfect the saints. Rather, in a group meeting, an apostle may be present, and there may also be a prophet, an evangelist, or a shepherd and teacher. Then spontaneously, each one can teach in a mutual way.
In our study and experimentation we have found that the best way to teach is to raise questions in the group meetings. By asking the proper questions and answering the questions of others, we spontaneously teach, instruct, and perfect others. In the past we prepared two sets of lesson books, Truth Lessons and Life Lessons, intending that they could be used in the home meetings and group meetings. When we prepared those lessons, we were not clear that the best way to teach mutually is to ask questions. We need to learn not only how to answer the questions of the new ones in the group meetings but also how to ask questions. To ask questions in a proper way is even more difficult than to answer them. If we have a burden to teach a certain item, we should not teach it directly but turn this burden into a question. We may have a burden to teach the new ones about dealing with idols. However, we should not do this as a teacher. We should rather ask the saints in the group meeting how to deal with idols. This will stir up all the attendants to say something. There will be different kinds of answers with different points. Each one will say something, and all the speaking will become part of the teaching. Then a brother who knows more than the others can add something, and someone else can add even more. The result will be a very good and complete teaching concerning dealing with idols. This way of teaching by asking questions is not carried out by only one person. Rather, it gives an opportunity to all the attendants in the group meeting to function. Regardless of how much one knows and how good his speaking may be, one person’s speaking can never compare with many answers.
By attending a group meeting like this every week for one or two years, the attendants will learn much. One week someone may ask how to deal with idols. Another week someone may ask how to pray. There is no systematized way and no fixed line of subjects. Whether the persons in the meeting have been saved for twenty years or two months, they all have some experience, and they all can say something. After attending group meetings in this way for three or four years, the saints will be perfected. This is not too long to wait. A child cannot be raised overnight. He must attend elementary school for six years, junior high school for two or three years, high school for three or four years, and then college for four more years. Then, after sixteen years of education, a young person is perfected and can go out to do something in society. This is the right way to perfect others, and we must learn to take this way. We cannot accomplish anything quickly. Some churches have been established for nearly sixteen years, but because we did not practice the proper way, they have not gained much. This can be compared to allowing our children to play and fight for sixteen years without ever sending them to school. After many years they will not have an education and will not be useful. This may be our situation. We may have wasted much time. From now on we need a change in our way. To build up a society we need the begetting, feeding, teaching, and building up of the children. The church is the heavenly, spiritual society. Thus, to build up the church we need begetting in order to gain persons for the Lord. Then we need to feed those whom we have gained, and we must also teach them and build them up.
The group meetings should be eighty percent of the church life. If we do not build up the group meetings, the church will be very weak. Among us there are some older saints who love the Lord and the church but do not have the habit of attending the group meetings. They have the habit of coming only to the Lord’s table meeting, the ministry meeting, and sometimes the prayer meeting. Some may come only to take the Lord’s table on the Lord’s Day and leave an offering in the offering box. To charge, encourage, and exhort them to come to the group meetings will not work since they do not have such a habit. However, some of the older saints do have the burden to come to the group meetings. Many of them, though, have been in the traditional, old way for years. Their traditional way of meeting may be compared to speaking English with a foreign accent. Because of my old, traditional background, my English is somewhat poor. It is difficult for me to get rid of my old way of speaking. Likewise, it is difficult to drop the traditional way of meeting.
These older saints with the traditional ways will eventually be in the same group meetings as the newly baptized ones. The way to build up the group meetings, therefore, is first by going out to gain new ones. It is best not to raise up a group meeting with the older saints as the foundation. We should first go to gain new believers. After one or two new ones are gained, we should go to their home to feed them in their home meeting. This home meeting will become a group meeting. Then we may invite some older saints to join us. In this way we will have a mixed attendance with some new ones and some older ones.
We must let the new ones know that we do not care as much for the big meetings as we care for the group meetings. The group meetings are the “lifeline,” the “pulse,” of our church life. At the same time we should have a thorough fellowship with the older saints in the group, either in our home or in their home. We can tell them that they should forget about the old way of meeting and that they need to pick up the new way. In the first few group meetings we need to explain what the new way is and how to have a group meeting. We should explain that we come together not in formality but in a released spirit to fellowship, pray, care for one another, and shepherd one another.
Even though our current group meetings may have the element of oldness, we should not dissolve them. This will not be good for the attendants in those meetings. We still need to maintain the present meetings, but at the same time we should form a group in the new way. Our time and energy should be concentrated on the new group meeting. If some saints would raise up group meetings in the new way, after a few months many others will follow them to do the same. At that time the meetings in the older way will fade away by themselves.
We should not depend upon the church to arrange a group meeting for us. If we want a family, we should simply get married and bring forth children. We do not need to wait for our parents to arrange a family for us. An arranged family is not a genuine family. We need to produce the group meetings ourselves. Then we must learn the new way to have the group meetings. It is not sufficient to maintain a number of home meetings with only two or three members present. These smaller meetings will not be as effective as the group meetings and will not last for the long term. We need to go along with the need of the new ones, but in going along with their need, we must bring them into the new way. Then a proper, genuine group meeting will be built up with them. A group meeting formed and built up in a proper, spiritual way will endure for the long term. The church life depends upon this kind of group meeting. We need to learn the best way to have the group meetings, and we need to spend time to labor according to what we have learned.
