BASIC WORD HOW TO COME TO THE MEETING

COMING TO THE MEETINGS

 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 several things.

LOVE FOR THE MEETINGS

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.

                                                          WITH A VOICE OF JOY

Second 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!”

                                           WITH THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE

Third we need to 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.

                                                        GLORIFYING GOD

Fourth 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.