Basic Word HOW TO MEET

                                                     How to Meet

                                           BY BEING CHURCH-CONSCIOUS

 We have seen that in the church in Jerusalem there were tens of thousands of believers meeting in many houses, yet they were still under one group of elders; they were still called the church in Jerusalem. They may have had hundreds of meetings, but all these many meetings were still one church. A good illustration of this today is the Bank of America. In the city of Los Angeles, it has numerous branches, but still it is only one bank. Every branch executes the administration of one bank. If this kind of arrangement and administration could be executed by a bank, why could it not be done by the church? The church is greater and better than the Bank of America. We must pray regarding this matter. “Lord, build up such a church here in Los Angeles with tens of thousands of believers and with many meetings to show the enemy and to show Your people that it is absolutely possible for You to do this today.”

 We have seen also from 1 Corinthians 14 that the church and the meeting, the meeting and the church, are identified one with the other. The church equals the meeting, and the meeting equals the church. “In all churches of the saints” (v. 33) means in all the meetings of the saints in various localities. The meeting in this city is just the church in this city. The meeting in San Francisco is just the church there in San Francisco. This proves that the Christian meeting must be church related. The Christian meeting must be of the church, for the church, and eventually must be the church. Therefore, the first principle we must learn and apply is that the meeting of Christians must be related to the church. Either it is the church, or it is part of the church.

                                              THE SIN OF CHURCHLESS MEETINGS

There are so many Christian meetings today which are simply churchless. Those who attend them have no concept whatever of the church, so their meetings are not church-related or church-conscious. We all must be so church-conscious in our meetings. Strictly speaking, if we know the Word of the Lord, we will realize that to meet in a churchless way is actually sin. Why? Because if we meet without paying due attention to the church, we are meeting in a divisive way. To be divisive in the eyes of God is sinful, for God’s intention is to have a church. God’s purpose is to build up a Body for His Son. If we meet in a divisive way, if we meet without keeping the oneness of the church, we are damaging the Body of Christ by our meetings; we are frustrating the building up of the church. So many people are innocently sinful; yet still they are sinful, because they are dividing and damaging the Body of Christ. Some are doing it consciously. This is not a small thing.

 Before I saw this, about forty years ago, I was quite free to meet with Christians. But since the Lord has revealed this matter to me, I have never been careless in this matter. The Lord has made me to realize that Christian meetings are so greatly related to the church. If we meet in a proper and normal way, we build up the church; if not, we damage the church. Though we may have a good intention in our coming together, if we are not meeting church-consciously, we are sinful and against the Lord’s economy. We all must be exceedingly clear that whenever we meet, whenever we even consider coming together, we must be church-conscious; we must never meet with any Christians in a churchless way.

                       THE CHURCH-CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS

Now in order to strengthen this concept, this matter in God’s revelation, I wish to point out to you many verses in the book of Acts regarding the church. If you read through all these verses, you will realize that in the early days, in the first century, all the Christians were so church-conscious, so church-related. In their concept there was nothing of individualism. Whatever they had was the church—it was all the time the church. By reading these verses in the divine record, we see how careful the Holy Spirit was in using the word. Time after time, if I were the writer, I would use the word believers; but the Holy Spirit continually uses the word church. This is the record of fact in the ancient days. As far as the early saints were concerned, it was always a matter of the church. Whatever they did, they did it church-consciously; whenever they met, they met for the church. In the Holy Spirit’s record regarding those days, this  word church is used over and over. Based upon this fact, we have the principle that we must always be church-conscious.

 Now let us look into these verses. In the first four chapters of the book of Acts, the term church is not used. In the last verse of chapter 2, in the King James Version, we have the word church. But better manuscripts show that there is not such a term in chapter 2. It is not till 5:11 that this term church is used. In Acts 2:44, however, we do have this clause: “All those who believed were together.” This, of course, was their meeting. So you can see that the believers at that time were meeting people. They were the people who came together all the time, and this was their meeting.

 Then 4:23 proves something more. After John and Peter were released from prison, the Bible says that they went to their own company. The King James Version uses the word company, but in Greek we do not have this word. The literal rendering of the Greek is, “They went to their own.” This means that they went to their own people. Then in verse 31 we see that this was a meeting. It says, “The place in which they were gathered.” This also strongly proves that in the early days the Christians were so accustomed to meet together. Immediately after Peter and John were released from prison, they went to their own, and it was to a meeting. Do you think that they called a special meeting? I do not think so. Immediately after they came out from prison, they went to their own, and there was a meeting going on. The same thing occurred when Peter was released from prison in Acts 12. He went to the house of Mary, and when he arrived, there were many in that house praying; a meeting was in progress (v. 12). In the early days the Christians were not separated ones but gathered ones. They were a gathering people: all the time they were coming together. We Christians must be such a people.

 Then in chapter 5 something of a negative nature occurred. Ananias and his wife Sapphira cheated the Holy Spirit, and they died. Then what does the Holy Spirit say? Look into the context. You must realize that what happened there was in the setting of a meeting. The Bible does not clearly say that it was a meeting, but if you read the context, you will see that what occurred must have been in a meeting. Immediately after Ananias expired, some young men were there, and they carried him out and buried him. Then his wife Sapphira came, and she also died; whereupon the young men carried her out. The context indicates a meeting. Eventually, verse 11 says,  “Great fear came upon the whole church.” I have said already that if I were the writer, I would use the word believers—“Great fear came upon all the believers.” But the Holy Spirit says, “The whole church.” I do believe that what is meant by the whole church mostly means the meeting, because you have the last phrase in that verse: “All those who heard these things.” This proves that the Christian meeting must be something of the church; it must even be the church. The meeting is for the church, the meeting is about the church, and the meeting is the church. I like this word: “Great fear came upon the whole church.” I do believe that if you were the writer, you also would use the word believers, not church. Why? Because, sorry to say, we are not so church-conscious; we are not so church-related. In the early days it was different, and, of course, especially with the Holy Spirit, it is absolutely different. When the Holy Spirit inspired the book of Acts, He used the word church—“Great fear came upon the whole church.”