I would just open my heart here, and I wish that you would also open your heart. Together, we will consider a very important question: Why do we meet together?
In Acts 2:42, after three thousand people were added on the day of Pentecost, we see what happened:
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Hebrews 10:25 also tells us:
Not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.
Christians have one particular characteristic: we cannot live alone. The life that God has given us is a life to be shared with others. The life the Lord has given you is the same life He has given us. We need one another, and we need fellowship with other members of the Body.
There is not a Christian who can live by himself, no matter how strong or spiritual he may be. We need spiritual fellowship with other members of the Body of Christ.
In the beginning of the church, there were one hundred and twenty people gathered in the upper room. For ten days, they prayed and waited before the Lord. Then the Holy Spirit descended upon the one hundred and twenty brothers and sisters, and in one Spirit they were baptized into one Body.
On that day, the Lord added three thousand. From the very beginning of the church, the children of God were together. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship; together they broke bread and prayed.
We also see that the believers in the church at Jerusalem were often together. Even when the number of believers grew to many thousands, they still met together. They met in homes, broke bread, prayed, and continued in fellowship.
Wherever the gospel was preached, wherever people were saved, they naturally gathered together. Although the Lord did not set down many detailed rules concerning how the children of God should assemble, the Spirit leads brothers and sisters to gather.
In the second and third centuries, the Roman Empire persecuted Christians. According to history, there were ten periods of persecution. During those times, believers often had to meet secretly, sometimes in small groups.
Later, when Christianity became accepted by the Roman Empire, many people became Christians in name without truly believing in the Lord. They did not have the life of Christ; they became Christians because of the decree of the emperor.
From that time, the church began to decline. The world entered into the church, and the church entered into the world. Even within the church itself, many divisions arose.
This brings us to a practical question. In the early days, believers in one city were together in one Spirit. But today there are many churches and many different gatherings. Where should we go? What kind of meeting should we attend? What should be our purpose, and what should we expect?
Some people come to meetings for social reasons. We are social beings, and especially when we are in a strange country, we may find it easier to be with people of the same background. But that is not the real purpose for which believers gather.
The church is not a social club. We do not come merely to socialize. Fellowship may be a blessing, and we may receive help for our spiritual life, but spiritual benefit is not the primary purpose of assembling.
If we assemble only to receive spiritual help, we may become selfish. We may go wherever we feel we receive the most benefit, and if we do not receive help from certain brothers and sisters, we may simply give up and go elsewhere.
We must ask ourselves: when we assemble, what do we expect? What is our purpose? We do not come together merely for ourselves. We come together for the Lord.
The Lord gives us the basic principle of Christian assembly:
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
—Matthew 18:20
The minimum number is two or three. Yet what distinguishes two or three believers gathered together from every other kind of gathering? People gather for food, entertainment, sports, business, common interests, or because they come from the same country.
The difference is this: believers gather in the name of the Lord. This is not merely a statement that we use lightly. To gather in the name of the Lord means that we gather under His authority, for His interest, and with Him as the center.
The Lord is not only our foundation; He is also the cornerstone. The church is built upon Him. When we come together in His name, we are not gathered for ourselves. We gather for Him.
The main purpose of our gathering is that Christ may have the preeminence. God’s will is that His Son should be first in all things.
We need revelation to see that we gather together for the Lord. We need a resolution before God that we want the Lord to be preeminent among us.
This is the first reason why we assemble: that the Lord may be preeminent. We gather for the purpose of God concerning His Son.
The second reason concerns the Body of Christ. Christ is the mystery of God, and the church is the mystery of Christ. God desires that the Body of Christ should be manifested.
There is not one member who can manifest all that Christ is. It requires all the members of the Body together. Each one brings what the Lord has given him or her, and when we all do this, all can benefit.
We do not gather merely for the sake of having twenty or thirty people together. The children of God gather for the testimony of the Body of Christ.
When we gather together, we must understand that although only a number of brothers and sisters may be present, we include all the children of God in our hearts. We have no intention of dividing the Body of Christ or becoming a small, exclusive group.
Therefore, our hearts must be open. When we break bread, the one bread represents all the children of God. Although not all the believers are physically present, in our hearts we recognize the oneness of the Body.
The Bible tells us to give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit. We are one Body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all.
Today we are one in God. We have a relationship with all those who belong to the Lord. Differences in background, opinion, biblical interpretation, and spiritual experience should not divide us.
We must learn to receive one another in fellowship. The unity of the Body is not something we create; it is something the Spirit has already given. Our responsibility is to keep it.
Today we are not merely visitors. If we do not commit ourselves, we cannot bear the testimony of the Body.
Sometimes people come to a meeting and then disappear when the meeting is over. They may come once a week, but no one can find them during the rest of the week. That is not the reality of Body life.
For the testimony of the Body, we must commit ourselves. Once we commit ourselves, there will be questions, difficulties, differences, and even a price to pay.
When we commit ourselves, there will be a cross. But through this commitment, the Body grows together. The will of God is that we grow together.
The church has a commission to spread the gospel. Yet the gospel is not spread merely by preaching words; it is also spread through the life of the Body. If we live the life of the Body, people will see Christ among us.
When the children of God love one another, people can see it. When they have problems, they will come and ask. They will recognize that there is something different among the people of God.
The commission of the church is not only toward the world. The church also has a testimony before the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places: that the manifold wisdom of God may be made known through the church.
Therefore, there is great significance in gathering together. If we clearly see the purpose for which we gather, then we will see how precious it is to be together.
We need to commit ourselves. We need to be involved. We need to know why we assemble together.
We do not gather merely for social fellowship, personal benefit, or outward activity. We gather in the name of the Lord, that Christ may have the preeminence, that the testimony of His Body may be maintained, that the Body may grow, and that God’s wisdom may be manifested.