02.18. G. Meetings of the Assembly
G. Meetings of the Assembly In our meditations thus far on the local expression of the Church we have had before us some of the main principles that should govern and constitute a Scripturally gathered Assembly of God. We have seen that it must meet on the ground of the One Body of all believers, owning and receiving each other as members of that spiritual Body of Christ and owning no other body. Secondly, it must be gathered together unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone as its center and uphold that precious name to the exclusion of all others. Thirdly, the Lord must be given His rightful place in the midst as the divine Leader and the presence of the Holy Spirit owned and He be depended upon to guide and divide to every man as He will. Fourthly, the ministry and spiritual ministrations in the Assembly are to be carried on, not by one man an appointed, official minister-but by any of Christ’s gifts to the Church and by members of the body, edifying one another, all under the Holy Spirit’s direction and in His power and energy. Fifthly, the work of oversight in the gathering is to be done by those who are morally and spiritually qualified as elders and raised up and directed by the Holy Spirit for this needful work. And the deaconal work is to be done by those chosen by the Assembly for this work. Sixthly, the authority for its actions is the Lord in its midst and the Word of God which it acts upon.
Having had these groundwork principles before us, which we may say give us the structure and divinely provided working machinery, so to speak, of the local expression of the Church of the living God, we are ready now to consider the various meetings or gatherings of the Assembly. But before speaking in detail of these various meetings let us look in a general way at the first local Church established by the Lord and the Holy Spirit. The Church at Jerusalem In Acts one we find a company of some 120 believers together in the upper room after the ascension of the Lord to heaven (Acts 1:15). There they continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, waiting for the promised descent of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended, as promised, and by one Spirit they were all baptized into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13) and were filled with the Spirit. Here the Church of God began its existence and the first Christian Assembly in a locality was formed by the Holy Spirit. While in the beginning the Church here was composed entirely of Jews and the distinctive truths as to the hopes and calling of the Church were not known as yet, we may view this Assembly at Jerusalem as a pattern Assembly for us in many ways. It was the beginning of the Church and it is always instructive to get back to the beginning of things. Here the Holy Spirit wrought as He meant things in general to continue, so we must go back to that point to learn the truth. From the inspired account in Acts two, we see at once that the Holy Spirit was the leader in the Assembly. They began to speak the wonderful works of God as the Spirit gave them utterance. Then Peter, energized and directed by the Spirit, preached to the multitude about the crucifixion, resurrection, and glorification on high of this Jesus whom they had rejected and slain. The Spirit of God used his words to bring conviction in the hearts of the hearers and worked repentance unto salvation in their souls. Then those that received his word were baptized with water in the name of Jesus and some three thousand were added to this original Assembly of converted believers. This whole company now "continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." They had all things in common, continued daily with one accord in the temple, broke bread from house to house, and ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart (Acts 2:42-47).
Leading Characteristics
Thus we learn of the activities and gatherings of this divinely ordered Assembly at Jerusalem and it is well for us to note some of the things which characterized its testimony as witnesses unto Christ. These proper characteristics were enumerated by the Lord in Acts 1:8.
(1) They were together first of all with one accord and continued in prayer and supplication.
(2) They were baptized by the Spirit into One Body, filled, directed, and empowered by the Spirit and bore witness unto Christ Jesus.
(3) In their witnessing they presented Jesus Christ, called upon men to repent, and proclaimed remission of sins in His name; thus they were active in preaching the Gospel of salvation in Christ.
(4) Those who received this word of salvation, they baptized 1 and thus began to carry out the commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations and to baptize them in the name of the triune God.
(5) Then they all went on steadfastly together in the apostles’ doctrine: the teaching which the Lord gave the apostles the Word of God, and in happy fellowship one with another.
(6) They broke bread from house to house daily and thus often remembered the Lord in His death for them, as He requested (Luke 22:19-20).
(7) They were also one in their ordinary activities of life, sharing together their possessions and eating their meals with gladness and singleness of heart.
(8) They continued together in collective prayer and had favor with all the people. More details of this Assembly at Jerusalem are given in the following chapters of Acts, but space forbids further enlargement of the subject. Such were the activities of the virgin Church. May the Lord help us to get back to "that which was from the beginning" and to be found likewise gathered in principle and practice. We may say that these activities were the natural outflow of the divine nature which was in these new-born souls and of the Holy Spirit who indwelt them. This new nature hungers and thirsts for the Word of God and craves fellowship one with another in the enjoyment of the precious things of God. It yearns to express itself in prayer and praise to God, for worship and renewal of strength, wishes to obey God’s Word, and desires to share with others what it possesses. And it is the delight of the indwelling Spirit to lead souls out in these activities.
Thus these new-born instincts, which the Holy Spirit develops and strengthens, leads souls to want to gather with one another around the Lord for teaching, fellowship, worship, prayer, and the proclaiming of the Gospel. Accordingly, meetings of the Assembly naturally begin for these purposes. This is as it should be, and Hebrews 10:24-25 exhorts us: "let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." In the beginning, the Church met every day, but this did not continue. Now as we see the evil day of apostasy and wickedness approaching, we need all the more to come together often with fellow believers. With this introductory survey of the activities of the virgin Assembly at Jerusalem before us, we shall go on with detailed consideration of various assembly meetings.