In the first home meeting, we should talk about our need to meet. We can tell the new ones that Christians are like sheep, possessing a communal nature. Christians are also like bees, which swarm together. In truth, all human beings possess a communal nature, as the ancient Chinese used to say, “To be human is to be communal.” No matter how many blessings a man has or how much wealth he possesses, he would never be willing to live in seclusion in the mountains and not come down for three years. It is not human nature to live alone apart from the human community. However, today society is full of sins. It is right to be communal, but the problem is how to be communal and with whom we should be communal. If someone joins himself to the wrong group of people, he will be defiled. If we join ourselves to mah-jongg players, eventually we will be playing mah-jongg with them. If we join ourselves to those who take drugs, we will end up taking drugs with them. This is the meaning of another Chinese saying: “Whoever touches vermilion turns red; whoever touches ink turns black.” Therefore, we can see that the best community is the Christian meetings. The Christian meetings give people the joy of gathering together. This is the noblest, purest, and most profitable joy. To illustrate further, a piece of charcoal cannot burn by itself; if it were to burn, it would go out very quickly. Rather, it has to burn with other pieces of charcoal to make a bright fire.
Matthew 18:20 says, “For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.” We have to tell the new ones that in every meeting the Lord is with us and that He is in our midst. If we want to enjoy the Lord’s presence, we have to meet. We need to speak these basic points into them.
Acts 2:42-47 tells us that the first purpose of our meeting is to learn and continue steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and to come together to have fellowship, to break bread, and to pray. At the same time, we can also teach others and preach the gospel. These are the purposes of meeting. Besides this, Hebrews 10:24 says that we have to consider one another so as to incite one another to love. This also is a purpose of the Christian meetings. Hence, the purpose of the Christian meetings is severalfold.
The Bible reveals not only one way to meet but many ways. There are home meetings and meetings of the whole church coming together. There are big meetings and also small meetings. These are according to the practical situation and need. In the church in Taipei first there are meetings in individual homes. These are the smallest, most fundamental, and most basic kind. Second, there are group meetings in which several homes come together. Third, there are district meetings in which several groups come together in a meeting hall. Sometimes there are medium-sized meetings of several districts coming together. In addition, there are corporate meetings of all the saints in Taipei and even meetings in which the church in Taipei meets with the churches in other cities. Occasionally there are meetings for the whole island of Taiwan and even international conferences on a larger scale.
The way to meet is nothing other than to listen to God’s speaking, read the Scriptures, sing hymns, pray, give testimonies, encourage one another, preach the gospel, and so on. We have to tell the new ones a little about all of this. Nevertheless, whatever we speak when we lead a home meeting, it should not be long. We should always allow time for others to speak something, and we should teach them how to speak in the meetings. We should tell them that when they speak in the meetings, they are speaking to others not to themselves, so they should speak loud enough for people to hear them. We should let them know these things in the first or second meeting.
In this way we can fellowship with them that for a Christian to worship God and to serve and follow the Lord after his salvation, he has to terminate his past. Before we were saved, we made many mistakes in our daily life that left some consequences which need to be dealt with. Apart from this, we may have some improper items in our house such as idols, which should also be cleared up. In the Bible there are two excellent examples that speak concerning the termination of the past. One is in Luke 19, which talks about Zaccheus, who was originally a tax collector who constantly defrauded those who paid taxes. After he was saved, however, he immediately said to the Lord Jesus, “If I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore four times as much” (v. 8). Another example is in Acts 19:19-20, which tells us that after the Ephesians were saved, they brought their demonic books together and burned them.
After we are saved, there are certain things in our home that need to be cleared up. The first thing is idols. The second are gambling devices, such as cards and mah-jongg. Third, there are the items used for drinking alcohol, and the fourth are the items used for smoking. The fifth is anything related to dragons. In the Bible the dragon clearly refers to Satan. After we are saved, we want to follow the Lord and take His way. Therefore, all these things which offend God and are not pleasing to Him should be dealt with so that we will have a good testimony before man, joy in ourselves, and no barriers when we pray. This is especially true in the home meetings. All the furniture and decorations in a home should show people that we are of Christ Jesus. All these things are what a saved one will gradually do and should do before the Lord under His leading.