The New Testament reveals to us that the Lord’s universal church is manifested locality by locality, and in every locality the church’s meetings are mostly in the homes of the saints. Hence, the home is the basic unit of the church life. Undoubtedly, the church’s meetings include big meetings and medium-sized meetings, but the basic meeting place is the home. The basic pattern for meeting is the meeting in the homes. Acts 12 mentions that while Peter was in prison, the church was praying for him fervently. After Peter came out from the prison, he went to the house of Mary, a sister, the mother of John, where there was a considerable number of people assembled together and praying (vv. 5, 12). Here we see the prayer of the church carried out by the assembling of the saints in a home. This record does not tell us that the church held a big meeting to pray for Peter. Rather, it says that it was in a house that a considerable number of people assembled together to pray. We believe that this home was only one of many that was very close to Peter, a home that cared for Peter very much.
It is hard to determine at what time Peter arrived at that house, but it is likely that it was late at night (v. 6). This shows us that the church meeting at that time was not similar to today’s religious worship, which is almost always in the same place on definite dates and at set times. Of course, having definite dates and set times is more convenient for the sake of scheduling our daily living and activities. However, the Bible shows us that the church meetings are not regulated and rigidly organized. Rather, they are meant to meet the needs. Whenever there is a need, there is a meeting, and the meeting can be in any of the homes.
The revelation of the Bible is that the meetings of the church are not religious; rather, they are the activity of the Body. The church is the Body of Christ. If the activity of a body is too regulated and organized, the body will seem more like a puppet or a robot. Although the regulations of our training are rather strict, we should exercise some liberty. If we are too regulated, we may easily become like puppets. The church meetings are not basically in the big meetings or in the meeting halls but in the homes of the saints. This requires us to be spiritual, to have the divine life and the work of the Holy Spirit, to be transformed in life, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
As we all know, the purpose of any religion is to have an object of worship and to teach according to that object. Due to man’s desire to worship God, he feels the need for a place of gathering in which one man speaks and all the others listen. As a result, a religion is produced. However, religion does not require spirituality or the divine life, and neither does it require transformation in life or the filling of the Holy Spirit. Instead, it requires only man’s presence. There is no need of training, growth, or learning. It is sufficient that people merely attend the meetings. For a person to come every time is an honor to the meeting, and for him to make a material offering is excellent. This is religion. Today’s Christianity, including Catholicism, Protestantism, every sect, and every denomination, is in such a condition. They establish seminaries to train theological students to preach. Then these become assistant pastors, then pastors, and finally hold higher offices. The clergy perform their duties and manage the things regarding the worship of God. The remaining ones are all laymen. They need neither to learn the things concerning worship nor to do much during the meetings.
We may use planting flowers as an example. For a flower to grow properly, much effort and even special care are required. After the seed is sown, there must be no lack of water, fertilizer, weeding, or pesticides. If the flower is soaked with too much water, it will die, but if it is watered too little, it will wither. Often, attention should be given even to the amount of oxygen required by the flower. If the flower is always kept inside the house, its leaves will turn yellow; then it will need to be placed outside. All these matters require much time and energy. Therefore, some people simply buy artificial flowers. Then there is no need to worry about insects, watering, and the condition of the air. By spending a little money, people can enjoy their flowers without any labor. To speak a frank word, today’s Christianity is mostly doing the work of “artificial flowers.” We are laboring here in an earnest way while certain ones are laughing behind our backs and saying that we are bringing trouble on ourselves. It is true that we are laboring and have troubles. All our labor is to produce not artificial flowers but the real items.
As people in the world all know, to do something well involves many difficulties. We may illustrate this by the difference between a doll and a real child. To buy a doll and keep it at home is very easy. Today many dolls are made to look like real children; some not only can walk but can also sing. With only a doll at home, we do not need to cook and to feed it, and we never need to change its diapers. This saves us much effort. However, when a real baby is born, many troubles come. Then we need to change diapers, bathe him, and feed him, and if he gets sick, we need to find a doctor for him. Parents all know that to raise a child truly is not easy. It is inexcusable to give birth to a child but not raise him. Parents will regret very much if they are unable to keep their child alive. We have taken the new way to gain many new ones, but if we cannot raise every one properly, we will owe something to the Lord, and we will also lose our credibility. Hence, we must feed these new ones so that they become healthy and functioning members. This is our burden.
The Lord said that He will come quickly (Rev. 22:20). From the time He spoke this until now, two thousand years have passed, but He still has not come. What has delayed Him? It is the condition of the church. If we study the history of the church and the situation of today’s Christianity, we will groan deeply because the Lord has not gained what He wants. If we look at Catholicism carefully and go to their masses, we will understand the real situation there, and if we go to the Vatican, we will understand the Bible’s prophecies in Revelation, which say that one day the Lord will burn up all those things. The Lord truly has gained nothing in all of that. We have also observed the situation in Protestantism, at least in the Far East. Even though Protestantism preached the gospel and taught the truth, the Lord was able to gain very little from that in actuality.
The Lord prophesied that when He comes again, He will come as a thief (3:3; 16:15). As we all know, a thief comes to steal not the refuse but the treasure. If the Lord comes today, where can He find a treasure to steal? He can find it almost nowhere. It is not necessary to speak of the outward situation in religion; even among us in the Lord’s recovery there is not much treasure. For years, we have been struggling, fighting the influence of Christianity. The background, environment, and situation of Christianity today have too great an influence. Some who came from New Zealand and Australia told us that they were deeply oppressed there and restricted by Christianity’s background and environment, which was very hard for them to overcome. Here in Taiwan it is the same. This causes the Lord’s work to be very limited. This is the reason why we need to change our system.
Those who have been to the United States know that flying from Taiwan to Los Angeles takes only eleven hours, but flying from Los Angeles back to Taiwan takes thirteen hours. There is a two hour difference due to the direction of the wind. When going along with the wind, the arrival time is two hours earlier. When going against the wind, arrival is two hours later. The situation in today’s Christianity is the same; it is almost always “against the wind.” Today we are taking the new way of knocking on doors to lead people to be saved. This is a hard job, but we have succeeded. However, following this we need to perfect the home meetings, which is an even harder job. Therefore, the burden on us is truly heavy, and our feeling is even heavier. I hope we will all rise up to bear the burden together to perfect the home meetings.