When we spend more time on the young people, this can easily create a situation in the church life in which people may think that we do not pay attention to the elderly ones. However, the fact is that the elderly saints are the most precious ones in the church life. If there are not that many elderly saints in a church, that church will surely give people a feeling that there is a lack, but if there is an adequate number of elderly saints in a church, people will feel that that church is weighty. Of course, if a local church were composed of all elderly saints, that would cause us to be downhearted. There must be some young people among the elderly saints.
The change of system is a recovery, even an important step of recovery. Brother Watchman Nee already clearly saw this matter fifty years ago. After he saw this matter fifty years ago, when he mentioned it again later, his word was very heavy. He said that in all of Christianity, in both Catholicism and Protestantism, the Lord’s Day meetings and the way of the worship of God had totally deviated from the Bible. He used a type in the Old Testament to say that they were following the customs of the nations (2 Kings 17:8). He said emphatically that this kind of Lord’s Day meeting was a waste and should not be maintained. However, he also knew that it would not be easy to change because this custom is a strong tradition in Christianity. He realized that this way would not be easy to overthrow unless everyone cooperated. Brother Nee also said that this custom of the nations continued to exist because there was nothing to replace it and no proper way to substitute for it. This was also true.
Therefore, at that time he started to have the brothers’ meetings and sisters’ meetings. Regrettably, he did not succeed in establishing these meetings for the brothers and sisters. Up to today I deeply feel that this matter is something that I should do, and I have the burden to do this in my lifetime. Otherwise, I will be short before the Lord. Hence, I must grasp this opportunity to work it out. At the same time, the situation among us, both in the Far East and in the United States, has come to the point that we have no other way but to change the system.
The way of meeting that is revealed in the Bible, the way that we are aggressively entering into and carefully practicing, will cause us to be genuinely revived. In the denominations and in our past way of meeting, people were required to attend the Lord’s Day service but were not required to be revived. There were some responsible for singing, some for praying, and some for preaching, so those who attended the meeting did not need to do anything; they just needed to be there. If someone were to quarrel at home or even to commit a great sin, he could still go to the Lord’s Day morning service and everything would be fine. There was once a brother who was a responsible one in a denomination. His dining table in his home was used for the Lord’s table in the morning and then for playing mah-jongg after the meeting. From this we see that the old way of meeting does not require people to overcome or to be spiritual.
Today if we want to take the way of the recovery as revealed in the Bible, we have to be those who overcome and those who love the Lord. In other words, we must fellowship with the Lord every moment, live in the spirit every day, and walk according to the spirit. Otherwise, when we come to the meeting, we will have a meeting in which one person speaks and everyone else listens. Imagine if we are all in a meeting together, but you are down, and I am also down. In addition, some of the other saints in the meeting have just quarreled with their families at home before coming, and some others have spent the day before the meeting playing mah-jongg. If this were the case, how would we be able to function?
The scriptural way to meet is the way that God has ordained, and this God-ordained way requires us to be spiritual and to overcome in our living. In the past the brother who stood at the podium was in fear and trembling every Friday. He was afraid to lose his temper because he feared that if he did, he would not be spiritual or in an overcoming condition, and, as a result, he would not be able to speak on the Lord’s Day. However, after he spoke the message in the Lord’s Day meeting, his whole being would relax and become loose and free. The new way today, however, requires not merely one person to stand at the podium, but it requires everyone to “stand at the podium.” Everyone has to function in the meeting. At the very least, everyone has to pray. If we quarrel with our family and throw our chopsticks during dinner, when we come to the meeting, not only will we be unable to say anything, but we will not even be able to call “O Lord.” We all have had this kind of experience. Sometimes we do not even have the boldness to come to the meeting. This is our situation.
The kind of meeting that is revealed in the Bible is one in which everyone functions by praying, singing, speaking, and testifying. To be able to do these things requires us to live in the spirit. We must be those who love the Lord, who are consecrated to Him, who fellowship with Him, and who walk according to the spirit. If we are touched in our conscience that we have offended someone, we should confess it to the Lord immediately, and we should also confess it to the one whom we offended and make reconciliation with him. Only then can we recover the fellowship and be able to function in the meetings. Thus, we can see that the biblical way to meet is a way that requires us to be revived.