The Bible does not show us how Jerusalem was divided into districts. When we read the book of Acts, we know that there were districts, although they did not use our terminology. The prayer meetings were in individual homes. When Peter was put into prison, as you recall from the story of Rhoda, the house of Mark was a place of prayer. Let me repeat that the Bible does not give us all the particular detailed items of the affairs of the church, because God is not pleased when everything is structured. However, in the Bible there are some clues concerning the arrangement of all the affairs. These clues are placed in the Bible. This causes the church in every generation to learn to seek God and to make arrangements according to the Lord even though the church encounters the same situations again and again.
According to the actual situation, it would have been impossible for all the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem to meet together to break bread. It would have been impossible in practice. If there had been only one cup, how large should that cup have been? If there had been only one bread, how would you have distributed that bread? How much time would you have needed to spend to pass the bread to several thousand people? Later, the number became tens of thousands. Passing the bread to so many people would be impossible. Even if they took all seven days of the week to meet, it would nevertheless be very hard to distribute the bread and pass the cup in a good way. Therefore, we can see very clearly that they met by districts in those days. The house of Mark was a house among many houses.
Therefore, I hope that we would always keep this principle before God. On the one hand, we acknowledge that the Bible mentions arrangements concerning these matters. On the other hand, we also acknowledge that the Bible does not give us a regulation concerning the arrangement of these matters. In the Bible, God always maintains a principle rather than giving us detailed regulations concerning how outward things should be done.
For example, these days we write letters of recommendation or letters of introduction. In the Bible we see only the letter of recommendation, but the Bible never tells us how this letter should be written. Paul said that he did not need letters of commendation. “Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some do, letters of commendation to you or from you?” (2 Cor. 3:1). This tells us that there was a recommendation letter, but we are not told how it was written. Therefore, we are learning year by year to have letters of recommendation and how to write them in a good way. Paul did not leave us a form or a handbook of form letters so that we would only need to fill in the blanks. We should be learning all the time how to write such letters.
When God does things in the church, He always gives just a principle. He only shows you that He is doing something; He never reckons that the Holy Spirit is apart from the church. From God’s view the Holy Spirit is in the church to represent Christ; the Holy Spirit dwells in the church. Therefore, as long as we have the principle concerning a certain matter and are willing to submit ourselves to the Head of the church, the Holy Spirit can teach us how to carry it out.
I hope that you can see this matter, especially the matter of dividing into districts. Even though we have no details or regulations of the Bible to tell us how to do it, we know that in practice it is impossible not to have meetings by separate districts. Moreover, in the book of Acts we see the principle of meeting by districts. The saints met from house to house. The house of Mark was one of those houses. Acts 2:46 says, “From house to house.” This verse shows us the principle of the districts. Today we ask God to teach us how to carry out these things based on the principle in the Bible.
I wish you would remember this principle—the Bible does not keep anything from us regarding spiritual things. It speaks in a very detailed way. However, concerning the aspect of practical affairs, concerning the Levitical service (in matters of serving God, there is service in the nature of the Levites), the Bible gives us only clues, not regulations. It shows us that there are such matters, but it does not show us how these matters are carried out. Today when you are going to carry them out, you will find that the Holy Spirit has not left you, that the Holy Spirit is still in the church, and that Christ is still the Head of the church through the Holy Spirit. In order to know this matter, you can wait and pray. Then you will be able to gain the light. I hope that the brothers will see the matter of meeting by districts and practice according to this principle.