Christian gatherings were formerly called “worship” in China. In the local churches, we did not follow this old custom of calling our gatherings “worship”; instead, we called our gatherings “meetings.” Most Christians said that it was worship time, and we said that it was meeting time. Now most Chinese Christians, whether in China or overseas, have dropped the term worship and instead use the term meeting. When I went to America, I wanted to change the concept of Christians in America concerning meetings. After much consideration, the Lord showed me that Christian meetings are for the exhibition of Christ. I believe that this was of the Lord. According to the type in the Old Testament and the revelation in the New Testament, whenever we meet, we should bring Christ. You bring your portion of Christ, and I bring my portion of Christ. We all bring our portion of Christ.
Concerning worship to God, John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” When we expound this verse, we should not take it out of context. The Lord Jesus was conversing with a Samaritan woman whom He wanted to lead to salvation. The woman was sinful; she had had five husbands, and the one she had then was not her husband. When the Lord Jesus revealed her sinful condition, she changed the subject to the matter of worship. She said, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, yet you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship” (v. 20). Instead of rebuking her, the Lord said, “The true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truthfulness, for the Father also seeks such to worship Him” (v. 23).
In the Old Testament God wanted His people to go up to Jerusalem three times a year to hold a feast unto Him. In order to attend a feast, the children of Israel could not be empty-handed; they had to bring offerings with them. Every offering is a type of Christ. Hence, we need to bring Christ with us to the meetings. In the Old Testament Jerusalem was God’s dwelling place, but today God’s dwelling place is in our spirit. The church is the dwelling place of God in spirit (Eph. 2:22). When we are gathered in spirit, our spirit is today’s Jerusalem.
The Lord Jesus seemed to be saying to the Samaritan woman, “The hour has come, and the age has changed, because I have come. We are not in the Old Testament age but in the New Testament age. This is not the age of types; it is the age of reality. In the Old Testament I had not yet become flesh, but in the New Testament I have become flesh. God desires that you worship in spirit and take Me as the reality of all the offerings. I have become flesh, full of grace and reality. I am the reality. Today God is not worshipped in this mountain or in Jerusalem; He is worshipped in your spirit. Moreover, you do not need the sacrifices. All the sacrifices have passed away. You need to take Me as the offerings. I am the reality.”
According to John 4:24 our Christian meetings to worship God should not be religious worship. We worship God by contacting Him with our spirit. Therefore, in order to overturn the old impression of Christianity, when I compiled the English hymnal in the United States in 1963, I translated the Chinese hymn on exhibiting Christ, which says, “Whene’er we meet with Christ endued, / The surplus of His plenitude / We offer unto God as food, / And thus exhibit Christ. / Let us exhibit Christ, / Let us exhibit Christ; / We’ll bring His surplus to the church / And thus exhibit Christ” (Hymns, #864).
Our meetings are to exhibit Christ. When we come to a meeting, we need to bring Christ with us. We exhibit Christ by offering Christ to God. In the Old Testament the sacrifice that the people offered to God had more than one function. The sacrifice typifies Christ, whose blood washes away our sins. Then God and the offerer enjoyed the sacrifice together. This is to enjoy Christ together with God. Whenever we meet, we offer Christ to God. On the one hand, He is our sin offering through which we are forgiven of our sins. On the other hand, God is here and we, the offerers, are here to enjoy Christ together in one Spirit. This is a genuine Christian meeting.
However, the worship in Christianity has followed the custom of the nations and has become deformed. It is according to the custom of worshipping idols that cannot speak, cannot see, and cannot hear. In 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul writes concerning the exercise of gifts in the meetings, he says, “You know that when you were Gentiles, you were always being led away to dumb idols, whenever and however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that...no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit” (vv. 2-3). In the past we served and worshipped dumb idols, but now we can say, “Jesus is Lord!” Paul says, “No one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” The meaning of this statement is twofold. On the one hand, we must be in the Spirit to say that Jesus is Lord, and on the other hand, when we say that Jesus is Lord, we are in the Spirit. Even though we may not be in the Spirit when we come to the meeting, as soon as we exercise to say, “Jesus is Lord,” we are in the Spirit. We exalt Jesus as Lord in our meetings by saying that Jesus is Lord. This causes us to exercise our spirit. This is the way to exhibit Christ and speak forth Christ. First Corinthians 12:3 is a basic verse concerning Christian meetings and the exercise of gifts. We are in the Spirit when we say that Jesus is Lord.
This is our testimony. We are not here to merely do a gospelizing and truthizing work without living Christ. Christ must become our living. He is not only the life within us; He is also the living expressed by us. Our preaching the gospel depends on this testimony, and our speaking the truth also depends on this testimony. The focus of our testimony is that we live Christ. We preach the gospel, speak the truth, and come together to live the normal church life as those who live Christ. This is the testimony of Christ.