Only three books in all of the New Testament deal with the matter of meeting. We have seen that Matthew, the first book of these three, tells us that we must meet in the name of the Lord Jesus (18:20). This means that we must meet in the Spirit, for the reality of the Lord’s name is the Spirit. Then in 1 Corinthians, as we have seen, the first of all the items listed as functions in the meeting is a psalm (14:26). In other words, praising is the first among all the things we need in the meetings. For the meetings we must learn not just how to sing, but how to sing praises. The third book, the book of Hebrews, tells us that we should not forsake the meetings. The Christian life or the church life is a meeting life; if we do not have the meetings, it is impossible to have the church life. In this book we see also that the way for us to meet is by praising, and the way for us to praise is by the Lord Jesus singing hymns of praise unto the Father in the midst of our meeting. When we really sing praises to the Father in the spirit, Christ sings within us. The Lord Jesus today as the life-giving Spirit is indwelling our spirit and is one with our spirit. Unless we sing in the spirit, the Lord has no way to sing.
The best way to meet, therefore, is to praise with Christ singing in our praising. The Lord has shown us that after such a long book as the book of Hebrews, the last counsel we are given is that we all must praise. But the word is not so simple: it says, “Through Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God...” “Through Him therefore...” “Therefore” here is not a small word. Many things have been mentioned, many things concerning the riches of Christ have been unveiled; “therefore...” Since we have been made partakers of Christ, since we have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, since we have enjoyed Christ so much; therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of our praise. It does not say, “Let us offer praise,” but, “Let us offer the sacrifice of praise.” There is something within our praise as a sacrifice unto God. It is so strong; it is Christ-filled praise after Christ-filled praise unto God, confessing His name.
Many of us have been Christians for years and have heard many prayers and praises in the so-called Christian churches. When I recall these praises, I can only say, “How poor!” How very little of Christ there was in those praises, and even less of the experience of Christ. When I was young I heard a pastor begin his prayer in this way: “Holy, Holy, Holy, O God, the God of Holiness...” I was deeply impressed and thought it was a marvelous prayer. But when I recall it now, I can only say, “How poor! There is no little Benjamin, no Judah, no Zebulun and Naphtali.” There is almost nothing of Christ there, and there is no experience of Christ.
What is the meaning of, “Through Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God”? It means that we must pass through Christ, we must experience Him, we must partake of Him and enjoy Him in order to have the adequate praises of Him. Then what we will have as praise to the Father will not be according to our nature or any religious concept, but something composed from the subjective experiences of Christ. In the praises of today’s Christians it is really difficult to hear anything concerning the experiences and enjoyment of Christ. In the praise of Psalm 68 so much is said regarding Christ in figurative language. If we praised Christ today in the language of Psalm 68, with “little Benjamin, Judah, Zebulun and Naphtali,” we would sound to others as if we were speaking in a foreign language. If we entered a Christian service today and began to say, “O praise the Lord, here is Benjamin, the son of sorrow, the son of the right hand! Oh, the conquering lion, the scepter, Hallelujah!” people would say, “Where did he come from? What is he talking about?” Is this kind of praise strange to you? In these days we have prayed, “Oh, make the church in Los Angeles a haven of ships. Make us all a hind set loose. Oh, the beautiful words of Naphtali! Oh, the men of Galilee! Oh, make us all men of Galilee.” Now we all can follow.