At the end of January 1985 I flew back to the United States from Taipei. As soon as the plane took off, I already knew that the home meetings would develop to the present stage. At first the home meetings recovered some who had not been meeting for a long time. Those who had not met for twenty or thirty years came back to the meetings. How dear it was when they all came together, and how sweet it was to sing,
“Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love....
And perfect love and oneness reign
Through all eternity.”
Hymns, #860
If an old sister who had not been meeting for twenty years had sung this song, she would surely have burst into tears, and everyone else with her. However, beautiful flowers fade, a full moon wanes, and good things do not last. The meeting was good the first time, the second time, the third time, but by the fourth time it had become tasteless. And by the fifth time old wives’ fables had begun.
When the church began to meet, the way begun by Peter was continued by Paul. How do we know this? In 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 Paul says, “When I came to you, brothers...I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified.” This tells us that Paul preached only one subject in the church at Corinth, that is, Jesus Christ and this One crucified. He did not speak about ethics, morality, philosophy, law, or Old Testament doctrines. What he spoke and preached was Jesus Christ and this One crucified.
In chapter fourteen of the same Epistle Paul talks about the Christian meeting. When he speaks of the whole church being together in one place, he first speaks of the big meetings. What should be done in the big meetings? In verse 26, Paul says: “Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation....” The word “has” in this verse does not indicate to have in the future but to have in the present. When you come to a meeting, before leaving home you already have a psalm or a revelation; therefore, you bring them to the meeting. Before the meeting you already have something. It is not that you have nothing before the meeting, yet you bring your Bible and come empty-handed, thinking that because you have had a terrible week, you have nothing, but are assured that in the meeting you will receive grace. Thus you sit in your seat and wait for grace. When the meeting begins or the Holy Spirit moves within, you are inspired, and so you choose a hymn. No, it is that before you leave for the meeting, you are one who already “has,” as described by a hymn: “Whene’er we meet with Christ endued....and thus exhibit Christ” (Hymns, #864). This hymn was written according to the types of the Old Testament feasts. Each year the Israelites brought the produce of the land to the feasts. They brought cattle, sheep, grain, and new wine. They brought the produce of the good land and then exhibited all these riches. All the produce typifies Christ. The riches of the produce that they brought to the feast typifies the Christ brought to the New Testament meetings. Our meetings should be an exhibition of Christ.
The big meetings spoken of by Paul are those to which each one brings Christ. However, our big meetings are not like this. We are somewhat like Christianity, with one man speaking and the rest listening. In Paul’s ministry there were not only big meetings but also home meetings. We know this because in his Epistles he mentions the church in the home of a certain brother at least four times (Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philem. 2). If the church was in a brother’s home, there certainly must have been home meetings. From this you can see that there were big meetings and home meetings under the ministries of both Peter and Paul.