We will now consider how to have the bread-breaking meeting. We may think that we are experienced, but the structure of our meetings is not definite and clear. Every meeting should have a structure, and the bread-breaking meeting is no exception. The focus of the bread-breaking meeting is the remembrance of the Lord, but it is not to remember the Lord’s death—it is to remember the Lord Himself (1 Cor. 11:24-25). When we remember the Lord, we are declaring His death (v. 26); that is, we display, exhibit, the Lord’s death. However, we do not remember the Lord’s death; instead, we remember the Lord Himself.
Remembering the Lord is to enjoy the Lord. In the night that the Lord Jesus was betrayed, He “took bread, and having given thanks, He broke it and said, This is My body, which is given for you; this do unto the remembrance of Me” (vv. 23b-24). These verses show that to remember the Lord is to eat the Lord. Verse 25 says, “Similarly also the cup after they had dined, saying, This cup is the new covenant established in My blood; this do, as often as you drink it, unto the remembrance of Me.” The focus of remembering the Lord is the enjoyment of the Lord, who became flesh, passed through death and resurrection, and ascended. In the bread-breaking meeting there are two symbols on the table: the bread, signifying the Lord’s body, and the cup, signifying the Lord’s blood. The fact that the body and the blood are separated signifies the Lord’s death. Hence, in the bread-breaking meeting, we remember the incarnated Lord, who passed through human living on the earth and entered into death. Then He resurrected, ascended to the heights, and became the life-giving Spirit to produce us, the many sons of God, as His Body. We remember the Lord by enjoying Him as such a Lord. This should be the center of our hymns and prayers.
I attended a bread-breaking meeting in which a sister called the hymn “Revive Thy Work, O Lord” (Hymns, #797). This hymn is not appropriate for the bread-breaking meeting. Perhaps the sister had a feeling for the hymn because the church was promoting the burden of preaching the gospel and gaining people. However, when we come to the bread-breaking meeting to remember the Lord, we should remember the Lord and enjoy Him. As we enjoy Him, He is enjoying us; if we do not enjoy Him, He cannot enjoy us. The more we enjoy Him the more He enjoys us. Hence, we must remember that in the bread-breaking meeting we should not think of anything other than the Lord. This is something we all must learn.
The more experienced saints should spontaneously express a proper pattern in the bread-breaking meeting; otherwise, less experienced saints will not maintain the focus of the meeting. The more experienced saints should bear the responsibility for the direction of the meeting.
In every meeting there is always the operating of the Spirit; nevertheless, the Holy Spirit still needs an outlet. Sometimes the outlet is through prayers and praises, and other times it is through the hymns. Last year in a training in Irving, Texas, we had a bread-breaking meeting. In that meeting I sensed that the Spirit was operating, and I waited, but no one made a move. Therefore, I called Hymns, #132: “Lo! in heaven Jesus sitting, / Christ the Lord is there enthroned; / As the man by God exalted, / With God’s glory He is crowned.” As soon as this hymn was sung, the entire meeting was released, and we were in the heavens.
In every bread-breaking meeting there is a need for the more experienced saints to follow the operation of the Holy Spirit and to lead the meeting according to this operation. The church is like a family with many generations meeting together. The older saints should not constantly reminiscence about the old days, saying that it was like such and such “in the early days.” Neither should the younger ones be at a loss concerning the structure of the meetings. The more experienced saints should learn how to “steer” the meeting. This is different from controlling. It is to be at the “helm” of a meeting and to steer it in an appropriate direction. This is not control.
If the experienced saints in the church can be at the “helm” of the bread-breaking meeting, the meeting will progress steadily according to a proper pattern. Then the saints, including those who have been recently recovered back to the church life as well as those who have been newly saved, will be under the nurturing and cultivating of the pattern in the meetings, and they will be raised up in their experience.