The most crucial step to lead people in the new way is the step of meeting. How should we meet? In the last two thousand years, this has been a matter every seeker of the Lord has been concerned about, and this has also been a big problem that all the denominations of Christianity faced when they were first established.
Concerning the believers’ meetings, we may take some of the Old Testament principles as reference, but we cannot follow the Old Testament in details, otherwise, we will be trapped in dead letters. Therefore, concerning the matter of meetings, we must completely follow the revelation and pattern in the New Testament.
Among the four Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament, only the Gospel of John mentions the matter of worship. Chapter four records the conversation between the Lord and a sinful, immoral woman. When the Lord Jesus asked her concerning her husband, she changed the topic to the matter of worship, attempting to cover up her immoral and sinful history. At that time, the Lord Jesus told her that the worship of God was not on the mountain in Samaria, nor in Jerusalem, but in the human spirit (vv. 21, 23). We ought to believe that when the Lord Jesus was speaking with her, He brought her into the true worship. The true worship of the believers is to contact God the Spirit with the human spirit (v. 24). This is also to drink the Lord as the living water. This is the worship of God mentioned in the Gospels.
In Acts, we cannot find the term “worship services.” Although sometimes the disciples went to the temple, that referred to the services of the Jewish people according to the Old Testament and not to the meetings of the New Testament believers. In the Epistles, the term “worship services” is not used, but rather “meetings” or “gatherings” is used. In Revelation, there is no mention of worship services at all; instead, it mentions numerous times the matter of eating. Chapter two verse 7 says, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” Verse 17 says, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna.” Chapter three verse 20 says, “If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me.” Chapter twenty-two verse 17 says, “He who wills, let him take the water of life freely.” This eating and drinking is the worship that God wants in the New Testament.
Today there is a big mountain standing before us. This is the worship service established by Satan in the past two thousand years through degraded Christianity. This has become a great hindrance to us in the Lord’s recovery who desire to meet according to God’s New Testament economy. The concept of attending worship services has already been deeply rooted within people. Once a person has repented and believed in the Lord Jesus, he immediately has a reaction within himself saying, “I have to find a chapel to attend services.” I believe that when you go to the community to lead newly saved ones to have home meetings, you will encounter some asking the same type of question, “Where do you go for worship services?” They think within their heart that since they are Christians, they should join a certain church. The best would be one which has a good reputation, is proper, and has a decent chapel with a solemn atmosphere so that upon entering, people will pay great respect. This kind of concept is already deeply rooted within most people, even ourselves. Subconsciously we would rather have a beautiful meeting hall with believers filing in each Lord’s Day morning, being seated in an orderly manner, and waiting quietly for the responsible brothers to call the hymns to begin the meeting. But what is revealed in the Bible is not like this. First Corinthians 14:26 says, “Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.” The phrase “each one has” nullifies the matter of attending the worship services of Christianity. Therefore, in talking about the steps to lead people in the new way, we must first understand that attending worship services is absolutely not of God. In the New Testament there is not such a thing as attending worship services.