Sixth Grade Lessons, Block 6—The Meetings
Week 30
The Church—The Meetings (1)
Reading Reference: Lesson Book, Level 5: The Church—The Vision and Building Up of the Church, lessons 17; Heb. 10:25; John 10:3, 6; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2; 1 Cor. 14:23; Eph. 5:18-19
Memory Verse: Not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near. (Heb. 10:25)
Suggested Songs: Hymns, #1153
Scripture Reading: Heb. 10:25; John 10:3, 6; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2; 1 Cor. 14:23; Eph. 5:18-19
Points to Emphasize:
Since the church is the assembly called out by God from the world, it should meet continually. A local church without meetings is not a church. Meetings supply the saints with the Spirit, teach the saints with the Word, and keep the saints in the fellowship of the Triune God. Meetings express the fullness of the Triune God. Meetings defeat the enemy. Meetings save sinners. Meetings build up the church. Meetings are crucial and necessary. Without the meetings, a church cannot go on and will not arrive at the goal of being built up.
Hebrew 10:25 says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.’’ [Here the assembling of ourselves together refers to our Christian meetings. God has ordained the way in which every living thing in the universe should exist. As water is to the fish, and air to the birds, so are the meetings to the Christians. As the fish must live in the water and the birds must exist in the air, so the Christians must maintain their spiritual existence and living by the meetings.]
The Believers are a Meeting People
[Every kind of life has its own characteristic, and usually, many characteristics. One of the many characteristics of our spiritual life is to flock together, to meet together. John 10:3 and 16 show us that since we are saved, we are the Lord’s sheep. The characteristic of the sheep’s life is to flock together and to dislike isolation from the other sheep. Hence, the Bible says that we are not only the Lord’s sheep, but even more, His flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2). In order to be a sheep which shares in the blessing of the flock, we must meet together with the flock. The characteristic of the spiritual “sheep life’’ within us requires this of us.]
The Size of Church Meetings
[God’s ordained way for Christian meetings is to have two different sizes of meetings: small and large. The smaller size is to be held or practiced in the believers’ homes. Do not despise the small meetings.] You may meet with your family or with a few other brothers or sisters.
The church should also have large meetings in a larger place for the whole church to come together (1 Cor. 14:23).
We must be balanced. God’s design of our body is symmetrical. We have two ears, two eyes, two nostrils, two lips, two shoulders, two arms, two hands, two thighs, two legs, and two feet. On the one hand, we need to begin the meetings in small homes; on the other hand, when the need arises we should hold large meetings in a larger meeting place.
We should never excuse ourselves from the meetings, regardless of the reason; otherwise, we may excuse ourselves from the church life and the kingdom reward.
Meeting with the Basic Factors and Elements—
The Word, the Spirit, Praying, and Singing
In all of our meetings there should be four basic factors and elements: the word, the spirit, praying, and singing. If we handle these four elements in a proper and living way, there will be a rich display and expression of Christ in all of our meetings.
[Our Christian heritage today is in two things—the Word and the Spirit. We have the Word without and the Spirit within, and these two are one. When I have the Word in my hands it is the Word outside of me, but when I pray-read the Word, it gets into me and becomes the Spirit. When I speak the Spirit out to you, the Spirit becomes the word, and when you receive this word into you, it becomes the Spirit. As I am speaking the word, you are receiving the Spirit. But the strangest thing is this—we are supposed to be the speaking people of the speaking God, yet we do not speak. We need to learn how to handle the Word and the Spirit.
Another basic factor and element in our meetings is prayer. We have to learn to pray. The word and the Spirit must issue in our praying. In our meetings there should be many prayers.] [Actually, our church meetings need to be full of spontaneous and living prayers. We offer too many religious, duty-fulfilling prayers. Our prayers are not that spontaneous, real, genuine, or true. They are not that much in our spirit. We should not plan what to pray ahead of time. Our prayers should come out of us spontaneously in the way that we breathe.
Another basic factor and element in our meetings is singing. Both speaking and singing are the issue of the infilling of our spirit. If we are filled in our spirit something will flow out of us in speaking and singing. In Ephesians 5:18-19, Paul tells us to “be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.’’]