Week 8 The Practice of Service
LESSON EIGHT
THE IMPORTANCE OF MEETINGS
Hymn 864
Scripture Reading:
Heb. 10:25 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.
Matt. 18:20 For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.
GOD’ S ORDINATION FOR THE BELIEVERS
In Hebrews 10:25 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. God’s ordination is the very law by which a particular species lives. If the living thing obeys that law, it will survive and be blessed. God is the same toward us who have believed in Christ. God’s ordination for us, which becomes our law of existence and blessing, is the meetings. 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.
A REQUIREMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
Every kind of life has its own characteristic, and usually, many characteristics. The spiritual life we believers have received, being the life of God in us, also possesses many characteristics. For example, the hatred for sin and the separation from sin are characteristics of this life. The desire to draw near to God and the willingness to serve Him are also its 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 IMPORTANCE OF THE BELIEVERS’ MEETINGS
In Matt. 18:20 the Lord especially promised that wherever two or three of us who belong to Him are gathered together into His name, that is, meet in His name, He is in our midst. When we meet in His name, we enjoy His presence in a special way. His very presence undoubtedly brings us enlightenment, grace, supply, and all kinds of blessing. …What is mentioned in Hebrews 10:24-25 shows us that meetings can cause us to consider one another for inciting to love and to exhort one another for good works. This causes us to have spiritual fellowship with the saints to receive the life supply from them. Thus, we must not forsake the meetings, and so much the more as we know that the Lord will soon come back. Our Christian life is not like the life of a butterfly, which does well on its own; our life is like the sheep’s life, requiring that we flock together and live a meeting life. Consequently, we need to meet, and the meetings are crucial to us. (Life Lessons, pp. 96-97)
Reference: Life Lessons, lsn. 14; Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 3, ch. 30.
