Evangelical churches are a flurry of words, announcements, promotions, songs, specials, anecdotes, jokes, antics, and sermons (some good, many not so good). How refreshing to rediscover the Lord’s Supper or what is commonly called the “breaking of bread.”
It is a special time and so very foreign from typical, or denominational Christianity. There are many unique and beautiful things about this memorial service of men and women “gathering unto the Lord.” One is the peace and quiet.
The Bible says there is a time to speak and a time to be silent. The spirit knows the difference. Nothing is more glorious than to hear holy men of God, speak as they are moved by the Holy Spirit. It has been a blessing to see men arise at the Lord’s Table to share a word from heaven, offer an appropriate hymn, or lift a prayer. Nothing is more glorious, unless it is a Spirit controlled silence that seems to embrace a congregation with a holy hush.
This blessed quietness is not just being speechless, nor is it a poverty of insight, gratitude, or inspiration. Those are periods of drought and can be painfully awkward and embarrassing.
Blessed quietness is rather a great calm not unlike the one which comforted the troubled sea of Galilee at the word of our Lord.
It is those moments when the Holy Spirit causes a group of people to lose their breath for a moment at the thought of God’s greatness. It is a time of wonder when the assembly briefly forgets itself and pauses to lift a silent prayer of thanksgiving for the light after having come in from a world that is dark. It is time when, so overwhelmed with a sense of God’s goodness, that we count our blessings in our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a few brief moments when we realize the din and noise of the world has been shut-out, the TV shut-off, the blasphemers shut-up, and the saints are shut-in.
There is a time to speak, and in those times nothing can or should hold back such a heart or voice exercised by the Holy Spirit. It might be a burst of praise, or a measured exposition of truth, or word of wisdom, but every hearer knows it is of God.
Sometime couples lost in love need say nothing to enjoy their company. Sometimes they just hold hands in silence. On occasion they glance at each other and are thrilled and overjoyed. There is no uneasiness as neither is saying a word. This is a far different silence than that of two people “not talking to each other.” Only those who have been there know the difference.
The assembly that is in love with the Lord Jesus and comfortable in His presence experiences more of worship in Spirit and in truth than those who have eloquence, enthusiasm, and exposition without the exercising and moving of the Holy Spirit.
Don’t be afraid of the right kind of quietness. There is a time to speak. There is a time to praise. There is a time to sing, just as there is a time when a sparrow must take to wing and can sit no longer. But, then too, like those times when you come upon a scene too great for words, there is a time for silence.
Brother Deridder makes his home in Raleigh, NC, where he fellowships at the North Raleigh assembly. He was recently commended to the Lord’s work by the saints there. This article is reprinted with permission from the July 1993 issue of The Servant, a paper he sends out on a regular basis.