The Lord said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them.” These two words, “gathered together,” are the English translation of one word, which, if traced to its use in connection with assembly meetings in the Acts of the Apostles, gives us a clue as to the least number of meetings that are necessary for the welfare of a healthy assembly.
The Prayer Meeting (Acts 4:31)
“When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together.” It is surely very significant that the first meeting of the church should be a prayer meeting. This should be remembered in these days, when the prayer meeting is usually the most poorly attended of all meetings. It is the power meeting; we cannot do without it.
They prayed then till the very place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. The question must be asked: Do we “go to the prayer meeting” or do we go to pray?
The Teaching Meeting (Acts 11:26)
“They assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people.” The command in Matthew 28:20 was to teach in order to do. Much teaching is only for the filling of the heads of the hearers. A servant is not taught in order to fill his head with knowledge, or so that he can write a book on the subject, but to do it.
They taught in the Acts of the Apostles “Jesus and the resurrection,” and “the word of the Lord.” They taught “doctrine.” They “ceased not to teach and preach Jesus.” Apollos was an ideal teacher, in that what he had not yet understood, he was quite willing for ordinary folk like Aquilla and Priscilla to teach him; the best teacher is a teachable man.
The Missionary Meeting (Acts 14:27)
“When they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them.” Note the things the missionaries brought before them, a lesson to us missionaries today. (1) All that God had done. (2) How He opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. (3) See also 15:3-4. Declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. (4) Also 15:12. Declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. No wonder they caused great joy unto all the brethren.
The Elders’ Meeting (Acts 15:6)
“The apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.” What an object lesson for elders’ meetings! Here there was all the elements of a division, and yet see how wisely and graciously it was handled, so that at the conclusion there was happy agreement. See how Paul, on his way down to this meeting, spends his time (15:3), telling of the conversions, and bringing joy to the hearts of the saints. Many others would have been so filled with the subject of the differences of opinion, that they would have been talking of nothing else. It is a very damaging tendency. Beware!
The Bible Reading Meeting (Acts 15:30)
“When they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle, which, when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.”
They gathered the multitude together to read the epistle, and I expect there was a general discussion, such as we know of in our Bible readings; at any rate, Judas and Silas helped with the subject.
What is the cause for the decay of the Bible reading in our midst? Is it not that the Bible reading has been left to take care of itself, and brethren attending have, in many instances, never even looked beforehand at the subject or passage under consideration? Consequently it becomes a most profitless meeting. On the other hand, where brethren have exercised their hearts and minds before the Lord as to the passage to be dealt with, have come to the Bible reading full with helpful thoughts, they have helped to make the Bible reading a time of rich feeding from the Word.
The Breaking of Bread Meeting (Acts 20:7)
“When the disciples came together to break bread.” This was on the first day of the week, and seeing the apostles had been there for seven days, and broke bread on the first day of the week instead of the Sabbath (the day before), shows that the Sabbath was no longer kept by the disciples.
This meeting was an opportunity of having a word from the Apostle Paul, and preaching is not out of place at the Lord’s Supper, although some would exclude it. Obviously the ministry should enhance the saints’ appreciation of Christ and His sacrifice for us.
The Discipline Meeting (1 Cor. 5:4)
“When ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
This is the saddest meeting of all, and it should always be remembered that the restoration of the offending one should always be kept in view. As J. N. Darby so beautifully reminds us, we should think of what our feelings would be like were a beloved daughter of ours to go astray: our chief desire and aim would be to see the erring one brought back again, and how tenderly we would think and act towards such a person. We should remember that the offending one is a member of the family, and as such we should think and act towards him or her.
Thus we have a complete set of meetings. I do not say that these are the only meetings an assembly should have, but I would go the length of saying they are the least number of meetings which go to make a healthy assembly. Remember that in all these meetings He has promised, “There am I.”
Is that not enough reason to be there?