It’s 50 years since that night in March of 1945 when I was born of God. In time or eternity I shall never forget that night. I had struggled to “believe,” strained to “trust,” agonized over how to “accept.” But all was darkness. At last, all hope was gone. I concluded I could never be saved; I would die a sinner and endure endless ages in the lake of fire.
But in that hour of hopeless despair, the Spirit of God took me away from my own useless efforts and led me by divine revelation to Calvary. There “I saw One hanging on a tree in agony and blood.” For the first time I saw Him dying, not for the world (though that is true), but for me! And in that moment, this hopeless sinner trusted Christ. I knew instantly that I was saved. Real life began and I have never regretted it.
My parents were gathered with a group of believers in a New Testament assembly. Within a year of my conversion, I was baptized and then received into fellowship in that small country assembly. I was quickly made to understand that I was then “one of the brethren.” That meant responsibility even though I was only 13 years old. It meant taking part in the public gospel testimony, preaching Christ on the street corner, giving out tracts and–above all–learning to be a worshipper.
My dad was a hard-working farmer. But he was more than that: he was a godly man who knew his Lord and knew His Word. Many was the hour, while helping milk a herd of cows in the morning or in the evening, that I was the only student in a “Bible class in the barn.” During those hours, the truth was poured into me, in the very same clear way it was taught in the local assembly.
The distinctiveness of assembly testimony was made so clear that it was hardly necessary to tell us it was unique from all other forms of “church” gathering. By example, precept, and practice, we learned what real worship is. We learned, and had reverence for, the “outside place” (Heb. 13:13), that delightful privilege of being gathered outside the fabrications of human religion to Christ alone. We learned to fear sin, because of the grief it would bring into an assembly and into our personal lives.
We were taught the Word of God by parents, praying Sunday school teachers, and by God-fearing elders. They were not people with a great deal of education; they were people of experience. They pointed us to the Book. They gave to us young fellows a foundation that was solid. That home life and that little country assembly comprised the best Bible school any young Christian could possibly grow up in. And there were hundreds of others just like the one I was privileged to be a part of.
We were taught that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. We learned to respect every word of the grand eternal Book. Thankfully, there were among us no men so carnal as to suggest that the upholding of certain scriptural teachings–head coverings for sisters, for example–is mere “straining at gnats.” How much stronger, how much happier and better would assemblies be today had there never been exposure to such ungodly teaching.
We were taught the beautiful truth of the priesthood of all believers; and learned that the benefits of this principle are marred in any group that retains a paid clergy, or where one or more humans make plans or decisions as to the proceedings in services for the whole group. Such a practice nullifies the free function of the Spirit of God among His people. We soon realized that the Spirit-led exercise of spiritual gifts–in other words, a functional laity–was one of the delightful distinctive qualities of assembly testimony.
Now some of us are fathers and grandfathers. What are we teaching the new generation? Are we passing on to them with simple, humble clarity the fundamental truths that have sustained and secured our walk for half a century? Are we giving our young today a solid foundation so they understand that being gathered simply to the Lord is the right course, the course the Lord has charted for His people throughout this dispensation? The Lord has never promised His presence or
His blessing anywhere except where His Word is sincerely and humbly kept. Do we still believe this, or are we like some today who seem to think that changing times have also changed the principles of the Word of God? Never! We need to teach the truth, so as to protect our young people from the modern carelessness that is afflicting so many gatherings; turning them into disorderly institutions that are easy to join and equally easy to leave.
Shame on us, if we pass on today anything less than our spiritual forefathers passed on to us (2 Tim. 2:2). Let us value, let us honor and respect the golden candlesticks, and He who walks among them. Let us hold fast that which remains, for the glory of the Lord and the betterment of His people. Let us walk in the light, as He is in the light, for surely then we shall have fellowship one with another (1 Jn. 1:7). May our testimony be that of the psalmist: “Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honor dwelleth” (Ps. 26:8).