The Assembly Gospel Meeting
An assembly, no matter how many or few are in fellowship, no matter how sound its doctrine, must continue to preach the Gospel. First, because the Lord commands us to evangelize. Second, because the lost need to hear the message; it is their only hope. But third, in plain words, because of the law of the harvest, or the law of sowing and reaping. If there is no gospel meeting, little or no personal testimony, no tract distribution, no evangelistic visitation or Bible study, how do we think we will grow? What can we reap when we sow nothing? Or as someone phrased it differently, "if you aim at nothing you'll hit it every time."
In too many cases assemblies have abandoned the practice of a weekly meeting where the gospel is preached. Typically it was the evening meeting, and now the evening meeting has been cancelled until further notice, and the believers have become comfortable in their homes or other Sunday evening activities, and are reluctant to start up the meeting again. It could be discouragement, worldliness, plain old spiritual laziness, or a combination of factors. But none of these are a good reason for not preaching the gospel. The assembly that no longer proclaims the gospel has sealed its death warrant.
Norman Crawford has written an excellent article on the gospel meeting, and it was republished in Truth and Tidings magazine in 1998. Please take the time to read it.
The Assembly Gospel Meeting
The gospel pioneers who came to North America with a burning
passion to win lost souls called the buildings in which they preached
gospel halls. They never taught that Christians belonged to the gospel
hall; rather it belonged to Christians, and was used for the preaching
of the gospel. We are saddened and even baffled that many places that
once preached the gospel as a regular practice have ceased to do so. The
two most-often-heard excuses for this failure are that there is no
sense in preaching the gospel to Christians, and a personal presentation
of the gospel to an individual is a better method.
The Gospel to Christians
The "gospel to Christians" is an excellent description of two of
Paul's epistles, Galatians and Romans. The epistle that most clearly
teaches the order and functions of an assembly, 1 Corinthians, has three
major themes: the Cross, the Church of God, and the Coming of the Lord.
If gospel truth is not valuable to believers, much that is contained in
these major epistles of the NT is not for us. A large part of this
article is intended to show from Scripture the value of the gospel to
believers.
Personal Witness and Public Declaration
Is a one-on-one testimony all that is needed to fulfill the commission of the Lord? "Go ye into all the world and preach (kerusso)
the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). Surely we would never
discount the value of personal witness, and a life "that becometh the
gospel" (Phil 1:27) is a vital necessity, but is it enough and does it
fulfill the commission? The answer is no.
In January 1946, Mr. L. McBain asked me to join him for gospel
meetings in Michigan. It was a great privilege to work with a veteran
evangelist, and the lessons learned in many years with him are still of
the greatest value to me. We visited a lady next door to the schoolhouse
where we were preaching. As yet she had not attended a meeting, but she
showed interest. On that first visit, Mr. McBain gave her a full
explanation of our ruin in sin and God's one remedy, the precious blood
of Christ. When we left her home, he said, "That dear woman needs to
hear preaching." I was puzzled and asked what more she could hear than
what she heard that day. Patiently he explained that God uses "the
preached Word" to bring conviction and awakening to a soul. God's method
is an evangelist speaking as a herald. Years passed before I learned
the full import of this lesson.
Four different words that are translated "to preach" are found in
1 Corinthians 1:17, 18, 21, and 23. Verse 17 uses the general word, to
evangelize. It means to make the gospel known by every available means.
"The preaching of the cross" (v 18) is Logos, the Word, and is the Person we preach (Col 1:28). "The foolishness of preaching" (v21) is kerugma
and means the actual truths of the gospel: propitiation, redemption,
substitution, reconciliation, and justification. "But we preach Christ
crucified" (v23) is kerusso, and is found 61 times in the NT. It
is the word "preach" in the great commission, and always means a public
declaration by a herald, an evangelist who preaches the gospel. The Holy
Spirit is so careful in the use of this word that when Philip, the
evangelist, preached personally to the man in the desert, the word is
"to evangelize," not to preach as a herald (Acts 8:35). God is sovereign
and can reach people by whatever means He chooses, but we need to
understand that God's method is, "How shall they hear without a
preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?" (Rom
10:14-15). The words "preacher" and "preach" are from kerusso, the public declaration of a herald.
The Profit of Gospel Preaching to an Assembly
The Defence of the Gospel
From prison, Paul declared that "I am set for the defence of the
gospel" (Phil 1:17). He links this defense with the fact that "Christ is
preached and I therein do rejoice" (v18). An assembly is "a pillar and
ground of the truth" (1Tim 3:15). The truths that we believe and preach
comprise a body of teaching, "the apostles' doctrine" (Acts 2:42), "the
faith once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). If we cease to
preach truth, we may soon lose it.
The Glory of Christ
The names given to the gospel include, "the gospel of the grace
of God" (Acts 20:24), and "the gospel of the glory of God" (1Tim 1:11 Newberry).
In it, the grace of God is proclaimed, and the glory of God is the
result. Paul's statement that it is "the gospel of the glory of Christ"
(2Cor 4:4 Newberry) means that, whenever it is preached, it
brings glory to the Lord Jesus. This is a blessed fact, even if there
never were a sinner who believed it. What a privilege to glorify Him!
The Effect upon Believing Hearts
Christians often express their appreciation of ministry and then
add, "But there is nothing that so stirs my heart as the gospel preached
in power." It takes us back to the cross; back to our own conversion;
impresses on us the realities of eternity in contrast to the empty
things of time and the world, and gives us a fresh, personal conviction
of the plight of lost souls, driving us to our knees to pray for them.
The Privilege of Inviting Others to Gospel Meetings
Without a regular gospel meeting, how can souls we contact hear
the gospel preached? How privileged we have been to have heard the
gospel preached from our earliest days! Our children, our families, our
neighbors and fellow students or workers can be invited to come and hear
the gospel, and "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of
God" (Rom 10:17).
New Converts Added to an Assembly
The great majority of believers in assemblies were awakened and
saved through series of gospel meetings. When there is a regular
exercise to have such a series, there are times of plowing and sowing,
but "in due season we shall reap if we faint not" (Gal 6:9). There are
times of visitation (1Peter 2:12). Faithfulness in obeying the Word to
"preach Christ" will have eternal results as well as giving us the joy
of seeing souls saved and added to the assemblies.
Following a Pattern
There is great joy in following the pattern of the book of Acts
and the example of the pioneers who brought the gospel to us. We cannot
console ourselves that we are leaving the door open for people to come
to hear the gospel. That is not the pattern. It means, "Go ye." There is
no substitute for door-to-door work. Sunday school and children's work
has often been not only the means of reaching children, but their
parents as well.
Developing Gift in an Assembly
The gift of an evangelist is received at conversion, but gift
must be developed (1Tim 4:14). Without regular opportunities to preach
the gospel, there cannot be this development. Open-air meetings afforded
many an opportunity to preach the gospel regularly. To this was then
added the opportunity to preach in halls and rented buildings. Godly
elders were able to judge if a gift had been given and encourage those
who were gifted.
We have a great gospel heritage. Our minds are flooded with
memories of times of great blessing when gifted evangelists preached the
gospel with power, and God was pleased to work in the salvation of many
souls.
After souls had been saved, the rest of the great commission
followed, "teaching them to observe all things," and believers were
added to the testimony of an assembly.
Let us seek help from God to continue faithfully until He comes!
