What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. (1 Cor. 14:26)
As believers, we know how important it is for us to meet and that we should not abandon our assembling together (Heb. 10:25). But for so long among Christians, we’ve grown accustomed to gathering every Lord’s Day to hear one person speak while the rest sit silently in the pews. In the early days of the church, however, there was no such format as this. Rather, when believers met, each member came with something to offer — a portion of Christ to share.
Where does this portion come from? When we gather, how do we not come empty-handed, but with something to dispense to others? How can we talk not as members of a religious organization, but organically as a true family? Early believers met “day by day” and “house to house,” where they broke bread together (Acts 2:46). In order to come to a meeting with something to offer, there must be something gained and cultivated all week long from our daily experiences with the Lord and with others. Brothers and sisters, our daily life needs to be vital, bright, and healthy; our souls should be filled with sunshine. That is simply living as a human being should: Enjoying the Lord, expressing the Lord, loving the saints, and developing new relationships with people are the organic result of the Christ in our spirit flowing out through our soul.
The result of such a joined, corporate living is that whenever we gather together, our portion is overflowing. This overflowing is nothing but the Christ that we have experienced, apprehended, and enjoyed in our everyday living for the building up of the church. And that enjoyment will have a corresponding expression that can flow out to others; whether it is a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation, it is simply Christ. Just as our healthy human soul is an expression of the Christ within, our corporate churching — our one soul — is an expression of the Christ among us. Indeed, we are His Body, being supplied and knit together, growing through the shared soul of the church life (Col. 2:19)!
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 2/9/2025, not reviewed by the speaker.)