But let us enquire for a moment what is meant by being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, for people seem to have extremely loose thoughts about this. If we had no later or fuller revelation than this in Matthew, it might seem quite open for any two or three Christians to gather in any place they chose, and there might be as many such gatherings as men wished. This is what many appear to accept. They seem to think that this is all that is required. But let me remind you that our business is always to carry out the mind of God. Separation from evil is in obedience to God’s will and word, but our further path, after having thus separated, must be equally in obedience, and in order to obey, we must search and see what the will of God is. For the further step we require further truth.
Now the precise character of failure in Christendom is, that it has departed from the later revelation of God, and gone back to the previous one. But you must always have the latest revelation of God. For our walk in these times we require the truth that applies to the present period. We are bound to act upon, not merely the latest in general, but the special revelation for the time in which we live. The special revelation for the present time has for its center Christ, and the Church of God circling round Him. Hence, therefore, two or three gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, can only be rightly gathered on the principle of the Church of God. What is it to be gathered on the principle of the Church of God? The great object of Christians coming together (though not the only one) is to worship God, and the grand mode (if I may use the term), the central act of worship, is taking the Lord’s Supper together, in remembrance of the One who died for us and saved us; the one loaf being the symbol of the one body, as in 1 Corinthians 10. Now every assembly so gathered has a claim upon each member of the body of Christ.
Suppose I find, in any place where I may happen to be, a meeting gathered on the principles of the Church of God, that meeting has a claim on me that I cannot and dare not disregard, if I am subject to God’s Word. Every meeting not so gathered has no claim on me, let its pretensions be what they may. The meeting which has a claim on me, as a member of the body of Christ, is gathered on such a basis, and has such a character that no member of the body of Christ, walking orderly with God, is excluded, or can conscientiously or intelligently absent himself from it. Suppose a Christian finds a meeting professedly on the ground of the Church of God, and yet there he could not be with a good conscience toward God, that meeting is not on divine principles. I do not of course by this mean any factious notion of one’s own, but a true conscience toward God, formed by His own Word, which, on account of something in that gathering — it might be evil doctrine, or deliberate refusal of Scriptural discipline — hinders one from meeting there. That is, the assembly should be so gathered that no member of the body ought to be absent, unless justly excluded by discipline. Such a meeting is not only the one I ought to be at, but it is the one I must be at if I wish to obey God. There is but one Lord and there is but one Lord’s table. It is no question of numbers or locality; it is entirely a question of the grounds on which saints are gathered. It is, of course, not possible to have all saints together, but it is perfectly possible, and what ought to be, to have all in communion.