The Meetings and Spiritual Exercise of the Local Church

Thanksgiving

5. Thanksgiving

Giving thanks is a normal and healthy Christian practice (Eph. 5:20). Watchman Nee and Witness Lee comment on the matter of thanksgiving in the meetings of the local churches and in daily life.

Concerning the giving of thanks in the bread-breaking meeting—the Lord’s table meeting—in the local churches (1 Cor. 10:16, 21), Watchman Nee remarks:

During the first part of the bread-breaking meeting, all our hymns, thanksgiving, and praises should be directed toward the Lord.

When we come to the Lord, we should offer thanksgiving and praises to Him. Strictly speaking, we should not do anything other than offer thanksgiving and praises. It is improper to petition for anything in this meeting. We cannot ask the Lord to shed His blood for us. This has already been accomplished; there is no longer any need to ask for this. We just have to praise and give thanks. Whether it is through praying or singing, we should only thank and praise Him. Thanksgiving is directed at the Lord’s work, while praise is directed at the Lord Himself. We give thanks for what He has done, and we praise Him for what He is. At the beginning there is more thanksgiving. But gradually we turn to praise. As we give thanks we also praise. We see what a wonderful work He has done for us, and we also see what a wonderful Savior He is. After we have offered up enough thanksgiving, we should begin to praise. When our praise reaches the peak, then is the time for us to break bread.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 3, Vol. 48, 201)

Witness Lee refers to the Old Testament typology in Ezra 3:10-13 in his discussion on the practice of thanksgiving in the local churches:

The oneness, the priesthood, the kingship, and the altar are the preparation for laying the foundation. According to typology, this foundation is nothing but Christ. They laid Christ as their foundation.

…How do we lay the foundation? The foundation is laid by praising and shouting. “And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because He is good, for His mercy endureth forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and chiefs of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: so that people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off” (Ezra 3:10-13).

(Witness Lee, Recovery of God’s House, 27-28)

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Thanksgiving

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