晨興聖言-為着主的來臨(W2-4)

第二週　週四

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晨興餧養

加四19　我的孩子們，我為你們再受生產之苦，直等到基督成形在你們裏面。

林後三18　但我們眾人既然以沒有帕子遮蔽的臉，好像鏡子觀看並返照主的榮光，就漸漸變化成為與祂同樣的形像，從榮耀到榮耀，乃是從主靈變化成的。

    我們都知道，神救恩的目的是要把我們作成祂的形像〔羅八29〕。…成熟就是主在我們裏面完全成形了。也就是說，我們這一個蒙恩得救的人，完全變成主的形像。我們原來只是個天然的人，裏頭沒有主的生命，沒有主的性情，也沒有主的形像；但主的救恩把祂自己加到我們裏面。從我們重生得救起，主就把祂自己加到我們裏面，使我們有祂的生命和性情；也就是說，從那時候起，主就要把我們作得有祂的形像。等到主把祂的形像完全作到我們裏面，祂也從我們裏面完全彰顯出來的時候，我們就生命成熟了（李常受文集一九五五年第三冊，三八二頁）。

信息選讀

    〔在〕書信裏，我們…看見一班加拉太人，他們相信了，沒有疑問，他們的罪得了赦免，他們也得着了神的生命，但是他們都太倚靠自己，憑自己活着，沒有靠基督的生命活着。在這個時候，使徒保羅說，『我為你們再受生產之苦。』（加四19）為甚麼呢？…乃是為叫基督成形在他們裏面。

    神的救恩惟一的目的，就是要把祂自己調到我們裏面；祂要進到我們裏面，作我們的生命（西三4上）；祂要在我們裏面長大（二19下）。…我們得救的最終目標，乃在於要我們這些得救的人，與神調和在一起，叫基督因我們的信住在我們裏面（弗三17），作我們的生命，使我們漸漸長大，直到成熟（四13）。…神救恩的目標，乃是要信徒在生命裏長大成熟，至終和基督畢像畢肖。

    神如何來成就這樣的救恩呢？首先，祂差遣祂獨生的兒子，為我們的罪死在十字架上，然後祂自己就在基督裏成為靈（林前十五45下），進入我們裏面，作了我們的生命，而活在我們裏面。基督不僅活在我們裏面（加二20），祂還要長在我們裏面；祂要在我們裏面長大，成形，並且成熟（弗四13）。這就是神的救法。然而，甚麼叫作長大成熟呢？長大成熟的意思是，基督在我們裏面，作了我們的生命，然後在我們裏面不斷得生長，長到一個地步，在我們裏面成形了。等到基督在我們裏面成形時，也就是我們在基督的生命裏成熟的時候（李常受文集一九五五年第三冊，一八四至一八五頁）。

   我們若不長大成熟，就留在幼稚時期，難以領會神公義的話，就是像乾糧的話〔參來五12~14〕，因而就不能領略神這較深之話的啟示，有分於神新約的經綸，像當日那些希伯來的信徒一樣。神經綸中的智慧，只能講給長成的人（林前二6）。 要進入神新約的經綸，就是神永遠的計畫，需要我們在神的生命上長大成熟。

     我們信徒得重生後，在神的生命裏可能不再是嬰孩，卻仍是小孩子，容易被一切教訓之風所搖盪，漂來漂去，受到欺騙，被引入錯謬、詭詐的系統中，中了撒但的詭計〔參弗四13~14〕。無論我們在積極方面，能領略神的啟示，曉得神的經綸、計畫，還是我們在消極方面，能不受欺騙，不中撒但的詭計，都需要長大成人（生命課程卷四，三四七至三四八頁）。

參讀：李常受文集一九五五年第二冊，召會的前途，第六章。

WEEK 2 — DAY 4

Morning Nourishment

Gal. 4:19 My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.

2 Cor. 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

We all know that the purpose of God’s salvation is to work in us so thatwe may have His image (Rom. 8:29)…To be mature is to have the Lord fully  formed in us. It also means that we, those who have been saved, have been fully transformed into the Lord’s image. Originally, we were men who were merely natural—not having the life of the Lord, the nature of the Lord, or the image of the Lord within us. However, through the salvation of the Lord, the Lord has added Himself into us. Since the time of our regeneration and salvation, the Lord has been adding Himself into us, causing us to have His life and nature. In other words, from the time of our salvation, the Lord has been working in us so that we may have His image. When the Lord has fully worked His image into us and is fully expressed out from within us, then we will be mature in life. (CWWL, 1955, vol. 3, “The Way for a Christian to Mature in Life,” pp. 295-296)

Today’s Reading

In the Epistles we see that the Galatians undoubtedly believed in the Lord. Their sins were forgiven, and they had the life of God, yet they lived by themselves, relying too much on themselves rather than on the life of Christ. The apostle Paul said to them, “My children, with whom I travail again in birth…” (Gal. 4:19). Why did he travail again in birth for them?… It was for Christ to be formed in them.

The unique purpose of God’s salvation is for God to come into us and mingle Himself with us. God wants to come into us to be our life (Col. 3:4a) and to grow in us (2:19b)…The ultimate goal of our salvation is for us, the saved ones, to be mingled with God that Christ may make His home in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17) as our life and that we may grow up unto maturity (4:13). The goal of God’s salvation is that the believers gradually grow and mature in life until, consummately, they are exactly the same as Christ.

How does God accomplish such a salvation? First, He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins. Then in Christ and as the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), He enters into us to live in us as our life. Christ is not only living in us (Gal. 2:20) but also growing in us. He intends to grow, to be formed, and to mature in us (Eph. 4:13). This is God’s saving way…To grow unto maturity means that Christ lives in us as our life and that He continually grows in us to the extent that He is formed in us. When Christ is fully formed in us, we will be mature in His life. (CWWL, 1955, vol. 3, “The Way for a Christian to Mature in Life,” pp. 143-145)

If we do not grow and mature, we will remain in the childish stage, unable to comprehend God’s word of righteousness, which is like solid food [cf. Heb. 5:12-14]. Hence, like the Hebrew believers in the early days, we will be unable to comprehend the revelation of God’s deeper word and thus be unable to participate in God’s New Testament economy. The wisdom in God’s economy can be spoken only to the full-grown (1 Cor. 2:6). To enter into God’s New Testament economy, into God’s eternal plan, requires that we grow and mature in the life of God.

After our regeneration as believers, although we may no longer be newborns in the life of God, we still may be babes, easily tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, deceived and led in craftiness with a view to a system of error, being tricked by Satan [cf. Eph. 4:13-14]. We need to grow and mature in order, on the positive side, to comprehend the revelation of God and to know His economy and plan, and on the negative side, to not be deceived or tricked by Satan. (Life Lessons, vol. 4, pp. 69-70)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1955, vol. 2, pp. 485-489, 492