晨興聖言-經歷、享受並彰顯基督(四)(W39-1)
第三十九週.週一
晨興餧養
弗四3 『以和平的聯索,竭力保守那靈的一。』
太十八20 『因為無論在那裏,有兩三個人被聚集到我的名裏,那裏就有我在他們中間。』
申命記十二章至少在四方面與新約中的啟示相符。
首先,…神的子民總該是一。為著保守以色列人的一,神不讓十二支派各有自己的敬拜中心。…神在祂的智慧裏,不讓祂的子民有自己的選擇或偏好;祂要求他們接受祂的選擇,即使去那地對許多人並不方便,他們也要一年三次到獨一的敬拜中心去。
許多人偏愛自己的方式,而不要神的方式。…所有的宗派都是按著人的偏好。…主的恢復乃是按著神的喜好,回到神的方式。(申命記生命讀經,八八頁。)
信息選讀
第二,…神保守祂子民在一裏的路,乃是有一個立祂名,就是那獨一之名的地方。…今天基督徒只該聚集到一個獨一的名裏,就是主耶穌的名裏。(太十八20。)然而,基督徒習慣於聚集到別的名裏,就如浸信會、長老會、聖公會、路德會、循理會。
按照申命記十二章的豫表,聚集到主獨一的名以外的名裏,乃是嚴肅的事。我們的敬拜若有別的名,是可憎的;這是屬靈的淫亂。我們是基督的配偶,祂的妻子。我們既是祂的配偶,就不該在祂的名以外有別的名。…妻子如何該冠夫姓,不可冠任何別人的姓;照樣,我們在基督裏的信徒,也只該冠基督的名字,而不可冠任何別的名字。
第三,申命記十二章和新約都啟示,神所選擇要我們敬拜祂的地方,乃是祂居所的地方。…按照以弗所二章二十二節,神的住處,神的居所,乃是在我們的靈裏。…我們若在基督的名下聚在一起,卻沒有操練我們的靈,反而留在天然的心思裏,或者甚至留在肉體裏,我們就不是在神的居所裏。我們聚集在一起,要藉著享受基督來敬拜神,就必須聚集到基督的名裏,也必須在靈裏。不然,我們就會失去召會的正確立場。
在有關敬拜神的一切事上,我們都必須操練我們的靈。當我們歌唱,我們該用靈唱;當我們讚美,我們該用靈讚美;當我們說話,我們該用靈說。我們若這樣作,聚會就要在神的居所中。
第四,在申命記十二章和新約裏都有祭壇,就是十字架。…保羅在林前二章二節指明這事的重要:『我曾定了主意,在你們中間不知道別的,只知道耶穌基督,並這位釘十字架的。』
召會的入口乃是十字架,凡要進到召會裏的人,都必須經歷十字架並且被釘死。經歷十字架就是你這個人被擺在一邊、被廢除、被減為無有。召會中只該有基督,不該有我們。我們該在那裏?我們該在十字架上。這就是說,我們不該將任何屬於舊人、肉體、己、或天然生命的東西帶進召會。我們在十字架上時,就真是在靈裏了。
我們豫備來聚會時,可以禱告說,『主,我若仍然有肉體、己和天然生命,求你赦免我,並且除去這些東西。主,我需要被除去,然後被你自己所膏抹。』我們若都是這樣來聚會,就是在基督的名裏聚會,在神的居所裏聚會,並且在十字架的應用下聚會。(申命記生命讀經,八八至九一頁。)
參讀:申命記生命讀經,第十至十一篇。
WEEK 39 — DAY 1
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 4:3 Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
Matt. 18:20 For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.
Chapter 12 of Deuteronomy corresponds in at least four ways to the revelation in the New Testament.
First,…the people of God should always be one. In order to preserve the oneness of the children of Israel, God did not allow each of the twelve tribes to have its own worship center…In His wisdom God did not allow His people to have their own choice or preference but required them to take His choice and to come three times a year to the unique worship center, even though travel to that place was inconvenient for many of them.
Many prefer to have their own way instead of God’s way…All denominations are according to man’s preferences…The Lord’s recovery is a matter of coming back to God’s way according to God’s preference. (Life-study of Deuteronomy, 2nd ed., pp. 75-76)
Today’s Reading
Second,…God’s way to keep the oneness of His people is to have a place with His name, the unique name…Today Christians should be gathered together into only one name, the name of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 18:20). However, Christians are accustomed to being gathered into other names, such as Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and Methodist. According to the type in Deuteronomy 12, it is a serious matter to be gathered into a name other than the unique name of the Lord. To have other names for our worship is an abomination; it is spiritual fornication. We are Christ’s
counterpart, His wife. Since we are His counterpart, we should not have
a name other than His name…Just as a wife should bear the name of her
husband, not the name of any other man, so we, the believers in
Christ, should bear only His name and not any other name.
Third,
both Deuteronomy 12 and the New Testament reveal that the place chosen
by God for our worship of Him is the place of His habitation… According
to Ephesians 2:22, God’s habitation, His dwelling place, is in our
spirit…If we come together under the name of Christ but, instead of
exercising our spirit, we remain in the natural mind or, even worse, in
the flesh, we will not be in the habitation of God. In gathering
together for the worship of God by enjoying Christ, we must gather into
the name of Christ and we must be in the spirit. Otherwise, we will lose
the proper ground of the church.
In
everything related to the worship of God, we need to exercise our
spirit. Whenever we sing, we should sing with our spirit. Whenever we
praise, we should praise with our spirit. Whenever we speak, we should
speak with our spirit. If we do this, the meeting will be in God’s
habitation.
Fourth,
in Deuteronomy 12 and in the New Testament we have the altar, the
cross…Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 2:2 indicates the importance of this:
“I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ,
and this One crucified.”
At
the entrance of the church is the cross, and everyone who would come
into the church must experience the cross and be crucified. To
experience the cross is to be set aside, to be annulled, to be reduced
to nothing. In the church there should be only Christ, not us. Where
should we be? We should be on the cross. This means that we should not
bring anything of the old man, anything of the flesh, the self, or the
natural life, into the church. When we are on the cross, we are truly in
the spirit.
As
we are preparing to come to the meeting, we may pray, “Lord, if I still
have something related to the flesh, the self, and the natural life, I
ask You to forgive me and to cross out these things. Lord, I need to be
crossed out and then anointed with Yourself.” If we all come to the
meeting in this way, we will meet in the name of Christ, we will meet in
God’s habitation, and we will meet under the application of the cross.
(Life-study of Deuteronomy, 2nd ed., pp. 76-78)
Further Reading: Life-study of Deuteronomy, msgs. 10—11
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