晨興聖言-經歷、享受並彰顯基督(四)(W45-6)

第四十五週.週六

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晨興餧養

太二十27~28 『你們中間無論誰想要為首,就必作你們的奴僕。正如人子來,不是要受人的服事,乃是要服事人,並且要捨命,作多人的贖價。』

彼前五3     『…不是作主轄管所委託你們的產業,乃是作群羊的榜樣。』

馬太二十四章四十八節說,『若是那惡僕心裏說,我的主人必來得遲。』惡僕是信徒,因他是主所派的;(45;)他稱主為『我的主人』;他相信主要來。四十九節說,那惡僕動手打那些和他同作奴僕的,又和酒醉的人一同喫喝。動手打同作奴僕的,就是虐待作同伴的信徒;和酒醉的人一同喫喝,就是與沉醉在屬世事物裏的世人為伴。(馬太福音生命讀經,八二○頁。)

信息選讀

我們眾人都應該按時分糧給主的子民,(太二四45,)並且充分使用主的恩賜。(二五20,22。)在消極一面,我們不該動手打那些和我們同作奴僕的人。(二四49。)你可能沒有盡你的責任去完成你的事奉,反而在批評,有時甚至強烈的和弟兄們作對。你不是在作工,乃是動手打同作奴僕的。有些姊妹總是忙於打電話。…當她們聽見關於某些弟兄們(特別是長老們)不好的事,她們就忙於講電話。…這些電話上的談論都是在動手打人。

有些時候在禱告聚會裏,為著一個在消極情形裏的聖徒,你也許用一種巧妙的方式為他禱告。…你為人禱告,但你的禱告大約百分之十是一種論斷。這就是動手打人。

你把你事奉的時間浪費在動手打人的事上。你沒有事奉,反而動手打了弟兄,就是和你同作奴僕的。許多弟兄都能見證,他們從未聽見我藉著批評人或暴露人而動手打人。我惟一的負擔乃是釋放信息。雖然我無意暴露任何人,許多人卻藉著我所釋放信息裏的光被暴露。那不是我的工作,乃是主的工作。我們都必須停下我們的批評、論斷、反對和怨言,那些都是在動手打人。我們必須花費我們的時間、我們的精力、和我們的一切,為著主的權益有積極的事奉。(李常受文集一九八五年第五冊,六六四至六六六頁。)

我們也不該給別人建議或指示。我們沒有一個人彀資格這麼作。在使徒行傳的時代,彼得、保羅、和其他的使徒,都沒有資格憑自己下斷案或給人指示。那麼我們如何?我們必須尊重主。我們不是主,不是主人,也不是莊稼的主。惟有主耶穌纔是莊稼的主,祂是主人;我們必須尊重祂,而不憑自己下斷案。…然而,我們已往在這方面都犯了錯,因為在我們中間作了許多定規。有些是個人定規的,有些是團體定規的。在有些事例中,有的人甚至替別人作決定。但主在那裏?當我們這樣作決定時,好像我們中間沒有主,似乎我們沒有那靈,只有我們自己可依賴。我們有所定規,也給人指示。我們不可以這麼作,我們必須禱告、禁食、等候主。我們必須尊重主。祂是我們的主人,我們是祂的奴僕。我們應當對祂說,『主阿,你是我的主人。我沒有資格,也沒有地位和權柄作決定或吩咐別人。主,我等候你。我要知道你的旨意和心意。主,我要曉得你要我作甚麼,要我的同工作甚麼。主,我求問你,你要眾召會作甚麼。』我們都必須有這種態度;否則,我們就會侮辱主,至終祂會把我們放棄。(李常受文集一九七七年第二冊,三七八至三七九頁。)

參讀:那靈與基督的身體,第一章。

WEEK 45 — DAY 6

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Morning Nourishment

Matt. 20:27-28 And whoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.

1 Pet. 5:3 Nor as lording it over your allotments but by becoming patterns of the flock.

Matthew 24:48 says, “But if that evil slave says in his heart, My master delays.” The evil slave is a saved believer, as seen in the fact that he was appointed by the Lord (v. 45), that he called the Lord “my Master,” and that he believed that the Lord was coming. Verse 49 says that the evil slave beats his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with the drunken. To beat the fellow slaves is to mistreat the fellow believers, and to eat and drink with the drunken is to keep company with worldly people, who are drunk with worldly things. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 706)

Today’s Reading

All of us should be those who are feeding the Lord’s people at the proper time (Matt. 24:45) and using the Lord’s talents in full (25:20, 22). On the negative side, we should not be those beating our fellow slaves (24:49). You may not do your duty to perform your service, but instead you are criticizing and sometimes even strongly opposing the brothers. You are not doing the work but beating the fellow slaves. Some of the sisters are always busy on the telephone…When they hear something bad about certain brothers, especially the elders, they become busy on the telephone…These telephone calls are all beatings.

Sometimes you may have a subtle way of praying in the prayer meeting for a saint who is in a negative situation…You pray for people, but about ten percent of your prayer is a kind of judging. This is beating.

You waste your time of service in beating. Instead of doing the service, you beat the brothers, the fellow slaves. Many of the brothers can testify that they never heard me beating others by criticizing or exposing them. My only burden is to release messages. Although I have no intention of exposing anyone, many are exposed by the light in the messages I release. That is not my job but the Lord’s work. We all have to stop our criticizing, judging, opposing, and murmuring as a kind of beating. We must spend our time, our energy, and our everything to do a positive service for the Lord’s interest. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 5, “The Way to Practice the Lord’s Present Move,” pp. 539- 540)

We should not make suggestions to others or give instructions to them. None of us is qualified to do this. At the time of the Acts, Peter, Paul, and the other apostles were not qualified by themselves to make decisions or give instructions. Then what about us? We must honor the Lord. We are not the Lord or the Master, and we are not the Lord of the harvest. Only the Lord Jesus is the Lord of the harvest. He is the Master, and we must honor Him by not making decisions in ourselves…Nevertheless, we have all transgressed in this respect in the past, for a lot of decisions have been made among us. Some decisions were made by individuals, and others by groups. In certain cases some even made decisions for others. But where is the Lord? When we make decisions in this way, it seems that there is no Lord among us. It seems that we do not have the Spirit but only ourselves to depend on. We make decisions and we give instructions. Instead of doing this, we must pray, fast, and wait on the Lord. We need to honor Him. He is our Master, and we are His slaves. We should say to Him, “Lord, You are my Master. I am neither qualified nor do I have the position and the authority to make decisions or give orders to others. Lord, I am waiting on You. I want to know Your will and Your heart. Lord, I want to know what You want me to do and what You want my fellow workers to do. Lord, I ask You what You want the churches to do.” We all must have this attitude; otherwise, we shall insult the Lord, and eventually He will give us up. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, “The Spirit and the Body,” pp. 284-285)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, “The Spirit and the Body,” ch. 1

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