晨興聖言-極其需要新的復興(W06-3)
第六週 • 週三
晨興餧養
弗四11~12 祂所賜的,有些是使徒,有些是申言者,有些是傳福音者,有些是牧人和教師,為要成全聖徒,目的是為着職事的工作,為着建造基督的身體。
今天人所需要的,乃是我們裏面的人,就是我們的靈能彀出來,這樣,人纔能得着供應。…我們外面的人和裏面的人如何能分開呢?…約翰福音說,一粒麥子若不落在地裏,就仍是一粒,若是落在地裏死了,就要結出許多子粒〔十二24〕。我們跟隨主的人,失去魂生命,就要得着生命。…如果一個人在神面前受過試煉,外面的人被打破了,他裏面的生命就能出去,他就能結出許多子粒來(倪柝聲文集第三輯第十三冊,六至七頁)。
信息選讀
長老職分負責照料全召會。按照新約,所有的長老都該是牧人,照顧作主羣羊的召會(徒二十28,彼前五1~2)。提前三章二節說,長老必須善於教導。在新約裏,教導就是牧養。在以弗所四章十一節,牧人和教師是一類。我們要牧養別人,就必須知道如何教導。
教導人不在於教導道理,乃在於將生命供應給人。牧人照料羊羣時,主要不是教導羊羣。事實上,羊羣不需要多少教導。羊羣所需要的乃是餧養,好得滋養。在召會裏,長老主要的職責乃是餧養聖徒,將生命的供應服事給聖徒(約二一15~17)。
許多聖徒以為牧養就是給聖徒某種幫助。按照他們的觀念,那些牧養人的要比那些受他們牧養的高。事實上,這是錯誤的觀念。正確的牧養不是轄管別人(彼前五3),乃是將生命供應給他們。關於長老,他們主要的職責就是供應生命。
長老們必須花許多時間與主在一起,為召會禱告,為聖徒禱告,並尋求餧養他們、滋養他們、供應生命給他們的路。這事如果作成了,每一處地方召會都將是健康的。在有些地方,有些長老善於治理召會;但他們在牧養上,就是在餧養聖徒上卻很弱。在這種情形下,召會就不能健康、活潑、豐富並剛強,因為聖徒們缺乏滋養。
長老主要的需要,是操練學習屬靈的事,好使他們能以牧養的方式教導聖徒,不是僅僅給聖徒指導,乃是餧養他們。長老要用滋養人的話教導聖徒,好使他們在生命裏長大(提前四6)。這絕對是生命的事。…長老必須專注於一件事,就是餧養聖徒。
今天最大的需要就是牧養。在這事上,我們非常弱。因此,我們需要受鼓勵,操練自己成為有經歷、有裝備、有充足供應的,使我們知道如何牧養全召會。
主對長老惟一的期望是要他們牧養羣羊。…在行傳二十章,保羅要以弗所的長老到他那裏,他囑咐他們要牧養羣羊(28)。彼得也有同樣的觀念。他勸勉長老務要牧養他們中間神的羣羊(彼前五1~2)。…牧養羣羊主要的事,乃是餧養羣羊。我們在這點上都很弱;我們當中能餧養別人的長老不多。今天眾召會中的長老主要是顧到行政的事務。缺少牧養,是眾召會沒有長進到該有情形的主因。所有的長老都必須嚴肅的看待牧養這事。他們需要操練、受裝備並有充足的供應,好能餧養人,將生命的供應服事給人(李常受文集一九七七年第二冊,六四六至六四八頁)。
參讀:李常受文集一九七七年第二冊,關於地方召會中長老職分的交通,第一章。
WEEK 6 — DAY 3
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 4:11-12 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.
Today man’s need is the release of our inner man, that is, the release of our spirit. This is the only way men will receive supply from us…How can we separate the outer man from the inner man?…The Gospel of John says that except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit (12:24). If those who follow the Lord would lose their soul-life, they would gain life…Those who are tried before the Lord and whose outer man is broken will be able to release their inner life; they will bear much fruit. (CWWN, vol. 59, pp. 5-6)
Today’s Reading
The eldership is responsible to take care of the whole church. According to the New Testament, all the elders should be shepherds who care for the church as the Lord’s flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:1-2). First Timothy 3:2 says that the elders should be apt to teach. In the New Testament to teach is to shepherd. In Ephesians 4:11 the shepherds and teachers are one class. In order to shepherd others, we need to know how to teach.
Teaching people is not a matter of teaching doctrine but of ministering the life supply to them. When a shepherd takes care of a flock, he does not mainly teach the flock. Actually, the flock does not need much teaching. What the flock needs is feeding for nourishment. In the church the elders’ main responsibility is to feed the saints, to minister the life supply to the saints (John 21:15-17).
Many saints consider shepherding a rendering of some kind of help to the saints. According to their concept, those who shepherd are higher than those who are under their shepherding. Actually, this is a wrong concept. The proper shepherding is not to rule over others but to minister life to them (1 Pet. 5:3). Concerning the elders, their main responsibility is to minister life.
The elders must spend much time with the Lord to pray for the church, to pray for the saints, and to find a way to feed them, to nourish them, to minister life to them. If this can be done, every local church will be healthy. In some places certain elders are very capable in administrating the church, but they are weak in shepherding, that is, in feeding the saints. In such a situation the church cannot be healthy, living, rich, and strong, because the saints are lacking in nourishment.
Primarily, the elders need to exercise to learn the spiritual things so that they will be able to teach the saints in the way of shepherding, not merely to give the saints instructions but to feed them. The elders need to teach the saints with the nourishing word so that the saints may grow in life (1 Tim. 4:6). This is absolutely a matter of life…The elders must pay their full attention to one thing, that is, to feeding the saints.
Today the greatest need is shepherding. In this matter we are very weak. Therefore, we need to be encouraged to exercise ourselves to become experienced, equipped, and furnished so that we may know how to shepherd the whole church.
The Lord’s only expectation of the elders is that they would shepherd the flock…In Acts 20, when Paul called the elders in Ephesus to come to him, he charged them to shepherd the flock (v. 28). Peter held the same concept. He exhorted the elders to shepherd the flock of God among them (1 Pet. 5:1-2)… The main thing in shepherding a flock is to feed the flock. We are weak in this point; among us not many elders are able to feed others. Today the elders in the churches mainly take care of administrative affairs. The lack of shepherding is the main reason that the churches are not growing as they should. All the elders must take the matter of shepherding seriously. They need to be exercised, equipped, and furnished so that they may be able to feed others by ministering the life supply to them. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, pp. 481-483)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, pp. 481-491
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