需要新的復興-第四週

       過神人的生活(二)--活在神的國這神聖種類的範圍裏

      常常聽到沒有信仰的人會說，宗教都是勸人為善，所以信什麼宗教都一樣。但是對於我們這些信入基督的人來說，若我們對真理夠了解，我們都知道我們的信仰不是在勸我們為善，光是為善，遠離惡事還不夠。神造人不僅是要人敬畏祂，不犯錯。更積極的目的乃是為叫人彰顯祂。舊約裡的約伯就是很好的例子。約伯是敬畏神並尋求神的人，他完全，正直且純全，有最高的道德標準。然而神卻要銷毀這個完全且正直的約伯。

因為約伯可能名義上有神，裏面卻沒有神，他自滿於他完全的人性美德與敬虔成就。他在一個錯誤的範圍裡認識神，就是他在天然的舊造裡，這反而成為他尋求神，真正得着神的障礙與遮蔽。因此神要約伯受苦，但這並不是因為約伯犯了錯，所以神審判他，而是因為神要約伯看見他自己是一無所是，一無所有，使他被倒空，好進一步尋求神自己，而不是任何別的事物。

        這週正好也追求到羅馬書第8章的生命讀經，裡面保羅說到他是個苦惱的人，因為他所願意的善他反不作，他所不願意的惡他倒去作。但就是因為他體會到人性的軟弱，使他能夠倚靠神，運用生命之靈的律在他裡面運行使他勝過罪與死的律。這正好與約伯有一個鮮明的對比，因為約伯的天然很強，他可以憑著自己遠離惡事，他甚至可以將人性的美德做得很完全。但是這些並不是神所要的，神所要的乃是要約伯一點不差的尋求祂並彰顯祂，沒有一點參雜。神要引導約伯從知識善惡樹的線轉到生命樹的線上，好使約伯能得著神的生命。感謝主，在基督裡，我們沒有善與惡的要求，我們沒有對與錯的爭論，我們只有神的生命在我們裡面做仲裁與平安。

     I often heard that people who don't have belief say that the purpose of religion is to advise people to do good, so it is the same to believe any one. However, for us who believe in Christ, if we understand the truth more and deeply, we all know that our belief is not just to advise people to do good, because it is not adequate to do good and turn away from evil. God did not create man merely to fear Him without doing anything wrong. The most positive thing is to express God. The story of Job in The Old Testament is a very good example. Job is God-fearing and God-seeking people, He is perfect, upright and integrity in the highest standard of ethics.  However, God wanted to consume this perfect and upright person, because Job may have God in name, but he didn't have God within him. He was satisfied by his perfect human virtues and godly attainments. He knew God in a wrong realm. That is, he was in his old creation. It had become his barriers and coverings when seeking God and having God. Therefore, God wanted Job to suffer, not because Job had done something wrong that required God to judge him, but because God wanted to show Job that he was nothing and had nothing so that he could be emptied for some further seeking after God instead of anything else.

  I studied Life-Study of Romans Chapter 8 this week. In Romans, Paul said that he was a wretched man because he didn't do the good which he willed but practice the evil he didn't will. However, it was because he realized the weakness of human nature, he was able to rely on God, to practice the law of the spirit of life in his spirit to overcome the law of sin and death. He is a good contrast to Job. Because Job had a very strong nature,  and he can turn away from evil by himself. He even perfected the human virtues. But these were not what God want, God's intention was to have Job seek nothing less than God and express God instead of anything else. God's intention was to direct Job to the line of the tree of life away from the line of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that Job might have the life of God. Thank the Lord! In Christ, we don't have the request of to do good and not to do evil. We don't argue right or wrong. We have only the life of God within us to be the arbitration and to be our peace.