從天上賜下的復興
使基督教蒙羞？
經文
帖撒羅尼迦前書五12-22
12弟兄們，我們勸你們敬重那在你們中間勞苦的人，就是在主裡面治理你們、勸戒你們的。
13又因他們所作的工，用愛心格外尊重他們。你們也要彼此和睦。
14我們又勸弟兄們，要警戒不守規矩的人，勉勵灰心的人，扶助軟弱的人，也要向眾人忍耐。
15你們要謹慎，無論是誰都不可以惡報惡；或是彼此相待，或是待眾人，常要追求良善。
16要常常喜樂，
17不住的禱告，
18凡事謝恩；因為這是神在基督耶穌裡向你們所定的旨意。
19不要銷滅聖靈的感動；
20不要藐視先知的講論。
21但要凡事察驗，善美的要持守，
22各樣的惡事要禁戒不作。
信息分享
今天我們所要研討的另一個觀點，就是有些人認為復興是無關重要的問題。這些人指出：「宗教復興只是群眾歇斯底里的表現。」例如有一個對威爾斯大復興的批評是這樣說的：「威爾斯人是很容易被感動的，他們那火熱的本性和對歌唱的喜愛，令他們很容易受感性和戲劇性的事情所影響。」當然，這話不是完全不對，但是不能只用情緒主義去解釋1904年在威爾斯大復興中所發生的事，例如當時的罪案率下降到一個令很多法庭都要關閉的程度，甚至有些酒吧也得結束營業。
普賴斯（Peter Price）是一個對威爾斯大復興加以嚴厲批評的人，他認為這次復興只是喧嘩、吵鬧、玩弄演技和模仿；而那些相信虔誠敬拜不應流露任何情感的人，對靈性復興所引發的騷動也特別反感。不信奉新教派的牧者摩根（Thomas Morgan）在談到當時循道公會的會友時說：「對所有真正和認真的基督徒來說，他們(循道公會會友)都是徹底的瘋狂，落入靈的迷惑中，讓基督教丟臉和蒙羞。」
其實那些因復興能帶來激烈的情緒反應而加以譴責的人，應該好好回想聖經記載一個人與神相遇的情景。雖然我們是有需要譴責過份的情緒反應，但是我們不能以自己的理性，以及因自己不接受聖經所描述的超自然能力，而消滅聖靈的感動。
「我們不能以自己的理性去消滅聖靈的感動」
進深研究
徒四13-22，五12-16，十四1-18
1. 統治者、長老和文士對初期的信徒有甚麼反應？
2. 這有甚麼影響？
祈禱
神啊，求您幫助我不要成為消滅聖靈感動的人；求您為我除掉任何攔阻我禱告、不讓我相信更重要、更偉大的事情的意念，奉耶穌的名祈求，阿們。
Heaven-Sent Revival
A scandal to Christianity
Bible reading:
1 Thessalonians 5:12-22
12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you.
13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.
14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray continually,
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit.
20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt
21 but test them all; hold on to what is good,
22 reject every kind of evil.
Message
Today we look at another argument advanced by those who think revival is an irrelevant issue. It is sometimes stated in this fashion: "A religious revival is nothing more than a manifestation of crowd hysteria" For example, one critic of the Welsh revivals says: "Welsh people are easily moved. Their fiery nature and love of singing makes them easy prey to the emotional and the melodramatic." There is some truth in those words of course, but it takes more than emotionalism to explain the fact that during the 1904 revival in Wales crime dropped to such a degree that many of the courts were closed and some of the public houses went out of business.
Peter Price, a strong critic of the Welsh revival, saw in it nothing more than tumult, noise, play acting and imitation. Those who believe that religious worship should not contain any show of emotion are offended by the ferment of spiritual revival. Thomas Morgan, a nonconformist minister writing about the Methodists of his day said: "It appears to all true and serious Christians that they [the Methodists] are stark mad and given to a spirit of delusion, to the great disgrace and scandal of Christianity."
But those who condemn revival for what they call its extremes of emotion would do well to reflect on those occasions in Scripture when men and women appear to be beside themselves in the presence of God. Whilst we must not hesitate to condemn all excess of emotion we must make equally sure that we do not quench the Spirit by our intellectualism and our unwillingness to accept the supernaturalism that is everywhere portrayed in the Scriptures.
"We must not quench the Spirit by our intellectualism"
Prayer
O God, help me not to be one who quenches Your Spirit. Whatever it may be that causes me to draw back from asking and believing for greater and bigger things, then root it out of me today. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.
Further study
Acts 4:13-22; 5:12-16; 14:1-18
1. How did the rulers, elders and scribes react to the early disciples?
2. What effect did this have?
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