從天上賜下的復興
過分約束
經文
哥林多後書三1-18
1我們豈是又舉薦自己嗎？豈像別人用人的薦信給你們或用你們的薦信給人嗎？
2你們就是我們的薦信，寫在我們的心裡，被眾人所知道所念誦的。
3你們明顯是基督的信，藉著我們修成的。不是用墨寫的，乃是用永生神的靈寫的；不是寫在石版上，乃是寫在心版上。
4我們因基督，所以在神面前才有這樣的信心。
5並不是我們憑自己能承擔甚麼事；我們所能承擔的，乃是出於神。
6他叫我們能承當這新約的執事，不是憑著字句，乃是憑著精意；因為那字句是叫人死，精意（或作：聖靈）是叫人活。
7那用字刻在石頭上屬死的職事尚且有榮光，甚至以色列人因摩西面上的榮光，不能定睛看他的臉；這榮光原是漸漸退去的，
8何況那屬靈的職事豈不更有榮光嗎？
9若是定罪的職事有榮光，那稱義的職事榮光就越發大了。
10那從前有榮光的，因這極大的榮光就算不得有榮光了；
11若那廢掉的有榮光，這長存的就更有榮光了。
12我們既有這樣的盼望，就大膽講說，
13不像摩西將帕子蒙在臉上，叫以色列人不能定睛看到那將廢者的結局。
14但他們的心地剛硬，直到今日誦讀舊約的時候，這帕子還沒有揭去。這帕子在基督裡已經廢去了。
15然而直到今日，每逢誦讀摩西書的時候，帕子還在他們心上。
16但他們的心幾時歸向主，帕子就幾時除去了。
17主就是那靈；主的靈在那裡，那裡就得以自由。
18我們眾人既然敞著臉得以看見主的榮光，好像從鏡子裡返照，就變成主的形狀，榮上加榮，如同從主的靈變成的。
信息分享
今天我們要繼續探討把教會看為宗教機構的這種觀點。正如我們說過，持有這種看法的人相信教會與會眾是分別獨立存在的。我們不難明白持有這種觀點的人為甚麼對復興這個課題的興趣不大，他們對激動或熱情不感興趣，所關心的只是秩序和穩定；他們不僅僅視復興為無關重要的事，甚至把它看為混亂、有傷害性的事件，認為它干擾了崇拜的順利進行，破壞已確立的禮節和儀式。
過去的復興總是遭受那些視教會為機構的人的反對，因為聖靈的工作不能受人控制。對這些人來說，復興的現象可說是相當混亂以及欠缺莊嚴，有人在講員講道時大聲呼喊，或者在不合適時唱起詩歌。每當基督教保守派人士面對這些聖靈動工的場面時，就會認為這不符合教會既定的運作原則，而馬上加以反對。
在中世紀，教會被視為一個機構的思想處於全盛的時期，在這時，聖靈嘗試介入向祂的百姓顯現，可惜如歷史清楚的記載，當時的教會領袖相當抗拒這些來自聖靈的暗湧。結果，那些感受到聖靈觸摸的人放棄了建制派的教會，聚集一起享受由聖靈帶領的活動和敬拜。我不認為神不悅納建制派的教會，只是當他們過份約束的時候，神就要離開了。
「聖靈的工作不受人控制」
進深研究
太九16-17；徒五12-42，八6；賽六十一10；彼前一8
1. 耶穌教導了甚麼？
2. 復興帶來甚麼？
祈禱
天父，求您幫助我對教會有正確的看法，因為我如何看教會，會影響我對所有事情的態度。求您幫助我懂得行走您的道路，哪怕那會與我的本性相違。阿們。
Heaven-Sent Revival
Too cramped for comfort
Bible reading:
2 Corinthians 3:1-18
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Such confidence we have through Christ before God.
5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was,
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.
14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Message
We continue looking at the view of the Church as a religious or divine institution. Those who see the Church in this light believe (as we said) that the Church exists independently of the congregation. It is easy to see how anyone holding this view of the Church will have little interest in the subject of spiritual revival. They will be interested not in commotion or fervency, but in order and stability. They will not merely regard revival as irrelevant, but as downright messy, even injurious. It interferes with the smooth functioning of the services and cuts across the well-established forms and ceremonies.
The revivals of the past have always been opposed by those who have seen the Church as an institution, for the work of the Spirit cannot be brought under human control. A revival can be untidy and undignified, with people crying out in the midst of a sermon, or striking up a hymn at a seemingly inappropriate time. Whenever institutional Christianity has been faced with a movement of the Spirit that did not fit into its preconceived ideas of how the Church should function, it has immediately set its face against it.
During the Middle Ages, when the Church as an institution was at its strongest, the Spirit tried to break in and reveal Himself to His people, but as history clearly records, the leaders resisted these breezes from the Spirit. As a result, those who felt the Spirit's touch abandoned the institutional church and met together to enjoy Spirit-directed activity and worship. I do not think God despises institutional Christianity; it's just that sometimes it gets too cramped for comfort, and He has to move out.
"The Spirit's work cannot be brought under human control"
Prayer
O Father, help me to have a right view of the Church for I see that the way I look at this, and every, issue affects all my attitudes. And help me to take Your way, even though it cuts across my nature. Amen.
Further study
Matthew 9:16-17
Acts 5:12-42; 8:6
Isaiah 61:10
1 Peter 1:8
1. What did Jesus teach?
2. What does revival bring with it?
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