神的異象
拜偶像的基督徒
經文
詩篇四十八1-14
1（可拉後裔的詩歌。）耶和華本為大！
在我們神的城中，在他的聖山上，該受大讚美。
2錫安山─大君王的城，在北面居高華美，為全地所喜悅。
3神在其宮中，自顯為避難所。
4看哪，眾王會合，一同經過。
5他們見了這城就驚奇喪膽，急忙逃跑。
6他們在那裡被戰兢疼痛抓住，好像產難的婦人一樣。
7神啊，你用東風打破他施的船隻。
8我們在萬軍之耶和華的城中─就是我們神的城中─所看見的，
正如我們所聽見的。神必堅立這城，直到永遠。（細拉）
9神啊，我們在你的殿中想念你的慈愛。
10神啊，你受的讚美正與你的名相稱，直到地極！你的右手滿了公義。
11因你的判斷，錫安山應當歡喜，猶大的城邑（原文是女子）應當快樂。
12你們當周遊錫安，四圍旋繞，數點城樓，
13細看他的外郭，察看他的宮殿，為要傳說到後代。
14因為這神永永遠遠為我們的神；他必作我們引路的，直到死時。
信息分享
今天讓我們來進一步思考一個昨天所談到的問題，因為我相信它是基督徒生命中一個最重要的方面，那就是按神的本性接受神，而不是按我們的喜好看神。如果我們不按神的本性，而是按我們的喜好認識祂，我們的生命便會缺乏屬靈力量和能力，因為我們的屬靈生命永不會高過我們對神的看法。
神所憎恨的罪包括拜偶像，因為拜偶像骨子裡是誣蔑神的品格。我們要想一想，教會中有多少人犯了拜偶像的罪而不自知。所謂拜偶像的心就是認為神不是真正的祂，而是以心裡想像的假神代替了真神。由我們內心的幽暗中製造出來的神並不是真神。我們對全能者最大的冒犯就是將祂看為不同於真正的祂。
神用了聖經的許多篇幅來給我們描繪出一幅祂自己的細緻畫像，但如果我們繼續對祂持有錯誤的觀念，寧願按照我們認為祂應有的形象，而不是祂實際的形象來看祂的話，便是再次貶低我們的神。如果我們企圖崇拜我們自己想像出來的神，那就是犯了拜偶像的罪，因為我們崇拜的只是自己對神的觀念，而這個觀念卻是來自我們思想中幽暗的地方。
對於「神的認信」，那是好的，我不反對這些認信；但如果在我們心靈的隱密處，對神所抱持的形像和我們口裡所承認的不同，那麼，這個心裡的形像難免會對我們的生命造成極大的負面影響。
「崇拜自己設想的神，是犯了拜偶像的罪」
進深研究
徒十七29；加四1-11；提後三1-5
1. 加拉太人做甚麼事？
2. 保羅向加拉太人提出甚麼要求？
祈禱
天父，如果我一直將您設想為我希望中的您，而不是實際的您，求您赦免。求您幫助我對你的認識，不是單從我自己的想像而來，而是從您的話和您在基督裡的啟示而來。奉耶穌的名祈求。阿們。
The Vision of God
Christian idolaters
Bible reading:
Psalm 48:1-14
1 Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
2 Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon[b] is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.
3 God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.
4 When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together,
5 they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror.
6 Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor.
7 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind.
8 As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever.[c]
9 Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.
10 Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers,
13 consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation.
14 For this God is our God forever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.
Message
We touched yesterday on an issue which I now want to expand upon because I believe it to be one of the most crucial aspects of Christian living - seeing God as He is, not as we would like Him to be. Unless we have an understanding of God as He is, not as we wish Him to be, then our lives will lack spiritual force and power. This is because our lives will never rise higher spiritually than our vision of God.
Among the sins which are hateful to God is the sin of idolatry, for idolatry, at its heart, is a libel on His character. Yet consider how many of us in the Church may be committing the sin of idolatry without realising it. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is, and substitutes for the true God one made after its own imagining. But a god who is created out of darkness of our hearts is not the true God. The greatest affront we can give to the Almighty is to view Him other than He really is.
God has gone to great lengths in the Scriptures to give us a clear picture of Himself, but when we continue to hold wrong ideas of Him, preferring to see Him the way we think He should be rather than the way He is, we demean Him. If we try to worship the god of our own imagining we then commit idolatry, for we are worshipping our idea of Him drawn from the darkness of our minds. Credal statements about God are fine - I have nothing against them - but if, in the secret chamber of our soul, we have an image of God which differs from the one we profess with our lips, then it is that core image which will have the greatest influence on our lives.
"If we worship the god of our imagining we commit idolatry"
Prayer
O Father, forgive me if I have been thinking of You as I want You to be rather than as You really are. Help me draw my concept of You from Your Word and from Your revelation in Christ, not from my own imaginings. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Further study
Acts 17:29
Galatians 4:1-11
2 Timothy 3:1-5
1. What were the Galatians doing?
2. What did Paul ask the Galatians?
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