神的异象
正确地研究人类
经文
约翰福音十七1-19
1耶稣说了这话，就举目望天，说：父阿，时候到了，愿你荣耀你的儿子，使儿子也荣耀你；
2正如你曾赐给他权柄管理凡有血气的，叫他将永生赐给你所赐给他的人。
3认识你独一的真神，并且认识你所差来的耶稣基督，这就是永生。
4我在地上已经荣耀你，你所托付我的事，我已成全了。
5父阿，现在求你使我同你享荣耀，就是未有世界以先，我同你所有的荣耀。
6你从世上赐给我的人，我已将你的名显明与他们。他们本是你的，你将他们赐给我，他们也遵守了你的道。
7如今他们知道，凡你所赐给我的，都是从你那里来的；
8因为你所赐给我的道，我已经赐给他们，他们也领受了，又确实知道，我是从你出来的，并且信你差了我来。
9我为他们祈求，不为世人祈求，却为你所赐给我的人祈求，因他们本是你的。
10凡是我的，都是你的；你的也是我的，并且我因他们得了荣耀。
11从今以后，我不在世上，他们却在世上；我往你那里去。圣父阿，求你因你所赐给我的名保守他们，叫他们合而为一像我们一样。
12我与他们同在的时候，因你所赐给我的名保守了他们，我也护卫了他们；其中除了那灭亡之子，没有一个灭亡的，好叫经上的话得应验。
13现在我往你那里去，我还在世上说这话，是叫他们心里充满我的喜乐。
14我已将你的道赐给他们。世界又恨他们；因为他们不属世界，正如我不属世界一样。
15我不求你叫他们离开世界，只求你保守他们脱离那恶者（或作：脱离罪恶）。
16他们不属世界，正如我不属世界一样。
17求你用真理使他们成圣；你的道就是真理。18你怎样差我到世上，我也照样差他们到世上。
19我为他们的缘故，自己分别为圣，叫他们也因真理成圣。
信息分享
我们昨天结束的时候提到一个观念，那就是过去许多明白敬畏神的生活是怎么一回事的人，以神「高高」在上这个观念作为生活的基础。最后我们亦提出了一个问题：为甚么在当今的教会我们很少遇到这样的人？我认为答案是：虽然今天教会有很多好事发生，但教会对神的本性和品格缺乏足够的教导和强调。
伟大的布道家司布真（C.H. Spurgeon）这样说：「有人说要研究人类的整体，先要从研究人着手」。我不反对这说法，不过我相信同样的事实是，若要研究神的拣选，便要先研究神。当今的教会一般来说所注重的是「怎样得到良好的自我形像」或「怎样更有效地祷告」等问题，多于注目于认识神。这些问题并非不重要，但正如巴刻（Jim Packer）在《认识神》（Knowing God）这本书中说：「认识神对我们的生活十分重要。那些不认识神的人认为世界已经变成为一个陌生、疯狂和痛苦的地方，世上的生活令人感到失望和不悦。」
当然，要认识神我们需要花上时间。我建议你现在就下决心在未来几个月里好好致力认识神。首先要花时间在祷告和默想中与神同行，然后更深入地研究神的话来加深自己对祂的理解。
「认识神，十分重要」
进深研究
弗一1-17；腓三1-11
1. 保罗怎样为以弗所教会的人祷告？
2. 保罗对自己有甚么希望？
祈祷
天父，我明白若要更认识您便要付出更多时间──与您交谈，研究您的话。求您引导我，让我在未来几个月里能够大大加深对您的认识。奉主耶稣的名祈求。阿们。
The Vision of God
"The proper study of mankind..."
Bible reading:
John 17:1-19
1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6 "I have revealed you[a] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.
7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of[b] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[c] that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Message
We ended yesterday with the thought that, in days past, men and women who knew what it was to walk in the fear of the Lord had, as a basis for their lives, the concept of God as "high and exalted". We finished with the question: Why is it that in the modern-day Church we do not meet many of this ilk? The answer I think is that, notwithstanding all the good things happening in the Church today, there is not enough teaching and emphasis on the nature and character of God.
The great preacher C.H. Spurgeon made this statement: "It has been said that the proper study of mankind is man. I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God's elect is God." The contemporary Church, generally speaking, focuses more on issues like "how to gain a good self-image", or "how to be more effective in prayer" than it does on how to know God. Not that these other issues are unimportant, but, as Jim Packer says in his book Knowing God. "Knowing God is crucially important for the living of our lives. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God."
Of course, it takes time to know God. Determine right now that in the coming months you will commit yourself to knowing God in a deeper way, first by spending more time with Him in prayer and meditation, and second by increasing your understanding of Him through more thorough study of His Word.
"Knowing God is crucially important"
Prayer
Father, I see that knowing You better involves increased time - time to talk to You and time to study Your Word. Guide me so that I can make the coming months yield great gains in my knowledge of You. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.
Further study
Ephesians 1:1-17
Philippians 3:1-11
1. What did Paul pray for the Ephesians?
2. What did Paul desire for himself?
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