八福
万事都效力
经文
雅各书三1-18
1我的弟兄们，不要多人作师傅，因为晓得我们要受更重的判断。
2原来我们在许多事上都有过失；若有人在话语上没有过失，他就是完全人，也能勒住自己的全身。
3我们若把嚼环放在马嘴里，叫他顺服，就能调动他的全身。
4看哪，船只虽然甚大，又被大风催逼，只用小小的舵，就随着掌舵的意思转动。
5这样，舌头在百体里也是最小的，却能说大话。看哪，最小的火能点着最大的树林。
6舌头就是火，在我们百体中，舌头是个罪恶的世界，能污秽全身，也能把生命的轮子点起来，并且是从地狱里点着的。
7各类的走兽，飞禽，昆虫，水族，本来都可以制伏，也已经被人制伏了；
8惟独舌头没有人能制伏，是不止息的恶物，满了害死人的毒气。
9我们用舌头颂赞那为主、为父的，又用舌头咒诅那照着神形像被造的人；
10颂赞和咒诅从一个口里出来！我的弟兄们，这是不应当的！
11泉源从一个眼里能发出甜苦两样的水吗？
12我的弟兄们，无花果树能生橄榄吗？葡萄树能结无花果吗？咸水里也不能发出甜水来。
13你们中间谁是有智慧有见识的呢？他就当在智慧的温柔上显出他的善行来。
14你们心里若怀着苦毒的嫉妒和纷争，就不可自夸，也不可说谎话抵挡真道。
15这样的智慧不是从上头来的，乃是属地的，属情欲的，属鬼魔的。
16在何处有嫉妒、纷争，就在何处有扰乱和各样的坏事。
17惟独从上头来的智慧，先是清洁，后是和平，温良柔顺，满有怜悯，多结善果，没有偏见，没有假冒。
18并且使人和平的，是用和平所栽种的义果。
信息分享
我们之前几天都在讨论「八福」中第三福的「温柔」，今天我们要来继续思考这个温柔的真正意思。一位解经家说，「温柔基本上是对自己的真实看法，以态度和行为来表达对别人的尊重。」
这样的话，温柔涉及两件事：（1）我们对自己的态度；（2）我们对别人的态度。温柔的人那么肯定自己，以致不需要为自己争取甚么。他不认为自己的权利是需要坚持的东西，他要的是追随耶稣的精神，就如腓立比书二章6至7节所描述的：「他本有神的形象，不以自己与神同等为强夺的；反倒虚己，取了奴仆的形象，成为人的样式。」
如果我们要明白温柔的法则，我们必须明白一点──温柔的基督徒对自己既不会过分敏感也不会过分自卫；他明白自己完全没有甚么权利，所以乐意把一切交在神的手中。当他受到不公平的对待时，他会记得主的话：「伸冤在我，我必报应」（罗十二19），他相信神会在祂自己的时间、以祂自己的方式来替他解决问题。诗人勃朗宁（Browning）也曾表达过同样的真理：「神以结局来带动万事互相效力。」只要那结局是神的旨意，万事必然会互相效力。
「温柔的人将自己交在神的手中」
进深研究
彼前二18-25；太十一29，二十六52
1. 彼得的劝告是甚么？
2. 为甚么耶稣能够表现出温柔？
祈祷
天父，求您将温柔的灵注入我里面，以致一切的愤怒、不耐烦、不信和怀疑，都在我里面死去。求您帮助我看见，只有温柔必须存留下来。奉耶稣的名求，阿们。
The Beatitudes
"All things serve"
Bible reading:
James 3:1-18
1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.
4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.
5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.
6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind,
8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness.
10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.
15 Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Message
We continue meditating on the meaning of the word "meek" as used by Jesus in His third Beatitude. "Meekness," said one commentator, "is essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in attitude and conduct with respect to others."
If that is so, then meekness involves two things: (1) our attitudes towards ourselves, and (2) our attitudes toward others. The meek person is so sure of himself that he does not need to demand anything for himself. He does not see his rights as something to be rigidly held on to, but follows the spirit of Jesus as outlined in Philippians 2:6-7: "Who, although being essentially one with God...did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained; but stripped Himself of all privileges...and was born a human being" (Amplified Bible).
That is the place to which you and I must come if we are to understand the principle of meekness. Christian who is meek will not be over-sensitive about himself, or defensive; he realises that he has no rights at all and delights to leave everything in the hands of God. When he is called upon to suffer unjustly, he remembers the Word of the Lord that says, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay" (Rom. 12:19), and trusts God to work out the situation in His own time and in His own way. The poet Browning put the same truth in these words: "He who keeps one end in view makes all things serve." When that one end is the purpose of God, then indeed - all things serve.
"A meek person leaves himself in God's hands"
Prayer
O Father, instil into me such a spirit of meekness that such things as anger, impatience, irritation, distrust, suspicion and unbelief die within me. Help me to see that only meekness must survive. For Jesus' sake. Amen.
Further study
1 Peter 2:18-25
Matthew 11:29; 26:52
1. What was Peter's exhortation?
2. Why was Jesus able to display meekness?
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