新视域的力量
你跌倒──其他人也跌倒

经文
罗马书十四5-13
5有人看这日比那日强;有人看日日都是一样。只是各人心里要意见坚定。
6守日的人是为主守的;吃的人是为主吃的,因他感谢神;不吃的人是为主不吃的,也感谢神。
7我们没有一个人为自己活,也没有一个人为自己死。
8我们若活着,是为主而活;若死了,是为主而死。所以,我们或活或死总是主的人。
9因此基督死了又活了,为要作死人并活人的主。
10你这个人,为甚么论断弟兄呢?又为甚么轻看弟兄呢?因我们都要站在神的台前。
11经上写着:主说:我凭着我的永生起誓:万膝必向我跪拜;万口必向我承认。
12这样看来,我们各人必要将自己的事在神面前说明。
13所以,我们不可再彼此论断,宁可定意谁也不给弟兄放下绊脚跌人之物。
信息分享
我们今天继续思想诗篇七十三篇里的重要讯息。我们发现,阻止诗人双脚滑倒的不是他察觉到自己与神的关系,而是他察觉到自己与弟兄姊妹之间的关系。这真是有点令人难以置信。那也许不是他的最高属灵原则,但却拯救他脱离了灾难。
保罗在今天的信息谈及的就是这件事──我们彼此之间的关系。我肯定你很熟悉哥林多前书八和十章的经文,保罗在那里详细讨论这个问题,他说:「我说的良心,不是你的,乃是他的,我这自由为甚么被别人的良心论断呢?」(林前十29)。换句话说,你可能感到没有必要为了自己的缘故、而避免吃祭过偶像的肉,因为你的良心没有受到责备,但你那较为软弱的弟兄又怎么样呢?基督也同样为他而死的啊。
你知道吗?「我们没有一个人为自己活」,所以下次当魔鬼企图诱骗你相信你被孤立,并让你感到难过的时候,就对它引述这段经文吧。我们并非在孤立中行动;如果你跌倒,你不是独个儿跌倒,是整个教会都跌倒。如果没有别的事情能够阻止你犯错的话,要记得你所属的群体,记得你是天上家庭的一分子,当你跌倒的时候,其他人也同时跌倒。
「我们不是在孤立中行事」
进深研究
林前九15-22;徒二十35;罗十五1;帖前五14
1. 保罗对比较软弱的弟兄是怎样的?
2. 保罗对帖撒罗尼迦人说甚么?
祈祷
天父,求您帮助我清楚理解「我不是在孤立中行事」的这个真理,因为我是与其他同样被买赎的弟兄姊妹息息相关的。求您帮助我越来越能体会这重要的事实。奉耶稣的名求,阿们。
The Power of a New Perspective
When you fall - others fall

Bible reading:
Romans 14:5-13
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.
6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.
8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.
11 It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.'"[b]
12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
Message
It seems almost unbelievable that the thing which stopped the psalmist's feet from slipping and sliding was not the awareness of his relationship with God but the awareness of his relationship with his brothers and sisters. It might not have been the highest spiritual principle he could have held on to, but it saved him from disaster.
It is this matter - our relationship with one another - that Paul is speaking about in today's passage. You will be familiar, I am sure, with the passages in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 where Paul enlarges on this subject and where, in a remarkable statement, he says: "I mean for the sake of his conscience, not yours, do not eat it. For why should another man's scruples apply to me, and my liberty of action be determined by his conscience? (1 Cor. 10:29, Amplified Bible). He is saying, in other words, that you might see no need to refrain from eating meat offered to idols for your own sake, because your conscience is not offended, but what about your weaker brother for whom Christ also died?
You see, "none of us lives to himself alone", so when next the devil tries to convince you that you are an isolated case and that what he is suggesting concerns you and you alone, quote this verse to him. We do not act in isolation; if you fall, you do not fall alone, the whole Church falls also. If nothing else can stop you from doing wrong, remember the people to whom you belong, remember you are part of a heavenly family, and that when you fall, others fall with you.
"We do not act in isolation"
Prayer
Father, drive deeply into my spirit this truth that I cannot act in isolation, for I am bound up with my redeemed brothers and sisters. Help me experience an ever-growing consciousness of this important fact. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Further study
1 Corinthians 9:15-22
Acts 20:35
Romans 15:1
1 Thessalonians 5:14
1. What was Paul's approach to the weaker brethren?
2. What was Paul's word to the Thessalonians?
本文英文版权属 CWR 所有,承蒙允准刊载。
背景音乐版权属 赞美之泉音乐事工 所有,承蒙允准使用。

