八福
属灵的心脏手术

经文
马太福音十五1-20
1那时,有法利赛人和文士从耶路撒冷来见耶稣,说:
2你的门徒为什么犯古人的遗传呢?因为吃饭的时候,他们不洗手。
3耶稣回答说:你们为什么因着你们的遗传犯神的诫命呢?
4神说:当孝敬父母;又说:咒骂父母的,必治死他。
5你们倒说:无论何人对父母说:我所当奉给你的已经作了供献,
6他就可以不孝敬父母。这就是你们借着遗传,废了神的诫命。
7假冒为善的人哪,以赛亚指着你们说的预言是不错的。他说:
8这百姓用嘴唇尊敬我,心却远离我;
9他们将人的吩咐当作道理教导人,所以拜我也是枉然。
10耶稣就叫了众人来,对他们说:你们要听,也要明白。
11入口的不能污秽人,出口的乃能污秽人。
12当时,门徒进前来对他说:法利赛人听见这话,不服(原文是跌倒),你知道吗?
13耶稣回答说:凡栽种的物,若不是我天父栽种的,必要拔出来。
14任凭他们吧!他们是瞎眼领路的;若是瞎子领瞎子,两个人都要掉在坑里。
15彼得对耶稣说:请将这比喻讲给我们听。
16耶稣说:你们到如今还不明白吗?
17岂不知凡入口的,是运到肚子里,又落在茅厕里吗?
18惟独出口的,是从心里发出来的,这才污秽人。
19因为从心里发出来的,有恶念、凶杀、奸淫、苟合、偷盗、妄证、谤讟。
20这都是污秽人的;至于不洗手吃饭,那却不污秽人。
信息分享
今天我们要研读八福中被认为是最崇高的福:「清心的人有福了!因为他们必得见神」(太五8)。
让我们来思考一下,「心」的意思是什么?圣经对这词语的一般用法,是指我们生命内在的核心所发生的事。心不单是情感的所在,也是一切行动的根源。在我们今天阅读的经文中,我们的主这样说:「因为从心里发出来的,有恶念、凶杀、奸淫、苟合……」(19节)。章伯斯博士(Dr. Oswald Chambers)说:「如果一个罪人真的想明白他的心,让他花五分钟,以不防避的姿态聆听自己口所说的话吧。」路加这样说:「……恶人从他心里所存的恶,就发出恶来,因为心里所充满的,口里就说出来」(路六45)。
有人说福音是新事物的宗教。牠带给我们新的诞生、新的生命、新的盼望、新的喜乐,以及在末日时给我们新的名字。不过,在基督赐给他的孩子的所有迷人新事物中,或许没有什么比赐给他们新心更令人着迷。这个应许首先出现在以西结的预言中:「我也要赐给你们一个新心,将新灵放在你们里面」(结三十六26)。可见,关于属灵的事物,事情的核心都是由心而来。圣经其中一个最大的应许,就是基督说要改变我们的心。要记得,我们的主不满足于在我们生命表面的修修补补,他的目的是洁净我们的心灵。
「事情的核心都是由心而来」
进深研究
诗五十一1-10,十九12-13,七十九9
1.诗人的祈祷是什么?
2.把牠作为你今天的祷告。
祈祷
我的父,我的神,我正在逐渐地被八福这「美丽的态度」薰陶着。我知道您还有更多东西让我慢慢去发现。在我接受属灵的心脏手术时,求您拥抱我。奉耶稣的名祈求,阿们。
The Beatitudes
Spiritual heart surgery

Bible reading:
Matthew 15:1-20
1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked,
2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"
3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?
4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother'[a] and 'Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.'[b]
5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is 'devoted to God,'
6 they are not to 'honor their father or mother' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.'[c]"
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand.
11 What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them."
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
13 He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.
14 Leave them; they are blind guides.[d] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."
15 Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
16 "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.
17 "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
18 But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them."
Message
Today we come to the Beatitude which is considered by many to be the most sublime of them all: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" (Matt. 5:8).
First we ask: What is meant by the term "heart"? According to the general use of the word in Scripture, it has reference to what goes on in the core of our being. The heart is more than just the seat of the emotions; it is the fount from which everything proceeds. In our reading today, our Lord put it thus: "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality..." and so on (v.19). Dr Oswald Chambers said: "If a sinner really wishes to understand his heart, then let him listen to his own mouth in an unguarded frame for five minutes." Luke put it this way: "...the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45).
It has been pointed out that the gospel is a religion of new things. It offers us all a new birth, a new life, a new hope, a new happiness, and, at the end of time - a new name. However, out of all these fascinating new things which Christ offers His children, none is perhaps more intriguing than His offer of a new heart. The promise is first given in the prophecy of Ezekiel: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you" (Ezek. 36:26). Quite clearly, when it comes to spiritual things, the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. Christ's offer of changing our hearts is one of the greatest promises of the Bible. Be encouraged: our Lord is not content with tinkering about on the surface of our lives - His goal is to purify our hearts.
"The heart of the matter is the heart"
Prayer
My Father and my God, slowly but surely I am coming under the sway of Your "beautiful attitudes". But I see You have more for me to discover. Hold me dose as I go through Your spiritual heart surgery. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.
Further study
Psalm 51:1-10; 19:12-13; 79:9
1. What was the Psalmist's prayer?
2. Make it your prayer today.
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