八福
好像我们的天父
经文
约翰壹书二28-三11
28小子们哪，你们要住在主里面。这样，他若显现，我们就可以坦然无惧；当他来的时候，在他面前也不至于惭愧。
29你们若知道他是公义的，就知道凡行公义之人都是他所生的。
1你看父赐给我们是何等的慈爱，使我们得称为神的儿女；我们也真是他的儿女。世人所以不认识我们，是因未曾认识他。
2亲爱的弟兄阿，我们现在是神的儿女，将来如何，还未显明，但我们知道，主若显现，我们必要像他、因为必得见他的真体。
3凡向他有这指望的，就洁净自己，像他洁净一样。
4凡犯罪的，就是违背律法；违背律法就是罪。
5你们知道主曾显现，是要除掉人的罪；在他并没有罪。
6凡住在他里面的，就不犯罪；凡犯罪的，是未曾看见他，也未曾认识他。
7小子们哪，不要被人诱惑，行义的才是义人，正如主是义的一样。
8犯罪的是属魔鬼，因为魔鬼从起初就犯罪。神的儿子显现出来，为要除灭魔鬼的作为。
9凡从神生的，就不犯罪，因神的道（原文作种）存在他心里；他也不能犯罪，因为他是由神生的。
10从此就显出谁是神的儿女，谁是魔鬼的儿女。凡不行义的就不属神，不爱弟兄的也是如此。
11我们应当彼此相爱。这就是你们从起初所听见的命令。
信息分享
使人和睦是一种正面的态度，能产生良好的灵性和心理健康，而耶稣说有这种态度的人是值得羡慕和祝贺的。第七福的应许是，使人和睦的人「必称为神的儿子」。为甚么是「称为」？因为他们就是神的儿子，这是他们生命中的份。钟马田博士（Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones）这样说：「被称为神的儿子的意思是，使人和睦的人是神的孩子，他好像他的天父。」
如果要我选一节最能够完美地表达基督教福音意义的经节，我会选哥林多后书五19：「神在基督里，叫世人与自己和好……并且将这和好的道理托付了我们」。自从人犯罪以来，神便开始积极从事爱的外展工作──寻求与那些不想和好的人和好。神要我们做祂所做的事，祂委派我们负起这种使人和好的任务。
那些内里与神和好，并寻求别人与神和好，以及彼此和好的人，是世上最健康和最快乐的人。圣经有两段伟大的经文称我们为天父的儿子，就是马太福音五章9节和马太福音五章45节，而且是为了同一个原因。我们从这些经文可以得出甚么结论？这结论就是──我们使人和好时的心态最像神。那些尝试使别人和好的人是在做天国的工作，因为天国的工作就是让我们和好。
「神要我们做祂所做的事」
进深研究
加四1-7；约一12；罗八14；来二10
1.身为儿子，我们成了什么人？
2.我们如何备受带领？
祈祷
神我的父啊，祈求您帮助我能够更学像您。您是使人和好的父，求您使我有您那神圣的形像。帮助我向所遇到的人传达和平的信息。奉耶稣的名祈求，阿们。
The Beatitudes
Like our Father
Bible reading:
1 John 2:28-3:11
28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.
9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
Message
Peacemaking is a positive attitude that produces good spiritual and mental health, and the one who has this attitude, according to Jesus, is to be envied and congratulated. The promise of the seventh Beatitude is that peacemakers "will be called sons of God". Why called? Because they are sons of God. This is their lot in life. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones put it like this: "The meaning of being called the sons of God is that the peacemaker is a child of God and that he is like his Father."
If I were to pick out the one verse that most perfectly expresses the meaning of the Christian gospel, it would be this: "in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself...and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:19, RSV). Ever since man sinned, God has been engaged in the positive business of an outgoing love - seeking to reconcile those who did not want to be reconciled. God wants us to do what He does - He commits to us the same task of reconciliation.
Those who are inwardly reconciled to God and seek to reconcile others to Him and to each other are the healthiest and the happiest people on earth. In two outstanding passages in the Bible, we are called sons of the Father - and for the same reason: Matthew 5:9 and Matthew 5:45. What do we conclude from this? We are most like God when we are bringing people together in reconciliation. And those who try to reconcile others are doing the work of heaven - for it is heaven's work to reconcile us.
"God wants us to do what He does"
Prayer
O God my Father, I pray that You will help me become more and more like You. You are a Father who reconciles - make me into Your own divine image. Help me to breathe "peace" upon all I meet. For Your own dear Name's sake. Amen.
Further study
Galatians 4:1-7
John 1:12
Romans 8:14
Hebrews 2:10
1. As sons, what have we become?
2. How are we led?
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