新视域的力量
在教会改变观点

经文
路加福音二十四28-35
28将近他们所去的村子,耶稣好像还要往前行,
29他们却强留他,说:时候晚了,日头已经平西了,请你同我们住下吧!耶稣就进去,要同他们住下。
30到了坐席的时候,耶稣拿起饼来,祝谢了,擘开,递给他们。
31他们的眼睛明亮了,这才认出他来。忽然耶稣不见了。
32他们彼此说:在路上,他和我们说话,给我们讲解圣经的时候,我们的心岂不是火热的吗?
33他们就立时起身,回耶路撒冷去,正遇见十一个使徒和他们的同人聚集在一处,
34说:主果然复活,已经现给西门看了。
35两个人就把路上所遇见,和擘饼的时候怎么被他们认出来的事,都述说了一遍。
信息分享
当我们到神的家去的时候,另一个能够令我们改变自己的看法的原因,就是阅读以及领悟圣经的教导。我这么说是基于你的教会有对圣经做清楚的解释,很可惜今天很多教会都没有这么做。诗人的时代并没有我们今天所认识的圣经,但他们却很乐于背诵和默想仅有的神的话语。
你曾经多少次是带着对神的疑惑到教会去的?不过当你一打开圣经,你对神以及对生命的看法就都得到了改变,然后是带着焕然一新及重新得力的感觉离开教会。加尔文(Calvin)说:「年长的人或者视力欠佳的人不能够看清楚书本上的字,但在眼镜的帮助下阅读的问题就迎刃而解;同样地,圣经使我们对上帝的观念,从本来的混乱变为清晰,因为它驱走了黑暗,让我们清楚看到了神。」
你在家的时候当然应该阅读圣经,只是在教会聆听圣经的讲解有着特别不同的意义,因为有时听到别人朗读一段熟悉的经文,或强调一个我们可能不曾留意的词句,都足以给我们带来崭新的启发。此刻的你,对神以及对生命是否感到不满呢?让我邀请你星期天到一间笃信圣经的教会去吧,神要透过祂自己的话语来对你说话,因为最高的权威者让我相信祂肯定会对你说话的。
「圣经使我们对上帝的观念变为清晰」
进深研究
路四16-31;赛十一2,六十一1;太三16
1. 耶稣在会堂做甚么?
2. 甚么东西降在祂身上?
祈祷
天父,求您赦免我把您话语的启示视为理所当然的事。从现在开始每当圣经「向我说话」的时候,求您都帮助我留神注意,并怀着感恩的心来接受。阿们。
The Power of a New Perspective
Changed perspectives in church

Bible reading:
Luke 24:28-35
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.
29 But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.
31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.
32 They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together
34 and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon."
35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Message
Another thing that brings about a changed perspective when we make our way to the house of God is the reading and exposition of the Scriptures. I make this statement on the assumption that the Scriptures are expounded in your church, for, sadly, in some congregations this is not so. In the days of the psalmist, of course, they did not have the Bible as we know it today, but the portions of the Word of God that they did have they recited and meditated upon.
How many times have you gone to church feeling confused about God's dealing with you, only to find that as the Scriptures are opened your view of God and life changes, causing you to leave refreshed and reinvigorated? Calvin put it like this: "As the elderly, or those with poor sight can hardly make out the words in a book, but with the help of glasses can read clearly, so Scripture crystallises ideas about God which had been very confused, scatters the darkness and shows us the true God clearly."
You could, and should, read the Scriptures at home, but there is something special about hearing the Word of God expounded in church. Merely to hear a well-known text spoken by someone who emphasises a word which we might not emphasise, can strike us in a way that adds new meaning to it. Do you have a jaundiced view of God and life at this very moment? Go to church on Sunday, to a Bible-believing church, and expect God to speak to you from His Word. I have it on the highest authority that He will.
"Scripture crystallises ideas about God"
Prayer
Father, forgive me for taking for granted the revelation that flows from Your Word - whether it comes privately or in church. From now on, whenever I am "talked to" by the Scriptures, help me to recognise it and to receive it with gratitude. Amen.
Further study
Luke 4:16-31
Isaiah 11:2; 61:1
Matthew 3:16
1. What did Jesus do in the synagogue?
2. What rested upon Him?
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。

