神的异象
拜偶像的基督徒
经文
诗篇四十八1-14
1（可拉后裔的诗歌。）耶和华本为大！
在我们神的城中，在他的圣山上，该受大赞美。
2锡安山─大君王的城，在北面居高华美，为全地所喜悦。
3神在其宫中，自显为避难所。
4看哪，众王会合，一同经过。
5他们见了这城就惊奇丧胆，急忙逃跑。
6他们在那里被战兢疼痛抓住，好像产难的妇人一样。
7神啊，你用东风打破他施的船只。
8我们在万军之耶和华的城中─就是我们神的城中─所看见的，
正如我们所听见的。神必坚立这城，直到永远。（细拉）
9神啊，我们在你的殿中想念你的慈爱。
10神啊，你受的赞美正与你的名相称，直到地极！你的右手满了公义。
11因你的判断，锡安山应当欢喜，犹大的城邑（原文是女子）应当快乐。
12你们当周游锡安，四围旋绕，数点城楼，
13细看他的外郭，察看他的宫殿，为要传说到后代。
14因为这神永永远远为我们的神；他必作我们引路的，直到死时。
信息分享
今天让我们来进一步思考一个昨天所谈到的问题，因为我相信它是基督徒生命中一个最重要的方面，那就是按神的本性接受神，而不是按我们的喜好看神。如果我们不按神的本性，而是按我们的喜好认识祂，我们的生命便会缺乏属灵力量和能力，因为我们的属灵生命永不会高过我们对神的看法。
神所憎恨的罪包括拜偶像，因为拜偶像骨子里是诬蔑神的品格。我们要想一想，教会中有多少人犯了拜偶像的罪而不自知。所谓拜偶像的心就是认为神不是真正的祂，而是以心里想像的假神代替了真神。由我们内心的幽暗中制造出来的神并不是真神。我们对全能者最大的冒犯就是将祂看为不同于真正的祂。
神用了圣经的许多篇幅来给我们描绘出一幅祂自己的细致画像，但如果我们继续对祂持有错误的观念，宁愿按照我们认为祂应有的形象，而不是祂实际的形象来看祂的话，便是再次贬低我们的神。如果我们企图崇拜我们自己想像出来的神，那就是犯了拜偶像的罪，因为我们崇拜的只是自己对神的观念，而这个观念却是来自我们思想中幽暗的地方。
对于「神的认信」，那是好的，我不反对这些认信；但如果在我们心灵的隐密处，对神所抱持的形像和我们口里所承认的不同，那么，这个心里的形像难免会对我们的生命造成极大的负面影响。
「崇拜自己设想的神，是犯了拜偶像的罪」
进深研究
徒十七29；加四1-11；提后三1-5
1. 加拉太人做甚么事？
2. 保罗向加拉太人提出甚么要求？
祈祷
天父，如果我一直将您设想为我希望中的您，而不是实际的您，求您赦免。求您帮助我对你的认识，不是单从我自己的想像而来，而是从您的话和您在基督里的启示而来。奉耶稣的名祈求。阿们。
The Vision of God
Christian idolaters
Bible reading:
Psalm 48:1-14
1 Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
2 Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon[b] is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.
3 God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.
4 When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together,
5 they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror.
6 Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor.
7 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind.
8 As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever.[c]
9 Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.
10 Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers,
13 consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation.
14 For this God is our God forever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.
Message
We touched yesterday on an issue which I now want to expand upon because I believe it to be one of the most crucial aspects of Christian living - seeing God as He is, not as we would like Him to be. Unless we have an understanding of God as He is, not as we wish Him to be, then our lives will lack spiritual force and power. This is because our lives will never rise higher spiritually than our vision of God.
Among the sins which are hateful to God is the sin of idolatry, for idolatry, at its heart, is a libel on His character. Yet consider how many of us in the Church may be committing the sin of idolatry without realising it. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is, and substitutes for the true God one made after its own imagining. But a god who is created out of darkness of our hearts is not the true God. The greatest affront we can give to the Almighty is to view Him other than He really is.
God has gone to great lengths in the Scriptures to give us a clear picture of Himself, but when we continue to hold wrong ideas of Him, preferring to see Him the way we think He should be rather than the way He is, we demean Him. If we try to worship the god of our own imagining we then commit idolatry, for we are worshipping our idea of Him drawn from the darkness of our minds. Credal statements about God are fine - I have nothing against them - but if, in the secret chamber of our soul, we have an image of God which differs from the one we profess with our lips, then it is that core image which will have the greatest influence on our lives.
"If we worship the god of our imagining we commit idolatry"
Prayer
O Father, forgive me if I have been thinking of You as I want You to be rather than as You really are. Help me draw my concept of You from Your Word and from Your revelation in Christ, not from my own imaginings. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Further study
Acts 17:29
Galatians 4:1-11
2 Timothy 3:1-5
1. What were the Galatians doing?
2. What did Paul ask the Galatians?
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。