於2013-01-18發佈

大使命2

基督的門徒

正如我們上週開始談到,身為基督徒,我們最基本的使命記載在馬太福音廿八章18-20節:

天上地下所有的權柄都賜給我了。
    所以,你們要去,使萬民作我的門徒,奉父、子、聖靈的名給他們施洗。 
    凡我所吩咐你們的,都教訓他們遵守,我就常與你們同在,直到世界的末了。』    

基督教其中一個失敗就是致力於帶人信主,卻沒有帶出門徒。當基督的身體開始恢復此基本命令,就會興起並長大成熟,成為它所蒙召的樣式。那樣的日子現在即將來到。

所有的基督徒都被呼召成為門徒,但只有很小比例的人真正成為主所定義的門徒。倘若你會讀像『每週一話』這類的文章,你至少朝著對的方向,因為你顯然致力於更多認識主與其目的。那是好的開始,但我們想要徹底來探索主自己對門徒的定義,並使其成為我們生命的首要擺上,這亦是成為祂門徒的基本要求。

那些在不同領域中最成功的人,往往都是基本工做得最好的人。要成為基督的門徒,我們的根基要正確。若根基不穩,我們爬得越高,垮下來時也就越危險。

門徒訓練的根基在於我們蒙召成為基督的門徒,而不是其他基督徒的門徒。我對完成大使命使萬民作門徒的擺上,是使人們成為祂的門徒,而非我的。我們是需要良師益友,但新郎真正的朋友會為萬王之王預備新婦,一心尋求讓她更愛祂、更親近祂,而不是我們。

再榮耀的殿卻沒有神在其中,又有什麼益處呢?倘若神在祂的殿中 ,吸引人注意的就不是那殿,不管它有多榮耀。倘若是我們這些主的殿在吸引人的注意,我們便需要思想,是否祂的榮耀並不在我們裡面。殿是為主而存在,而不是反過來。我們的目標是為主成為有價值的居所,彰顯祂到一個地步,人們甚至不會注意到我們。然而,我們不會一步登天,祂知道此,所以我們需要成為門徒,學生必須學習,然後再將所學應用出來。

我們會努力讓此成為我們的目標,當人們與我們相遇,他們會與主更親近,而不是我們。倘若我們是牧者、小組長,或活躍在任何事工裡,我們的目標必須把人們指向耶穌,讓他們與祂連結在一起,而不是與我們。當我們分享我們學到關於神的一些偉大事情,那是為了讓人更愛祂、敬畏祂,而不是讚嘆我們對神的知識。

施洗約翰是所有轉變期事工中最偉大的一個,耶穌稱他是『凡婦人所生中最大的』(參考馬太福音11:11),他所呈現出來的道路,是我們在地上所能擁有最偉大的成就,為主預備道路,將焦點指向祂。我們對每一位門徒的目標,是讓他們長大成熟到一個地步,他們不再需要我們,因為他們擁有自己與主的關係。

今年將是很棒的一年;我的禱告是這會成為你最棒的一年─今年你會比以往更親近主,這會使今年成為最成功的一年。讓我們有一個聖潔的競賽,看看誰會成為祂班上最棒的學生,進而影響到每一位與我們接觸的人,好使他們也有相同的渴望。

(摘自喬納 word for the week, Week 2, 2013)


Disciples of Christ - The Great Commission, Part 2
Week 2, 2013 
Rick Joyner 

As we began to cover last week, our basic mandate as Christians is recorded in Matthew 28:18-20:

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 
“teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

One of the tragic failures of Christianity has been the devotion to making converts in place of disciples. When the body of Christ recovers this basic mandate, it will arise and mature into all that it has been called to be. That day is now at hand.

All Christians are called to be disciples, but only a small percentage actually are according to the Lord’s definition of a disciple. If you are reading something like this Word for the Week, you are likely to at least be heading in the right direction because you are obviously devoted to doing more to know the Lord and His purposes. That is a good beginning, but we want to thoroughly explore the Lord’s own definition of a disciple and make that the primary devotion of our life, which is basic to being His disciple.

Those who are the most successful in any field are those who do the basics best. To be a disciple of Christ, we want the foundation to be right. If the foundation is not level and strong, the higher we go the greater the danger of collapse.

The foundation of this discipleship is that we are called to be disciples of Christ, not other Christians. My devotion to fulfilling The Great Commission by making disciples is for them to be His disciples, not mine. There is a place for mentorship, but the true friend of the Bridegroom is to prepare the bride for the King, seeking to have her grow in her love for Him and getting closer to Him, not us.

What good is the most glorious temple if God is not in it? If God is in His temple, it will not be the temple that gets the attention regardless of how glorious it might be. If we, the temple of the Lord, are getting the attention, then we must consider that His glory is not in us. The temple exists for the Lord, not the other way around. Our goal is to be a worthy habitation for the Lord and to so manifest Him that people do not even notice us. However, we will not become this in one step, and He knows this, which is why we are disciples, students who must learn, and then apply what we learn.

We will endeavor to keep as our goal that when people meet us, they leave closer to the Lord than to us. If we are a pastor, a home group leader, or functioning in any ministry, our goal must be to point people to Jesus and bond them together with Him, not us. When we share the great things of God that we learn, it is to compel people to love and be in awe of Him, not our knowledge of Him.

John the Baptist was the greatest of all transitional ministries. Jesus called him “the greatest man ever born of woman” (see Matthew 11:11) and he reflects the path to the greatest achievement we can have on this earth—to prepare the way for the Lord, to point to Him, and to be willing to decrease as He increases in the lives of those we have pointed to Him. Our goal for every disciple is for them to grow to the place where they no longer need us because they have their own relationship with Him.

This is going to be a great year. My prayer for you is that it will be your best year yet—that this year you will get much closer to the Lord than you have ever been. That would make this the most successful year we have ever had. Let’s have a holy competition to see who will be the best student in His class, and do it in a way that infects everyone we come in contact with so that they have the same desire.