大使命38

長成的身量

正如我們先前所談到的，什麼是我們在基督身體中蒙召去做的事，我們可以在哥林多前書一章4-7節找到答案：『我常為你們感謝我的神，因神在基督耶穌裡所賜給你們的恩惠； 又因你們在祂裡面凡事富足，口才、知識都全備，正如我為基督作的見證，在你們心裡得以堅固，以致你們在恩賜上沒有一樣不及人的…』 

首先，我們在祂裡面『凡事』富足，『口才、知識都全備』。正常的基督徒生命在口才與知識上都持續富足，先從口才開始，因為我們是神話語的代表。我們在知識方面的富足是對神的知識，持續在祂行事方式的知識上長進，以及從祂角度來看事情的觀點上持續長進。這是成熟基督徒生命的根基，但光有這些還不夠。 

基督的見證，在我們心裡得以堅固，『以致你們在恩賜上沒有一樣不及人的/沒有缺乏』。這是當年耶穌在地上行走所擁有的聖靈恩賜，現在已經賜給祂的身體，在我們地方教會信徒身上彰顯出來。因此，耶穌可以自由在那裡運行，就像當年祂行走在地上一樣。每一個地方肢體和地方教會的目標，應該是在他們中間有耶穌完全的彰顯。這正是以弗所書四章13節所告訴我們裝備聖徒各盡其職的目的，『直等到我們眾人在真道上同歸於一，認識神的兒子，得以長大成人，滿有基督長成的身量』。 

這即是何以我們會以信徒的地方身體之姿存在，因此這必須持續成為我們的異象。它並不會轉眼發生，而是我們應該持續長進，藉由『用愛心說誠實話，凡事長進，連於元首基督， 全身都靠祂聯絡得合式，百節各按各職，照著各體的功用彼此相助，便叫身體漸漸增長，在愛中建立自己。』(以弗所書4:15-16)。 

因此，我們身為信徒地方肢體的一個基本目的是凡事長進連於基督，被聖靈充滿，處處彰顯祂。這必須一直成為我們異象的根基。 

在30年前我們剛開始晨星事工時，我們尋求實現以弗所書第四章的命令。我們在一些方面很成功，透過我們的先知性事工，我們已經幫助無數人認識他們的職分與恩賜，也幫助許多人看到他們的目的。透過我們的學校、教會和特會，我們能夠教導、訓練許多現在對神國有影響力的人。然而，在裝備聖徒各盡其職上，我們仍有很長的路要走，才能和我們所蒙召成為的樣式一樣有效率。 

主賜給祂百姓得以被建造與受裝備的最基本方式就是門徒訓練，因著70年代門訓運動在某些地方走偏了，過了幾十年後教會才願意再次擁抱門訓。然而，若我們要完成大使命，不單是帶人信主而是帶出門徒，我們一定要門訓，因為這是我們蒙召的主要事情。 

為此緣故，我們可以預期門徒訓練會再次成為重點。期盼我們已經學到70年代的功課，以致於我們不需要重蹈覆轍。我個人認為最重要的功課就是我們蒙召帶人成為耶穌的門徒，而不是我們個人的門徒。我們也必須防範掌控的靈，其總是在找機會取代聖靈來成為我們的指引。 

目前，我只注意到少數的地方教會有著裝備所有會友的目的。就連最有效率的現代，都只有極少比例的會友真正被裝備，並被釋放進入他們的目的。然而，當我們接近歷史上最大收割的時刻，我們可以確定裝備聖徒會快速上升，儼然成為基督身體的主要重點。當此開始發生，我們將看到教會很快會比現在多出好幾倍的效率。 

這終將成為自宗教改革以來為教會帶來極大改變的運動，超過任何事物，當時信心、救恩和我們對基督的關係都變得很個人化。這些能在教會裡被恢復固然很重要，但要臨到的改變將是主同在的大能在祂的教會被恢復。在祂為他們回來前，祂將來到祂子民中間。能在聖工與聖靈恩賜中被使用，就是讓基督得以彰顯在祂子民當中。

(摘自喬納 word for the week, Week38, 2014)

 

Full Measure - The Great Commission, Part 38

Week 38, 2014
Rick Joyner

As we have covered before, a basic statement of what we’re called to as the body of Christ is found in I Corinthians 1:4-7: “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift….”

First, “in everything” we are being enriched in Him in “all speech and all knowledge.” The normal Christian life is one of continual enrichment of speech and knowledge. This begins with speech because we are to be representatives of the Word of God. The knowledge we are being enriched in is the knowledge of God. This is a continually increasing knowledge of His ways, but also a continually increasing perspective that comes from His perspective. This is basic to the maturing Christian life, but there is more.

The testimony of Christ is confirmed in us when “you are not lacking in any gift.” This is when all the gifts of the Spirit that Jesus walked in, which have now been given to His body, are manifested in our local body of believers. Then Jesus is free to move there just as He did when He walked the earth. The goal of every local body, every local church, should be the full manifestation of Jesus in their midst. This is, as we are told in Ephesians 4:13, the purpose of the equipping ministries, so that we grow up “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

This is why we exist as a local body of believers, and so it must continually be our vision. It will not happen overnight, but we should be making continual progress by “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the Head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:15-17).

Therefore, our basic purpose as a local body of believers is to grow up into Christ, to be filled with His Spirit, and to manifest Him in every way. This must always remain the foundation of our vision.

From the inception of MorningStar over thirty years ago, we have sought to fulfill the Ephesians 4 mandate. We have had some success. Through our prophetic ministries, we have helped tens of thousands to know their ministries and gifts and many come to see their purpose. Through our schools, churches, and conferences, we have been able to teach, train, and equip many who are now having an impact for the kingdom. However, in the equipping of the saints to do the work of the ministry, we still have far to go to be as effective as we are called to be.

The most basic way that the Lord gave for His people to be raised up and equipped is discipleship. Because of a discipleship movement that went awry in some areas in the 1970s, it has now been decades since the church as a whole has been willing to embrace this again. However, we must because it is the main thing we are called to, if we are to fulfill The Great Commission which is to make disciples not just converts.

For this reason, we can expect discipleship to become an emphasis again. Hopefully the lessons from the 1970s will have been learned so that we do not have to learn them again. I personally think the most important lesson is that we are called to make people into Jesus’ disciples, not our disciples. We must also guard against the control spirit that will almost always seek to supplant the Holy Spirit as our Guide.

Presently, I am only aware of a few places where this is a purpose of the local church (to equip all of their members). Even in the most effective at this time, only a small percentage of their members are truly being equipped and released into their purpose. However, as we approach the time of the greatest ingathering in history, we can be sure that this will be ramping up and become a major emphasis of the body of Christ. When this begins to happen, we will see the church quickly become many times more effective than it is now.

This will ultimately be a movement that changes the church more than anything since the beginning of the Reformation when faith, salvation, and our relationship to Christ became personal again. It was crucial for these to be restored to the church, but what is coming will be the power of the presence of the Lord being restored to His church. He is going to come in His people before He comes for them. To be used in the ministries and gifts of the Spirit is to have Christ manifesting in His people.