第九週•週二

W09D02-ch

晨興餧養

弗三17 ～ 19『使基督藉着信，安家在你們心裏，叫你們在愛裏生根立基，使你們滿有力量，能和眾聖徒一同領畧何爲那闊、長、高、深，…使你們被充滿，成爲神一切的豐滿。』

我們若要不注意己，就必須專注於比己更好的事。我們之所以需要看見歌羅西書所陳明，基督之延展無限的異象，其原因就在此。我們若看見這個異象，就會把我們的全人集中在這位延展無限的基督身上，然後基督就要充滿我們，並佔有我們。我們旣被這位延展無限的基督所充滿，就不需要猶太教、智慧派學說、奧祕主義或禁慾主義。我們全人會被這位寬廣、有追測不盡豐富、延展無限的基督所佔有。自然而然的，這位基督會進來，以祂自己頂替我們天然人性生活中的每一方面。（歌羅西書生命讀經，五三○至五三一頁。）

信息選讀

歌羅西書陳明這位奇妙、延展無限、包羅萬有之基督的異象。一旦我們看見這個異象，我們全人就會被這位基督吸引、據有並奪取。然後這位奪取我們注意力之延展無限的基督，就要逐漸頂替我們天然人性生活中的每一元素。祂甚至要以祂自己來頂替我們的仁慈、謙卑、和我們對父母的愛。我們天然的美德頂多只可比作擦亮的銅，但基督是金子，祂的價值遠超過我們與生俱來的東西。我們越經歷這位超越一切的基督，並且在我們天然的生活中，以祂自己來頂替一切，我們就越能宣告說，『在我，活着就是基督。』…我們活着乃是基督，祂完全得着、佔有我們，並以自己充滿我們。

在基督裏成熟，就是被基督充滿並浸透。我們還是我們，但我們被基督充盈、浸透並充滿之後，我們的生活自然而然就是基督。…我們必須向主絕對，一天又一天讓祂活在我們裏面。如果你的丈夫或妻子爲難你，不要爲自己辯護，也不要爲自己表白，只要讓基督活在你裏面。然而，我們必須承認，這樣說很容易，實行起來卻不容易。

我們與基督的關係，可由野橄欖樹的枝子接在栽種的橄欖樹上來說明。基督是栽種的橄欖樹，我們是野橄欖樹的枝子。首先，我們從野橄欖樹上被砍下，然後被接在栽種之橄欖樹的切口處。此後，野橄欖樹的枝子就接在栽種的橄欖樹上；這便是接枝。藉着接枝的過程，栽種的橄欖樹生命的汁漿就流進野橄欖樹的枝子裏面，將其充盈、浸透並充滿。最終，枝子就會結果子。照樣，我們也是接在基督這栽種的橄欖樹上的枝子。如果我們被栽種的橄欖樹裏生命的汁漿所充盈、浸透並充滿，我們就能說，『在我，活着就是栽種的橄欖樹。』枝子達到這一階段，就是在栽種的橄欖樹上成熟了。這說明了在基督裏成熟的意義。在基督裏成熟，就是被基督浸透，被基督充滿。這乃是我們全人的每一部分，都被基督佔有。

歌羅西一章二十八節裏的『成熟』，原文與以弗所四章十三節的『長成』相同；保羅在那一節說，『直到我們眾人都達到了信仰上並對神兒子之完全認識上的一，達到了長成的人，達到了基督豐滿之身材的度量。』基督豐滿之身材的度量，就是長成的人。最終，這樣的成熟會帶進基督的身體，就是基督團體的彰顯。我們都必須長大成熟，好叫基督得着一個團體長成的人，就是基督的身體，作彰顯祂的生機體。（歌羅西書生命讀經，五三一、五三四至五三六頁。）

參讀：歌羅西書生命讀經，第四十九篇；真理課程三級卷一，第四課。

WEEK 9 — DAY 2

Morning Nourishment

Eph. 3:17-19 That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are…that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.

If we would keep from paying attention to the self, we must concentrate on something better than the self. This is the reason we need a vision of the extensiveness of Christ, the vision presented in the book of Colossians. If we see this vision, we will concentrate our entire being on the extensive Christ, who will then fill us and occupy us. Because we are filled with the extensive Christ, we will have no need of Judaism, Gnosticism, mysticism, or asceticism. Our being will be occupied with the vast, unsearchably rich, extensive Christ. Spontaneously, this Christ will come in to replace every aspect of our natural human life with Himself. (Life-study of Colossians, second edition, p. 420)

Today’s Reading

The book of Colossians presents a vision of the wonderful, extensive, allinclusive Christ. Once we see this vision, our entire being will be attracted by this Christ and will be possessed by Christ and occupied with Him. Then gradually, the extensive Christ who occupies our attention will replace every element of our natural human life. He will even replace with Himself our kindness, our humility, and our love for our parents. At best, our natural virtues can be compared to polished copper, but Christ is gold. He far surpasses in value anything we possess by nature. The more we experience the Christ who exceeds everything and replaces everything in our natural life with Himself, the more we will be able to declare, “To me, to live is Christ.”… To us, to live will be the Christ who has taken full possession of us and who occupies us and fills us with Himself.

To be full-grown in Christ is to be filled and saturated with Christ. We remain ourselves, but we are permeated, saturated, and filled with Christ. Then our living spontaneously is Christ…We must be absolute with the Lord to allow Him to live in us day by day. If your husband or wife gives you a difficult time, do not defend yourself or vindicate yourself. Simply let Christ live in you. However, we must admit that it is easy to talk about this, but it is difficult to practice it.

Our relationship with Christ can be illustrated by the grafting of a branch from a wild olive tree into a cultivated olive tree. Christ is the cultivated olive tree, and we are branches from the wild olive tree. First, we are cut off from the wild olive tree and then placed into the cultivated olive tree, in the spot where an incision has been made. After this, the branch from the wild olive tree is bound to the cultivated olive tree. This is grafting. Through the process of grafting, the life-juice in the cultivated olive tree flows into the branch from the wild olive tree, permeates it, saturates it, and fills it. Eventually, the branch will bear fruit. Likewise, we are branches grafted into Christ as the cultivated olive tree. If we are permeated, saturated, and filled with the lifejuice from the cultivated olive tree, we will be able to say, “To me, to live is the
cultivated olive tree.” When a branch reaches this stage, it will be full-grown in the cultivated olive tree. This illustrates what it means to be full-grown in Christ. To be full-grown in Christ is to be saturated and filled with Christ. It is to have every part of our being occupied with Christ.

The Greek word for full-grown in 1:28 is the same as that used in Ephesians 4:13, where Paul says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is simply a full-grown man. Eventually, this maturity will issue in the Body, the corporate expression of Christ. We all need to grow and become full-grown so that Christ may have a corporate full-grown man, the Body, as an organism to express Him. (Life-study of Colossians, 2nd edition, pp. 420-421, 423-424)

Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msg. 49; Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 1, lsn. 4