第三週   在基督耶穌裏的恩典上得着加力，成爲教師、精兵、競賽者、農夫和工人

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詩歌：英723 中譯

讀經：提後二1 ～ 7，15

【週一】

壹 卽使在敗落的時期，在下坡的流中，大多數神的子民被擄去，我們需要留在神的遺民，就是那些蒙主憐憫一直向祂忠信的人中間—林前七25 下，王上十九14，18，羅十一5，拉九8，尼一3，該一14：

一 阿尼色弗是得勝者，他勝過一般的趨勢，並站住抵擋那下坡的流，使主的大使靈、魂、體都舒暢，不以使徒爲主的使命被囚爲恥—提後一16 ～ 18。

二 提摩太這人得了充分的成全和裝備，以供應神的話，不僅爲照管地方召會，也爲面對召會日趨敗落的光景；他與使徒保羅同魂，真正關心召會和眾聖徒，並題醒他們，保羅如何在基督裏行事爲人—三13 ～ 17，腓二19 ～ 22，林前四17，提前一16，四12。

三 路加是親愛的醫生，他忠信的陪伴保羅，直到保羅殉道—西四14，門24，提後四11。

四 提多與保羅是在同一的靈裏，並在同一的腳蹤裏行事，照顧眾召會—林後七6 ～ 7，十二18，多一4 ～ 5，三12，參提後四10。

五 馬可在服事上對保羅有用處—11 節，參徒十五37。

【週二】

貳 提摩太後書啓示，在這末後的日子，在主來臨以前，我們需要在基督耶穌裏的恩典上得着加力，成爲忠信的人，就是教師、精兵、競賽者、農夫和正直分解真理之話的工人—二1 ～ 7，15，尼八10，林後十二9：

一 在地方召會中，人若有主所託付健康的話，他就該訓練那些忠信的人，使他們也從主得着美好的託付，能以教導別人，而成爲神諸般恩典的好管家，分賜者—提後二2，一12 ～ 14，提前六20，弗三2，四29，彼前四10：

1 我們必須以教導神的經綸來牧養聖徒—弗四11，西一27 ～ 29，參提前三2，四11 ～ 16：

a 我們牧養人，該在耶穌的人性裏將神聖的生命分賜給人以顧惜他們，並在基督的神性裏將神聖的真理教導他們以餧養他們—弗五29。

b 牧養神的羣羊，將神所有的旨意，就是神的經綸，告訴他們，就能保護召會脫離那些敗壞神建造的人，使羣羊與作恩典的三一神調和，並在祂的一裏將羣羊聯結在一起—徒二十26 ～ 30，弗四14，提前一3 ～4，羅十六17，參結三三1 ～ 11，三四25，亞十一7。

2 教師乃是基督耶穌的好執事，得着信仰之話的滋養，並在日常生活中，爲着召會生活操練他的靈以活基督—提前四6 ～ 7。

【週三】

二 使徒服事主如同精兵，指明使徒認爲他們的職事乃是爲着基督的爭戰，正如祭司的事奉被看作是服役， 爭戰— 提後二3 ～ 4， 民四23，30，35，提後四7：

1 主的職事乃是爲着軍兵前去爭戰吹號；打那美好的仗就是與異議者不同的教訓打仗，並照着使徒的職事，完成神的經綸—林前十四8，提前一18，民十9，士七18。

2 我們要爲着主在地上的權益打那美好的仗，就必須清除一切屬地的纏累，並持定永遠的生命，而不信靠我們人的生命—提後四7，提前六12，參林後五4。

3 我們必須儆醒，藉着充滿生命，在生命中作王，而與死亡，就是神最後的仇敵爭戰—民六6 ～ 7，9，林後五4，羅五17，八6，11。

4 我們的意志必須被基督治服並復活，好像大衞的高樓，就是爲着屬靈爭戰收藏軍器的地方—歌四4，參代上十一22。

【週四】

三 我們必須是競賽者，運動員，奔跑基督徒的賽程，直到跑完我們的路程，在神經綸惟一的職事中盡我們的職事，好得着基督爲獎賞—提後二5，林前九24 ～ 25：

1 我們必須治服我們的身體，使其成爲被征服的俘虜，像奴隸一樣服事我們，好成就我們神聖的目的，但這不是憑我們自己的努力，乃是憑着那靈—羅八13。

2 我們必須仰望主，使我們蒙恩，在基督這蒙愛者裏面（弗一6）得着祂的恩典，以跑完我們的路程，好叫我們在來世得着賞賜，得着基督作不能壞的華冠，（林前九24 ～ 27，）包括以下幾方面：

a 祂要作我們生命的冠冕—啓二10，雅一12。

b 祂要作我們公義的冠冕—提後四6 ～ 8。

c 祂要作我們聖別的冠冕—出二八36 ～ 38，二九6，參彼前一15 ～ 16，弗五26。

d 祂要作我們榮耀的冠冕—彼前五4。

e 當我們喫基督作生命樹，神的屬性，就是那把守生命樹不給墮落之人接觸的，如今就分賜到我們裏面，使基督成爲我們的公義、聖別和榮耀，使我們得以向全宇宙展示基督作神萬般的智慧—啓二7，創三24，林前一30，弗二10，三10。

【週五】

四 召會是神的農場，神的耕地；我們是神的同工，藉着適應一切的生命與神同工，如同農夫將生命的種子撒在人裏面，並藉着祂健康的話，以生命的靈澆灌他們—提後二6，林前三6，9，林後六1 上，路八11，約七38，六63：

1 神的話像麥粒，將神作爲生命分賜到我們裏面，滋養我們；神的話也像火和大錘，煉淨我們，打碎我們的己、天然生命、肉體、情慾和觀念—耶二三28 ～ 29。

2 神已經打發祂的話如同雨雪來滋潤祂的子民，好聖化他們，變化他們，並將他們模成祂的形像，使基督的身體得以建造起來—賽五五8 ～ 11，約十七17，弗五26。

3 我們與聖徒接觸，應該只有一個動機—供應基督給他們，使他們在主裏長大—提前五1 ～ 2。

【週六】

五 作神的工人正直的分解（就如作木工一樣）真理的話，意卽將神話語的各部分，正確、正直、毫不曲解的揭示出來；真理的話需要正確的解開，以光照暗昧的人，豫防毒素，吞滅死亡，並將偏離的人帶回正途—提後二15，參徒二六18，詩一一九130。

Week Three

Being Empowered in the Grace Which Is in Christ Jesus to Be Teachers, Soldiers,
Contenders, Farmers, and Workmen

Hymns: 723

Scripture Reading: 2 Tim. 2:1-7, 15

§ Day 1

I. Even during a period of decline, a downward trend when most of God’s people are carried away, we need to be among the remnant of God’s people, who receive mercy from the Lord to remain faithful to Him—1 Cor. 7:25b; 1 Kings 19:14, 18; Rom. 11:5; Ezra 9:8; Neh. 1:3; Hag. 1:14:

A. Onesiphorus was an overcomer who resisted the general trend and stood against the downward current to refresh the Lord’s ambassador in spirit, soul, and body, not being ashamed of the apostle’s imprisonment on behalf of the Lord’s commission—2 Tim. 1:16-18.

B. Timothy was one who was fully perfected and equipped to minister the word of God, not only in caring for a local church but also in confronting the worsening decline of the church; he was like-souled with the apostle Paul to genuinely care for the church with all the saints and remind them of Paul’s ways which were in Christ—3:13-17; Phil. 2:19-22; 1 Cor. 4:17; 1 Tim. 1:16; 4:12.

C. Luke was the beloved physician, a faithful companion of Paul until his martyrdom—Col. 4:14; Philem. 24; 2 Tim. 4:11.

D. Titus walked in the same spirit and in the same steps as Paul to care for the churches—2 Cor. 7:6-7; 12:18; Titus 1:4-5; 3:12; cf. 2 Tim. 4:10.

E. Mark was useful to Paul for the ministry—v. 11; cf. Acts 15:37.

§ Day 2

II. Second Timothy reveals that in these last days before the Lord’s coming, we need to be empowered in the grace which is in Christ Jesus to be faithful men, those who are teachers, soldiers, contenders, farmers, and workmen who cut straight the word of the truth—2:1-7, 15; Neh. 8:10; 2 Cor. 12:9:

A. If someone in a local church has a deposit of the Lord’s healthy words, he should train the faithful ones that they too may have a good deposit from the Lord and be competent to teach others so that they may be good stewards, dispensers, of the varied grace of God—2 Tim. 2:2; 1:12-14; 1 Tim. 6:20; Eph. 3:2; 4:29; 1 Pet. 4:10:

1. We must shepherd the saints with the teaching of God’s economy—Eph. 4:11; Col. 1:27-29; cf. 1 Tim. 3:2; 4:11-16:

a. We should shepherd people by dispensing the divine life in the humanity of Jesus to cherish them and by teaching them the divine truths in the divinity of Christ to nourish them—Eph. 5:29.

b. Shepherding the flock of God by declaring to them all the counsel of God, the economy of God, protects the church from the destroyers of God’s building, mingles them with the Triune God as grace, and binds them together in His oneness—Acts 20:26-30; Eph. 4:14; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Rom. 16:17; cf. Ezek. 33:1-11; 34:25; Zech. 11:7.

2. The teacher, as a good minister of Christ Jesus, is nourished with the words of the faith and exercises his spirit to live Christ in his daily life for the church life—1 Tim. 4:6-7.

§ Day 3

B. Their serving the Lord as soldiers indicates that the apostle considered their ministry a warfare for Christ, just as the priestly service was considered a military service, a warfare—2 Tim. 2:3-4; Num. 4:23, 30, 35; 2 Tim. 4:7:

1. The Lord’s ministry is the sounding of the trumpet for the army to go to war; to war the good warfare is to war against the different teachings of the dissenters and to carry out God’s economy according to the apostles’ ministry— 1 Cor. 14:8; 1 Tim. 1:18; Num. 10:9; Judg. 7:18.

2. To fight a good fight for the Lord’s interests on this earth, we must clear away all earthly entanglements and lay hold on the eternal life, not trusting in our human life—2 Tim. 4:7; 1 Tim. 6:12; cf. 2 Cor. 5:4.

3. We must be vigilant to fight the battle against death, the last enemy of God, by being filled with life to reign in life—Num. 6:6-7, 9; 2 Cor. 5:4; Rom. 5:17; 8:6, 11.

4. Our will must be subdued and resurrected by Christ to be like the tower of David, the armory for spiritual warfare—S. S. 4:4; cf. 1 Chron. 11:22.

§ Day 4

C. We must run the Christian race as contenders, athletes, until we finish our course, fully accomplishing our ministry in the unique ministry of God’s economy so that we may receive Christ as our prize—2 Tim. 2:5; 1 Cor. 9:24-25:

1. We must subdue our body and make it a conquered captive to serve us as a slave for fulfilling our holy purpose, not by our own effort but by the Spirit— Rom. 8:13.

2. We must look to the Lord to be graced with His grace in Christ as the Beloved (Eph. 1:6) in order to finish our course so that we can be awarded in the next age with Christ as our incorruptible crown in the following aspects (1 Cor. 9:24-27):

a. He will be our crown of life—Rev. 2:10; James 1:12.

b. He will be our crown of righteousness—2 Tim. 4:6-8.

c. He will be our crown of holiness—Exo. 28:36-38; 29:6; cf. 1 Pet. 1:15- 16; Eph. 5:26.

d. He will be our crown of glory—1 Pet. 5:4.

e. The very attributes of God that guarded the tree of life from fallen man are now being dispensed into us as we eat Christ as the tree of life for Him to become our righteousness, holiness, and glory in order for us to display Him as the multifarious wisdom of God to the whole universe—Rev. 2:7; Gen. 3:24; 1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 2:10; 3:10.

§ Day 5

D. The church is God’s farm, God’s cultivated land, and we are God’s fellow workers, working as farmers together with Him by an all-fitting life to sow the seed of life into people and water them with the Spirit of life by His healthy words—2 Tim. 2:6; 1 Cor. 3:6, 9; 2 Cor. 6:1a; Luke 8:11; John 7:38; 6:63:

1. The word of God, as a grain of wheat, dispenses God as life into us to nourish us; it is also fire and a hammer to purify us and breakdown our self, our natural life, our flesh, our lusts, and our concepts—Jer. 23:28-29.

2. God has sent forth His word as rain and snow to water His people in order to sanctify them, transform them, and conform them to His image that the Body may be built up—Isa. 55:8-11; John 17:17; Eph. 5:26.

3. In our contact with the saints, we should have only one motive—to minister Christ to them that they may grow in the Lord—1 Tim. 5:1-2.

§ Day 6

E. To cut straight the word of the truth as God’s workmen means to unfold the word of God in its various parts rightly and straightly without distortion (as in carpentry); there is the need of the word of the truth, rightly unfolded, to enlighten the darkened people, inoculate against the poison, swallow up the death, and bring the distracted back to the proper track—2 Tim. 2:15; cf. Acts 26:18; Psa. 119:130.