第五週 • 週六

 w05d06-ch

晨興餧養

林前三2  我給你們奶喝，沒有給你們乾糧，因為那時你們不能喫…。

　　　12  然而，若有人用金、銀、寶石，木、草、禾稭，在這根基上建造。

生育屬靈的兒女以後，我們需要用屬靈的奶餧養他們〔林前三2〕。因此，我們需要作餧養者。…給別人奶喝就是餧養他們。餧養是生命的事。餧養不同於教導；教導是知識的事。…我們該不斷以基督作屬靈的食物，從祂得滋養，使我們能餧養別人。我們需要從基督得餧養，以產生屬靈的奶，好使我們能餧養屬靈的兒女。這是對基督作生命的真實經歷（李常受文集一九七○年第一冊，七六八至七六九頁）。

信息選讀

要實行正確的召會生活，我們需要生命真實的經歷。…保羅不僅作父親生育屬靈的兒女，也作母親餧養他們。我們需要在屬靈上剛強並健康，使我們像保羅一樣，能生育屬靈的兒女，並且產生足彀屬靈的奶餧養他們。…長老們若成為父親，分賜生命給屬靈的兒女，又成為母親，產生屬靈的奶餧養他們，我們就會在作為神家（弗二19）的召會裏，有正確的家庭生活。要實行召會生活作為正確的家庭生活，惟一的路乃是藉着真實生命的經歷。

新約的執事作為撒種者、栽種者、澆灌者、生育者和餧養者，至終該成為建造者。…保羅說到自己是『智慧的工頭』，立了惟一的根基，就是基督，讓別人在上面建造〔林前三10~11〕。然後…說到用金、銀、寶石在這根基上建造〔12〕。我們作撒種、栽種、澆灌、生育並餧養的工作時，基督就會在信徒裏面生長。…信徒日復一日長大的時候，就會被變化（林後三18，羅十二2）。…結果，信徒不僅成為成熟的植物，就是在基督裏長成的人（啟十四4、15，西一28），也成為金、銀、寶石，就是建造神家的寶貴材料（啟二一2~3、11、18~22）。

金表徵父神聖的性情，銀表徵基督救贖的工作，寶石表徵那靈變化的工作。…我們要成為建造者，自己就需要藉着被三一神構成而成為變化過的材料。我們該是神家的建造者，也是建造的材料。…然後我們纔彀資格用其他的信徒作為變化過的材料，建造神的家。…信徒作為變化過的材料，乃是來自生命裏的長大；生命裏的長大，又是來自撒種、栽種、澆灌、生育和餧養。在這光中，我們在召會生活裏所需要的不是僅僅教師或導師，乃是撒種者、栽種者、澆灌者、生育者、餧養者和建造者。在林前四章十五節，保羅將導師與父親作對比。…導師給人教訓和指導，而父親將生命分給所生的兒女。…多有導師卻少有父親的事實指明，後者比起前者是無比的寶貴。在主的恢復裏，我們需要撒種者、栽種者、澆灌者、生育者、餧養者和建造者，使主能得着祂生機的建造，就是神的家。

在十二章三節保羅說，『若不是在聖靈裏，也沒有人能說，主，耶穌！』…藉着呼求主的名，我們就喫祂、喝祂並將祂吸入我們裏面，以享受祂。倘若我們在眾地方召會裏的人都這樣享受主，我們就不但會成為撒種者、栽種者、澆灌者、生育者（父親）、餧養者（母親）和建造者，也會成為金、銀、寶石等寶貴材料，以建造神在地上的居所。結果，我們就會被構成為神奇妙的生機建造，就是神宏偉的殿。這就是正確的召會生活（李常受文集一九七○年第一冊，七六九至七七一、七七五頁）。

參讀：約伯記生命讀經，第二十四篇。

WEEK 5—DAY 6

Morning Nourishment

1 Cor. 3:2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it…

          12 But if anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble.

After begetting spiritual children, we need to feed them with the spiritual milk [1 Cor. 3:2]. Hence, we need to be feeders…To give others milk to drink is to feed them. Feeding is a matter of life. It differs from teaching, which is a matter of knowledge…We should be constantly nourished with Christ as spiritual food so that we may be able to feed others. We need to feed on Christ to produce spiritual milk so that we may be able to feed our spiritual children. This is a genuine experience of Christ as life. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 1, p. 579)

Today’s Reading

In order to practice the proper church life, we need the genuine experience of life…Paul was not only a father who begot spiritual children but also a mother who fed them. We need to be spiritually strong and healthy so that, like Paul, we may be able to beget spiritual children and adequately produce the spiritual milk to feed them…If the elders become fathers who impart life to their spiritual children and mothers who produce the spiritual milk to feed them, we will have a proper family life in the church as the household of God (Eph. 2:19). The unique way to practice the church life as a proper family life is through the genuine experience of life.

The new covenant ministers as sowers, planters, waterers, begetters, and feeders should eventually become builders…Paul speaks of himself as “a wise master builder” who laid the unique foundation, Christ, for others to build upon [1 Cor. 3:10-11]…Paul [then] speaks of building upon the foundation gold, silver, and precious stones [v. 12]. As we carry out the work of sowing, planting, watering, begetting, and feeding, Christ will grow in the believers… While the believers grow day by day, they will be transformed (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2)…Consequently, the believers will be not only mature plants, that is, full-grown men in Christ (Rev. 14:4, 15; Col. 1:28), but also gold, silver, and precious stones, precious materials for the building of God’s house (Rev. 21:2- 3, 11, 18-22).

Gold signifies the divine nature of the Father, silver signifies the redemptive work of Christ, and precious stones signify the transforming work of the Spirit…In order to be builders, we ourselves need to be the transformed materials by being constituted with the Triune God. We should be both the builders and the building material of the house of God…Then we will be qualified to build the house of God with other believers as the transformed materials. The believers as the transformed materials come from the growth in life, and the growth in life comes from the sowing, planting, watering, begetting, and feeding. In this light, what we in the church life need are not mere teachers or guides but sowers, planters, waterers, begetters, feeders, and builders. In 1 Corinthians 4:15 Paul contrasts guides with fathers…Guides give instructions and directions, whereas fathers impart life to those whom they beget…The fact that there are many guides but few fathers indicates that the latter are incomparably more precious than the former. In the Lord’s recovery we need sowers, planters, waterers, begetters, feeders, and builders so that the Lord may gain His organic building, the house of God.

In 1 Corinthians 12:3 Paul says, “No one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.”…It is by calling on the name of the Lord that we eat Him, drink of Him, and breathe Him into us in order to enjoy Him. If all of us who are in the local churches enjoy the Lord in this way, we will become not only sowers, planters, waterers, begetters (fathers), feeders (mothers), and builders but also the precious materials of gold, silver, and precious stones for the building of God’s habitation on earth. Consequently, we will be constituted a marvelous organic building of God, the magnificent house of God. This is the proper church life. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 1, pp. 579-581, 583)

Further Reading: Life-study of Job, msg. 24