第十五週．週二

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晨興餧養

羅六６　　『…我們的舊人已經與祂同釘十字架，使罪的身體失效，叫我們不再作罪的奴僕。』

加二２０　『我已經與基督同釘十字架；現在活著的，不再是我，乃是基督在我裏面活著；並且我如今在肉身裏所活的生命，是我在神兒子的信裏，與祂聯結所活的，祂是愛我，為我捨了自己。』　

在基督的十字架這裏，我們看見神的能力。要打敗撒但、世界、罪、墮落的人、肉體、天然的生命、舊造和規條，都需要神的能力。…這種能力不是靠說話來作事的能力，像神在創造時所運用的能力。這乃是釘十字架的能力，是基督奇妙之死的能力。…基督的死已經成了神的能力，毀壞撒但，解決世界的難處，除掉罪，並且了結墮落的人、肉體、天然的生命和舊造。…藉著這一個死，就是基督的死，宇宙間所有的難處都清除了。因此，釘十字架的基督是神的能力，廢去所有消極的事物，並完成祂的計畫。（哥林多前書生命讀經，八六至八七頁。）

信息選讀

這位釘十字架的基督也是神的智慧。我們要完成一件事，不僅需要能力，也需要智慧。…智慧是為著計畫和定意，能力是為著實現、完成所計畫和定意的。…我們若有能力而沒有智慧，就可能會白花力氣。因此，我們需要基督作能力和智慧。

釘十字架的基督作為神的能力和智慧，可以應用於我們所面臨脾氣的難處。…我們經歷一點生命的長大之後，就開始恨自己的脾氣，盼望脫離脾氣的捆綁。…我們不僅在婚姻生活裏，更在日常生活各種情況中，一直受到脾氣的攪擾。

許多愛主、尋求主的基督徒，都曾經這樣禱告過：『主耶穌，你知道我很容易發脾氣。主，你是耶和華救主，求你救我脫離發脾氣的罪。哦，主阿，救我脫離脾氣。』雖然許多人都這樣禱告過，結果卻沒有一個人蒙拯救脫離脾氣。我們在自己裏面就沒有能力勝過脾氣，也沒有智慧、沒有辦法勝過脾氣。我們可能以為禱告會使我們有能力和智慧；然而，即使我們禱告了，我們還是沒有能力、沒有智慧。但是當我們呼求主名，享受基督，被賜生命的靈充滿時，我們就沒有脾氣的難處了。我們自然就有勝過脾氣的能力，也有對付脾氣的路。這個能力和這條路是甚麼？就是基督的死。惟有釘十字架的基督，纔是對付我們脾氣的能力和智慧。

我們也可以將釘十字架的基督，作為神的能力和智慧，應用到我們需要忍耐這事上。我們都盼望能忍耐，但我從沒有遇見一個真忍耐的人。…不過，當我們經歷了釘十字架的基督，我們自然而然就有忍耐。這位釘十字架的基督，成了使我們能忍耐的能力和智慧。結果，我們有了忍耐的力量，也有了忍耐的路。實際上，我們不是努力忍耐；我們藉著經歷釘十字架的基督，就有忍耐。

我們可以將釘十字架的基督，應用到各種為人的經歷上。…在這位釘十字架的基督裏面，有復活和升天的元素。因此，我們享受釘十字架的基督，也就享受祂的復活和升天。經歷基督的復活和升天的關鍵，就在於基督的釘十字架。釘十字架是進入基督一切豐富的門檻，十字架乃是經歷基督並祂一切豐富的路。（哥林多前書生命讀經，八七至八九頁。）

參讀：哥林多前書生命讀經，第八篇。

WEEK 15 — DAY 2

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Morning Nourishment

Rom. 6:6 …Our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves.

Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

In the cross of Christ we see God’s power. It takes the power of God to defeat Satan, the world, sin, fallen man, the flesh, the natural life, the old creation, and the ordinances…This power is not that of doing things by speaking, such as the power God exercised in creation. Rather, it is the power of crucifixion, the power of the wonderful death of Christ…The death of Christ has become the power of God to destroy Satan, to solve the problem of the world, to eliminate sin, and to terminate fallen man, the flesh, the natural life, and the old creation…By one death, the death of Christ, all the problems in the universe have been cleared. Thus, Christ crucified is the power of God to abolish all negative things and carry out His plan. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, pp. 72-73)

Todays Reading

This crucified Christ is also the wisdom of God. In order to accomplish anything, we need both power and wisdom…Wisdom is for planning and purposing, whereas power is for carrying out and accomplishing what is planned and purposed…If we have power without wisdom, we may use our strength in a foolish way. Therefore, we need Christ as both power and wisdom.

The crucified Christ as the power of God and the wisdom of God can be applied to the problem we face with our temper…After experiencing a certain amount of growth in life, we come to hate our temper and long to be free from it…Not only in married life but in all kinds of situations in our daily life, we are troubled by our temper.

Many Christians who love the Lord and seek Him have prayed something like this: “Lord Jesus, You know how easy it is for me to lose my temper. Lord, You are Jehovah the Savior. I ask You to save me from this sin of losing my temper. O Lord, deliver me from this.” Although many have prayed in this way, none have been delivered from their temper as a result. In ourselves we simply do not have either the power to overcome our temper or the wisdom, the way, to do it. We may think that prayer will give us power and wisdom. However, even when we pray, we still do not have power and wisdom. But when we call on the name of the Lord, enjoy Christ, and are filled with the
life-giving Spirit, we have no problem with our temper. Spontaneously, we have both the power to overcome our temper and the way to deal with it. What is this power and this way? It is the death of Christ. Only the crucified Christ is the power and the wisdom to deal with our temper.

We may also apply the crucified Christ as the power of God and the wisdom of God to our need for patience. We all desire to be patient. But I have never met a person who is truly patient…However, when we experience the crucified Christ, we automatically have patience. This crucified Christ becomes to us both the power and the wisdom for patience. As a result, we have both the strength and the way to be patient. Actually, we do not try to be patient. We simply are patient through our experience of Christ crucified.

The crucified Christ can be applied to all manner of human experiences… Within this crucified Christ there are the elements of resurrection and ascension. Thus, when we enjoy the crucified Christ, we also enjoy His resurrection and ascension. The key to experiencing the resurrection and ascension of Christ is found in Christ’s crucifixion. Crucifixion is the threshold into all the riches of Christ. The cross is the way to experience Christ with all His riches. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, pp. 73-74)

Further Reading: Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 8