第二十九週．週六

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晨興餧養

羅十二１　　　『所以弟兄們，我藉著神的憐恤勸你們，將身體獻上，當作聖別並討神喜悅的活祭，這是你們合理的事奉。』

帖前四３～４　『神的旨意就是要你們聖別，禁戒淫亂；要你們各人曉得，怎樣用聖別和尊貴，持守自己的器皿。』

我們不僅要知道怎樣保守我們的靈與魂，也必須知道怎樣保守我們的身體。罪已經破壞並敗壞了我們的身體。…我們的身體是『罪的身體』。〔羅六6。〕

我們若要保守自己的身體，就應當過一種絕對不跟隨舊人、不跟隨我們魂的生活。羅馬六章六節說，『…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。』（帖撒羅尼迦前書生命讀經，二五三至二五四頁。）

信息選讀

我們若照著魂生活，就會用我們的身體服事舊人。因此，我們若要保守自己的身體，首先必須不照著我們的魂生活。

第二，我們若要保守自己的身體，我們身上不論那個肢體，都不可獻給任何有罪的事物。譬如，我們應當保守自己的眼睛遠離邪惡的圖片，保守我們的耳朵不聽不潔的事。…我們必須保守我們的身體不看、不聽那些污染並敗壞身體的事物。這就是用聖別持守我們的身體。

保羅…囑咐我們要禁戒淫亂，藉此說明這樣持守我們身體的重要性。〔帖前四3。〕禁戒淫亂就是用聖別和尊貴持守我們的器皿—我們的身體。因此，我們為了要保守自己的身體，就不該把我們的肢體獻給任何罪惡的事物。

今天世界滿了玷污和污穢，這使我們很難持守自己的身體。…父母應當訓練自己的孩子（甚至小學生也不例外），遠離這些污穢人的元素。有些父母認為應當讓兒女們接受試驗，好培養抵抗力，他們都犯了嚴重的錯誤，將來會為此後悔。這樣照顧子女的父母，種的是甚麼，收的也必定是甚麼。

你們不要以為，年紀大了就不需要護衛自己遠離情慾和玷污。只要我們的身體還沒有改變形狀，還留在舊造裏，我們就需要一直持守自己的身體。…在這玷污人、污穢人的世界中，我們最難作到的，就是持守自己的身體。我們需要謹慎，任何會玷污我們身體的東西，我們都不要看、不要聽、也不要摸。

我們在帖前五章十二至二十四節看見，聖別的生活與神的工作合作。十二至二十二節給我們看見信徒的合作，活出屬靈、聖別的生活。二十三至二十四節說到神的工作，聖別並保守信徒。神渴望全然聖別我們，並保守我們的靈、與魂、與身子得以完全。然而，我們必須與祂合作。合作的路就是常常喜樂，不住的禱告，凡事謝恩，不銷滅那靈，在召會聚會中不藐視申言者的話。我們若這樣的合作，我們的靈就會蒙保守，不至死沉；我們的魂會蒙保守，使心思、意志、情感不受污染；我們的身體也會蒙保守，不受這世代的污染。這樣，我們就能實際的過為著召會生活的聖別生活。保羅寫帖撒羅尼迦前書這卷給初信者的書，目的是要他們過這種為著召會生活的聖化且聖別的生活。（帖撒羅尼迦前書生命讀經，二五四至二五六頁。）

參讀：那靈同我們的靈，第十二至十三篇；人的肉體與人的靈，第一章。

WEEK 29 — DAY 6

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Morning Nourishment

Rom. 12:1 I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

1 Thes. 4:3-4 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; that each one of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.

In addition to knowing how to preserve our spirit and our soul, we must also know how to preserve our body. Sin has damaged and ruined our body… Our body is a “body of sin” (Rom. 6:6).

If we would preserve our body, we should live a life that never follows the old man, that never follows our soul. Romans 6:6 says, “…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.” (Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, p. 212)

Todays Reading

If we live according to the soul, we will use our body to serve the old man. Therefore, to preserve our body first requires that we do not live according to our soul.

Second, to preserve our body requires that we not present any member of our body to anything that is sinful. For example, we should keep our eyes away from evil pictures and our ears from unclean things…We need to keep our body from seeing and hearing things that will contaminate and ruin it. This is to preserve our body in sanctification.

Paul illustrates the importance of preserving our body in this way by giving…the charge to abstain from fornication [1 Thes. 4:3]. To abstain from  ornication is to preserve our vessel, our body, in sanctification and honor…In order to preserve our body, we should not present our members to anything sinful.

Today’s world is full of contamination and defilement. This makes it very difficult for us to preserve our body…Parents need to train their children, even those in elementary school, to keep away from these contaminating elements. Any parent who thinks that children should be allowed to be tested in order to develop resistance is seriously mistaken and in the future will regret this course of action. The parents who follow this way in caring for their children surely will reap the harvest of what they have sown.

Do not think that as you grow older, you will not need to guard yourself from lust and defilement. As long as we have not been transfigured and still remain in the old creation, we need to preserve our body. The most difficult thing for us to do in this defiling, contaminating world is to preserve our body. We need to be careful not to look at anything, listen to anything, or touch anything that will defile our body.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24 we see the cooperation of the holy life with the divine operation. In verses 12 through 22 we have the believers’ cooperation in living a spiritual and separated life. In verses 23 and 24 we have God’s operation in sanctifying and preserving the believers. God desires to sanctify us wholly and to preserve our spirit, soul, and body complete. However, we need to cooperate with Him. The way to cooperate is to rejoice, pray unceasingly, give thanks to Him in everything, not quench the Spirit, and not despise prophesying in the church meetings. If we cooperate in this way, our spirit will be preserved from deadness, our soul will be preserved from pollution in mind, will, and emotion, and our body will be preserved from the defilement of this age. Then in a practical way we will have a holy life for the church life. Paul’s aim in writing 1 Thessalonians, a book for new believers, was that they would live such a sanctified and holy life for the church life. (Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, pp. 212-214)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Spirit with Our Spirit,” chs. 12—13; CWWL, 1975-1976, vol. 1, “The Flesh and the Spirit,” ch. 1