三月二日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/03/0302.mp3″]
经文: 我本来比众圣徒中最小的还小,然而祂还赐我这恩典,叫我把基督那测不透的丰富,传给外邦人(以弗所书三:8)
保罗感到主允许他去传讲福音是一项大特权,他并不认为他的呼召是重担,反以无比喜税的心情去完成使命。虽然保罗为他的职事心存感恩,但成功却使他更为谦卑。容器装得越满,若置于水中,将下沉得越深。懒惰者因稍有成就便陶醉在虚假的骄傲之中,只因为他们未经试验。勤劳的工人却会很快的发现自己的不足。你若寻求谦卑,那就尝试去作艰难之工。你若要知道自己是毫无所有的,那就尝试去为耶稣作一些大事。你若期望知道离了永活的真神你是如何无能,那就尝试去宣告基督那不可寻尽的丰盛。你将明了自己是多么软弱、多么不配,那是你以前未能明了的。虽然使徒知道且承认自己的软弱,却没有对他事奉的主旨感到迷惑。保罗的讲道从头至尾只传讲基督,别无其他事物。他高举十架并颂扬上帝的儿子。学习祂的榜样,去广传救恩的大喜信息!信徒必须如同花朵将自己朝向公义的太阳。唯独基督是我们的目标,祂既赐种给撒种的,又赐粮给人吃(参阅林后九:10)。
Evening, March 2
Scripture: “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”(Ephesians 3:8)
The apostle Paul felt it a great privilege to be allowed to preach the gospel. He did not look upon his calling as a drudgery, but he entered upon it with intense delight. Yet while Paul was thus thankful for his office, his success in it greatly humbled him. The fuller a vessel becomes, the deeper it sinks in the water. Idlers may indulge a fond conceit of their abilities, because they are untried; but the earnest worker soon learns his own weakness. If you seek humility, try hard work; if you would know your nothingness, attempt some great thing for Jesus. If you would feel how utterly powerless you are apart from the living God, attempt especially the great work of proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ, and you will know, as you never knew before, what a weak unworthy thing you are. Although the apostle thus knew and confessed his weakness, he was never perplexed as to the subject of his ministry. From his first sermon to his last, Paul preached Christ, and nothing but Christ. He lifted up the cross, and extolled the Son of God who bled thereon. Follow his example in all your personal efforts to spread the glad tidings of salvation, and let “Christ and him crucified” be your ever recurring theme. The Christian should be like those lovely spring flowers which, when the sun is shining, open their golden cups, as if saying, “Fill us with thy beams!” but when the sun is hidden behind a cloud, they close their cups and droop their heads. So should the Christian feel the sweet influence of Jesus; Jesus must be his sun, and he must be the flower which yields itself to the Sun of Righteousness. Oh! to speak of Christ alone, this is the subject which is both “seed for the sower, and bread for the eater.” This is the live coal for the lip of the speaker, and the master-key to the heart of the hearer.