保罗的完成职事(29): 重生,魂变化,生命长大
读经：林后三 16 ～ 18，罗十二 2，林前三 6、9、12 ～ 13，腓二 2，弗四 12 ～ 16
1 我们灵的重生是一刹那发生的，我们身体的得荣是眨眼之间发生的（林前十五 51 ～ 52），但我们魂（心思、情感和意志）的变化是漫长的过程，是我们必须经过的长『隧道』。
2 我们属灵的生命是由重生开始的；当我们相信主耶稣，呼求他名的时候，他这赐生命的灵就进入我们灵里，并重生了我们的灵；从此以后，三一神便内住於我们的灵；於是，我们在灵里就与他是一─约三6，一 12 ～13，罗十 12 ～ 13。
3 现今他需要从我们的灵扩展到我们的魂里；他这赐生命的灵扩展到我们的魂里，并浸透我们的魂时，我们就被变化了─林后三16 ～ 18，罗十二 2：
4
变化就是我们的魂被三一神浸透。
5
重生是在我们灵里的出生，变化是在我们魂里的浸透。三 变化乃是一种新陈代谢的改变；变化不是外面的改变或更正，乃是神的生命在信徒里面新陈代谢的作用，产生外面的显出。
6 信徒若肯在神圣的生命里长大，这神圣生命的成分，就得以在他们里面增多，而起了新陈代谢的改变，使他们里面的性情变质，更使他们外面的形像变形，就是变得和主的形像相同─林后三18。
7 里面新陈代谢而显於外面的，才是真健康、真美丽─参出二八 2，罗十三14，12。
8 我们因观看主而变成主的形像，不是我们自修的结果，乃是主灵，就是主基督在他复活的时候所变成赐生命之灵，在我们里面的运行，借着神圣生命的成分，在我们里面加多而有新陈代谢的改变。
9
耶稣基督之灵全备的供应从我们的灵扩展到我们的魂，就在我们里面起新陈代谢的作用，结果就显於 外面；人就要看见，从我们身上所显出来的，不是我们自己，乃是基督─腓一 19 ～ 21 上。
10 我们必须享受耶稣基督之灵全备的供应，让这灵在我们里面作工，这就是变化；我们若是借着心转向主，天天碰着主，让主的成分进入我们里面，自然就会有新陈代谢在我们里面发生，使我们变化并彰显主，从荣耀到荣耀─林后三 16 ～ 18。
11 我们要被变化，可以凡事和他谈一谈，商量一下─『应当一无挂虑，只要凡事借着祷告、祈求，带着感谢，将你们所要的告诉神』─腓四 6。
12
我们有难处只要告诉主；他就在我们里面，面对面与我们同在─参出三三 11。
13
挂虑一来了，我们就要说，『主阿，这挂虑是你的，不是我的；我交给你了，因为你替我挂虑』；这样，我们就在里面得着主的成分，我们里面就会常常起新陈代谢的作用；这就是活基督。
14
不知道这秘诀（腓四
12、6）的人，以为活基督是很难的事；其实我们只要操练常与主说话，我们自然就会活基督。
15 真正生命的长大，就是魂的变化。
16 在十个童女的比喻里（太二五 1 ～ 13），主耶稣题到童女的灯和器皿；精明的和愚拙的，灯里都有油（8），但只有精明的豫备油在器皿里。
17
我们需要有两分油：一分为着灯，另一分为着器皿。
18
凡是得救的人，都有油在灯里；也就是说，我们灵里都有了那灵（箴二十 27）；不过，我们的器皿（罗九 21、23），我们的魂里有没有一分额外的油，却是一个问题。
19
我们是愚拙的还是精明的童女，不在於我们的灵，而在於我们的魂；我们的灵已经蒙了重生，但我们的魂需要被那灵浸透；我们器皿里需要有额外的一分油。
20 这比喻给我们看见，我们?然蒙了重生，就需要变化，也就是需要生命长大；住在我们灵里的生命，需要扩展到我们的魂里，直到把魂浸透；神圣之灵的新成分进入我们的魂里，魂就起了生机的变化；这种变化就是生命长大。
21
林前三章说，『我栽种了，亚波罗浇灌了，惟有神叫他生长。…你们是神的耕地〔农场〕，神的建筑。…然而，若有人用金、银、宝石，木、草、禾拮，在这根基上建造，各人的工程必然显露』─6、 9、12 ～ 13 节。
22 这些经文给我们看见，变化和生命的长大是相同的事─起初我们是生长在神耕地上的植物，但最后的结果却变化成为金、银、宝石。
23 这块耕地也是建筑，说明了内住的灵如何从我们灵里扩展，渗透我们的魂，因而变化我们。
24 我们若让我们灵里内住的灵扩展并浸透我们的魂，我们自自然然就是一了─我们能『魂里联结』；天然的观念会把地位让给扩展的灵；这就是我们生命长大的路；因着生命长大，就产生一─腓二 2。
25 腓立比人借着重生，有基督在他们的灵里；但他们还没有借着变化，有基督在他们的魂里；惟有让基 督浸透并占有他们的全魂，他们才能在魂里成为一。
26 我们肯让内住的灵完全浸透我们的魂，而使其有生机的变化么？我们肯让那灵自由的渗透我们的灵，也渗透我们的魂么？我们的魂被内住的灵浸透，我们便与新人成为一，被建造在身体里。
27 以弗所四章十二至十六节告诉我们，基督身体的建造在於生命长大。
28 我们在一切事上长到他里面，乃是借着我们的魂被那灵浸透；必须『身体渐渐长大』，主才能得着新人─二 15，四 23 ～ 24，西三 10 ～ 11。
29 当主的身体建造起来时，他便在地上得着一个新人来完成神永远的定旨；这是主所要达到的目标。
30 让我们为着这件事得以实现出来而祷告，并为此把自己献给他：『主啊，求你从我的灵扩展到我的魂，浸透我的魂，使我产生新陈代谢的变化。我要有生机的改变。』
31 过了一段时间，我们就会生命长大而变化；然后，我们要建造到身体里面，成为新人的肢体；新人的出现是主的目标；让我们与他是一，追求借着魂的变化而在生命里长大，使基督的身体得以建造成为一个新人。
2013 Memorial Day Conference
THE COMPLETING MINISTRY OF PAUL
Message Six
Growth in Life through the
Transformation of Our Soul for the Building Up of the Body Scripture -
Reading: 2 Cor. 3:16-18; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor.
3:6, 9, 12-13; Phil. 2:2; Eph. 4:12-16
I.
The regeneration of our spirit takes place in an instant, and the glorification
of our body takes place in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:51-52), but the
transformation of our soul (our mind,
emotion, and will) is a long process, a long “tunnel,” through which we must
pass:
A.
Our spiritual life began with regeneration; when we believed on the Lord
Jesus and called on His name, He as
the life-giving Spirit entered into our spirit and regenerated it; since
then, the Triune God has indwelt
our spirit, and in spirit we are one with Him─John 3:6;
1:12-13; Rom. 10:12-13.
B.
Now there is the need for Him to spread from our spirit into our soul;
when He as the
life-giving Spirit has spread into our soul and saturated it, we are
transformed─2
Cor. 3:16-18; Rom. 12:2:
1.
Transformation is the saturation of our soul by the Triune God.
2.
Regeneration is a
birth in our
spirit; transformation, a saturation in our soul.
C.
Transformation is a metabolic change; it is not an outward change or
correction but the metabolic function of
the life of God in the believers, issuing in an outward expression.
II. If
the believers are
willing to grow
in the divine
life, the element of the divine
life will increase in them and bring forth a metabolic change; thus, their
inward disposition will be
transformed, and their outward image will also be transformed to be the
same as the image of the Lord─2 Cor. 3:18:
A.
Only that which is expressed outwardly through the inward metabolism is
genuine health and real beauty─cf. Exo. 28:2; Rom. 13:14, 12.
B.
When we are transformed into the image of the Lord by beholding Him,
this is not the result of our
self-cultivation, but it is the Lord Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, who the
Lord Christ became in His resurrection,
who moves within us to bring forth a metabolic change through the increase of
the element of the divine life in us.
C.
When the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ spreads from our
spirit into our soul, it begins the inner process of metabolism and issues in
an outward manifestation; then people will
see that what is manifested through us is not ourselves but Christ─Phil. 1:19-21a.
D.
We must enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and
allow Him to work in us; this is transformation; if we touch the Lord day by
day by turning our hearts to Him and allow His element to come into us,
metabolism will spontaneously transpire in us so that we may be transformed and express the Lord
from glory to glory─2 Cor. 3:16-18.
E.
In order to be transformed, we need to talk with Him and confer with Him
in everything─"in
nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God"─Phil. 4:6:
1.
If we have some problem, we just need to tell the Lord; He is right
within us, and He is with us face to
face─cf.
Exo. 33:11.
2.
When anxiety comes, we should say, “O Lord, this anxiety is Yours, not
mine; I give it to You because You bear it for me”; thus, we receive the Lord’s
element into us, and metabolism will work constantly in us; this is to live
Christ.
3.
Those who do not know this secret (Phil. 4:12, 6) consider that to live
Christ is a difficult thing; actually,
we just need to practice speaking with the Lord constantly; then
spontaneously, we will live Christ.
III.
The real growth in life is the transformation of the soul:
A.
In the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13), the Lord Jesus spoke
of the virgins’ lampsand their vessels; both the prudent and the foolish had
oil in their lamps (v. 8), but only the prudent took oil in their vessels:
1.
Two portions of oil were needed, one for the lamp and the other for the
vessel.
2.
Those who are saved all have oil in the lamp; that is, we have the
Spirit in our spirit (Prov. 20:27);
whether we have an extra portion of oil in our vessel (Rom. 9:21, 23), our
soul, however, is another question.
3.
Whether we are foolish or prudent virgins depends not on our spirit but
on our soul; our spirit has been regenerated, but our soul needs to be
saturated with the Spirit; we need to have the extra portion of oil in our
vessel.
B.
This parable shows us that after we have been regenerated, we need to be
transformed; that is, we need to grow in life; the life abiding in our spirit
needs to spread into our soul until it issaturated; as the new elements of the
divine Spirit enter into our soul, it is organically transformed, and this
transformation is the growth in life.
IV.
First Corinthians 3 says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God
caused the growth…You are
God's cultivated land [farm], God's building…But if anyone builds
upon the foundation gold,
silver, precious stones,
wood, grass, stubble, the work of each will become manifest"─vv. 6, 9, 12-13:
A.
These verses show that transformation and the growth in life are the
same─we
start out as plants growing on God’s
farm, but the end result is our being transformed into gold, silver,and
precious stones.
B.
This farm that
is also a
building illustrates the
way that the indwelling Spirit spreads from our spirit
to permeate our soul and thus to transform us.
V. If we let the indwelling Spirit in
our spirit spread into and saturate our soul, we shall
spontaneously be one─we shall be “joined in soul”; the natural
concepts will give place to thespreading Spirit; this is the way that we grow
in life, and out of this growth in life comes oneness─Phil. 2:2:
A.
The Philippians had Christ in their spirit through regeneration, but
they did not have Christ in their soul
through transformation; only by having Christ saturate and occupy their entire soul could they be made one in soul.
B.
Will we allow the indwelling Spirit to thoroughly saturate our soul so
that it is organically transformed? Will we give the Spirit the freedom to
permeate our soul as well as our spirit?
When our soul is saturated by the indwelling Spirit, we are one with the
new man and built up in the Body.
VI.
Ephesians 4:12-16 tells us that the building up of the Body of Christ
depends on the growth in life:
A.
Our growing up into Him in all things comes about through our soul being
saturated with the Spirit; there must be “the growth of the Body” for the Lord
to have the new man─2:15; 4:23-24; Col. 3:10-11.
B.
When His Body is built up, He will have the new man on earth to carry
out God’s eternal purpose; this is the goal that the Lord is pursuing.
C.
Let us pray for this to be realized and offer ourselves to Him for this:
“Lord, spread Yourself from my spirit into my soul. Saturate my soul. Transform
me metabolically. I want to be
organically changed.”par
D.
After some time we shall be transformed by the growth in life; then we
shall be built into the Body and be
members of the new man; the coming into being of the new man is the Lord's goal; let us be one with Him in pursuing the
growth in life through the transformation of the soul for the building up of
the Body as the one new man.
