1109 神圣的服事
现在我为你们受苦，倒觉欢乐；并且为基督的身体，就是为教会，要在我肉身上补满基督患难的缺欠。《歌罗西书1:24》
基督工人必须是一个神圣的「中间人」，他必须与他的主和祂救赎的真实如此紧密相连，以至于基督能够不断通过他带来祂创造的生命。我指的不是将一个人品格力量加在另一个人身上，而是基督真实的同在贯穿工人生命的每个层面。当我们宣讲《新约》中所传达我们主的生与死的历史事实时，我们的话语就变得神圣了。神使用这些话语，根基于祂的救赎，在听者身上创造出原本不可能创造出的新生。如果我们只是宣讲救赎在人类生命的效用，而非关于耶稣自己启示的真理，结果就不是听者的新生；结果会是精致的宗教生活方式，而神的灵无法见证它，因为这种宣讲是在祂之外的另一个领域。我们必须确保我们与神非常和谐，以至于当我们宣扬祂的真理时，祂可以在其他人身上创造只有祂才能做的事情。
当我们说「多么好的个性！多么迷人的人！多么卓越的洞察力！」那么，神的福音在这一切中有什么机会呢？福音无法通过，因为是信息者吸引人，而非信息有吸引力。如果一个人以他的个性吸引人，那就成了他的吸引力。然而，如果他与主自己认同合一，那么吸引力就变成耶稣基督所能做的。危险在于荣耀人，然而耶稣说我们是要单单高举祂（见约翰福音 12:32）。
来自章伯斯的智慧
关于敬畏神的非凡之处，乃是当你敬畏神时，你一无所惧，然而若你不敬畏神，你凡事都怕。「敬畏耶和华的人是有福的。」《至善—朝圣者歌集》
1109 Sacred Service
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ… —Colossians 1:24
The Christian worker has to be a sacred “go-between.” He must be so closely identified with his Lord and the reality of His redemption that Christ can continually bring His creating life through him. I am not referring to the strength of one individual’s personality being superimposed on another, but the real presence of Christ coming through every aspect of the worker’s life. When we preach the historical facts of the life and death of our Lord as they are conveyed in the New Testament, our words are made sacred. God uses these words, on the basis of His redemption, to create something in those who listen which otherwise could never have been created. If we simply preach the effects of redemption in the human life instead of the revealed, divine truth regarding Jesus Himself, the result is not new birth in those who listen. The result is a refined religious lifestyle, and the Spirit of God cannot witness to it because such preaching is in a realm other than His. We must make sure that we are living in such harmony with God that as we proclaim His truth He can create in others those things which He alone can do.
When we say, “What a wonderful personality, what a fascinating person, and what wonderful insight!” then what opportunity does the gospel of God have through all of that? It cannot get through, because the attraction is to the messenger and not the message. If a person attracts through his personality, that becomes his appeal. If, however, he is identified with the Lord Himself, then the appeal becomes what Jesus Christ can do. The danger is to glory in men, yet Jesus says we are to lift up only Him (see John 12:32).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”—The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L