Friday, 9th December 2022
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Section One V1-6 To Set Apart
John continued to talk to us about the Way of Life, it was so important to the church at the time. It is equally important to our church now, so how can we live and walk on this Way of Life? As the ones being called, we must live in the love of the Father and reject the orphan spirit. If we are not living in the love of the Father, then everything we do will be in a ‘doing’ mode. Jesus taught us to love one another, to love those around us and to bear fruits. This also determines if we can continue to live in the love of the Father. If we are not loved first then we cannot love others, do not always expect receiving love and satisfaction from others, we chase them around but eventually we will become tired and weary.
When we chase around love, we will never receive it, at the end we will be filled with bitterness, sadness, and hurt. We must first be filled by God, be reconnected with God, and be satisfied in God. Do not focus on the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Jesus came to connect us to the Father, so we will no longer be orphans. God loves us and only He can satisfy us, when we are not satisfied by God then we will be so easily offended by people, who don’t recognize our hard work, who look down on us, or who don’t praise us.
What is our motivation, our focus, and everything we chase after? Not this world, but only the love of the Father. He sent His Son Jesus to us, so we will not feel alone, and we will not be fatherless. We are no longer orphans, and we can live in the love of the Father. To love one another is to see those around us as our family, our brothers, and our sisters.
V2-3 ‘By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.’ What does it mean by the spirit that confesses Jesus or the spirit of the Antichrist? This means to confess that Jesus is our Saviour! Jesus is our Saviour, and we must know this truth, because a lot of time, we try to become other people’s saviours, and we become offended when others do not receive our help. Do we really believe this? A lot of times, we feel God is not doing enough and therefore we want to do more.
Section Two V7-11 Understand God is Love
V7-8 ‘Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.’ We must know that our source of love is from God, not from our parents, not from our authority, and not from others. When we expect love from others then we will never receive it. We must focus on the Father, He is the source, and He is the love. Love from ourselves is limited, with our own strength, we can only love those who support us and love us, those who agree with us and listen to us. But God wants us to stop lying to ourselves, this is the time for us to take out all the rubbish in our lives, let go of what we are holding onto, and allow God’s healing and transformation to come to our lives. Only by the Holy Spirit we can be reborn, we cannot work hard by our own strength to be filled by love.
Section Three V12-21 To Love One Another
V12 ‘No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.’ We must seek God first, then we can love one another. We should not wait until seeking God become our last resort. God always comes first, because without God, we cannot love, we cannot shine, we cannot heal, and we cannot serve others. Can we rest? The Holy Spirit comes so we can be reconnected with God, Jesus came to wash away all our sins and transgression, so we can come to God with holiness. The Love of the Father is always there, can we simply live in God’s love, without judgement, without striving for what we desire, and only see God?
约翰一书 4 – 活在天父的爱里
2022年12月9日 星期五
潘锡安牧师
生命之道比我们所知道的要丰富得多，核心价值就是活在天父的爱里。若没有活在天父的爱里，生命之道就只是一个“道理”。圣经教导我们要尽心尽力爱神，也要爱人如己 – 去爱那些神放在我们周遭的人。然而，如果没有先被爱，我们也不能去爱人。不要妄想从世界上得到满足，不要成为一个追债者，以为别人可以使我们得到爱，最后亏损的其实是我们。唯有在父里面我们才能得满足。耶稣基督来，他拿走的是我们跟父神之间的拦阻，让我们不再去追着“罪”跑，不再有孤儿的心，而是与父重新连接。有天父的爱，我们才能真正去爱，而不是去期待别人来爱或赞赏我们。我们要活在天父的爱里，而不是我们的家人、金钱、或权力的“爱”里，因为世上没有任何人事物能满足我们被造时里面本有的渴慕。
一、v.1-6 要分别为圣
V1 老约翰在这里放下自己的身份，称呼读者为“亲爱的弟兄”。我们要看周围的人为亲爱的弟兄。我们不要随从世界的风潮、随便说自己的感动来自神，而要懂得试验诸灵。我们要紧紧抓住真理，唯有以神的话语为根基才能分辨出圣灵。“假先知”所讲的不是神说的，因为人的生命不对，就说不出神的话，我们要用圣经来察验。
V2-3 “耶稣”的名字意思是“耶和华拯救”。耶稣来到世上所做的一切背后是耶和华的拯救。我们若只拜耶稣，就看不到天父的爱。人很容易只看到那些能给我们爱的人、追着别人的爱跑。我们劳苦重担、遍体鳞伤，是因为看不到天父的爱，看不到他差派耶稣成为拯救。我们帮助别人，希望别人好，但当别人不改变、不领情的时候，我们觉得受伤，因为我们将自己看成别人的拯救，觉得神做得不够，以为我们需要做更多。耶稣来到世上的时候也只是说父要他说的话，做父要他做得事，让父成为爱的源头。我们要做的只是领受父的爱，并将其传出去。
V4 约翰以师傅的身份教导我们，我们里面本来是什么都没有，唯有当我们有天父的爱，里面才能比世界更大。
V5 我们会以为某项事工、方法能帮助别人跟从我们，其实真正能影响人生命的唯有天父的爱。人期待的是礼物、赞赏，这是孤儿的心态，但我们要分别为圣。
V6 我们不要跟从世界，而是要进入世界、影响世界。先领受天父的爱，让我们里面是饱足的，不管别人对我们评价如何，我们都不会受伤。
二、v.7-11 要明白神是爱
我们可能会觉得父母、权柄对我们有要求，于是没有觉得被爱，然而，他们也只是做他们在权柄的位份需要做的事。不要向他们索求超过他们能够给予的爱。我们能得到的爱的源头不是父母、权柄，而是天父。作为权柄，我们也不要因为害怕下面的人得不到爱而不敢教导他们，以致于我们变成好像祭司以利溺爱自己两个儿子那样。我们要明白神是爱。
V7 不要用完成任务的心态只看到“要彼此相爱”，还要看到“因为爱是从神来的”。来自人的爱很容易累，让我们只能爱那些赞同我们的人，对于那些批评教导、不认同我们的人，我们却爱不下去。我们活在勾心斗角、遍体鳞伤、劳苦重担中，是因为没有看到爱是“由神而生”。不要硬从自己里面“挤出”爱，在新的一年到来之际，我们是否愿意放下孤儿的灵、放下自己手中紧抓的东西？
V8 当我们感觉没有爱的时候，不要去怪别人不爱我们，而是要赶快与父连接。“罪”使我们与父隔绝，所以我们要时常察验自己里面有什么阻挡在我们与父之间，才能与天父的爱连接。
三、v.12-21 要彼此相爱
没有先分别为圣、没有明白神是爱，我们是不能真正彼此相爱的。我们若要兴起发光，唯有先得到天父的爱。
V13 神的灵不是来给我们有厉害的超能力，而是让我们的罪能快快被耶稣的血洗净，重新与父连接。
V14 父爱我们，所以是他差派子来救赎我们。没有父，子自己是不会下来的。
我们里面住着的是爱还是孤儿? 是否整天期待别人爱我们、给我们鼓励和认同？求神帮助我们走出孤儿的心，拥抱天父的爱。