Friday, 21st May 2021
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Section One V1-7 The End of Saul’s Kingdom
When God blesses us, He does not only bless our generation but also our future generations. Blessings and curses will all be passed on therefore what we do now is very important. Because every decision determines what we are passing down to our future generations. When Saul relied himself to do things, God left him. Saul’s son Ishbosheth was not mentioned in the previous chapters, why was he not in the army like his father and brothers? When we think that we don’t need to be in the army, we feel lonely, even though Ishbosheth did not die in the battlefield, but his death was worse than Saul and Jonathan. When we don’t walk in the presence of God, we will not have peace and people with us will also not have peace.
When the leader did not have peace, he thought he could continue to rely on other people-however, the two people Ishbosheth relied on, “Baanah” means pain, and “Rechab” means (riding horse) to leave . The so-called capable people Saul had found in the first place all turned to each other in the end. The two even wanted to use Ishbosheth’s corpse to get a position on David’s side.
Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of Saul. At first, Jonathan and his father drew a clear line, thinking that as long as he took care for himself, it was enough. But what God saw was a home. In the end, both of them were killed on the battlefield. Jonathan was a good man in David’s eyes, his brother, but because of his father Saul, neither he nor his son could be in the blessing of God. Ask God to help us learn a lesson of vigilance from Saul’s life.
Section Two V8-12 The Beginning of David’s Kingdom
When the two wicked men, Baanah and Rechab, came to David to ask for credit, they said two things that shouldn’t be said. The first is “Saul, the king’s enemy”-David never regarded Saul as an enemy, but called him “my king, my lord”. How do we view our authority when we are being chased? If we are treated as enemies, we will walk in our emotions. David did not cross the border because he did not regard Saul as an enemy. Second, “The Lord today avenged my lord the king on Saul and his descendants”-these two wicked men said this, meaning that what they did was in the will of God. David’s response to this point was “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity. “When someone told me, saying, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag—the one who thought I would give him a reward for his news. How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth?” (V10-11). When a person kills a person who is lying in bed without the ability to resist, the former violates the law and deserves to be punished. Many times people around us will say these specious words, but we have to be discerning.
David understood the laws of the kingdom of God-Abner was the marshal of Israel. Now Ishbosheth is dead and is buried in “Abner’s tomb”, indicating that Abner will serve Ishbosheth even after he is dead, they are together. God sees us as being together, how do we view ourselves and our home? Let us not only care about ourselves, because what God sees is a home. Let’s not just care about our relationship with God. God sees that our Bread of Life Church in South Auckland is together, so when we see our brothers and sisters are weak, we can’t stand on the sidelines. If we have tried to persuade and teach, and others do not listen, we will not be guilty. Ask God to give us the heart of the Lord Jesus, to be able to hear the heart of Heavenly Father and Dad, and to know what his intentions are. If we cannot take the mind of Christ as our heart, many things we do are in vain. Everything we do is for our family.
2021年5月21日 星期五
-潘锡安牧师-
撒母耳记下4
都在神的计划中
一、扫罗家的王朝结束（v.1-7）
V1 当神祝福我们的时候，不仅是给我们这一代，也包括下一代，以及他们的子孙后代。祝福和咒诅都会流传下去，因此我们在这里是很重要的，决定我们传给子孙后代的是祝福还是咒诅。当扫罗倚靠自己心意行事，神就离开他。扫罗的儿子伊施波设原本并没有记载在前面的章节 – 为什么他没有同父兄一样在军队里？当我们觉得自己不需要在军队时，就落单了。伊施波设虽然没有在战场上战死，但他的死比扫罗和约拿单还要令人唏嘘 – 他最后被自己的臣子倒戈相向、卖主求荣。伊施波设没有走在神的军队里，所以当他所倚靠的人不在的时候，他“手就发软”，再没有办法为国民举手祝福了。没有走在神同在的时候，我们就没有平安，与我们一起的人也没有平安。
V2 当领袖没有平安的时候，他以为还可以继续倚靠其他人 – 然而，伊施波设所倚靠的这两个人，“巴拿”的意思是痛苦，“利甲”的意思是（骑驹）离开。扫罗当初找来的这些所谓有能力的人最后都倒戈相向。这两个人甚至想用伊施波设的尸体去大卫那边谋得一官半职。
V4 米非波设是约拿单的儿子，扫罗的孙子。当初约拿单与父亲划清界限，以为只要自己做得好就可以了。但神看到的是一个家，人算不如天算，最后二人双双在战场上被杀。我们若有“各人自扫门前雪”的心态，我们所不期望的恶事反而会临到我们。约拿单在大卫眼中是个好人，是他的兄弟，但因着父亲扫罗的缘故，他和他儿子都不能在神的祝福里面。求神帮助我们从扫罗的一生学到警醒的功课。
二、大卫家的王朝开始（v.8-12）
V8 当这两个恶人巴拿和利甲来到大卫面前邀功的时候，说了两处不该讲的话。第一是“王的仇敌扫罗”- 大卫从来不把扫罗当作仇敌，而是称呼他为“我的王、我的主”。我们在被追赶的时候如何看待我们的权柄呢？若当作仇敌，我们就走在情绪里。大卫没有做越界的事，因他没有将扫罗看为仇敌。第二，“耶和华今日为我主我王在扫罗和他后裔的身上报了仇” – 这两个恶人如此说，意思是自己所行是在神的旨意里。大卫对这一点的回应是“我指着救我性命脱离一切苦难，永生的耶和华起誓”，他宣告真正的神，并告知他们，“从前有人报告我说扫罗死了…我就拿住他，将他杀在洗革拉…何况恶人将义人杀在他的床上，我岂不向你们讨流他血的罪，从世上除灭你们呢？”（V10-11）。当人将一个躺在床上没有反抗能力的人杀死，前者就触犯了律法，该受到应有的惩罚。很多时候我们周围有人会讲这些似是而非的话，但我们要有分辨力。
V12 大卫懂得在神国里的定律 – 押尼珥是以色列的元帅，如今伊施波设死了，被葬在“押尼珥的坟墓里”，说明押尼珥死了都要服事伊施波设，他们是一起的。神看我们是一起的，我们又如何看待自己和自己的家呢？我们不要只顾自己，因为神看到的是一个家。我们也不要只管自己跟神关系好，神看到我们南奥克兰的灵粮堂是一起的，所以当我们看到我们的弟兄姐妹软弱时，我们不能冷眼旁观。我们若已经去劝说、教导，别人不听，我们就没有罪了。要求神给我们主耶稣的心，能够听得到天父爸爸的心，知道他的心意到底如何。若我们不能以基督的心为心，我们做的很多事都是徒劳无功。我们所做的一切是为我们家做的。
求神让我们明白他的心意，无论发生什么事，让我们都走在他的计划里。
*追求：
求神帮助我们，看得到我们真实的心。今天我们来跟从神，我们的心究竟如何？我们的心是否真的愿意听见神的心跳，还是我们都在为自己去谋取、思想？我们是否知道神想要的是什么？是事情的表现，还是能与神同工荣耀神？我们的眼目常看重结局，却没有留意到其实神很想跟我们一起。让我们来到神的面前，求圣灵让我们看见我们的心，开我们属灵的眼，看见里面真实的“我”。唯有当我们知道自己真实的光景，才能回转向神。
感谢主让我们看到自己内心的软弱，使我们能回转向你！求主帮助我们，不要像伊施波设那样倚靠自己和他人，而是像大卫那样单单倚靠你！让你给我们的祝福能够流传到一代又一代！奉耶稣基督的名祷告，阿们！