Thursday, 25th August 2022
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Section One V1-5 Live the Life of Religion
God has His timing, in the Book of Isaiah, He has been calling and waiting for His people to repent and return. God is real, we can experience Him, but the choice is in our hands. We are in the stage of the Upper Room, what is inside our hearts? What are we really thinking? We must know who we are. God is showing us who we are, and can we be alert to see why He wants us to see?
V1-2 ‘Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching God.’ God knows our false attitude, it seems like we want to come near God and know God more, but at the same time, we still hold onto the idols of the world. We cannot let go of the things we hold onto in this world. We hear God but only the parts that we want to hear, we choose what we follow and we choose what we believe. It’s not faith but only a religious attitude.
V3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers.’ We come close to God only wanted the things we desire. When we pray, when we fast, when we worship, do they really please God? Do we really see the heart of God? So often we only want God to fulfil our desires.
V5 ‘Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?’ We live the lives that only benefit ourselves. Our prayers are full of desires and expectations. We still live the love of this world, full of sins and lead to death. We must be awaken, because this path only leads to death, not eternity.
Section Two V6-12 Live the Life of the Tree of Life
V8 ‘Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.’ When we let go then we can receive. God is revealing us the mystery of the Kingdom, not to oppress us but to set us free. We want to receive the things and materials of this world, but God wants us to receive Him only. When we have Him, then we have everything.
V9-10 ‘Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.’ We must let go and let God, do not become our own god or the god of other people. We should not carry the burdens anymore because God is always there for us, but we must let Him!
V11 ‘The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.’ God will lead us and guide us, not for us to wait until we have sorted out everything in our lives and in our families, but right now! We can never preach the Gospel if we waited for us to be ready. Because we can never be ready, but in dry land, God will lead us, and we can continue to follow Him.
V12 ‘Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.’ Our next generations and those follow us can all live the lives God created us to live, as long as we are willing to return to Him, and to live under the Tree of Life.
Section Three V13-14 To Return and Prosper
V13-14 ‘If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.’ Can we live a life with God as our head? The live we live should put God first, to do what pleases Him, and to say what He wants us to say. This will not lead to a poor life but a life that prospers. God has already prepared for us, but we need to follow and have faith today.
以赛亚书 58 – 走出虚假 进入祝福
2022年8月25日 星期四
潘锡安牧师
神不断提醒、帮助他所爱所召聚的子民，然而人有自己的选择。神是活神，他知道我们的生命。在马可楼阶段，我们的真实生命究竟如何？神会借着很多发生的事情让我们看见自己，但我们是否愿意去看见自己的生命？唯有看见，我们才有机会回转、蒙福。以色列人虽然回归耶路撒冷，但又再次堕落，所以神兴起环境让他们学习生命的功课，因为唯有我们生命对的时候，我们才能承受永生的祝福、喜乐。
一、v.1-5 活在宗教的生命
V2-3a 回归犹大的百姓真实的生活究竟如何？神亲自拆穿了人虚假的面具，他说这些人只是表面上“天天寻求我，乐意明白我的道，好像行义的国民”，然而，他们“不离弃他们神的典章”，不是去听耶和华神教导的话，而是去挑那些自己觉得舒服的话语来听；他们不听神的话，却又向神“求问公义的判语，喜悦亲近神”。他们所喜悦的祷告是看不到功效的，于是他们就问神“为何看不见”？
V3b-5 我们的禁食、祷告、敬拜真的是寻求神的心意，还是求自己的利益？我们是否只是在求神帮我们做事情？神所拣选的禁食是“刻苦己心”的。当我们来晨祷、禁食、或247祷告的时候，我们的心是否为罪为义为审判自己省察自己，看到自己的问题，还是只在指责别人？我们想要神来满足自己的期待，结果看到我们的祷告是没有功效的。
V1 神在这里对百姓说，不要以为自己能够回归故土就是神要满足我们在这个死亡的世界的要求。这个世界终必因为罪而灭亡，神却不要我们沉浸在罪中之乐，以致在永恒中堕落。神要我们成为多子的乐母，能够帮助我们肉身和属灵的儿女不失去永恒的生命，让我们在永恒里能看到一代又一代的儿女。我们是否有勇气让人看到生命的问题？我们能否像耶稣一样在教导的时候对事不对人，用爱心说诚实话，用真理帮助他们走出虚假，进入永恒的生命？
二、v.6-12 活在生命树下的生命
V6-7 这里所讲的就是“谦卑顺服、舍己利他”的生命树。我们如何看待神给我们的祝福，是否愿意开放自己的家给神使用？当我们用神的眼光来看的时候，会看到很大的不一样。很多人一生做牛做马就是期待得到自己在地上的安乐窝，以便能躲在这一片属于自己的小天地，然而这些都是虚假的。
V8 为何我们一直都有病痛的困扰？为什么祷告了问题还是层出不穷？神不是要折磨我们，而是要我们走出虚假、不愿意和对自我的坚持，并且应许：“这样，你的光就必发现如早晨的光，你所得的医治要速速发明，你的公义必在你前面行，耶和华的荣光必做你的后盾”。
V9a 生命树的生命是不难的，只要我们愿意放手。当我们愿意，就得着神。我们拥有神，就什么都有了，不仅拥有全世界，还有永恒。我们想拥有的是神他自己，还是世上的东西？
V9b 我们中间充满的是什么？是否是工作、健康和人际关系的问题？我们没有将这一切交给神，以为自己可以解决。神要我们放手交托，他不要我们做别人的神，不要以为自己能解决一切的问题，也不要指责别人或发出恶言怨天怨地。
V10 我们真的要帮助那些没有神的人，而不要单顾的自己的事，只想着把自己顾好了才去关心别人。我们其实都是虚假的，我们想知道神国的事，却没有活出怜悯，没有使那些没有神的贫穷人“得满足”。我们若只看到自己有时间才去帮助别人，我们的服事就是没有果效的。
V11 不要以为我们放下自己去帮助别人后就能事事顺利，在帮助人的过程中，我们一样会有干旱，会遇到困难、会害怕自己的后方着火，但是，若我们只想着把自己家里的事处理完之后才来做神国度的事，福音就永远不会传出去了。神应许，当我们愿意“向饥饿的人发怜悯，使困苦的人得满足”，他“必时常引导你，在干旱之地使你心满意足，骨头强壮。你必像浇灌的园子，又像水流不绝的泉源”
V12 我们不仅要自己过得好，也要让我们所牧养的人走入命定，活出生命树的生命。
三、v.13-14 要回转发旺
V13 我们不是什么事都不做，而是分别为圣、以神为首、以神为乐。
V14 神并非要我们过贫穷的生活，他为我们预备的是丰盛。我们害怕自己将来贫穷、失去自己所拥有的，然而神要我们走出这个谎言，进入神所为我们命定的福。