Filled by The Holy Spirit 圣灵的充满 (Part 4)
““But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Author: Pastor Andrew Xu
This is the 4th installment of the series on being filled by the Holy Spirit. In the next two pastoral sharing, I will be talking about the power of the Holy Spirit. To understand the power of the Holy Spirit, we need to first understand why God put the Holy Spirit in believers.
To put things into the correct perspective, we must talk about the fall of man. Ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, the relationship between God and man was broken. To fix this broken relationship, God started a grand plan to restore this relationship and make things right again. This grand plan peaks at the redemptive salvation through Jesus Christ but it does not end there. After the individual redemption and salvation of a person. This person who is saved by the grace of God and through faith in Jesus is officially enlisted. Enlisted as a soldier to complete God’s grand plan and mission, the work of re-creation.
What is the work of re-creation? The work of re-creation is about restoring God’s creation to God’s original intention. When God created the world, He said that it was all good, but sin corrupted it. The work of re-creation then is the restoration to the state of the world to when before sin corrupted it. Although this restoration involves spiritual and physical restoration. This work of re-creation is fully a spiritual affair.
This work of re-creation can only be done by God Himself. Humans do not have the ability to “create”. The limit of human creation is just about making up things within God’s creation. We cannot create something “new” from nothing. Yet, the most amazing thing is that God wants to partner us in this process of re-creation. To do that, humans need to have the power of God. Do not be mistaken, we are not God, but through this God-human partnership, God lends us His power of creation so that we can participate in this work of re-creation. How does He partner with us? By living in us.
Every person saved by Jesus’ redemptive salvation is a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), a seed planted in the larger work of re-creation of the world. God lives in him/her and they start to partner God and participate in the re-creation work of God. How do we participate? By being His witnesses. We will talk more about participation in the re-creation work in my next pastoral sharing.
Dear brothers and sisters, our salvation is not the end of the journey. It is the start of participation in the grand plan of re-creation. Be prepared, you are enlisted.
“可是圣灵降临在你们身上，你们就必领受能力，并且要在耶路撒冷、犹太全地、撒玛利亚，直到地极，作我的见证人。”
作者：许燕杰传道
这期是被圣灵充满系列的第四期牧者感言。接下来的两个牧者感言我会谈到圣灵的大能。要了解圣灵的大能，我们必须先了解上帝将圣灵放在信徒生命的原因。
要有正确的了解，我们先要谈到人的犯罪。自从亚当和夏娃犯罪之后，神与人的关系就破裂了。为了修复这个被破坏了的关系，上帝展开了一个伟大计划将这关系复原，让一切能够更新。这伟大计划的高峰是耶稣基督救赎的工作但却不停于此。当个人得救赎之后，这本乎恩典也因着对耶稣基督得信心得救赎之人也被招入队伍了。招入成为完成上帝伟大计划和使命的军人。这伟大的使命是个“重造”的工作。
什么是“重造”的工作？“重造”的工作就是回复上帝起初创造只愿意的使命。当上帝创造万物的时候，祂说一切祂所创造的都是好的。但这一切的好都被罪所污染了。“重造”的工作就是要恢复这被造的世界，回到罪还没有污染之前的状态。这恢复虽然有属灵和实体的两个部分，但那“重造”的工作却是一个完全属灵的范畴。
这“重造”的工作是神的工作，也唯有神能够完成。人没有真正“创造”的能力。我们人的创造只不过是拿上帝所“创造”的东西变一变而已。我们并不能从无“创造”出一个全新的东西。虽然如此，最奇妙的事要发生了。上帝竟然要于属祂的人配搭完成这“重造”的工作。这只有当人有神的能力时才能够达成。不要误会，我们绝对不是神。但在这个神人的配搭中，上帝把“创造”的能力“借”了给我们，以至我们能够参与在这“重造”的事业中。上帝如何跟我们配搭呢？祂自己内住在人类中。
每一个蒙耶稣基督救赎的人都是个新造的人（林后 5:17）。我们的新造是在上帝“重造”大工中种下了一个种子。神内住在人里面，与人配搭，使他人能够开始参与在神“重造”的奇妙工作之中。我们如何参与呢？就是为主做见证。我将在下一次的牧者感言中分享更逗如何参与在上帝“重造”的大工中。
亲爱的弟兄姐妹，我们的得救赎不是终极的目标，而是一个旅程的开始。蒙救赎后的我们就展开了参与在上帝“重造”之大功的使命。预备好自己，你已被招入队伍了。