音频：
视频：
哥林多前书3:1-4：1弟兄们，我从前对你们说话，不能把你们当作属灵的，只得把你们当作属肉体，在基督里为婴孩的。2我是用奶喂你们，没有用饭喂你们。那时你们不能吃，就是如今还是不能。3你们仍是属肉体的，因为在你们中间有嫉妒、分争，这岂不是属乎肉体、照着世人的样子行么? 4有说：“我是属保罗的。”有说：“我是属亚波罗的。”这岂不是你们和世人一样吗？
如果我们只被那个属灵的自我，也就是上帝在我们里面创造的新我所引领，那么无论是在信徒的家庭还是信徒组成的教会，生活都会很有乐趣。设想一下，丈夫和妻子只为彼此服事而活着。设想一下家庭里没有争吵和抱怨。设想一下教会里没人喜欢聊八卦，只有温和的教导和纠正。设想一下教会的每个人都齐心协力的开展教会的事工，那些鸡毛蒜皮的小事根本不值得争辩。设想一下这是一间没有结党纷争的教会。
但事实是，虽然我们心里有一个新我，但我们依然有罪性，就是保罗称之为“肉体”。无论在家庭还是在教会，我们并没有总是和睦相处。这个事实提醒我们，我们在某种程度上仍然属乎肉体。我们看到人的这种本性在生活的方方面面发挥作用。
与此同时，要记住保罗在这封信的开篇称哥林多人为“圣徒。”我们也是如此。我们既是圣徒也是罪人。我们里面既有属灵的一面，也有属乎肉体的一面。所以每一天我们都需要上帝的恩典，也需要圣灵藉着圣道在我们心里做工，这样我们才能在基督徒的信心和生命里成熟起来。感谢上帝赐给我们圣道以及在我们里面做工的圣灵！ 祷告：亲爱的天父，藉着相信耶稣我成为了你的孩子。你呼召我成为一名圣徒。然而，我每天还在与我的罪性抗争，以至于我所愿意的善我反不做，我所不愿意的恶我却轻而易举地做了。请每一天都提醒我，我每时每刻都需要你的奇异恩典。阿们。
1 Corinthians 3: Brothers, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as people who are led by the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, because you were not yet ready. Why, even now you are still not ready, 3 because you are still people who are following the flesh. Indeed, insofar as jealousy, strife, and factions have a place among you, are you not people who are following the flesh? Are you not behaving in a merely human way? 4 When one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not being merely human? (EHV)
If we were only led by our spiritual self, the new self that God created in us, life in a believing family and a believing congregation would be so much fun. Imagine husbands and wives only living to serve each other. Imagine families with no quarrels and no complaining. Imagine church families where gossip didn’t exist, only gentle correction. Imagine churches where everyone was united in the mission of the church, and the peripheral things weren’t worth arguing about. Imagine a church in which there were no divisions.
The reality is that while we do have a new person inside of us, we also have a sinful nature, which Paul calls the “flesh.” The fact that we don’t always get along in our families or in our churches reminds us that we are still following our flesh to some degree. We see that human nature at work in every aspect of our lives.
At the same time, remember that Paul called these same people in Corinth “saints” in the opening verses. That is what we are, too. We are saints and sinners at the same time. We have a spiritual side and a human nature side in us. So we need God’s grace every day, and the Holy Spirit working in us through his Word so that we can mature in our Christian faith and life. Thank God for his Word and for the Holy Spirit working in us!
Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, I am your dear child by faith in Jesus. You have called me to be one of your saints, your holy ones. Yet, I struggle with the sinful nature in me daily so that the good I want to do I don’t do, and the evil I don’t want to do, I do so easily. I am reminded today, and I pray, that I need your amazing grace every passing hour. Amen.