主祈求合 The Lord Prays for Unity

(約翰福音John 17:11-26)


主耶穌將要走上十字架之前,作了一個很長的禱告,其中一大半的內容是為了門徒的合一祈求。
「合一」在教會生活中是最基本又最重要的屬靈操練。主在離世前再三叮嚀門徒,要追求合一的團契生活。保羅在他的書信中,也多次論及合一的操練。從耶穌的禱告中,我們可以發現合一有三個很重要的神學含意:三位一體、基督的愛與神的榮耀。
三位一體:耶穌要門徒合一,好像祂和天父一樣(17:11)。三位一體的神學觀念強調父、子、聖靈是三個特殊的位格,卻又是一體共融的。這個意思是:雖然祂們是一體,卻仍然保存著各自的位格。在教會生活中的合一並不是同一,每個人的獨特個性不會被取消,但卻又和諧地一起團契事奉,如同一人一般。
基督的愛:合一的基礎是愛(17:26),但這種愛不是一般的愛,因為一般的愛是自私、為己的。使合一成為可能的愛是基督的愛,惟有基督那無私捨己的愛,才能夠把各人和諧地連成一體。
神的榮耀:合一的最終目的是榮耀神(17:22, 24)。在這個充滿矛盾、紛爭和自私的社會中,教會的合一見證會成為神的榮耀。

經文默想
你如何在教會生活中操練合一?你能否在這星期做一些事,讓教會更和諧合一?

Before Jesus was nailed on the cross, he made a very long prayer, and more than half of the prayer was interceding for the unity of the disciples.

Unity is the most important and fundamental spiritual discipline in church life. Jesus had reminded His disciples repeatedly to seek unity in fellowship. Paul, in his epistles, was also doing the same thing talking tirelessly about the unity issue. Interestingly in Jesus’ prayer, we find three important theological implications in the concept of unity: the Trinity, Christ’s love, and God’s glory.

Trinity: Jesus urged disciples to keep the unity, which was demonstrated by Him and the heavenly Father (17:11). The concept of Trinity maintains that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three different and unique persons but in one substance. What the concept of Trinity implies in church life is that unity is not conformity and the unique personality of every individual should be respected and nurtured, but at the same time, everybody can live harmoniously in one fellowship and ministry.

Christ’s love: The foundation of unity is love (17:26). This is not an ordinary love, but the selfless and sacrificial love of Christ, for ordinary love is selfish, and egotistic. Only the love of Christ will bring everybody into one fellowship.

God’s glory: The ultimate purpose for unity is the glory of God (17:22, 24). In this society with all the conflicts, selfishness and egoism, the unity of church life with bring glory to God.

Meditation on the Scripture
How will you discipline yourself to keep the unity in our church? Can you do something for our church to promote unity in this following week?

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主日崇拜 Sunday Worship 週日 Sunday, 11:00am
成人主日學 Adult Sunday School 週日 Sunday, 9:30am
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