The Call of God

Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel . . . —1 Corinthians 1:17

Paul states here that the call of God is to preach the gospel. But remember what Paul means by “the gospel,” namely, the reality of redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are inclined to make sanctification the goal of our preaching. Paul refers to personal experiences only by way of illustration, never as the end of the matter. We are not commissioned to preach salvation or sanctification— we are commissioned to lift up Jesus Christ (see John 12:32). It is an injustice to say that Jesus Christ labored in redemption to make me a saint. Jesus Christ labored in redemption to redeem the whole world and to place it perfectly whole and restored before the throne of God. The fact that we can experience redemption illustrates the power of its reality, but that experience is a byproduct and not the goal of redemption. If God were human, how sick and tired He would be of the constant requests we make for our salvation and for our sanctification. We burden His energies from morning till night asking for things for ourselves or for something from which we want to be delivered! When we finally touch the underlying foundation of the reality of the gospel of God, we will never bother Him anymore with little personal complaints.

The one passion of Paul’s life was to proclaim the gospel of God. He welcomed heartbreak, disillusionment, and tribulation for only one reason— these things kept him unmovable in his devotion to the gospel of God.

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神的呼召

基督差遣我，原不是為施洗，乃是為傳福音。 （林前一17）

保羅在此指明，神的呼召是傳福音；不過要知道保羅所說的福音究竟是什麼意思。福音就是主耶穌基督救贖的實在。我們很容易把成聖作為我們傳道的最終目的，然而保羅卻把個人的經歷作​​為例證，說明這不是他傳道的鵠的。神從來沒有吩咐我們去傳揚得救或成聖；他乃吩咐我們高舉耶穌基督（參約十二32）。我若說耶穌基督在救贖中受苦，為要使我成為聖徒，這便是曲解聖經。耶穌基督在救贖中受苦，乃是要拯救全人類，使她們無瑕疵地，重新活在神的寶座面前。我們能夠經歷救贖，便足以證明救贖之實在大能，可是這仍舊非救贖的終極目標。神若像人一樣，對我們日夕要求得救，要求成聖，他將感到多麼心煩於厭倦哩！我們朝夕為自己求這求那，求把我拯救出來！真是消耗了神許多的精力！一旦我們觸摸到福音的真正意義時，就不會再為個人微不足道的事去煩神了。

保羅一生唯一的願望就是傳福音。他面對創痛、誤解、逼迫而不退後，唯一的原因就是這些事保守他對福音忠心不移。

祈禱◆主啊，你最清楚知道，今天早上我何等需要振奮！願我所說，能讓人聽聞你榮耀的聲音、看見你慈愛的面容，和感受到你那無處不在的靈。