正如今天的经文所显示的，有些人曲解了在基督里有关自由的教导，认为基督徒可以随心所欲。同样的，有些人认为他们应该继续犯罪，叫神赦免的恩典显多（罗 6:1）。
保罗说，不。我们在罪上已经死了，我们在基督里的自由，并不意味着我们能做的每件事都对自己或他人有益处。我们必须警惕罪，因为它会得罪神，得罪人。
说到积累财富，保罗说，这是被允许的，但他的生活方式显明， 他并没有使用这样权利。正如保罗在哥林多后书 6:10所描述的情况，他“似乎贫穷，却是叫许多人富足的；似乎一无所有，却是样样都有的。”
鲁益师在他《人之废》（The Abolition of Man）一书中指出，历史中有许多人都看见舍弃东西是有意义的，虽然这些东西本身是被允许的。比如，公元前6世纪中国哲学家老子，就说：“简单就是拥有，而富足带来困惑。”
我们不需要像修士那样许贫穷愿，用一条绳子当腰带，或住在树洞里做为最简陋的安身之所。但我们一定要谨慎，不叫富足辖制我们，叫我们得以自由地传播神在基督里的爱，就是在祂里面永生的富足。
主啊，开启我们的双眼，好叫我们知道有什么在辖制我们。但愿独有你作我们的主。在我们事奉你时，愿我们能帮助多人在耶稣的爱中成为富足。阿们。
哥林多前书 6:12
12凡事我都可行，但不都有益处；凡事我都可行，但无论哪一件，我总不受它的辖制。
“I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.” — 1 Corinthians 6:12
As our verse for today shows, some people twisted the teaching about freedom in Christ to mean that Christians were free to do anything they pleased. Similarly, some others had reasoned that they should go on sinning so that the grace of God’s forgiveness could increase (Romans 6:1).
No, says Paul. We have died to sin, and our freedom in Christ does not mean that everything we can do is good for ourselves or for others. We must still be wary of committing sin, which offends God and others.
On the matter of building up wealth, Paul would say, it was permissible, but his lifestyle showed that he did not use that right. As Paul describes his situation in 2 Corinthians 6:10, he was “poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”
C.S. Lewis points out in his book The Abolition of Man that many people in history have seen the value of forgoing some things that might well be permissible. For example, Lao Tsu, a sixth-century-B.C. Chinese philosopher, said, “To have little is to possess. To have plenty is to be perplexed.”
We might not take a vow of poverty like some monks, using a piece of rope for a belt or living in hollow trees for minimal shelter. But we must be careful that affluence does not master us so that we are free to spread the love of God in Christ, the riches of eternal life in him.
Lord, open our eyes, that we may be aware of what shackles us. May you alone be our Master—and as we serve you, may we help many grow rich in the love of Jesus. Amen.
诵读: 骆云秀
片头: 张妙阳
