基督徒珠玑1

mark

2008/03 04

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• 文章分类： 信仰装备长短文

"The right kind of evangelical order cannot be exhibited among all sorts of people, but those who are seriously determined to be Christians and confess the Gospel with hand and mouth, must enroll themselves by name and meet apart, in one house, for prayer, for reading, to baptize, to take the Sacrament, and exercise other Christian works. With such order it would be possible for those who did not behave in a Christian manner to be known, reproved, restored, or excluded, according to the rule of Christ (Matt. 18:15). Here also they could, in common, subscribe alms, which would be willingly given and distributed among the poor, according to the example of Paul (2 Cor. 9:1-12). Here it would not be necessary to have much or fine singing. Here a short and simple way of baptism and the Sacrament could be practised, and all would be according to the Word and in love. but I cannot yet order and establish such an assembly, for I have not yet the right people for it. If, however, it should come about that I must do it, and am driven to it, I will willingly do my part. In the meantime I will call, excite, preach, help forward it, until the Christians take the Word so in earnest, that they will themselves find how to do it and continue in it."
正统的福音信仰规范，是无法在所有的人群中表现出来的。但是那些有决心要作基督徒的人，要以心、以身体力行福音的人，只能另外报名聚会，在家里，为着祷告，为着阅读，为着受洗，为着领圣礼，和其它基督徒活动。在这种的规范里，那些没有理行基督徒品行的人，就可以受到督责、被挽回、或被开除，都是按照基督的吩咐(太18:15)。他们也可以出于自愿，共同的捐助穷人，是照着保罗的榜样(林后9:1-12)。在那里无需很多华丽的歌咏。在那里只需要简短、简单的洗礼和圣礼；一切都可以照着圣经，在爱里进行。但是我现在还不能筹组这样的聚会。因为我还没有得着合适的人选。倘若时机一到，而我也有负担，我必愿意成全。而现在，我会呼召、鼓励、传讲，并推动它；直到基督徒们如此认真的看待圣经，并自己寻求如何的实行和持守它。
--Martin Luther, 1526　马丁路德
"One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organization do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team.  The first requisite is life, always."
正如11具尸体不能组成一个足球队；100个有信仰的人连在一起，精巧的组织为一个团体，也不能成为一个教会。第一个先决条件是生命，总是这样的。
--A. W. Tozer 淘恕
"The devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still."
魔鬼的神学造诣比我们每一位都要高，可他仍然是抵挡神的。
--A. W. Tozer 淘恕
"Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late - and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work.  To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience."
你们有没有发现，近来为着复兴的祷告是如此之多；而得到的复兴又是如此之少呢？我相信问题是因为我们尝试用祷告来代替顺服，那就是不奏效的嘛。当我们为着复兴祈祷，却又漠视圣经里的原则；那就是浪费唇舌，自找麻烦了嘛。当我们不把祷告当作顺服的代替品，祷告就会有效了。
--A. W. Tozer 淘恕
Seven principles for eradicating selfish ambition in the fellowship: 1. the ministry of holding one's tongue. Often we combat our evil thoughts most effectively if we absolutely refuse to allow them to be expressed in words... Thus it must be a decisive rule of every Christian fellowship that each individual is prohibited from saying much that occurs to him. This prohibition does not include the personal word of advice and guidance. But to speak about a brother is forbidden, even under the cloak of help and goodwill; for it is precisely in this guise that the spirit of hatred among brothers creeps in when it is seeking to create mischief.
团体中根除个人主义的七个原则：1）勒住舌头的职事。抵挡我们的罪恶思想，最有效的办法就是，绝对禁止它被说出来……所以在每一个基督徒聚会中，我们必须严格的规定，每一个人都不可以讲太多自己的事。这个规定并不包括劝勉和指导性的发言。但是议论另一位弟兄是不可以的，即使是为了当事人的好处也是不可以的；因为就是在这样的理由下，弟兄间的仇恨得以偷偷的进来，并产生不愉快的事。
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer潘霍华
译者注：fellowship一词，常被翻译为“团契”、“交通”。现在某些团体里，它被用来形容周六下午2:30至4:30、或周五晚上7:30至9:30。在某些团体里，它是于周日礼拜有区别的聚会。在有些团体里，它是彼此讨论真理、彼此讨论圣经的谈话。在某些场合里，它被用来形容整个团体。它的希腊文是koinonia。它的原意并不只是团契和交通。在希腊的文化里，它是工会、共同利益团体、宗亲会、联谊会的意思。在初期教会里，它的意思是整个信徒团体的共性，相互性。它可以是互相交流的动作，但它也是整个团体的共同生活特性。和合本圣经多有翻译成“相交”的。
Seven principles for eradicating selfish ambition in the fellowship: 2. the ministry of meekness. He who would learn to serve must first learn to think little of himself... Only he who lives by the forgiveness of his sin in Jesus Christ will rightly think little of himself. He will know that his own wisdom reached the end of its tether when Jesus forgave him. He will know that it is good for his own will to be broken in the encounter with his neighbor... But not only my neighbor's will, but also his honor is more important than mine. The desire for one's own honor hinders faith. One who seeks his own honor is no longer seeking God and his neighbor. What does it matter if I suffer injustice? Would I not have deserved even worse punishment from God, if He had not dealt with me according to His mercy?
团体中根除个人主义的七个原则：2）柔和的职事。凡是要学习服侍的，必须先学会看自己为卑微……只有当一个人活着是靠耶稣的赦免而活时，他才能恰当的看到自己的卑微。当耶稣赦免他时，他的智慧就走到山穷水尽了。他就得知道，当与邻舍冲撞时，他的主义就得破碎了……不光是邻舍的意见比自己的重要，邻舍的荣誉也比自己的重要。寻求个人对荣誉，是会阻碍信仰的。凡是寻求个人荣誉的，就无法再寻求神或邻舍了。假若自己收到委屈，那有什么相干呢？假若神没有以他的怜悯来对待我，我该得到的下场还不要更糟吗？
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer潘霍华
Seven principles for eradicating selfish ambition in the fellowship: 3. the ministry of listening. The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them... Listening can be a greater service than speaking... One who cannot listen long and patiently will presently be talking beside the point and be never really speaking to others. Anyone who thinks his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies... We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God.
团体中根除个人主义的七个原则：3）聆听的职事。在聚会中彼此服侍的首要一项，就是彼此聆听。正如爱神是从聆听神开始，爱弟兄也该从聆听开始……聆听的服侍要比讲话来得更强……一个无法长时间聆听的人、无法耐心聆听的人，发言时总会离题，那就无法真正的与大家对话了。一个认为自己的时间如此宝贵，以致没有时间来沉默的人，最终也就没有时间给神了、也没有时间给他的弟兄了，而只有时间给他自己的愚妄了……我们应当以属神的耳朵来聆听，好叫我们能以发表属神的话。
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer潘霍华
Seven principles for eradicating selfish ambition in the fellowship: 4. the ministry of helpfulness. Active helpfulness means, initially, simple assistance in trifling, external matters. There is a multitude of these things wherever people live together. Nobody is too good for the meanest service... We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions. We may pass them by, preoccupied with our more important tasks, as the priest passed by the man who had fallen among thieves, perhaps -- reading the Bible. When we do that, we pass by the visible sign of the Cross raised athwart our path to show us that not our way, but God's way must be done.
团体中根除个人主义的七个原则：4）帮助人的职事。实实在在的帮助人，就是在简单的、琐碎的事上给人生活上的帮助。凡是人们共同生活时，就会有很多这样的需要了。没有一个人是伟大到一个地步，叫他不能给别人最琐碎的服务的……我们必须允许神随时的打岔自己。神总会让一些有需要的人、有求于我们的人，来拦阻我们的路、来使我们取消自己的计划的。我们也可以不顾他们而过，因为我们有更重要的事情；就好像那位祭司，越过了被抢劫的受害者----我们可能有更重要的事，比如是读经。当我们如此越过时，我们就是越过了明显的、十字架的标志了；它摆放在我们的路上，告诉我们要选择神的路，而不是自己的路。
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer潘霍华
Seven principles for eradicating selfish ambition in the fellowship: 5. the ministry of bearing. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2). Thus the law of Christ is a law of bearing. Bearing means forbearing and sustaining... The Christian must suffer and endure the brother. It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated. It is, first of all, the freedom of the other person that is a burden to the Christian. The freedom of the other person includes all that we mean by a person's nature, individuality, endowment. It also includes his weaknesses and oddities, which are such a trial to our patience, everything that produces frictions, conflicts, and collisions among us. Then, there is the abuse of that freedom that becomes a burden for the Christian. In sin, fellowship with God and with his brother are broken. To cherish no contempt for the sinner but rather to prize the privilege of bearing him means not to have to give him up as lost, to be able to accept him, to preserve fellowship with him through forgiveness... The service of forgiveness is rendered by one to the others daily. It occurs, without words, in the intercessions for one another. He who is bearing others knows that he himself is being borne.
团体中根除个人主义的七个原则：5）担待的职事。“你们各人的重担要互相担当，如此，就完全了基督的律法。”（加6:2） 基督的律法就是彼此担待。担待，就是忍受、托住……基督徒必须忍耐、忍受弟兄。只有当一个弟兄是一个重担时，我们才体现出是作弟兄的，而体现出那位弟兄不光是一只棋子。首先，基督徒的第一个重担，就是他弟兄的自由。弟兄的自由，包括他的性格、个性、天赋。也包括了他的软弱、和特别之处，这些都是对我们耐性的考验。都是会在我们中间制造摩擦、争议、和冲撞的。然后，当自由被滥用时，它就成为了基督徒当重担了。当罪出现时，他要神当相交、于弟兄们当相交，就被隔断了。不要蔑视犯罪的弟兄，而要珍惜担待他的机会；就是说，不要弃绝他，要接纳他，透过赦免来保持于他的相交……赦免的职事，是每天彼此的服侍。它也出现在彼此的代祷中。凡是担待别人的人，都深知道自己是被担待的。
Author: Dietrich Bonhoeffer潘霍华
Seven principles for eradicating selfish ambition in the fellowship: 6. the ministry of proclaiming. Where Christians live together the time must ultimately come when in some crisis one person will have to declare God's Word and will to another. It is inconceivable that the things that are of utmost importance to each individual should not be spoken by one to another. It is unchristian consciously to deprive another of the one decisive service we can render to him... The more we learn to allow others to speak the Word to us, to accept humbly and gratefully even severe reproaches and admonitions, the more free and objective will we be in speaking ourselves. The humble person will stick to truth and love. He will stick to the Word of God and let it lead him to his brother... Reproof is unavoidable. God's Word demands it when a brother falls into open sin. Where defection from God's Word in doctrine or life imperils the fellowship... the word of admonition and rebuke must be ventured. Nothing can be more cruel than the tenderness that consigns another to his sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe rebuke that calls a brother back from the path of sin. It is a ministry of mercy, an ultimate offer of genuine fellowship, when we allow nothing but God's Word to stand between us, judging and succoring.
团体中根除个人主义的七个原则：6）宣讲的职事。当基督徒共同生活时，早晚会有一些事情发生，让一个人不得不向他的弟兄宣讲神的话语、神的旨意。如果说，对每一位弟兄最重要的信息，是不需要彼此对说的话，那是令人难以想像的。如果我们蓄意不给弟兄作这一项重大的服务，那是很不合基督信仰……我们越是学习让别人向自己说话﹐谦卑的﹑感恩的接受猛烈的督责和教训﹔那麽我们就能越自由﹑越客观的说话了。谦卑的人是会坚持真理与爱的。他会坚持神的话语﹐让它把自己领到弟兄面前……督责是不可避免的。当一位弟兄堕入公开的罪中时﹐神的话语就如此要求了。当不合神话语的教义﹑或不合神话语的生活作风危害教会时……就必须尝试教训﹑督责的话了。没有比纵容弟兄犯罪之温柔更为残忍的。也没有比挽回犯罪弟兄之强烈督责更为有爱心的。当我们中间只坚持神的话语﹐以此来判断和宽恕﹐这是一种怜悯人的职事﹐这是真正相交的契机。
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer潘霍华