張國昇牧師 1/11/
2015
 |
| 孕育与起步 |
Today
is the second Sunday of the year 2015; the year is still very new. Many of us
still write checks dating them in the year of 2014. We will understand; we
don’t expect the year had gone by so soon. We still remember the New Year
resolutions we made in 2014 which are long gone; we are now ready to make some
new ones which we hope would last a little longer. If you are like me, you
would like to start a new year with a less stressful life style: Eat healthy,
exercise regularly, and have more time to rest including nights of
uninterrupted sleep. Above all, I wish I can be more organized because that
would relieve most stress in my life. Would you be very stressful if every time
you need something and you cannot find it?
It drove me crazy every time when I tried to find a receipt for some
goods I tried to return; or looking for a clean pair of socks on Sunday
mornings. But how are you going to make the New Year resolutions stick around a
little longer? If you are a man, you need a good wife. She will cook you brown
rice with more vitamins and fiber even though you prefer white rice because it tastes
better; and she will remove the crispy skin of the BBQ pork to help you eat
healthy. She may even sacrifice herself by eating them first to eliminate the
temptation on you. Your wife is good in reminding you not the lay things around
in the house especially your socks. If you are a woman it will be a completely
different story. Women do not need to be reminded by husbands what to do! A
woman needs a buddy who has made the same New Year resolutions to go to the Gym
to exercise and to eat light meals like salad and yogurt. Do you know why most GPSs
use woman’s voice? They had done a thorough research on this subject. Women do
not like to be told by a man’s voice that they have made the wrong turn! A man
is different, he loves to hear a sweet lady’s voice even though, egotistically,
he still keeps making the wrong turns. It is because the sweet voice of the GPS
lady would never get mad at him for making a wrong turn and would not bug him
while he is driving! That much for an advice; don’t just rush out to buy a new
GPS after the church service!
How
can we start a new year well and finish it well also? We need to be persistent
in the things we plan to do and aim at forming a habit in doing so. We may fall
into hard times but don’t give in easy without making an effort to tough them
out. However, a good habit is difficult to form; it is too easy for us to slip
back to easier life. We try every year
to do better; but a good start in the year does not guarantee a good finish. It
is the same way with life. When we were young and tried to do good deeds and
make a positive mark in society with our lives. But years after years we fall
short of the mark we set for ourselves. Are we going to allow ourselves to
finish lives as frustrated negative old folks? It would be so sad! There is a
piece of good news for Christians; Christians not only can start well with a
new life, they are also empowered to finish well by the Holy Spirit. Paul said,
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the
new has come!” We in our old selves had tried so hard to do better, but failed
years after years. Here God promises us: if we believe in Jesus, accept him as
our personal Savior, our sins will be forgiven. We will be reconciled with God
and God will give us an opportunity to start our lives all over again in a
clean slate. It is much easier to start life in a clean slate with all the
baggage left behind. But a Christian must be very careful how to write on this
clean slate. If a Christian does not live a Christ centered life he will end up
with the same baggage he left behind when he started. A Christian needs another
source of power to enable him to finish well in life. The secret is the phrase
“in Christ”; it means united with Christ through faith in him and commitment to
him. (NIV study Bible commentary) A serious commitment to Jesus is essential to
finishing well in our lives on earth.
Paul
gave young Timothy a command, “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to
you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” (2Timothy 1:14)
The deposit (所交託的善道)
is the Gospel, the truth, the teaching. It is true that the Gospel in a
nutshell is in John 3:16: By faith in Jesus Christ one is born again with
eternal life. He is born again to be a baby Christian, the first step in a new
life. However, for a baby Christian to live he must have proper nourishment and
be able to grow. As a pediatrician I hate to see a malnourished baby; a fail to
thrive baby with stunted growth is not living his potential. A 7-8 lb baby with
a healthy cry at birth is a great start the baby must be given proper care in
order to thrive. Young Timothy had that proper care as a new Christian: First
from his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice (1Tim. 1:5) and later mentored
by Paul. A child born to Christian parents who love the Lord has a good start
in life. If the parents care to bring the child to church to be mentored by the
leaders of the youth fellowship and Sunday School would have received a good
“deposit” of the truth and spiritual teaching to give him a good start in his
Christian life. Some may not have that blessing in starting their Christian
lives but that does not mean they cannot grow properly. The Bible contains all
that is necessary for a Christian to grow into maturity. All Christian should
try to form a habit to read the Bible systematically with the help of the Holy
Spirit. The Psalmist said, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my
path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous
laws.” (Psalm 119:105-6) A good start in Christian life is to know the word of
the Lord which will direct our path and to keep his commands is to ensure that
we finish our life well.
Paul
said, “Guard the deposit that was entrusted to you.” The word “Guard” mean keep
it secure; don’t let anyone takes it away from you. The Gospel truth and the
teachings of Jesus Christ are for you to keep and not to lose them. The world
may try to confuse you with false doctrines; or try to tempt you with cunning
tactics like Satan did in the Garden of Eden. Don’t fall for them! The only way
one can defend himself from false teachings is to know the truth. How do the
FBI agents tell a counterfeit note from a real legal bill? Not by studying the
counterfeits; there are many different kinds of counterfeits. It is by studying
the true bill well so that he can detect in the counterfeit any difference from
the real one. When Satan tried to deceive Eve with the question, “Did God
really say, ‘you must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Eve did not know
what exactly God had said. That gave Satan a chance to continue his deception.
In a stark contrast, Jesus stopped dead any attempt from Satan’s temptation
with a quote from the Scripture. Guard the truth; don’t let any other teachings
to contaminate or dilute it. About all, don’t let anyone to take it away from you.
There is persecution everywhere against Christian faith nowadays; some are
obvious and some are under various pretexts. In many parts of the world
Christian are forced to renounce or denounce their faith under the threat of
death. That is quite obvious. On the other hand, the promotion of same sex union is an assault
on God’s institution of marriage under the political pretext of equal rights.
Paul said, Guard it; don’t let anyone take that precious ‘Deposit’ from you.
Christians
should be a diligent student of the word of God. It is not easy to read the
Bible from cover to cover the first time. There are many passages in the Bible
which are difficult to understand. But setting aside a time to read the Bible,
even a small portion at a time will help you form the habit of Bible reading. You
may use some devotional booklets to help you build the interest in Bible
reading. In time you will find reading the Bible a pleasure, even exciting. It
certainly will help in starting well in the life of any Christian.
Knowing
the word of God is one thing; guarding the truth is another. At times, living
the truth is not easy. Paul said, “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to
you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” The key to
guarding and living the truth is ‘with the help of the Holy Spirit’. Trusting
is the Spirit will lead us in the right direction. The Holy Spirit will empower
us is tough situation; Hs may even give us word of wisdom to say in difficult situations
that would honor God. Paul encouraged Timothy to fight the good fight and
follow his example to finish the race well. Paul gave Timothy some practical advice
in guarding his faith. “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good
fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when
you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1Timothy
6:11-12) Flee from those things that would compromise your faith; don’t even
get close to it. Don’t let yourself be tempted! What are those things? In the
previous verse we read, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a
trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and
destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” (1Timothy
6:9-10) Paul did not say money is evil; he did say the love of money is the
root of all evil. Flee from the greed for money and guard yourself from that
temptation. It will help you finish well in your race.
Lord’s Supper
Mark 14:22-25
Sermon Outline
Sermon Title: Paul also had a
dream
講道題目：保羅也有一個夢想
Sermon Text: Acts 26:291/18/ 2015
講道經文：使徒行傳廿六章廿九節
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 2:2-4
讀經：以賽亞書二章二至四節
五十多年前馬丁路德金
Martin Luther King Jr.
在首府華盛頓發表了一篇很動人的演說：
我有一個夢想
“I have a dream"。
「我有一個夢想、這個夢的根深處、就是那個美國夢。
我夢想有一天、這個國家能興起來、實踐立國信條的真正意義。
持定那些不言而喻的真理：神造世人是平等的。」
I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this
nation will rise up
and live out the true meaning of
its creed:
'We hold these truth to be self-evident: that all men are created
equal.'
甚麽是美國夢？
來美國的移民都有同一個夢想：美國是一塊自由的國土
民權是美國的良心（Conscience）
民主自由是建立在一個觀念、人是按形像造的。
毛澤東也有一個夢、他夢想中的新中國是個烏托邦（Utopia）
其實
"Utopia" 希臘文 "ou" means 'no';
"topos" means 'place'、
就是「沒有這個地方」的意思。
六十年後的今天、新中國竟變成一個貧富懸殊、
階級分明的社會、再不是毛澤東夢想的烏托邦了。
保羅也有個夢想：是每一個聽過耶穌基督的福音的人都像他。
像他一樣、已經丟棄萬事、當作糞土、為要得着基督（腓3：9）
真正的自由平等、只有在天國裏才能實現。
我也有一個夢、像保羅的夢、中國億萬同胞得到福音。
中國信徒把福音傳回耶路撒冷。
