按照上帝的話來敬拜WorshipAccording to the Word
作者:
Albert Mohler 譯者: 駱鴻銘
在《卡拉馬佐夫兄弟們》這部小說中，杜思妥耶夫斯基的「宗教大法官」提出了這個洞見，讓我們看到墮落人性的真實面貌：「只要人還保持自由，他就會沒完沒了地追求虛無，也十分痛苦地想要找到崇拜的對象。」雖然這個宗教大法官遠遠不能作為神學可靠的指引，但是在這點上，他顯然是十分正確的。人類具有非常深刻的宗教性——即使我們不知道自己是這樣的人——而人們會沒完沒了地追求一個崇拜的對象。
In
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Grand Inquisitor offers this
insight into fallen human nature: “So long as man remains free he strives for
nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone to worship.” Though
the Grand Inquisitor falls far short as a reliable guide to theology, at this
point he is surely correct. Human beings are profoundly religious — even when
we do not know ourselves to be — and humans incessantly seek an object of
worship.
不過，人類也都是罪人，因此我們的崇拜在大多數情況下也是根據我們的異教思想，隨從個人的喜好。如同加爾文所深刻解釋的，墮落的人心是個「偶像製造工場」，總是在製造新的偶像，供人敬拜和尊崇。這個已經敗壞的工場，如果任由它自生自滅，絕對不會產生出真正的敬拜，反而會敬拜它自己的發明。
Yet,
human beings are also sinners, and thus our worship is, more often than not,
grounded in our own paganism of personal preference. As John Calvin profoundly
explained, the fallen human heart is an “idol-making factory,” always producing
new idols for worship and veneration. That corrupted factory, left to its own
devices, will never produce true worship, but will instead worship its own
invention.
教會不是由那些靠著在敬拜中作實驗而找到真正永生上帝的人所組成的，而是由那些被羔羊的血所救贖，被納入基督身體的人所組成的；然後他們蒙召來從事真正的敬拜；這種敬拜要受聖經所管制，也以聖經為權威。我們被造的目的就是為了要敬拜，也只有得贖的人可以在聖靈中、在真理中來敬拜父神。
The
church is not comprised of those who found the true and living God by
experimentation in worship, but of those who have been redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb, incorporated into the Body of Christ, and are then called to true
worship as regulated and authorized by Scripture. Worship is the purpose for
which we were made — and only the redeemed can worship the Father in spirit and
in truth.
但是，我們是這樣敬拜的嗎？英國一位保守的哲學家史克魯頓（Roger Scruton）曾經這樣忠告他的哲學友人說，要想知道關於上帝、人們究竟相信什麼，最好的方法就是在他們敬拜時去觀察他們。神學書籍和教義聲明也許可以透露一個教會說它相信的是什麼，但是敬拜才會真正透露出它真正相信的是什麼。若果如此，我們的麻煩可大了。
But, do we? The
British philosopher Roger Scruton once advised his fellow philosophers that the
best way to understand what people really believe about God is to observe them
at worship. Theology books and doctrinal statements may reveal what a
congregation says it believes, but worship will reveal what it really believes.
If so, we are in big trouble.
只要看看這麼多福音派人士，他們所謂的敬拜所表現出來的混亂，就可以一見端倪。許多教會並沒有致力於指向上帝榮耀的敬拜，反而致力於像是一場混亂的嘉年華會的敬拜，以此為特色。他們的敬拜已經看不出這是一個正在敬拜上帝的基督教會。多年以前，陶恕哀嘆到，許多教會把敬拜當作是「最大程度的娛樂和最小程度的教導」。他主張，許多基督徒甚至不承認敬拜是這樣的一種集會：「唯一吸引人的是上帝」。這些話在五十年前是對的，如今也適合用來直接起訴當代的敬拜。
Just
look at the confusion that marks what is called worship among so many
evangelicals. Instead of engaging in worship that points to the glory of God,
many churches feature services that look more like a carnival of chaos than a
Christian congregation at worship. Years ago, A.W. Tozer lamented that many
churches conceive of worship as “a maximum of entertainment and a minimum of
serious instruction.” Many Christians, he argued, would not even recognize
worship as “a meeting where the only attraction is God.” True fifty years ago,
those words now serve as a direct indictment of contemporary worship.
我們問題的病根必須必須追本溯源到我們的世界觀是很膚淺的，只停留在個人品味的層次上。在世界觀的層面，我們必須面對這個事實，就是現代主義瓦解了許多人心中對上帝的超越性（transcendence）的認識。敬拜的焦點是「橫向的」，縮減到用人來作為尺度。神學自由主義很單純地欣然接受這個新的世界觀，也作出現代主義所要求的神學上的妥協。敬拜就被轉換成一種實驗，要靠敬拜者來判斷是否「有意義」，而不是一種對上帝的奇妙與偉大，喜樂順服的行動。
The
pathology of our problem must be traced to realities as fundamental as our
worldview and as superficial as personal taste. At the worldview level, we must
face the fact that modernism collapsed transcendence in many minds. The focus
of worship was “horizontalized” and reduced to human scale. Theological
liberalism simply embraced this new worldview, and it made the theological
compromises that modernity demanded. Worship was transformed into an experiment
in “meaningfulness” as judged by the worshiper, not an act of joyful submission
to the wonder and grandeur of God.
既然後現代主義統治著文化菁英的世界觀，以及文化中最有勢力的影響力核心，這種極端的主觀主義，道德相對主義，以及對絕對真理的敵意，標記出塑造了許多教會敬拜形式的後現代世界觀。後現代主義大肆慶祝圖像對抗話語所獲得的勝利，但是基督信仰是一個以聖道（話語）為中心的信仰，其根源在於上帝話語的啟示，以及耶穌基督作為成了肉身的道的身份。
Now
that postmodernism rules the worldview of the cultural elite and the culture’s
most powerful centers of influence, the radical subjectivity, moral relativism,
and hostility to absolute truth that marks the postmodern worldview shapes
worship in some churches as well. Postmodernism celebrates the victory of the
image over the word, but Christianity is a Word-centered faith, rooted in the
verbal revelation of God and the identity of Jesus Christ as the incarnate
Word.
後現代主義者斷言，所有的真理都是人建構的，不是絕對的。正如哲學家羅逖（Richard Rorty）所堅持的，真理是人造的，不是人找到的。接受這種極端實用主義的人會把敬拜視為一種「製造」意義的實驗，而不是一種宣講、聆聽、信靠，並承認上帝以命題的形式所啟示的永恆真理的一種訓練。
Postmodernists
assert that all truth is constructed, not absolute. As philosopher Richard
Rorty insists, truth is made, not found. Those who accept this radical
pragmatism will see worship as an experiment in “making” meaning rather than a
discipline of preaching, hearing, believing, and confessing eternal truths
revealed by God in propositional form.
儘管所有的基督徒都認可信仰有經驗的層面，經歷是實在的，也是必要的，但是這種經歷必須以上帝的話語為根基，也必須受上帝話語的約束，要向上帝負責。關於敬拜，這是最最核心的問題。因為，若敬拜要任由我們自己來發明，我們的傾向就是尋找一種滿足我們私慾的敬拜，要去尋找一種「有意義」的經歷，或者是能滿足我們個人喜好的敬拜，以取代由聖經所規範的真實的敬拜。敬拜應當遵循這個原則：以上帝為中心，而不是以祂的百姓為中心。
While
all Christians affirm the necessity and reality of the experiential dimension
of faith, the experience must be grounded in and accountable to the Word of
God. This is of central importance to the question of worship, for, left to our
own devices, we will be inclined to seek worship that meets our desire for a
“meaningful” experience or matches our personal taste as a substitute for
authentic worship regulated by Scripture and centered on God, rather than His
people.
宗教改革的核心問題，是關注如何以恰當的方法來敬拜上帝。這也是我們今天最重要的神學辯論的核心。再也沒有什麼比我們對敬拜的理解更重要的事了，因為我們對敬拜的觀念與我們對上帝的認識是脫不了關係的，也和我們對這點的理解脫不了關係，即祂是如何以至高主權的權柄啟示祂所渴望的、所配得的、所要求的敬拜。
Concern
for the proper worship of God was central to the Reformation, even as it is
central to our most important theological debates today. Nothing is more
important than our understanding of worship, for our concept of worship is
inescapably tied to our understanding of God and His sovereign authority to
reveal the worship He desires, deserves, and demands.
歐德（Hughes Oliphant Old）曾經這樣來總結改教家對敬拜的理解：「它對上帝的莊嚴與主權的認識，對敬畏的認識，對上帝純一尊貴的認識，以及它對敬拜首先必須是用來讚美上帝的信念」。如同歐德認識到的，這個轉換更新的道路「也許不完全是所有的人所追求的」。
Hughes
Oliphant Old once summarized the Reformers’ understanding of worship in terms
of “its sense of the majesty and sovereignty of God, its sense of reverence, of
simple dignity, its conviction that worship must above all serve the praise of
God.” As Old recognized, this path of renewal “may not be just exactly what
everyone is looking for.”
這的確是真實的，但這是回歸上帝所尋找的敬拜，恢復我們對三一上帝無限的榮耀、完美、價值的見證，唯一的一條路。我們要麼恢復聖經對真正基督信仰的敬拜的異象，要麼就陷入某種形式的異教崇拜。沒有第三種選擇。
This
is surely true, but it is the only path back to the worship God seeks, and to
the recovery of our witness to the infinite glory, perfection, and worthiness
of the triune God. We will either recover the biblical vision of true Christian
worship, or we will slide into some form of pagan worship. There is no third
option.
本文原刊於：Tabletalk Magazine
