天堂有郊区吗？DoesHeaven Have Suburbs?
作者：Guy M. Richard 译者: Duncan Liang
我读过的其中一句对我最有帮助的话，是苏格兰清教徒罗哲夫（Samuel
Rutherford）说的。他说：“活在基督里，你就是在天堂的郊区。”我发现这句话对我帮助如此之大，因它解决了我其中一个最大挣扎，就是如何在生活处境当中努力追求喜乐。如果我们用21世纪的眼光来看罗哲夫这句话，可能很难明白个中意味。“郊区”这词在今天已经有了大量外加的内容。许多人认为郊区就是乌托邦式的理想状态。他们要逃离烦乱的城市生活，看修整更整齐的郊外社区是对这问题的解决之道。其他人是从更消极方面看郊区。他们也许出于宣教的原因，带着怀疑的眼光看郊区，看那些为生活便利或更多空间，选择离开城市这“庄稼已经熟了”的禾田的人。虽然罗哲夫这句话确实让21世纪的读者心里想象出许多画面，但同样确实的，就是罗哲夫在17世纪写到“天堂的郊区”时，根本没有想到任何这样的事情。对罗哲夫而言，天堂并不是一个人要逃离的是非之地，而是“赞美之地”，“所有受造乐园中最美的”。天堂是一个有“满足的喜乐”和“永远的福乐”的地方（诗16:11）。
One
of the most helpful quotes that I have encountered is from the Scottish Puritan
Samuel Rutherford. He said, “Live in Christ, and you are in the suburbs of
heaven.” The reason I have found this quote so helpful is because it addresses
one of my greatest struggles, namely, the struggle for joy in the midst of the
circumstances of life. This may be hard to see if we read Rutherford’s quote
with twenty-first-century eyes. The word suburban has become freighted with a
great deal of baggage in our day. Many think of the suburbs with utopic ideals.
They want to escape the messy realities of city life, and they see the more
manicured communities of suburbia as the answer. Others think of the suburbs
more negatively. For missional reasons, perhaps, they look with suspicion at
the suburbs and those who would choose to leave the “white-unto-harvest fields”
of the city for the sake of convenience or space. While it is true that
Rutherford’s quote conjures up any number of images in the minds of
twenty-first-century readers, it is also true that Rutherford had none of these
things in mind when he wrote about the “suburbs of heaven” in the seventeenth
century. Heaven is not, for Rutherford, a messy place from which people need to
escape. It is instead the “land of praises” and “the fairest of created
paradises.” It is the one place where there is “fullness of joy” and “pleasures
forevermore” (Ps. 16:11).
所以罗哲夫讲到“天堂的郊区”，他并不是从政治、甚至不是从宣教角度说的；他是从地理方面来讲。他讲的是接近。生活在郊区的人，是生活在最接近城市的地方，却还没有实际进入这城。这就是罗哲夫要表明的要点。当你我“活在基督里”，按他紧接着说的，“我们和赞美之地之间就仅有薄薄的一墙之隔。”当我们“活在基督里”，我们就是让自己身处离天门一步之遥的地方。我们虽未实际身处其中，却是按最大可能接近天堂。我们在郊区。在这郊区，我们经历到诗篇16:11讲的“满足的喜乐”和“永远的福乐”。当然，我们不是完全经历这一切。那现实是唯独为天堂存留的。但你我能接近，我们在今生能经历真实的喜乐，真正和持久的福乐。我们如此经历时，就是在“天堂的郊区”。
When
Rutherford uses the phrase “the suburbs of heaven,” therefore, he is not
speaking politically or even missionally; he is speaking geographically. He is
talking about proximity. Those who live in the suburbs are those who live as
close to the city as they can get without actually being in the city. That is
Rutherford’s point. When you and I “live in Christ,” there is, as he next says,
“but a thin wall between [us] and the land of praises.” When we “live in
Christ,” we place ourselves just outside heaven’s gates. We are as close to
heaven as we can get without actually being there. We are in the suburbs. And
in the suburbs, we experience something of the “fullness of joy” and the
“pleasures forevermore” that Psalm 16:11 talks about. To be sure, we do not
experience them perfectly. That reality is reserved exclusively for heaven. But
you and I can get close, and we can experience genuine joy and real and lasting
pleasure in this life. And when we do, we are in the “suburbs of heaven.”
活出在基督里的生活
THE
PRACTICES OF LIFE IN CHRIST
过去几年，随着我孩子长大，我的职业有了发展，我的婚姻进深，我的身体变老，以及我要付的账单增多，我就发现自己生活面对的其中一个最大挣扎，就是努力要在基督里，而不是当下经历的具体处境中找到喜乐。罗哲夫的这句话提醒我，虽然天堂完全的喜乐是我现在还不能得到的，但郊区真正喜乐和长久的福乐是我可得的。我需要做的，就是按罗哲夫的说法，“活在基督里。”
Over
the years, as my children have grown, as my career has progressed, as my
marriage has developed, as my body has aged, and as my bills have mounted, I
have found that one of the greatest struggles I face in life is the struggle to
find joy in Christ rather than in the particular circumstances I am
experiencing at the moment. Rutherford’s quote reminds me that although the
perfect joy of heaven is not available to me yet, the real joy and lasting
pleasure of the “suburbs” is mine for the taking. All I need to do, according
to Rutherford, is to “live in Christ.”
但到底什么是“活在基督里”？根据我对罗哲夫和圣经的认识，我会说努力“活在基督里”，这与两种主要的做法有关。第一，我们需要提醒自己，我们这些相信的人是“在基督里”，而“在基督里”的人，是“新的创造”，或“新造的人”（林后5:7），领受了基督已为我们得到的所有福气和益处（弗1:4-14）。我们需要提醒自己，我们得着基督，就是得着万有。我们得不着基督，我们就是一无所有。耶稣确实就是马太福音13:44-46讲的那“藏在地里的宝贝”和“重价的珠子”。人找到祂，就知道他们已经找到了一切，因此为了得到祂，愿意舍弃其他。我们需要提醒自己这些事，因我们如此快快忘记——也许更多是在经历，过于是在理性方面忘记。在我们生活里，这些不再意义重大，不再像从前那样影响我们。提醒我们这些，是我们要“活在基督里”就要做的第一件事情。
But
what exactly does it mean to “live in Christ”? From what I know of Rutherford
and of Scripture, I would say that two main practices are involved in trying to
“live in Christ.” First, we need to remind ourselves that those of us who
believe are “in Christ” and, as such, are “new creation[s]” or “new
creature[s]” (2 Cor. 5:17) and recipients of all the blessings and benefits
that Christ has procured (Eph. 1:4–14). We need to remind ourselves that when
we have Christ, we have everything, and that when we do not have Christ, we
have nothing. Jesus really is the “hidden treasure” and the “pearl of great
value” of Matthew 13:44–46. Those who find Him know that they have found
everything and are therefore willing to forsake all else in order to have Him.
We need to remind ourselves of these things because we so quickly forget—maybe
not so much intellectually as experientially. These things cease to have weight
in our lives. They cease to affect us the way that they once did. Reminding
ourselves of them is the first thing we need to do in order to “live in
Christ.”
但我们也需要把这些重大真理运用到我们的生活当中。这就是“活在基督里”，我们要做的第二件事。提醒自己福音伟大和荣耀的真理，这只是我们要做的其中一部分。我们也需要在日常生活当中把这些真理行出来。我们需要把这些真理应用在我们的思想、我们的行动当中。我们需要让它们影响我们对自己，对我们的罪、我们与神关系、与其他人关系、与身边世人关系的看法。正如罗哲夫论证的，如果实际情况就是，福音说你我“充其量是罪人，不过是罪人，而罪人对基督来说根本算不得什么”，怎么这真理如何体现在我们日常生活当中呢？它如何指导我们对自己、对我们生活在当中的这世界的看法？这带来怎样的革命性变革？英格兰清教徒约翰欧文曾说过，认识真理和认识真理的大能有天壤之别。当我们聚焦把福音真理应用在我们的生活当中，我们就是越来越接近实际经历真理，这就是欧文，还有许多其他清教徒思想的问题。我们需要让自己殚思竭虑，默想福音提醒我们的事，全面考虑这些事情如何应用在我们的生活当中。
But
we also need to apply these great truths to our lives. And that is the second
practice for us to “live in Christ.” Reminding ourselves of the great and
glorious truths of the gospel is only part of what we need to do. We also need
to work them out in our everyday lives. We need to apply them to our thinking
and to our doing. We need to let them affect the way we think about ourselves,
our sin, and our relationships with God, with others, and with the world around
us. If it is true, as Rutherford argues, that the gospel says that you and I
are “at the worst a sinner, and but a sinner, and a sinner is nothing to
Christ,” then how does this truth work itself out in our everyday lives? How
does it inform the way we see ourselves and the world in which we live? How is
it paradigm-shifting? The English Puritan John Owen used to say that there is a
big difference between knowing the truth and knowing the power of the truth.
When we focus on applying the verities of the gospel to our lives, we are
getting closer to actually experiencing the truth, which is what Owen, and many
other Puritans, had in mind. We need to wear ourselves out in meditating on the
things about which we have been reminded and in thinking through how they apply
in our lives.
悔改与喜乐
REPENTANCE AND OUR JOY
如果我们真的是“在基督里”，是“新造的人”，我们把这真理应用在我们的生活当中，我们就需悔改。自从马丁路德写了95条论纲，把它钉在威登堡教会大门上，不断悔改，这就已经成为改革宗群体信仰和实践的特点。路德的第一条论纲是这样讲的：“当我主耶稣基督说‘你们应当悔改’（马太4：17）时，衪的意愿是希望信徒们毕生致力于悔改。”路德认识到，“活在基督里”，这至少包括基督徒要不断操练悔改。这悔改的特征，就是不仅在我们的行为方面，也在我们的情感方面转离罪，转向基督。因此，悔改不仅是改变我们的行为，也是改变我们内心的忠诚，让我们的情感不再依附不合法的事，努力把情感归于神命令我们去爱的事情。这就是我们基督徒毕生致力要做的事。
If it
is true that we are “in Christ” and “new creations,” our practiced application
of that truth to our lives will involve repentance. Ever since Martin Luther
wrote his Ninety-Five Theses and nailed them to the church door in Wittenberg,
continual repentance has been distinctive of faith and practice in the Reformed
community. Luther’s first thesis put it this way: “When our Lord and Master
Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he willed the entire life of believers to be one
of repentance” (Matt. 4:17). Luther recognized that at least part of what it
means to “live in Christ” is that Christians will be continually engaged in the
practice of repentance. This repentance is to be characterized by a turning
away from our sins and a turning toward Christ, not only in terms of our
behavior but also in terms of our affections. To repent, therefore, is not only
to change our behavior but to change our heart allegiance, to tear our
affections away from illicit things, striving to give them to those things that
God has commanded us to give them to. And this is something that we are to do
for the entirety of the Christian life.
那么“活在基督里”，就是活着不断悔改，把我们爱的情感集中在基督身上。这是通向满足的喜乐和永远的福乐的道路，我们可以从以下婚姻的例子明白这一点。我在婚姻中得到喜乐的方法，就是我要让我的心和我的爱不断专注在我妻子身上。我容许我的心和我的爱去追逐其他妇女，或甚至其他事情的程度，与我在婚姻中失去喜乐的程度成正比（相当可能，我失去的甚至要多得多）。基督徒人生也是如此，得到喜乐的方法，就是让我的心和我的爱不断专注在基督身上。我容许它们去追逐其他“爱人”（如物质财富、世上成功、名声和自我等等的偶像）的程度，与我生活失去喜乐的程度成正比。那么“活在基督里”，就是努力让我的心和我的情感不断专注在基督身上，当我心偏离（我心会时不时偏离），就要把我的心和我的情感从“其他爱人”身上强行收回。我愿让自己坚持这两种操练，特别是坚持悔改和以基督为乐的程度，与我在天堂这一面有可能经历到的任何“满足的喜乐”和“永远的福乐”成正比。这与我发现自己生活在“天堂的郊区”成正比。
To
“live in Christ,” then, is to live in continual repentance, to keep our
affections fixed upon Christ. This is the road that leads to real joy and
lasting pleasure, as we can see in the following example taken from marriage.
The pathway to my joy in marriage is for me to keep my heart and my affections
fixed on my wife. The degree to which I allow them to run after other women or
even other things is the degree to which I will lose the joy in my marriage
(and, quite possibly, a whole lot more). So also in the Christian life, the
pathway to joy is to keep my heart and my affections fixed on Christ. The
degree to which I allow them to run after other “lovers” (idols such as
material possessions, worldly success, reputation, self, etc.) is the degree to
which I will lose my joy in life. To “live in Christ” is, therefore, to strive
to keep my heart and my affections fixed upon Christ, to tear them away from
“other lovers” when my heart goes astray—and my heart will go astray time and
again. The degree to which I give myself to these two practices, especially to
repentance and joy in Christ, is the degree to which I will find myself
experiencing whatever “fullness of joy” and “pleasures forevermore” are
possible this side of heaven. It is the degree to which I will find myself
living in the “suburbs of heaven.”
