你所属的堂会是绿洲还是海市蜃楼？Is Your Congregation An Oasis Or A Mirage?

作者：Scott Clark   译者/校对：基甸/诚之

 https://heidelblog.net/2020/05/is-your-congregation-an-oasis-or-a-mirage/

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/5oolbqsPp4B3JSLJ6WvIkA

小时候，我经常跟着大人去堪萨斯西南部祖父母的农场。我在那里学会了开车、搭栅栏、打捆乾草、嚼烟草。最后一项不建议大家学。在旅途中，赶上一个十分酷热的日子，远处就会出现海市蜃楼的景象。只见热浪在柏油路面不停的翻腾，看上去仿佛眼前的道路已经融化了一样。

When I was boy we made frequent pilgrimages to my grandparent’s farm in Southwestern Kansas. That is where I learned to drive, put up fence, buck bales of hay, and chew tobacco. I do not recommend the latter. On the trip, on a really hot day, a mirage would appear in the distance. The road seemed to melt ahead of us as heat waves rose from the asphalt.

沙漠中的旅行者渴望两样东西：水和绿荫，而这两样东西只有在绿洲里才能找到。旅行者心中渴慕绿洲，因为沙漠中的温度可以达到48.9摄氏度（120华氏度），非常的危险。所以看到远方的绿洲，可以给人盼望。但如果绿洲变成了海市蜃楼，就会让人非常失望，非常痛苦。

Travelers in the desert long for two things: water and shade, two things offered by an oasis. An oasis is desirable because traveling in the desert, where temperatures can reach 120F can be dangerous. To see an oasis in the distance offers hope. An oasis turn out to be a mirage is a bitter disappointment.

基督徒生活也是如此。圣经把基督徒生活描绘成一段旅程、一段朝圣之旅，而把基督徒描绘成客旅和天路客。在《利未记》25章23节，耶和华称我们为“寄居的”。在《诗篇》39篇12节中，大卫称自己是寄居的。《希伯来书》11章13节说道：“这些人都是存着信心死的，并没有得着所应许的，却从远处望见，且欢喜迎接，又承认自己在世上是客旅，是寄居的。”在《彼得前书》2章11节，使徒劝勉信徒说：“亲爱的弟兄啊，你们是客旅，是寄居的。我劝你们要禁戒肉体的私欲；这私欲是与灵魂争战的。”

So it is in the Christian life. The Scriptures picture the Christian life as a journey, a pilgrimage and believers as sojourners or pilgrims. In Leviticus 25:23 the Lord called us “sojourners.” In Psalm 39:12 David described himself as a sojourner. Hebrews 11:13 says, “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (NASB). In 1 Peter 2:11, the Apostle exhorts believers, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul” (NASB).

虽然现在已经不流行再说这个世界非我家，但这世界确实并非我的家。使徒保罗提醒腓立比人，他们的国籍在天上（腓3:20）。我们的主耶稣向彼拉多承认他的国“不属这世界”（约18:36）。祂说如果祂的国属这世界，祂就会召成群的天使为祂的国而战，但祂的国并不属这世界。可以肯定的是，三位一体的上帝创造了这个世界，所以从本质上来说这个世界是好的。针对诺斯底主义，我们承认这点。针对摩尼教，我们不承认这世上存在善恶对立的两套原则。我们认为因果报应是一种谎言。这个世界是属上帝的，祂把它借给我们，让我们在目前的居间状态下，对这个世界进行治理。因此，我的建议不是逃离这个世界，而是设定这个世界的优先次序，并承认我们的双重公民身份。我们基督徒是肯定受造万物的，但是我们也否定这个世界（《约翰福音》意义上的世界）。我们不是在改造这个世界，但也不只是“一个过客”。我们这些朝圣者是在一个背叛上帝的世界里建立天国的大使馆。每一寸土地都是属基督的，但祂现在是以双重方式在治理这片土地，而且只有在新天新地里，才会最终成全祂的统治。

It is not fashionable now to confess that this world is not our home, it is still true. The Apostle Paul reminded the Philippians that their citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). Our Lord Jesus confessed to Pilate that his kingdom is “not of this world” (John 18:36). He said that were his kingdom of this world he would call down legions of angels and fight for it, but it is not. To be sure, our triune God created this world and made it essentially good. We confess this against the Gnostics. Against the Manichaeans we confess that there are not two dueling principles in the world, good and evil. Karma is a lie. This world belongs to God and he has loaned it to us to manage, as it were, in the interim. So, mine is not the counsel of world flight but one of setting priorities and recognizing our twofold citizenship. We Christians are creation affirming and world (in the Johannine sense of word) denying. We are not transforming the world but neither are we “just a passin’ through.” We pilgrims are establishing kingdom embassies in a rebellious world. Every square inch does belong to Christ but he governs those inches in a twofold way and will only consummate his dominion in the new heavens and the new earth.

朝圣客和寄居者都需要一个歇脚的地方。他们需要一片绿洲。凡是作过长途旅行的人都知道，如果中途能够下车伸伸懒腰，提提神，就会觉得无比的舒畅。如果沿途没有休息站和咖啡馆，还会有旅客吗？基督徒也是如此，他们需要沙漠中的绿洲。圣经称我们为客旅（朝圣者），就仿佛把我们放在了出埃及的路途中。我们已经通过红海（《比利时信条》第34条说基督就是我们的红海），走在旱地上，藉着洗礼与基督同死同活（林前10:1-4；罗6章[一整章];西2:11-12）。

 Pilgrims and sojourners need a place to rest. They need an oasis. Anyone who has ever taken a long road trip knows how pleasant it is to get out of the car for a bit to stretch one’s legs and to refresh one’s self. Where would the traveler be without truck stops and cafes? So it is for Christians, who need an oasis in a desert. By calling us pilgrims, the Scriptures are placing us, as it were, in the Exodus. We have come through the Red Sea, which our Belgic Confession says is Christ (Art. 34), on dry ground, identified with Christ in our baptism (1 Cor 10:1–4; Rom 6 [all]; Col 2:11–12).

然而，很多时候，朝圣客所找到的并不他们所需要、所渴望的绿洲，而是海市蜃楼。它看起来很像是可供人歇脚、让人得到更新的地方，但其实不然。我的意思是基督已将几件事托付祂的教会，要她忠心地去执行，其中最重要的就是宣讲律法和福音。通过律法，我们知道了我们的罪和愁苦是何等的大（《海德堡要理问答》第2和第3条），而通过律法的第三重功用，得赎的人明白了他们对上帝和邻舍的责任，但只有通过福音，我们才能找到绿洲。福音是一个独特的措词。我们承认圣灵上帝正是借着这个词，将新生命（重生）和真信心赐给人。

Too often, however, what pilgrims find is not the needed and desired oasis of refreshment but a mirage, something that looked like a place of rest and renewal but turned out to be more of the same. What I mean is that Christ has commissioned his church to do a few things faithfully and chief among them is to preach the law and the gospel. Through the law we learn the greatness of our sin and misery (Heidelberg Catechism 2 and 3) and through the third use of the law the redeemed learn their duty to God and neighbor but only through the gospel do we find an oasis. The gospel is a unique word. We confess that it is the only word through which the God the Spirit operates to bring new life (regeneration) and true faith. In Heidelberg 65 we confess:

在《海德堡要理问答》65条，我们认信到：我们既然是单单因着信而与基督和祂一切恩惠有份，那么，这信心又是从何而来的呢？

 Since then we are made partakers of Christ and all his benefits by faith only, whence does this faith proceed?

答：是圣灵藉着福音的宣讲，在我们心里生发信心，又藉着圣礼的施行，确认并坚固这信心。

 From the Holy Spirit, who works faith in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel, and confirms it by the use of the sacraments.

正是通过福音的宣讲，圣灵在我们心中生发信心；也正是通过原本算不得什么而只能显明福音的圣礼（加尔文），即洗礼和圣餐，福音的应许才得到证实。

It is through the preaching of the gospel that the Spirit works faith in our hearts and it is through the use of the holy sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), which are nothing but the gospel made visible (Calvin) that the promises of the gospel are confirmed.

正如我的朋友、老师兼同事鲍勃·戈弗雷（Bob Godfrey）常说的那样，如果我们不给穷人提供食物，就会有别人提供；如果我们不去教育无学问的人，别人会去教育；但如果我们教会不去宣讲福音，就不会有其他人去宣讲。

 As my friend, teacher, and colleague Bob Godfrey has often said, if we do not feed the poor, someone else will do it. If we do not educate the ignorant, someone else will do it but if we, the church, do not preach the gospel, no one else will do it.

基督唯独将宣讲福音的使命托付给了有形的建制教会，除此之外并无其他实体（太28:18-20）。宣讲福音对有形教会的使命和身份来说如此重要，以至于改革宗教会认信说，一个教会的福音宣讲若不“纯正”（pure preching of the gospel），就算不上真教会。同样，他们也认为，圣礼的施行，以及使用教会纪律来纠正圣徒若不纯正，也算不上真教会。

The visible, institutional church is the only entity to which Christ entrusted the official proclamation of the gospel (Matt 28:18—20). The preaching of the gospel is so central to the mission and identity of the visible church that the Reformed Churches confess that where the “pure preaching” of the gospel is absent, there is not a true church. They say the same about the “pure administration” of the sacraments and the use of church discipline for correcting the saints.

若没有纯正的福音宣讲，堂会就不算是一片绿洲，而是一种海市蜃楼。这只会让朝圣者承受更严重的酷热和更多的风沙，根本无法为客旅们减轻难耐的酷热，也无法为他们带来生命的泉水。这一点虽然非常基本，也很明显，却经常发生，因为纵观整个教会史，我们可以看到教会常常忽略了她的首要使命。在我们现今这个时代，堂会利用成打的不同方式来吸引人，却忘了使他们成为真教会所必不可少的那一件事，就是福音。在沙漠中一个没有绿荫、没有水泉的地方，无论它看起来多么吸引人，都不会给沿途的客旅带来真正的帮助。

 Without the pure preaching of the gospel a congregation is not an oasis. It is only a mirage, which has nothing to offer the pilgrim but more heat and sand when what the sojourner needs is relief from the heat and the water of life. This is a basic point and obvious but it bears repeating because throughout the history of the church she has often lost sight of her prime mission. In our age congregations busily make themselves attractive in a dozen different ways but forget the one thing that makes them a true church: the gospel. A place in the desert without shade and water, however attractive, is no real help.

作为一个代表所有困苦的基督徒写信的朝圣者，我请求牧师、长老和会员们，你们一定要确保自己的堂会不是海市蜃楼，不只是外表看起来像教会，却缺乏唯有福音才能带给人安慰和生命的地方。请务必确保你们的教会是能够给身为客旅的基督徒带来盼望、帮助和生命的真正绿洲。

 As a pilgrim writing in behalf of needy Christians, I am asking pastors, elders, and members to make sure that their congregations are not mirages, places  that look like churches but that lack the relief and life that only the gospel gives. Please be sure that yours are real oases of hope, help, and life for pilgrims.

基督徒啊，请问你的堂会是否通过了这个基本考验？我知道，你的堂会可能有耀眼的灯光、婆娑的影像，但它有福音吗，有每周宣讲上帝的话语，宣告人子上帝为拯救罪人道成肉身，并为罪人的缘故主动顺服，为他们受苦、受死、埋葬，又从死里复活，为要叫他们称义，现在又坐在全能父的右边作他们的中保吗？

 Christian, does your congregation pass this basic test? Does your congregation may  have flashing lights and whirling sights but does it have the gospel, the weekly announcement from God’s Word that God the Son became incarnate for sinners, that he obeyed on their behalf, suffered for them, died, was buried, and was raised for their justification and no mediates for them at the right hand of the Father.

这是你们堂会事工的主要内容吗，还是你们仅仅假设了福音的内容，却很少（如果有的话）详细加以阐述？试问，如果你邀请慕道友到教会，教会的讲道能清楚地将他引向恩慈的救主耶稣吗，还是他不过听到了一些让他感觉更加良好的“医治”信息？他会听到基督是谁、基督做了什么，这类的信息吗，还是只会听到关于社会弊病的说教？当然，你的非基督徒朋友需要听到律法，但最不可少的是他必须听见福音，他要亲耳听到清晰、直白、大有荣耀的福音。愿今天及以后的每个主日，我们的教会都能成为福音的绿洲。

Is that the staple of the ministry of your congregation or is the gospel assumed but rarely, if ever, articulated? If you brought a non-Christian friend to church would he be pointed clearly and graciously to Jesus the Savior or would he only hear a therapeutic message about how to feel better about himself? Is he likely to hear about who Christ is and what Christ has done or a lecture about the evils of society? Your non-Christian friend needs to hear the law but it is essential that he hear the gospel, the clear, plain, glorious sound of the gospel, in his ears. May our churches be gospel oases today and every Lord’s Day.