0923 服事者之目標
…對他們說：「看哪，我們上耶路撒冷去…」《路加福音 18:31》
在我們天然生命中，我們的野心會隨着成長而改變，但在基督徒生命中，目標在一開始就被給出，且開始和結束是完全相同的，就是我們的主自己。我們始於基督，也終於基督——「…直等到我們眾人…滿有基督長成的身量…」（以弗所書4:13），而不僅僅是我們自己對基督徒生活應是什麼的想法。服事者的目標是遵行神的旨意，而不是成為有用者或去贏得失喪者。服事者是有用的，也確實贏得了失喪的人，但這不是他的目標；他的目標是遵行主的旨意。
在我們主的生命中，耶路撒冷是祂在十字架上達到天父旨意頂峰之處，除非我們和耶穌一起去那裡，否則我們與祂將毫無友誼或團契的。沒有任何事物可改變我們的主往耶路撒冷去的路途，祂從來不匆忙穿過某些祂受逼迫的村莊，或在祂受祝福之處流連。無論是感激還是忘恩負義，絲毫都不能使我們的主偏離祂「上耶路撒冷」的心意。
「學生不能高過先生，僕人不能高過主人。」（馬太福音10:24）。換句話說，發生在我們主身上的事情同樣也會發生在我們往「耶路撒冷」的路上。神的作為將會通過我們展現出來，人們會得到祝福，一兩個人會表示感激，而其餘的人會顯出完全忘恩，但任何事情都不可改變我們「上[我們的]耶路撒冷」。
「…就在那裡把耶穌釘在十字架上…」（路加福音 23:33）。這就是當我們的主到達耶路撒冷時所發生的事情，那件事是我們得救之門。然而，聖徒們終點並未非被釘十字架，而是靠主的恩典以榮耀告終。與此同時，我們每個人的口號應該是說：「我也『上耶路撒冷去』。」
來自章伯斯的智慧
耶穌基督可以承受被誤解；我們不能。我們的弱點在於總是想要為自己辯護。《幫助之地》
0923 The Missionary’s Goal
He…said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem…” —Luke 18:31
In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him— “…till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.
In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will upon the cross, and unless we go there with Jesus we will have no friendship or fellowship with Him. Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord even the slightest degree away from His purpose to go “up to Jerusalem.”
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). In other words, the same things that happened to our Lord will happen to us on our way to our “Jerusalem.” There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us from going “up to [our] Jerusalem.”
“…there they crucified Him…” (Luke 23:33). That is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that event is the doorway to our salvation. The saints, however, do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace they end in glory. In the meantime our watchword should be summed up by each of us saying, “I too go ‘up to Jerusalem.’ ”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves. –The Place of Help, 1051 L