0925 「去」的关系
有人强逼你走一里路, 你就同他走二里。《马太福音 5:41》
我们主的教导可总结为这一点:除非祂在我们里面做了超自然的工作,否则祂要求我们的那种关系是不可能实现的。耶稣基督要求祂的门徒在面对暴政和不公时,不允许心中有丝毫的怨恨。再多的热情也经不起耶稣基督加在祂仆人身上的压力;只有一件事可以承受压力,那就是与耶稣基督本身的个人关系——这种关系已被检查、净化和考验,直到只剩下一个目的,而我可以真正地说:「我在这里是为了让神差遣我去祂要我去的地方。」其它一切可能变得模糊,但与耶稣基督的关系绝对不能。
登山宝训并非是无法实现的目标;它是一个陈述,就是当耶稣基督把祂自己的本性放在我里面,祂改变我的本性时,我里面会发生什么改变的陈述。耶稣基督是唯一能够实现登山宝训的那一位。
如果我们要成为耶稣的门徒,我们就必须被超自然地变成门徒。只要我们有意识地保持作祂门徒的坚定目的,我们就可以确定我们不是门徒。耶稣说:「不是你们拣选了我,是我拣选了你们…」(约翰福音 15:16),这就是神恩典开始的方式。这是我们永远无法逃避的催逼;我们可以违背它,但我们自己永远无法开始或生发催逼。我们被神超自然恩典的工作吸引到神那里,而我们永远无法追溯到这工作的起点。我们的主塑造门徒是超自然的,祂完全没有建基在我们任何自然的能力。神不要求我们做那些自然容易的事——祂只要求我们做那些靠着祂的恩典我们完全适合做的事,我们必须背负的十字架就总是循此而来。
来自章伯斯的智慧
耶稣对门徒所说的伟大之语是「舍己」。当神把我们带进门徒的关系中时,我们必须冒险相信祂的话,完全信靠祂,并注意当祂带我们去冒险时,我们就接受之。《登山宝训研究》
0925 The “Go” of Relationship
Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. —Matthew 5:41
Our Lord’s teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a supernatural work in us. Jesus Christ demands that His disciple does not allow even the slightest trace of resentment in his heart when faced with tyranny and injustice. No amount of enthusiasm will ever stand up to the strain that Jesus Christ will put upon His servant. Only one thing will bear the strain, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself— a relationship that has been examined, purified, and tested until only one purpose remains and I can truly say, “I am here for God to send me where He will.” Everything else may become blurred, but this relationship with Jesus Christ must never be.
The Sermon on the Mount is not some unattainable goal; it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has changed my nature by putting His own nature in me. Jesus Christ is the only One who can fulfill the Sermon on the Mount.
If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must be made disciples supernaturally. And as long as we consciously maintain the determined purpose to be His disciples, we can be sure that we are not disciples. Jesus says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16). That is the way the grace of God begins. It is a constraint we can never escape; we can disobey it, but we can never start it or produce it ourselves. We are drawn to God by a work of His supernatural grace, and we can never trace back to find where the work began. Our Lord’s making of a disciple is supernatural. He does not build on any natural capacity of ours at all. God does not ask us to do the things that are naturally easy for us— He only asks us to do the things that we are perfectly fit to do through His grace, and that is where the cross we must bear will always come.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.–Studies in the Sermon on the Mount