1015 传道者信息的关键
…为我们的罪作了挽回祭,不是单为我们的罪,也是为普天下人的罪。《约翰一书 2:2》
传道者信息的关键是基督耶稣的挽回祭——祂为我们的献祭完全平息了神对罪的震怒。看看基督工作的其他方面,无论是医治、拯救还是成圣,你会发现这些工作都不是无限的。但「神的羔羊,除去世人罪孽的!」——那才是无限的(约翰福音1:29)。传道者的信息是耶稣基督为我们罪作了挽回祭的无限重要性,而传道者就是沉浸在这启示的真理中的人。
传道者信息的真正关键是基督生命「赦罪」方面,而不是祂的仁慈、祂的良善,甚至不是祂向我们彰显了父神。 「…传悔改、赦罪的道,…直传到万邦。」(路加福音 24:47)。无比重要的最伟大信息是「祂亲自为我们的罪作了挽回祭」。传道者的信息不是民族主义,偏袒国家或个人的;它是为「普天下人」的。当圣灵进到我里面,祂不考虑我的偏袒或喜好,祂只是带我与主耶稣合一。
传道者是与他的主和主人声明的使命和目的联合的人。他不是要宣扬自己的观点,而是只宣扬「神的羔羊」。属于一个只讲述耶稣基督为我做了什么的集团,是比较容易的,成为神圣医治的热衷者,或特殊类型的成圣,或圣灵洗礼的热心者,也比较容易。但保罗并没有说:「如果我不传基督为我所做的,我便有祸了。」而是说:「…若不传福音,我便有祸了。」(哥林多前书 9:16)。这就是福音——「神的羔羊,除去世人罪孽的!」
来自章伯斯的智慧
许多国家和个人都曾尝试过基督教却都放弃了,因为发现它太难了。但无人经历过有意使耶稣为主却发现他是个失败者的危机。《神的爱—一个基督徒的形成》
1015 The Key to the Missionary’s Message
He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. —1 John 2:2
The key to the missionary’s message is the propitiation of Christ Jesus— His sacrifice for us that completely satisfied the wrath of God. Look at any other aspect of Christ’s work, whether it is healing, saving, or sanctifying, and you will see that there is nothing limitless about those. But— “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”— that is limitless (John 1:29). The missionary’s message is the limitless importance of Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins, and a missionary is someone who is immersed in the truth of that revelation.
The real key to the missionary’s message is the “remissionary” aspect of Christ’s life, not His kindness, His goodness, or even His revealing of the fatherhood of God to us. “…repentance and remission of sins should be preached…to all nations…” (Luke 24:47). The greatest message of limitless importance is that “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins….” The missionary’s message is not nationalistic, favoring nations or individuals; it is “for the whole world.” When the Holy Spirit comes into me, He does not consider my partialities or preferences; He simply brings me into oneness with the Lord Jesus.
A missionary is someone who is bound by marriage to the stated mission and purpose of his Lord and Master. He is not to proclaim his own point of view, but is only to proclaim “the Lamb of God.” It is easier to belong to a faction that simply tells what Jesus Christ has done for me, and easier to become a devotee of divine healing, or of a special type of sanctification, or of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But Paul did not say, “Woe is me if I do not preach what Christ has done for me,” but, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). And this is the gospel— “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure.— The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R