Exhortation 7/12/03    Reading - James Chapter 1    

讲道词    2003127     读经:雅各书第一章

 

My dear brothers and sisters,

亲爱的弟兄姐妹:

 

As James begins his letter to the believers, he speaks of the trials and temptations that try our faith. These are often the hardships of everyday life which put our faith to the test, but the result is that they develop patience in us. James encourages us not to become depressed, but rather to “count it all joy” because we realise that these trials are developing that faithful patience that is pleasing to God. This is very difficult at times for us all, particularly when desperate circumstances come on us, or we feel very lonely, and may be the only believer in our area. Perhaps we earn very little money and struggle every day to have enough food to eat, often working very long days just to have these basic things of life.  Yet to “count” all our trials “joy” is to see that in all these things God is with us and, even though the way is difficult, He won’t forsake us but will rather give us the wonderful reward of the Kingdom at the end. In order to “count it all joy” we need to have faith—faith that God is going to honour His Word, faith that He is always with us, even in those times when we feel perhaps He has left us.  Faith is a very important thing to God, in fact it is impossible for us to please God if we do not have faith (Hebrews 11:6).

 

在雅各开始写信给信徒们的时候,他讲到考验我们信心的试探的引诱。这些都是每天让我们的信心接受考验的困难,但是它们带来的结果是最终让我们有耐心。雅各鼓励我们不要丧失信心,而是要“以为大喜乐”,因为我们明白这些试炼最终可以增进我们信心的忍耐,这是蒙神喜悦的。对我们现在所处的时代来说这是很难的,特别是当绝望的事情发生在我们身上时;或者我们孤独时;或许在自己所在的地方只有你一个信徒;也可能我们挣的钱很少,每天都为吃喝的基本问题不停地挣扎,为解决温饱问题而整日忙碌不休。然而把这百般的试炼“以为大喜乐”是因为在这一切事中,可以看到神与我们同在,即使路途艰辛,神也不会离弃我们,更美的是,最终还会在神国里给我们美好的赏赐。为了“以为大喜乐”,我们需要有信心相信神荣耀他的道,相信他永远与我们同在,即使在我们以为他离开我们的时候。信心在我们与神的关系里是一件很重要的事情,实际上人非有信,就不能得神的喜悦(希伯来书116)。

 

However at times we may be perplexed at the trials we face, unable to see the reason for them. If that is the case James says: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally” (v5).   This wisdom helps us to understand the lessons we may learn from the trial. It will enable us to believe that God is in control, for He knows what we are going through and cares for us. We must ask in faith, as James says: “Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” (v6). We must have a solid unmoveable faith, no matter how turbulent the trial is to our mind. We must not be “double minded” which means we must not have “two minds”. A “double minded” person is one who does not know whether to trust in God or not. He is torn between the cares of this life and a complete trust in his God.

可是,我们可能还是会常常因为自己面临的试炼而困惑不已,不知道为什么会有这么多艰难。如果是这样的话,那么雅各说了:“你们中间若有缺少智慧的,应当求那厚赐与众人,也不斥责人的神”(第五节)。这样的智慧帮助我们理解自己可以从试炼中学到功课。它告诉我们神掌控一切,因为他知道我们会通过试炼,也会看顾我们。我们必须像雅各所说的凭着信心求:“只要凭着信心求,一点不疑惑;因为那疑惑的人,就像海中的波浪,被风吹动翻腾”(第六节)。我们必须有坚定不移的信心,不管我们遇到的试炼有多么的大。我们不能“心怀二意”。一个“心怀二意”的人不知道是否应该相信神。他在今生的眷恋和完全相信神中间摇摆不定。

 

James now contrasts two brethren in the ecclesia, the lowly brother and the rich brother. The brother of “low degree” or of “lowly status” in this life must “rejoice in that he is exalted” in Jesus Christ. He must always remember the wonderful status he holds as a brother of Christ and a son of the living God. In Jesus Christ the honour, riches and glory of the Kingdom will be his when Jesus Christ returns. James says in 2:5: “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?”.  Our treasure is in heaven. So if you are not a wealthy person by worldly status, don’t be concerned by this and spend all your mental energy thinking of ways to become rich or how you can get more. Rejoice because the riches of the Kingdom will be yours.

然后雅各拿教会里的两个弟兄来做对比,卑微的弟兄和富足的弟兄。今生“卑微的弟兄”必须在耶稣基督里“喜乐”。他必须永远记住自己有作为基督的弟兄与永生神的儿子的美好身份。在耶稣基督里,当耶稣基督复临的时候,神国里的财富和荣耀都将是他的。雅各在25里说到:“神岂不是拣选了世上的贫穷人,叫他们在信上富足,并承受他所应许给那些爱他之人的国吗?”我们的财富在天上。所以如果你在俗世中不是一个富足的人的话,不要为此担忧,把自己所有的精力花在赚更多的钱上。而是要因为将来神国的财富都归你所有而喜乐。

 

To the rich brother or sister, and there are some in the brotherhood, James says to rejoice, not because they have riches, but rejoice because they are made low! This brother or sister must realise that any wealth they have has been given to them by God to use in His service. Such wealth cannot give eternal life. James reminds us that we are all mortal and like the flowers of the field we will finally pass away in death.

对有些富足的弟兄姐妹,或者自己的手足,雅各说不要因为他们有钱而喜乐,而是因为他们降卑而喜乐!富足的弟兄姐妹必须明白自己从神那里得来的一切财富都应当用来服事神。今生的财富不能给我们永生。雅各提醒我们大家都是凡人,像草上的花一样,最终都要枯干而死。

 

James returns to the original thought about enduring under trials. Trials are for a specific purpose, James says: “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (v12).  When we see the great purpose of God we can see trials in the correct perspective.

雅各又回到起初的思路上,讲到试探。试探是为了一个特殊的目的,雅各说:“忍受试探的人是有福的,因为他经过试验以后,必得生命的冠冕”(第十二节)。我们看一下神最大的旨意时,就可以以正确的观点来看试探。

 

God is going to fill the earth with His Glory—His Glory is His character.  How will the earth be filled with God’s character? By filling the earth with people who have developed in their mortal life, a character like God’s. But how do we develop the character of God?  Or, how does God develop His character in us? By trials! Trials are designed specially for us as individuals to test our faith and teach us lessons that God wants us to learn. God knows every one of us individually and because He knows our natural character faults, the trials are suited specifically to each individual according as God thinks best, to develop His character or Glory in us.

神将让全地充满他的荣耀。他的荣耀就是他的品性。全地要怎样才能充满他的荣耀呢?通过充满在自己的凡世增进自己,树立像神的品性的人,就能让神的荣耀充满全地。但是要怎样才能具有深的品性呢?或者说,神怎样让他的品性在我们里面增长呢?通过试探!试探是专门为我们准备以检测我们的信心,教导我们神想教导的功课的。试探对每个人都有不同,它以神所想的最好的方式来让每个人里面有神的荣耀

 

The only thing that we are going to take with us from this life now into the kingdom is our character! If our character is not like God’s there will be nothing about us that God will love and desire to make immortal. This is why trials must be understood and endured because, at the end, they will have developed God’s character in us, and then we “shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (v12).

我们今生唯一可以带到神国里的东西是我们的品性!如果我们的品性不像神,那么神爱世人,愿意使人得永生的事就与我们无关。这就是我们为什么必须明白并忍受试探的原因,因为最终,这些试探将让我们增进自己像神的品性,然后我们“必得生命的冠冕,这是主应许给爱他之人的”(第十二节)。

 

James in v 13-15 shows that the temptations that arise from our sinful nature are quite different from the trials that come to test our faith. The trials to test our faithfulness God allows, but He certainly is not the source of temptation to sin. It is a fundamental of the character of our God and Father that “God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (v13). In contrast to this James quite clearly tells us, “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (v14).

雅各在第十三至十五节展示了从我们自己罪的本性来的试探和试验我们信心的试探是大不相同的。神允许考验我们信心的试探存在,但他当然不是引诱我们犯罪的根源。这是我们父神品性的一个基本原则,“神不能被恶试探,他也不试探人”(第十三节)。在对比中,雅各很清楚地告诉了我们“但各人被试探,乃是被自己的私欲牵引诱惑的”(第十四节)。

 

It is our own human nature that tempts us to sin. The sinful desires that our mind invents to satisfy it and give it pleasure are the source of temptation. It is at this point we must immediately put away the thought or the temptation from our minds. Paul says that those who follow Christ “have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof” (Galatians 5:24). By this he means they must always strive to put to death  the evil thoughts and desires that come into their mind.

是我们自己的本性引诱我们犯罪。我们自己思想里罪的欲念占了上风,这样的私欲才是试探的根源。基于这一点,我们必须立刻消除头脑里的私欲或诱惑。保罗说跟随基督的人“已经把肉体连肉体的邪情私欲,同钉在十字架上了”(加拉太书524。他的意思是信徒必须一直坚持把自己脑子里邪恶的思想和欲念除掉。

 

Then in v15 James shows the great disaster that results if we do allow those evil thoughts to gain control over our actions: “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death”. Note how James describes the way we are led to sin. He uses the analogy of the way a child is begotten. First the little lustful thought enters our mind and if we nourish it and encourage it to grow it will. Because we loved the thought and let it grow, finally it brings forth that horrible result—sin. Finally we allow it to turn into an action of disobedience to God’s ways. And as James so clearly points out, sin “when it is finished, bringeth forth death”. The wages of sin is death. We have allowed that first lustful thought to develop and take us down the path to death. 

然后,在第十五节里,雅各展示了如果我们任由邪念发展,生出不好的行为来,结果会是一个大灾难。“私欲既怀了胎,就生出罪来;罪既长成,就生出死来。”注意雅各是怎样描述我们犯罪的过程的。他用了一个孩子被生出来的情形来形容。首先,一个小的私欲进到我们的脑子里来,如果我们让它滋养壮大,因为我们爱他而由着它生长,最后会生出可怕的事物来罪。最终,我们让私欲付诸行动,不顺服神。正如雅各如此明显指出的,罪“罪既长成,就生出死来”。罪的工价乃是死。我们让私欲长成,付诸行动,最终把自己带上死亡之路。

 

As we have come today to remember our Lord how thankful we are that though he “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet (he was) without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He always did his Father’s will and has given us an example to follow.

今天我们来到这里纪念我们的主,我们是多么的感激,尽管他“凡事都受过试探,与我们一样,只是他没有犯罪”(希伯来书415。他永远顺着神的意愿,给了我们效仿的榜样。

 

Let us remember that God “of his own will begat he us with the word of truth” (v18). God has begotten us to be His children and He has done this through His Word. His Word has taken root in our minds and if we continue to nurture it as we daily read and meditate upon it, then it will develop in us a character like our Father in heaven. In the days of James those who believed were like the firstfruits of God’s children, but here we are now 2000 years later and we likewise are children begotten by God through His Word.

我们要记住神“按自己的旨意,用真道生了我们”(第十八节)。神通过他的道生了我们。他的道在我们的心里扎根,如果我们能够照着每天所读的神的话语生活的话,就可以增进我们的品性,以至于像天父一样。在雅各的时代,信徒就像神初熟的果子,现在我们的时代已经是两千年以后,我们就是神用真道生出的儿女。

 

Rather than allowing lustful temptations to grow in our minds and bring forth sin and then death, we must let the Word of God dwell there and develop in us the character of our Father. By this we will be seen to be sons and daughters of the living God.  How are we to do this?  James tells us that we must be “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (v19).  If we are busy talking we are not listening. James says we must be quick to take the opportunities to hear the Word of God and allow it to be our meditation.

与其让私欲在我们的脑子里生长,以致带来罪和死,我们必须让神的道在心里扎根,增进自己里面父的品性。因着这些,我们就可以被看作是永生神的儿女。我们要怎样做呢?雅各告诉我们必须“快快地听,慢慢地说,慢慢地动怒”(第十九节)。如我们忙于讲话,就不会去听神的道。雅各告诉我们必须快快地把握听神的道的机会,而且要付诸实践。

 

We need to take decisive action to ensure we are listening to the Word of God each day. To do this James says we must “lay aside all filthiness and abounding of wickedness”, and when we have done this then we must “receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (v21).

我们每天都需要以实际行动表明自己正在听神的道。为了这样做,雅各说我们必须“脱去一切的污秽和盈余的邪恶,存温柔的心领受那所栽种的道”,因为这是“能救你们灵魂的道”(第二十一节)。

 

However just reading or listening to talks about the Bible is not enough. James goes on to say: "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”. We can deceive ourselves if we just listen to the Word but do not then try to live by what we learn.  We must be “doers of the word”.  It must become a way of life to us. 

然而,仅仅只是读经和听道是不够的。雅各继续说:“只是你们要行道,不要单单听道,自己欺哄自己”(第二十二节)。如果我们只是单单听道,而不尽量照着所听到的去做的话,就是在自欺欺人。我们必须“行道”。这必须是我们生活的方式。

 

To impress the point of the need to both hear the Word and then to do it, James draws the picture of two different people who look into a mirror. He likens the Word of God to a mirror. The first person reads or hears what the Word of God says. Like a mirror it shows him what he looks like by God’s standards. It shows his sins and ungodly ways that may have developed. However as soon as he moves from the mirror he forgets what he saw. He does not act to change his ways or develop a character like his Father. The second person looks carefully into the mirror of the Word and even after he has closed his Bible he still continues to think upon the Word of God, doing what is necessary to be more like his Father’s character.  “This man shall be blessed in his doing”, James says (v25).

为了加深不单要听道还要行道的印象,雅各描述了两个照镜子的不同的人。他把神的道比作一面镜子。第一个人读了或者听了神的道。神的话语就像一面镜子一样向他表明,以神的标准来看,他是怎样的一个人。这面镜子照出了他的罪和不敬虔的行为。然而,当他转身走了以后就忘了自己所看见的。他并没有改变自己的行为以求像神一样。第二个人在象征神的道的镜子面前仔细端详,即使在他合起自己的圣经以后,仍然继续思考神的道,作必要的事情以求让自己更加像他的父亲。这人“就在他所行的事上必然得福”(第二十五节)。

 

In concluding this section James points to one of the easiest way we can examine if the Word of God is not having the effect on our minds that it should. It is in our speech. We may have an appearance of religion or Godly fear, but if we cannot control our tongue and what we speak it shows that we have not allowed the Word of God to control our mind and what we think.

在总结这一段时,雅各指出了一条我们可以查验神的道是否在我们心中的最简单的方法。这方法就是看我们的言语。我们可能会表现得很虔诚,敬畏神,但是如果我们不能勒住自己的舌头,我们所说的话就已经表明神的道还没有深入我们的思想。

 

However it is not just the words that we speak but also our actions that will show that we truly have been begotten by the Word of God as His children. Thus James concludes by saying: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (v27). And so the person who both “hears” and “does” the Word of God will demonstrate its effects in his life in both positive and negative ways. He will do those positive things of caring for the widow and fatherless, but he will also remove from his life any worldly ways that can defile him in mind or body.

然而,这还不单单是我们所说的话,我们的行为也表明自己是否真的是由真道所生。于是雅各这样总结道:“在神我们的父面前,那清洁没有玷污的虔诚,就是看顾在患难中的孤儿寡妇,并且保守自己不沾染世俗”(第二十七节)。所以,即听道又行道的人会从积极和消极的两方面证明神的道在他生命里的影响。他会积极地看顾孤儿寡妇,但是他会摒弃影响自己思想和肉体的世俗。

 

So as we now partake of the bread and wine, let us remember that our Lord has given us the example. He was not just a hearer but a doer of his Father’s will. He was obedient in all things, refusing to allow temptation to turn him from doing his Father’s will. Let us now partake of the bread and wine and seek strength to follow in the steps he has shown us.

所以在我们掰饼喝酒的时候,让我们记住我们的主给了我们榜样。他不仅仅是一个听者,还是一个顺服他父意愿的行动者。他在所有事上顺服神,拒绝引诱他违背父神旨意的试探。现在让我们来掰饼喝酒,寻求力量来跟随主的脚步。