Exhortation for 7/3/04 - Reading Psalm 115 - Bro Ivan J
每周一次的讲道词-2004年3月4日-圣经阅读:诗篇115章 由澳大利亚:Ivan 弟兄 编写
Good morning brethren and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ. 亲爱的主内弟兄姐妹:早上好
We come this morning to worship the only true God and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, this morning, I would like us to think about the God we worship as this affects the manner in which we worship Him. 今天早上我们所敬拜的唯一真神,就是主耶稣基督的父。然而,我希望大家在这个上午思考我们所敬拜的 神的一些方面,因为这些思考会影响我们的敬拜他的方式。 There is an obvious comparison in the Psalm we have read this morning between the God of Israel and the gods of the nations around them. The Psalmist does not hold back in his derision of the futility of idol worship, nearly to the point of sarcasm. He mocks the idea that man could worship an object that cannot speak, hear, see or feel. To compare this impotent idol to the all-powerful Creator of the universe is really no contest. 从我们今天上午所阅读的诗篇可以看出,以色列的 神和周围各国所崇拜的假神形成了鲜明的对照。诗篇的书写者并不掩饰他们对无用的偶像崇拜的嘲笑,这种嘲笑接近于挖苦。他嘲笑哪些敬拜不能够说话,也不能够听,不能够看,甚至是毫无感觉的神。这些苍白无力的假神和全能的宇宙的创造者实在是毫无可比性。 But were idol worshippers so ignorant? Did they really believe that an inanimate lump of wood, metal or stone was indeed a powerful god, as the Psalm seems to suggest? Isaiah the prophet gives us a similar message when describing the process of making such an idol from a piece of wood, but with even more irony: 但是那些崇拜偶像的人对此是一点也没有意识到吗?他们是不是真的像诗篇所暗示的,相信哪些死气沉沉的木头块,石头还有金属制品真的是有能力的神?先知以赛亚描写过那些人在木头、甚至是象牙制造偶像的过程: “这树,人可用以烧火;他自己取些烤火,又烧著烤饼,而且做神像跪拜,做雕刻的偶像向他叩拜。 他把一分烧在火中,把一分烤肉吃饱。自己烤火说:「啊哈,我暖和了,我见火了。」他用剩下的做了一神,就是雕刻的偶像。他向这偶像俯伏叩拜,祷告他说:「求你拯救我,因你是我的神。」” (以赛亚书44:15-17)
"And it shall be for a man to burn; for he will take some of it and warm himself. Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; yes, he makes a god and worships; he makes it a graven image and falls down to it. He burns part of it in the fire; with part of it he eats flesh; he roasts roast and is satisfied; yea, he warms himself, and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. And the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image; he falls down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me! for you are my god." (Isa 44:15-17)
The man here chops down a tree, and burns part of the tree on the fire to keep warm, and with the rest he makes an idol. And yet, as Isaiah continues, this man cannot see the absolute foolishness of this situation. How can one part of a log somehow become a powerful god, and another part of the same log be only firewood? 在这里,这个人砍下了一颗大树,用大树的一部分来取暖,用其余的部分来做了一尊偶像,然而,这个人并没有意识到他这样做是多么的愚蠢,同样的木头怎么会有一部分变成保佑他的神, 另外的部分仅仅是生火的材料呢?
But does an idolater really believe that an idol is the actual god? Doesn't he rather believe it is an image of the god he worships? In the Scriptures there is record of several images made to Baal, as there were several images made to the other false gods of the nations around Israel. So what is the real issue in worshipping idols if they are just an image of the real god? Has the Psalmist deliberately tried to confuse the issue with idol worship? 难道这个崇拜偶像的人真的信这个偶像是神吗?还是他宁愿相信他所崇拜的偶像?圣经记载了人们崇拜巴力为巴力制作了各种神像, 以色列周围国家也充满了不同的偶像。在有关崇拜偶像这个话题当中,有些人认为他们制作的像就是真神的像,这样做的问题出在哪里? 难道是诗篇的书写者故意将这种现象和偶像崇拜混淆? When Israel came out of Egypt they were given a law, and in particular, the 10 commandments. The first two commandments were to do with the worship of false gods: 当以色列人从埃及地出来的时候,神为他们颁布了法律,特别的有摩西10诫,其中第一条和第二条都是关于如何对待崇拜假神的。 "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (Exo 20:3-6)
“除了我以外,你不可有别的神。不可为自己雕刻偶像,也不可做什麽形像彷佛上天、下地,和地底下、水中的百物。不可跪拜那些像,也不可事奉他,因为我耶和华你的神是忌邪的神。恨我的,我必追讨他的罪,自父及子,直到三四代; 爱我、守我诫命的,我必向他们发慈爱,直到千代。” (出埃及记20:3-6)
In these two commandments worship of a multiplicity of gods was forbidden, as was the making of graven images of false gods or of any beast of the air, earth of seas. Why didn't God want man to make an image as a representation of Him as part of his worship? The Catholics, for example, have an image of Christ on the cross in most of their churches, in direct conflict with these commands. But what makes this such an abomination to God? 这两条命令中,对各种各样假神的崇拜是严格地被禁止的,同样也不允许雕刻假神的像或者是崇拜天上、地下的走兽、飞鸟的形象。为什么 神不喜欢人为他做一尊像来作代表他来崇拜他呢?例如,在大多数的天主教教堂里面,就有耶稣在十字架的画像,这种做法是和这些命令直接相矛盾的。可是为什么 神会如此憎恨这种行为? Well, two interesting things happened soon after the giving of the 10 commandments. It was only a few weeks later when Moses went up into Mount Sinai to get instructions on the tabernacle that Aaron and the people made the golden calf. It was amazing that in such a short space of time the people of Israel, from the High Priest down, had broken their vow to obey God and had broken this commandment. 还有,在以色列人得到10诫以后不久就发生了两件有趣的事情。摩西到了西奈山仅仅2个星期,亚伦和以色列人就开始制造了一尊金牛犊,这不得不让人感到惊奇,因为在这样短的时间里面,以色列人从大祭师到普通老百姓,从起誓驯服 神的到不遵守、违背了 神的命令。
Being Jewish, no doubt they had excused their behaviors on a technicality. The calf was an image, but it was a molten image and not a graven image (although it had been finished off with a graving tool). We have Aaron's famous answer to Moses where he said, "And I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let them break it off. And they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and there came out this calf." (Exo 32:23-24). It was as though Aaron was saying it was the fire that had made the golden calf. And hadn't Aaron said when he had finished making this idol, "Tomorrow we have a feast to Yahweh". It wasn't a false god from Aaron's point of view (although the people certainly saw them as idols when they said, "These be your gods that delivered you from Egypt") but just a earthly representation of the true God. 而那些犹太人呢,他们无疑是先从技术细节方面为自己的行为找到借口。那尊牛犊是一个像,但它是一个铸成的像,而不是一个雕刻的像,(尽管制造它首先要通过一个雕刻的器具)。我们可以看到亚伦面对摩西责问时候的有名的回答:“他们对我说:『你为我们做神像,可以在我们前面引路;因为领我们出埃及地的那个摩西,我们不知道他遭了什麽事。』我对他们说:『凡有金环的可以摘下来』,他们就给了我。我把金环扔在火中,这牛犊便出来了。」”(出埃及记32:23-24)在这里,亚伦好像是在说是火自己铸造了这个金牛犊。(尽管可以肯定以色列人将这尊牛犊认为是偶像,因为他们说:“以色列啊,这是领你出埃及地的神。”)但是从亚伦的观点来看,他们做的不是一尊假神的像,仅仅是真神在地上的代表。
When we read this chapter we learn that part of the reason why God absolutely forbad idols was the activities that occurred as part of the worship. In this chapter it tells us that Aaron had made them naked to their shame. The shameful and immoral practices that occurred at feasts held for idols were totally foreign to worship of the true God. A few chapters later in Exodus 34, the well-known chapter where God reveals himself to Moses, God now adds to the second commandment concerning graven images that they were not to make any molten images as well. It was not that God was tightening up a loop hole in His laws, but it was a sad indictment on these people and human nature in general that the spirit of this law was not obeyed in the first instance. 这一章告诉了我们为什么要绝对禁止敬拜偶像的部分理由。 这一章还告诉我们,因为亚伦纵容他们,使以色列人在仇敌中间被讥刺,如同讥讽一个赤身行走的人,这种令人害羞的行为和真正的对 神的崇拜是毫不相干的。出埃及记34章是我们众所周知的,因为在这一章中 神对摩西显现了自己,在这一章中 神为雕刻偶像又增加了一条新命令,就是铸偶像也是不许可的。并不是 神要收紧他的命令,而是因为那些人从天性来说普遍根本就不打算遵守这条命令。
The second interesting thing that occurs is in reference to the tabernacle, because in the midst of the Most Holy Place was the golden cherubim. All other furniture in the tabernacle was designed and built to fulfil a part of the tabernacle worship-a lampstand with seven branches for lighting the tabernacle; a table to hold the shewbread; a golden altar to burn incense; a brazen alter to burn the sacrifices. However Moses is commanded to make two golden cherubim as part of the mercy seat over the ark of the covenant. 第2件有趣的事情和制造会幕有关,因为在会幕的中间是至圣所,至圣所里面有金子制作成的基路伯。会幕之中其它所有的陈设都是根据要求制作的,是敬拜仪式的一部分,例如:有照亮会幕的七个灯盏, 有摆放陈设饼的桌子,有金子做的烧香的祭坛, 还有黄铜制作的燃烧祭物的祭坛。然而 神还吩咐摩西制造两个金基路伯,作为摆放在约柜之上的施恩座的一部分。
What was the difference between these two golden forms and the idols of the nations? Answering this question may help us to better understand what God found so abhorrent with the making of idols. There are some obvious differences-the cherubim were not molten or graven, but beaten or hammered into shape; they were not a representation of God, but rather a representation of the saints when they are glorified; they were not an active part of daily worship as no one would see these cherubim except the High Priest, and that only once a year. Whenever they were carried around they were always covered. 用金子做成的基路伯和其他民族所崇拜的偶像到底有什么区别?对这个问题的回答有帮助我们更好地理解为什么 神认为制造偶像是令人讨厌的是事情。它们之间的区别是很明显的,基路伯不是雕刻成的,也不是铸造成的,而是用锤子锤成的,与其说基路伯是代表 神,还不如说是代表被荣耀充满的众圣徒,而且基路伯也不是日常生活敬拜的一部分,因为只有大祭师才能够见到它们,并且一年只有一次。
And this seems to be part of the problem with the construction of idols. Although they may have been designed to be a representation of a god, they became the object of worship. When we worship our Father, He wants us to focus on Him and His character-not a beautiful object made by man. Gideon, a faithful judge of Israel in the Judges who delivered Israel from the Midianites, made a golden ephod from the gold taken from their enemies. However, this golden ephod became an object of worship and, as is recorded, a snare to Gideon and his household. Anything that we worship or give a place of importance in our life is an idol. 这似乎只是制造偶像问题的一部分。尽管以色列人可能是想用偶像来代表 神来加以崇拜,但是这样的行为就成了对物的崇拜。当我们敬拜 神的时候, 神希望我们注意的是他自己以及他的品行,而不是关注一些很漂亮的物体。例如,在士师时代,有一个很有信心的士师名叫基甸,他曾经将以色列人从米甸人那里拯救出来,他用从敌人那里夺过来的金子制造了一件金以弗得,然而,这件金以弗得成了人们崇拜的对象,后来甚至成为基甸和他全家人的网罗(陷阱)。我们所崇拜的任何事或占住我们生活重要位置的任何事都是偶像。
However, when we come back to our Psalm, I think there is another aspect of this worship that our Psalmist refers to as being a problem: "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." (Psa 115:1-3) 让我们回到我们今天要阅读诗篇115章,另外一种的形式的崇拜也是我们要面对的问题: “耶和华啊,荣耀不要归与我们,不要归与我们;要因你的慈爱和诚实归在你的名下!为何容外邦人说:他们的神在那里呢? 然而,我们的神在天上,都随自己的意旨行事。”(诗篇115:1-3) The Psalm appears to have been written during a time of calamity for the nation of Israel. The Psalm starts by focusing on God, His glory, mercy and truth, as we have just spoken. However, it appears that God had forsaken his people because of their wickedness, causing the nations around to wonder about the power of the God of Israel. These nations would see this situation as a triumph of their gods over the God of Israel. 本章诗篇似乎是写在以色列的灾害时期,诗篇开始要人们将注意力集中在 神身上,荣耀、慈爱和诚实都要归于 神,正如刚才所说的。但是,因为百姓的邪恶,神弃绝了他的百姓,使得周围的民族对 神的力量感到怀疑,这些民族是似乎可以感觉到:他们的神可以对以色列的 神夸耀胜利。
Just before the Psalmist exposes the futility of idol worship he comments that our God has done whatever He has pleased. This really is the crux of the issue. Our God is an all-powerful God, and will do whatever He pleases. And if this meant allowing Israel to be taken into captivity by the nations around them because of their wickedness, this is what He would do. He did not need to save Israel at this time to prove His power. 在揭露崇拜偶像是毫无意义以前,诗篇的书写者也评论说: 神随自己的意旨行事。这就是问题的所在。我们的 神是全能的 神,他随自己的意旨行事,因为以色列人所做的邪恶的事情,如果他允许周围的国家攻击并且战胜以色列人,他就会这样做。 神并不需要为了显示自己的力量去拯救以色列人。
You see, the Psalmist is showing that the idol-worshippers were like their idols. They had created gods with characteristics like themselves, like the way they wanted their gods to be. Man has never liked worshipping a God who makes them follow certain moral laws and commands. So man makes himself gods and an associated religion to suit his way of life. Their gods do not have mouths, so they cannot make laws; they have no eyes as they want them to have no interest in what man is doing; they have no ears so they cannot hear the wickedness that comes from man's mouth. 你会看到,诗篇的作者告诉我们那些崇拜偶像的人也和他们所崇拜的偶像有相似性,他们所制造的假神也有和他们一样特征。 人从本性来讲从来不喜欢一个对他们提出各样道德规范和命令的神,人自己制造的神以及相应的宗教都是为了适应他们的生活方式:他们的神没有嘴巴,就不会给他们颁布法律;他们的神没有眼睛,就看不见他们作的坏事;他们的神没有耳朵,因此听不见从他们的口中说出的邪恶的话语。
In Psalm 135, a Psalm which in nearly a repeat of Psa 115, in v5-6 the Psalmist says: "For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places." Later in the same Psalm at v14 he writes: "For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants." Isaiah in his scathing chapter on Bel and Nebo, the Babylonian gods, records God's words in v9-11, "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it." 在诗篇135章几乎是诗篇115章的重复,其中5-6节中说:“原来我知道耶和华为大,也知道我们的主超乎万神之上。耶和华在天上,在地下,在海中,在一切的深处,都随自己的意旨而行。”然后在本章14节中又说:“耶和华要为他的百姓伸冤,为他的仆人後悔。”先知以赛亚在嘲笑巴比伦人所崇拜的假神的时候,在9-11节中说:“你们要追念上古的事。因为我是神,并无别神;我是神,再没有能比我的。我从起初指明末後的事,从古时言明未成的事,说:我的筹算必立定;凡我所喜悦的,我必成就。我召鸷鸟从东方来,召那成就我筹算的人从远方来。我已说出,也必成就;我已谋定,也必做成。”
God will judge His people. He is an active God and interested in the things we do in our lives. We cannot change the image of God into that of corruptible man, and beasts, as Paul tells us in the 1st chapter of Romans. Some of the pagans believed that the gods were not really interested in the affairs of man, and so they could do whatever they liked. This is the god they liked to worship. It was the idol that they made. However, the one true God is not like this. There is only one God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and the God who is in charge of all things. His words are true, and they shall come to pass. His counsel will stand and he will do whatever he pleases. 神将审判他的百姓,神是活着的 神,他关注我们的生活,保罗在罗马书第1章中说,我们不能够将不能朽坏之神的荣耀变为偶像,彷佛必朽坏的人和飞禽、走兽、昆虫的样式。有一些不信仰真正的 神的人,他们相信那些假神,这些假神并不干涉他们的生活,因此他们可以做自己喜欢的事情。这也是这些人喜欢崇拜的假 神的原因。因为只有一位 神,就是天地万物的创造者,是他在掌管万事,他的话是信实的,是真理,也一定会实现,因为“耶和华的筹算永远立定;”我们的 神随自己的意旨行事。
This morning we come to remember His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was God's only begotten Son. He was able to say, "He that has seen me, has seen the Father." (John 14:9). The writer to Hebrews tells us that Jesus was the brightness of God's glory, the express image of His person, or essence. Jesus was God's image on earth-not a dumb idol, but a living image, who went around acting just like his Father in heaven. Here was an image that spoke, that saw, that heard just like his Father; who had mercy and compassion on the weak. The principles and commandments that he left for us to obey were the same principles and commandments that God had given him to live by. We cannot change Jesus and his message to something that we feel more comfortable with. 今天早上我们来纪念 神的儿子,主耶稣基督。他是 神的独生子,只有他能够说:“人看见了我,就是看见了父;”(约翰福音14:9)。希伯来书的书写者也告诉我们基督是 神的荣耀,耶稣是 神在地上的形像,不是那种又聋又哑的偶像,而是活着的形像,他的行为就像他的父亲在天上做的那样。他是像 神一样能够听,能够说,也能够看的 神的形像,他也像他的父那样对软弱的人有恩慈和怜悯,他给我们的命令就是他的父所赐给他的命令,我们不能够将耶稣基督和他所传的道按照我们感到舒服的方式加以更改。
And that is why we meet each week to remember him and to examine ourselves to see how we measure up with his example, knowing we fall far short. It is why we read our Bible regularly to keep our understanding of God and His Son accurate, so that we are not corrupted by the deceitfulness of sin. Without this we will develop in our own minds an inaccurate picture of Christ, an image that is not true but one that has been fashioned by the graving tools of our sinful minds. And then we will be no better than those foolish idol-worshippers, who change the image of the Creator into that of corruptible man, excusing their sins, rather than honestly confessing them and asking for forgiveness. 这就是我们每个星期聚集在一起的原因,我们要省查自己,以耶稣基督的榜样为尺子来度量自己,我们就知道了我们的缺点和短处。所以我们需要经常地阅读圣经,更加准确地认识 神和他的独生子,这样我们就不会受到罪的欺诈而灭亡。没有这些知识,我们就会按照自己的想法为自己勾画出耶稣基督的画像,这幅画像是不准却的,因为它是按照我们有犯罪趋向的思考方式来形成的,我们并不比那些愚蠢的拜偶像者要好多少,
All of us need to change to be like God and His Son-we need to be moulded and beaten into shape. Then when our Lord returns we will have our vile bodies changed-fashioned or graven like unto Jesus' glorious body. As we now eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of him let us strive to follow his example and so render acceptable worship to the only true God, his Father and ours. 我们所需要的改变就是要变得像 神和他的儿子,我们需要照着一个模子千锤百炼才能够成型。当我们的主回来的时候,他就会将我们的属地的形体变成和他一样荣耀的身体。当我们在掰饼喝葡萄汁纪念耶稣的时候,让我们尽力跟随他的榜样,使我们的敬拜能够被唯一的真神,也就是主耶稣基督的父,也是我们的父所接纳。