不可挪移地界

箴言22:28  你先祖所立的地界,你不可挪移。

閱讀經文:箴言 22:26-29

26 不要與人擊掌,不要為欠債的作保。 27 你若沒有什麼償還,何必使人奪去你睡臥的床呢? 28 你先祖所立的地界,你不可挪移。 29 你看見辦事殷勤的人嗎?他必站在君王面前,必不站在下賤人面前。

第26-27節:不要與人擊掌,不要為欠債的作保。 你若沒有什麼償還,何必使人奪去你睡臥的床呢?

這句經文不是教我們不要幫別人忙,甚至不是就字面上真的不替人作保,而是要知道你不是上帝,你不能保人;你是什麼人?你能保證他怎麼樣、怎麼樣?我們沒有這能力。還是要幫助人,但要知道你根本不能保證人,連自己說話能不能辦到都不能保證。不能保證,就現實來講,為人作保,有時最後就破產、床就被人奪去。是不是神在提醒我們:你以為你是神?結果你連受造物的身份都沒有了。就像天使要作惡、要跟神一樣的話,就連原來天使的身份都沒有了。要明白自己的有限,知人知面不知心,不要為了面子,不自量力。

Does God Judge People?

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 2:1-11.  Let’s go!
 
Romans 2:1 (NIV)
1  You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
 
On verse 1:  The fact that the word “therefore” (“dio” in Greek) connects what Paul wrote in Romans 1:18-32 with what he is saying in Romans is important.  For it seems that some members of the church in Rome were judging the unbelievers in Rome for the sinful ways they were living (which are described in Romans 1:18-32) while they themselves were hypocritically engaging in the same or similar sins.  So Paul on one hand affirms that the sins described in Romans 1:18-32 are a problem and on the other hand tells the Christians in Rome not to be hypocrites and to be careful not to pass judgment when they themselves are guilty of at least some of the sins listed in Romans 1:18-32. 
 
This could have been Paul’s gentle and clever way of rebuking the Christians in Rome for certain sinful tendencies of theirs.  Instead of rebuking them directly from the beginning, he stands on their side and agrees that the sins listed in Romans 1:18-32 are things that do not please God but then in Romans 2 Paul turns around and says to the Christians in Rome, “Don’t be so quick to judge others if you yourselves are also guilty of the same or similar things.”
 

不要陷在網羅裡

箴言22:25   恐怕你效法他的行為,自己就陷在網羅裡。

閱讀經文:箴言 22:22-25

22貧窮人,你不可因他貧窮就搶奪他的物,也不可在城門口欺壓困苦人。23因耶和華必為他辨屈,搶奪他的,耶和華必奪取那人的命。24好生氣的人,不可與他結交;暴怒的人,不可與他來往。25恐怕你效法他的行為,自己就陷在網羅裡。

第22-23節:貧窮人,你不可因他貧窮就搶奪他的物,也不可在城門口欺壓困苦人。因耶和華必為他辨屈,搶奪他的,耶和華必奪取那人的命。

好奇怪,貧窮人,不可因他貧窮就搶奪他的物。這話很不通,要搶奪應該是搶富裕的,或他東西多的才奪,貧窮的人兩個理由我們不應該搶奪:第一個,他已經沒有東西了,搶什麼?第二個,因為他沒有東西所以他很可憐,為什麼要搶他?可是這話真的顯出我們人這種杮子撿軟的捏的懦弱個性。這個世界上的罪,常常就是壓制窮乏、欺負那些更軟弱的人;讓弱者越弱、貧者越貧。

「城門口」就是斷定事情的地方,等於就是法院,你不可以在那種斷定事情的地方欺壓困苦的人。你不可以,但我們會這樣做;我們真是很懦弱也很卑鄙。實在很少人像羅賓漢一樣專門搶有錢人、劫富濟貧(當然劫富也不對),都是做了最卑鄙、最不應該的欺負貧窮的人。你說我沒有欺負貧窮的人,但我想整個世界就是這樣,不一定在貧窮的事上,譬如說在一個團體裡面,一群新來的朋友、迎新會之類,一定都是掌聲最多的人繼續得到掌聲;一個漂亮的女孩子身邊總是蒼蠅多,可能一個比較醜的人需要多一點安慰,就沒有人理他。對不起我用這例子,我想其他也是一樣,就是錦上添花大家都會做,雪中送炭就比較不會做,我們的個性是這樣。求神幫助我們做得恰如其份(聖經也沒有說貧窮人就是有理:在審判的時候不可偏袒貧窮人)。

Worship God and Not Created Things

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 1:24-32.  Let’s go!

Romans 1:24-32 (NIV)
24  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen.
26  Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28  Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
29  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
30  slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
31  they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32  Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

On verses 24-32:  Have you ever been ripped off?  Have you ever exchanged something incredibly valuable for something that turned out to have little or no value?

How to Know that God Exists

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 1:18-23.  Let’s go!

Romans 1:18-20 (NIV)
18  The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
19  since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
 
On verses 18-20:  What can we learn from these verses?  First, it’s that God is holy, completely just and morally perfect, so much so that God’s wrath goes out against anything that is godless, unjust or evil.  God could not be loving or just if He didn’t have wrath toward what is unloving or unjust.
 
Second, it’s that God has not been hiding Himself but has made His invisible qualities – such as His eternal power and divine nature – known through the visible universe.  In other words, when you observe the universe (“what has been made”), it is reasonable to conclude that the best explanation for it all is that an all-powerful, eternal God who exists outside of time and space caused it to come into being.

知道真言的實理

箴言22:21   要使你知道真言的實理,你好將真言回覆那打發你來的人。

閱讀經文:箴言 22:20-21

20謀略和知識的美事,我豈沒有寫給你嗎?21要使你知道真言的實理,你好將真言回覆那打發你來的人。

第20節:“謀略和知識的美事,我豈沒有寫給你嗎?”新譯本:我不是曾經給你們寫下(或譯:「我不是給你們寫了三十條」)有關謀略和知識的事嗎?

謀略和知識的美事,英文譯為excellent things in counsels and knowledge;換句話說,所羅門王曾為後人寫下了卅條(thirty sterling principles)純正的原則,他的目的是想讓後人明白,這些純正的原則都是很實用的真理(v.21)。

第21節:要使你知道真言的實理,你好將真言回覆那打發你來的人。

“回覆那打發你來的人”,英文可譯為 will keep you accountable to those who sent you,也就是對那派你來的人負責。

誰是這本書的受信者呢?在前面的章節裡,所羅門王經常提到“我兒”。他有妃七百,都是公主,還有嬪三百(王上11:3),有多少兒子,卻沒有記錄。但是〈箴言〉這本書卻成了後人稱謂的智慧書信,不僅是給他兒子們看,也是給眾人看,以增加智慧的一本書。

那麼,誰是打發我們來的人,以至於我們需要對他負責呢?除了賜給人生命氣息的神,有誰能打發每一個人?是否要我們去尋求智慧,以得到真言來回應神差我們來世上的目的?

全然倚靠神

箴言22:19   我今日以此特特指教你,為要使你倚靠耶和華。

閱讀經文:箴言 22:16-19

16欺壓貧窮為要利己的,並送禮於富戶的,都必缺乏。17你須側耳聽受智慧人的言語,留心領會我的知識。18你若心中存記,嘴上咬定,這便為美。19我今日以此特特指教你,為要使你倚靠耶和華。

第16節:欺壓貧窮為要利己的,並送禮與富戶的,都必缺乏。

這又是:神叫有智慧的中了自己的詭計,惡人所編的網羅自己掉在其中。

「欺壓貧窮」目的就是要自己豐富起來(利己就是要自己豐富),「送禮與富戶」也是希望得到更大的好處。當然沒有什麼利圖他人的事,這世界上沒有這麼偉大的人;真的利圖他人,最後都是利圖自己。然後這種送紅包利圖自己,到最後還是缺乏,不管他在世上可不可能得到一時的風光。

The Power of God for All of Us

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 1:8-17.  Let’s go!
 
Romans 1:8 (NIV)
8  First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.
 
On verse 8:  I love how Paul always begins his letters with thanks.  That’s such a great to live life and to do relationships.  Always begin with an attitude of gratitude.
 
Romans 1:9-10 (NIV)
9  God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you
10  in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
 
On verses 9-10:  Paul had never met the Christians in Rome before, but his heart went out to them and he would pray for them often.  A great way to love people when you can’t be with them is to pray for them.

It’s All Through Jesus and For Jesus

Hi GAMErs!

Today we begin our study of the book of Romans.  Romans is a letter written by the apostle Paul in approximately 56 A.D. probably while Paul was on his third missionary journey and probably while he was staying in Corinth, a city in Greece (see Acts 20:2-3).  Because Paul’s goal had always been to preach the Gospel in places where Christ was not yet known (Romans 15:20), Paul had his heart set on going to Spain and saw Rome as a critical stopover on his way to Spain.   So Paul writes this letter to the Christians in Rome, whom he had never met, as a way to introduce himself before he went to visit them personally.  In particular, Paul attempts to give a clear and thorough statement of the gospel as Paul understood it, especially since his message had been misunderstood and misrepresented by some in the past.  Perhaps for this reason Romans is the longest of all of Paul’s letters.

你交了桃花運嗎?

箴言22:13 懶惰人說:「外頭有獅子,我在街上就必被殺!」

閱讀經文:箴言 22:13-15

13 懶惰人說:「外頭有獅子,我在街上就必被殺!」14淫婦的口為深坑,耶和華所憎惡的必陷在其中。15愚蒙迷住孩童的心,用管教的杖可以遠遠趕除。

第13節:懶惰人說:「外頭有獅子,我在街上就必被殺!」

這句經文很幽默:懶惰,不想工作,就說外面有獅子。獅子是困難,是麻煩,是災難,也是藉口。我們換句話來講也是,如果要勤快,是會有獅子、是會有難處,但靠著主,我們可以作一個勤快的人殺掉這獅子,而不是被獅子吃掉。