作者Revd Dr Samuel Wells 聖馬田堂主任牧師 很多神學家,其中最著名的約翰·加爾文,認為耶穌的事工是根植於舊約中數個顯著的角色。他們指出,以色列是被先知、祭司和君王帶領走向神。因此,耶穌既是先知(尤其透過他的生活中),也是祭司(尤其透過他的死亡),還是君王(尤其透過他的復活)。我想從這三個角色的角度來看保羅在雅典的作為。我想區分這三種宣教的方式——我將稱之為先知式宣教、祭司式宣教和君王式宣教。 讓我們從先知式宣教開始。先知式宣教意味著將個人或機構正面對的境況,放置於上帝的故事之中。這意味著,記住所有人都是按照上帝的形象而造,而且上帝呼召我們進入立約的關係,透過耶穌顯示自己,最終將公義如同滾滾不竭的流水而至,結束故事。先知呼召人們根據上帝這個獨特的故事來定位,他們在世上的身份,心態更新而變化,改變他們的行為。先知知道,如果我們不先成為更好的人,我們就無法讓世界變得更美好。因此,在每一個呼籲結束死刑刑罰,或改善工廠工人待遇,或改變我們國家外交政策的背後,都存在著一個轉化悔改的呼召——呼籲掌權者改變他們的方向以及生活方式,走向上帝。這就是保羅在雅典所做的事情。 先知式宣教主要面向教會以外的人。但第二種方式,祭司式宣教,主要是面向教會以內的人。祭司式宣教旨在塑造一種基督徒個人和群體共同的生活模式,一種模仿基督生命的生活模式。這種生活模式希望能啟發任何接觸到它的人的想像力。祭司式宣教意識到光說空話是不夠的,必須有與之相符的行動。聖方濟各曾著名地說過:“無論何時何地,傳揚福音:如果必要,使用言語。”教會群體努力成為能夠類比天國的喻體,吸引陌生人甚至敵人,能夠對基督徒心中所懷的盼望感到驚訝。但祭司式宣教不僅僅限於教會群體。通過扎根於社區、致力於無私服侍的生活,教會群體開始能夠與超越信仰和其他障礙,和其他群體建立合作夥伴關係,追求人民和城市的福祉並向他人學習通往和平的道路。 因此,祭司式和先知式宣教並不是對立的選擇,而是相互配合。祭司式宣教致力於為先知式宣教提供具體的示範,展示上帝的恩典能做到什麼。先知式宣教則致力於接觸那些祭司式宣教,通常比較內斂的宣教方式,難以接觸的人群。祭司使先知不再尖刻,先知使祭司不再自滿。 第三種福音傳播方式是君王式宣教。在整個教會歷史上,特別是自第四世紀以來,教會一直自覺地或被放在統治的地位,在社會秩序中扮演重要或主導的角色。這個地位是吸引的,因為這個位置似乎是最能夠帶領人走向上帝道路,最大程度體現上帝的生命的最佳觀察點。教會甚少能夠抵擋統治的誘惑,但其影響無一例外是災難性的。 君王式宣教是基督徒強制要求不信仰基督,並且不願意接受基督的人,遵從他們認為的基督教規範的行為。當原本應該是一種提議、鼓勵和禮物的東西變成了期望、假定和要求時,這就屬於君王式宣教。如果他們所強加的規範是愛、喜悅、和平、忍耐、仁慈等等,那就不會構成嚴重的問題了,但我們都知道情況從來都不是這樣。歷史上提供了一長串的例子,以基督教的名義,那些擁有權力的人推動了明顯缺乏善良、忠信、溫和和自制力的社會議程。 這樣做的問題在於它對教會造成了嚴重的損害。它使人對教會視而不見,因為教會成為只是推動特定社會框架的機器。它大大貶低祭司式和先知式福音的價值,因為那些不願意或者無能為力接受基督在上帝裏面喜樂的人,一旦覺得任何福音都是統治階層控制社會的機器時,就停止接受任何形式的福音。 所以,在雅典,保羅展示了傳福音的三種方式之一。在聖馬田教堂,我們優先考慮祭司式宣教,因為我們努力培養一個與上帝國度相似的社區。這創造了先知式宣教的機會,亦都是我們嘗試努力抓緊的機會。但我們必須時刻警醒提防君王式宣教的誘惑,不僅因為它會使基督教受到貶低,而且還會傷害到教會本身。 Many theologians, most famously John Calvin, have seen Jesus’ ministry as rooted in identifiable Old Testament roles. They point out that Israel was led to God by prophets, priests and kings. Thus Jesus was a prophet (especially in his life) a priest (especially in his death) and a king (especially in his resurrection). I want to look at what Paul is doing in Athens through the lens of these three offices. I want to distinguish between three kinds of evangelism – what I’m going to call prophetic evangelism, priestly evangelism and kingly evangelism.
Let’s start with prophetic evangelism. Prophetic is means placing an individual, and institution or a situation in the light of God’s story. That means recalling that all people are made in God’s image, that God has called us into a covenant relationship, has been revealed in Jesus and will finally end the story by rolling righteousness down like a never failing stream. The prophet calls people to locate their identity and transform their conduct in accordance with this unique story. The prophet knows that we can’t become a better world without us needing to become better people. Thus behind every plea to end the death penalty or to improve treatment for factory workers or change our nation’s foreign policy lies a call to conversion – a call for those in authority to turn from their ways and live. This is what Paul is doing in Athens. Prophetic evangelism speaks primarily to those outside the church. But the second approach, priestly evangelism, principally addresses those inside the church. It seeks to shape a personal and communal life that imitates the pattern of Christ’s work. Such a form of life hopes to thrill the imagination of any who might come into contact with it. Priestly evangelism realizes that words are not enough. There must be actions to match. St Francis famously said “Preach the gospel at all times: use words if you have to.” Congregations aspire to become parables of the kingdom, which draw strangers and even enemies to wonder at the hope that is in these people’s hearts. But priestly evangelism is not restricted to the congregation. By being rooted in neighborhoods and committed to unselfconscious lives of service, congregations come to form partnerships across faith and other barriers to seek the welfare of the city and to learn from others the paths that lead to peace.” So priestly and prophetic evangelism aren’t alternatives. They work together. Priestly evangelism is concerned with giving prophetic evangelism something to point to, with providing a kind of exhibit A to demonstrate what the grace of God can do. Prophetic evangelism is concerned to engage the kinds of people priestly evangelism is often too timid or self-effacing to talk to. The priestly makes the prophetic less strident; the prophetic makes the priestly less complacent. The third kind of evangelism is kingly evangelism. For most of church history, certainly since the fourth century, the church has perceived or been offered the prospect of rule, a significant or dominant role in the ordering of society. Such a prospect has always been tempting, because it seems such an ideal vantage point from which to point to God’s ways to maximum effect and embody God’s life to maximum extent. The prospect of rule has so often been so tempting to the church that it has seldom been resisted. But its effects have invariably been a disaster. Kingly evangelism is when Christians enforce conformity to what they perceive as Christian norms from people who are not Christians and have no desire to be. It’s when what should be an offer, an encouragement, a gift, becomes an expectation, an assumption, a requirement. If the norms they were imposing were love, joy peace, patience, kindness and so on it wouldn’t be a serious problem but we all know it’s never been like that. Instead history provides a litany of examples of how in the name of Christianity those with power have driven through social agendas that were distinctly lacking in goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. What’s wrong with this is that it’s deeply damaging for the church. It makes the church invisible, because the church becomes simply a means to the end of a society pressed into a certain kind of social straitjacket. It discredits priestly and prophetic evangelism, because those who can’t or won’t embrace the joy of God in Christ stop listening to any kind of evangelism once they get a sniff that it’s really a mechanism for social control. So in Athens Paul is modelling one of three kinds of evangelism. At St Martin’s we prioritise priestly evangelism, because we’re trying to cultivate a community that resembles the kingdom of God. That creates opportunities for prophetic evangelism, which we try to take. But we must always be careful of the temptation of kingly evangelism, not just because it discredits Christianity, but because it damages the church.
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