作者Revd Dr Samuel Wells 聖馬田堂主任牧師 《民數記》第 11 章中,我們看到迷失在曠野中的以色列人,懷念過去日子,渴望得到美食。 上帝每天賜下嗎哪給他們充飢,但他們厭倦了嗎哪。他們忘記了以前被奴役的生活、殘酷和恐懼;卻說 “記得住在埃及時!我們有肉、魚、黃瓜、瓜類、韭菜、洋葱和大蒜。”換句話説,肉類、蔬菜、調味料、開胃菜、甜點——凡是你能想到的都有。他們被身體的渴望、自憐和貪婪所困擾, 被這些東西壓倒並迷失了旅程的方向,。神生氣了。 。渴望、自憐和貪婪,表示了他們已忘記了自己從何而來,忘恩負義地忘記了上帝為他們所做的一切,而且目光短淺,不願承擔被召時本來的使命。 摩西也很生氣,但原因不同。摩西在壓力下崩潰了。他被責任、民眾埋怨、失望、失敗、過度勞累和缺乏鼓勵所壓垮。你可以説他正處於一個小型的自我放逐之中。人們對他的要求很高——但他並不責怪人們;他責怪上帝,耍出大牌脾氣,對上帝説:“甚麼以色列、聖約和曠野,我都受夠了,你現在就應該殺了我。”你可以想像他要奪門而出並大力關門的聲音。 神以非常實際的方式迴應。我們不禁好奇,為什麼摩西認為世界上一切美好的事物都必須通過他實現?摩西要知道,事情不能兩全其美。如果認為自己是不可或缺的就不應該抱怨辛苦。 神任命了70位長老,並像摩西一樣被聖靈充滿。然後,在最後一幕中,我們看到摩西已經吸取了教訓。 約書亞抱怨説,有兩個人在聖靈降臨到的 70 個人之外,卻擔任長老。摩西認識到,擁有主權的是神,而不是他,神可以通過這些其他人工作,就像通過正式的長老一樣,他,摩西,已得到他能得到的一切幫助。 。在本章中,他經歷了一段學習謙虛的不凡旅程,最終展現出了一種更加可持續、更具協調性的領導力。 這是一個關於人性、幽默、傲慢和謙遜的精彩生動的故事。但它却給了正在給流亡中的以色列一些簡單明瞭的教訓。今日,我們正式推行新的社區事工和宣教模式,在這個令人振奮的重要日子裏,我建議我們大家牢記這些教訓。 第一課是,要打持久戰——培養美好的回憶,以免你因身體的迫切渴望和自我中心而忽視對上帝的感激、信心和希望。我們可能不會立即把事情都做好,但要對彼此和自己有耐心,並關注上帝在我們中間做的事情。 第二個教訓是,要放眼全局——不要太執着於認為自己是不可或缺的或非常重要,以至於認為一切都必須親力親為,以為上帝救恩只能通過你來實現。該時常感謝上帝帶領我們踏上新的征途,並且賜給我們夥伴,在旅程中同心同行。 第三課是,讓上帝使你成為團隊的一員——認識同工、朋友和合作夥伴的恩賜,並享受一同服務上帝的團契。這是一句陳詞濫調,卻是千真萬確的:只有團隊、沒有自我。只要您不介意功勞歸誰,你們同工可取得的成就是無可限量的。 第四個教訓是,不要把你的信仰和你的信仰社群變成你自己的帝國。這社群的主角不是你。神會按照他的選擇推進衪的工作。神如何説話以及神通過誰説話並不取決於你。讓上帝照顧你,而你則好好照顧其他人。 這些是以色列人在本章中學到的四個曠野教訓。這是以色列在多年後從流亡歸來時最終學懂珍視的四個教訓。這是基督教信仰核心的四個教訓。第一課,宏觀的故事,我們稱之為聖經。第二課,故事的真正中心,我們稱之為耶穌。第三課,我們在這一切中並不孤單,這團契我們稱之為教會。第四課,神不斷給我們帶來驚喜的方式,我們稱之為天國。我們今天讀民數記,因為它向我們展示了信仰的核心。 我們今時今日在此地方作神的教會,所需一切盡在這章聖經之中。 In Numbers chapter 11 we find the children of Israel, lost in the wilderness, have given in to nostalgia for bygone days and craving for tasty food. God has given them a daily supply of manna to meet them in their hunger. But they’re bored of manna. ‘Remember Egypt!’ they say, forgetting the slavery and cruelty and fear; ‘we had meat, fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.’ In other words, meat, vegetables, seasoning, starters, dessert – you name it. They’re gripped by bodily craving, self-pity, and greed: the kinds of things that overcome you on a journey where you’ve lost sight of where you’re going. God gets angry. Craving, self-pity and greed indicate forgetfulness of where they’d come from, ingratitude for what God had done for them, and small-mindedness about what their calling was to be.
Moses is also cross, but for a different reason. Moses is snapping under the pressure. He’s overwhelmed by responsibility, unpopularity, disappointment, failure, overwork, and lack of encouragement. You could say he’s in a mini-exile all of his own. The people are being highly demanding – but he doesn’t blame them; he blames God. He’s quite the prima donna, saying to God, ‘I’m about done with the whole Israel, covenant and wilderness deal, and you should just kill me right now.’ You can see the flouncing out and hear the slamming door. God responds in a very practical way. Why, one wonders, does Moses think everything good in the world has to come through him? Moses can’t have it both ways. If you regard yourself as indispensable, you don’t get to complain of burnout. God appoints 70 elders and fills them with the Holy Spirit like Moses. And then, in the final scene, we see that Moses has learnt his lesson. Joshua comes complaining that there are two people operating as elders when they weren’t among the 70 on whom the Spirit descended. Moses recognises that God, not he, is sovereign, that God can work through these other people just as well as through the official elders, and that he, Moses, needs all the help he can get. He makes quite a journey of humility in this chapter and comes out with a much more sustainable, collaborative kind of leadership. It’s a wonderfully vivid story of humanity, humour, hubris and humility. But it’s teaching Israel in exile some straightforward and unmistakable lessons. And it’s these lessons I suggest we all take to heart on this momentous and exciting day when we launch a new model of ministry and mission in our community. Lesson One is, play the long game – foster good memories lest your urgent bodily cravings and self-absorption make you lose sight of gratitude, faith and hope towards God. We’re probably not going to get all of this right straightaway, have patience with one another and yourself, and be attentive to what God will do among us. Lesson Two is, keep a sense of perspective – don’t get so caught up with your own indispensability and self-importance that you assume you have to do everything yourself and salvation can only come through you. Be grateful for the new adventure God is taking us on and for the companions God has given us on this journey. Lesson Three is, let God make you part of a team – recognise the gift of colleagues, friends and partners and enjoy the fellowship of sharing God’s service. It’s a cliché, but a true one: there’s no ‘I’ in team. There’s no limit to what you can achieve together so long as you don’t mind who gets the credit. Lesson Four is, don’t turn your faith and your faith community into you own empire. It’s not about you. God will advance God’s work as God chooses. It’s not up to you how God speaks and who God speaks through. Let God look after you while you look after everyone else. Those are the four wilderness lessons Israel learns in this chapter. Those are four of the lessons that eventually Israel held dear on its return from exile some years later. And those are four lessons at the heart of the Christian faith. Lesson One, the bigger story, we call scripture. Lesson Two, the true centre of the story, we call Jesus. Lesson Three, the sense that we’re not alone in all this, we call church. And Lesson Four, the way God continues to surprise us, we call kingdom. We read the book of Numbers today because it shows us the heart of our faith. And it gives everything we need to be God’s church in this place today.
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