於2009-03-24發佈

這杯:靈性成熟在於深飲基督的杯 -向野心死  

讓我們在這裡等候真實的屬靈實現,而不是努力為自己創造一個位置,乃是放下自己的生命來為耶穌創造一個位置。
領導是一個向己死的呼召;屬靈實現在於深飲基督的杯。
  

當我剛信主時,主給了我一個與我未來有關的夢。當時我以為主所說的每一件事應該很快就會發生,我並不明白預備與向己死的功課,還有經由考驗來學習忍耐並持守異象,這都要在 神應許成就前先發生。因此,我裡面充滿野心。野心是靈性不成熟的人所興起的首要動機;我就像耶穌的門徒,耶穌才復活沒幾天就已經問主說:『主啊,祢復興以色列國就在這時候嗎﹖』(使徒行傳1:6)

野心是非常迷惑人的,它可以看起來很像是順服,但因為我們不真的認識主,我們發現我們所順服的聲音並不是主的,而是我們自己的聲音。我們的異象可能真的來自於 神,但我們的動機卻是自己。因此,雅各告訴我們在何處有野心,很快會產生『擾亂和各樣的壞事』(雅各書3:16)。為什麼呢?因為我們開始以為自己能透過人的力量來完成 神的旨意,我們在尋求突破,神卻要給我們破碎

靈性不成熟的人無法認出自己的不成熟,因為他們就是不成熟,所以,他們變得沒有耐心、充滿恐懼與所求無度。由於驕傲遮蓋住野心,我們就以為自己預備好做 神更偉大的工作;事實上,因著我們的行動持續帶來紛爭,我們反而成為與我們同工之人更艱難的工作。

野心試圖讓擋在它與屬靈實現之間的事物死去,但野心本身必須先死去才能達到實現。韋氏字典告訴我們野心是『為著某種成就或卓越,如財富或名聲而有的炙熱渴望,並且願意為其奮鬥。』新美國標準版聖經將欽定版聖經中的『紛爭』翻譯成『野心』。真的,野心是產生紛爭、教會分裂與衝突的主要原因。

我以為擁有從 神而來的應許,和領受從 神而來的命令是同一件事,我並不明瞭自己所欠缺或需要獲得的品格,才能達到忠心、成為 神的僕人,並擁有一顆感恩的心。在 神真正開始成就祂對我更大應許與機會前,這些東西需要先在我裡面動工。我為 神成為什麼遠比我為祂做了什麼來得重要。

今日,我所活出來的靈性本質在卅八年前不過是一場夢而已,我的野心受了很大的苦,但我的夢想實現了。當我尚未達到我呼召的最高境界時,我瞭解到在野心與真實領導之間的不同,它在於:事奉不是呼召來領導,而是呼召來向己死。

我靈命的每一次提升都先有一個向己死的機會,我生命的能力來自我向己死之處,現在向耶穌活。你想要靈命提升嗎?邁向復活的途徑是釘十字架,神會安排你向自己死的機會,你必須察覺出來。向著自己與野心死是達到真正屬靈實現的方法,倘若你用肉體的怒氣或憎恨來回應向己死的機會,你將無法達到實現。然而,倘若你能在連野心都死去時保有你的異象,你將會成功。

基督活在我們裡面
擁有真實異象與擁有神聖動機並不一樣。一個人可以擁有直接從 神而來的異象,卻受自我提升與野心的驅使來實現它。耶穌傳講天國的福音近了,這是異象,但祂也教導:『若有人要跟從我,就當捨己,背起他的十字架來跟從我。』(馬太福音16:24)。

倘若我們要跟從耶穌,留意我們每一個人都會被給予為個人量身打造的十字架:『讓他背起他的十字架』。神擁有一個精心設計的十字架,在達成我們異象的途中釘死我們肉體的野心。

想一想約瑟:神給予他關乎未來的夢,但他並沒有安靜地思想此屬 神的經歷,他在十個哥哥面前高舉自己。他向他們保證有一天他們會像禾稼的捆一樣,在他面前下拜。約瑟不成熟的血氣在他哥哥中間激起一個屬血氣、甚至殘忍的陰謀:他們企圖殺掉他。約瑟的異象是從 神來的,但他的動機缺少品格,他的行為幾乎賠上了他的性命(參考創世記37)。

然而,神與約瑟同在,甚至在他缺少屬靈知識時。我們應當歡喜,因為 神也與我們同在,甚至當我們不成熟又充滿野心時。但我們也應當明瞭:一個真正的異象在應驗前會先殺了你。約瑟必須學習不管在什麼環境或不公義中信靠 神,他必須有耐心服事別人,直到時候成熟,他的夢才會開花結果。

耶和華的話試煉他,直等到他所說的應驗了。』(詩篇105:19)

想一想:全能 神當然可以使用比較不險惡的途徑把約瑟帶到埃及,約瑟可以不被賣為奴隸,一樣可以在家中長大成熟。既然他擁有做異夢與解夢的恩賜,聖靈可以只要給他一個夢,告訴他搬到埃及(就像祂在幾十世紀後在另一個約瑟身上所做的)。一旦平安到達,約瑟解夢的名聲就會在精準的時間傳到法老的耳朵,到了王做夢的隔天早晨,約瑟就會在對的時間被放在對的位置上。

相反地,神提早十三年把他帶到埃及,這位年輕人必須面對並克服一再向己死的經歷。他面對背叛與遺棄;他被奴役,受到性誘惑,遭誹謗並被下到監裡。他的情況何等無助?但他還要面對被遺忘的挑戰。儘管這一連串的事情,約瑟信靠 神並在智慧與屬靈正直中成長。

神不單要一個會解夢的人,祂要一個在遭到遺棄、不公義、誹謗、拒絕與背叛時能掌管他的心,不顧一切仍成為屬 神的人。

當約瑟一而再飽受心痛,他不讓苦毒來戰勝他的靈魂,他不讓創傷使他的心剛硬,或使他無法持續信靠 神。當他終於看見他兄弟時,他哭了。這些是當約瑟在坑裡向他們哭求嘲笑他的人,要是沒有商團從那邊經過,他們可以把他一個人丟在那,痛苦緩慢的死去,最後約瑟被賣給商人。約瑟可以報仇─取下他們的頭!但聖經紀錄約瑟與家人交談時,有五次轉身哭了,有一次他甚至『放聲大哭,埃及人和法老家中的人都聽見了。』(創世記45:2)

約瑟是一個有品格的人,一個野心死去、異象卻活著的人。他喝了 神給他的杯,而他的夢成真。耶穌也喝了 神給祂的杯,我們因而經歷拯救。但在我們邁向命定的路上,我們每一個人都有要喝的杯,得著權力沒有捷徑。我們將吞下所有殘餘,雖然它殺死我們,但我們反而會活。然而,活著的不再是我們,乃是基督在我們裡面活著。

領導是一個向己死的呼召
在馬太福音二十章17-19節,耶穌想要預備祂的門徒來面對即將臨到的艱難,祂警告他們很快祂會為著救贖的緣故而遭到戲弄,鞭打,釘在十字架上。就在這異常嚴肅的警告之際,難以置信地,雅各與約翰的母親竟要求耶穌來滿足她家人的野心!她說:『願祢叫我這兩個兒子在祢國裡,一個坐在祢右邊,一個坐在祢左邊。』(21節)

她想到的是晉升、位置與地位;耶穌想到的是鞭傷、戲弄與死亡。她在尋找冠冕;基督說的卻是十字架。耶穌的回應不僅使她的野心啞口無言,祂也在對我們說:『你們不知道所求的是什麼;我將要喝的杯,你們能喝嗎﹖』(22節)

令人驚奇地,他們卻對祂說:『我們能』。事實上,他們完全料想不到所要付的代價,他們想到的只有驕傲、無知與充滿野心的大話。然而,我們來聽聽看耶穌如何回應他們:『我所喝的杯,你們必要喝;只是坐在我的左右,不是我可以賜的,乃是我父為誰預備的,就賜給誰。』(23節)

聽清楚,凡是渴望真實屬靈實現的人,耶穌是在告訴他們:『我無法滿足你的野心,我只能告訴你如何死。』然而,即使他們不成熟,耶穌知道他們會勝過,祂向他們保證:『我所喝的杯,你們必要喝。』他們長大成熟就不再有出於人的野心,並且成為我們很好的典範。我們也應當喝祂的杯,耶穌接著描述那杯的成分,再一次殺死了野心的龍:

誰願為首,就必作你們的僕人。正如人子來,不是要受人的服事,乃是要服事人,並且要捨命,作多人的贖價。』(27-28節)

倘若我們與基督一同前進,想一想祂用來描述進入權力途徑的字眼:『僕人、服事、贖價』。留意祂並沒有指出獎賞,許多人卻強調此。祂向他們顯示真實復活能力的道路,將自己獻上成為『贖價』,為著你家人、教會或城市的緣故。將自己放在為他人信仰禁食、禱告的位置上,站在破口中好讓其他人活,這就是引至屬靈實現的杯。

但我向你保證,這不是一條陰暗的道路,這是通往天堂生命的道路。因為當基督住在我們裡面,祂是以一個滿溢又持久性的喜樂來到我們當中。聖經說仰望擺在祂前面的喜樂,基督就輕看羞辱,忍受了十字架的苦難(參考希伯來書12:2)。十字架釋放我們脫離自私自利的監牢,釋放我們進入神的真實,在祂的『面前有滿足的喜樂』,在祂的右手中有『永遠的福樂』(參考詩篇16:11)。

有人可能不同意說:『傅牧師,你不了解,我受到傷害了。』沒錯,我們都得面對心痛與失望,我們所經歷的痛可能很深。然而,若要為自己尋找公平,我們必須防範自憐的聲音。事實上,自憐使我們的創傷無法痊癒。我們不但無法背起十架,反而背起冒犯。我們必須斥責自憐並命令它離開;我們是基督的跟隨者!因此,忘記所有的冒犯,讓它過去。這並不是深層的真理,它不過是基督的基本道路!

保羅寫下他生命的神蹟與道德來源,他說:『…要顯明這莫大的能力是出於神,不是出於我們。…心裡作難,卻不至失望…身上常帶著耶穌的死,使耶穌的生也顯明在我們身上。』(哥林多後書4:7-10)

什麼是『耶穌的死』?就是以耶穌死的方式來向己死:當冒犯來了,當我們遇上不義,當人們背叛我們,我們把自己放在救贖的位置上;我們禱告著求 神憐憫的禱告,『天父,原諒他們。』唯一可以被實現的野心,就是倘若我們有野心讓基督藉由我們被彰顯出來。

保羅繼續說:『因為我們這活著的人是常為耶穌被交於死地,使耶穌的生在我們這必死的身上顯明出來。這樣看來,死是在我們身上發動,生卻在你們身上發動。』(哥林多後書4:11-12)

親愛的肢體,死要在我們裡面發動。這不就是我們所渴望超乎一切的事嗎:『讓耶穌的生命在我們的身上顯明出來』。

保羅說:『死是在我們身上發動』。在永恆設計者的手裡,死不是我們的敵人,它事實上成為我們靈魂轉化過程的盟友,在我們裡面做成一個工作,否則我們便無法實現,因為我們老我的死將引至耶穌的生顯明出來。

讓我們在這裡等候真實的屬靈實現,而不是努力為自己創造一個位置,乃是放下自己的生命來為耶穌創造一個位置。

領導是一個向己死的呼召;屬靈實現在於深飲基督的杯。

 

"The Cup: Spiritual Maturity is to Drink Deeply of the Cup of Christ"

The Death of Ambition

When I first came to Christ, the Lord gave me a dream about my future. I thought that everything the Lord said was supposed to occur immediately. I didn't know of the work of preparation and dying to self, of learning patience and maintaining vision through testing, that would occur before God's promise would find fulfillment. Consequently, I was filled with ambition. Ambition is the first motive that arises in the spiritually immature. I was like the disciples who, a few days after Jesus' resurrection, were already asking, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the Kingdom...?" (Acts 1:6).

Ambition is very deceptive. It can seem just like obedience, yet because we don't truly know the Lord, the voice we find ourselves obeying is not God's, but our own. Our vision can actually be from God, but our motive be self. Consequently, where there is ambition, James tells us there will soon emerge "disorder and every evil thing" (James 3:16). Why? Because we begin thinking we can accomplish the will of God through the strength of man. We are seeking a breakthrough; God wants to give us brokenness.

The spiritually immature do not recognize their immaturity because they are immature. Thus, they become impatient, fearful and demanding. Because pride blinds the ambitious, we presume we are ready for greater assignments in God. In fact, we become a harder assignment for those who work with us, for our actions continually generate strife.

Ambition seeks to put to death what stands between it and spiritual fulfillment. Yet, it is ambition itself that must die to reach fulfillment. Webster's tells us that ambition is "an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as wealth or fame, and the willingness to strive for it." The word translated "ambition" in the New American Standard is rendered "strife" in the King James. Truly, ambition is a major cause for strife, church splits and conflicts within the Church.

I thought having a promise from God was the same thing as receiving a commandment from God. I did not understand what I personally lacked in character or what I needed to attain concerning faithfulness, becoming a bond-servant, and possessing a grateful heart. These things needed to be worked in me before God would truly begin to fulfill His larger promises and opportunities. What I became for God was more important than what I did for Him.

Today, I am living in the spiritual substance of what was just a dream thirty-eight years ago. My ambitions have suffered greatly, yet my dreams are being fulfilled. While I have not yet arrived at the greatest aspects of my calling, I understand the difference between ambition and true leadership and it is this: Ministry is not a call to lead, but to die.

Every advance that I have made spiritually was preceded by an opportunity to die to self. The power in my life comes from where I have died to self and now live unto Christ.

Do you want to advance spiritually? The gateway to resurrection power is crucifixion. God will arrange opportunities for you to die to self. You must discern them. Dying to self and its ambition is the means of reaching true spiritual fulfillment. If you react to the opportunity to die with fleshly anger or resentment, you will fail to reach fulfillment. However, if you can maintain your vision even while your ambition dies, you will succeed.

Christ Living in Us
Having a true vision is not the same thing as having a godly motive. A person could have a vision directly from God, yet be driven by self-promotion and ambition in seeking to fulfill it. Jesus preached that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. This is vision. But He also taught: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross..." (Matthew 16:24).

If we will follow Jesus, notice we each have been given our own unique cross: "let him take up his cross." God has a cross specifically designed to crucify our fleshly ambitions en route to reaching our vision.

Consider Joseph: God had given him a dream of his future, but rather than quietly ponder the divine experience, he exalted himself to his ten older brothers. He assured them that one day they would each bow, like stacks of wheat, in subservience before him. His fleshly immaturity awakened a fleshly, even diabolical plot among his brothers: they sought to kill him. Joseph's vision was from God, but his motives lacked character, and his actions nearly cost him his life (see Genesis 37).

Yet, God was with Joseph, even in his lack of spiritual knowledge. And we should rejoice, for God is with us as well, even in our immaturity and ambition. Yet we should also understand: A true vision will kill you before it will fulfill you. Joseph had to learn to trust God in whatever circumstance or injustice he found himself; he had to become patient, serving others until the time arrived when his dream bloomed into reality.

"Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him."—Psalm 105:19

Consider: the Almighty could have certainly brought Joseph to Egypt by a less threatening route. Joseph could have grown to maturity among his family without being sold into slavery. Since he was given the gift of dreams and interpretation, the Holy Spirit could have simply given him a dream and told him to move to Egypt (as He did another Joseph centuries later). Once safely there, Joseph's fame at dream interpretation would have reached the ears of Pharaoh at precisely the right time, say the morning after the king's night of ominous dreams. Joseph, the "dream merchant," would have been positioned in the right place at exactly the right time.

Instead, God brought him to Egypt thirteen years earlier than needed. The young man had to face and overcome repeated experiences with dying inwardly to self. He faced betrayal and abandonment; he was enslaved, tempted sexually, slandered and imprisoned. How hopeless could his situation be? Yet, he then faced the challenges of being forgotten. In spite of all these things, Joseph trusted God and grew in both wisdom and spiritual integrity.

God didn't merely want a man to interpret dreams, but a man who could rule his heart when it suffered abandonment, injustice, slander and rejection and betrayal, and still remain the man of God regardless.

Joseph kept his heart free from the bitterness that overwhelms the soul when one suffers repeated heartache. Yet, Joseph never let his wounding cause his heart to harden or keep him from trusting God. He was a man who wept when he finally saw his brothers. These were the men who laughed while he cried to them from the pit, then would have left him to die a long, agonizingly slow death had not a caravan passed by and Joseph been sold to traders. Joseph could have had his revenge - off with their heads! But the Scriptures record that five times Joseph turned away and wept in the discourses with his family; once he "wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it" (Genesis 45:2).

Joseph was a man of character, a man whose ambitions died but whose vision lived. He drank the cup given him by God, and his dream became a reality. Jesus drank the cup given Him, and we experienced salvation. But each of us has a cup to drink en route to our destiny. There will be no shortcuts to power. We will swallow the full dregs, and though it kills us, we shall live. Yet, it shall not be us, but Christ living in us.

Leadership is a Call to Die
In Matthew 20:17-19, Jesus sought to prepare His disciples for the hardships that awaited them. He warned that a time was coming when He would be mocked, scourged and crucified for the sake of redemption. In the midst of this utterly sober warning, incredibly, the mother of James and John requested of Jesus fulfillment of her family's ambitions! She said, "Command that in Your Kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left" (verse 21).

She's thinking advancement, position and place; Jesus is thinking scourging, mocking and death. She's looking for the crown; Christ spoke of the Cross. Jesus' answer speaks not only to silence her ambitions, He speaks to ours as well: "You do not know what you are asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" (verse 22).

Amazingly, they said to Him, "We are able." In truth, they hadn't any idea of the price that was to be paid. It was only pride, ignorance and ambition talking. Yet, listen to how Jesus answered them: "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father" (verse 23).

Hear this, you who desire true spiritual fulfillment. Jesus was telling them, I cannot fulfill your ambitions. I can only show you how to die. Yet, even in their immaturity, Jesus knew they would overcome. He assures them, "My cup you shall drink." They would outgrow human ambition and become great examples for us. And we too shall drink His cup. Jesus describes the elements of that cup as He continued, again slaying the dragon of ambition:

"Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many" (verses 27-28).

If we will advance with Christ, consider the words He uses to describe the doorway into power: "slave...serve...ransom." Notice He didn't point out the rewards, which are many; He showed them the way to true resurrection power. Give yourself as "a ransom" for the sake of your family, your church or city. Position yourself in prayer, fasting and faith for others. Stand in the gap so others might live. This is the cup that leads to spiritual fulfillment.

But let me assure you, this is not a gloomy path; this is the path to the life of Heaven. For when Christ lives in us, He comes with an overwhelming, sustaining joy. The Scripture says that looking at the joy set before Him, Christ endured the Cross (see Hebrews 12:2). The Cross delivers us from the prison of self-absorption; it releases us into the true reality of God, in whose "presence is fullness of joy" and in whose right hand are "pleasures forever" (Psalm 16:11).

One may argue, "You don't understand, Francis, I've been hurt." Yes, we all face heartache and disappointment, and the pains we experience can be deep. Yet, in seeking justice for ourselves, we must guard against the voice of self-pity. Indeed, self-pity keeps all our wounds alive. Instead of carrying the cross, we carry the offense. We must rebuke self-pity and command it to leave. We are followers of Christ! Therefore, forgive the offense and let it go. This is not a deep truth; it is the basic path of Christ!

Paul wrote of the source of miracles and virtue in his life. He said, "...that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted...but not crushed...always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus might be manifested in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).

What is this "dying of Jesus"? It is dying in the manner Jesus died: when offenses come, when we are struck with injustice, when people fail or even betray us, we position ourselves in redemption; we pray the mercy prayer, "Father, forgive them." The only way ambition can be fulfilled is if we are ambitious for Christ to be revealed through us.

Paul continued, "For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you" (2 Corinthians 4:11-12).

Beloved, death has a work that it accomplishes in us. Is this not exactly what we desire above all things: "the life of Jesus...manifested in our mortal flesh"?

Paul says, "So death works in us." In the hands of our eternal Designer, death is not our enemy; it actually becomes an ally in the transformational process of our souls. It performs a work in us we cannot otherwise fulfill. For the death of our old self leads to the manifest life of Jesus.

Here abides true spiritual fulfillment, not in our striving to create a place for ourselves, but in laying down self to create a place for Jesus.

Leadership is a call to die. Spiritual maturity is to drink deeply of the cup of Christ.

Francis Frangipane
Ministries of Francis Frangipane