於2015-09-11發佈

最棒的基督徒生命34

相信祂的審判

最棒的基督徒生命將會活出最親近基督、最愛祂,因此也最愛人。要瞭解基督與祂的愛,我們首先必須瞭解祂在以賽亞書55章9節所說的話:

天怎樣高過地,照樣,我的道路高過你們的道路;我的意念高過你們的意念。

這要如何應用在親近主並愛祂呢?首先神的愛不像人的愛,是更高一等的。倘若我們沒有以祂的話語作為祂特性的定義,我們對祂特性的所有定義充其量不過很表面。倘若我們僅僅以我們對愛的定義來愛神,我們可能真的離神的愛很遠

我們曾談到就連信徒對神審判的概念都太過扭曲,幾乎全是負面並充滿害怕。神的一些審判確實很負面與可怕,但大部分是神對我們極度渴望與愛的明證,正如希伯來書12章告訴我們關於祂的管教。許多人轉向相反的極端,當人們領受神的愛,反而將其降低為他們所領受的愛。

想一想:耶穌呼召最親近祂的12個門徒,有些個性非常強悍,不太容易膽怯。他們與耶穌一起三年半的時間,卻在『最後的晚餐』中仍如此膽怯不敢問祂問題,因此派了約翰去問主。耶穌很愛他們,以致於祂將要為他們忍受最殘酷的極刑,祂卻仍令人心生畏懼,因為祂是神。

在羅馬書十一章22節,保羅寫到我們必須『看見神的恩慈和嚴厲』。向那不成熟的人,或是保羅提到『那無學問、不堅固的人』,傾向極端思考而沒能看到對應的平衡點。許多人只能看見神的恩慈,這些人往往藉著傳講沒有審判的恩典而曲解了神的恩典。其他人則只能看見祂的嚴厲,往往只有傳講審判而沒有恩典。保羅稱這些強解經書的人『自取沉淪』(彼得後書3:16)。        

正如我們曾談論過,在人的憐憫與神的憐憫之間可能有著很大的不同。有時神的憐憫是以管教,所謂『神的審判』的形式臨到。有時祂的憐憫是以定罪和毀滅的方式,臨到那些無可救藥並敗壞多人的人身上。

我們可以永遠確定的一件事是:神永遠公平,因為祂是愛,祂所做的一切都出於愛。有時我們很難瞭解,因為我們是從地上、人類或短暫的角度來看,而不是用祂的永恆觀點,從一開始就看到事情的結尾。愛祂也包括相信祂,相信祂的審判是公義與真實的,甚至是在我們不瞭解的時候,那即是基本的信心。 

(摘自喬納 word for the week, Week34, 2015)
 

Trusting His Judgments—The Greatest Christian Life, Part 34
Week 34, 2015
Rick Joyner

The greatest Christian life will be lived closest to Christ, loving Him most, and thereby loving others most. To understand Christ and His love, we must first comprehend what He says in Isaiah 55:9:

         As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

How does this apply to getting close to the Lord and loving Him? First, the love of God is not like human love; it is much higher. Our definitions for all of the characteristics of God will be shallow at best if we fail to base them on His definitions as revealed in His Word. If we merely love God according to our definition of love, then we can actually be far from God’s love. 

We have been covering how the very concept of the judgment of God is so skewed, even in believers, that it is almost all negative and fearful. Some of God’s judgments are negative and fearful, but most are greatly to be desired and are evidence of God’s love for us, as we are told in Hebrews 12 regarding His discipline. Many swing to the opposite extreme when perceiving the love of God and reduce it to what they perceive love to be. 

Think about this: The twelve that Jesus called to be closest to Him were some pretty rough characters, and likely were not easily intimidated. They had been with Jesus for three and a half years, yet at “the last supper” they were still so intimidated by Him that they were afraid to ask Him a question, so they pressured John to ask Him. Jesus loved them so much that He was about to endure extreme torture for them, and yet He was still a very intimidating persona because He is God! 

In Romans 11:22, Paul wrote that we must “Behold now the kindness and the severity of God.” The immature, or those that Peter referred to as “unstable and untaught,” tend to think in extremes without being able to see the corresponding balance. Many can only see the kindness of God. These often pervert the grace of God by preaching a grace without judgment. Others can only see His severity and often only preach judgment without grace. Either of these distort the Scriptures, as Peter said “to their own destruction” (see II Peter 3:16). 

As we have covered, there can be a great difference between human compassion and God’s compassion. God’s compassion sometimes comes in the form of the discipline that is called “the judgment of God.” Sometimes His compassion comes in the form of condemnation and the destruction of those who have become incorrigible and are corrupting many others.

One thing we can always be sure of is this: God is always just, and since He is love, all He does is done in love. We have problems understanding this sometimes because we are looking from an earthly, human, or temporary perspective instead of His eternal view, seeing the end from the beginning. To love Him is to also trust Him, trusting that His judgments are righteous and true even when we don’t understand them. That is basic faith.