同心實踐主使命
作者：盧國禮 翻譯：小米
《聖經》說: “我賜給你們一條新命令，乃是叫你們彼此相愛﹔我怎樣愛你們，你們也要怎樣相愛。你們若有彼此相愛的心，眾人因此就認出你們是我的門徒了。”(約翰福音13:34-35)
在這裡，耶穌的教導淺顯易懂--如果門徒們能彼此相愛，那麼外邦人便能認出我們是屬基督的了。
《聖經》說：“神就是愛”﹔心裏沒有愛，就不可能有神的同在。神與愛之間的關係是密不可分的。
《聖經》又說，“我們要彼此相愛，......主為我們捨命，我們從此就知道何為愛﹔我們也當為弟兄捨命。” (約翰一書3:11-16)
“……我們相愛，不要隻在言語和舌頭上，總要在行為和誠實上。” (約翰一書3：18)
所以弟兄姊妹之間的愛並不是看不見摸不著的。屬神的愛是實實在在的，是捨己的。這樣的愛需要以基督的教導為根基，以祂的生命為榜樣，需要我們每個人盡力地行出來。這就是雅各說的聽道後要行道的真理。 (雅各書 2：14-18)
實踐：
實踐就是誠誠實實地行使主的命令。根據《聖經》的教導，這是一條並不好走的窄路，那麼我們該如何行呢？
最近我重讀了布魯斯. 豪斯博士的《尋找上帝的旨意》一書。該書建議我們每天思想神的恩典，並在禱告的同時注意以下事項：
• 感恩--每天感謝神所賜的各樣祝福。
• 讀經--每天讀《聖經》，學習神的教導。
• 行道--行道就是在生活中實踐從《聖經》裡得到的啟示。
• 關懷--基督徒因愛人如己而聞名。我們必須愛身邊的人、幫助他們，關心人們的需要。
• 期盼--期盼與神同在，成就祂要我們所作的事，並學會忍耐和等候神的帶領。
所以光禱告是不夠的，我們還需要記得感恩、讀經、行道、愛人如己、與神同行，並誠誠實實地追求聖潔、渴慕真理。這樣，神必更新我們的生命，讓我們能夠同心實踐主的使命。
不過因為人人都有主觀論斷、自以為是、驕傲自大的罪性，所以人們往往會將自己的想法說成是神的旨意，導致自己違背了神的本意，偏離了神的計劃。
布魯斯. 豪斯博士在《尋找上帝的旨意》一書中還為我們列出了，在作決定時應注意的事項：
1) 依《聖經》的啟示來作決定。
神不會要我們作出違背《聖經》教導的決定，例如：離婚(馬太楅音，5：32)。
2) 依自身的恩賜來作決定。
有自知之明，知道自己的長處和短處，接受自己的能力是有限的。 《聖經》說：
…… 十二使徒叫眾門徒來，對他們說：我們撇下神的道，去管理飯食，原是不合宜的。所以弟兄們，當你們中間選出七個有好名聲，被[聖]靈充滿，智慧充足的人，我們就派他們管理這事。但我們要專心祈禱傳道為事。 ” (使徒行傳 6：1 - 4)
保羅說：“我憑著所賜我的恩對你們各人說：不要看自過於所當看的﹔要照著神所分給各人信心的大小，看得合乎中道。” (羅馬書12：3)
3) 量力而為。
有些弟兄姊妹非常熱心事奉，卻沒有節制。結果產生了不愉快的後果，陷入失望而埋怨神。
使徒行傳11:29：“……門徒定意照各人的力量捐錢，送去供給住在猶太的弟兄。”我們不能奉獻沒有的東西﹔如果我不是當老師的材料，就不該接受教導學生的任務。
4) 視環境而定。
因應處境而作出合心意的決定，這是無可厚非的。使徒保羅在《使徒行傳》(9：23-25，16：3，16：9) 中為我們提供了可以作為參考的具體事例。當我們和神的關係和諧時，我們的決定會有從聖靈來的引領，不用擔心會有太大的失誤，並且就算我們的判斷錯了，聖靈也必定會帶領我們回到神的光照裡。
5) 依大局而定。
這並不是說計劃和策略不變，乃是因神的靈所帶領而作出正確的判斷而修訂計劃和策略，才能達標。
總的來說：“同心實踐主使命”，不是一個空喊的口號，而是落實到行為中去的。若我們願意為主所用、獻上身體、作為活祭、與神同工，行在祂的旨意裏，那麼我們就必須為此恆切禱告，求神賜下恩典，讓我們可以尋求聖潔。願祂的國降臨，願祂的旨意行在地上，如同行在天上，這樣我們才可同心實踐主使命，阿們！
Unity in Christ's Commission
Written by Francis Loo Translated by Naomi
Bible says, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34 - 35) Here, the teaching from Jesus is straightforward. Christians are asked to love one another, so none believers will notice their godliness.
Bible says, "God is love"; nobody can follow God without love. No one can separate love from God.
Bible also tells us, "We should love one another . . . Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters." (1 John 3:11-16)
". . . let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth" (1 John 3:18)
Therefore, the loving relationships between Christians are not "with words or speech" but "with actions and in truth". Such love is based on God's words, and it helps Christians to live a Christ-centered life. It requires every believer to apply the teachings of Jesus every day. This is what James means when he mentions "faith with deeds". (James 2:14-18)
Application:
Application demands that believers sincerely obey God's commandments. According to Bible, we have to walk on a narrow life path to follow God. How are we going to do that?
Recently, I have reread a book written by Dr. Bruce Walthe. Its name is "Find the Will of God". In the book, Dr. Walthe suggests us to meditate on God's grace every day. Meanwhile, we are asked to pray G-R-A-C-E:
• G--gratitude
Give thanks to God for his daily blessings.
• R--reading
Read Bible, and study its teachings every day.
• A--appropriate
After inspired by Bible, apply such inspirations to daily life.
• C—charity
Christians are famous for love people as themselves. We must love people around us, help them, and care for their needs.
• E--expectation
Expect to experience the presence of God, to accomplish what he asks us to do, to have the ability of patiently waiting for his guidance.
Therefore, we need to have gratitude, read Bible, apply inspirations, love people and walk with God while we are praying. We need to earnestly seek holiness and divine truth. In this way, God will surly renew our life so that we can work for the Lord's commissions together.
Meanwhile, human beings are truly sinful, which made us are judgmental, self-righteous, and proud. As a result, we can mistake our own ideas to be God's will. In such occasions, we act against God's purpose and his original plans.
In his book "Finding the Will of God"，Dr. Bruce Walthe clearly listed instructions for us to make godly decisions:
1) Make your decision in light of Scripture.
God will not ask us to make a decision, which contradicts to the teachings in Bible, such as devoice. (Matthew 5:32)
2) Make your decision in light of giftedness.
Know who you are, what is your strength and weakness; accept that you can't do everything. Bible says,
. . . the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." (Acts 6:1-4) 。
Paul tells us, "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." ( Romans 12:3)
3) Make your decision according to your ability.
Some believers are very passionate towards God's ministry. However, they are not self-control in terms of knowing their own limits. Sooner or later, they will face difficulties in church. They are disappointed and have lots to complain. They become bitter against God .
Acts 11:29 says, "The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea." We can't give what we don't have. If I don't have the gift of teaching, I shouldn't take the responsibility of being a teacher in student ministry.
4) Make your decision according to your circumstances.
It is reasonable to make decisions according to circumstances. The preferences of people will be affected by the environments around them. Apostle Paul gives us some examples in the book of Acts. (Acts 9：23-25, 16:3，16：9) These examples teach us that we won't make big mistakes when we have a close relationship with God. This is because Holy Spirit will guide us when we are making different decisions. Even if we made a mistake, the Spirit will guide us back to God's light.
5) Make your decision according to an overall strategy.
The overall strategy doesn't have to be fixed. This is because we can make right decisions based on the guidance from Holy Spirit. No matter how many changes have been made, we are able to achieve our goals because of such guidance.
In conclusion, "Unity in Christ's Commission" is not an empty slogan. Believers can apply it to our daily life. One thing is for sure, we will have to pray continuously if we are willing to be used by the Lord, offer our lives as living sacrifices, work with God, and act according to his will. We need God to give us his divine grace so that we may seek his holiness. May his kingdom come; his will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. And then, we will be able to have unity in Christ's commissions.
Amen!