[今日經文 Today’s Reading: 耶利米書 Jeremiah 16-19]
10 「你將這一切的話指示這百姓，他們若問你說：『耶和華為甚麼說，要降這大災禍攻擊我們呢？我們有甚麼罪孽呢？我們向耶和華—我們的 神犯了甚麼罪呢？』 11 你就對他們說：『因為你們祖先離棄了我，隨從別神，事奉敬拜它們，卻離棄我，不遵守我的律法。這是耶和華說的。12 你們行惡比你們祖先更甚，看哪，各人隨從自己頑梗的惡心行事，不聽從我。 13 所以我必將你們從這地趕出，直趕到你們和你們祖先素不認識之地。你們在那裏晝夜必事奉別神，因為我必不再向你們施恩。』」10 “And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 then you shall say to them: ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,12 and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. 13 Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
耶利米書 Jeremiah 16:10-11
當以色列人裝無辜問：“我們對耶和華我們的神犯了什麼罪？”時，神對耶利米說：“……你要對他們說：‘因為你們的祖先離棄了我…… ’”當每個人都在做同樣的事情時，即使是在去教堂做禮拜的人中，我們也常常以為這一定是對的，或者至少是可以的。例如，許多基督徒父母只是很高興他們的孩子仍然上教堂並且不吸毒，但我們沒有看到他們的心對屬靈的事物沒有渴望。其他人（或至少我們周圍的大多數人）似乎都以同樣的方式生活，所以一定沒問題。
我們需要“先知”向教會傳達信息 – 即基督教信仰不等同於我們在教會中所做的事情；相反，基督教信仰是我們生活的方式。我們有沒有跟隨“各人隨從自己頑梗的惡心行事，不聽從我”(16:12)？通常我們的孩子上大學後就不再去教堂了，因為他們從來沒有真正渴望榮耀和敬拜上帝。去教堂和唱敬拜歌曲只是我們宗教的活動。
地方教會是世界的希望。…教會有責任呼召夫妻，父母和祖父母來創造敬畏上帝的家。只有這樣，我們才能看到衰落的世代信仰轉變的潮流。
從家開始 It Starts at Home
是的，今天的教會比以往任何時候都更需要先知向他們講上帝的話，而不是教會增長方面的“專家”。
When Israel played innocent and asked, “What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?”, God said to Jeremiah, “…then you shall say to them: ‘Because your ancestors have forsaken me…’ ” When everyone is doing the same thing, even among churchgoers, we often think that it must be right or at least ok. For example, many Christian parents are just happy that their children still attend church and do not take drugs, but we do not see that their hearts have no desire for spiritual things. Everyone else (or at least most of those around us) seem to be living the same way, so it must be OK.
We need “prophets” to speak the message to the Church that Christianity is not equivalent to what we do in the church; rather it is how we live our lives. Have we followed “our stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to God” (16:12)? Often our children stop attending church when they go to college because they never really had a desire to honor and to worship God. Going to church and singing worship songs had only become the way we practice a religion.
The local church is the hope of the world … The church’s responsibility is to call couples, parents, and grandparents to create God-honoring homes. Only then will we see the tide turn on declining generational faith transference.
It Starts at Home by Kurt Bruner & Steve Stroope
Yes, today the Church more than ever needs prophets to speak God’s word to them, not “experts” on church growth.
