[今日經文 Today’s Reading: 民數記 Numbers 28-30]
1 耶和華吩咐摩西說： 2 「你要吩咐以色列人說：『你們要按時[要小心按著節期]獻給我把我的供物，就是獻給我作馨香火祭的食物，獻給我。』…29:39 「這些祭要在你們的節期 獻給耶和華，都是在所許的願和甘心獻的以外所獻的，作為你們的燔祭、素祭、澆酒祭和平安祭。」40 於是，摩西照耶和華所吩咐他的一切話告訴以色列人。
民數記 Numbers 28:1-2; 29:39-40
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.’… 39 “These you shall offer to the Lord at your appointed feasts, in addition to your vow offerings and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your grain offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.” 40 So Moses told the people of Israel everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
神拯救以色列人出埃及的目的，就是要教導他們如何敬拜神，如何向神獻祭。 （「耶和華如此說：『容我的百姓去，好事奉我。』」出埃及記 8:1）在西乃山，上帝指示祂的子民要獻上許多不同類型的祭。 這些獻祭可以每天、每週的安息日、每個月初或特殊節慶進行。
上帝要我們的日常生活與祂有份，包括假期。 事實上，對以色列人來說，節期並不被認為是「休息日」，而是按照上帝的指示敬拜上帝的日子。
現在是教會重新思考如何慶祝節期的時候了，包括，或者特別是農曆新年。 許多教會認為這個節日提供了一個很好的外展機會，所以我們舉辦了農曆新年慶祝活動，且有很多像《春晚》這樣的表演。 然而，不僅節目越來越世俗化，我們甚至越來越多地為非信徒提供表演的舞台。 雖然意圖可能是好的，但我們基督徒需要警惕：我們是否把對非信徒的關注放在敬拜上帝之上？ 這是邀請人們來教會的唯一有效方法嗎？ 我們是否向上帝獻上了正確且蒙悅納的供物？ （「…懷著敬畏之心敬拜神，因為我們的「神是烈火。」希伯來書 12:28,29）
回想起來，我越來越感激小時候參加的台灣家鄉的教會，在農曆新年的早上，我們就只是在教會舉行了敬拜儀式，感謝神一年來的祝福和供應 ，沒有任何額外的新年表演。 神呼召以色列人離開埃及，成為聖潔，從世界中分別出來。 我們是否向主獻上了正確的祭物，還是向主獻上了「未經授權的火」（利10:1）？ 慕道友導向的心態當然可能來自於歡迎非信徒進入教會的良好意願，但這種做法不能以讓教會變得更像世界為代價，教會也不應該試圖取悅慕道友超過取悅上帝的程度。
上帝指定了以色列人在節期舉行聖會向祂獻祭。 現在是我們重新思考如何在教會以及在家中與家人一起慶祝節日的時候了。 願神引導我們！
禱告：親愛的主，請幫助我們記住，節期是我們從日常工作中休息的聖日，以便我們可以「向祢獻祭」（即敬拜）。 奉耶穌的名。 阿們！
The purpose for God’s delivery of the Israelites out of Egypt was to teach them how to worship Him and to offer sacrifices to Him. (“This is what the LORD says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me.’ ” Exodus 8:1) At Mount Sinai, God instructed His people regarding many different types of offerings. These offerings were to be made either daily, during weekly sabbath observances, at the beginning of each month, or on special holidays.
God wants to be part of our everyday lives, including during holidays. In fact, a holiday was not thought of as a “day off” for the Israelites, but as a day to worship God according to how He instructed them.
It is about time for churches to rethink how we celebrate holidays, including, or perhaps especially, the Chinese New Year. Many churches think this holiday provides a great outreach opportunity to non-believers, so we have Chinese New Year’s celebrations with many performances like “Spring Night”. However, not only are the programs more and more secular, but we are increasingly even offering the stage to non-believers to perform. While the intentions may be good, we Christians need to be alert: are we putting our attention on non-believers above our focus on worshipping God? Is this the only effective way to invite people to come to church? Are we offering right and acceptable offerings to God? (“…worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28,29)
Looking back, I am more and more appreciative of my home church in Taiwan that I attended during my childhood, that on the morning of Chinese New Year’s day, we simply held a worship service at church to thank God for His blessings and provisions over the past year, without any extra New Year’s performances. God called Israel out of Egypt to be holy, to be set apart from the world. Are we offering the right offerings or are we offering “unauthorized fire” (Lev. 10:1) to the Lord? The seeker-driven mentality may certainly come from good intentions to welcome unbelievers to come into the church, but such thought must not be at the price of making the church more like the world, nor should the church try to please seekers more than it pleases God.
God designated holidays for the Israelites to hold holy convocations to offer sacrifices to Him. It is time for us to rethink how we celebrate holidays in our churches and at home with our families. May God guide us.
Prayer: Dear Lord, please help us to remember that a holiday is a holy day for us to rest from our regular work so that we may “offer sacrifices to” (i.e., worship) you. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
