18:18 有一個官問耶穌說:「良善的夫子,我該做甚麼事才可以承受永生?」
18:19 耶穌對他說:「你為甚麼稱我是良善的?除了上帝一位之外,再沒有良善的。
18:20 誡命你是曉得的:『不可姦淫;不可殺人;不可偷盜;不可作假見證;當孝敬父母。』」
18:21 那人說:「這一切我從小都遵守了。」
18:22 耶穌聽見了,就說:「你還缺少一件:要變賣你一切所有的,分給窮人,就必有財寶在天上;你還要來跟從我。」
18:23 他聽見這話,就甚憂愁,因為他很富足。
18:24 耶穌看見他,就說:「有錢財的人進上帝的國是何等的難哪!
18:25 駱駝穿過針的眼比財主進上帝的國還容易呢!」
18:26 聽見的人說:「這樣,誰能得救呢?」
18:27 耶穌說:「在人所不能的事,在上帝卻能。」
18:28 彼得說:「看哪,我們已經撇下自己所有的跟從你了。」
18:29 耶穌說:「我實在告訴你們,人為上帝的國撇下房屋,或是妻子、弟兄、父母、兒女,
18:30 沒有在今世不得百倍,在來世不得永生的。」
18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’[a]”
21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”
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人常常想要用自己的作為來換去一些成果,然後將榮耀歸給自己,以為這樣心裡就會滿足!其實這是讓自己落入更大的失望,正如這一個少年官,一開始問:「良善的夫子,我該做甚麼事才可以承受永生?」
但是,主耶穌也一劈頭就告訴他:「你為甚麼稱我是良善的?除了上帝一位之外,再沒有良善的。」
這也告訴我們,人是乏善可陳,無法自己成為善,是需要靠上帝才能成為善!也因此,人不能靠自己做什麼來承受永生!那人要如何得永生呢?
或許你會朗朗上口的說:「上帝愛世人,甚至將他的獨生子賜給他們,叫一切信他的,不致滅亡,反得永生。」(約翰福音3:16)
是的,就是這麼簡單,只要信耶穌就有永生!但是,這簡單的背後是不簡單,是上帝主動的拯救,是三一上帝的三位格都有行動,人就是配合上帝的作為,用信心來領受,不是用行為來換取,不是我們有甚麼資格,而是上帝自己願意,只要我們願意信靠與跟隨主耶穌,甚至放棄一切所有,來得著主耶穌就可以!
而我們之所以可以放棄一切,是因為聖靈讓我們看見,使我們如保羅一般宣告:「只是我先前以為與我有益的,我現在因基督都當作有損的。不但如此,我也將萬事當作有損的,因我以認識我主基督耶穌為至寶。我為他已經丟棄萬事,看作糞土,為要得著基督!」(腓立比書3:7-8)