日期： 08/01/2010

經文：提摩太前書 4 ： 6-10

題目：一個過度的文化

引言：

從最近的 Twitter 有一些留言：洛伊絲，你肯定是劣質 的樣子 ，但我仍然愛你。 哦，她走了！ 安息吧，洛伊絲。 非常的戲劇性！ 洛伊絲的離去就像歌劇中的女主角，她有尊嚴的進場，不需要急救車，但是卻是以一種非常戲劇性的退場。

上面的 Twitter 是有關在 自然科學博物館 裡的那顆叫做 洛伊絲的屍 臭 花。在過去幾個星期中，約有 65000 休士頓市民被這朵花的 開花和死亡迷 住了。 他們耐心 的排隊觀看聞這躲花所發出的氣味，其他的人在 媒體新聞 追隨著這個 故事。 在一個月前，有 7 億人迷著在看世界杯足球賽。這種短期和季節性的迷戀我們是可以理解的。

我也想起在我們的 文化 裡有許多的沈迷，許多 過度 沈迷的事情。 我非常喜歡卡通裡的露西，因為她有很健康的自信。有另外 的原因，我也喜歡 另一個卡通裡的 加菲貓 ，因為他 過度 的 自信。 當幾個星期前，電影明星梅爾吉布森對太太粗暴的語言與舉動被揭露出來之後，在休士頓報的一位專欄作家寫道，這些都是梅爾吉布森過度自信的表現。想了一下，在我們四周的確有不少這一類的人。

有另一個明星 林賽羅翰 對自己 過分的愛，或 是說根本 被寵壞了 的女孩 。 也有很多 娛樂 界的 人過度愛 自己的 身體 ，總是想盡不同方式或 形式 表現出來 。 四周圍的政治家們在他們競選演說充分顯示出過份的自信，每一個人都聲稱他 / 她是能夠將這個州或國家從經濟衰退裡拯救出來。這是一個充滿過度，過份的文化。

现在我們要貼身一點 , 我們有些人或許過度沈迷自己的健康。是的，我們應該要好好照顧我們的身体健康。但是有時會不會做得太過分。我們的身体健康成為了我們生命中的神。 幾個月前，我在辦公室聽見了這樣的交談「我們聲稱自己愛上帝，想靠近他並且想要與神同在。 但是從我們照顧我們身体的方式來看，我們表達的是我們不想要那么快的去與他同在」。當然你知道這個要點是在照顧身體健康時需要適當的平衡。

我們也許有些人可能過份的執著沈迷在我們的學習和工作上。 我首先要聲明作為學生要盡所能的把書讀好。作為一名職員要在自己的是事業裡盡我們所能把事情做的最好。 但是往往這個“最好”可能成為一種沈迷，一種過度。 在做學生的時候我們唯一知道的就是唸書。 我們把與其他人的關係包括與神的關係都放到一边。 然后這可能繼續進入我們的事業歲月。 我仍然记得在 16 年前有一個知名的大學教授跟我說得一番話。當我參觀他的實驗室的時候，他說「當我年輕的時候，我就沈迷在我的學術上的追求。我去最好的大學和世界上最頂尖的研究实验室。 现在所要有的研究经费、研究生、博士後研究生我都有了。 但是我也意识到在那些年歲裡，我的確忽略了我的家庭，特别是我的妻子。現在我已經在我的事業上得到一切我想要的，我想要多一點時間陪陪我的妻子。 但是她一點都沒有興趣，對我也沒有什麼回應。你說我應該怎麼辦？」 大概在同樣的时间，在一或二個月之後，有個大學的前輩跟我聯絡上也談到了他的婚姻。 他在一個很好的大學做教授，他的故事跟我在一或二個月前聽見的幾乎一模一樣。 在我們的追求事業的成功的同時，我們沈迷在其中，我們過度的沈迷在裡面。在成功的祭壇上，我們卻犧牲了我們的家庭。

我感覺我應該再提另一件事就是“為人父母”。 Tim Keller 在他的書「假神」寫這樣的一個個故事。安娜非常想要有孩子。她後來總算結了婚並且生了二個孩子。 她心中有個強烈的願望要將最好的給她的孩子，要給他們完美的生活。她的過份保護、恐懼和憂慮導致她要控制她孩子生命的每個細節，結果導致整個家庭非常痛苦。當然安娜的遭遇不是很常見的。但是我們是是否也想要給我們孩子最好的呢？。 最好和最安全的汽车座位、最好的房間、最好的教育和最好的學校。我們要他們有最好的配偶但是按照我們的標準。經常父母甚至要為他們的孩子決定應該做什麼樣的事業。我們整個的生命中心都圍繞著孩子。往往我們說不能帶來孩子來教會， 因為教會活動的時間孩子的吃飯和睡覺的時間不配合。這和許多其他教會有一種共同的現象 ; 那就是當孩子出生，大概 6 個月到一年不在教會裡看到父母。但是在這個時候，父母也許把嬰兒带去購物或去餐廳吃飯，但是卻不會到教會。因為孩子，為了孩子，一切事情都停止，包括我們與神的關係。這種的做父母的方式是 有 一點得度，過份的。我們的學習、健康、事業、與人的關係，和家庭往往在這樣的社會裡成為了我們的神。 用 Tim Keller 的詞，這些是假的神，虛假的神。

大概到這裡我們當中有人可能會問，這跟今天的經文有什麼關係呢？在 7 節上半段裡 " 總要棄絕世俗以及老婦的無稽之談 " 。很明顯在以弗所教會裡，有許多信徒無休止的討論無意義的事情，或是有關家譜的事情，誰的名字在上面，為什麼誰的名字沒有在上面。這是早期基督教教會所面對的一個問題，因為在提摩太書和歌羅西書中保羅勸誡信徒和教會領袖，不要花時間在這些無意義的討論，不要沈迷這些事情上。因此保羅告訴提摩太和以弗所教會要 棄絕世俗以及老婦的無稽之談 ， 要避開這種事情不要沈迷在其中。

如果提摩太和早期教會要避開，不要沈迷在這些沒有意義的討論的話，他們需要做什麼？ 他們應該注重在什麼樣的事上？在生命裡什麼是 真正重要的呢？ 在 7 節下半段說 “... 要操練自己達到敬虔的地步 ” 。 保羅在說 不要 沈迷在沒有意義的討論及家譜 ， 乃要好好的追求敬虔 。 什麼是敬虔？我們時常說一個敬虔的人就是做這，不做那。如果我們說一個佛教徒非常敬虔虔誠的話，是每天打坐、念經，做好事，每日吃齋的，當作這些不做那些就是一個虔誠的佛教。有時候我們也用同樣得標準衡量一個信徒， 當我們看到一個人每個星期去教堂 ，做好事，他大概是一個 虔誠的人 。

但 在聖經 的教導裡 ， 一個虔誠的 人 很 簡單的 ，就是一個在 生活的 每一 方面 都順服神的人 。 亞伯拉罕是一個虔誠的人，聖經裡是這樣的描述他。 “ 這是因為亞伯拉罕聽從了我的話，遵守了我的吩咐、我的命令、我的條例和我的律法 ” （創 26:5 ） 。 亞伯拉罕是一個虔誠 的人 ，因為他 順服 神。 試想 自己在這樣的處境下：你是在建築業裡，在你的國家裡 為了獲得一個合同，你需要送禮物給一些掌管工程的人 。 許多公司將這個項目的開支就列入工作的經費裡，但是對你來說這是賄賂，如果你不這樣做，你遲早不能在這行業理立得住腳。為了生存，你會怎麼辦？別人都這樣做，你怎麼做呢？ 我知道一個剛信主的弟兄面對這一處境的時候，他站立得住，他拒絕給予任何的賄賂，當然他也遇到很多壓力。 虔誠 不是守住幾條做和不做的清單，乃是在生命的每一 方面 都順服神的人。 這是神要我們做的，要我們成為敬 虔的 男和女。

我想 從 3 個角度來看敬虔 。 首先，為什麼 敬虔 是重要？ 為什麼我們要追求 敬虔 信仰？ 在 8 節下半段 “ 唯獨操練敬虔，凡事有益，享有今生和來世的應許 ” 。 虔誠非常重要，因為它 有今生和來世 的價值。 我們的 學業 和 事業來了也會走的 。你不能把它你 帶 入墳墓 裡 。 為人父母是 非常 重要，我們盡我們所能 把 我們的孩子 養育成敬虔的 男和女。 但是，如果我們沉迷在我們孩子的身上，當有一天孩子們長大離開家的時候，我們會變成怎樣的人呢？我們看到許多父母不能放手讓他們的成年子女離開他們。 他們要很嚴謹的控制他們的孩子要和誰約會。 父母的自我身份往往和孩子分開不了， 這是不健康的。但是追求敬虔和他的重要性是永遠不會終止。有一天，做父母的責任會終止，但敬虔的重要性和追求是不會終止的。

第二，敬虔是需要訓練而得來的。第 7 和 8 節用操練這個字，我們 要操練自己達到敬虔。 希臘詞文的 ' 操練就是體育， 它是用來描述運動員如何鍛鍊自己的身體為的是要競爭 。或是運動員誤了競賽的緣故而操練自己的身體 。 敬虔 並非一夜之間就 會 發生 的事 ，也 不是自然而然就會有的 。 無論你來教 會 多久或 多少次 ， 都 不會使你成為一個虔誠的人 。

一個賽跑的人需要 花費 1 萬小時的培訓，使他能夠在 10 秒或更少 跑完 100 米。 我想我在日本讀大學的第一年，我們外國學生用了差不多 3000 小時學習日文，在 10 個月後，能夠講日語和了解日本老師的授課。

保羅在這裡不是說 操練身體 不重要 ，乃是 一個優先 次序的問題 。 如果要 敬虔 的話，必須要有 紀律和 花時間。

第三 是講到 飲食。當我們訓練身體 的時候 ，我們 很 注意我們的飲食， 要 吃什麼和避免 什麼 。同樣 的 虔誠 也是如此 。 在第 6 節 這裡說“ 常在信仰的話語上，和你所遵從美善的教訓上得著培養 ”。這意味著，如果我們要虔誠，我們的食物包括了神的話和好的教義。

如果我們要虔誠，我們必須知道神的話語。 通過了解 神 的話我們 才 知道什麼是正確和錯誤的。 當我們熟悉的神的話，我們 就知道在 學習 的時候 如何設定優先 次序 。當我們 知道神 的話， 如何做 一個 好的 的僱員或一個雇主 。當我們讀神的話語，我們也知道什麼是一個好的父母和一個健康、好的婚姻。 當我們知道神的話，我們也會知道什麼 對 孩子是好的。 因為在一切事情都要結束的時候 ， 關鍵 不是我們的孩子 是不是去 最好的學校， 有最好的 計算機或設備， 乃是他們是怎 麼樣的人。

個人 讀 經的紀律 是非常 重要。 有一個 有關葛培理太太的 故事。 當她上大學 時 ，她 每天 早上 4 點鐘起來 讀聖經。 不是說大家都要 4 點鐘起來，仍是讀聖經必須是生命中的優先次序。在我們四周有英文的 BSF ，也有粵語嚴謹的查經班，是香港中神的老師任教，每週都有，是我們可以參加的。也加上教會的主日學和其他的查經班都能幫助我們好好的讀神的話。

除了讀神的話語，保羅也提到好的教義（教訓）。 當我們 將 神的話語不同的部分 放在一起的時候，這就是教義。當我們好好熟讀神的話也看一些有份量的書，英文的現在比較流行的好像 Mark Driscoll 馬克德里斯科爾的“ Doctrine ” ，或是巴克的“認識神”，都能幫助我們認識聖經裡的教義。比如說 三位一體 的教義， 神的 救贖的 計劃，人的罪 惡 ， 神 無條件的愛，耶穌基督的 救贖 ， 神無可抗拒的恩典， 和他的 能力能保守 我們 在 基督 裡成 長。 我們也可以經常溫習 閱讀的威斯敏斯特或海德堡 的教理 問答 ，這些作品都能夠幫助 我們成為 更敬虔的 人。

結論：

洛伊絲，這屍臭花開花了也凋謝了，我們需要再等一年才能再聞到他的味道。 世界杯足球賽來了 也結束了 ，我們 需要 再 等 4 年。 其實想一想，我們的學習、事業 ， 甚至為人 父母 有一天都會終止的。不錯我們還是他們的父母，但是為人 父母 的責任 有一天 會終止 。如果這些是我們追求的東西， 當這些都終止的時候， 我們 又 會怎樣 呢 ？

你看，聖經告訴我們， 只有敬虔有今生和來世的 價值。 敬虔 就是個 大傘， 在這大傘下面， 我們追求我們的 學業、事業 。 在這 虔誠的傘下，我們與 周圍的 人 培養好 的關係 。 在這 虔誠的傘下，我們成為與神同行的成人，丈夫，妻子，和父母。

Date:   08/01/2010

Text:   1 Timothy 4:6-10

Title:   An Excessive Culture

Theme:

Introduction:

  Some highlights from recent Twitter: Lois, you sure are gnarly looing but I still love you. Oh no there she goes! RIP Lois. Very dramatic! Lois goes out like the Diva she is… She went in dignity, no need for crash cart, a dramatic exit to say the least.

This is about Lois, the corpse flower, in the Museum of Natural Science . During the last few weeks, about 65K Houstonians found themselves obsessed by the blooming and dying of this particular rare flower. They patiently waited in line to see and smell this flower. Others followed the story via the news media. About a month ago, there was about 700 million people followed closely the World Cup Soccer. Such occasional and seasonal obsession is certainly understandable.

I think of different kinds of obsessions, or excessiveness in our culture. I like Lucy of the Peanuts cartoon strip because of her healthy dosage of self-confidence. For a different reason, I also like Garfield the cat for his excessive self-confidence. When Mel Gibson’s screaming and berating of his wife and others surfaced a few weeks ago, a columnist in Houston Chronicle wrote that this is all about Mel Gibson’s excessive self-confidence. Come to think of it, we certainly have plenty of this around us.

  There is Lindsay Lohan’s excessive self-love; or a.k.a, being spoiled. Many other entertainment celebrities exhibit an excessive love of one’s physical body; dying to show them off in one form or the other. The politicians demonstrated an extra dose of self-confidence in their campaign speeches and promises, each claiming that he/she is the only who can rescue the country or the state from economic recession. It is a culture full of excesses.

  Now, let’s bring it closer to home. Some of us may be obsessed with our health. It is important that we take care of our physical health. There are times we may be overdoing it. Our bodies may have become our gods. Several months ago, I heard this in an office conversation, “We claim to love God, want to be near Him, and want to be with Him. But the way we take care of our bodies, is really saying that we don’t want to see him so soon.” Well, you know that the point is that there needs to be a proper balance.

Some may be excessive in our studies and professions. At the onset, I want to clarify that it is important that as students, we are to do our best to study well. As an employee or with our profession, we are to do our best. However, very often this ‘best’ can turn into an obsession. During the student years, all we know is study. We put aside relationship with others, including God. Then this can continue into our career years. I still remember an encounter with a professor in a well-known university over 16 years ago. While visiting his lab, he said, “when I was young, I spent all my time in my academic pursuit. I went to the best universities and research labs around the world. Now, I have all the research grants, graduate students and post docs I need. But I also realized that during those years, I have neglected my family, especially my wife. Now that I have achieved all that I have wanted in my career; I want to spend time with my wife. Yet, she has shown no interest and is not responding to me. What do you think I can do?” About the same time, within a month or two, a college friend confided in me about his marriage. He too, was a professor and his story was almost verbatim of the earlier one I heard. In our pursuit of excellence or success, whether it was study or career, we were obsessed with them. On the altar of success, we have sacrificed our families.

There is another area that I feel we need to address: Parenting. Tim Keller in his book, ‘The Counterfeit gods” wrote this story. Anna was desperate to have children. She eventually married and gave birth to two children. She had an overpowering drive to give her children a perfect life. Her overprotectiveness, fears and anxieties, and her need to control every detail of her children’s lives made the family miserable. This certainly is not the norm. We all want the best for our children. The best and the safest car seat, the best room, the best education and the best schools. We want them to have the best spouse, according to our standards. Very often, parents would even decide for their children what professions they should go into. Our entire life centers on the children. We can’t bring the child to church because church activities are not compatible to the child’s eating and sleeping schedule. In this and many other churches, there is a common phenomenon; that once a child is born, don’t expect to see the parents for 6 months to one year in church. Parents may take the infant to shopping, but not to church. Because of children, everything has been put on hold, including our relationship with God. Such parenting is slightly excessive. Our study, health, career, relationship and family have become gods. In Tim Keller’s words, these are the counterfeit gods.

By now, some of you may be asking, what has this to do with today’s text? In vs.7a, “ Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths,….” It is apparent that in Ephesus , many believers found themselves entangled in endless discussions about certain genealogies. This was an issue in the early Christian church. Both here and in other letters, Paul urged the believers and leaders to stay away from these endless and meaningless discussions. Some of them were excessively involved in such discussions, they were obsessed with them. So Paul tells Timothy and the church to have nothing to do with such topics. Don't be obsessed by them.

Now, if Timothy and the early church would have nothing to do with such genealogies, what did they need to do? What should they be occupied with? What is truly important in life? Vs.7b, “… Rather train yourself for godliness. ” Don’t be preoccupied with the myths and genealogy, but focus on godliness. What is godliness? We often equate godliness with do’s and don’ts. When we see a person not smoking, not drinking, not dancing, but going to church every Sunday, plus Friday evenings, leading Bible studies or teaching Sunday School, saying grace before meals, we say, wow he/she is a godly person.

In the biblical context, a godly person is simply a person who is being obedient to God in every aspect of life. Abraham was a godly person and this is how he was described. “ because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” (Genesis 26:5) Abraham was godly because he obeyed God. Put yourself in this situation. You are in the construction business in a certain country. It is common practice that in order to get a contract, you need to give substantial gifts to the persons in charge of the project. Many companies just accept that as an item in their business expensive. To you, this is bribery, period. If you don’t, eventually you may be booted out of that market. In order to survive, what would you do? I know of a new Christian who when facing this situation, stood firm and refused to yield to the tremendous pressure around him. Godliness is not keeping a list of do’s and don’ts, but being obedient to God in all areas of life. This is what God wants us to be; men and women who pursue godliness.

I would like to look at this from 3 perspectives. First, why is this important? Why should we pursue godliness? Vs. 8b, “ godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Godliness is important because it has present and eternal value. Our study and career will come and go. You cannot bring them with you into the grave. Parenting is important, that we do our best to bring up our children to be godly men and women. But if we are obsessed with our children, what will we do or become when our children are grown up and leave home? We have seen parents refusing to let go of their adult children. They want to have a tight reign over when they should date and with whom. The parents’ identity were tied to whether or not their adult child would listen to them. This is very unhealthy. The importance for godliness will never cease, even when physical parenting has seemed to cease.

Secondly, godliness is acquired. Vs.7 and 8 used the word, ‘train’. We’re to train ourselves to be godly. The Greek word translated ‘train’ is ‘gym’. It is used to describe how athletes trained themselves for competition. Godliness does not happen overnight, nor does it happen by osmosis. No matter how long or how often you come to church, it will not make you a godly person..

A runner will spend 10,000 hours training so he could run 100 meters in 10 seconds or less. I think of my first year in college: after almost 2800 hours of intensive Japanese study, it enabled many of us foreign students to speak Japanese and understand most of the lectures in Japanese.

Here, Paul is not saying that physical exercise is not important. It is a matter of priority. To acquire godliness requires discipline and effort on our part..

Thirdly, the diet of godliness. When we train our bodies, we pay attention to our diet; what to eat and what to avoid. The same is with training in godliness. In vs.6, “being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.” This diet for godliness includes God’s word and good doctrine.

  This means that if we are to be godly, we must know God’s word. By knowing God’s word then we know what is right and wrong. When we are familiar with God’s word, then we’ll learn to set priorities and be a diligent student; a loyal employee or a good employer. When we study God’s word, then we’ll also know what it means to be a good and faithful parent and what a good marriage is all about. When we know God’s word, we’ll also know what is good for our children. At the end of the day, it is not whether our children go to the best school, own the best computers or other gadgets, but what kind of person they are.

  Personal discipline of Bible study is important. It was said that Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, when she was a student at Wheaton College , would get up at 4 every morning to read the Bible. I am not advocating that we all get up this early to read God’s word. Yet, we all need to do our best to make reading the Bible a priority in life. There are the BSF, and recently, there is also a Cantonese Bible study group, similar to BSF, which started in Houston few months ago. These and Sunday School, and other Bible study groups are great opportunities for us to study the Word. .

  Besides studying the word, Paul also mentioned good doctrine. When we bring together different portions of God’s word under different topics or categories or folders, they are called doctrine. From a careful study of the Word and reading books such as ‘Doctrine’ by Mark Driscol, will help us to know and understand the doctrine of trinity, God’s plan of redemption, man’s sinfulness, God’s unconditional love, Jesus Christ’s atonement, the irresistible grace of God and His power to persevere us in our Christian growth. Careful and repeated reading of the Westminster or Heidelberg catechisms are instrumental in our becoming godly men and women.

Conclusion:

  Lois, the corpse flower, bloomed and eventually went dormant. We will have to wait for another year to experience its smell. The World cup soccer has also come and gone and we’ll have to wait for 4 more years. For that matter, studies, career, and even parenting will one day cease. If these are the things we pursue, what will we become once they are gone?

Is there something we are obsessed with at this moment in life? You see, the scripture tells us that godliness has its value both now and in eternity. Godliness is to be that big umbrella, under which we pursue our study and career. Under the umbrella of godliness, we develop relationships with people around us. Under the umbrella of godliness, we become adults, parents and spouses that walk closely with the Lord.