牧师们，你的会众遇到艰难时向谁求助？
我和妻子与十二对夫妻参加一次婚姻退休营会。这些男男女女非常痛苦、但却在真诚解决他们婚姻中的失败之处。之后我指导退休营会的小组带领人，帮助这些夫妻思想如何把福音应用在他们婚姻的弱项上。在这之后,我与小组带领人坐下，听取他们的汇报。以下是我了解到的情况：
“这是周末最难熬的部分。”
“这些人完全不知道要说什么。”
最糟糕的是，“我想这些人并不知道怎样把福音应用在他们的生活当中。”
我们在这篇关于门徒培训的文章中，看到基督徒迫切需要彼此教导，活出以福音为中心的生活。门训的第一步，就是传道人把圣经应用在会众的生活当中。信徒听到神的话语，对福音的认识有长进，他们对基督的爱就加增了。
门训的第二步，就是基督徒得到神话语的装备，离开他们的舒适区域。在成圣的关系中彼此相处。信徒聚集的时候，他们彼此以铁磨铁，帮助对方看到基督的荣耀。
许多牧师和教会成员疏忽这些工作，结果就是我们很少在教会中看到有足够的灵命长进。
牧者的失败：忽视圣经应用
问任何一个基督徒，他的牧师在周日早上教导了什么，充其量你会听到他快快回顾信息的内容，还有一两个例证。问他这信息如何改变他的生命，通常你会听到一种含糊的说法：“这信息很有帮助，”“很鼓励人，”甚至可能是“这让我为自己是基督徒感到自豪。”
所有这些回应都不错。事实上，我希望它们都是真实的回应。但如果一位普通的基督徒在周日早上离开教会，回到一个堕落世界当中，会有什么样的事情发生？让我们举几个实际例子：
约拿单周一回到办公室，无意发现老板正秘密地用一种不道德的生意手法做生意。
医生告诉彼得，他出现了帕金森综合症的初期症状。
苏珊五岁的儿子每隔五分钟就大发脾气，不断无视母亲的教训。
大卫的妻子告诉他，她不再爱他，要与他离婚。
吉尔的男朋友虽然自称是一位基督徒，却努力游说她，要与她发生性关系。
这些人是否知道，福音与他们的具体处境有多切实相关？如果他们和大多数基督徒一样，情况就是他们并不知道，所以他们转向别处求助。
约拿单打电话给他三个最好的朋友，征求他们的意见。
彼得上网查阅任何能找到的关于帕金森综合症的资料。
苏珊想起她在一篇杂志读过的文章，努力帮助提高他儿子的自尊。
大卫和妻子向一位辅导员求助，此人根据最新的婚姻调查结果，向他们推荐沟通技巧。
吉尔向欧普拉·温芙蕾（Oprah Winfrey）求助，这位美国电视脱口秀女王会怎么说？
为什么基督徒转向这些方面求助？为什么人离开教会之后，不晓得圣经如何在他们的家庭、友情和工作场所当中带来改变？
一方面教会成员就像其他任何人一样，受到各样选择的狂轰滥炸。电视广告，大街上的告示板，互联网广告和杂志广告，都用其他可选的办法把我们压得透不过气来。“更好性生活的十个提示，” “更好管理你的金钱，”“服用这些维他命，减少压力，增强幸福，”“让你的生活更有效率”，“孤单吗？现在注册，找到终身的爱。”
另一方面，也许这是牧师的错？很有可能。问任何一位改革宗牧师，在他预备讲道的时间当中，他用了多少时间解释经文，与之相比，他思想合乎圣经的应用的时间又有多少？应用太过经常被放在一边。应用成了老生常谈，被塞到讲道当中。然而这要带来怎样的后果？
其他福音派牧师反复面对相反的问题——他们的讲道应用无力，因为他们并不是把应用扎根在圣经经文之上。太多的牧师根本没有实际花时间与圣经经文摔跤，就早早把领导力的原则读进了尼希米记的经文当中。
科斯滕伯格（Andreas Kostenberger）断言，合乎圣经的应用“是解经过程最至关重要，也是最难的部分”。正因为它如此之难，牧师常常未能用由经文驱动、富生命力的应用来讲道。我要再一次问，这将带来怎样的后果？
人不知道如何把福音应用在他们生活最实际的细节当中，他们对基督的爱就不会有长进。
你看到了吗，牧师？这就是要把你唤醒的呼声。如果你忽略用合乎圣经的应用教导会众，你就没有充分牧养群羊。
教会成员的失败：忽略关系方面的成圣
在我向各方发出责备时，让我把教会成员也包括在内。我们作为基督徒，渴望能火热传福音，这是对的。但我们一旦让人从教会前门进来，通常就会觉得已经大功告成。我们很少关注我们教会当中其他信徒的长期属灵争战。
我要提醒，教会成员能花时间做的其中一件最重要的事，就是我称为的“关系方面的成圣”。以下是我一位朋友格雷格最近写的一段话：
我已经学会依靠我在教会里的各种关系。我需要这些关系，在我不能让我自己有规律得着这些关系的时候，我就若有所失。度假真是要了我的命。当然度假充满乐趣，但是到了一周或两周结束时，我很痛苦，感受到生活中失去了某样事情—就是在我教会中的各种关系。这些人不放过我，要我对他们负责，他们帮助我思考，帮助我带领，帮助我爱妻子儿女。简而言之，他们让我成为一个更好的人。我想神就是要这样做事。祂的百姓彼此紧紧拥挤在一起，神通过这些互动的热力和压力，塑造我们，陶造我们，使我们像基督一样……我想在这世界上，像这样经历着一种关系方面成圣的教会并不太多。我担心大多数教会只是每周一两次聚集在一起敬拜，然后在这以外的任何活动，完全就是在浪费时间。我要教导一家教会如何彼此团契，然后通过这团契，如何彼此鼓励，活出荣耀基督的生命——通过彼此背负重担和忧伤，通过彼此分享喜悦，在有需要的时候，通过彼此责备和劝诫，以此彼此鼓励，活出荣耀基督的生命。
我很喜欢格雷格说的，度假“要了他的命”。就连在基督徒当中，人也不会经常听到这样的话。但格雷格思念教会 ——教会里的人，教会里的关系。
这一段话中，我最喜欢的一句是在中间：“祂的百姓彼此紧紧拥挤在一起，神通过这些互动的热力和压力，塑造我们，陶造我们，使我们像基督一样。”他说的完全正确！神要我们在一起活出我们的信仰——彼此相磨，彼此服侍，彼此劝勉，彼此责备，彼此相爱等等。
人通常并不想做门徒培训这一种艰辛的工作，因为这要付出极大代价。这要花时间，花我们不是非要花的时间。关系也会入侵我们的生活。进行门徒培训，就要让自己暴露出弱点，就需要查究另外一个人的生活。所有这一切意味着处理生活中的麻烦细节——受苦、感情起伏、争吵、怀疑、金钱方面的忧虑、为人父母的忧虑等等。
你可能会说：“我自己的问题已经够多了，为什么还要用其他人的问题来烦自己？”
基督徒不把自己的生命浇灌在其他人的生命当中，那么看到其他基督徒在爱基督方面很少有长进，他们就不应感到惊奇。
你看到问题了，如果你作为教会成员，忽略了在你教会中其他人身上作投资，你就没有完全遵循基督的劝勉，去使人作门徒，凡祂命令的，都教导他们遵守。
圣经的全备性
你并不需要成为一位顶尖的科学家，才知道我接下来要说的话。基督教的门训，就是教导其他人把福音应用在他们生命的每一方面。牧师应当在他们的讲道中做到这一点，教会成员应当在他们彼此的关系中做到这一点。
门徒培训首先和最重要的，就是扎根在圣经的全备性之上。说某件事全备，就是说这件事有所需的一切，能做成它打算要做的事。圣经为自己发出宣告，它从来不会徒然返回，而是要成就它要去做的事。“我口所出的话，也必如此，决不徒然返回，却要成就我所喜悦的，在我发他去成就的事上必然亨通。”（赛 55:11）
而且圣经的全备性体现在：
是我们得救和过敬虔生活的指引；
它的范围是广阔的，提供了为确定和解决生活中各样问题所需的一切；
指引和确定我们信什么，如何思想，说什么话，如何行事为人。
圣经是全备的，带给我们一种以基督为中心的世界观，装备堕落的男男女女从神的角度看待世上发生的一切。约翰加尔文在他写的《基督教要义》中，使用眼镜的比喻来描写这种世界观：
就像那些老眼昏花和视力微弱的人一样，如果你把一本最美的书突然摆在他们面前，虽然他们认出这写了一些字，却很少能读出几个字来；但用眼镜来帮助，他们就能开始清楚阅读。圣经也是如此，在我们头脑中把人本来对神糊涂的认识聚合起来，驱散我们的迟钝，清楚让我们看那位真正的上帝。
基督徒人生充满身体方面的受苦，情感的起伏，灵命“枯竭”的时期，还有许多其他挣扎。面对每一次挣扎，基督徒都面对一个选择 —— 我要向世界求助，还是我要让圣经对我的生命说话？每次基督徒转向除圣经以外的事求助时，他就没有相信圣经的全备性。他就是在表明，他并不相信圣经足够全面，能处理他特定处境中最实际的细节。当他想要超越圣经所说的范围，他就表明自己“仍然对上帝已经赐下的感到不满。这就是在宣告，至少是含蓄宣告，上帝不够清楚，或者祂需要我们帮助来带领祂的百姓行义”。
请再听加尔文的话：
如果我们被这观念深深折服，就是主的话语是唯一的道路，能带领我们寻求那对祂来说一切合法认定的事，是唯一的光，照亮我们应对祂有的一切看法，这就要轻而易举保守、约束我们，不落入一切鲁莽当中。因为我们必要知道，我们超越上帝之道的界限的那一刻，我们的道路就是在这条道路之外，就是在黑暗当中，必然会有反复的游荡，滑脚和跌倒。
如果圣经对基督徒人生来说是足够，我们就无需“超越上帝之道的界限”。基督徒如此超越，就是风险自负。因为神的话语是充分的，我们就必须教导相信的人，快快奔向圣经，以圣经作为他们得力量和安慰的首要源头，我们就必须帮助相信的人，让他们把自己与神的话语牢牢捆绑在一起。
通过日常生活与神同行
基督教的门徒培训帮助人在圣经当中面对面看到基督。随着人对基督的爱有长进，他们就变得能看到福音，关于耶稣基督的好消息，是如何改变他们的生活之道。
那么“普通的”基督徒该怎么办？如果他们真的首先转向圣经求助，他们的解决办法会有什么不同？如果他们的生活认定福音与自己生活的每一方面都休戚相关，情况又会怎样？
约拿单的老板用不道德的方法做生意。约拿单意识到，每一个人的内心都要在末后的日子，在一位公义公正的神面前显露出来（罗2:16）。他不再惧怕他的老板，而是敬畏神，这让他得到自由，可以做正确的事。
医生诊断彼得患上了第一阶段的帕金森综合症，但他知道他最大的宝藏并不属于这世界。受苦帮助彼得不靠自己或靠这世界，而是唯独依靠神（林后1:8-9）。他也知道受苦让基督徒成熟，成为主为自己塑造的敬虔人（雅1:2-4）。
苏珊的儿子不听话。她认识到儿子必须学会顺服神生活（弗6:1-3）。她必须教导他在敬虔的权柄之下生活（来12：5-6），要拯救儿子的灵魂免于死亡，她就必须管教儿子（箴23:14）。
大卫的妻子要结束他们艰难的婚姻。大卫意识到他的骄傲已经破坏了妻子顺从他带领的能力（箴16:18）。他向神承认自己的罪（诗51:4），请求妻子饶恕。大卫的妻子能饶恕他，完全是因为神已经通过祂儿子的死赦免了她（西3:13）。
吉尔的男朋友要与她发生婚前性关系。吉尔在神里面，而不是在任何关系中找到她的信心（箴3:25-26）。她愿意像基督一样生活，这就呼召她来过这种圣洁纯洁的生活（利11:45）。这使她别无选择，只能与她假冒伪善的男朋友分手。
请看，当人做决定，在根本上接受神话语塑造时，基督徒的人生变得何其美好。牧师，你要承认这一点，你希望你的会众这样生活。我希望，因他们还没有这样生活，你不要因此感到灰心。他们能这样生活，因为在神没有什么是不能的！
现在就求神帮助你，让你成为一个更忠心解释祂话语的人。祈求祂教导你如何传讲扎根在圣经经文之上，“充满活力”合乎圣经的应用。
求神在你的教会中兴起这样的教会成员，他们能在门徒培训方面找到极大的喜乐。祷告求神让他们绝不对任何其他人身上的灵命冷漠无动于衷。求神让他们愿意做在其他人身上投资这要付出代价的工作。
你的任务很清楚：使人作主门徒，教导他们顺服。如果你这样做，我愿你要发现你义的收成，远超你最大的梦想。
Where Does Your Congregation Turn For Help?
My wife and I were on a marriage retreat with twelve couples. The men and the women were painfully but honestly working through the failures in their marriage. The small group leaders for the retreat were then instructed to help the couples think about how the gospel applies to their marital weaknesses. Afterwards, I sat down and debriefed with the small group leaders and this is what I got:
“It was the slowest part of the weekend.”
“People just didn’t know what to say.”
And worst of all, “I don’t think people know how to apply the gospel to their lives.”
In this article on discipleship, we look at the urgent need for Christians to teach others how to live gospel-centered lives. The first step in discipleship occurs when the preacher applies the Bible to the life of his congregation. As believers hear the Word and grow in their understanding of the gospel, they increase in their love for Christ.
A second step in discipleship occurs when Christians, equipped with the Word, move out of their comfort zones and engage others in sanctifying relationships. As believers meet together, they sharpen one another and help each other to see the glory of Christ.
Pastors and church members too often fail to fulfill these tasks, and consequently we rarely see adequate spiritual growth in our churches.
THE PASTOR’S FAILURE: NEGLECTING BIBILICAL APPLICATION
Ask any Christian what his pastor taught on Sunday morning and at best you’ll hear a quick overview of the passage and an illustration or two. Ask him how that message makes a difference in his life and generally you’ll hear something vague: “It was helpful.” “It was encouraging.” Or maybe even, “It makes me glad to be a Christian.”
None of these responses are bad. In fact, hopefully they are true. But what happens when “Joe” or “Suzie” Christian walks out of church on Sunday morning and back into a fallen world? Let’s take a few practical examples:
Jonathan walks into his office on Monday and mistakenly discovers that his boss is secretly engaging in unethical business practices.
Peter is told that he’s showing the initial signs of Parkinson’s.
Susan’s 5-year-old son breaks into temper tantrums every five minutes and he consistently ignores his mother’s instructions.
David’s wife tells him that she no longer loves him and wants a divorce.
Jill’s boyfriend tries to talk her into having sex, even though he professes to be a Christian.
Do these people know how the gospel is relevant in their particular situations? If they are like most Christians, they don’t. And so they turn elsewhere.
Jonathan calls his three best friends and asks for their advice.
Peter gets on the Internet and reads everything he can about Parkinson’s.
Susan remembers something she read in a magazine and tries to help her son’s self-esteem.
David and his wife turn to a counselor who recommends communication techniques from the latest marital research.
Jill turns to Oprah Winfrey. What will the goddess of American television say?
Why do Christians turn in directions like these? Why do people walk out of churches not knowing how the Bible makes a difference in their homes, friendships, and workplaces?
On the one hand, church members are bombarded with options just like everyone else. Television commercials, street billboards, Internet advertisements, and magazine ads overwhelm us with alternatives: “Ten tips to a better sex life,” “manage your money better,” “reduced stress and happiness with these vitamins,” “making your life more efficient,” “lonely? Sign up now for a love that lasts.”
On the other hand, might pastors be at fault? Probably. Ask any Reformed pastor how much sermon preparation time he devotes to exegeting the text compared to thinking about biblical application. Application too often falls by the wayside. It is trite and tacked onto the sermon. Yet at what cost?
Other evangelical pastors repeatedly face the opposite problem—their sermon application is weak because they don’t root it in the biblical text. Too many pastors read leadership principles into Nehemiah long before they’ve actually spent time wrestling with the biblical text.
Andreas Kostenberger has asserted that biblical application is “the most critical, albeit the hardest, part of the interpretative process.” Exactly because it is so difficult pastors fail to preach sermons with text-driven, robust application. Again, I ask, at what cost?
People who don’t know how to apply the gospel to the nitty-gritty details of their lives will never grow in their love for Christ.
There you have it. That’s your wake-up call, pastor. If you neglect to teach your people biblical application you have failed to shepherd the flock adequately.
THE CHURCH MEMBER’S FAILURE: NEGLECTING RELATIONAL SANCTIFICATION
While I’m passing out the blame, let me also include church members. As Christians, we rightly desire to be fervent evangelists. But once we get people in the front door of the church we too often feel like our job is done. We are rarely concerned with the long-term spiritual welfare of other believers in our churches.
I want to suggest that one of the most important things that church members can do with their time is what I would call “relational sanctification.” Here is something a friend of mine (Greg) wrote recently:
I have come to rely on the relationships I have in my church. I need them, and I miss them when I am not able to avail myself of them on a regular basis. Vacation kills me. They’re fun, to be sure, but by the end of a week or two, I am painfully aware that something is missing in my life—and it is the relationships at my church. Those people keep me accountable, they help me to think, they help me to lead, they help me love my wife and child. In short, they make me a better person. I think that is how God intended it to work. His people crash up against one another, and through the heat and pressure of those interactions, he shapes us and molds us to look like Christ. . . . I do not think there are many churches out there that are experiencing that kind of relational sanctification. Most churches, I fear, simply come together for a worship service once or twice a week, and then anything more than that would simply be a waste of time. I want to teach a church how to fellowship with one another, and then through that fellowship, how to encourage one another to live lives that will be glorifying to Christ—through bearing one another’s burdens and sorrows, through sharing one another’s joys, and through rebuking and admonishing one another when the need arises.
I love it how Greg says that vacation “kills him.” You don’t hear that often, even from Christians. Yet Greg misses the church—the people, the relationships.
My favorite sentence in this paragraph is right in the middle: “His people crash up against one another, and through the heat and pressure of those interactions, he shapes and molds us to look like Christ.” That is exactly right! God intends for us to live out our faith together—sharpening one another, serving one another, exhorting one another, rebuking one another, loving one another, and so forth.
People often don’t want to do the painstaking work of making disciples because it is costly. It takes time we don’t have to give. Relationships are also invasive. To make a disciple you have to be vulnerable yourself and you have to enquire into the life of another person. All this means dealing with the messy details of life—suffering, emotional ups and downs, fights, doubts, financial woes, parenting woes, and so on.
“I’ve got enough problems of my own,” you might say. “Why do I want to get myself dirty with someone else’s problems?”
Christians who fail to pour their lives into others shouldn’t be surprised to see other believers rarely grow in their love for Christ.
There you have it. If you (as a church member) neglect to invest in others in your church you have failed to follow adequately Christ’s exhortation to go, make disciples, and teach them to obey everything he commanded.
THE SUFFICIENCY OF SCRIPTURE
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know what I’m about to say next. Christian discipleship is about teaching others to apply gospel truths to every aspect of their lives. Pastors should do this in their sermons, and members should do this in their relationships with one another.
Discipleship is rooted first and foremost in the sufficiency of Scripture. To say that something is sufficient is to say that it has everything it needs to do what it intends to do. The Bible claims for itself that it will never return void and that it will accomplish all that it sets out to do. “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isa 55:11).
Moreover, the Bible is sufficient
as our guide to salvation and a life of godliness;
in that its scope is comprehensive—providing everything needed to define and speak to the wide variety of life’s problems;
in guiding and defining what we believe, how we think, what we say, and how we behave.
The Bible is comprehensive in that it provides us with a Christ-centered worldview that equips fallen men and women to see everything in the world from God’s perspective. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin described this worldview using the analogy of spectacles:
Just as old or bleary-eyed men and those with weak vision, if you thrust before them a most beautiful volume, even if they recognize it to be some sort of writing, yet can scarcely construe two words, but with the aid of spectacles will begin to read distinctly; so Scripture, gathering up the otherwise confused knowledge of God in our minds, having dispersed our dullness, clearly shows us the true God.
The Christian life is filled with physical suffering, emotional ups and downs, spiritually “dry” periods, and many other struggles. With each struggle, Christians face a choice—will I look to the world for help, or will I let the Bible speak into my life? Every time a Christian turns to something other than the Bible for help, he fails to trust in the sufficiency of Scripture. He shows that he believes the Bible is not comprehensive enough to meet the nitty-gritty details of his particular situation. When he desires to go beyond what Scripture says he shows that he “remains dissatisfied with what God has given. It is to claim, at least implicitly, that God was not clear enough, or that he needs our help in leading his people in righteousness.”
Again, hear John Calvin:
If this thought prevails with us, that the word of the Lord is the sole way that can lead us in our search for all that is lawful to hold concerning him, and is the sole light to illumine our vision of all that we should see of him, it will readily keep and restrain us from all rashness. For we shall know that the moment we exceed the bounds of the Word, our course is outside the pathway and in darkness, and that there must repeatedly wander, slip and stumble.
If Scripture is adequate for the Christian life, there is no need to “exceed the bounds of the Word.” To do so is to a Christian’s own peril. Since God’s Word is sufficient, then we must teach believers to run to Scripture as their primary source of strength and comfort. We must help believers to bind themselves to the Word of God.
A WALK THROUGH DAILY LIFE
Christian discipleship helps people to come face-to-face with Christ in the pages of Scripture. As people grow in their love for Christ they come to see how the gospel—the good news of Jesus Christ—transforms the way they should live.
So, what about “Joe” and “Suzie” Christian? How might their solutions differ if they actually turned to Scripture first? What if they lived as if the gospel was relevant to every aspect of their lives?
Jonathan’s boss was engaging in unethical business practices. Jonathan realizes that every heart will be revealed on the last day before a God who is just and righteous (Rom 2:16). He no longer fears his boss, but fears God instead, freeing him to do what is right (Prov 1:7).
Peter was diagnosed with the first stages of Parkinson’s, but he knows his ultimate treasure doesn’t belong to this world. Suffering helps Peter to not rely on himself or the world, but on God alone (2 Cor 1:8-9). He also knows that suffering matures Christians into a godly people that the Lord is molding for himself (James 1:2-4).
Susan’s son doesn’t listen to her. She realizes that her son must learn to live in obedience to God (Eph 6:1-3). She must teach him to live under godly authority (Heb 12:5-6) and must discipline him in order to save his soul from death (Prov 23:14).
David’s wife wants to end their difficult marriage. David realizes that his pride has ruined his wife’s ability to follow his leadership (Prov 16:18). He confesses his sin to God (Ps 51:4) and seeks forgiveness from his wife. David’s wife can forgive only because God has forgiven her through the death of his Son (Col 3:13). Jill’s boyfriend wants to have premarital sex.
Jill finds her confidence in God, not in any relationship (Prov 3:25-26). Her desire to live like Christ calls her to a life of holiness and purity (Lev 11:45) that gives her no choice but to break up with a hypocritical boyfriend.
Look at how beautiful the Christian life becomes when people make choices that are radically shaped by the Word of God. Now admit it, pastor: you wish your people lived this way. I hope you’re not discouraged because they don’t yet live this way. They can, because nothing is impossible with God!
Ask God right now to help you to be a more faithful expositor of his Word. Ask him to teach you how to preach “robust” biblical application that is grounded in the biblical text.
Ask God to raise up members from your church who will find great joy in making disciples. Pray that they will never be satisfied with spiritual apathy in others. Pray that they would be willing to do the costly work of investing in others.
Your task is clear: Go, make disciples, and teach them to obey. And if you do, I hope you will find a harvest of righteousness that will grow beyond your wildest dreams.
作者：Deepak Reju
国会山浸信会牧师，负责辅导、家庭和儿童事工。
本文翻译肢体：梁曙东
用圣经视野和实用资源装备教会领袖
进而通过健康的教会向世界彰显神的荣耀
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