How Beautiful Are the Feet of Those Who Bring the Good News!

How Beautiful Are the Feet of Those Who Bring the Good News!

报福音传喜信的人，他们的脚踪何等佳美！

Romans 罗马书 10:5–15

 

 

We live during a time in which visible local churches are increasingly abandoning the Word of God as the basis for eternal life, help, and hope, let alone as the foundation for every sermon preached. The very idea of a called man of God being a useful watchman on the walls of God’s eternal city, whose primary purpose is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its divinely woven pattern between the Old and the New Testaments, is viewed contemptuously, not only by atheists, agnostics, and egalitarians, but also by many teaching in seminaries and Bible colleges, denominational offices, and many bodies of Christ – both great and small. Even here in Atlanta, in the Bible belt, we have an internationally famous and widely listened-to mega-church preacher, who regularly declares that we no longer need the Old Testament Word of God!

在我们所生活的世代，有形的教会越来越多地放弃将上帝的话语作为永生、大能的帮助、盼望的基础，更不用说将其作为每次宣讲的基础了。神所呼召的人是上帝之城的城墙上不可或缺的守望者，其主要目的是宣讲耶稣基督的福音以及其在新旧约当中启示的神圣真理，但这一看法不仅受到无神论者、不可知论者、和平主义者的藐视，也受到了神学院、圣经学院、宗派领袖、以及大大小小的基督团体中的许多教职人员的藐视。甚至在圣经地带的亚特兰大，我们也有一位国际知名、广受听众欢迎的大型教会讲员，他经常宣称我们不再需要上帝赐予的旧约圣经。

 

For most, if not all of those who hold these views so strongly, this service of installation might seem like an out of date throwback to several centuries in the past. They would question why we make such a serious fuss over the unique calling of a man to serve in Christ’s church and why we are so committed to the faithful preaching of the living Word of Almighty God! They would say to us if they were here, that we do well to honor and encourage Rev. Li, give him some practical pointers and management wisdom – maybe a few more public speaking techniques, and turn him loose! We see in our day a similar falling away from the pure Gospel as Paul was fighting against when he wrote to the church in Galatia:^”Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

对于大多数（如果不是所有）持有这些强烈观点的人来说，这种就职典礼似乎是几个世纪前的过时的回光返照。他们会质疑我们为什么要对一个人在基督的教会中侍奉的独特呼召如此大惊小怪，为什么我们要如此致力于忠实地传扬全能上帝的话语！如果他们在这里，他们会对我们说，我们应该尊重和鼓励李牧师，给他一些实际的指导和管理的智慧——也许再给他一些公开演讲的技巧，然后放手让他去做！在我们的时代，我们也看到了类似的远离纯正福音的现象，正如同保罗在写给加拉太教会的信里所捍卫的：“愿恩惠、平安从父神与我们的主耶稣基督归与你们。基督照我们父神的旨意为我们的罪舍己，要救我们脱离这罪恶的世代。但愿荣耀归于神，直到永永远远。阿们！”

 

⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.¹⁰ For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

“我稀奇你们这么快离开那借着基督之恩召你们的，去从别的福音。那并不是福音，不过有些人搅扰你们，要把基督的福音更改了。但无论是我们，是天上来的使者，若传福音给你们，与我们所传给你们的不同，他就应当被咒诅。我们已经说了，现在又说，若有人传福音给你们，与你们所领受的不同，他就应当被咒诅。我现在是要得人的心呢，还是要得神的心呢？我岂是讨人的喜欢吗？若仍旧讨人的喜欢，我就不是基督的仆人了。”

 

But brothers and sisters, our guide in all things is the living Word of God, unique in its inspiration, truth, wisdom, and transforming power! And so, as we set apart Rev. James Li this evening, to kingdom service here at Hope as an assistant pastor for evangelism and church planting, our first and only guide FOR BOTH THE MESSAGE AND THE MESSENGER is the everlasting Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and particularly as we find it from God’s servant, the Apostle Paul, in his inspired and pastoral letter to the believers in the church of Rome. It is in Romans 10:8–13, that we find out about the absolute importance of the message that is to be always proclaimed, and that message’s power by the Spirit of God to transform hearts, and minds, and lives!

但弟兄姊妹们，我们做万事的指导原则是上帝活泼的话语，它是上帝所默示的、绝对的真理、所拥有的智慧和改变的大能是独一无二的！因此，当我们今天晚上将李轩牧师分别出来，为着传福音并植堂在希望长老教会担任助理牧师时，我们对传讲的信息和传讲信息的人的首要和唯一的指导就是上帝永恒的话语——耶稣基督的福音，特别是我们从上帝的仆人，使徒保罗，在他写给罗马教会信徒的带有启示性的教牧书信中所看到的。在罗马书10:8-13中，我们发现恒久地宣讲是绝对重要的，上帝的圣灵在改变生命、扭转人的心思意念是大有能力的！

 

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

他到底怎么说呢？他说：“这道离你不远，正在你口里，在你心里。”（就是我们所传信主的道）。你若口里认耶稣为主，心里信神叫他从死里复活，就必得救。因为人心里相信，就可以称义；口里承认，就可以得救。经上说：“凡信他的人，必不至于羞愧。”犹太人和希腊人并没有分别；因为众人同有一位主，他也厚待一切求告他的人。因为“凡求告主名的，就必得救”。

 

How could any human message, speech, pep talk, artifice, or eloquence even begin to compare with the Good News of God’s salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord? IT IS THROUGH THE DIVINE MESSAGE OF THE CALL to repent of our sin, to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, and to believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, that eternal salvation is

Offered to otherwise lost and damned sinners like you and like me! And how incredibly amazing and wonderfully good news it is for otherwise hopeless souls like ours to hear that: “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”! And so it is essential that God’s call to repent and to believe go forth! In The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 10, part 1, concerning “Effectual Calling”, we read:

人类的信息、演讲、鼓舞人心的讲话、矫揉造作、或雄辩术，怎么能够与上帝借着我们的救主耶稣基督拯救我们的大好消息相提并论呢？正是通过上帝话语的神圣呼召，我们起来认罪悔改，口里承认耶稣是主，心里相信上帝让耶稣从死里复活，相信永恒的救赎临到了我们这些迷失的、被咒诅的罪人！对于像我们这样原本毫无盼望的灵魂来说，能够听到这样的大好消息是多么令人难以置信：“凡求告主名的，就必得救。”因此，上帝发出的悔改和相信的呼召是至关重要的！在威斯敏斯特信仰告白 10:1，论到“有效呼召”是这样写

 

1. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ: enlightening their minds, spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good; and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.

凡神所预定得生命的人，且就只有这些人，祂乐意在祂指定与看为合宜的时候，借着祂的圣道与圣灵，有效地呼召他们脱离从本性而来的罪与死，使他们借着耶稣基督得恩惠，蒙拯救。使他们的心在灵里蒙光照，以致得救，明白属神的事，神除掉他们的石心并赐给他们肉心，更新他们的意志，借着祂的大能使他们决定向善，并有效地吸引他们来到耶稣基督面前。然而，他们完全是自由地前来，是因为神的恩典，使得他们有愿意的心。

 

There is nothing like receiving good news, is there? When General Eisenhower had sent off all of those brave men into combat on June 5^th for the next day’s invasion of the Normandy beaches, he did not know what news to expect. He hoped for the best, but in fact he planned for the worst. He even wrote out an apology letter taking all of the blame, that he would release if things went badly during the D-Day landings. And yet, later in the day on June 6, 1944, the news from the landing zones was coming in quite good, and to his great relief Eisenhower never sent his apologetic bad news letter. It was stuffed away and forgotten for decades. Instead. The general of the greatest amphibious landings in all of human history declared the landings a success, and honored the airborne forces whom he had seen off the night before for their bravery and their achievement. The great news of the Allies’ successful landings and the first stage of the campaign to retake the nations of Europe from the mighty fist of Nazi Germany was received with relief and rejoicing, despite the terrible cost, in the United States, Great Britain, and all of the occupied countries.

没有什么比收到好消息更让人高兴的了，不是吗？当艾森豪威尔将军于6月5日将所有勇敢的士兵送上战场，准备第二天在诺曼底登陆时，他并不知道会是什么结果。他期盼着最好的结果，但事实上他也做好了最坏的打算。他甚至都写好了一封道歉信，表示如果在D日登陆过程中出现意外，他将承担所有责任。然而，1944年6月6日晚些的时候，从登陆地区传来的消息相当不错，他因着没有寄出那封道歉信而大感欣慰。这封信被塞了起来，被遗忘了几十年。这位人类历史上最伟大的两栖登陆行动的将军宣布登陆成功，并表彰了前一晚被他送走的空降部队的英勇成就。盟军登陆成功，这是盟军从德国纳粹的强大拳头下夺回欧洲各国的战役的第一个阶段。尽管付出了惨重的代价，但美国、英国、和所有的被占领的国家还是如释重负，欢欣鼓舞。

 

Now you and I have received far more excellent Good News than even our grandfathers and grandmothers or our fathers and mothers in the summer of 1944! You and I, and people from every generation since Jesus paid the ultimate cost of His body and blood and completed His saving work, have received the offer of the forgiveness of our sins, peace with God, adoption into His family, and everlasting life by believing in Jesus’ name! So why? So why would we preach or teach anything other than this glorious Good News of God’s salvation? Why would we resort to preaching or teaching human wisdom, or creative sayings, or clever, long-winded arguments when we have such life-transforming Good News to share? Why would we replace preaching with pep-talks and self-fulfillment coaching sessions? Why would we replace pulpits with studio chairs and spotlights? Why would we remove the central message given to us from God and replace it with ANYTHING ELSE, WHICH CANNOT SAVE – WHICH CANNOT BRING NEW LIFE – WHICH CANNOT TRANSFORM OUR PRESENT AND OUR FUTURE FOR ALL OF ETERNITY?!?!

现在，你和我得到的好消息，甚至比我们的祖父祖母，或者1944年夏天我们的父亲母亲所得到的好消息要好得多！你和我，以及每一代所有被耶稣用他的身体和宝血所救赎的人，都因着相信耶稣的名而得着赦免、与神和好、被接纳进入上帝的家、以及拥有永生！因此，既然我们有如此改变生命的大好消息可以分享，我们何必还要传讲活教导其它的信息呢？为什么我们要用鼓舞人心的演讲取代讲道呢？为什么我们要用摄影棚的椅子和聚光灯取代讲台呢？为什么我们要把上帝赐给我们的中心信息移走，代之其它任何别的东西呢？这些东西不能拯救、不能带来新生命、不能改变我们的现在和未来。

 

Now, as we rely upon God’s inspired instructions about the absolute importance of the MESSAGE of Good News of eternal salvation in Christ, so also we look to what the Holy Spirit tells us through the Apostle Paul about the importance of the MESSENGER who is instructed with the Good News Message. Continuing in Romans 10, verses 14–15:

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

现在，当我们依靠上帝的启示，认识到在基督里救恩的大好消息是何等重要时，我们也要看到圣灵通过使徒保罗告诉我们，传讲信息的人是何等重要。继续来看罗马书10:14-15

“然而人未曾信他，怎能求他呢？未曾听见他，怎能信他呢？没有传道的，怎能听见呢？若没有奉差遣，怎能传道呢？如经上所记：‘报福音传喜信的人，他们的脚踪何等佳美！’”

 

What the Apostle Paul was inspired to declare to us here is that the normal means of men, women, and children coming to faith in Jesus is through the preaching of God’s Word – God’s Good News! And as Paul simply and rhetorically asks here, “how are they to hear and thus believe without someone preaching – without someone being sent by God to preach? And this call of God for men to proclaim His Word is nothing new or limited to the New Testament. We see time and time again in Old Testament times the Lord calling and sending out His prophets, priests, messengers, and watchman. In Isaiah 62:6–7 God reveals: On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. The call of Ezekiel 3:16–17 reveals: And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁷ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.

使徒保罗向我们宣告他所得着的启示是，男人、女人、孩子们能够信靠耶稣的通常途径是通过上帝话语（福音）的宣讲！正如同保罗在这里简单且富有修辞地反问：“未曾听见他，怎能信他呢？没有传道的，怎能听见呢？若没有奉差遣，怎能传道呢？” 上帝呼召人宣讲他的话语不是什么新鲜事，也不局限于新约时代。在旧约时代，我们一次又一次看到上帝呼召并差遣他的先知、祭司、使者、和守望者。在以赛亚书62:6-7 上帝启示说：耶路撒冷啊，我在你城上设立守望的，他们昼夜必不静默，呼吁耶和华的，你们不要歇息，也不要使他歇息，直等他建立耶路撒冷，使耶路撒冷在地上成为可赞美的。上帝对以西结的呼召也启示了这一点，以西结书 3:16-17: 过了七日，耶和华的话临到我说：“人子啊，我立你作以色列家守望的人，所以你要听我口中的话，替我警戒他们。”

 

What we are doing this evening is in perfect continuity with the Word of God stretching back to the call of Abraham, to call of Moses, to the call of Isaiah and Ezekiel, to our Lord Jesus’ call of the Apostles, and to the churches of Jesus Christ confirming God’s call upon men of every generation to be Good News messengers and God’s watchmen! And so, brothers and sisters, the church of Jesus Christ continues to need in every generation called men of God who will faithfully and fervently preach the pure Word of God – the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question #89 goes right to the heart of this crucial truth:

我们今晚所做的与神的话语完全一致，可以追溯到亚伯拉罕的蒙召、摩西的蒙召、以赛亚的蒙召、以西结的蒙召、主耶稣对使徒的呼召、以及耶稣基督的教会确认传道人身上来自上帝的呼召。因此，弟兄姊妹们，耶稣基督的教会继续需要蒙神呼召的仆人在每个世代中忠心地、热切地传讲上帝纯正的话语——我主耶稣基督的福音。我们的威斯敏斯特小要理问答第89问直击这问题的核心

 

Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question #89:

Q: How is the word made effectual to salvation?
A: The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching, of the word, an effectual means of convicting and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation.

 

问89：圣经如何有得救的效力？

答：神的灵时常借着诵读、听讲圣经而使罪人醒悟，因而知罪、回转归正，并借着信心在圣洁与安慰上建造他们，以致得救。

 

 

And one of the other key Scriptural supports for this is found in 2 Timothy 3:14-17  ^“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

提摩太后书3:14-17 “但你们所学习的、所确信的，要存在心里，因为你知道是跟谁学的。并且知道你是从小明白圣经，这圣经能使你因信基督耶稣有得救的智慧。圣经都是神所默示的，于教训、督责、使人归正、教导人学义都是有益的，叫属神的人得以完全，预备行各样的善事。”

 

And so we see clearly from the Word of God that the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ must go forth into every tribe, nation, people, and language – and that the most common way for Jesus’ Good News to go forth is through the faithful proclamation or preaching of inspired Word of God by men who have been called by God, both inwardly, and outwardly through God’s people the church. Pastor James understands the central importance of serving King Jesus as a messenger of the Gospel and as a faithful watchman on the wall of God’s kingdom. And so this evening all of us have gathered to publicly acknowledge His call to this church for the purpose of evangelizing and planting a Chinese language local body of Christ – the Atlanta Covenant Church. And each and every one of us gathered here this evening for worship and for installation and who have been transformed by the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ, can certainly agree with the Prophet Isaiah, when God speaks through him to say: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
⁸ The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion.”

因此，我们从神的话语中清楚地看到，耶稣基督福音的好消息必须传遍每一个部落、国家、民族和语言——而耶稣基督的好消息最常见的传播方式就是由受神内在呼召以及借着教会拥有外在呼召的人，忠实地宣讲上帝启示的话语。李轩牧师深知，他作为福音的使者和上帝之城的城墙上的守望者来侍奉主耶稣，这是至关重要的。因此，今天晚上我们所有人聚集在一起，公开承认上帝对这间教会的呼召，为着传福音和植堂建立亚特兰大华人恩约教会。今天晚上，我们每位聚集在这里参加敬拜和就职典礼，并因着耶稣基督福音的宣讲而被改变的人，肯定都会赞同先知以赛亚的观点，上帝借着他这样说：那报佳音、传平安、报好信、传救恩的，对锡安说：“你的神作王了！”这人的脚登山何等佳美。听啊，你守望之人的声音，他们扬起声来，一同歌唱，因为耶和华归回锡安的时候，他们必亲眼看见。