羅波安
Captain William Bligh was an officer of the British Royal Navy in the 18th century. He had accompanied James Cook on one of his voyages to New Zealand and later, Bligh became the captain of another ship, the HMS Bounty. By all accounts Bligh was a hard task-master, ruthless with his men, abusive, critical and cruel with punishment; was an overbearing and autocratic captain who often exploded in fits of rage. He ruled like a tyrant over his crew. On one particular voyage in 1789 the HMS Bounty was sailing from Tahiti to the West Indies, and the crew were struggling under the harsh conditions of life at sea at the domineering nature of Bligh’s leadership. The crew started grumbling and complaining; some of them spoke up and complained to one of the senior officers about his exhausting expectations of them. But rather than taking his crew’s concerns on board, Captain Bligh responded with an even harsher crackdown on the men. He falsely accused one of his officers for stealing and then punished the whole crew by reducing their food rations by half.
威廉布莱上尉是 18 世纪英国皇家海军的一名军官。他曾陪同詹姆斯库克一起航行前往新西兰，后来，布莱成为英国皇家海军邦蒂号的船长，。众所周知，布莱是一个严厉的船长，对他的手下无情，进行虐待和残酷的惩罚。他是一位专横霸道的船长，经常一怒之下爆发。他像暴君一样统治着他的船员。在 1789 年的一次特殊航行中，邦蒂号从大溪地朝着西印度群岛航行，船员们在威廉布莱的暴政下在恶劣的海上生活条件下苦苦挣扎。船员们开始抱怨；他们中的一些人站出来向其中一名高级官员抱怨他对他们的期望太高了。但布莱船长并没有考虑船员的担忧，而是对这些人进行了更严厉的镇压。他诬陷他的一名军官偷窃，然后惩罚全体船员，将他们的口粮减半。
Things became so intolerable under Bligh’s leadership that the crew hatched a plan. One night, in the early hours of the morning, some of the crew, including one of the senior officer’s slipped into Bligh’s cabin and tied him up at knife-point. They then took control of the ship and launched one of the ship’s boats into the water, forcing Bligh into it. 18 other men who were loyal to Bligh were also put into the boat and the boat was cut adrift from the HMS Bounty and left bobbing up and down in the open waters of the South Pacific. That event has become known as the mutiny on the bounty—you may have heard of it—and is infamous in British naval history.
在布莱的领导下，事情变得如此难以忍受，以至于船员们制定了一个计划。一天晚上，凌晨时分，包括一名高级军官在内的一些船员溜进布莱的船舱，用刀把他绑起来。然后他们控制了这艘船，并将船上的一艘小艇放下，迫使布莱下到小艇。忠于布莱的其他 18 名男子也被送上了小艇，小艇从 邦蒂号上漂流而出，在南太平洋的开阔水域上下浮动。这一事件被称为邦蒂号叛变事件——你可能听说过——这在英国海军历史上臭名昭著。
In a twist to the story, Bligh actually survived that mutiny and eventually made it back to England—that’s another story. But he had lost the allegiance of most of his crew, he had lost command of his ship, and he had lost his navigational charts which represented fifteen years of his work at sea.
Ultimately his harsh and brutal leadership style lead to his own downfall.
故事的一个转折点是，布莱实际上在那次叛乱中幸存下来并最终回到了英格兰——那是另一个故事。但他失去了大多数船员的忠诚，失去了对船只的指挥权，失去了记录他在海上工作十五年的航海图志。最终，他严厉而残酷的领导风格导致了他自己的垮台。
Captain Bligh’s story is a bit like the story of King Rehoboam. Even though these two leaders lived several millennia apart and in different parts of the world, their stories follow a similar pattern. Rehoboam also had a harsh, domineering leadership style which ultimately led to a different kind of mutiny. Let me walk you through the story of Rehoboam and let’s see what we can learn from the failures of this king.
布莱船长的故事有点像罗波安王的故事。尽管这两位领导人相隔数千年，生活在世界不同的地方，但他们的故事遵循着相似的模式。罗波安也有一种严厉、专横的领导风格，最终导致了另一种叛乱。让我带你了解罗波安的故事，看看我们可以从这位国王的失败中学到什么。
Rehoboam’s Father was King Solomon, which was already a huge claim to fame and probably gave Rehoboam an inflated sense of his own self-importance. Solomon died when Rehoboam was 41 years old and Rehoboam then ascended to the throne over what was at that point a united monarchy of Israel.
罗波安的父亲是所罗门王，这已经是一个巨大的声名，可能让罗波安对自己的自我重要性产生了夸大的感觉。所罗门在罗波安 41 岁时去世，罗波安随后登上王位，掌管当时以色列的统一的君主政体。
Right at the beginning of his reign, Rehoboam faced the biggest test of his leadership. There was already by this point another challenger to the throne of Israel, a guy named Jeroboam. He had rebelled against king Solomon and God had promised him that he would tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hands because of Solomon’s disobedience and give Jeroboam ten tribes. Jeroboam didn’t know how this was going to happen but he waited quietly and when Solomon passed away and Rehoboam ascended to the throne, Jeroboam saw his opportunity. Jeroboam and a whole delegation of representatives from Israel came to meet with the new king at Shechem. They say, ‘King Rehoboam, your Father Solomon made life so difficult for us, our working conditions were really rough. The hours were too long, the pay was rubbish, not enough breaks, not enough annual leave. Now please, we are asking for some more favourable working conditions under your reign. Lighten the load your father placed on us and we will serve you.”
就在他统治初期，罗波安面临着对他领导能力的最大考验。此时已经有另一个挑战以色列王位的人，一个名叫耶罗波安的人。他背叛了所罗门王，上帝应许他，由于所罗门对神的不服从，他将把王国从所罗门手中夺走，并给耶罗波安十个支派。耶罗波安不知道这将如何发生，但他静静地等待，当所罗门去世，罗波安登上王位时，耶罗波安看到了他的机会。耶罗波安和整个以色列代表来到示剑会见新国王。他们说，‘罗波安王，你的所罗门父王让我们的生活如此艰难，我们的工作条件非常艰苦。工作时间太长，工资太微薄，没有足够的休息时间，没有足够的年假。现在拜托，我们要求在您的统治下提供一些更有利的工作条件。减轻你父亲给我们的负担，我们会事奉你的。”
Rehoboam goes away for a few days to have a think about this. In that time he consults two groups of people. The first is a group of elders; these are wise, mature people who served his father Solomon faithfully during his reign. Look at the advice they give to Rehoboam in v7: “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favourable answer, they will always be your servants.” Notice the word that is repeated three times in that verse, the word ‘serve.’ “Be a servant to these people,” “serve them,” and they will “serve you.” The whole emphasis of what they are saying is on serving. This is hugely significant because the word here for ‘servant’ is the same word that was used of a common household slave. It could be used of anyone in an inferior position but that ran right down to servants that would do the most menial and laborious jobs for their masters. That was the opposite of what kings were supposed to be. Kings were supposed to be powerful, strong rulers, especially the kings of the nations around Israel—like Egypt. These were domineering, autocratic, Vladimir Putin kind of leaders. That was the way kings ruled. These elders are saying, ‘Rehoboam you should reject all that and become a servant of these people.’
罗波安离开几天好好想一想。在那段时间里，他咨询了两组人。首先是一群长老；这些都是聪明成熟的人，在他的父亲所罗门统治期间忠实地侍奉他。看看他们在第 7 节中给罗波安的建议：“现在王若事奉这民如仆人，用好话回答他们，他们就永远作王的仆人。”请注意那节经文中重复了三遍的词，“事奉”这个词。“做这些人的仆人”，“事奉他们”，他们就会“事奉你”。他们所说的全部重点是事奉。这非常重要，因为这里的“仆人”一词与普通家庭奴隶使用的词相同。它可以用于任何处于劣势的人，但它一直适用于为他们的主人做最卑微和最费力的工作的仆人。这与国王应该是相反的。国王应该是强大的统治者，尤其是以色列周围国家的国王——比如埃及。这些都是专横的、专制的、弗拉基米尔·普京式的领导人。这就是国王统治的方式。这些长老说：“耶罗波安，你应该拒绝这一切，成为这些人的仆人。”
Not surprisingly, Rehoboam rejected that advice and he consulted a different group—a group of young men. These were probably the guys he flatted with at university, bunch of immature, irresponsible young guys who were going to tell Rehoboam what he wanted to hear. They say, ‘yeah, nah, you should make life even more difficult for the Israelites that what it already is. What you need is a show of strength. What you need is to make your mark. What you need is to make Israel great again. You need to show them who’s boss—you need to show strength, you need to show dominance, you need to show power.
毫不奇怪，罗波安拒绝了这个建议，他咨询了另一个群体——一群年轻人。这些可能是他在大学时结交的那些家伙，一群不成熟，不负责任的年轻人，他们会告诉罗波安他想听的东西。他们说，‘是的，不，你应该让以色列人的生活比现在更加艰难。你需要的是展示实力。你需要做的是留下你的印记。你需要的是让以色列再次伟大。你需要向他们展示谁是老大——你需要展示力量，你需要展示支配地位，你需要展示力量。
So when the representatives of Israel come back, Rehoboam rejects all of their employment requests. He says, ‘your annual leave is now halved, your lunch breaks are halved, I’ve taken away the coffee machine in the lunch room, and you have to work on Christmas day. Now get back to work!”
因此，当以色列代表回来时，罗波安拒绝了他们所有的雇佣请求。他说，‘你的年假现在减半，午休时间减半，午餐室的咖啡机我拿走了，你圣诞节还要上班。现在回去工作吧！”
What Rehoboam thought was going to happen is that this would assert his control and establish his power over Israel. But what actually happened is that the whole thing completely backfired on him. The Israelites decide, ‘we’re not going to have a bar of this. We’re not putting up with this kind of leader. They stage an almighty mutiny whereby the majority of the Israelites reject Rehoboam as their king, they reject his authority over them and they refuse to follow his leadership and they walk away. Of the twelve tribes of Israel, ten of them reject Rehoboam as king. That’s most of the country—everyone north of Jerusalem. They only tribes left that are loyal to Rehoboam are the two in the south: Judah and the little tribe of Benjamin. But those two tribes really find themselves alienated now from the rest of Israel which has abandoned this king and the whole monarchy in Jerusalem.
罗波安认为将会发生的事情是，这将巩固他的控制权并建立他对以色列的权力。但实际发生的是，整个事情完全适得其反。以色列人决定，‘我们不会接受这样的条件。我们不会容忍这种领导者。他们发动了一场叛乱，大多数以色列人拒绝罗波安为他们的国王，他们拒绝他对他们的权威，他们拒绝跟随他的领导，他们离开了。在以色列的十二个支派中，有十个拒绝罗波安为王。那是这个国家的大部分地区——耶路撒冷以北的每个地方。忠于罗波安的支派只剩下南方的两个支派：犹大和便雅悯，两个小支派。但是这两个支派后来发现自己与以色列其他地区疏远了，以色列其他地区已经抛弃了这位国王和耶路撒冷的整个君主制。
This of course plays into the hands of Jeroboam, who has already been promised that he will be the leader over 10 tribes of Israel. So the way is clear now for Jeroboam to establish his leadership in the North and set up a new capital there and declare their independence from the rest of Israel. This is a really significant moment in biblical history where Israel, which up to this point has been one united nation, now splits into two. You have the northern kingdom—that keeps the name Israel and has its capital in Samaria. And you have the southern, much smaller kingdom, with its capital in Jerusalem. The southern kingdom is thereafter known as Judah. For the rest of Israel’s monarchy these are now two separate nations and they act like bickering brothers—fighting with each other, arguing with each other and generally making life difficult for each other.
这当然轮到耶罗波安发挥作用了，他已经得到应许，他将成为以色列 10 个支派的领袖。因此，耶罗波安在北方建立他的领导地位，在那里建立一个新首都并宣布他们独立于以色列其他地区。这是圣经历史上一个非常重要的时刻，到那时为止，以色列一直是一个统一的国家，现在一分为二。你有北方王国——它保留了以色列的名字，首都在撒玛利亚。你有南部的，小得多的王国，首都在耶路撒冷。此后，南方王国被称为犹大。对于以色列其他君主制国家来说，这两个国家现在是两个独立的国家，他们的行为就像是争吵的兄弟——互相打架、互相争吵，并且通常让彼此的生活变得艰难。
All of this comes back to the foolishness of king Rehoboam. There is such an irony in this story. Rehoboam is hungry for power, he wants control, he wants dominance but because he refuses to serve his people and lead with humility, he ends up losing most of his power, losing most of his territory, losing most of his control. He rejects the way of humility toward others but ultimately he is humbled by God. His refusal to serve others leads to other people refusing to serve him.
这一切又回到罗波安王的愚蠢。这个故事有这样的讽刺意味。罗波安渴望权力，他想要控制，他想要统治，但因为他拒绝为他的人民服务并以谦逊的态度领导，他最终失去了大部分权力，失去了大部分领土，失去了大部分控制权。他拒绝对他人谦卑，但最终上帝迫使他谦卑。他拒绝为他人服务导致其他人拒绝为他服务。
Let’s step back from this story for a minute and place this text in the context of the whole biblical story. One of the things we want to do in this series is show you how all of these kings in the OT are not just moral lessons for our lives, but they ultimately point us forward to the great king who was to come—Jesus, the king of kings. Each of these kings reveal something about Jesus and Rehoboam does this in a remarkable way. Turn over to John 13. This is the story of what happened on the night that Jesus was betrayed, the night before he was crucified. This was the time when Jesus instituted the meal of the last supper But in this passage John doesn’t focus on the meal itself but on something that happened after the meal.
让我们从这个故事退出来，把这段文字放在整个圣经故事的背景下。在本系列中，我们想做的一件事是向您展示旧约中的所有这些君王的故事不仅仅能作为我们生活的道德教训，而且它们最终将我们引向即将到来的伟大君王——耶稣，万王之王。这些国王中的每一位都揭示了一些关于耶稣的事情，而罗波安以一种非凡的方式做到了这一点。翻到约翰福音第 13 章。这是关于耶稣被出卖的那个晚上，也就是他被钉十字架的前一天晚上发生的故事。这是耶稣设立最后晚餐的时间，但在这段经文中，约翰并没有关注晚餐本身，而是关注餐后发生的事情。
Have a look at v3 [read v3-5]. It was customary in those days that when a person hosted others for a meal, they would organise a servant or slave to wash the feet of the guests as they arrived. People didn’t wear shoes in those days so their feet would have been dirty and this was the accepted etiquette. When Jesus and his disciples gathered for this meal, for whatever reason this hadn’t happened. Nobody had organised a servant to wash everyone’s feet. So after dinner Jesus himself, the leader of the group, the rabbi, gets up from the table, he takes off his outer clothing, he gets a towel and a basin of water and he starts washing the feet of his disciples. What Jesus is doing here is taking the role of the servant. He is taking the role of the common household slave, the doulos. This is an incredible act of humility, of servanthood.
看看 第三节 。当时的习俗是，当一个人招待别人吃饭时，他们会组织一个仆人或奴隶在客人到达时为他们洗脚。那时人们不穿鞋，所以他们的脚会很脏，这是公认的礼仪。当耶稣和他的门徒聚集在一起吃这顿饭时，无论出于何种原因，这一切都没有发生。没有人组织过仆人给每个人洗脚。因此，晚餐后，耶稣本人，这群人的领袖，拉比，从桌子上站起来，脱掉外衣，拿一条毛巾和一盆水，开始为门徒洗脚。耶稣在这里所做的是扮演仆人的角色。他扮演的是普通的家庭奴隶。这是令人难以置信的谦卑和仆人行为。
Could there be a greater contrast with king Rehoboam? Rehoboam was counselled by the elders to be a servant to his people, to serve them. But he rejected that advice and sought to grab as much power from himself as he could. Yet here you have Jesus, the true and faithful king, who takes the role of the servant. Jesus is doing exactly what the elders told Rehoboam to do—become a servant to your people. Jesus embodied what Rehoboam never did—he was the servant-king, the humble king.
这与罗波安王有很大的对比吗？长老们劝罗波安成为他人民的仆人，为他们服务。但他拒绝了这个建议，并试图从自己身上获取尽可能多的权力。然而，这里有耶稣，这位真正忠实的君王，他扮演着仆人的角色。耶稣正在做长老告诉罗波安要做的事——成为你百姓的仆人。耶稣做到了罗波安从未做过的事——他是仆人国王，谦卑的国王。
But what is even more striking is the way that John writes this passage, and the connection between v3-4. In v3 you have this extraordinary statement of Jesus’ power: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.” That’s a statement of Jesus’ divinity, one of the strongest that we find in the gospel. John makes it clear that Jesus has come from God and after his incarnation will return to be with God himself, and that God had personally put everything under the feet of Jesus. This is a clear statement of Jesus’ God-given power and authority over all things. This is far more power than Rehoboam ever had—not just power over a nation but power over everything in heaven and earth. Jesus has the highest authority imaginable. Then in v4 you have this extraordinary statement of humility—Jesus takes the lowest role on the social ladder and washes his disciples’ feet. This is a statement of lowliness, of humility, of servanthood, of selflessness.
但更引人注目的是约翰写这段经文的方式，以及 第 3 和第 4 节之间的联系。在第 3 节中，你有这样一段关于耶稣大能的非凡陈述：“耶稣知道父已将万有置于祂的权能之下，并且知道祂是从神那里来的，又要回到神那里去。这是对耶稣神性的陈述，是我们在福音中发现的最强大的神性之一。约翰说得很清楚，耶稣是从神那里来的，道成肉身后会回到神身边，神亲自把一切都放在了耶稣的脚下。这清楚地表明了耶稣对一切事物的上帝赋予的能力和权威。这比罗波安拥有的权力要大得多——不仅是对一个国家的权力，而且是对天地万物的权力。耶稣拥有可以想象的最高权威。然后在第 4 节中，你有这个非凡的谦卑声明——耶稣在社会阶梯上担任最低的角色，并为他的门徒洗脚。这是一种谦卑、仆人、无私的宣言。
Now look at the word that connects these two verses together. It’s the word ‘so.’ Jesus had all this power, so he washed his disciples’ feet. We might have expected that those two phrases would be joined by the word ‘but.’ Jesus had come from God and was returning to God, and God had placed everything under his feet, but he got up and wrapped a serving towel around his waist. That sounds more fitting. The word ‘but’ indicates a contrast or contradiction. Jesus has all authority, but in spite of that, he served others. Yet John doesn’t use the word ‘but.’ He uses the word ‘so.’ ‘So’ indicates that these two phrases are connected, not contradictory. They are continuous, not contrasting. One results naturally from the other. Jesus has all authority, so he gets up and puts a serving towel around his waist. Strange as it sounds, by using the word ‘so’ John is saying that the natural result of Jesus’ divine authority is serving; the natural consequence of his supreme power is humble, selfgiving love toward others. This menial act of washing his disciples’ feet is not something did in spite of being God, but because he was God. This act of serving flowed naturally out of who Jesus was as the Son of God.
现在看看将这两节经文联系在一起的词。就是“所以”这个词。耶稣拥有这一切的能力，所以他洗了门徒的脚。我们可能已经预料到这两个词会加上“但是”这个词。耶稣从神那里来，正在回到神面前，神把一切都放在了他的脚下，但他站起来，把一条毛巾围在腰上.听起来更合适。“但是”这个词表示对比或矛盾。耶稣拥有所有的权柄，但尽管如此，他还是为他人服务。然而，约翰没有使用“但是”这个词。他使用了“所以”这个词。“所以”表明这两个短语是相互关联的，而不是相互矛盾的。它们是连续的，而不是对比的。一个自然产生于另一个。耶稣拥有所有的权柄，所以他站起身来，将一条毛巾围在腰间。听起来很奇怪，约翰使用“so”这个词是在说耶稣神圣权威的自然结果是服侍。他至高无上的权力的自然结果是对他人谦虚、无私的爱。这种为门徒洗脚的卑微行为，并不是他是神而做的，而是因为他是神。这种事奉的行为自然而然地从耶稣作为上帝之子的身份中流露出来。
That, in turn, shows us something about the nature of God himself. If the actions of Jesus in this passage are the natural expression of what it means for him to be related to the Father, then in his servanthood we see the character of God. Jesus is not just giving his disciples an example to follow, he is revealing what the Father is like. He is showing them that at the heart of God’s being is servanthood. The very nature of the triune God is love, the kind of love that pours oneself out for others. So when this God becomes incarnate, it is no surprise that we should find him kneeling down, washing the dirty feet of his followers. That was not an exception to his power and position—it was perfectly in keeping with who he is: the self-giving God. This means that servanthood is not just something that Jesus did during his time on earth. It is who Jesus is, as the Son of God. It is who God is. Servanthood is lodged in the heart of God—it is the very nature and character of God to serve through self-giving love.
这反过来又向我们展示了关于上帝本身的本质。如果这段经文中耶稣的行为是他与天父的关系的自然表达，那么在他的仆人身份中，我们看到了上帝的品格。耶稣不只是给他的门徒一个可以效仿的榜样，他也在揭示天父的样子。他向他们表明，上帝存在的核心是仆人。三位一体神的本质就是爱，那种为他人倾注自己的爱。因此，当这位神道成肉身时，我们会发现他跪下，为他的追随者洗脚，也就不足为奇了。这对他的权力和地位也不例外——这完全符合他的身份：自我奉献的上帝。这意味着仆人的身份不仅仅是耶稣在世时所做的事情。耶稣就是上帝的儿子。这就是上帝。仆人的身份存在于上帝的心中——通过舍己的爱来服务是上帝的本性和品格。
As those who love and serve and follow this God, servanthood should express the character of our lives too. After washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” The doesn’t mean Jesus was literally calling us to wash each other’s feet; he is calling us to embody this kind of servanthood in our own lives. He is calling us to take the role of the servant in the way we treat and relate to the people around us. He is calling us to do exactly what the elders called Rehoboam to do: be a servant to people and serve them. God is calling us to do what Rehoboam refused to do. But I want you to see that the reason we are called to this is so important. We are called to serve others because it comes out of the character of God himself. It’s so important we have that foundation in place, otherwise the story of Rehoboam gets reduced to a moral lesson. We look at Rehoboam and say, ‘he’s just a bad example, we should not be like Rehoboam but instead we should be like Jesus.’ No, the reality is much deeper than that. We say, ‘The problem with Rehoboam is that his character didn’t reflect the character of God which is to serve. Jesus is the king who perfectly reflected the servant-heart of God. It is the servant-heart of God himself that leads us to serve others, not just because it’s the right thing to do. Our morality as Christians flows out of the character of the God we worship, and it is because servanthood is in the very nature of God that it should characterize the posture of our lives.
作为热爱、侍奉和跟随这位上帝的人，仆人的身份也应该表达我们生活的品格。耶稣洗完门徒的脚后，说：“我给你们树立了榜样，你们应该像我为你们所做的那样去做。”这并不意味着耶稣真的在呼吁我们互相洗脚；他呼吁我们在自己的生活中体现这种仆人身份。他呼召我们在对待和与周围人交往的方式中扮演仆人的角色。他呼召我们做长老们要求罗波安做的事：做人的仆人，为他们服务。神呼召我们去做罗波安拒绝做的事。但我想让你看到，我们被呼召做这件事的原因是如此重要。我们被呼召为他人服务，因为它来自上帝本身的品格。我们有这个基础是如此重要，否则罗波安的故事就会沦为道德课。我们看着罗波安说，“他只是个坏榜样，我们不应该像罗波安，而应该像耶稣。”不，现实远比这更深刻。我们说，‘罗波安的问题在于他的品格没有反映上帝的品格，即服务。耶稣是完美体现上帝仆人心意的君王。是上帝自己的仆人之心引导我们为他人服务，而不仅仅是因为这是正确的事。作为基督徒，我们的道德源于我们所敬拜的上帝的品格，正是因为仆人是上帝的本性，所以它应该成为我们生活姿态的特征。
So how do we begin to live this out? How do we walk in the way of servanthood, the way of Jesus,
rather than in the way of Rehoboam?
Dan Allender story of student serving dinner to faculty…
那么我们如何开始呢？我们如何走仆人的道路，耶稣的道路，而不是罗波安的道路？
丹·艾伦德（Dan Allender）学生为教职员工提供晚餐的故事……
That humble act of servanthood broke through what could otherwise have been entrenched hostility between those two groups and brought healing and soft hearts that helped everyone move forward. Imagine if Rehoboam had tried something like that with the Israelites that came to see him? The story could have been so much different! This is the real power that servanthood has. It can break down walls between people and communities, it can level the power differential that exists between individuals; it can break through hard hearts and bring softness and gentleness where there had been only hostility. Serving others. Of course we don’t serve others just so we can disarm them and manipulate them to get our way. Servanthood can be misused and weaponized to get what we want. But if we serve others out of genuine hearts, letting go of our need to hold on to our power, it can be such a surprising act that it can lead to the walls of people’s hearts coming down because they are seeing the grace and love of God in action.
这种谦卑的仆人行为打破了这两个群体之间根深蒂固的敌意，带来了治愈和柔软的心，帮助每个人前进。想象一下，如果罗波安对来拜见他的以色列人尝试过类似的事情？故事可能会有很大不同！这就是仆人所拥有的真正力量。它可以打破人们和社区之间的墙，它可以拉平个人之间存在的权力差异；它可以冲破坚硬的心，在只有敌意的地方带来柔软和温柔。为他人服务。当然，我们服务他人的目的不仅仅是为了解除他们的武装并操纵他们为所欲为。仆人可以被滥用和武器化以获得我们想要的东西。但是，如果我们以真诚的心服务他人，放下我们保持权力的需要，这可能是一个令人惊讶的行为，它会导致人们的心墙倒塌，因为他们看到了上帝的恩典和爱。
Serving others doesn’t always need to be big gestures. A lot of the time it’s not. It is simply tuning in to the opportunities that come across our paths everyday to put others ahead of ourselves. I think of a guy in our church who is an accomplished speaker—he speaking at conferences and seminars all
over the place and even trains other speakers. But he spends a lot of his week running Bible in Schools programmes for primary kids, sitting around with kids telling them about the Bible. I think of a group of young people in our church who have spent their Friday nights taking hot meals to homeless people in the city, walking up and down Queen Street having conversations with people and offering them a hot dinner. I think of a group of women in our church who each week have picked up leftover food from a local bakery and taken that to Massey university to be given to students who are struggling and don’t have enough food. I think of people in our church who have been involved, over the past year, in doing grocery shopping and delivering meals to people who have been isolating because of covid. I think of my Grandad, who was a pastor. He was always serving people. One of the things he would do is to go round to people’s homes when they were out and mow their lawns or do a bit of gardening. Please don’t expect me to do that for you, by the way. I haven’t inherited many of his serving genes. But he was a servant.
为他人服务并不总是需要大动作。很多时候不是。它只是在我们每天遇到的机会中调整我们将他人置于自己之上。我想到了我们教会中一位很有成就的演讲者——他在各地的会议和研讨会上演讲，甚至培训其他演讲者。但他花了很多时间在学校为小学生开设圣经课程，和孩子们坐在一起向他们讲述圣经。我想起了我们教会的一群年轻人，他们在周五晚上为城里的无家可归者提供热食，在皇后街上走来走去与人们交谈，并为他们提供热腾腾的晚餐。我想起了我们教会里的一群女性，她们每周都会从当地面包店收集剩下的食物，然后带到梅西大学，送给那些挣扎着但没有足够食物的学生。我想起了我们教会中的一些人，他们在过去一年中参与了为因新冠病毒而被隔离的人们购物和送餐的活动。我想起了我的爷爷，他是一位牧师。他一直在为人们服务。他会做的一件事就是在人们外出时到他们家去修剪草坪或做一些园艺工作。顺便说一句，请不要指望我会为你这样做。我没有继承他的许多服务基因。但他是一个仆人。
These are all ordinary people doing ordinary things to serve other ordinary people in ordinary ways. Nothing flashy, nothing showing, nothing about ego. Just humble acts of serving others in love. Serving others doesn’t even have to be an organized programme. Sometimes we think, ‘I just don’t have any more time in my week to volunteer at a food bank or help serve meals to the homeless or run Bible in Schools. That’s fine. Part of being a servant is becoming attentive to the opportunities to serve others that already exist all around us in the course of our everyday lives.
Listen to the words of Margot Starbuck, who wrote a great book called Small Things with Great Love: “Jesus invites those of us who are weary from our hectic schedules and harried commutes and the burden of taking care of so much stuff into an entirely new way of living. Whether we run an office or wipe runny noses, we whose plates are already full—literally and figuratively—experience real relief in yoking ourselves to Jesus by moving toward the ones he loves. As we extend small acts of self-giving love in the course of our normal daily routines, God’s kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.”
这些都是普通人做普通的事，用普通人的方式服务其他普通人。没有什么华而不实的，没有什么炫耀的，没有关于自我的。只是在爱中为他人服务的谦卑行为。服务他人甚至不必是一个有组织的计划。有时我们会想，‘我一周中没有更多时间在募集食品活动中做志愿者，或者帮助为无家可归者提供膳食或在学校开展圣经课。没关系。成为仆人的一部分是关注在日常生活中为我们周围已经存在的其他人服务的机会。听听 Margot Starbuck 玛戈特的话，
她写了一本很棒的书，叫做 Small Things with Great Love 用大爱做小事：
“耶稣邀请我们这些厌倦了我们繁忙的日程和有繁重负担的人进入一个全新的生命方式。无论我们经营办公室还是擦鼻涕，我们的盘子已经装满了——从字面上和比喻上来说——通过走向他所爱的人来与耶稣共轭，体验到真正的解脱。当我们在日常生活中表现出自我奉献的小爱时，上帝的国度就如在天上一样降临人间。”
What she is saying is that serving others is something we can fold in to our existing rhythms and routines of life. It means simply looking around us and asking, ‘who is already in my life who I could serve?’ Maybe it’s someone you literally drive past every day. There was an elderly guy I used to drive past everyday on my way home from work who would sit in his rider out by the ride and just watch the traffic for hours. I felt the nudge of the Spirit one day to stop and go and talk to him. It wasn’t anything special, I just struck up conversation and chatted to him for a while. But that simple act, being present to someone who was probably quite lonely, which was literally on my way home from work, was an everyday act of serving. It might be simply paying attention to who cleans your office building, and if you see those cleaners around, say hello and try to learn their name. It might be someone you come across randomly who needs a bit of help with their groceries. It might be that in this season of life you have a baby or young child and that little person is the one God is calling you to serve. Or you may have an ageing parent and that is the person God has called you to serve in this season. Don’t think that because they are family they don’t count. We are called to serve our families too. It doesn’t matter who it is or where it is or how it happens—when we start looking for the opportunities to serve they are all around us.
她所说的是，为他人服务是我们可以融入我们现有的生活节奏和日常生活的东西。这意味着简单地环顾我们周围并问，“谁已经在我的生活中，我可以为谁服务？”也许这是你每天开车经过的人。我以前每天下班回家的路上都会经过一个老人，他会坐在他的自行车旁边，看着交通几个小时。有一天，我感觉到圣灵的轻推让我停下来和他说话。没什么特别的，我只是搭讪他，聊了一会儿。但这种简单的行为，在我下班回家的路上，出现在一个可能很孤独的人面前，是一种日常的服务行为。可能只是关注谁在打扫你的办公楼，如果你看到周围的那些清洁工，打个招呼，试着知道他们的名字。可能是您偶然遇到的人，他们需要一些杂货帮助。可能在这个生命的季节，你有一个婴儿或年幼的孩子，而那个小人物是上帝呼召你服务的那个人。或者你可能有一位年迈的父母，那就是上帝呼召你在这个季节服务的人。不要以为因为他们是家人，他们就不算数。我们也被要求为我们的家人服务。不管它是谁，它在哪里，或者它是如何发生的——当我们开始寻找服务的机会时，它们就在我们身边。
Parents, this is also something we can be teaching and modelling to our children and grandchildren, isn’t it? I think of my Dad who serves in a monthly dinner that his local church runs from those in their neighbourhood. He took along my niece last time to help, to show her the value of serving others. She was telling me all about it and some of the people that she helped, and how disappointed they were when Grandpa said there wasn’t seconds! But it was great to hear her talking about it and I’m trusting that experience was really formative in growing a servant-heart within her. Parents, think about how you can involve your kids in serving others along with you, teaching them what it means to follow the example of Jesus. Grandparents, you’ve got an amazing role to play in the lives of your grandkids and part of that can be showing them what it looks like to be a servant, and encouraging them in that direction.
家长们，这也是我们可以教给子孙后代的东西，不是吗？我想起了我的父亲，他在当地教堂为他们附近的人举办的每月晚餐中提供服务。上次他带着我侄女帮忙，向她展示了为他人服务的价值。她告诉我这一切，谈及一些她帮助过的人，以及当爷爷说没有第二轮时，他们是多么失望！很高兴听到她谈论这件事，我相信这种经历真的对她内心的仆人心起到了塑造作用。父母们，想想你如何让你的孩子和你一起为他人服务，教导他们效法耶稣的榜样意味着什么。祖父母们，您在孙子孙女的生活中扮演了一个了不起的角色，其中一部分可以向他们展示成为仆人的样子，并鼓励他们朝这个方向发展。
As we finish, can I give you one step to take to make this practical in your life? Often we don’t know where to start with serving others and it seems like a big, daunting task, especially if it doesn’t come naturally to us and we haven’t done a lot of serving others before. We can get overwhelmed by it and then do nothing. I want to encourage you to set yourself the goal of doing one thing to serve someone each day. Just one thing each day. I’ve tried to set this goal for myself over the last little while, and it has looked like a lot of different things (give some examples). The great thing is that when you set that goal, then it’s in your head during the day and you are looking for ways to serve. I’ve found that I am far more aware of potential opportunities to serve others because I’m wondering what my one thing of the day might be. Of course there might be more than one thing, but for those of us for whom serving does not come naturally this is a great place to start. If you miss a day, don’t worry, just pick it up again the next day. Imagine if across our three churches, we all committed to doing this? That’s well over a thousand Christians all serving one other person every day. Think about how many people in our city would be served in some way over the next year if we all did that? That would be a huge movement of servanthood that would bless the lives of so many people. And it is so doable. It starts with each of us being obedient to the Holy Spirit today and taking one step to serve somebody else. You can start thinking even now about who that might be.
当我们结束时，我可以给你一个建议，让它在你的生活中变得实用吗？通常我们不知道从哪里开始为他人服务，这似乎是一项艰巨的任务，尤其是如果这对我们来说不是自然而然的，而且我们以前没有为他人服务过很多。我们可能会觉得压力很大，然后什么也不做。我想鼓励你为自己设定一个目标，每天做一件事为某人服务。每天只做一件事。在过去的一段时间里，我试图为自己设定这个目标，它看起来有很多不同的东西（举一些例子）。最棒的是，当你设定了这个目标时，它就会在白天出现在你的脑海中，并且你正在寻找服务的方式。我发现我更加意识到为他人服务的潜在机会，因为我想知道我一天中的一件事可能是什么。当然，可能不止一件事，但对于我们这些服务不是自然而然的人来说，这是一个很好的起点。如果你错过了一天，别担心，第二天再捡起来。想象一下，如果在我们的三个教会中，我们都承诺这样做？这相当于一千多名基督徒每天都在为另一个人服务。想想如果我们都这样做，明年我们城市会有多少人以某种方式得到服务？那将是一场巨大的仆人运动，将祝福这么多人的生活。这是非常可行的。它始于今天我们每个人都顺服圣灵，并迈出一步为他人服务。你甚至可以现在就开始思考那可能是谁。
What the world desperately needs to see right now is a church that takes the posture of a servant. Too often the world sees the church judging, it sees the church criticising, it sees the church building walls between itself and the world or shaking its fist at the world. What the world needs to see right now is a church that gets on its knees and serves. So as you reflect on the story of Rehoboam in the coming week, I pray that this story of the king who refused to serve might point you toward Jesus, the one who said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And I pray that the pict ure of Jesus as the servant-king might lead you to ask God to give you that same servant-heart toward those around you. Let us not just be hearers of the word today, but doers of the word. Let us move toward others with love, with open hearts, with open hands, to encourage, to bless, to help to support, to serve. And let’s do it all for the glory of our God, the servant king.
当今世界迫切需要看到的是一个摆出仆人姿态的教会。我们常常看到教会审判，看到教会批评，看到教会在自己和世界之间筑起高墙，或者对世界挥舞拳头。我们现在需要看到的是一个跪下来服务的教会。因此，当你在接下来的一周里思考罗波安的故事时，我祈求这个拒绝服侍的国王的故事可以将你引向耶稣，他说：“人子来不是为了服侍，而是为了服侍，并以他的生命作为许多人的赎金。”我祈祷耶稣作为仆人之王的形象可能会引导你祈求上帝给你同样的仆人心之对待你周围的人。让我们今天不只是听道，而是行道。让我们以爱、敞开的心、张开的双手、鼓励、祝福、帮助、支持、服务来走向他人。让我们为我们的上帝，仆人国王的荣耀而做这一切.
