十诫的价值观-委身 The Values of The Ten Commandments - Commitment

出埃及记20：1-4 Exodus 20：1-4
神吩咐这一切的话说：我是耶和华─你的 神，曾将你从埃及地为奴之家领出来。除了我以外，你不可有别的神。不可为自己雕刻偶像，也不可做甚麽形像彷佛上天、下地，和地底下、 水中的百物。
And God spoke all these words: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. "You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

十诫中的第二诫-不可为自己雕刻偶像。
The second commandment – You shall not make for yourself an idol.

今天我要和大家分享到十诫中的第二诫-“委身”。
Today I want to share with you about the second commandment – Commitment.

罗马书 Romans 12:1-2

所以弟兄们，我以神的慈悲劝你们，将身体献上，当作活祭，是圣洁的，是神所喜悦的；你们如此事奉乃是理所当然的。不要效法这个世界，只要心意更新而变化，叫你们查验何为神的善良、纯全、可喜悦的旨意。
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

“献上”这个词意味着“一次过的行动”。委身是一次过的，是全力以赴的！我们来听一个故事。
The word “offer” means an action that is “one and for all”. Commitment happens once and it’s all the time that comes after, it is to do all you can! Let us listen to a story.

米开朗基罗的一生充满传奇色彩。他天生就洋溢着艺术细胞，特别在雕塑方面。他被誉为西方文明最伟大的艺术家，也是最具有影响力的风格开创者。他在21岁就完成了第一件成熟作品，而完成大卫像时也还不到三十岁。
Michelangelo lived an incredible life. Possibly the greatest artist of Western civilization – and certainly the most influential – he was born to sculpt. He sculpted his first mature masterpiece at age twenty-one. He completed his Pietà and David before age thirty.

当他三十出头的时候，当时的教皇米利安二世召他去罗马雕刻教皇正在修建的一座壮丽灵寝，但随后又被要求改作一幅绘画。起初他很反感，想推迟这件工作，因为这幅画是要在梵谛冈一座没人注意的小教堂天花板上，而且是要画许多人像，对于许久不再执画笔的米开朗基罗而言，雕塑才是他此时的热忱所在。然而在教皇再三的敦促之下，他还是勉强答应了。
In his early thirties, Michelangelo was summoned to Rome by Pope Julius 11 to sculpt a magnificent papal tomb, but was then asked to work on a painting project instead. At first Michelangelo wanted to refuse, having no desire to paint a dozen figures on the ceiling of a small chapel in the Vatican. Though as a boy he had been trained to paint, his passion was sculpture. But when the Pope pressed him, he reluctantly accepted the assignment.

学者们的看法是，米开朗基罗的一些艺术界劲敌故意把他拱到教皇面前做这件不讨好的差事。他若推辞，教皇可能就不再用他：他若接受，这件工作可能叫他交出像样的成果。但是没想到米开朗基罗这个人是不做则已，一做就全然投入，把原本绘画耶稣十二门徒的单纯画作，扩增到取材自创世记，有描述上帝创造世界的九幅景象和包括四百多位人物的旷世名著。
Scholars believe Michelangelo’s rivals pushed for him to get the job, hoping he would refuse it and lose favor with the Pope, or take it and discredit himself. But once Michelangelo accepted the assignment, he thoroughly committed himself to it, expanding the project from a simple depiction of the twelve apostles to include more than four hundred figures and nine scenes from the book of Genesis.

整整四年，这位年轻的艺术家就躺在高架平台上作画，为了彻底完成一件工作，他付出了艰巨的代价，视力及健康受到了永久的伤害。米开朗基罗说：“四年的画夜辛苦，画了四百多个比真人还大的画像之后，我感觉自己疲倦老化一个地步，就好象耶利米。虽然我只有三十七岁，但是朋友都认不出我的样子了。”
For four grueling years, the artist lay on his back painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And he paid a great price. The work permanently damaged his eyesight and wore him down. Michelangelo said, “After four tortured years, more than four hundred over-life-sized figures, I felt as old and as weary as Jeremiah. I was only thirty-seven, yet friends did not recognize the old man I had become.”

米开朗基罗全力以赴带来的影响力，至今仍然依旧不衰，无远弗届。他不仅在当时让教皇深受感动，成为凡帝冈所重视的御用巨匠，更重要的是，他给当时的艺术界带来极大的震撼。
The impact of Michelangelo’s commitment was far-reaching. He pleased his benefactor, the Pope, and received other commissions from the Vatican. But more important, he made a huge impact in the artistic community.

米开朗基罗的伟大成就虽然与他的天分有关，但若不是全力以赴，他影响力绝对达不到今天这般地步。他委生之彻底，可以从他绘画的细节的精确，甚至整个拱型画面的布局看出来。当时有人问他，为什么愿意这样殷勤又认真地蜷曲在阴暗的角落作画，即使事前事后都不见得有人会去欣赏它？米开朗基罗毫不犹豫地回答：“上帝看得见就过了。”
Undoubtedly Michelangelo’s talent created the potential for greatness, but without commitment, his influence would have been minimal. That level of commitment could be seen in his attention to the fine details as well as the overarching vision. When asked why he was working so diligently on a dark corner of the Sistine Chapel that no one would ever see, Michelangelo’s simple reply was, “God will see”. (截自 Adapted from John C Maxwell – 21 Undisputable Laws of a Leader)

委身和坚持到底是紧紧相连的。若你不原意委身，你就不可能会坚持到底。当我们谈到委身时，世上只有4种人：
Commitment is closely related to holding on. One will not be holding on if one is not committed. When we talk about commitment, there are 4 types of people in this world:

胆小鬼 ：这些人既无真正目标，也不想委身。我称这些人为孤魂野鬼。
Coward: These people do not have an exact target and never want to commit. I call these people the wandering spirits.

迟疑者 ：这些人不清楚自己是否能达到目标，于是等候观望，迟迟不想委身。
Hesitator: These people are not sure whether they are able to hit their target and thus slowing down their pace not wanting to commit.

半途而废者 ：这些人已经站上跑道，迈向目标，但因遇见困难便转身后退。
Giving-up-halfway: These people are already on the runway running towards their goal but give up once an obstacle arose.

夺标者 ：只有少数人订下目标，委身其中，不计辛劳挫折而导致成功。
The winner: Only a handful of people would set a target and stay committed to it and not braced through all the difficulties until the day he or she succeeds.

请问，你是哪一种人呢？
Which type of person are you?

有一个人，他的名字叫沙拉拿(Raphael Solano)，在一条干旱的河边寻找钻石。他一直拾，一直拾，一直到了999，999块枝头，他决定放弃了。但是他的同伴说，再拾一块吧，我们就凑足一百万块吧！你们知道吗？那第一百万块石头就是“解放者” (The Liberator) 是人类所发现最大颗，最纯净的钻石，重155卡拉。
There’s a person called Raphael Solano was searching for diamond along a coast. He kept on picking up the stones one by one until it eventually reached the 999,999th stone then he decided to give up. But his partner urged him to just pick up one more to collect all together a million stones. And guess what, the 1,000,000th stone was The Liberator. It was the biggest and clearest diamond ever found by man. It is 155 karat.


有一句话是这样说的，委身是逆境的克星，因为它让你咬着牙撑下去，无论被击倒多少次，它总能支持你再爬起来。
A phrase goes like this, commitment is the enemy of adversity because it urges you to keep holding on and no matter how many times you may fall, commitment helps you to get up again.

在马太福音Matthew 16:24-25

於是耶稣对门徒说：若有人要跟从我，就当舍己，背起他的十字架来跟从我。因 为，凡要救自己生命（生命：或作灵魂；下同）的，必丧掉生命；凡为我丧掉生命的，必得着生命。
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

耶稣在这里告诉我们要背起十字架来跟从祂。不再为自己雕刻偶像，不在以自己为中心，而是将异象和梦想背在身上。不是为着自己的荣誉，不是为着自己的欲望，而是为了文化职任的异象，选择委身，不轻言放弃。你将会发现神为你预备的奖赏是超乎所求所想的。
In here, Jesus told us to carry the cross and follow Him. Do not make an idol for yourself and making yourself the center of the life. Instead, carry your destiny and dream. It is not for your fame or desire, but for the vision of cultural mandare, choose to commit and not giving up easily. You will one day realise God has prepared a reward that is better than you can ever think of!

口述: 张华晋传道
Preached by: Ps Kelvin Tiong