八福
你的目標是甚麼？
經文
馬太福音六19-34
19不要為自己積儹財寶在地上；地上有蟲子咬，能銹壞，也有賊挖窟窿來偷。
20只要積儹財寶在天上；天上沒有蟲子咬，不能銹壞，也沒有賊挖窟窿來偷。
21因為你的財寶在那裡，你的心也在那裡。
22眼睛就是身上的燈。你的眼睛若瞭亮，全身就光明；
23你的眼睛若昏花，全身就黑暗。你裡頭的光若黑暗了，那黑暗是何等大呢！
24一個人不能事奉兩個主；不是惡這個，愛那個，就是重這個，輕那個。你們不能又事奉神，又事奉瑪門（瑪門：財利的意思）。
25所以我告訴你們，不要為生命憂慮吃甚麼，喝甚麼；為身體憂慮穿甚麼。生命不勝於飲食嗎？身體不勝於衣裳嗎？
26你們看那天上的飛鳥，也不種，也不收，也不積蓄在倉裡，你們的天父尚且養活他。你們不比飛鳥貴重得多嗎？
27你們那一個能用思慮使壽數多加一刻呢（或作：使身量多加一肘呢）？
28何必為衣裳憂慮呢？你想野地裡的百合花怎麼長起來；他也不勞苦，也不紡線。
29然而我告訴你們，就是所羅門極榮華的時候，他所穿戴的，還不如這花一朵呢！
30你們這小信的人哪！野地裡的草今天還在，明天就丟在爐裡，神還給他這樣的妝飾，何況你們呢！
31所以，不要憂慮說：吃甚麼？喝甚麼？穿甚麼？
32這都是外邦人所求的，你們需用的這一切東西，你們的天父是知道的。
33你們要先求他的國和他的義，這些東西都要加給你們了。
34所以，不要為明天憂慮，因為明天自有明天的憂慮；一天的難處一天當就夠了。
信息分享
今天，我們將會講論主耶穌「八福」的第四福：「飢渴慕義的人有福了！因為他們必得飽足」（太五6）。生命的其中一個真理是：每個人都渴求一些東西。有些人渴求成功，有些人渴求名譽，有些人渴求穩定的關係，有些人渴求經濟上的保障。但有一種渴求是每個人心裡都有的，就是渴求快樂。不過，要留意耶穌沒有說：「渴求快樂的人是快樂的」，而是說：「飢渴慕義的人是快樂的。」（有福亦可解作快樂）
因此，快樂只是副產品。要得到快樂，你必須專注於另一樣東西。著名的循道會傳道人桑斯特博士（W.E Sangster）在一次講道中提及這一點時說：「你喜歡打哥爾夫球或網球嗎？那麼你打球的快樂要視乎你在比賽中有多投入。比賽進行時你應該是被它完全吸引著，你的整個心思都應該是放在比賽上。要是你在中途停下來問自己，你從這一棍具體得到多大的快樂，那麼愉悅的心情便會馬上消失，你會開始感到在一兩哩的草地上跟著一個小小的白球走來走去有多無聊！」
要經歷快樂，我們必須忘記它，專注於其他的事情，而不是刻意去追求快樂。那些尋求快樂的人永遠都不會滿足，他們越努力，就越找不到。我再說，快樂只是副產品；它並不是你去尋找的東西，而是它自己前來找你。
「快樂……前來找你」
進深研究
約四1-14，六35；詩三十六8；賽五十五1
1. 耶穌應許甚麼？
2. 你渴求甚麼？
祈禱
我的父、我的神，我清楚的明白到，假若我人生的目標錯誤了，那麼生命的一切都會出現問題。求您幫助我以追求公義、而不是追求快樂為目標。奉耶穌的名祈求，阿們。
The Beatitudes
What's your goal?
Bible reading:
Matthew 6:19-34
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,[a] your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[b] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[c]?
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Message
We turn now to the next of our Lord's Beatitudes: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matt. 5:6). One of the axioms of life is this: everyone thirsts after something. Some thirst for success, some thirst for fame, some thirst for stable relationships, and some thirst for financial security. But there is a thirst which is common to every human heart - the thirst for happiness. Notice, however, that Jesus does not say: "Happy are those who thirst for happiness", but "Happy are those who thirst for righteousness."
Happiness, therefore, is a by-product - to get it, you must focus on something else. Dr W.E. Sangster, the famous Methodist preacher, when dealing with this point in one of his sermons, gave this illustration: "Do you enjoy a game of golf or tennis? Then this pleasure is strictly proportioned to the degree to which you lose yourself in the game. While it lasts, it must absorb you: your whole mind should be on the game. If you stop in the midst of it and ask yourself precisely what degree of pleasure you are deriving from this particular stroke, the pleasure will evaporate and you will begin to feel rather foolish in following a wee white ball over a mile or two of turf."
To experience happiness, one must forget it and focus on something other than its pursuit. Those who reach out for happiness are for ever unsatisfied - the more they strive, the less they find. Happiness, I say again, is a by-product; it is not something you find, but something that finds you.
"Happiness...finds you"
Prayer
My Father and my God, I see so clearly that if my goal is wrong, then all of life turns out wrong. Help me to make my goal, not the pursuit of happiness, but the pursuit of righteousness. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.
Further study
John 4:1-14; 6:35
Psalm 36:8
Isaiah 55:1
1. What did Jesus promise?
2. What do you thirst for?
本文英文版權屬 CWR 所有，承蒙允准刊載。
背景音樂版權屬 讚美之泉音樂事工 所有，承蒙允准使用。