八福
你的目标是甚么？
经文
马太福音六19-34
19不要为自己积儹财宝在地上；地上有虫子咬，能锈坏，也有贼挖窟窿来偷。
20只要积儹财宝在天上；天上没有虫子咬，不能锈坏，也没有贼挖窟窿来偷。
21因为你的财宝在那里，你的心也在那里。
22眼睛就是身上的灯。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。你里头的光若黑暗了，那黑暗是何等大呢！
24一个人不能事奉两个主；不是恶这个，爱那个，就是重这个，轻那个。你们不能又事奉神，又事奉玛门（玛门：财利的意思）。
25所以我告诉你们，不要为生命忧虑吃甚么，喝甚么；为身体忧虑穿甚么。生命不胜于饮食吗？身体不胜于衣裳吗？
26你们看那天上的飞鸟，也不种，也不收，也不积蓄在仓里，你们的天父尚且养活他。你们不比飞鸟贵重得多吗？
27你们那一个能用思虑使寿数多加一刻呢（或作：使身量多加一肘呢）？
28何必为衣裳忧虑呢？你想野地里的百合花怎么长起来；他也不劳苦，也不纺线。
29然而我告诉你们，就是所罗门极荣华的时候，他所穿戴的，还不如这花一朵呢！
30你们这小信的人哪！野地里的草今天还在，明天就丢在炉里，神还给他这样的妆饰，何况你们呢！
31所以，不要忧虑说：吃甚么？喝甚么？穿甚么？
32这都是外邦人所求的，你们需用的这一切东西，你们的天父是知道的。
33你们要先求他的国和他的义，这些东西都要加给你们了。
34所以，不要为明天忧虑，因为明天自有明天的忧虑；一天的难处一天当就够了。
信息分享
今天，我们将会讲论主耶稣「八福」的第四福：「饥渴慕义的人有福了！因为他们必得饱足」（太五6）。生命的其中一个真理是：每个人都渴求一些东西。有些人渴求成功，有些人渴求名誉，有些人渴求稳定的关系，有些人渴求经济上的保障。但有一种渴求是每个人心里都有的，就是渴求快乐。不过，要留意耶稣没有说：「渴求快乐的人是快乐的」，而是说：「饥渴慕义的人是快乐的。」（有福亦可解作快乐）
因此，快乐只是副产品。要得到快乐，你必须专注于另一样东西。著名的循道会传道人桑斯特博士（W.E Sangster）在一次讲道中提及这一点时说：「你喜欢打哥尔夫球或网球吗？那么你打球的快乐要视乎你在比赛中有多投入。比赛进行时你应该是被它完全吸引着，你的整个心思都应该是放在比赛上。要是你在中途停下来问自己，你从这一棍具体得到多大的快乐，那么愉悦的心情便会马上消失，你会开始感到在一两哩的草地上跟着一个小小的白球走来走去有多无聊！」
要经历快乐，我们必须忘记它，专注于其他的事情，而不是刻意去追求快乐。那些寻求快乐的人永远都不会满足，他们越努力，就越找不到。我再说，快乐只是副产品；它并不是你去寻找的东西，而是它自己前来找你。
「快乐……前来找你」
进深研究
约四1-14，六35；诗三十六8；赛五十五1
1. 耶稣应许甚么？
2. 你渴求甚么？
祈祷
我的父、我的神，我清楚的明白到，假若我人生的目标错误了，那么生命的一切都会出现问题。求您帮助我以追求公义、而不是追求快乐为目标。奉耶稣的名祈求，阿们。
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?
本文英文版权属 CWR 所有，承蒙允准刊载。
背景音乐版权属 赞美之泉音乐事工 所有，承蒙允准使用。