Focus on Jesus Reject Temptation – Pastor Jade Yi

Psalm 116:1-9 I will walk in the presence of the Lord. (Ps. 116:9)

James 3:1-12 Dangers of the unbridled tongue

Mark 8:27-38  Peter’s confession of faith

Context

Last week, I attended the Annual Conference for ELCA Chinese Pastors and Lay Leaders in Las Vegas. It was my first time seeing this famous human-made city that lies at the edge of the vast Mojave Desert from the plane. This little city, 135 square miles, located in a bowl-shaped valley, has a great impact not only on this enormous desert, 25,000 square miles, but also on the whole nation. In this city, people discover the deep desire of humanity and experience all kinds of temptations, bragging what humans can create and make in the middle of nowhere.

上週，我參加了在拉斯維加斯舉行的ELCA華人​​牧師以及平信徒領袖的年會。我從來沒有去過那裡。這是我第一次從飛機上看到這座位於廣闊莫哈維沙漠邊緣的著名人造城市。這座135平方英里的小城市，坐落在一個碗狀的山谷中，不僅對這片25,000平方英里的巨大沙漠有著很大的影響，甚至對整個國家也是如此。在此城市, 人們可以看見人類內心深處的渴望，體驗到各種誘惑，吹噓人類在荒無人煙的地方, 有著創造和製造的能力。

The first message of the conference was centered on the three temptations that Jesus encountered in the desert from Matthew 4:1-11. Pastor Paul Liu from Taiwanese Lutheran Church of San Diego reminded us that we are not capable of defeating temptation but we can reject it. He used “Devil Ring,” the Chinese translation of the ring from The Lord of the Rings as a metaphor of temptations. Indeed!  We shouldn’t even try to put on the Devil Ring. Once we put it on, we are possessed by temptations instantly and fully. There is no escape.  

會議的第一個信息著重在馬太福音 4:1-11, 耶穌在沙漠中遇到的三個試探。聖地牙哥台灣信義會劉保羅牧師提醒我們，我們沒有能力克服誘惑，但至少我們可以拒絕誘惑。他用電影《魔戒》中的戒子來比喻誘惑。 的確！ 我們千萬別想嘗試戴上這個魔戒。 一旦戴上了它，我們就會立即完全被誘惑所佔據。無處可逃。

During the first evening, he gave us a short tour of the Las Vegas Strip to show how that human-created environment successfully makes people witness the pleasure of having power, control, and success. On our way back, we reflected on the movie, the Lord of the Rings based on the book series written by J. R. R. Tolkien, and recalled how his writings were shaped and inspired by his friend, C.S. Lewis. If you know the turning points in the lives of these two famous writers, Tolkien and Lewis, you can glimpse how their faith journeys shaped their theologies and their understanding of “temptations.”

第一天晚上，他帶著我們, 快速的遊覽幾個在拉斯維加斯大道的景點，看看人類創造的環境是如何成功地讓人們見證了擁有權力、控制力和成功的樂趣。在回來的路上，我們回顧了這部根據J·R·R·托爾金(J. R. R. Tolkien) 小說改編的電影《魔戒》，並回憶了托爾金的朋友C.S. 路易斯(C.S. Lewis) 是如何塑造且鼓勵他的寫作。如果你了解托爾金和路易斯這兩位著名作家的人生轉捩點，你就能一睹他們的信仰之旅是如何塑造他們的神學觀點以及他們對「誘惑」的理解。

God’s Story and Conundrum

In James, we more or less can see what was going on in this faith community that James was pastoring. Eugene H. Peterson, an American Presbyterian minister, theologian, and author, commented on this letter adequately. I would like to read it for you:

從雅各書信裡，我們或多或少可以看到雅各所牧養的這個信仰團體中正在發生的事情。尤金‧彼得森（Eugene H. Peterson）是位美國長老教會牧師、神學家、作家。他對這封書信做了充分的評論。我唸給您們聽:

When Christian believers gather in churches, everything that can go wrong sooner or later does. Outsiders, on observing this, conclude that there is nothing to the religion business except, perhaps, business – and dishonest business at that. Insiders see it differently. Just as a hospital collects the sick under one roof and labels them as such, the church collects sins. Many of the people outside the hospital are every bit as sick as the ones inside, but their illnesses are either undiagnosed or disguised. It’s similar with sinners outside the church.

當基督徒聚集在教會時，出錯的事情遲早都會發生。局外人觀察到這一點後，得出的結論是，宗教也許除了不誠實的事情之外，沒有任何其他的事了。但屬於教會裡的信徒卻有不同的看法。正如醫院是將病人集中在同一個屋簷下的地方，並標示出他們的病狀，教會也一樣是罪惡的聚集地方。醫院外的許多人的病情與醫院內的人是一樣的，只不過他們的病情要嘛未被確診，要嘛就是被掩蓋過去了。教會外的人也是罪人。

I particularly like the following he wrote:

我特別喜歡他寫的以下這段話：

So Christian churches are not, as a rule, model communities of good behavior. They are, rather, places where human misbehavior is brought out in the open, faced, and dealt with. 

因此，基督教會通常不是良好行為的模範團體。相反，基督教會是人類不當行為被公開揭露、面對和處理的地方。

Eugene H. Peterson concluded:

尤金·彼得森總結：

The letter of James shows one of the church’s early pastors skillfully going about his work of confronting, diagnosing, and dealing with areas of misbelief and misbehavior that turned up in congregations committed to his care. Deep and living wisdom is on display here, wisdom both rare and essential. Wisdom is not primarily knowing the truth, although it certainly includes that; wisdom is skill in living. For, what good is a truth if we don’t know how to live it? What good is an intention if we can’t sustain it? 

雅各的書信為我們呈現了，教會的一位早期牧師巧妙地開展了他的工作，來面對、診斷和處理在他所照顧的會眾中，出現的錯誤的信仰和不當的行為。這裡展現了深奧又活生生的智慧，智慧既罕見又必不可少。智慧首先不是要了解真理，儘管了解真理肯定是需要的；智慧是活出的一個技能。因此，如果我們不知道如何活出真理，那麼有真理，又有什麼用呢？如果我們無法活出意願，那麼有意願，又有什麼用呢？

Lastly, he wrote:

最後，他寫道：

According to church traditions, James carried the nickname “Old Camel Knees” because of thick calluses built up on his knees from many years of determined prayer. The prayer is foundational to the wisdom. Prayer is always foundational to wisdom. 

根據教會的傳統，雅各被稱為“老駱駝的膝蓋”，因為他的膝蓋因多年堅定的祈禱而長出了厚厚的老繭。禱告是智慧的基礎。禱告永遠是智慧的基本。

We all need the Healer, our Lord Jesus, to make us whole over and over again each day. Rather being unprepared to be harmed by sins, we need to put on the Lord Jesus as St. Paul wrote in Romans 13:14. Putting on the Lord Jesus entails our dying to our flesh through our baptism buried with Christ each day and allowing Christ to live in us any given moment. 

我們都需要醫治者，我們的主耶穌，每天一次又一次地使我們的生命完整。寧可不願在沒被裝備下受到罪惡的傷害，我們必須披戴主耶穌，正如聖保羅在羅馬書13:14所寫的。披戴主耶穌意味著，每天我們是因罪面臨死亡的人，藉著洗禮歸入死，和耶穌一同埋葬，並讓基督時時刻刻活在我們的生命裡。

We do so for a very simple reason. That is our confession of faith, which is the same as Peter’s, “Jesus is the Messiah,” and the same as Thomas’ confession of faith, “Jesus is our Lord and our God,” and even the same as the evil spirit’s confession of faith, “Jesus is the Holy One of God!” 

我們這樣做的原因非常簡單。這就是我們的信仰，與彼得的信仰告白一樣，「耶穌是彌賽亞」，與多馬的信仰告白一樣，「耶穌是我們的主，我們的神」，甚至與邪靈的信仰告白一樣, 「耶穌是神的那位聖者」。

IF anyone is confused with or unclear about who Jesus is and what he does, we should lead them to read the part about Jesus stated in the three creeds of the Christian church: Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed. 

如果有人對耶穌是誰、祂做什麼感到困惑或不清楚，我們應該帶領他們閱讀基督教會的三大信經：使徒信經、尼西亞信經、亞他拿修信經中有關耶穌的部分。

Jesus is the Son of God, begotten before time, not made. The astonishing, vibrant light Jesus invites us to live in and with lasts eternally and never ceases, unlike the human-made city, Las Vegas, that only comes alive in the dark in which a vibrant and bustling atmosphere effortlessly lures our deep down desire of power, control, and success. 

耶穌是神的兒子，是在世初時開始之前就已經存在的，而不是被造的。耶穌邀請我們活在那屬祂的光，令人驚嘆充滿活力的光，這光是永恆的，永不止息的，不像人所創造的城市拉斯維加斯，只有在黑暗中才有朝氣，那充滿活力和繁華的氣氛是要毫不費力地誘惑我們內心深處對權力、控制和成功的渴望。

While living in and with Jesus’ light, do we boldly accept the diagnosis of our condition as a sinner? Do we choose to be healed, to escape or to stay hidden? What might our invitation look like when we encounter those who might not have the courage to show up and be seen?

當我們活在耶穌的光中時，我們是否勇敢地接受我們被判為罪人的診斷呢？ 我們是否選擇被治癒、或是逃避，還是將自己隱藏起來呢？當我們遇到那些可能沒有勇氣站出來並被看到的人時，我們對他們的邀請會是什麼樣的呢？

Good News

What is today’s Good News? The Good News is that God has the power to heal us and bring us back to Him for a fresh start whenever our failure to reject temptation results in hurt. The key is that we can’t put on both the Devil Ring and Lord Jesus at the same time. If we do so, we initiate and start a war against God. May we, as James taught, consciously choose how to use our tongues to declare our confession of faith in our Savior Jesus and live a life saved and healed, to praise our Lord instead of using our tongues to curse those who are made in the likeness of God.

今日的好消息是什麼呢？好消息就是，每當我們未能拒絕誘惑而造成傷害時，上帝有能力來治癒我們，使我們再次歸向祂，重新開始。 關鍵是我們不能同時戴上魔戒和披戴主耶穌。如果我們如此做，我們就是在發起並開始了與上帝的爭戰。願我們要像雅各所教導的那樣, 有意識地選擇如何使用我們的舌頭來宣告我們對救主耶穌的信仰並活出一個被拯救出來已得醫治的生命，好來稱謝我們的主，而不用舌頭來咒詛照著上帝的形像被造的人。

Let us put on our Lord Jesus, in whom we may complete the joy of each other. Let us focus on no one else but only Jesus, our ultimate healer, in whom we live well, love well, and forgive well, and through whom our souls never will thirst or hungry. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

讓我們披戴我們的主耶穌，在祂裡面我們能使彼此充滿喜樂。讓我們不要專注於任何人，而只專注於耶穌，我們最終的醫治者，唯有在祂裡面，我們能活得更好，愛得更好，寬恕得更好，唯有透過祂，我們的靈魂永遠不會乾渴或飢餓。感謝 主。阿們。

Photo taken on 9.10.2024