by Rev. Benjamin Chung (鍾立恆牧師)
As a pastor, and even before I was a pastor, I have been to quite a few cemeteries. Something that pretty much all headstones have in common is how they never list the person’s height, weight, hair color or their political affiliation. In fact, they are all pretty much the same. Just a date born, a dash, and a date the deceased passed. But if we think about it more deeply, it is the dash in between that is different. This is what is unique to each individual.
As for Jesus, whose death and resurrection we just celebrated, we don’t even have a headstone or know where he is buried! But we do know what He did on earth. We know what His purpose was for. Jesus was the “last Adam”, according to 1 Corinthians 15:45 (ESV), “‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” He saves us from our sins, the sins of death, by being the “life-giving spirit”. He died for our sins and also gives us eternal life. Lord, we are so ever thankful that you not only died for us, but rose again as promised! We know this from the gospel texts. And we know what will happen. We will be resurrected with Jesus on that Day! 1 Thessalonians 4:14 says, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so,
through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”
We need to be thinking of our own dash. We do not know what the second date will be, but we can be thinking of our own predestined-by-God purpose for our lives. Each one of us has a purpose in God’s plan. But do we know what we are to be doing to serve Him? Are we discipling other believers? Are we making friends with non-believers and planting seeds so that they will become believers one day? Are we praying for their faith? Are we petitioning for the continued faith of Christians-in-
name-only? And are we considering how we will build up the family of SFCBC as we prepare to resume worship and fellowship at church? During the last year, as we have been sequestered, what have we been thinking about doing for Christ when we come back together? Let’s get together, continue to prepare, and then serve the Father, just as Jesus did. Our dash mark can also look a lot like Jesus’s dash mark. I hope to see you in person soon!
Translation:
作為牧師，甚至在我成為牧師之前，我就去過很多墓地。幾乎所有墓碑都有一個共同點，那就是它們從未列出該人的身高，體重，頭髮顏色或他們的政治黨派。實際上它們幾乎都是相同的，都有 出生日期，破折號(短劃線記號)和死者的逝世日期。但是，如果我們更深入地思考，則兩者之間的破折號是有不同的，是每個人所獨有的。
至於我們剛剛慶祝過主耶穌的釘死與復活，我們甚至沒有墓碑，也不知道衪被埋葬在哪裡！但是我們確實知道衪在地上做了什麼事。我們也知道衪的目的是什麼。主耶穌是“最後的亞當”，
根據哥林多前書 15:45：「經上也是這樣記著說：首先的人亞當成了有靈的活人；末後的亞當成了叫人活的靈」。通過成為叫人「活的靈」，主耶穌從導至死亡的罪惡中拯救了我們，是衪為我們的罪而死，也給了我們永恆的生命。主啊，我們是如此感激不已，祢不僅為我們而死，祢更實現了復活的應許！我們從福音書中知道這一切，而且我們知道將會發生的事。在那天我們將與主耶穌一同復活！帖撒羅尼迦前書 4:14 說：「我們若信耶穌死而復活了，那已經在耶穌裡睡了的人，神也必將他與耶穌一同帶來。」
我們需要思考自己的破折號之後的日期，雖然不知道將會是何年何日，但我們可以思想神為我們在世上預定的旨意。我們每個人在神的計劃中都有一個目的。但我們是否知道要怎樣事奉衪
呢？我們有否與其他信徒參與門徒訓練嗎？有否與非信徒交朋友並種下福音種子，使他們有一天成為信徒呢？有否為他們的信心祈禱嗎？有否為那些表面自稱是基督徒的恆久信心祈求嗎？我們有否正在思考準備在教會恢復實體敬拜和團契時，如何建立三藩市浸信會這個家庭？在過去的一年中，我們被隔離了，有否在家時去思考怎樣為主作工？讓我們聚在一起，繼續做準備，然後像主耶穌一樣為父神事奉。我們的破折號也可以看起來像主耶穌的破折號一樣。希望可以不久將來就能親身與你們見面！
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