藉着福音，我们分享基督的荣光

Rev. Luke Thompson作/ MLC出版 /Leona译

    神藉我们所传的福音召你们到这地步，好得着我们主耶稣基督的荣光（帖撒罗尼迦后书2：14）。

    你有没有想象过假如你中了彩票，你会做什么？如果你跟我一样，我们会为自己的白日梦找到正当理由：“我当然会把大部分彩票奖金分享出去，尤其是捐给教会、非盈利机构和需要帮助的人。”其实我们心里也知道，如果我们哪天变得有钱了，我们真的应该分享那笔财富。我们也常常赞赏那些把财富分享出去的有钱人。

    有人比上帝更富有吗？他是整个宇宙之主，万物的拥有者。上帝不仅是我们可以想到的最富有的，而且也愿意分享他的财富。保罗说上帝和我们分享“主耶稣基督的荣光”（帖撒罗尼迦后书2：14）。

    基督的荣光是什么样的？因为我们已经成为天父的儿女，我们也得着了天父赐给他儿子的荣光。未来的荣光包括我们永恒的荣美的产业和荣耀的完美身份。我们现在就有这些荣光。当耶稣在克西马尼园向父祷告时，他说：“你所赐给我的荣耀，我已赐给他们【门徒】”（约翰福音17：22）。门徒们已经藉着信心得着了从上帝而来的荣耀，也就是救恩，就在我们从属灵的死亡中获得生命的那一刻便成了我们的。

    但我们常常忘记还有一份荣耀也赐给了我们。在耶稣受难被钉十架的前夜，耶稣说：“人子得荣耀的时候到了（约翰福音12：23）。”我们知道的最荣耀的耶稣时十字架上的耶稣，因为隐藏在那献祭之死背后的一切才让上帝赐给我们这么多恩典变得可能。

那么有没有可能，当使徒保罗说我们得着了主耶稣的荣耀时，他也想到了我们作为基督徒自己的十字架呢？当我们因耶稣的名遭到逼迫时，难道我们没有得着救赎主耶稣的荣耀吗？毕竟，能有什么比得着一颗和基督一样的心——一颗随时准备服侍而不是被服侍、随时准备分享的心——更荣耀的事呢？

天上的父啊，感谢你赦免我的罪，为我披上基督的荣耀。因你的恩典鼓励我，我祈求你帮助我按其荣耀的名背起自己的十字架，照着基督十字架的样式，看向他，做我永恒之荣耀的泉源。啊们。

Through the Gospel We Share in Christ’s Glory

He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:14

Have you ever imagined what you would do if you won the lottery? If you’re anything like me, we justify the fantasy by telling ourselves, “Of course I’d share lots of it, especially with the church, non-profits, and the needy.” Part of us knows that, if we become wealthy, we
really ought to share the wealth. And we’ll often praise rich people who do share the wealth.

Who’s wealthier than God? He’s the Lord of the universe, the owner of everything. And not only is he the richest person imaginable, he’s also a God who shares his riches. Paul says God shares with us “the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:14).

What’s included in the glory of Christ? Well, since we’ve been made children of God the Father, we get the same glory God the Father gives his Son. Future glories include our eternal glorious inheritance and a state of glorious perfection. And we have glories right now. When Jesus was praying to his Father in Gethsemane, he spoke of a “glory you have given me” that “I have given to them [the disciples]” (John 17:22). The disciples had already received glory from God through faith, that is, the salvation that immediately becomes ours the moment we’re brought from spiritual death to life.

But we’ve been given another glory that we often forget is glorious. On the eve of his passion and crucifixion, Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23). The most glorious Jesus we know of is the Jesus of the cross, because hidden behind that sacrificial death is everything that made it possible for God to share so much with us.

Is it possible that, when Paul says we might share in the glory of Jesus, he also has in mind our own crosses as Christians? When we suffer for his name, aren’t we sharing in the glory of Jesus our Redeemer? After all, what’s more glorious than being given a heart like Christ’s, a heart ready to serve rather than be served, a heart ready to share?

Heavenly Father, thank you for forgiving my sins fully and clothing me in the glorious robes of Christ. Motivated by your grace, I pray you also help me bear my cross as the glorious calling it is, mirroring and pointing to the cross of Christ, the source of my eternal glory. Amen.