The Missionary’s Goal

He . . . said to them, ’Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem . . . ’ —Luke 18:31

In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him—”. . . till we all come . . . to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . .” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.

In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will upon the cross, and unless we go there with Jesus we will have no friendship or fellowship with Him. Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord even the slightest degree away from His purpose to go “up to Jerusalem.”

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). In other words, the same things that happened to our Lord will happen to us on our way to our “Jerusalem.” There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us from going “up to [our] Jerusalem.”

“. . . there they crucified Him . . .” (Luke 23:33). That is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that event is the doorway to our salvation. The saints, however, do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace they end in glory. In the meantime our watchword should be summed up by each of us saying, “I too go ’up to Jerusalem.’ “

---

傳道者的目標

看哪，我們上耶路撒冷去。 （路十八31）

在天然生命中，我們會按著發展而改變自己的野心。可是在信徒生命中，目標一開始就擺明出來，而這目標是始終如一的：主自己。我們始於基督，也終於基督－－[直等到我們……長大成人，滿有基督長成的身量。 ]我們並不是依自己認為的理想信徒生命而行。傳道人的目標是要行神的旨意，不是要大得使用，不是要贏得許多不信的人。他當然要合用，也當然要贏多人信主，但那不是他的目標。他的目標是遵行神的旨意。

在主的一生中，耶路撒冷是他在十架上成就天父旨​​意的頂峰。我們若未與他同往，就並未與他同行。主上耶路撒冷的路上，沒有什麼事物可以叫他灰心。在備受攻擊的村鎮，他沒匆匆避過；在大受擁戴的地方，他也不會流連不去。不管人對他感恩或是忘恩，總不能叫他走向耶路撒冷的心意改變一丁點兒。

[僕人不能高過主人。 ]在往耶路撒冷的路上，我們也要遭遇同樣的事。神的工作會透過我們彰顯，有人得著祝福，一​​兩個人會表示感激，其他的人可能會忘恩負義。可是，不要讓任何事物使我們偏離上耶路撒冷的路。

[他們在那裡釘他十字架。 ]這就是主到耶路撒冷所遭遇的，而這卻開啟我們得救的門。聖徒的終局不是釘十字架；憑神的恩典，他們的終局是榮耀的。在這當兒，我們口號是：也上耶路撒冷去。

祈禱◆主啊，我能夠認識你是何等美好；我何其需要靠近你。當你成為我的生命時，我怎能顫抖！