第三章 謙卑顯於耶穌身上 Chapter 3 –Humility in the Life of Jesus
我在你們中間如同服事人的。（路廿二27）
“I am in the midst of you as he that serveth.” Luke 22: 27.
在約翰福音裏，我們可以窺見主所過的內在生活，他不時地提到他與父的關係、他蒙引導的動機，還有他知道他是依據聖靈的能力而行事。雖然”謙卑”這名詞沒有出現在約翰福音裏，但這卷書最清楚地表明了他的謙卑，遠超過其他卷書。我們已說過其實這項恩典不過是受造者同意讓神成為一切，因而把自己交給他，讓他獨行其事。在耶穌身上，我們看見這位既是在天的神子，同時又是在地的人子，如何全然依附神而活，使神得著當得的尊崇與榮耀。他所經常教導的，正是他自己的真實經驗：”自卑的必升為高。”（太廿三12）而就如經上所記：”他自己卑微，……所以神將他升為至高。”（腓二8、9）
請留意主怎樣提到他與父的關係，他不斷地論到自己”不……”。保羅提到他與基督的關係時，也和主一樣用”不”這個字眼(“不再是我”)。
子憑著自己不能作什麼。（約五19）
子憑著自己不能作什麼，……我的審判也是公平的，因為我不求自己的意思。(約五30）
我不受從人來的榮耀。(約五41）
我從天上降下來，不是要按自己的意思行。(約六38）
我的教訓不是我自己的。(約七16）
我來並不是由於自己。(約七28）
我沒有一件事是憑著自己作的。(約八28）
我……並不是由著自己來，乃是他差我來。(約八42）
我不求自己的榮耀。(約八50）
我對你們所說的話，不是憑著自己說的。(約十四10）
你們所聽見的道不是我的。(約十四24）
這些話揭露了基督的生活與服事最深之根源，使我們明白為何全能的神能夠藉著他成全偉大的救贖之工。基督藉著這些話表明他作為父神之子的心態，以指教我們他所成全、現今所交通給我們的救贖之恩中，最基本的性情與生命。總括一句話就是：他是無有，神是一切。他把他的意志和能力完全交給父神，使父能隨意作工在他裏面。論到他自己的能力、意思、榮耀、事工、教訓時，他說這一切都不是出於我，我算不了什麼，我已把自己交給父，讓父來作；我是無有，父是一切。
基督因著完全放棄自我，絕對附從父的意願，全然依賴父活著，就找著了完美的平安與喜樂。他把一切都交給神，但自己並沒有因此而失去什麼。神悅納他的信靠，並為他作成一切，然後把他升到自己的右邊同享榮耀。因著基督在神面前謙卑俯伏，而神也始終在他眼前，所以他一樣可以在人面前謙卑俯伏，成為眾人之僕。他的謙卑表現在使自己單單降服於神，容許神在他裏面作成一切神所喜悅的，全然不理會周圍的人怎麼說他、怎麼對待他。
就是這種心態、這種性情使基督的救贖產生功效與價值，我們也被帶入這種性情裏，好與基督一同得份。這種真實的否定自我正是基督呼召我們要效法的，我們必須認定在自我裏頭毫無良善，它只能作一個需要神來充滿的空器皿。一刻也不要讓它成為別種器皿或有絲毫活動–這是首要之事，先於其他一切，藉此得與基督聯合，讓神成為一切，自己則一無所是、一無所能。
這是真正謙卑的根源與本質，而因著我們不明白或不追求，以致我們的謙卑如此膚淺、虛浮。我們必須效法耶穌，他心裏多麼柔和謙卑。他教導我們真正的謙卑發源於何處，從何找著謙卑的力量：在於認識神成全一切的一切，我們的地位就是完全讓位給他、降服于他並全然依賴他，而且完全同意自己一無所是，絕對不憑著自己作什麼。這正是基督所啟示給我們、要我們有份的生命–藉著向罪死、向己死而得以向神活著。如果我們覺得這生命高不可攀，應該促使我們更要在他裏面追求，因為內住的基督要在我們裏面活出這種柔和謙卑的生命。如果我們渴望得著這生命，首要之事是認識神是怎樣的一位–他每一時刻都在成全一切的一切–此乃神聖之奧秘，這奧秘顯在宇宙萬有和神兒女身上時，他們都要見證說：我們不過是空器皿、是導管，讓永生神藉著我們彰顯他豐富的智慧、能力和良善。一切的德行、恩典、信心、蒙悅納的敬拜皆根源於我們知道自己一無所有，我們所有的都是領受來的，因而在最深的謙卑中，俯伏在神面前，等候他賜下一切。
這種謙卑不是一時興起的情緒，也不是一想到神才俯伏下來，乃是耶穌整個生活的態度、生命的情操，所以他與人交接時，就如同與神相交一般的謙卑。他覺得自己是神的僕人，為要服侍神所造、所愛的人，因此他視自己為眾人之僕，神能藉著他施行慈愛之事。他沒有一個時刻想要尋求自己的榮耀，也沒有一個時候維護自己的權利或為自己辯護。他一直活在降服於神的狀態裏，讓神在裏面獨行其事。基督徒必須認識耶穌的謙卑正是他救贖的本質，是神兒子的生命所含的福氣，是他與父唯一真實的關係，既然我們與他有份，它必將這恩典賞給我們，使我們因著缺少真實、明顯、屬天的謙卑而憂傷，因而裏面生出一個負擔，要撇下日常履行的宗教儀文，致力於追求基督在我們裏面的首要標記。
弟兄們！你們是否已穿上謙卑？要省察自己的日常生活，讓耶穌、你的朋友們和世人鑒察你，並為著神在基督裏向你所開啟的屬天謙卑而讚美他，藉此前所未知之謙卑，你必能品嘗前所未嘗之屬天福份。
（取自慕安得烈所著之《謙卑》）
Chapter 3 –HUMILITY IN THE LIFE OF JESUS
“I am in the midst of you as he that serveth.” Luke 22: 27.
In the Gospel of John we have the inner life of our Lord laid open to us. Jesus speaks frequently of His relation to the Father, of the motives by which He is guided, of His consciousness of the power and spirit in which He acts. Though the word humble does not occur, we shall nowhere in Scripture see so clearly wherein His humility consisted. We have already said that this grace is in truth nothing but that simple consent of the creature to let God be all, in virtue of which it surrenders itself to His working alone. In Jesus we shall see how both as the Son of God in heaven, and as man upon earth, He took the place of entire subordination, and gave God the honor and the glory which is due to Him- And what He taught so often was made true to Himself: “He that humbleth him: shall be exalted.” As it is written, “He humbled Himself, therefore God highly exalted Him.”
Listen to the words in which our Lord speaks of His relation to the Father, and how unceasingly He uses the words not, and nothing, of Himself. The not I, in which Paul expresses his relation to Christ, is the very spirit of what Christ says of His relation the Father.
“The Son can do nothing of Himself” (John 5: 19).
“I can of My own self do nothing; My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will” (John 5: 30).
“I receive not glory from men” (John 5: 41).
“I am come not to do Mine own will” (John 6:38).
“My teaching is not Mine” (John 7:16)
“I am not come of Myself” (John 7:28)
“I do nothing of Myself” (John 8:28)
“I have not come of Myself, but He sent Me” (John 8: 42).
“I seek not Mine own glory” (John 8:50)
“The words that I say, I speak not from Myself” (John 14: 10).
“The word which ye hear is not Mine” (John 14: 24).
These words open to us the deepest roots of Christ’s life and work. They tell us how it was that the Almighty God was able to work His mighty redemptive work through Him. They show what Christ counted the state of heart which became Him as the Son of the Father. They teach us what the essential nature and life is of that redemption which Christ accomplished and now communicates. It is this: He was nothing, that God might be all. He resigned Himself with His will and His powers entirely for the Father to work in Him. Of His own power, His own will, and His own glory, of His whole mission with all His works and His teaching,of all this He said, It is not I; I am nothing; I have given Myself to the Father to work; I am nothing, the Father is all.
This life of entire self-abnegation, of absolute submission and dependence upon the Father’s will, Christ found to be one of perfect peace and joy. He lost nothing by giving all to God. God honored His trust, and did all for Him, and then exalted Him to His own right hand in glory. And because Christ had thus humbled Himself before God, and God was ever before Him, He found it possible to humble Himself before men too, and to be the Servant of all. His humility was simply the surrender of Himself to God, to allow Him to do in Him what He pleased, whatever men around might say of Him, or do to Him.
It is in this state of mind, in this spirit and disposition, that the redemption of Christ has its virtue and efficacy. It is to bring us to this disposition that we are made partakers of Christ. This is the true self-denial to which our Saviour calls us, the acknowledgment that self has nothing good in it, except as anempty vessel which God must fill, and that its claim to be or do anything may not for a moment be allowed. It is in this, above and before everything, in which the conformity to Jesus consists, the being and doing nothing of ourselves, that God may be all.
Here we have the root and nature of true humility. It is because this is not understood or sought after, that our humility is so superficial and so feeble. We must learn of Jesus, how He is meek and lowly of heart. He teaches us where true humility takes its rise and finds its strength-in the knowledge that it is God who worketh all in all, that our place is to yield to Him in perfect resignation and dependence, in full consent to be and to do nothing of ourselves. This is the life Christ came to reveal and to impart -a life to God that came through death to sin and self. If we feel that this life is too high for us and beyond our reach, it must but the more urge us to seek it in Him; it is the indwelling Christ who will live in us this life, meek and lowly. If we long for this, let us, meantime, above everything, seek the holy secret of the knowledge of the nature of God, as He every moment works all in all; the secret, of which all nature and every creature, and above all, every child of God, is to be the witness,-that it is nothing but a vessel, a channel, through which the living God can manifest the riches of His wisdom, power, and goodness. The root of all virtue and grace, of all faith and acceptable worship, is that we know that we have nothing but what we receive, and bow in deepest humility to wait upon God for it.
It was because this humility was not only a temporary sentiment, wakened up and brought into exercise when He thought of God, but the very spirit of His whole life, that Jesus was just as humble in His intercourse with men as with God. He felt Himself the Servant of God for the men whom God made and loved; as a natural consequence, He counted Himself the Servant of men, that through Him God might do His work of love. He never for a moment thought of seeking His honor, or asserting His power to vindicate Himself. His whole spirit was that of a life yielded to God to work in. It is not until Christians study the humility of Jesus as the very essence of His redemption, as the very blessedness of the life of the Son of God, as the only true relation to the Father, and therefore as that which Jesus must give us if we are to have any part with Him, that the terrible lack of actual, heavenly, manifest humility will become a burden and a sorrow, and our ordinary religion be set aside to secure this, the first and the chief of the marks of the Christ within us.
Brother, are you clothed with humility? Ask your daily life. Ask Jesus. Ask your friends. Ask the world. And begin to praise God that there is opened up to you in Jesus a heavenly humility of which you have hardly known, and through which a heavenly blessedness you possibly have never yet tasted can come in to you.
(taken from Humility by Andrew Murray)
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