Nov 06-07, 2021
From the Pastor’s Desk: Rev. Simon Lee

Dear brothers and sisters of RCAC,

Part 1 (October 30/31, 2021)
1. Beginning with the sovereignty of God (14-15)
2. Facing the reality of injustice (16)

3. Looking to a time for Justice (God’s judgment) (17)

Christians, like many others, love freedom and justice. Therefore, faithful Christians are willing to be Christian soldiers, more so if we know we will have victory in the end through Christ. In his ongoing reflection, Solomon in Ecclesiastes gives us hope by saying: “I thought to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked; for there is an appropriate time for every activity, and there is a time of judgment for every deed.” (3:17) It is comforting to note that “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked,” meaning He will bless those who have been faithful and righteous and punish those who have been wicked and unjust. Indeed, “an appropriate time” refers the timeliness in all the things that happens in our daily lives as ordained by God. But it is even more important to know that “there is a time of judgment for every deed.”

We often hear well-intention Christians say we must fight against injustice because it is a matter of justice. Yes, the God who liberated the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt had indeed shown that in action. But unfortunately, we often do so with a spirit of bitterness and vengeance, with our own sense of justice. Paul teaches us what we must do when we face injustice with these words: “19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12: 19-21) This is exactly what Christ did in dying for our sins, and we can do no less. We therefore may have to be more patient when we encounter evil over which we have no control. We must not “play judge” as we know that God is the ultimate judge and He is always just in His judgment, as it is part of His character. God tells us, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Ps. 46:10)

4. Recognizing the reality of life and death (18-20)

In the past many months, several of my own classmates from university, faithful Christian colleagues and long-time friends have passed away one after another. No longer am I just bidding farewell to much older people who are many years my senior but saying good-bye to my own peers. Death is no longer something far in the future. The thing that strikes me most is that many among them are good people who in my own mind should live longer with rich lives, but God has His own timing. But the reality is each day, all sort of people, good and bad, still dies, as death is no respecter of persons. Solomon even compares human beings to animals, both ends with the same fate in death, with these word “Both go to the same place; both come from the dust, and to dust both return.” (20)

I remember a poem I learnt in High School called “Death the Leveller” by James Shirley. The last part of the poem goes like this:

The garlands wither on your brow:
Then boast no more your mighty deeds;
Upon Death’s purple altar now
See where the victor-victim bleeds.
Your heads must come
To the cold tomb:
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet, and blossom in their dust.

Whether it is powerful Kings or powerless peasants, death is the final leveller and equalizer. Death brings everyone to the same level before God’s judgment seat where God judges justly and rules sovereignly. For it matters not how long we live, but how we lived while living.

5. What does the future hold? (20, 21)

Solomon ends here with the question of who goes up (into heaven) and who goes down into the earth.
Since humans are all mortal, Solomon recommends that we should enjoy our work and the fruits of our labour, for this is their lot, their reward (cf. 2:24; 3:12). For people who are ignorant of God’s plan and cannot know what the future holds, including what happens after death, Solomon asks the rhetorical question, Who can bring him to see what will happen after him? (Or, what does the future hold) (21) Therefore, for followers of God, in the time that we have, we must focus on enjoying the work that God has given us, yielding to His sovereignty, trusting in God who will judge all injustice on earth.

The man of God, Moses, in his prayer to God has this to say about the years of our life, “For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 10The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. 11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90: 9-12)

It is inevitable that we all must face injustice and must live through them. May each of us all gain a heart of wisdom! God brings justice and makes all things beautiful in His time! (The end)

Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Simon

Nov 06-07, 2021
李耀全牧師

親愛的列宣家弟兄姊妹：

按衪時候 4：公義有時（傳3:14-20）（1）(上文已於 30/31, 2021刊登)

1. 從上帝的主權說起（14-15 節）
2. 面對不公義的現實（16）

3. 期待公義的時候（神的審判）（17）

基督徒和許多其他人一樣，熱愛自由和公義。因此，忠心的基督徒也願意成為基督的精兵，尤其是當我們知道我們最終會藉著基督獲得勝利。所羅門在傳道書不斷的反思中，也給我們帶來希望：“我自己心裡說：“神必審判義人和惡人，因為各樣事務、各樣工作都有定時。”（3:17）令人感到欣慰的是，“神必會審判義人和惡人”，意思是:祂會賜福那些誠信公義的人，懲罰那些邪惡和不公義的人。確實地，“適當的時間”是指我們日常生活中發生的所有事情，皆有神所命定的適切時間。可是，更重要的是，也要知道：“人所有一切所作的，必有審判/神必審判。”

我們經常聽到滿懷善意的基督徒說我們必須反對不公義，因為這是正義的問題。是的，將以色列人從埃及的奴役中解放出來的神確實在行動中表明了這一點。但不幸的是，我們常常擺脫不掉苦毒和報復的精神，只是帶著自己的正義感這樣做。保羅用以下的話教導我們，當我們面對不公時，我們必須做什麼：在羅馬書12：19-21 這樣教導我們：“親愛的啊，不要為自己伸冤，寧可等候主的忿怒，因為經上記著，主說：“伸冤在我，我必報應。”相反地，“如果你的仇敵餓了，就給他吃；如果渴了，就給他喝。因為你這樣作，就是把炭火堆在他的頭上。”不可被惡所勝，反要以善勝惡。”這正是基督為我們的罪而死所表明的，我們必須遵照著去做。因此，在我們遇到無法遏止的邪惡時，我們可能需要加倍忍耐。我們絕不能“扮演審判官”，因為我們知道唯有神是最終的審判者，祂的審判必然是公正的，因為公義是祂的屬性之一。神囑咐我們：“你們要住(放) 手，要知道我是神。”（詩篇 46:10）

4.認清生死的現實（18-20）

在過去的數月內，我自己的幾位大學同學、忠心的基督徒同工和老朋友相繼離世。我不再只是告別比我年長很多歲的前輩，而是告別自己的同儕。死亡不再是遙遠的未來。最讓我耿耿於懷的是，他們當中可被認為是好人的大有人在，依我看來，他們應該活得更長久，並過著更豐盛的生活，但神有祂自己的時侯。現實卻是每一天，各色各樣的人，不論好壞，仍然會死去，因為死亡並不偏待人。所羅門甚至把人比作動物，死亡的結局都是一樣的，“大家都到一個地方去，都出於塵土，也都歸回塵土。”(20)

記得我在中學時曾讀過一首詩，名叫“Death the Leveller”，作者是 James Shirley。這首詩的最後一部分如下：

華冠於眉額上枯萎 The garlands wither on your brow:
豐功偉業不再誇耀 Then boast no more your mighty deeds;
在死亡紫色祭壇上 Upon Death’s purple altar now
勝者敗者皆曾淌血 See where the victor-victim bleeds.
傲氣頭顱躺臥冷墓 Your heads must come To the cold tomb:
正義善行永存不朽 Only the actions of the just
塵土中芳香仍飄逸 Smell sweet, and blossom in their dust.

無論是強大的君王，還是弱勢的農民，死亡都是最終平衡等差的衡量。死亡將每個人帶往同一等次，站立於神的審判台前，在那裡面對神權能公正嚴明的審判。因生命不在乎是否長命百歲，乃在乎是否活得有意羲。

5. 未來將會是如何？ (20, 21)

所羅門在此以誰上（升天）和誰下地的問題作為結束。
既然人人都是會死的，所羅門建議我們應該自得其樂，享受我們的工作和勞碌的成果，因為這是人所得之份，是神給人的獎賞（參2:24；3:12）。
對於那些不去尋求神的計劃，不知道未來，包括不理會死後將會怎樣的人，所羅門提出了一個反問：誰能使他看見他自己死後的事呢？ (21) 所以，跟從神的人，要在有生之年，好好享受神所賜給我們的工作，順服神的主權，相信施行審判的神必然會處置世上所有的不公不義。

神人摩西在論到我們一生的歲月/年日時，如此向神禱告，“我們一生的日子都在你的震怒中消逝，我們度盡的年歲好像一聲歎息。我們一生的年日是七十歲，如果強壯，可到八十歲，但其中可誇耀的，不過是勞苦愁煩；我們的年日轉眼即逝，我們也如飛而去了。誰曉得你怒氣的威力，誰按著你該受的敬畏曉得你的忿怒呢？求你教導我們怎樣數算自己的日子，好使我們得著智慧的心。”（詩篇 90:9-12）

我們所有人都必會經歷及面對不公不義，這是無可避免的。但願我們都可以得著從神而來智慧的心去面對一切！神必在祂的時候帶來公平公義，並使萬事成為美好！（全文完）

主僕,
李耀全牧師

Oct 30-31, 2021
From the Pastor’s Desk: Rev. Simon Lee

Dear brothers and sisters of RCAC,

Do you get frustrated and depressed, even angry, when you hear or see all the injustice around you and around the world? I do, especially because daily I follow closely the news near and far, the systemic and social racism, institutional injustice, political hypocrisy, the plight of the poor, disadvantaged and oppressed, and even “Christian” hypocrisy in the name of God. We long for freedom, peace, and justice.

This is the 4^th and last article in the Series: In His time, reflections from Ecclesiastes 3. We have reflected on “Appointed time vs appropriate time,” Life’s certainties and our response,” and “Life’s ultimate purpose.” Now we conclude with a reflection on “A time for justice.”

1. Beginning with the sovereignty of God (14-15)

We must however start from “the sovereignty of God.” It occurs to me that when we talked about “In His time,” we often mean that while things are not what we want or expect them to be for the time being, that we as Christians who believe in the sovereignty of God, believe that “in his time” things will eventually be fine as “He makes all things beautiful in His time,” that is, “beautiful” for us in the end.

As we have reflected, we know that “He makes all things beautiful in His time” is indeed true, because our God is a God of love. Paul has also taught us, “all things work together for good for them that love God…” (Romans 8:28) However we often take the verse out of context as the rest of the verse reads “to them who are the called according to his purpose.” In other words, those who claim this promise are also those who are called to be under the grand purpose of God, which means the “good” must also be in line with God’s “good” and the overall sovereign will of God.

In our text in Ecclesiastes Solomon states it this way: “Whatever exists now has already been, and whatever will has already been; for God will seek to do again what has occurred in the past.” (3:15) In other words, God is sovereign in the cycle of life.  Before this, he also states that the continuity and finality of life all serve the purpose of ensuring “that man (human beings) may fear (revere) God. (3:14) We have been created by God in His image so we can relate to Him, with reverence as His creation.

Old Testament scholar, Franz Delitzsch, wisely puts it: “The government of God… does not change; His creative as well as His moral ordering of the world produces with the same laws the same phenomena … His government remains always, and brings … up again that whish hath been.” The response God wants people to have to His immutable, inscrutable plan is one of fear, reverence, and humble submission: so men will revere Him.

2. Facing the reality of injustice (16)

Solomon’s realistic reckoning and assessment of life with all its injustice and oppression is sobering. He says, “I saw something else on earth: In the place of justice, there was wickedness, and in the place of fairness, there was wickedness.” (3:16)

The hardest thing Christians face in submitting to the sovereignty of God is to also accept the evil reality of injustice and oppression. We all ask the question, “if the sovereign God is good and almighty, how come there is still so much injustice and oppression in the world God Himself has created and is ruling over?” We cannot reconcile the problem of pain and suffering in our Christian faith. So, often we try hard to do what we can to right the wrongs, to bring justice to those who suffer injustice, and do our best to liberate those who are oppressed. Indeed, these are honorable and crucial things that all Christians should attempt to do, and indeed we should do much more than what we are doing. For isn’t this exactly what the prophet Micah reminds us to do: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness…? “(6:8a) We do have a just God who hate the sin of injustice and oppression. But again, the rest of the verse is important and should not be left out: “…and to walk humbly with your God?” (6:8b) The NET Bible puts it as “…and to live obediently before your God.” While doing justice and showing kindness are required of us from God, we also need to, in fact required to, walk humbly and live obediently. In context this means also that when faced with injustice, we must try our best but leave the rest to God, to submit to the sovereignty of God.

As said, I daily am abhorred at all the socio-political injustice and oppression we see in Canada and all around the world. We naturally get indignant and frustrated because we feel so helpless against the powers and political authorities of this world. We have all wanted to live in a better place, hence this is why we or our parents have chosen to live in Canada, and why there are the ceaseless migrations in human history till now. In the end, the sad reality is there is no “utopia” on earth, and everywhere we go, there is still injustice and oppression.

When facing a world of injustice and persecution, Paul’s words are still so relevant today when he says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:10-12) No wonder we are in constant conflicts and struggles, because we are fighting an ongoing spiritual battle, lest we forget that and try to “play God!” We therefore need to put on the whole armor of God.  Onward Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War! (To be continued)

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Simon

Oct 30-31, 2021
李耀全牧師

親愛的列宣家弟兄姊妹：

當您聽到或看到在您周圍和世界各地的所有不公義/不公平現象時，您是否會感到沮喪和洩氣，甚至禁不住氣憤？我肯定會這樣，尤其是因為我每天都在密切地關注遠近的新聞、體系性及社會種族主義、仇視亞裔的現象、制度上的不公義、政治虛偽、窮困者的艱難處境、弱勢群體和受欺壓者的困境，甚至以上帝名義為幌子的“基督教”虛偽。我們都渴望得見自由、和平和公義。

本文是 “按祂時候：傳道書 3章反思系列”之第四篇，也是最後的一篇文章。我們於前曾探討過“定時與適時”，“人生的確定性及我們的回應”，與“人生的終極目的”。現在讓我們來探討“公義有時”作為總結。(因編幅過長分兩期刊登)

1. 從神的主權說起（14-15 節）

不論如何，我們的討論必須從“神的主權”作開始。這令我想起，當我們論到“按祂時候”時，我們一般的意思是，雖然事情暫時不是我們想要或期待的那樣，但在確信神主權的基督徒來看，我們相信“按著祂的時候”，事情最終會成為美好的，因為“祂使一切事情在祂最適當的時候成為美好”，意即，最終對我們而言是“美好的”。

正如我們一直所探討思考的，我們知道“神在祂的時間裡使萬事成為美好”，這是千真萬確的，因為我們的神是愛的神。保羅也教導我們，“萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處…”（羅8:28）。然而，我們經常斷章取義，因為這節經文的下句是: 萬事都一同效力，是為著“愛神的人，就是按祂旨意蒙召的人的益處”。換句話說，這應許是對蒙召在神偉大旨意之下的人而言的，意思是“所得益處”也必須符合神的“美善”和神整全至高的旨意。

在傳道書的經文中，所羅門如此記載：“現在有的，先前就有；將來有的，早已有了；因為神使已過的事重新出現 (3:15) ，意即，世上無新事。他還指出，神在人生的循環中擁有至高無上的主權。在此之前，生命的連續性和終極性都是為了確保人能敬畏神 –“神這樣作，為要使人在祂面前存敬畏的心。”(3:14)。我們是神按照祂的形象所創造的，所以作為受造物，我們可以與祂聯繫、敬畏祂。

舊約聖經學者弗朗茨·德利奇 (Franz Delitzsch)智慧地指出：“神的掌權…不會改變；祂的創造大能以及他對世界的道德秩序皆以相同的規律產生相同的現象…祂永遠掌權，並…繼續地轉流不息。”神希望人能對祂那永恆不變、高深莫測的計劃的回應就是要人敬畏祂、崇敬祂和謙卑的順服祂：因此，人應當敬畏祂。

 2. 面對不公義的現實（16）

所羅門對人生的不公義和欺壓的現實觀察所得的推理和評述實在是發人深省。他說：“我在日光之下又看見：審判的地方有奸惡，維護公義的地方也有奸惡。”(3:16)

基督徒在順服神主權時所面對最困難的事，就是同時要接受邪惡、不公義和受欺壓的現實。我們都在問一個相同問題，“如果至高無上的神是善良全能的，那麼神自己創造並主宰的世界上怎麼還有這麼多的不公義和欺壓存在？” 在我們的基督教信仰中，我們無法同時融合痛苦與苦難的問題。以致，很多時候我們都設法努力去糾正錯誤，為那些遭受不公義的人伸張正義，並儘我們所能去解放那些被壓迫的人。的確，這些是所有基督徒都應該努力去做的正直高尚而重要的事，事實上我們應該做的比我們正在做的還要更多。難道這不正是先知彌迦提醒我們要做的：“世人哪！耶和華已經指示你甚麼是善，他向你所要的又是甚麼；無非是要你行公義…？”（6:8a）我們確實有一位公義的神，祂恨惡不公義和欺壓人的罪。但同樣，這節經文的其餘部分很重要，不應被遺忘：“……謙虛謹慎與你的神同行？”(6:8b) 新英文聖經(NET)譯作：“在神面前活出謙卑順服的生活。” 在神要求我們行公義、好憐憫的同時，實際上祂也要求我們活出謙卑順服的生活。從上下文去看，意即，當面對著不公義時，我們必須盡力而為，作可以做的，其餘的交給神，順服祂的主權。

如上述所言，我每天都在面對著加拿大和世上各處所看到所有社會及政治上的不公義和壓迫而感到不安。我們的自然反應往往就是憤怒和沮喪，因為我們對這個世界的權勢和政權感到那般無助無奈。我們都想居住在更好的地方，這就是我們或我們的父母選擇居住在加拿大之因，也是人類歷史上至今不斷遷徙的原因。可惜最後，令人悲嘆的現實是，“烏托邦”理想國根本不存在於世上，不論何往，我們所到之處，依然存在著不公義和欺壓。

面對一個充斥著不公義和欺壓的世界而我們便是在這屬靈爭戰中，保羅所言仍然言猶在耳：“最後，你們要靠主的大能大力，在他裡面剛強。要穿戴神所賜的全副軍裝，使你們能抵擋魔鬼的詭計。因為我們的爭戰，對抗的不是有血有肉的人，而是執政的、掌權的、管轄這黑暗世界的和天上的邪靈。（弗6:10-12）難怪我們總是處於衝突和掙扎之中，因為我們正在面對著持續不斷的屬靈爭戰，以免我們忘記這一點並試圖“扮演上帝”！因此，我們必須穿上神所賜的全副軍裝。基督精兵們前進，齊步向戰場走吧！（下期待續）

主僕,
李耀全牧師