關於 labored ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

Pray this for me. More open doors for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to reach those who need it the most, especially during this time! We need boldness to preach the Gospel because if we are afraid of man’s opinion, we won’t even speak or write anything we think may offend others. The truth offends when people are clinging on to wrong beliefs.

“For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians‬ ‭1:10‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

A people pleaser cannot be an effective minister of the Gospel because he will mince words and hold his tongue when God actually wants him to speak.

Pray that this illusionary fear of man would fall off, and that I, and all of us, will allow the Holy Spirit to lead us without any hindrances.

There is no time to waste, and there are many souls that need to be won.

“Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”” (John‬ ‭4:34-38‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The harvest fields represent the nations of the world. The wheat are the souls.

We are reaping souls easily today by preaching, thanks to the labor put in by the prophets, the apostles, the saints, and of course God, throughout the ages. Through the faithfulness of these predecessors, we have the complete Bible today, and the full revelation of the Gospel to share to the whole world.

Never forget that the Gospel we have access to today was fought for with much blood, sweat, and tears. People faced heavy persecution and even died for the truth.

Treasure the Gospel and never take the words of the Scriptures for granted!

Need help understanding the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John correctly through the lens of Grace? I know how intimidating reading the four gospels can be. When I was a new believer, some passages in there were just frightful and discouraging.

The reason was because I did not know how to rightly divide the Word based on the covenants. I thought everything in there was directed at me.

For example, Jesus said that if you eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, for it is better for you to enter Heaven without eyes than to have your entire being cast into the fire of Hell. Are we supposed to pluck our eyes out when we sin? Are we supposed to cut off our arms and legs like Jesus said? We need to understand the important reason why He said what He did. There is a purpose that you won’t understand if you have no context or background knowledge of the whole Bible.

If you are new to reading the four gospels for yourself, or you have some questions about difficult passages in there, I would like to recommend you read my four-ebook bundle called “Understand the Four Gospels Through the Lens of Grace”.

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變化中的永恆
專欄作家 : 邵頌雄

藝術之難，在於每一時期的作品，都具不變與變兩分。不變者無色無形，難以體察；變者則幻化多端，難以觸摸。迷於不變每易流於淺俗，滯於變化往往囿於因循。於藝之一道臻大成者，能於變化中呈獻出不變之理、恪守不變時演活無窮變化。偉大藝術作品或演出能啟迪人心，正是由於此藝入哲的高度。

如上所言之藝術觀，不論於書法、畫作、舞蹈、音樂等皆然，亦於東西方無異。所謂不變與變，猶言真俗。藝境之真，無可仿效，唯靠悟入；俗之變化，涉技巧與創意，美感亦隨時代變更。古人從字體文風觀察世道變遷，即審流俗之遞演，如《廣藝舟雙楫》所言：「人限於其俗，俗趨於變。…… 散文、篆法之解散，駢文、隸體之成家，皆同時會，可以觀世變矣」；復言：「人未有不為風氣所限者，制度文章學術，皆有時焉，以為之大界。美惡工拙，衹可於本界較之。學者通於古今之變，以是二體者，觀古論其時，致不混焉」，是謂書法之鑑賞，宜通曉古今變化，而於特地界限之內以作高下較量。這番見地，同樣適用於其他藝術範疇，不能僅憑個人喜好對單一作品來作褒貶，而應考慮該作品成於甚麼年代、發揚何種美感、繼承哪門技法、氣象有何革新，並於這種對「俗變」的品評中，體會作品對「真理」的深入和彰顯。

筆者前文評郎朗演奏巴赫的《哥德堡變奏曲》「藝術水平低劣、誤解德國文化」，亦本着不變與變二分來評析。變的部份，例如如何添加裝飾音、應否用上踏板、各變奏營造何種音色等，我的態度都比較開放，認為可隨着時代、鋼琴性能、音樂廳大小來作改變。至於不變者，包括巴赫作品含攝基督教路德宗的宗教思想、樸拙真誠的精神，還有各類曲式的固定節奏，是則可謂郎朗完全不能掌握的硬傷。例如《哥德堡》開首的詠嘆調（Aria），以薩拉邦德舞曲（Sarabande）的曲式寫成，緩慢的三拍子，特點是以第二拍為重拍。這可說是基本到不能再基本的認知，不論是被視為模範的Schiff或Hewitt，抑或是鬼才Gould，甚至故意以弱音彈出第二拍的Tureck，都以不同方式把重心灌注每個小節的第二拍，甚至以不能發出強弱音的羽管鍵琴演奏，在Leonhardt、Kirkpatrick、Staier等名家手下，亦能以節奏的緩急配置來帶出曲式意趣。樂曲節奏跟舞步的頓挫配合，即使巴赫已把舞曲從舞蹈的伴奏昇華為純音樂的創作，曲式的節奏感不會因此改變，猶如華爾滋舞曲的「蓬測測」節奏，是該曲式的固定元素一樣。惟郎朗演奏的詠嘆調，則連這最基本的原則也未能達標，原來的舞曲被肆意糟蹋，出塵樸實的曲意則被演作沉溺自戀的庸俗哀歌，從各方面作考量都難以將之充作「入流」的巴赫演奏。

《紐約時報》古典音樂評論的主筆Tommasini，月初有一文章細析郎朗灌錄的《哥德堡》種種過猶不及之處，當中對其風格和品味的質疑，甚至用上vulgarity、labored、unlistenable 等形容詞。讀後隨手於面書分享，不久即有樂評人賜教，提示我如能以聽中國古琴的角度來欣賞，便可理解郎朗所採的速度。自問對此留言看得一頭霧水，在網上稍作搜尋，才知道該樂評認為郎朗的《哥德堡》跟孔孟儒家思想有關，「像是古琴譜，沒有速度標記，可演奏得很快，也可演奏得很慢。而慢有慢的章法，看似無形，其實有形。西方文化重結構，東方文化重意境，郎朗在哥德堡融入古琴演奏風範，可說是意境超脫於結構之上。」

這種聽來高深莫測的推斷，委實似是而非。巴赫樂譜不附速度標記，其中一個原因，就是曲式已暗示了速度，不是因為沒有標記便喜歡怎樣快怎樣慢來演奏皆可，總不能因為具備中國文化智慧便能以耍太極的速度來跳華爾滋吧？至於「儒家思想」云云，更是令人詫異之語。Tommasini批評郎朗的演奏"overindulgent"、"too muchly"、"exaggeration"，正是孔子所惡的「鄭聲淫」也。《史記》載孔子習樂的精神，謂由「曲」、「數」之技術層面，進入「志」的樂曲精神，繼而深得與「人」合一的境界，此與速度無關，而是由變悟入不變的過程，所重的是「雅樂」而非「靡靡之音」。把郎朗的《哥德堡》等同孔孟思想、古琴風範，不是對後者的侮辱嗎？

或有人認為筆者的批評過於辛辣尖刻。相對郎朗對巴赫神作的暴力蹂躪，我相信拙文只是作出適當回應而已，論「尖刻」實遠不如Tommasini。真心愛護一門藝術，便需有作出捍衛的承擔，不能把批評都視為破壞力量。巴赫的《哥德堡變奏曲》正是由不變衍生萬變、萬變不離其宗的絕佳示範，有其宗哲上的高度，讓習者於變化中見其規律。

祝願各位紛亂中得到寧靜。

Enjoy Favor without the Labor

“For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.” (Ecclesiastes‬ ‭2:26‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

In this world, man tends to value riches more than wisdom. But to God, true wisdom and knowledge is far more valuable, and is only reserved for those who are righteous in Christ.

On top of that, man thinks that joy is found in having riches, but we see in the verse above that joy is a blessing from God—apart from possessing worldly riches.

You can have all the wealth in the world and be miserable if you don’t have Christ in you.

Sure, God wants you to be abundantly provided for, but He doesn’t want you to focus on gathering and heaping up worldly riches.

His word says that He will let sinners do all the work, and have their hard-earned wealth be handed to you.

In case you feel indignant for their sake, know that it’s not unfair at all. Sinners (unbelievers) are God’s servants, and they have no right to expect treatment as sons if they keep rejecting the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

You’ll enjoy supernatural provision as a finished work. Something you did not labor for, but was given to you by God’s grace.

Is it unfair? It’s actually perfectly right for a father to generously provide for his children and be good to them.

“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous.” (Proverbs‬ ‭13:22‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

As a son, you have every right to enjoy provision without laboring for it, because your Heavenly Father’s riches also belong to you.

““He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” (Luke‬ ‭15:31‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

A great example would be how God brought the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, and drove out the Canaanites little by little.

“I gave you a land whereon you had not labored, and cities which you didn’t build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn’t plant.’” (Joshua‬ ‭24:13‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

When the children of Israel took possession of the land, there were already cities, vineyards and olive groves there which were previously prepared by the Canaanites. They only needed to move in and enjoy the finished work.

Sinners are still servants under the Law, while you are a son under Grace.

As you’re enjoying close fellowship with Abba God, receiving secret wisdom, knowledge and joy in His presence, all your basic needs in life will be met restfully. As His beloved child, you can expect to enjoy abundant favor without stressful labor!

I’m not advocating a life of laziness. Being diligent and hardworking are wonderful qualities, but we do our best in everything because we want to, not because we need to. We do our best to bring glory to our royal family’s name!

Prayer points:

1) Ask Abba God to teach you how to walk as a son in your areas of unbelief.

2) Pray daily to receive wisdom, knowledge and supernatural joy from God. When you prioritize what He prioritizes, it pleases Him. When you prioritize wisdom, your worry about provision will fall off. That loss of unbelief will cause all the things you need to be added to you.

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