“Double Vision”
1st Corinthians 12: 12-26
David Henderson, Pastor/teacher
There are a lot of great stories in history that are very inspiring. These stories tell us about some of the men and women who had great vision and because of their great vision they helped establish this great nation we live in. At the same time there are always those who don’t share the same vision. Hundreds of years ago now a shipload of travelers landed on the Ne coast of America. The first year they established a town site. The next year they established a town government. The 3rd year they planned to build a road 5 miles to the west into the wilderness. In the 4th year the people tried to impeach their own leaders because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road into a wilderness. Who needed to go there anyway?
Here were people who had the vision to see 3000 miles across an ocean and overcome great hardships to get there. But in just a few years they were not able to see even 5 miles out of town. Several thousand years ago a man named Solomon, considered to be one of the wisest men who ever lived wrote these words down...like all scripture they are just as true today as they were then. “Where there is no vision the people perish.’
Webster gives us this definition of vision...a vivid picture created by the imagination. Something that is not seen by ordinary sight.
For every one of us there comes a time in life when God calls us to move out of our comfort zone into a place that is not familiar. It requires a step of faith. At that point we have several options. We can run from God. We can choose to simply sit still and stay right where we are or we can take a risk; a step of faith. For every one of you, Eagle’s Landing I want you to do that last one, want you to take a step of faith with me today. Today we are at the very first Sunday in 2009. The year is fresh. All of us stand here today with the ability to make a fresh start, set new goals, dream a new dream and to focus again on the vision God has given to us.
Let’s begin by reading our vision statement together. Our vision is to enlarge the size of heaven by taking as many people as possible with us. This vision was written down when this church was about 3 months old. Now nearly 9 years later I want to ask you to join me in this vision for 2009. Our vision for 2009 is to double the size of Eagle’s Landing. To do this David Henderson must reach 2 new people. Now our first question is probably why 2? We have about 100 people here . There are at least 2 considerations: (1) There is a rule in churches and life in general that says this: 20% of the people usually do 80% of the work. (2) Churches lose about 10% of their congregation each year. Some drop out. People move. A few leave. Things happen. We have to grow by about 10% just to stay even. So I am asking everyone today to invest your life in 2 new people this year.
In Romans, 1st Corinthians, Ephesians and Colossians Paul makes over 30 references to the church by referring to the church as a body. Paul is telling us that just as our bodies need exercise and just as we need to eat right in our spiritual lives we also need to use our gifts and we need to feed our minds with the right things. You see the Corinthian church was divided. Paul has been telling them that all of us are linked together....very similar to the pieces of a puzzle. Puzzle pieces just aren’t worth much if they aren’t connected. Now look at that puzzle piece in your notes because I have 6 things I want you to understand about it...
1. Each piece/part of the whole picture picture but no two pieces are exactly the same. 1 Cor. 12:14 (NIV) Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy is demanding that Linus change the channel on the TV so she threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t do it. Linus is really not too frightened by her threat and he says to her, Lucy, what makes you think you can just walk in her and take over? With a mean look on her face she says, these 5 fingers. Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold!
Immediately Linus says, which channel do you want? As he is walking toward the TV he looks at his hand/finger and says why can’t you guys get organized like that? While I don’t condone doing things that way it is a great illustration of how the church should work together. Individually we can’t do much but when we work together we form a weapon that is amazing to behold.
2. Every piece of the puzzle is necessary. Every piece matters! 1 Corinthians 12:15-17 (NIV) If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. [16] And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. [17] If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? Here Paul is especially speaking to those of us who may feel inferior for one reason or another and he is saying everyone matters.
Imagine for a moment that you’re boarding a plane to go on vacation. As you buckle your seat belt and settle in for the flight you sit back and smile because of the great deal you got on your ticket and you dream about all you plan to do on your vacation. The pilot then comes on the intercom and says attention this is the captain speaking. The reason your ticket was so much cheaper is that we’ve done away with the people you never see-the maintenance men who service the plane, the navigator who is only needed on foggy nights....like tonight and the air traffic controller. We also didn’t think it was necessary to have those security people who check for weapons. Have a nice flight. Not too many of us would want to fly on that plane. Listen the less visible pieces are in the puzzle are just as important as the more visible ones. We are Better Together.
3. Each piece is designed for a specific purpose. 1 Corinthians 12:18 (NIV) But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. God made you just the way He wanted you. You are designed by Him. You have a unique place at Eagle’s Landing. Notice this verse says, “every one of them.” No one is disqualified. No one has a past too terrible. You have been designed on purpose, you have a purpose and that purpose is to live to your fullest potential.
4. Just as no piece is inferior, no piece is superior. 1 Corinthians 12:21 (NIV) The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don’t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you!" When a speck of dust gets in your eye your finger, out of instinct rubs the eye. There is no debate from the hand about whether or not the hand is going to help. Look at your piece of the puzzle. Now look at your neighbor’s. There has never been anyone like you before and there will never be anyone like you again. There is no one who can accomplish what you can do in this church.
5. Each piece is interconnected but each piece is not independent. 1 Corinthians 12:24 (NIV) But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it. Your puzzle piece is designed to lock together with those around you in order to form the right picture. Notice again v. 18. I heard about a poor family that couldn’’t afford a Christmas tree. They waited until Christmas Eve and found a tree that was OK on one side, but pretty bare on the other. Then they picked up another one that was full in the front and scraggly in the back. They nervously offered $3 to the salesman, hoping he would take the money, and he accepted because no one else wanted the two trees.
Later that night, the salesman was walking down the street and saw a beautiful tree in the couple’s apartment. It was thick and well rounded. He knocked on their door and asked them how they got such a beautiful tree. The husband showed him how they had worked the trees close together where the branches were thin and tied their trunks together. The branches overlapped and formed a tree so thick you could no longer see that there were two. Listen when the church is put together right an amazing makeover takes place. God loves to take us with our weaknesses and put us us together with other other people in order to make the body of Christ.
V. 27 A Father asked his young son to break a bundle off sticks. He returned a little later to find the boy to be very frustrated. He had tried to smash it over his knee but that just gave him a bruised knee. He had placed it against the wall and tried to smash it but the bundle hardly bent. The father then took the bundle from his son and untied it. Then he began to break the sticks easily-one at a time. This is a picture of the church. When we stay together we cannot be broken, when we divide Satan wil begin to take us apart.
