Re-visioning
Proverbs 29:18
Lynn Anderson tells the story a shipload of pilgrims who landed on the northeast coast of America 350 years ago. The first year they established a town site. The next year they elected a town government. The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness. In the fourth year the people tried to impeach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles westward 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 five miles out of town. They had lost their vision.
Our Scripture today is from Proverbs 29:18 “Without a vision the people perish.” With a clear vision from Christ, no ocean of difficulty is too great. Without it, we rarely move beyond our current boundaries or comfort zones. Helen Keller was asked “What would be worse than being born blind?” to which she replied “Having sight without a vision.” The writer of Proverbs knew that discerning God’s vision and living out that vision was at the heart of being a follower of God. It is at the center of the life of being the people of God. But without a vision, the body of Christ is loses its way and is in danger of dying.
What is vision? George Barna writes, "Vision….is a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God to His chosen servants and is based upon an accurate understanding of God, self and circumstances." Vision is a portrait of a future that does not yet exist, stretching reality beyond the current circumstances to make a better future. Vision by its very nature implies change as it is grounded in the acknowledgment that we are not the people or the church God has called us to be and yet we are given the grace and the power to change.
At the heart of a vision is the idea that God is the very center of life. People today usually add God into their life. That is to say, that God is a part of their life but not necessarily their life. So you have a vocational part of your life, a family part of your life, a marriage part of your, a parenting part of your life and standing next to all of those is the spiritual part of your life. The ancient Israelites approached life and spirituality very differently. They didn’t believe that a relationship with God, serving and worshipping God were a part of life, they believed it was the very essence of life. So much so, that they understood if you were living apart from God, you were essentially dead because the very purpose of life is to live, serve and worship God. Apart from that, we are nothing and everything else is meaningless.
So at the very heart of being God’s people is not only understanding God’s purpose and vision for the body of Christ but pursuing it as well. The question we must begin seeking the answer to today is: “What is God’s vision for our church?” I was talking a church leaders last week and the leader dreamed of our current sanctuary filled with 400 people in worship each Sunday. That’s a wonderful hope and dream but not necessarily a vision. There are several things we need to learn about vision before we begin seeking God’s vision for our church
First, a God’s ordained vision is the ability to see the need. Nehemiah lived in the royal city of Susa, and served the Persian King Artaxerxes as his cupbearer. This was a position of great responsibility as he tested the king’s wine and food to make sure it wasn’t poisoned. He had a comfortable position and one of luxury living and serving the king. And then Nehemiah’s brother came to visit bringing the news about Jerusalem. Its walls were flattened, gates burned, the city was abandonedand and the morale of the people living aound Jerusalem were at an all-time low. These were desperate days. Instead of a magnificent city, Jerusalem was in shambles; and where there had once been great glory, there was now nothing but great reproach. God was being dishonored as long as Jerusalem lay waste. This was the place where the reality of God’s presence would be experienced in love and mercy by those who sought Him. Instead, it laid in ruins. The city of Jerusalem needed to be rebuilt, not just for God but for the Jews as well.
Second, A God-ordained vision will always begin as a concern. In other words, you feel the need or pain of a situation. Something will bother you about the way things are or the way they are headed. A need will grip your heart or a situation will take hold of your thoughts and you can’t get rid of it because it won’t let go of you. This is what happened when Nehemiah’s brother shared the state of conditions back in Judah. It literally broke Nehemiah’s heart. It consumed his thoughts and led to restless nights of sleep. Nehemiah was so moved by the need that he refused to eat—at least on a regular basis. Nehemiah felt the pressure and burden in his own heart. And he could not let it go. Or better yet, it would not let go of him. A God-ordained vision will always begin as a concern. Anyone with vision will tell you this is not merely something that could be done. This is something that should be done. You are never used of God until God has opened your heart and made you feel deep sorrow about the needs around you.
The third aspect of vision is to see “a preferred future.” It not only sees things the way they are, recognizing that they shouldn’t be that way but they also see the way things could be. For Nehemiah, his vision was to see the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt. But Nehemiah could see the walls rebuilt, a city thriving once again with people and businesses and the temple of God leading the people in worship of God. Vision is a reflection of what God wants to do through us to impact the world. It is not about maintaining the status quo. Visions are born in the soul of a man or a woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what could be.
The fourth aspect of vision is that it is God-sized. In other words, it is of such size and magnitude that it cannot be accomplished alone. It is never something you can achieve by yourself. For Nehemiah, his vision was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The wall was over two miles in length, some 12-15 feet high and 10 feet thick and most of it laid in ruins. Many had tried before and failed and now they had lain in ruins almost 150 years. This was a God’s sized vision. That means two things. First, God must be in the center of the vision. If it is going to come to pass then God has to be in the very heart of this vision and leading the work to accomplish it every step of the way. In fact, many times when faced with a God-sized vision, it moves a person to their knees because it is so great and so impossible. For more than three months, Nehemiah prayed to God asking each day if that would be the day to begin pursuing that vision. And throughout his work in rebuilding, Nehemiah continually returns to God in prayer for guidance, strength and perseverance to see the vision through to completion.
Second, God’s vision always call us to join with others in His work. Even with God in the middle of it, we can’t accomplish it alone. It’s something that others must participate in and in fact in the case of a vision for a church, it is something which everyone must participate in, strive for and sacrifice to bring it to fruition. You will recall that Nehemiah was one of a team of four persons God called and gave visions to re-establish his holy city, the temple of God and the people of Israel: Esther, Nehemiah, Ezra and Hezekiah. Not only that, he needed the help of literally thousands of people to labor and sacrifice in rebuilding the walls.
A fifth aspect of vision is that it includes the courage to do. In other words faith includes action. Courage is going forward in spite of fear Was David afraid? Yes, but there was a cause. Our problem is that too often we want to live in our comfort zone. Look at what God asks most of our Bible Heroes to do. God ask them to attempt the impossible. What if these so Biblical heroes did not want to move beyond their comfort zones?
Noah would have said - Sorry God I don’t do boats
Moses he would have said - I don’t like people
David – I don’t do giants I am just a lowly shepherd
Mary would have said I don’t babies
But God’s vision allows us to overcome this. Vision is the Ability to see what others can’t. --Faith to believe what others will not. --Courage to do what others say can’t be done.
How does a church get a vision? First, it starts with signing the Covenant of Openess and submitting our will to God’s vision for the future. That means we have to trust God in what He will reveal to us and how he will lead us. That starts with faith. In many ways, we must become like the father in Mark 9:24 “Immediately, the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” We forget God will and does help us do everything and that includes helping our faith become stronger. There are alot of factors that influence our service for God which we have no control over -- your background, your age, your giftedness, but there is one important factor that we do have control over. How much we choose to believe God.
Second, we let God speak to us through His word. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” Our faith needs to be strengthened and that is through His word. Enclosed in your bulletin this week is a month-long Devotional Guide with accompanying questions. We are asking that each of you commit to reading the Scripture and discussing the questions four days a week.
Third is through prayer. This is not intercessory prayer where you are praying on behalf of others. Instead, this is listening prayer. John Maxwell says we spend 90% of our time talking when it comes to prayer and only 20% of the time listening. In reality, it should be the other way around. We should spend 10% of the time to God and the other 90% of our time listening to what God would say. If we don’t, we will never hear the voice of God speaking or his vision for our future.
The second part of this is I’m going to ask you to gather in groups of prayer triads once a week to pray together for God‘s guidance. Part of your time together will be to discuss the needs you see in people’s lives, the changes which have occurred on the WestBank since the storm and the opportunities for ministry which have arisen as a result.
Third, I’m going to ask every gathering, whether it be a Bible study, Sunday School class, UMW, UMM, the Quilters or Painters, whatever group gathers together that they be intentional in spending 10-15 minutes in prayer praying for God’s guidance and listening for the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Seeking God’s vision must be spirit born, spirit led, and spirit fed and that begins with submission, Bible study and prayer. As you do these things, you need to share any insights and inspirations and any calling that moves and inspires you. Then share that vision. Each week, we’re going to have an insert where you can share your insights and inspirations and then put them in the basket at the back of the sanctuary when you leave. Drop them in the mail or stop by the office and sit down with me. You can do this in person or do it anonymously. After a period of time, we will then begin having Focus Groups where you can see all the emerging visions and begin to identify what moves and speaks to you.
