“Super Vision Supervision”
When we are young, most of us have our super heroes. I can still remember the names of many of mine. Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, and Roy Campenella to name a few. All three of these guys were sluggers for the Old Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. They were bigger than life to me because I believed in them. They could turn a bad situation into something really wonderful.
I remember one time when the Dodgers were behind something like 8 to 0 and it was late in the ball game. These three guys (along with their teammates) started hitting the ball and after the dust had settled, the Dodgers turned the whole situation around and won the ball game. I know because I was there.
No, I wasn’t in the ball park. I was several hundred miles away sitting near a little brown box in my humble West Virginia home. But I was still there. With my super vision, I could see everything that was happening. There in my box office seat I sat wringing my hands and against all odds started to believe in a miracle. I believed in a miracle and I got one.
I was convinced then and I am still convinced today, I had something to do with that baseball miracle. My heroes won the game because I believed in them. They turned the situation completely around because I held my mouth just right and in my mind I visioned it all happening. My Dodgers and I, we were a team, with super vision. We saw beyond a bad situation and together we effected a positive result.
Christians need to have super vision. Many of the early disciples had super vision and they saw miracles happen. Something strange occurs, however, in our narrative for today. Jesus had been effecting miracles everywhere he went. Last Sunday we read about Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding. That was his first miracle. But he did many others. Some are recorded in the Bible. The majority of his miracles are not recorded in the Bible. One gospel writer says that if we had all the books in the world, they couldn’t contain all the great things which Jesus, did.
And yet in our text today, Jesus miracle working power comes to a screeching halt. The greatest, most powerful man in all the world, was greatly hindered in the town of Nazareth. It seems ironic that in his own home town, Jesus loses the hometown advantage.
Another great man, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, said, “It is hard to lead, when you look over your shoulder and there isn’t anyone there.” Well, that is what happens to Jesus. He comes to his own home town, and he looks over his shoulder and there isn’t anyone there. Well, that isn’t exactly right. There are actually many people there, but they are not there for him. They don’t have faith in him. They have lost their super vision and they can’t see beyond Jesus’ carpenter’s garb.
Jesus was the greatest man who ever lived and yet he could do very little without the super vision of those around him.
Now if the greatest man who ever lived was held back by the lack of super vision, don’t you think that the same missing ingredient will impact the success or failure of you and me who fall dramatically short of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course it will.
Now, how is it that the people of Nazareth lose their super vision. I think it is obvious. Familiarity breeds contempt. Jesus is too familiar with the people of Nazareth. Consequently, they see Jesus through eyes of contempt.
Jesus was a carpenter. His father was a carpenter before him. Chances are his grandfather and his great grandfather were carpenters. That was the way of the culture. Your identity was defined by your trade and the character of the family which nurtured you. Beyond those occupational and familial parameters you simply could not go. That was the mind set of the times. So, when Jesus (the carpenter) returns as, Jesus (the preacher/miracle worker) they just can’t see it.
Now what does this story have to do with us? Well, it has everything to do with us. Nazareth was a small town. And we are a small church. Just as the small town thinking of Nazareth effected the dynamics of Jesus ministry, the small church thinking of Norview can effect our ministry. Our small church thinking can begin to draw sharp boundaries around each of our identities; our individual identities and, yes, even our identity as a community.
For example you may see Bob Walker as the electrician, and become too comfortable with that identity. So one day he slips into the pulpit and begins the expound the Word. And you just turn your head and say, “Nah, that is Bob Walker, the electrician. He aint no preacher.” You realize I trying to give you illustrations of how we can limit the power of a church by becoming too familiar with the roles we play. Now we all know that Mel Green is an accountant, and a good one at that. We appreciate that role. But what if one day, Mel walked in the church wearing blue jeans and carrying his hammer and saw. Most of us would be inclined to say, “Nah, that can’t be. That is Mel Green, the accountant, he’s not a carpenter.”
Do you get my drift? Do you see how we can limit ourselves by becoming to intrenched in a particular role or seeing someone else as entrenched in a particular role? That can even happen in the pastor congregation relationship. As I approach my tenth year with you as my congregation and as you approach your tenth year with me as your pastor, we are in danger of becoming to familiar with one another.
Having been with you for so long, I may begin to see only what you have done in the past and lose my sense of seeing what you might be able to do in the future. In the same way, you may become fixated in seeing only what I have done in the past and not be able to see what I might be able to do in the future. I will give you an example.
Do you know what compliment I hear from you the most often? “Vernon does a really great funeral.” Now don’t get me wrong. I appreciate that compliment. But do you realize what the implications are for you putting me in that role exclusively? Of course you do. Eventually Vernon is going to run out of people to have funerals for. What a lonely occupation that would be; to be the best funeral preacher in the world without anyone to have funerals for. I would like to think that there are other roles to be discovered and other roles to be engaged in the furtherance of God’s coming kingdom here at Norview.
I need to have super vision when it comes to me seeing you and your gifts. And you need to have super vision when it comes to you seeing me and my gifts.
We both need “supervision”. And by supervision I don’t mean supervision in the traditional sense of that word. I don’t mean some superior guy telling some inferior guy what to do. I am talking about the knack for encouraging one another. I am talking about the ability to see and then affirm gifts of other people which may not be obvious to the world. I am talking about the vision to see beyond the roles we have been playing and to see roles we can be playing.
I was mighty proud of our commissioner to the Presbytery meeting yesterday. Indeed, I think his courageous stand was crucial to a major decision which the Presbytery made yesterday. Let me tell you about it:
The Presbytery was engaged in a major debate over the approval of the budget. Those on one side said we ought to cut the budget because the funds were not available. The other side argued that we ought to solicit more funds from the people so the budget would not have to be cut. It seemed to me that we had arrived at a stalemate. And then Bobby (Our Commissioner) arose to his feet. Now remember, this was Bobby’s first time at Presbytery meeting. But he stood, nevertheless, and offered a different view. “Why don’t we leave the budget as it is”, he said. “And why don’t we leave the pledges as they are”, he continued. “Why don’t we simply proceed on faith, believing that God will honor our faith and meet our needs”.
Bobby then sat down. A vote was immediately taken, and the budget was unanimously approved. Now, that, my friends, is an example of supervision.
I need to have that for you and you need to have that for me. I think I know what Franklin Roosevelt was talking about when he said, “It is hard for a person to lead, when he looks over his shoulder and there isn’t anyone there.” Why there are times when I don’t have to look over my shoulder to know that there isn’t anyone there. Sometimes I look right in front of me, and seeing row after row of empty pews, it begins to feel to me like there isn’t anyone there.
Sure I am talking about the scarcity of bodies, but I am also talking about the scarcity of spirit. Do you know that we can sometimes make up for the scarcity of bodies by having more spirit. If you know that your supervision directly effects the power which I have as a preacher, you might muster the spirit of five or six physical bodies and offset the number of vacant pews in our church.
Let me tell you something else that is important to me. You, the choir! I miss you during the summer months. During those months, I look over my shoulder and you aren’t there and it is much harder for me to lead this congregation when I don’t see you. When you return in the fall I am greatly encouraged. And I can tell you that it isn’t just your singing, that is important in effecting my encouragement. Certainly singing is a part of your ministry to me and this congregation. But that isn’t the only ministry you have and it may not be the most important ministry.
The idea that choirs are for singing and only singing is another one of those stereotypes which makes us throw away our supervision. Just like the people thought that Jesus was a carpenter, good for only using a hammer and saw, some people think the choir is only good for singing or playing an instrument.
Friends, I want you to know that you are more than a choir, and the choir director, you Elaine, you are more than a choir director. You are also the congregation. You are also the cloud of witnesses which we read about in Hebrews 12. You are important whether you are singing or not. When you aren’t singing you can be praying. When you aren’t singing you can be worshiping. You can even worship when you do sing.
When you are not singing, you can be listening to the powerful life changing Word of God. When you are doing all those things (praying, worshiping, listening to the Word of God), I can look over my shoulder and though you may be few in number I can have a deep sense that I am leading a mighty army for the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
When you are not doing those things, I am greatly weakened and my ability to effect any miracle working power in the lives of people present is greatly reduced.
When it comes to the ministry of this church, we need to have “super vision”; or “supervision”. We need to see beyond the familiar roles and the familiar parameters. We need to see the larger picture of God’s kingdom which may at times appear unfamiliar and strange.
Let me get specific again and focus on one area of familiarity in this church that could be a stumbling block. We see ourselves as the “Friendly Folk of Norview”. Today, I want to challenge you to think about how that identity has the potential for limiting your vision in God’s kingdom.
Now before you get you feathers ruffled let me make it clear what I am not saying. I am not saying that being a friendly church is a bad thing. You are a friendly church and that is to your credit. Remember, Jesus was a carpenter, and that was to his credit. Being a carpenter was a good thing and Jesus was never ashamed of that part of his identity.
What happens in the narrative which becomes unfortunate is that Jesus is narrowly defined by the people who knew him. They lose their super vision and in their minds they draw a tight parameter around Jesus and say, “You are a carpenter. Just like your daddy, and your granddaddy, and your great granddaddy. You are a carpenter. That is the long and short of it. You are a carpenter; that is all you are and you have no business coming in here acting like a prophet.”
In the same way, we can put a limit to God’s miracle working power if we limit our identity to that of being a friendly church. You see, if you think about what it means to be a friend, I think you will agree. Who do we really choose to be our friends? We choose as our friends those people who are most like us. If you are a golfer, you probably have a lot of golfer friends. If you like Nascar Racing, you probably have a few friends who are into Nascar Racing.
The list goes on. We go to the 50 plus club and we have many friends there because there are a lot of people there who are 50 plus. There is nothing wrong with this. It is normal. We need friends. We ought to have friends. But when it comes to the Kingdom of God, the friendship analogy has great limitations. In the kingdom of God, if we are to be true to the mandate of our great king, we must reach beyond friendship. We need to add to friendship a strong resolve to reach out to the strangers around us.
This is not a novel idea manufactured in your pastor’s study. Indeed, this is the powerful mandate which Bobby and I and all those present received at the Presbytery yesterday. Tom Long, a world renown Presbyterian Preacher, challenged us in this very matter.
In is lecture, he gave us a list of things which he said the Lord revealed to him as crucial to the church’s health. It was not a long list. I think it contained four things we ought to keep from our tradition and four things we ought to get rid of. Among the four things he suggests that we ought to get rid of, is the idea that our identity; the long and short of it, be tied to friendliness.
I concur with that assessment. I cite for you the scripture we just read from the book of James. If our church’s identity does not go beyond the parameters of friendliness, we cannot be true to the image of the church that James paints here. Indeed, we might find ourselves committing a very grievous sin. Here let me read the scripture to you as it is. Read James 2:1-9.
The bottom line in this message today is supervision. We need to see beyond the familiarity of our life together as a community. We need to see that community is not a stagnate organization and the people in the community are not stagnant. What we are is not what we are becoming. And when we cease to grow in our identity as individuals and when we cease to grow in our identity as a community, we cease to live and are in fact dead.
My challenge to this community and to everyone in it, including myself, is to have super vision. To see all that we are, yes, but also to see all that we can be. When we have that kind of vision, we will see a resumption of the miracle working power of Jesus Christ. In addition to being electricians, we will be witnesses to the saving power of Jesus. In addition to being elders, we will be loving fathers and husbands at home. In addition to being carpenters, we will be mighty prophets for God; just like Jesus. Amen.
