Over the past three weeks we’ve talked about developing—and living with—vision: a clear, God-inspired mental picture of a preferred future. Up to this point it’s been pretty much personal, focusing on our preferred future for our families, our children . . .
As we’ve talked about this concept of vision, we’ve relied pretty heavily upon the principles of Nehemiah: How Nehemiah saw a problem and then developed a plan to address that problem. How he prayed for God’s help in accomplishing his vision, and how he prayed even more and then revised his plan as the circumstances surrounding the completion of his vision changed.
Through it all, I’ve been amazed at the passion Nehemiah had for his vision. How he believed so strongly in his vision that he became convinced not only that it could be done, but that it should be done. How his Godly passion for completing the wall and making the people of Jerusalem safe again kept him going even through the most difficult and dangerous of times. That kind of driving urge, the all-consuming passion to see a vision all the way through to its completion is the kind of thing that stirs my heart and makes me want to achieve more, as well.
So I got to wondering . . . how can we apply that sort of passion, how can we apply what we’ve learned about vision so far to our lives here at Our Saviour? How can we birth a vision? How can we develop a preferred future for where we believe God is taking us? How can we make a vision-sized impact on the city of Hudson and even beyond?
Now, this is no small question! This is not something that we’re going to be able to figure out in just one sermon! But what we can do is build a framework for approaching a church-wide vision.
I’m not going to mince words. I want to leave you just a bit unsettled today. Partly because I don’t want the conversation to end here, I want it to continue on. But also partly because being unsettled—having a sense of holy discontent, a divine dissatisfaction—is an inherent part of having a true, God-inspired vision.
What is Our Saviour here for? _______________________ Did God establish this church so that we can have our needs met? Okay, the answer for that in some way is a “yes”, so let me put this another way: Did God establish Our Saviour Lutheran Church just so that Pastor Troy Neujahr can draw a steady paycheck? Is the church here just for me?
The answer of course is “No”! Blecch! No!! But if that is true, then it is also true that the church is not here just for you, either. This church is not my personal playground, it is my calling. In the same way, Our Saviour Lutheran Church isn’t just a nice place for you to feel good about yourself; it is a place that God has ordained for you to meet Him, for you to be ministered to, and for you to serve. It is your calling. And since He has knit us together as part of the Body of Christ, we’re all in this together. It is our calling.
Now, what has God called us to as a congregation? We already know that! We learned about our five purposes back in February, and you know what? It’s time for a quick review! God has called us to: 1) Worship. 2) Discipleship. 3) Fellowship. 4) Ministry. 5) Missions—evangelism. That’s what you are called to, that is what we as a church are called to. Any vision we have, any sense of a Godly picture of a preferred future is going to have to have a healthy, balanced approach to those five purposes!
Those five purposes let us know what God has called us to, they are a building block for vision, but they themselves are not vision. To begin to have the sense of vision, I want you to take a few minutes and answer some questions. Don’t respond out loud, just think about the question for a minute and then write down your answer on your interactive sermon sheet.
First question: Who are we? You say, “Oh, that’s easy! Our Saviour Lutheran Church.” No, no, no, no . . . who are we? What kind of church are we? What is our self-identity as a church? Not as individuals, but as a church?
Second question: Why does God have us here? What could be His purpose for giving Hudson, Michigan a place like Our Saviour? What is going on in this community that He would have us address? What needs are there that He would have us minister to?
Third question: What do we stand for now? What is the absolute bedrock that we will refuse to compromise on? What are those areas where we would have freedom to change? What are our values, those things that we hold dear that motivate us to actually do something? And then, after you answer that, answer this question, What should we stand for tomorrow?
Fourth question: Where are we going? What target are we shooting for as a church? Do we have a target?
Fifth and final question: How will we get there?
I’d be willing to make a bet on something regarding those questions. I’d be willing to bet that as you answered those questions you had some mixed emotions. You probably had some good answers to a few of those questions, but you also realized there were questions you couldn’t answer with certainty. Is that a problem? Not as long as we commit—as a church—to take the time to figure out the answers to those questions.
What happens if we don’t commit to answer those questions? Well, honestly not much. We’ll continue on, I’ll keep preaching every Sunday, we’ll continue to be assured through Word and Sacrament of the forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ, and not much will change at all.
For a while, at least.
But let’s illustrate what will happen in twenty years’ time. Everyone who is 60 years old or younger please stand up. 60 years old or younger. Barring any exceptionally long lifespans, there’s Our Saviour in twenty years’ time. Let’s keep going into the future. Anyone who is 50 years or younger, keep standing. 40 years or younger, please keep standing. 30 years or younger. Twenty years or younger. 10. Barring any major changes, there is Our Saviour Lutheran Church in seventy years.
Church statistics indicate that an average church’s lifespan is about eighty years. How old is Our Saviour? Just over fifty years. Look at your sermon sheet. Like all living things, a church’s life generally follows what is known as a Bell curve. It is born, it grows to maturity, it reaches the height of its effectiveness, and then slowly declines until it is essentially dead. And all that takes place in an average of eighty years.
I have been in churches on every single point along that curve, and I can tell you with certainty that the further along a church gets on the “decline” side, the harder and harder it is to breathe new life into that church. Eventually, keeping even just the most basic ministry functions is an all-consuming task for the declining church. Statistically speaking, Our Saviour is on the “decline” side of the curve.
But that’s not the end of the story! First, that statistic of a church death in eighty years is only an average, and even then it is only true if the church does not make a specific effort to begin a new curve. In other words, the churches that defy the statistics—the ones that live past eighty years—those churches are the ones that make a specific choice to listen to God and heed His direction when He breathes new life into their congregation.
I’d like Our Saviour to long outlive me, and I’m sure you would like that, too. But let’s make sure we have the right motives. There are many good reasons why we’d want to keep our church alive for years to come, but there is only one reason why we should.
What is the task of the church? What is the one thing that encapsulates all of the five purposes? It is the Great Commission. Christ says in Matthew 28:18 that all authority in Heaven and on earth had been given to Him, and—say it with me now—“19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
The one task of the church is the Great Commission! To make disciples by baptizing and teaching! That is why we want this church to continue! That is why we desire God’s ministry through Our Saviour to outlast our lives! Because each of us, from the youngest to the oldest, from the founding member to the one baptized just today, each of us have received the gifts of God that He gave us through Jesus Christ here in this place. God has met us here. He has taught us here. He has ministered to us here in our joys, our sorrows, our births, our deaths!
That is why we want His church to live on! Because as we have freely received, we wish to freely give to a people who have not yet heard, to families who do not yet know, to a generation that has not yet been born. Whether we live or die we do so to the Lord, and though we desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; it is more necessary for those yet to come that Our Saviour remains. Because as Our Saviour remains, the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ also lives on.
In the Gospel of Matthew—turn there to chapter sixteen—Jesus is asking His disciples who people say He is. Matthew 16:14-15, “4 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"”
Stop there just a minute. Before you go any further, answer this question. Do you ever get tired of Satan’s interference in your life? Did you ever want to be part of something so great that Satan himself couldn’t mess it up? Did you? . . . . then read on.
Matthew 16:16-18, “16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock—on this confession of faith, in other words. Read this with me, now—on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it.”
Do you want to be part of something that just sticks in Satan’s craw? Do you want to be part of something that Satan cannot overcome? Then get behind this idea of a church-wide vision. Join with me in dreaming about what God’s preferred future could hold for Our Saviour, work together with me as we make plans to bring about His vision for us, and partner with me as together we work to make that vision a reality.
This sermon series on vision is done . . . but the visioning process is just beginning. Look around you . . . there are all sorts of signs of a breath of new life here at Our Saviour! I can see all sorts of good things happening: there is newfound energy, there is a greater desire to serve, there is an increased hunger for prayer and for discipleship. God is breathing a new breath of life into our church . . . don’t you think we should make the most of that? Shouldn’t we pray and dream and plan and vision, and make the most out of what He is doing?
This sermon is done . . . but your involvement is just beginning. Don’t let this idea drop here. Go home and listen to God about where He might have us go. Go home and dream about what could one day be. Chat about it over coffee hour. Tell your friends what you could see happening in the future. Tell the church leaders what you could see happening here. Tell me what you could see happening here. Dream up some big, hairy, audacious goals that will test us as a church, that will stretch us to the breaking point, and that will prove God faithful at every turn. This is His church . . . and the gates of Hell will not overcome it. Its high time we get in on what God’s vision for Our Saviour is . . . His picture of a preferred future.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
When Your Vision Is Failing
Last week we talked about the importance and power of having vision, of having a clear mental picture of a preferred future. Vision propels you into the future, it compels you to keep on moving, even when circumstances get rough. I have become a firm believer that a having a Godly vision for the future is often the one thing that keeps me getting up in the morning. Vision is that powerful.
But though vision can be a very powerful thing, it is at the same time a very fragile thing, as well. Remember that a vision always seeks to address the needs of people, and for that reason a vision always involves change. Change always involves risk. Risk always involves the possibility of failure.
A vision is powerful, but it’s not risk-free. If it was, it wouldn’t be vision. It would be a plan. It would be the status quo. It would be free from aggravation, it would be safe . . . but it would not be vision.
Now, I’m sure that all of the plans you’ve made in your life have worked out perfectly . . . but let’s just say for the sake of argument that you’ve had some disappointment in your life. Let’s go further than that; let’s say—again just for the sake of argument—that you’re experiencing some disappointment right now. You have dreams that aren’t coming true. You thought you could make a difference, but you’re not. You were so sure that you heard from God, you prayed and thought and planned and in your mind and heart you were 110% positive that your vision was a God-inspired, God-honoring vision for a preferred future . . . and nothing’s happening. Nothing. What do you do now? What do you do when your vision is failing?
Nehemiah faced that very thing. He didn’t have the best of stonemasons to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall . . . he just had a handful of volunteers and a vision to get it done. He didn’t have the best materials, just what was lying around and a vision to get it done. He did have plenty of opposition from neighboring governors and from some of the Jewish nobles themselves, but still he had a vision to get the job done. But here’s the thing: it wasn’t getting done.
Nehemiah 4:1-3, “When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, "What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble-- burned as they are?" 3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, "What they are building-- if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!"”
This man Sanballat is the most powerful political figure in the region, and he is feeling threatened by the possibility of a new, safer Jerusalem. So he ridicules the workers: Nehemiah’s vision of a rebuilt wall and a safe Jerusalem is a joke! The Jews don’t know what they’re doing! Their building materials are shoddy, and their workmanship leaves a lot to be desired.
So naturally, the workers themselves are starting to lose heart. Nehemiah 4:10-12, “10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall." 11 Also our enemies said, "Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work." 12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, "Wherever you turn, they will attack us."”
Nehemiah’s vision of a safe Jerusalem is crumbling like the fire-scorched stones he’s trying to use to rebuild the wall. It’s enough to make any man give up and walk away. You can just imagine Nehemiah saying to himself, “Maybe they were right after all . . . this vision wasn’t a God idea. It can never be done. I’m going back home to my old job of serving wine to the King.”
But that’s not what Nehemiah did. Andy Stanley, author of the Visioneering book I mentioned last week (you really have to read it!) notes that though Nehemiah’s vision was crumbling, he took three steps that helped him live in the tension of an unrealized vision. He took three steps when his vision was failing.
The first thing that Nehemiah did was pray. The first thing I want you to realize about Nehemiah and prayer is that he prays constantly. The first thing he does in the book is pray. The last thing he does in the book is pray. The thing he does in the middle of the book is pray. He realizes that he can’t accomplish anything without God’s guiding hand, so he makes sure that he stays in tune with God by staying in touch with God.
The second thing about Nehemiah is that he doesn’t resort to some wimpy prayer, some emotional cop-out that allows him to keep a mask of civility. Is God honored when we wear a mask before Him? No!
Nehemiah is ticked! He’s trying to get something done, and these dudes are getting in the way, mocking his workers and demoralizing them! So Nehemiah approaches God honestly. In effect, he says in verse four, “Look, God those guys over there are throwing egg on our faces. We’re a laughing stock. Take care of those nay-sayers for me, because I’ve got better things to do than mess around with their crap.”
Nehemiah is frighteningly honest with God! His prayer may not be very nice—he is, after all, praying that God will wipe his enemies off the face of the earth and hold their sin against them—but at least it’s honest. At least it shows what he was genuinely feeling.
You see, sometimes God waits for us to get honest with Him before He’s willing to work with us. We use all the flowery, proper, polite prayers that we can, and God sits there, waiting. “Uh huh . . . When are you going to come clean with me?” But when we finally get tired of being polite and take the masks off, take the gloves off, and get right down to the nitty gritty with Him, it’s like he says, “All right! Now there’s something I can work with!”
See, at the very least a gritty, honest prayer says to God that we still trust Him! We still want to hear from Him! So when your vision is failing, don’t be afraid to wrestle with God. He understands what you’re going through, and it doesn’t honor your relationship with Him at all to pretend like everything’s just hunky-dorey when you talk to Him. He will not reject you for being honest with Him, because as a believer you are connected with Christ. If God were to reject you, He would first have to reject His Son. He will listen, because His Son died for you and God Himself promised that because of that He will always listen. God is waiting for you to get honest with Him.
Once he prayed to God, Nehemiah then remembered. Nehemiah 4:14 14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."
It’s not that some memories just popped into his head, but instead Nehemiah deliberately sat down and reflected on what God had done for him so far. You can just hear Nehemiah’s thoughts: “Well, how did we get into this mess? Because God said to rebuild the wall. How did I get here? Because God moved the King to allow me to come and rebuild the wall. Why did the king give me the stuff to rebuild? Because God moved his heart to do it.” And on and on . . . Nehemiah could run through a lifetime of God’s faithfulness to him, and then he could run through generations of generations of God’s faithfulness to Israel. Time after time after time how God had pulled their fat out of the fire, how God had lived up to His promises, how God had been there ever-present help in times of trouble. “Why are we trying to rebuild the wall? Because God put it on my heart. This isn’t my vision . . . it is God’s.”
Nehemiah remembered! And he tallied up his memories, and the final answer was overwhelmingly in favor of God’s faithfulness and provision. God had been there all along, orchestrating each event behind the scenes, consistently and faithfully working to bring about His desired ends. It didn’t matter what the present circumstances were, God was working through all of it.
Nehemiah took three steps when it seemed his vision was failing. The first was? He prayed. The second was? He remembered. And the third was that he revised his plan.
It sounds so nice and spiritual to say that we’re going to stick to our plan. “No matter what happens, I’m going to stick to the plan that God gave me!” Well, let’s make a distinction there. Write this down: “Visions are refined”—they don’t change—“Plans are revised”—they rarely stay the same.”
Your plans are just that: your . . . plans. But the vision God has given you? That’s from His heart. Our plans must change as circumstances change, but the vision remains a constant. A vision is what could be and should be, but a plan is just your guess as to the best way to accomplish the vision. There is not a single person you are ever going to meet who accomplished anything significant for the Kingdom of God who didn’t have to revise their plans multiple times before their vision became a reality.
So Nehemiah revised his plan. Rather than simply going back to work on the wall and trying to pretend that the circumstances surrounding him weren’t changing, he revised his plan. Nehemiah 4:16-21, “16 From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. . . . Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. . . . 21 So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out.”
Nehemiah’s vision was failing, and so he prayed, he remembered, and he revised his plan . . . and then he got back on with the task of working to make his vision for a safe Jerusalem a reality.
Those are the three steps that Nehemiah models for us when it seems our vision is failing. Three steps, but there is only one reason why Nehemiah felt he could carry on in the midst of great trouble. That reason is because Nehemiah’s vision was firmly grounded in God’s vision. Remember that at that time God’s people were exiled in Babylon. They had been for many years. But God had promised them in Jeremiah 29:10-11 10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Nehemiah first heard of a Jerusalem where the people were “in trouble and great distress.” They had no hope, and the future was bleak. But Nehemiah knew of God’s promise to estore them, to raise them up again . . . and to one day bring forth the Messiah from them. Nehemiah’s vision to rebuild the wall is connected to God’s promises . . . and so should your visions be.
There is only one source of true comfort that you can have today. Only one source of true strength. God’s vision for you is grounded in the hill of Calvary, and as we said last week, His vision is for you to receive, and then to carry, the life and light of Jesus Christ into the preferred future that He has envisioned for you.
He has plans for you! Plans to give you hope and a future! Plans to prosper your family and not harm them! Plans to use you as His instrument of blessing that lonely young boy you met downtown, plans to use you to carry His message of precious salvation to your sick neighbor.
Andy Stanley says, “Once you have made a connection between your vision and God’s charge to you as a believer, your vision will transcend mere circumstances. You won’t be launching a company, you will be financing the great commission. You won’t simply be raising children, you will be influencing a generation. You won’t be holding your marriage together, you will be reestablishing God’s order in society. When we couple our personal visions with God’s sovereign plan, we leverage the future.”
Your vision is failing? Mere circumstances do not stand a chance when your vision is firmly connected to God’s promises of life and salvation in Jesus Christ. Opposition may arise, doubts may come, circumstances will change, but a vision embedded in the bedrock of Jesus Christ will not be undone. It cannot be defeated! On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand! . . . All other ground is sinking sand.
But though vision can be a very powerful thing, it is at the same time a very fragile thing, as well. Remember that a vision always seeks to address the needs of people, and for that reason a vision always involves change. Change always involves risk. Risk always involves the possibility of failure.
A vision is powerful, but it’s not risk-free. If it was, it wouldn’t be vision. It would be a plan. It would be the status quo. It would be free from aggravation, it would be safe . . . but it would not be vision.
Now, I’m sure that all of the plans you’ve made in your life have worked out perfectly . . . but let’s just say for the sake of argument that you’ve had some disappointment in your life. Let’s go further than that; let’s say—again just for the sake of argument—that you’re experiencing some disappointment right now. You have dreams that aren’t coming true. You thought you could make a difference, but you’re not. You were so sure that you heard from God, you prayed and thought and planned and in your mind and heart you were 110% positive that your vision was a God-inspired, God-honoring vision for a preferred future . . . and nothing’s happening. Nothing. What do you do now? What do you do when your vision is failing?
Nehemiah faced that very thing. He didn’t have the best of stonemasons to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall . . . he just had a handful of volunteers and a vision to get it done. He didn’t have the best materials, just what was lying around and a vision to get it done. He did have plenty of opposition from neighboring governors and from some of the Jewish nobles themselves, but still he had a vision to get the job done. But here’s the thing: it wasn’t getting done.
Nehemiah 4:1-3, “When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, "What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble-- burned as they are?" 3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, "What they are building-- if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!"”
This man Sanballat is the most powerful political figure in the region, and he is feeling threatened by the possibility of a new, safer Jerusalem. So he ridicules the workers: Nehemiah’s vision of a rebuilt wall and a safe Jerusalem is a joke! The Jews don’t know what they’re doing! Their building materials are shoddy, and their workmanship leaves a lot to be desired.
So naturally, the workers themselves are starting to lose heart. Nehemiah 4:10-12, “10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall." 11 Also our enemies said, "Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work." 12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, "Wherever you turn, they will attack us."”
Nehemiah’s vision of a safe Jerusalem is crumbling like the fire-scorched stones he’s trying to use to rebuild the wall. It’s enough to make any man give up and walk away. You can just imagine Nehemiah saying to himself, “Maybe they were right after all . . . this vision wasn’t a God idea. It can never be done. I’m going back home to my old job of serving wine to the King.”
But that’s not what Nehemiah did. Andy Stanley, author of the Visioneering book I mentioned last week (you really have to read it!) notes that though Nehemiah’s vision was crumbling, he took three steps that helped him live in the tension of an unrealized vision. He took three steps when his vision was failing.
The first thing that Nehemiah did was pray. The first thing I want you to realize about Nehemiah and prayer is that he prays constantly. The first thing he does in the book is pray. The last thing he does in the book is pray. The thing he does in the middle of the book is pray. He realizes that he can’t accomplish anything without God’s guiding hand, so he makes sure that he stays in tune with God by staying in touch with God.
The second thing about Nehemiah is that he doesn’t resort to some wimpy prayer, some emotional cop-out that allows him to keep a mask of civility. Is God honored when we wear a mask before Him? No!
Nehemiah is ticked! He’s trying to get something done, and these dudes are getting in the way, mocking his workers and demoralizing them! So Nehemiah approaches God honestly. In effect, he says in verse four, “Look, God those guys over there are throwing egg on our faces. We’re a laughing stock. Take care of those nay-sayers for me, because I’ve got better things to do than mess around with their crap.”
Nehemiah is frighteningly honest with God! His prayer may not be very nice—he is, after all, praying that God will wipe his enemies off the face of the earth and hold their sin against them—but at least it’s honest. At least it shows what he was genuinely feeling.
You see, sometimes God waits for us to get honest with Him before He’s willing to work with us. We use all the flowery, proper, polite prayers that we can, and God sits there, waiting. “Uh huh . . . When are you going to come clean with me?” But when we finally get tired of being polite and take the masks off, take the gloves off, and get right down to the nitty gritty with Him, it’s like he says, “All right! Now there’s something I can work with!”
See, at the very least a gritty, honest prayer says to God that we still trust Him! We still want to hear from Him! So when your vision is failing, don’t be afraid to wrestle with God. He understands what you’re going through, and it doesn’t honor your relationship with Him at all to pretend like everything’s just hunky-dorey when you talk to Him. He will not reject you for being honest with Him, because as a believer you are connected with Christ. If God were to reject you, He would first have to reject His Son. He will listen, because His Son died for you and God Himself promised that because of that He will always listen. God is waiting for you to get honest with Him.
Once he prayed to God, Nehemiah then remembered. Nehemiah 4:14 14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."
It’s not that some memories just popped into his head, but instead Nehemiah deliberately sat down and reflected on what God had done for him so far. You can just hear Nehemiah’s thoughts: “Well, how did we get into this mess? Because God said to rebuild the wall. How did I get here? Because God moved the King to allow me to come and rebuild the wall. Why did the king give me the stuff to rebuild? Because God moved his heart to do it.” And on and on . . . Nehemiah could run through a lifetime of God’s faithfulness to him, and then he could run through generations of generations of God’s faithfulness to Israel. Time after time after time how God had pulled their fat out of the fire, how God had lived up to His promises, how God had been there ever-present help in times of trouble. “Why are we trying to rebuild the wall? Because God put it on my heart. This isn’t my vision . . . it is God’s.”
Nehemiah remembered! And he tallied up his memories, and the final answer was overwhelmingly in favor of God’s faithfulness and provision. God had been there all along, orchestrating each event behind the scenes, consistently and faithfully working to bring about His desired ends. It didn’t matter what the present circumstances were, God was working through all of it.
Nehemiah took three steps when it seemed his vision was failing. The first was? He prayed. The second was? He remembered. And the third was that he revised his plan.
It sounds so nice and spiritual to say that we’re going to stick to our plan. “No matter what happens, I’m going to stick to the plan that God gave me!” Well, let’s make a distinction there. Write this down: “Visions are refined”—they don’t change—“Plans are revised”—they rarely stay the same.”
Your plans are just that: your . . . plans. But the vision God has given you? That’s from His heart. Our plans must change as circumstances change, but the vision remains a constant. A vision is what could be and should be, but a plan is just your guess as to the best way to accomplish the vision. There is not a single person you are ever going to meet who accomplished anything significant for the Kingdom of God who didn’t have to revise their plans multiple times before their vision became a reality.
So Nehemiah revised his plan. Rather than simply going back to work on the wall and trying to pretend that the circumstances surrounding him weren’t changing, he revised his plan. Nehemiah 4:16-21, “16 From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. . . . Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. . . . 21 So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out.”
Nehemiah’s vision was failing, and so he prayed, he remembered, and he revised his plan . . . and then he got back on with the task of working to make his vision for a safe Jerusalem a reality.
Those are the three steps that Nehemiah models for us when it seems our vision is failing. Three steps, but there is only one reason why Nehemiah felt he could carry on in the midst of great trouble. That reason is because Nehemiah’s vision was firmly grounded in God’s vision. Remember that at that time God’s people were exiled in Babylon. They had been for many years. But God had promised them in Jeremiah 29:10-11 10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Nehemiah first heard of a Jerusalem where the people were “in trouble and great distress.” They had no hope, and the future was bleak. But Nehemiah knew of God’s promise to estore them, to raise them up again . . . and to one day bring forth the Messiah from them. Nehemiah’s vision to rebuild the wall is connected to God’s promises . . . and so should your visions be.
There is only one source of true comfort that you can have today. Only one source of true strength. God’s vision for you is grounded in the hill of Calvary, and as we said last week, His vision is for you to receive, and then to carry, the life and light of Jesus Christ into the preferred future that He has envisioned for you.
He has plans for you! Plans to give you hope and a future! Plans to prosper your family and not harm them! Plans to use you as His instrument of blessing that lonely young boy you met downtown, plans to use you to carry His message of precious salvation to your sick neighbor.
Andy Stanley says, “Once you have made a connection between your vision and God’s charge to you as a believer, your vision will transcend mere circumstances. You won’t be launching a company, you will be financing the great commission. You won’t simply be raising children, you will be influencing a generation. You won’t be holding your marriage together, you will be reestablishing God’s order in society. When we couple our personal visions with God’s sovereign plan, we leverage the future.”
Your vision is failing? Mere circumstances do not stand a chance when your vision is firmly connected to God’s promises of life and salvation in Jesus Christ. Opposition may arise, doubts may come, circumstances will change, but a vision embedded in the bedrock of Jesus Christ will not be undone. It cannot be defeated! On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand! . . . All other ground is sinking sand.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Vision: A Preferred Future
Vision . . . that’s a big word. It has a lot of different meanings.
When I say “vision” those of us with glasses or other problems with our eyesight might think in terms of how far we can—or cannot—see. If I were to mention the idea of a biblical vision you might immediately think of a prophet in the desert receiving a widescreen, cinematic mental movie from God, complete with surround sound and subwoofers.
But when I think of the word “vision” I am thinking of a simple—yet powerful—concept of the ability to see and work to bring about a version of the future that you find compelling. It is something that has elements of sight—maybe better called “foresight” in this setting—while also being inspired by God.
There was once a lowly servant. Born in exile from his homeland, he had never laid eyes on the city of his forefathers. But he held in his heart a yearning for that city. A passion for his people. He held in his heart a vision, one that many would claim was just an impossible pipe dream. And to everyone else, perhaps it was just that . . . but not to Nehemiah.
Nehemiah held in his heart a vision for Israel and for Jerusalem. This vision was so compelling to Nehemiah that when he was given first-hand news of the state of Jerusalem—broken walls, burned gates, and people in danger—when he heard of that he broke down and wept. Nehemiah knew—he just knew—that something must be done. And so he prayed, and he planned, and he watched, and he waited . . . and when the opportunity finally came for his vision to be birthed he was ready. He stood before kings and boldly made his request. He traveled long distances over difficult terrain to get back to his homeland. He stood firm and unmoving in the face of adversity and opposition and bravely faced down plots and plans intended by wicked men to derail the completion of his vision . . .
. . . and he did what no one else said could be done.
In just fifty-two days Nehemiah saw his vision fulfilled. In just fifty-two days the entire wall surrounding Jerusalem was rebuilt, her gates of safety were restored, and the people of Israel once again declared the praises of God inside the gates of Zion. Fifty . . . two . . . days.
That’s what a vision can do! Vision can take the lowliest of servants, the mildest of men, the vilest of villains, and transform them into a Godly force to be reckoned with. Vision brings a fire in the belly, a holy discontent and a hunger to bring about something that is greater than yourself. With a vision compelling you, you can overcome pain and persevere through obstacles. You can have character in the face of adversity. A vision brings victory, lending you the power of knowing that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love and power of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I have a vision for you. I have a vision for this church. I have a vision for my family. And for today my vision is nothing more than for you today to grasp the concept that you can have vision, that in Christ you can make an impact on people’s lives that will far outlive you and that generations later people can point back to you and give praise to God and say, “There was a man of passion. There was a woman of principle. There was a person of vision.”
In the weeks to come we’re going to look at this notion of vision. Today we’ll talk about the concept of vision—what it involves and how to develop a good and God-pleasing mental image of the future. Next week we’ll handle a tricky subject: how to continue to trust in God when it seems that your vision is failing. We’ll talk about how to remain faithful to God when it seems your vision is falling apart, or worse yet, when it is fizzling out. And in the final week we’re going to take what we’ve learned about vision in general—how it can apply to our personal and family lives—we’ll take what we’ve learned and begin to apply it to our corporate lives as members of Our Saviour Lutheran Church in a little old place called Hudson, Michigan.
But to get there we must first start here. What does “vision” mean? A simple three-word definition of “vision” is seeing a preferred future. When I was working on a church plant in Delaware I had put a lot of work and effort and prayer into it. I could see the people that would populate that church, the building that would one day be built, the lives that would be impacted. And as I laid it all out on paper, one well-meaning individual came to me and asked, “Can you really see all this happening?” And I said, “I can’t not see it.” I had such a passion for that as yet unborn church that I already saw what it would become in twenty years’ time. I had built in my mind a version of the future that I believed was preferable to all other possibilities.
Vision is a preferred future. It can be a preferred future for your marriage, your business, your children. It can be a version of the future that would be preferable for your community, your township, your state, your country. It is more than just a nice daydream, a pleasant game of “What if?”, it is a preferred version of the future that you can see in your mind, that changes how you live today, that compels you to daily action in such a way as to bring that preferred future into a concrete reality.
Now, you may be thinking that seeing a preferred future in your mind is a good idea, and I’d say it is. It’s a good thing to have good ideas! But if you’re going to grasp this concept of “vision” in the Biblical sense that I want you to, we’re going to have to learn to distinguish good ideas from God ideas.
A true vision for the future is always more than just a good idea. It is a God idea. A God idea is a vision born from the heart of God and the pages of His Word. It is borne upon the wings of the Holy Spirit. When you start to look at it that way, a God-inspired vision of the future begins to take upon the characteristics of a moral imperative: It matures from something that could be done to something that must be done.
What are the characteristics of a God idea? How do we distinguish between a good idea and a God idea? The book of Nehemiah gives us a few pointers.
The first test to distinguish between a good idea and a God idea is that it address a need—either felt or perceived—of people. Pay careful attention to Nehemiah’s priorities in Nehemiah 1:1-3, “While I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
Nehemiah’s first concern—as is God’s—is about the people of Jerusalem. They are in “great trouble and disgrace.” Why? Because the protective walls and gates of the city are in ruins. Nehemiah’s prayer to God isn’t to restore the glory of the city, but it focuses upon the plight of the people and the promises of God.
Write this down: a vision is a burden to fix people’s problems. God cares very little for buildings or riches or things . . . but He cares a great deal about people. So much so that He sent His one and only Son so that all who believe in Him might have eternal life. Any version borne from the heart of God will have people as its focal point.
The second test is that a Godly vision stands up to the test of time. When Nehemiah first heard of the plight of the people of Jerusalem he broke down and wept, but he stayed broken for months. The time between chapters one and two, the time between the month of Kislev when Nehemiah first spoke to the travelers from Judah and the month of Nisan when he finally spoke to the king was over four months. During that time his vision for Jerusalem and her inhabitants did not die out.
It’s pretty easy to hear a passionate missionary speak on the all-important and immediate need for overseas missionaries and feel so moved at that very moment that you would be willing to leave tomorrow. But what happens a few days later? The burning desire cools down and you go back to business as usual. What you thought was a lightning bolt from heaven call from God turns out to be nothing more than a passionate response to a very convincing speaker. But a true vision from God doesn’t die out after a few days, and in fact as time passes it continues to build and build in your heart. The second test of a God idea is that it must stand the test of time.
The third test is that there will be some confirmation along the way, some sense and indication that God is preparing the road ahead of you. Twice in chapter two Nehemiah is given confirmation that God is at work. In Nehemiah 2:1-6 Nehemiah is given his opportunity to make his request before the King, and although there was not one single reason in the world why the King of Assyria would desire the capitol city of one of his former enemies rebuilt, Nehemiah still notes in verse six, “It pleased the king to send me.” When Nehemiah finally gets to Jerusalem and speaks to the people there, the ones that that have been living with the status quo of broken walls and risky lives, he tells them of his radical idea to rebuild and it is clear God has moved in their hearts, because they reply in verse eighteen, “Let us start rebuilding.” God is at work behind the scenes paving the way for Nehemiah’s vision of a preferred future for the people of Jerusalem.
Andy Stanley, in his ground-breaking book Visioneering, says this, “If God has birthed a vision in you, he is in the process of developing a similar vision in the hearts of others around you. When the time comes to share your vision, it will ring true in the souls of those He has been preparing.” The third test of a God idea is that He will bring confirmation that your vision is more than a good idea, it is a God idea.
There is more to say on this subject, we haven’t yet talked about living in the tension of a vision that isn’t coming true yet, and we haven’t talked about the process of how too actually give birth to a Godly vision, how to make that preferred future a reality. But both of those vary from person to person, from time to time, from vision to vision. Some of those things you just have to learn from the school of hard knocks, and a Godly vision will continue to live despite a few mistakes along the way.
So instead of talking in generalities about those things, as I close today I want to get very specific about God’s vision for your life. I want to talk about Christ and the cross and how that permeates every single aspect of a God-inspired vision.
John 3:16 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Isaiah 50:6-7 6 I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. 7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.
At the very top of this church—almost directly above where I am standing now—there stands a cross. And when darkness falls across the city there is one light that still shines, illuminating that cross and calling people to a beacon of hope and life. God’s vision for you is to answer that call in faith, believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him receiving forgiveness of all your past deeds and causing you to carry that light with you into the darkness of the worlds where you once lived. His vision is for you to receive, and then to carry, the life and light of Jesus Christ into the preferred future that He has envisioned for you.
NIV 1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-- of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
When I say “vision” those of us with glasses or other problems with our eyesight might think in terms of how far we can—or cannot—see. If I were to mention the idea of a biblical vision you might immediately think of a prophet in the desert receiving a widescreen, cinematic mental movie from God, complete with surround sound and subwoofers.
But when I think of the word “vision” I am thinking of a simple—yet powerful—concept of the ability to see and work to bring about a version of the future that you find compelling. It is something that has elements of sight—maybe better called “foresight” in this setting—while also being inspired by God.
There was once a lowly servant. Born in exile from his homeland, he had never laid eyes on the city of his forefathers. But he held in his heart a yearning for that city. A passion for his people. He held in his heart a vision, one that many would claim was just an impossible pipe dream. And to everyone else, perhaps it was just that . . . but not to Nehemiah.
Nehemiah held in his heart a vision for Israel and for Jerusalem. This vision was so compelling to Nehemiah that when he was given first-hand news of the state of Jerusalem—broken walls, burned gates, and people in danger—when he heard of that he broke down and wept. Nehemiah knew—he just knew—that something must be done. And so he prayed, and he planned, and he watched, and he waited . . . and when the opportunity finally came for his vision to be birthed he was ready. He stood before kings and boldly made his request. He traveled long distances over difficult terrain to get back to his homeland. He stood firm and unmoving in the face of adversity and opposition and bravely faced down plots and plans intended by wicked men to derail the completion of his vision . . .
. . . and he did what no one else said could be done.
In just fifty-two days Nehemiah saw his vision fulfilled. In just fifty-two days the entire wall surrounding Jerusalem was rebuilt, her gates of safety were restored, and the people of Israel once again declared the praises of God inside the gates of Zion. Fifty . . . two . . . days.
That’s what a vision can do! Vision can take the lowliest of servants, the mildest of men, the vilest of villains, and transform them into a Godly force to be reckoned with. Vision brings a fire in the belly, a holy discontent and a hunger to bring about something that is greater than yourself. With a vision compelling you, you can overcome pain and persevere through obstacles. You can have character in the face of adversity. A vision brings victory, lending you the power of knowing that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love and power of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I have a vision for you. I have a vision for this church. I have a vision for my family. And for today my vision is nothing more than for you today to grasp the concept that you can have vision, that in Christ you can make an impact on people’s lives that will far outlive you and that generations later people can point back to you and give praise to God and say, “There was a man of passion. There was a woman of principle. There was a person of vision.”
In the weeks to come we’re going to look at this notion of vision. Today we’ll talk about the concept of vision—what it involves and how to develop a good and God-pleasing mental image of the future. Next week we’ll handle a tricky subject: how to continue to trust in God when it seems that your vision is failing. We’ll talk about how to remain faithful to God when it seems your vision is falling apart, or worse yet, when it is fizzling out. And in the final week we’re going to take what we’ve learned about vision in general—how it can apply to our personal and family lives—we’ll take what we’ve learned and begin to apply it to our corporate lives as members of Our Saviour Lutheran Church in a little old place called Hudson, Michigan.
But to get there we must first start here. What does “vision” mean? A simple three-word definition of “vision” is seeing a preferred future. When I was working on a church plant in Delaware I had put a lot of work and effort and prayer into it. I could see the people that would populate that church, the building that would one day be built, the lives that would be impacted. And as I laid it all out on paper, one well-meaning individual came to me and asked, “Can you really see all this happening?” And I said, “I can’t not see it.” I had such a passion for that as yet unborn church that I already saw what it would become in twenty years’ time. I had built in my mind a version of the future that I believed was preferable to all other possibilities.
Vision is a preferred future. It can be a preferred future for your marriage, your business, your children. It can be a version of the future that would be preferable for your community, your township, your state, your country. It is more than just a nice daydream, a pleasant game of “What if?”, it is a preferred version of the future that you can see in your mind, that changes how you live today, that compels you to daily action in such a way as to bring that preferred future into a concrete reality.
Now, you may be thinking that seeing a preferred future in your mind is a good idea, and I’d say it is. It’s a good thing to have good ideas! But if you’re going to grasp this concept of “vision” in the Biblical sense that I want you to, we’re going to have to learn to distinguish good ideas from God ideas.
A true vision for the future is always more than just a good idea. It is a God idea. A God idea is a vision born from the heart of God and the pages of His Word. It is borne upon the wings of the Holy Spirit. When you start to look at it that way, a God-inspired vision of the future begins to take upon the characteristics of a moral imperative: It matures from something that could be done to something that must be done.
What are the characteristics of a God idea? How do we distinguish between a good idea and a God idea? The book of Nehemiah gives us a few pointers.
The first test to distinguish between a good idea and a God idea is that it address a need—either felt or perceived—of people. Pay careful attention to Nehemiah’s priorities in Nehemiah 1:1-3, “While I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
Nehemiah’s first concern—as is God’s—is about the people of Jerusalem. They are in “great trouble and disgrace.” Why? Because the protective walls and gates of the city are in ruins. Nehemiah’s prayer to God isn’t to restore the glory of the city, but it focuses upon the plight of the people and the promises of God.
Write this down: a vision is a burden to fix people’s problems. God cares very little for buildings or riches or things . . . but He cares a great deal about people. So much so that He sent His one and only Son so that all who believe in Him might have eternal life. Any version borne from the heart of God will have people as its focal point.
The second test is that a Godly vision stands up to the test of time. When Nehemiah first heard of the plight of the people of Jerusalem he broke down and wept, but he stayed broken for months. The time between chapters one and two, the time between the month of Kislev when Nehemiah first spoke to the travelers from Judah and the month of Nisan when he finally spoke to the king was over four months. During that time his vision for Jerusalem and her inhabitants did not die out.
It’s pretty easy to hear a passionate missionary speak on the all-important and immediate need for overseas missionaries and feel so moved at that very moment that you would be willing to leave tomorrow. But what happens a few days later? The burning desire cools down and you go back to business as usual. What you thought was a lightning bolt from heaven call from God turns out to be nothing more than a passionate response to a very convincing speaker. But a true vision from God doesn’t die out after a few days, and in fact as time passes it continues to build and build in your heart. The second test of a God idea is that it must stand the test of time.
The third test is that there will be some confirmation along the way, some sense and indication that God is preparing the road ahead of you. Twice in chapter two Nehemiah is given confirmation that God is at work. In Nehemiah 2:1-6 Nehemiah is given his opportunity to make his request before the King, and although there was not one single reason in the world why the King of Assyria would desire the capitol city of one of his former enemies rebuilt, Nehemiah still notes in verse six, “It pleased the king to send me.” When Nehemiah finally gets to Jerusalem and speaks to the people there, the ones that that have been living with the status quo of broken walls and risky lives, he tells them of his radical idea to rebuild and it is clear God has moved in their hearts, because they reply in verse eighteen, “Let us start rebuilding.” God is at work behind the scenes paving the way for Nehemiah’s vision of a preferred future for the people of Jerusalem.
Andy Stanley, in his ground-breaking book Visioneering, says this, “If God has birthed a vision in you, he is in the process of developing a similar vision in the hearts of others around you. When the time comes to share your vision, it will ring true in the souls of those He has been preparing.” The third test of a God idea is that He will bring confirmation that your vision is more than a good idea, it is a God idea.
There is more to say on this subject, we haven’t yet talked about living in the tension of a vision that isn’t coming true yet, and we haven’t talked about the process of how too actually give birth to a Godly vision, how to make that preferred future a reality. But both of those vary from person to person, from time to time, from vision to vision. Some of those things you just have to learn from the school of hard knocks, and a Godly vision will continue to live despite a few mistakes along the way.
So instead of talking in generalities about those things, as I close today I want to get very specific about God’s vision for your life. I want to talk about Christ and the cross and how that permeates every single aspect of a God-inspired vision.
John 3:16 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Isaiah 50:6-7 6 I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. 7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.
At the very top of this church—almost directly above where I am standing now—there stands a cross. And when darkness falls across the city there is one light that still shines, illuminating that cross and calling people to a beacon of hope and life. God’s vision for you is to answer that call in faith, believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him receiving forgiveness of all your past deeds and causing you to carry that light with you into the darkness of the worlds where you once lived. His vision is for you to receive, and then to carry, the life and light of Jesus Christ into the preferred future that He has envisioned for you.
NIV 1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-- of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
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