As we begin this New Year, I thought it appropriate for us to think about a new vision. At 5 Rivers Church, we are in a new church and new denomination. In many ways we are living out a new vision as this church is less than a year old. But even a new church needs a vision. And while we do not control the future, we are certainly encouraged to have a vision for the future…a vision that we pray would be directed by God to encompass the future God has designed for us.
Certainly, as we think about the word vision, many images may come to our mind. If you look up the word in the dictionary you will find at least three different types of vision or meanings of vision.
One: The act or power of seeing: sight – like, physical vision that we have that we see with our eyes. Some people have perfect 20/20 vision. But many struggle with vision.
Second: Something seen in a dream or trance, or an ecstatic state. A supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation.
Certainly, we see in the scriptures many instances of those who had visions. Daniel, one of the Old Testament prophets, had a vision of the future. Peter, in Acts 10, had a vision of the sheet let down out of heaven, with all kinds of animals on it. Remember, this was a vision to portray the inclusion of the Gentiles into the church at a pivotal time. The last book of our Bible, Revelation is a vision. A vision that John received from the Lord. This would be the second type of vision.
Third: An unusual discernment or foresight. In this understanding of vision, we may think about architects and engineers who are able to see a piece of property and think of construction of wonderful buildings and even the design of those buildings. Pretty marvelous to think about that. I think of people like Walt Disney and Tom Edison and Henry Ford who had vision to see things that other people may not be able to see.
The vision the Proverb is talking about primarily points toward the second and third meanings of vision, particularly the ability to see potential in things that other people may not be able to see. Or the ability to see extraordinary things even in ordinary situations, or the ability to look beyond problems and see possibilities. We certainly need that in these days, right? We need to be able to look beyond problems and see possibilities. To know there is more than what we might be experiencing now.
This verse is also translated in different ways. But all of them are quite negative when it comes to lack of vision. In other words, the consequences for lacking vision or having no vision can be quite devastating. Here are a couple of different translations.
NIV version says, “where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint.”
The New Living translation: “when people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.”
And then in a more corporate aspect of this verse is found in the Good News translation: “A nation without God’s guidance, is the nation without order.
From a personal level to a corporate and national level…without a vision the news is not good. People run wild. There is no order. We cast off restraint. We perish. (KJV)
If you go back to the book of beginning in Genesis, we understand from creation, God had a vision. Indeed, we understand that creation itself was something God envisioned. And further, God had a vision for the crowning point of that creation…we as human beings are created in God’s image. Of course, we know a great part of that vision God brought perfect harmony and peace in Eden. Sadly, that paradise was broken by the willful disobedience of Adam and Eve. But God instituted a new vision there if you will, for restoring that order and bringing us back into harmony. The plan of salvation is essentially, a vision of God.
Then by grace God gives our blind eyes the ability to see spiritual realities and be put back into His order and plan of redemption. It is truly an amazing story that is still unfolding all around us. I want us to look more generally about the meaning and significance of vision.
How is that vision given?
God can choose anyone that he wants to give vision! Back in November, Larry Bryars preached about Baalam donkey who spoke to him. I must think that if your donkey is speaking to you, you are in trouble or you are going in the wrong direction and you need a new vision! But historically, God spoke through the Prophets to communicate spiritual instruction, sometimes even warning and challenging to bring people back to God. As Moses who placed the word before the people to choose between life and death and blessing and a curse.
Today I believe that God uses our encounter with His Word, with the written Word, the Bible to direct us and to help us see the vision that God has for us. And God also directs us through the Living Word, Who is Jesus Christ. So, we have both the written Word…the Bible… which contains the writings of the Prophets and the Living Word who is Jesus.
What we see happening in our world today is people tend to either stagnate or rebel, even like our original parents, Adam and Eve. As Jesus talked about, we become sheep without a shepherd sometimes inventing our own answers and meaning to life. Further, people are trying to create their own order which again, leads back to destruction and chaos.
This is what Solomon is talking about here. Without vision people perish. The prophet Hosea had a similar word. He says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6). This lack of knowledge is not knowing or a failure to respond to the vision of God.
So, in a nutshell, God provided the vision, His vision. His prophets relayed that to the people, and then God’s people have the choice as to whether they will apply it and live in that vision. And the consequences are not always immediate but certainly large.
Next, we want to talk about the value of vision. The first thing I would say is and most importantly is:
Vision directs us to our eternal home.
I was reading a devotional yesterday about Jonah. Most of us are familiar with the story of Jonah being swallowed by the whale after he was running from God. Can we say that he was not really in the vision of God. He was running away from that in the opposite direction. I think we all can identify with this situation or know people in this situation. Then he was thrown overboard and swallowed by the whale. And you remember what happened while Jonah was in the whale? It’s hard to imagine being in a situation as dark as this, right? Jonah 2 talks about him being in the darkness and despair in the belly of the whale. Crying out to God. Desperately praying! I’ve read this story many, many times. Yet this was something new I saw. Even in that darkest experience of his life. Guess what? He still had vision. There was a part of his prayer that really stood out in my mind as I reread it. Listen to what he says in Jonah 2:3 4: “You hurled me into the depths into the very heart of the seas. And the current swirled about me. All your waves and breakers swept over me and I said, I have been banished from your site.” But his prayer is not over. And then he says, “Yet I will look again toward your Holy Temple.” I will look again toward your Holy Temple. Note the words I will “look again”. He is visioning or revisioning if you will his worship and his relationship to God. And that was holding him steady in this darkest place in his life. His vision in this prayer is what kept him alive.
The story of Jonah is a parallel of Jesus. Jesus even mentioned that as Jonah, He would be three days in the grave. A place of death, a place of ultimate darkness. But he promised that he would rise again. Jesus was looking beyond that darkest moment in his life, the cross, and was looking and waiting for the other side of that. He experienced great vision. Even in the darkest circumstances of his life.
So, we come back to what Proverbs says here, “without vision, people perish.” The consequence of that is there’s no real belief or direction for the future. Where we are moving in a direction that is perhaps the opposite of what God’s vision is for us or for our world.
If we look at this at another angle in Hebrews, chapter 12. It says, this is verse two of Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning and shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews tells us to fix our eyes on Christ. This is not talking about our physical eyes. Obviously, it’s talking about our spiritual vision, our faith vision. To fix our eyes of faith on the example of Jesus. And that was written to believers who were experiencing great difficulty, fiery trials, perhaps even persecution. For anyone experiencing trials or deep struggles this is a great word for us to follow.
In our core beliefs of the Apostle’s Creed we maintain that Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins, to bring about forgiveness to all who repent and trust in Him. Jesus foretold his death and that He would be raised on the third day, like Jonah, only greater -to conquer death itself. He ascended to heaven and is sitting at the right hand of the Father praying for us now. And Jesus is coming to judge the living and the dead. This is what we say almost every Sunday in our worship. But think about this for a moment.
What if we stopped our belief at the point where Jesus died…and the rest of what we believe was missing.? In other words, he’s not risen. He’s not returning. If we stopped at the cross, we would have forgiveness, but no real hope. We would be forgiven people going nowhere! Forgiveness is for a purpose, to reconcile a relationship that is eternal that never ends and never fades. Faith leads us to hope, which goes all the way back to God’s love for us. God’s desire to be in relationship with us. This is God’s vision for us. Without which we will perish.
But Paul said something else about this which relates back to Proverbs 29. Let’s look at
I Corinthians 15:19 “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” He would go on to say that here…So let’s just eat, drink and have a party and be merry. If this is all there is. Without a vision for the future, it’s only a dark and desperate situation which offers no real hope. We have nothing to gain. We have nothing to lose. This goes back to that version that says, “where there is no vision the people run wild”.
But God is bringing about something greater. Right? Something beyond our limited mind’s ability to grasp. Something beyond this limited time span we call life. It’s more than just the dash of time between our birth and our death. And the implication of this is when we go through our cross experiences, the darkest trials of our life. What is our perspective? To fix our eyes on Jesus. So, I would pray today that the Lord would give us vision to see beyond the present trial, the present darkness we may be facing. Lord, give us a vision to see the joy of your Kingdom. And by faith, to see that you are leading us to greater purposes. And just like Jesus, to see the joy that is set before us on the other side of our trial. Or on the other side of the darkness, Lord, give us eyes to see your vision. The vision of a greater future than we can even imagine. So most importantly, vision leads us to our eternal home!
But I would say very quickly that there is another important aspect of vision.
Vision directs how we live now.
It’s not just about eternity. But it is about how we live now. By the way, even blind men and women have great spiritual vision.
I was in the Atlanta airport a few years ago. I ran into the restroom quickly before getting on the plane. And I was washing my hands in the sink and suddenly, this man slammed right into me. As a matter of fact, knocked me over completely over. I’m a pretty big guy, so it takes some force to knock me over. And I was thinking in my mind…not a good thing. I was thinking in my mind of saying, “Man, are you blind?” So glad I didn’t say that. Because he was blind! And then he apologized. He apologized again and again. And then he walked out of that restroom into the very busy thoroughfare of the Atlanta airport. And I started shaking my head in wonder and amazement at this gentleman, and I admired his courage and his tenacity, not letting his sight impairment prevent him from moving forward in life. I thought this man, though he might have been blind, had great vision! Perhaps better vision than I had, and courage to walk out into the concourse as busy as it was. I think he was living with greater vision than most of us might realize in our lives. It really inspired me. How I’m living my life now?
You will probably remember the story of Moses, who sent spies out to check out the promised land. It’s recorded in Numbers 13. The majority came back and gave their report, which was based on fear. “We can’t go into that land. It’s occupied by giants. We look like grasshoppers in their sight. The cities are well guarded and fortified. We can never take one of those cities. This is impossible. We must go back.” But the minority report was given by Joshua and Caleb. It was based on faith. Based on vision. “God is with us. The land is flowing with milk and honey. We can take the land we need to march forward.” Interestingly, both groups saw the same thing… but had very different conclusions. Both had physical eyes to see. But the majority did not have real vision. What was the result? The children of Israel wondered for 40 years. And many of them perished in the wilderness because they lack the faith and vision where God wanted them to go. Truly, without vision people perish!
The other part of vision has to do with the Church. As the body of Christ. The church is God’s vision for His people and the future. This is most clearly seen in Jesus words to Peter, “Upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Jesus chose 12 disciples and when he chose those 12 disciples he had a vision for the church. These men would become the seedbed for the church after he ascended. And then He sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. This was God’s vision for the future of God’s people. It certainly doesn’t mean that there will be less trouble or difficulty or fewer changes. It only means that there is a future. And God’s vision will unfold and will impact the lives of God’s people as it has in church history. Yes, in whatever form that may take.
When I go across to downtown mobile, I often walk by the old Saint Francis Street United Methodist Church, which is now only historical building. That church, I’ve been told, was one of the most active and fruitful churches in Mobile. Once Upon a time it was a nice church building but over time and the shift of population it became only an empty shell. A shell. And now it is only an historical building. But I know that’s no isolated incident. I see it in other cities in Dothan and Montgomery, but more so in cities across our nation. This served as a stark reminder to me that the church certainly is not a building, even though it might be comprised of a building. It is the people of God. It is the body of Christ on earth.
My son often calls me Reverend Obvious. Sometimes because I’m good at stating the obvious. But we must be reminded of the obvious. The church is not a building. It is the people of God. It is the people of God carrying out God’s mission, carrying out God’s vision. And if we do not do that, we will become an empty shell.
The priority of our calling is to fulfill the gospel message. Be faithful in our witness, in our community, and even to the ends of the earth. This is the mission. This is the vision. This is the heartbeat of the church.
I simply ask you today. How are you engaging or carrying out your place of connection within the body of Christ? How are you fulfilling the greater vision of Christ within His church? I’m thankful for those who have accepted positions of responsibility as our leaders this year for saying yes to lead. But I recognize that God has placed all of us here as parts in this body of Christ. We’re not here by accident but we’re here by providence. God has bought us with Christ blood and brought us to be where we are today.
Just like the widow who put in 2 mites or the little boy’s lunch that was used to feed 5000…the prayers you pray may open up the windows of heaven…for someone in need! Your part is important and significant. I would encourage you not to underestimate even the smallest things you do in your connection through the Body of Christ…and being part of the fulfillment of God’s vision for his people on this earth.
Today, I am thankful for this church and for its people. We’re fortunate to live in a growing community with so much growth potential. I pray we may continue to be in sync with God’s greater vision for this Church and for His vision for us.
I’m now on the backside of my life. But I’m still seeking to fulfill what I know God is calling me to do as a pastor. And I believe that God has a call on each of our lives that is as unique as our fingerprints.
My question would simply be… in your own personal life are you being true to what God might be calling you to do to fulfill His vision for you?
Jesus said two things and I want to close with this. He said, “I am the way, the truth and life.” Jesus is the way. The only way we can truly fulfill God’s plan, God’s vision for our lives, personally and in the world.
Jesus also said, “I’ve come that you might have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus is the only source that truly brings us abundant, fulfilling, satisfying life. Because the only way we can be in sync with God’s vision is through Him.
I pray we may continue to be the hands and feet of Christ in this community. And indeed, as God calls us to the ends of the earth. Remember, where there is no vision or where we’re not living into that vision…the people perish. Where there is no vision, people run wild. Where there is no vision, a nation without God’s guidance is the nation without order. But happy are those who keep God’s law, who are living in God’s vision.
May we pray? Lord, we have said many things today. I pray for your Holy Spirit, a kernel of what was spoken today may find a resting place in our hearts. That we as individuals may find our place within your vision for us. And that we as a church, continue in the vision that you had, even when you spoke those words to Peter. Lord, we long to be faithful to what you’re calling us to do. Forgive us for those times we may have strayed. Help us God even in these moments if you need to redirect us or if we need to renew our commitment to your vision, that we would do that in these moments we pray in Jesus Holy Name. Amen.