Teaching at
Session 1 – Vision
Vision
exists in different forms:
- Physical
- eyes and seeing
- Emotional
– Sports
- Sociological
- I have a dream
- Business
- The Big Picture
- Spiritual
- Divine Perspective, Wisdom, Insight, Illumination and Vision all are roughly
equivalent.
There
is much scripture base revealing the importance of spiritual vision.
"Open
Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy Law." (Psalm
119:18)
"The entrance of
Thy Words giveth light, it giveth understanding unto the simple." (Psalm 119:130)
"If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God."
(James 1:5)
Vision – how we see
1 – We see visually - with our eyes
2 – We see spiritually - with the eyes of our heart
Ephesians 1: 15-19 - 15For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, 16do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.
An individual's seeing (vision) depends on the "lens" he looks through, just as his hearing depends of the "filter" he listens through. In this respect, spiritual vision is seeing things from God’s point of view – Getting on your mind what God has on His mind.
The most important thing you can do in your life
is to have a vision that agrees with God's Vision.
What is God’s Vision? What does God have on his mind?
People
Vision - Proverbs 29:18a
18Where there is no vision, the people Perish
This is a cosmopolitan verse. It applies universally:
Where = wherever = at all times
People = all people
Three Sad Conditions of “No Vision”
1st Sad Condition - No Spiritual Vision in the
Pulpit
Imagine no spiritual vision in the PULPIT of the
church you attend. Imagination is not
required if you visit many churches!
(I Samuel 3:1) "The Word of God was precious (scarce) in those days, and there
was no open (frequent) vision."
A reading of the national history that ensued from
this point will reveal that tragic things resulted from such a loss of vision.
What if
there were no Gospel preached in the pulpit of our
churches?
No
awareness of man's lostness without Christ?
No
trust in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit?
No
unfolding of the deep, rich, eternal counsels of God?
No exposure of the infinite riches hidden in the
Word of God?
No equipping of the listeners to "live in
heaven and on earth at once?"
No teaching of the vast vocation of the Spirit‑filled, Word‑adapted,
prayer‑oriented, disciple‑building,
Christian life?
An Example:
A great Southern Baptist pastor said he was
praying prostrate on the floor of his study one morning, asking God for an
anointing of the Holy Spirit's power upon his ministry. He said that the Holy Spirit responded to him
as clearly as if He spoke out loud, saying, "My child, with a plan no
bigger than yours, you don't need My power!"
The vision from the pulpit needs to be God‑big for His glory. It needs to be eternity big.
The vision we need:
The only eternity‑sized
vision any of us will ever need is in the Great Commission given to us by the
Lord Jesus Christ. If the ministry from
the pulpit is not obsessed with the terms "make disciples" and
"all nations," how can God possibly be expected to put Heaven's
approval upon it? Without this
magnificent obsession, our spiritual life is marked by "no vision."
2nd Sad Condition - No Spiritual Vision in the
People of the Church
It is only a short step from a Pastor with no
vision to a PEW, a people, with no spiritual vision of these things.
A rule of inner church life is, "like pastor,
like people." The people will
gradually take on the spiritual profile of their pastor.
Why do church members get much more excited about
a thousand OTHER things than about God, spiritual things, heaven, hell, and
eternity? The answer? No vision, thus no motivation, because
motivation arises out of vision.
The typical church is run far more on the basis of
tradition than on the basis of illumination.
Someone wryly said, "Most churches had better do and say everything
right the first time, because they are going to do it the same way from then
on."
Someone said, "Tradition makes an Idol of the
past."
3rd Sad Condition - No Spiritual Vision in Public
Life
When the loss of vision occurs in pulpit and pew,
we may be sure that there will be no spiritual vision in PUBLIC LIFE.
Serious Consequences of No Vision
Think of the serious consequences that follow the
sad crisis of "no vision."
"Where there is no vision, the
people perish."
The word "perish" is our translation of
the most revealing Hebrew word -
"Para".
Para is a frighteningly full Hebrew word. It has several different meanings.
Para
- means to cast off restraint,
Para
- to loosen, to dissolve, to break up, to go to pieces,
Para
- to go unclothed (naked)
Para - to perish."
Four Examples of the tragic
consequences of a loss of vision among Christians.
1st Tragic Consequence - The
Moral Effect of the Loss of Vision
The People Cast Off Restraint
This creates moral anarchy, where every man does
what is right in his own eyes.
When there is no awareness of ultimate reality,
men do what is "right in their own eyes".
They may or may not avoid what seems wrong.
"Right" and "wrong" are always
relative terms to those with merely natural or carnal minds.
"Right" and "wrong" are
absolutes only to those with a truly spiritual mind.
"There is a way that seems right to a man,
but the end of it is death"
(Proverbs 14:12).
It is absolutely amazing to observe how people who
are totally blind to spiritual reality give total credibility to their own
understanding!
That men everywhere today have cast off restraint
is agreed by everyone. Autonomy,
anarchy, and self‑determination are
increasingly wide‑spread.
Because the ideas of men disagree so radically
when each is a law unto himself, world tensions continue to mount. Where there
is no frequent vision among men, no clear word from the living God, no vital
Christianity, then the people cast off restraint.
Lest we
forget:
In Oklahoma City, Timothy McVeigh thought
what he did was right.
2nd Tragic Consequence - The
Social Effect of Loss of Vision
Society Begins to Disintegrate
Sin, which increases proportionately in a society
with the loss of spiritual vision, has a centrifugal force about it, driving
men outward (away) from the True Center of Life, God Himself, and thus driving
them from each other. So we have a
fragmented, divided world.
The Bible tells us (Colossians 1:17) that in Jesus
Christ alone do "all things hold together," but when men lose
"the vision of Jesus Christ," society has no cementing influence, no
cohesive force, no integrating center.
Without vision, society begins to "loosen, dissolve,
break up, go to pieces." The word "split" is used to
describe many situations in our world.
We have
split atoms, split families, split nations, a split world, and split
personalities.
Individuals and institutions disintegrate without
Christ in control. This is the social
result of a loss of spiritual vision.
3rd Tragic Consequence - The Personal Effect of Loss of Vision
The
People Go Unclothed (Naked)
Many verses in God's holy word use the wording
clothed in righteousness. We see time after time where righteousness covers our
nakedness.
With no
vision, people go naked.
An
Example:
In Philadelphia, there is a museum I have visited
devoted to the famous French sculptor, Auguste Rodin
(1840-1917). It is in a beautiful park, not
far down the road from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We remember the Philadelphia Museum of Art
from the movie Rocky. The entrance to
this museum contains the steps Sylvester Stallone as "Rocky in
training" ran up and celebrated with uplifted arms and clenched fists.
In front of the entrance to the much smaller Rodin
museum are two massive bronze panels, The panels,
which were commissioned in 1880 and were intended to be doors of the Museum of
Decorative Arts in Paris, make up one of Rodin's most significant works. A few years ago, I was able to visit the
national art museum of Denmark in Copenhagen and was surprised to find a second
casting of this work by Rodin there, also.
At the top of the bronze panels, sits a small, 8 -
10 inch high version of Rodin's larger work, The Thinker, seated and
pondering. Below The Thinker are open
gates, leading to a vast abyss which stretches downward, leading from this
world to the lake of fire and hell.
Rodin's work, which was never finished is
appropriately named The Gates of Hell. There is a third copy of this work at
the Rodin museum in Paris.
For years, Rodin shaped and reshaped this work,
never satisfied with his allegorical representation of what he saw as man's
downfall and descent into a place of eternal torment. Rodin portrays the abyss
as a rocky fissure going ever deeper into the earth, with hell at the lowest
point. Seated on rocky crags and
outcroppings lining the walls of this abyss are demons of all types, with
spears and pitchforks, tormenting those who are falling to their doom.
Then there are the lost. Rodin portrays the damned
as hundreds of people in agony, plunging headfirst into the lower reaches,
screaming and clawing as they fall, tormented as they pass the demons. All of the damned are completely naked.
Rodin's Gates of Hell are massive cast bronze
works. They present a frightening view
the artist had of the passage to eternity of the doomed. His view may or may not be correct, but one part
of his allegorical presentation was perfect.
Where
there is no vision, the people go naked.
Without vision, we go naked before the throne of
God and with full exposure of our sinful nature, there is no one who can stand
that situation
4th Tragic Consequence - The Spiritual Effect of the Loss of Vision
The People Perish
Finally, the Hebrew word "Para" is
accurately translated in the King James Version.
In the KJV, the word "perish" is used.
"Where
there is no vision, the people perish."
Compassion is surely called for here, simply
because the commodity in danger is "people." If it were animals or plants, it would not be
nearly so serious. But it is people,
individuals like you and me.
They "perish."
In John 3:16, the word "perish" is
placed in antithesis to having "everlasting life." To perish means to be involved forever in a
living death and a dying life in a place called hell.
Billy Graham said, "I have no fear of the
fires of hell. What scares me is the eternal separation from God."
Meanwhile, I Corinthians 1:18 indicates
that people without Christ are in a present state of perishing.
The Tough Truth about Vision and Perishing:
Vision
in the Movie Rocky:
In the movie Rocky, it was not difficult to see that
Rocky was in a state of perishing. He was a man with no vision.
Apollo Creed had a limited vision. He chose to
beat up Rocky for money.
But Mickey the trainer had the vision.
And he gave that vision to Rocky.
And the vision Mickey had kept the fighter Rocky
from perishing.
Mickey (the trainer) had the vision.
It became his responsibility to do something with
it.
Without Mickey's vision, Rocky would have
perished.
The Hurtful Truth:
If we have no vision they perish.
People Per Second, Perishing
- 1/2 of the world has
never heard of Jesus.
- 2/5 of the remainder of the world is poorly churched.
- 20% of the people in the USA think
"If I lead a good
life, I will get into heaven."
- 80% on the people in the greater Seattle to
Portland Oregon area do not attend any church of any kind.
If we look at the world population births and
deaths in light of this data we will find that:
- Three people every second perish without Christ
And the Church has largely lost its vision!
Hell fills, and Heaven has vacancies yet to be
filled!
All because the Church's vision has faded!
My Clock and Quiet Time.
3
per second
180
per minute
5,400
in 30 minutes
8,100
per 45 minutes
10,800
per hour
259,200
per day
1,814,400
per week
662,256,000
per year
And I keep on winding my clock. Tick tock, tick
tock
Do you Know what God's
Vision is?
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life."
(John 3:16 NIV)
Dawson Trotman, the
founder of The Navigators, said, "Spiritual
vision is getting on your heart what is on God's heart - the world!"
Do you know what Jesus' vision is?
The
Great Commission - Our Mandate
"All
authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and
lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
(Matthew 28:18-20, KJV)
What is your vision?
It is easy to go through life without having God's
and Christ's vision in your mind and on your heart - but now you know.
Jesus Said:
"All
authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you;
and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
(Matthew 28:18-20, KJV)
Go = As you are going or
since you are going anyway
All Nations - Ta Ethnae
(all ethenic groups)
Our Goal as Christians is to become more and more
like Jesus.
What did Jesus do during the three years of his
ministry?
He made Disciples.
A Disciple is so much than a follower.
A Disciple is a lifelong learner.
A Disciple is an adherent.
He
or she adheres to the words, thoughts, lifestyle, and actions of Jesus.
Jesus made Disciples and he expects us to make
disciples for him, too.
In the Great Commission, the word "Go"
best translates in the words "As you are going"
The only words of action in the Great Commission
are the words, "Make Disciples."
Everything else in the Great Commission is only a
modifier.
An
Example – From The Master’s Plan of Evangelism (by
Robert Coleman)
Jesus
and the Angel
Jesus spent three years with the twelve, teaching
them and building Disciples.
Then he went to the cross, the grave, the
resurrection and finally the ascension.
When Jesus arrived back in heaven choirs of
angels sang Hosannas to the King as he took his place beside the Father. At
some point one of them came to him asked, “Please tell me what your plans are for
carrying on the work of salvation and redemption for all mankind?”
Jesus said, "I took twelve men and trained
them for three years to be my disciples. I have left them to carry the message
forward to all of the world and through all of time until I return to reign
forever.”
The angel was astounded. “And what if that
doesn't work?”
Jesus said, “I have no other plan.”
A person
who has chosen Jesus to be Lord of their life can do no greater thing than to
love someone else enough to help that person become more like Christ.
It is easy to go through life without any vision.
But now you know.
What will you do?
Will you seek out a Paul ask them to disciple you
and become a Titus, or a Priscilla, or an Aquila, or a Timothy?
Will you pray to God, asking Him to give you a
Paul allow you to be a Barnabas (the great encourager)? Will you ask God to
send you a Paul or a John Mark, or a Luke to Disciple?