December, 2008
A compelling vision of where God is taking us
What I learned from this presidential campaign:
(At the end of this article are 4 videos 7-10 minutes each which are based on this article, and expand slightly on the written version)
I would like to use an analogy to speak to something which I have felt God stirring in my heart. One of the things about this recent presidential election that came through to me clearly was the difference in the vision which each candidate presented to the nation. Regardless of how you voted I think that President-elect Obama and his campaign team were very successful in presenting a vision of change that many, many voters found very compelling. As I reflected upon the enthusiasm, and intense passion which many people seemed to genuinely experience regarding President-elect Obama’s campaign I begin to think about the church, and whether we have a compelling vision capable of motivating the kind of sacrifice and faithfulness necessary to fulfill all that God has for us.
What happens without vision – nothing…
Proverbs 29:18 – Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint… Where there is an absence of compelling vision people go in every direction. Eugene Peterson has an interesting interpretation of this verse: If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves… Compelling vision is necessary to motivate our hearts to rise above self-interest, and from being overly invested in too highly individualized a game plan for life. We are not individuals who happen to be in a particular religious organization. We are a family of brothers and sisters called together to serve the Lord, and to advance his purposes. God has a purpose for every church, and He calls people together to serve his purposes in a particular region (Read the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation if you doubt this). Jesus knew these churches, he had particular evaluations of each one, he referred to the degree they had been faithful or not faithful to His purposes. That is particularity. Jesus knows Lamb of God Fellowship, and he knows everyone who is a part of this body. He has something for each one to do, and something for each one to contribute. If this were not true what sense could you every make out of a passage like this: (4) For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, (5) so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (6) Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; (7) if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12)
A sense of something larger than myself….
Yet still, we as human beings, need to be able to believe that this local church commitment is tied to something larger than just the ups and downs of a local church. We need to see how the glorious, majestic, resurrected, ascended mighty Son of God who came to earth and triumphed over sin, death and the devil and now sits enthroned above the heavens relates his awesome victory to me, my family, my work and my local church family. I need to see how the work of Christ enables me to do things that apart from that gospel work I could never hope to even want to do. I need to see how God, by saving me, has invited me into a lifelong apprenticeship to His Son, to actually learn to love and act as Jesus did while living his life here on earth. I need a compelling vision of all that God is to me in Christ, all that God has done for me in the work of Christ on the cross and all that God has called me to in my lifelong apprenticeship to Jesus. I need a vision of these things that drives my affections, that motivates my will, that captures my imagination, that fascinates my mind and keeps me burning for the all that God has called me to accomplish in this generation. It was this kind of compelling vision which motivated Jonathan Edwards(1st Great Awakening), George Whitfield (1st. Great Awakening), John Wesley, Charles Finney (2nd Great Awakening), Evan Roberts, Jeremy Lamphier (Fulton Street Revival), Daddy Seymour (Azusa), Susanna Wesley, Amy Carmichael, Jackie Pullinger, Elizabeth Elliot, and Joni Eareckson. In many of these examples we are talking about people who did not appear to be extraordinary: Amy Carmichael was a sickly child, who ended up being a missionary is some of the most difficult places of India (She was a huge influence on Jim & Elizabeth Elliot). Evan Roberts was an uneducated Welsh coal miner who ended up leading one of the greatest revivals of the 20th century. William J. Seymour (called ‘Daddy Seymour), was the son of former slaves and yet God used him to lead the Pentecostal revival of 1906 often referred to as the Azusa Street Revival. Jackie Pullinger, as a 20 something launched out into ministry in Hong Kong’s opium ghetto. She had no experience and yet God used her to reach 100’s of addicts and bring healing, salvation and deliverance to many drug addicts, prostitutes and marginalized people.
How vision turns ordinary people up-side down
All of these people share a common understanding of the greatness of Jesus, the glory of his gospel and the necessity of fully engaging our apprenticeship to Jesus. I believe that it is the lack of a compelling vision of these things that had co-opted so many of our churches into sub-biblical Christianity. Paul clearly understood and taught this: Ephesians 1: (17) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. (18) I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, (19) and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, (20) which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, (21) far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (22) And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, (23) which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. What Paul prays for here is revelatory understanding of the hope to which we have been called, the greatness of our inheritance, the greatness of the power to which God has given us access and the majesty of the one through whom all of this is made possible – Jesus Christ. Paul understood this so profoundly – very likely because he himself had undergone such a radical re-orientation of his life. It was quite literally a vision of the Risen Jesus that turned his world upside down. While we may not see Jesus in precisely the same way that Paul did, we can experience Jesus in the manner Paul prays here in Ephesians. In fact I would say we must!
Our holy obsession….
I am persuaded like never before that three things must become our holy obsession: The greatness of Jesus Christ (what David Bryant calls ‘A Crisis in Supremacy – a shortfall in how we see, seek, savor, serve, share and speak about God’s Son for ALL that He is. Next, the glory of the gospel (understanding the work of Christ and how the grace of God works in our lives) and the necessity of intentional daily involvement in following Jesus (What Dallas Willard calls ‘The Renovation of the Heart). I believe that these three streams must become our food, our daily bread, our constant rallying point, our inexhaustible fountain of inspiration and motivation. The church needs a new day of sacrifice and perseverance (one that mirrors the Early Church, and the church renewed in every generation). However – without a passionate purpose how can that sacrifice and perseverance be sustained?
Jesus stated a very simply principal about how outward conduct is related to the inner person with these words: The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45) In other words – you have to have something good in your heart to get it out when you need to act. If my heart is captured by a ‘big’ Jesus, a great gospel and my need to really respond to God then I will bring that out of my heart in my day to day life. If I don’t have that in my heart, then no matter what the opportunities I will likely do little, say little and have little impact. Christians seem to be filled with everything but these three things (consider these numbers, sent to me last week by David Bryant: 96% of Christians discovered to be “biblically illiterate” cf. Barna Research; 80% of US congregations are stagnant or dying in terms of membership; Millions sitting in our pews on Sunday remain unconverted – 50% by one major survey). If these numbers are true, even if they were off by 10 or 20% would still be staggering. What do we do?
What do we do?
The first step is to face the reality of what really drives my life. I can’t hope to change what I do not actually acknowledge needs fixing. We humans have an extraordinary ability to sustain slow and steady spiritual decline for years without being bothered by it. We have no problem sitting in church (assuming we have even made that much of a commitment), going through ‘religious’ motions and remaining virtually unchanged for years. Dry, religious performance can easily become a substitute for passionate apprenticeship to Jesus. The numbers quoted from David Bryant should suggest at the very least that this is the reality of much of the church. Step One then is this: Do I have a compelling vision of the Christian life? Is my life organized a ‘Big’ view of Jesus Christ, dependency on the gospel’s resources and intentional apprenticeship to Jesus? How can I know what is really going on in my heart? : Enthusiasm for worship, hunger for the Word of God, intentionality regarding growing in my faith, (study, devotions, regular prayer, accountability, generosity with my resources, time and gifts.), increased love for God and my brothers and sisters. Where are you at when you hear this list of things in your head?
Second: After diagnosis comes treatment. What must be done to re-order my life so that it reflects a life that is driven by a vision of who Christ is, what He has done and what it means to actively live that reality out in my day to day life. Some of us need prayer partners, some of us need to become more intentional about study and the knowledge of the Word of God. Some of us need help in our marriages, and in our relationships with others. Some of us need deliverance from habits that are working havoc in our lives. Some of us are in financial bondage and we need help to learn to budget and order our financial house well. I could go on and name many areas – but the point is this: If I know I am in need of change – recognize that only specificity married to intention will ever take us anywhere. I have spent the last 12 months trying to get myself back into physical shape (after years of neglect). I can’t tell you the joy and delight that has come from simply facing my lazinesses, my excuses, my self-pity and deciding that I was going to take a step of faith, embrace my partnership with God and follow through with with effort. God has blessed me, I feel better, more focused, more energetic and more able to serve the Lord with my whole life (including my body). I can tell you two things happened – I faced my sinfulness and poor stewardship of my body; and I implemented a plan that actually made sense for me. The result is change, glorious God honoring change.
Third: You can not do this without partnership with others. Stop fooling yourself. You will not change without help and constant accountability along the way. Once you face the truth, once you consider a remedy you will still need encouragement, reminders, and occasional rebukes to keep moving. I believe in revival. I am expecting God to bring one. But the church needs not only revival but reformation. We need that precept on precept, day by day constancy that brings beautiful transformation to individuals, families, churches and communities. Let me make clear what I mean: It takes thoughtful biblical understanding to bring real change to our culture. We need unified, committed believers that will work and walk together in sustained effort to bring about lasting gospel influence. Of course we can’t do this without the Holy Spirit working mightily. But remember mighty works of the Spirit happen all the time in step by step blessing, and pushing back the darkness. Yes, I love and want ’signs and wonders’ – but God does so much work, in fact most of His work through our faith expressing itself in love.
This ‘vision’ thing is really getting all up in my business, if you know what I mean. I am thinking about it day and night. I hope I am becoming more like Paul who said – I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— (10) that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, (11) that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead