Pastor Mike will be writing a weekly column over the next couple months focusing on our vision and mission. They will start with the biblical focal points of vision and then apply that to our shared mission. Future installments will be posted as they become available. If you would like these emailed to you, click here.
Vision: What is it?
Seminars on vision are commonplace today but most people are disappointed in the results. Why? Because there is a vast difference between vision and fantasy!
In my opinion, most seminars on vision - in both the church and the business world – really deal with fantasy!
Vision should fuel our personal lives and future pursuits. But true vision is to focus on what is ultimately real though it is beyond our immediate view. The Bible tells us that true vision focuses on God and allows Him to open our eyes to what is invisible, and eternal. It’s more than presumptuous dreaming.
Fantasy is to dream of a self-centered, man-centered future and then ask God to make it happen. Fantasy is to draft a wish list of earthly comforts and flesh-centered ambitions and ask God to deliver it like a Celestial Santa Clause.
To define and focus vision on reality, we must depend upon God’s Word. In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah had a vision. Note what he saw: “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted…” (vs. 1) As God grants Isaiah this vision to record, He reveals Himself at the center of all activity – both heavenly and earthly. The angels are singing in worship: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." (vs. 3) Let’s anchor the first component of biblical vision right here: Vision is to see God, as He reveals Himself.
In the light of this vision, Isaiah not only sees God, as He truly is, he sees himself as he really is and cries out: “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." (vs. 5) A secondary component of vision is that: Vision allows us to see ourselves, as God sees us – starting with our ruined, sinful selves but capable of being purified by the refining work of God.
Notice the outcome of Isaiah’s vision. He hears God’s call to give his entire life to join the work that God is doing. Isaiah heard God’s call: "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" (vs. 8) And Isaiah answered submissively: "Here am I. Send me!" (vs. 9)
Vision Clarifier: True vision focuses on God and views our personal identity and purpose in light of God’s glory and eternal work.
Visionary Commitment: As a church, we will seek God’s vision so that we will:
- know Him as He has revealed Himself
- love Him in whole-hearted worship
- grow to be more like Him as image-bearers, and
- serve Him in whole-life sacrifice!
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