I was speaking with some pastors in Florida just this week and amidst the discussion was the matter of church vision. It seems churches everywhere have a vast array of visions.
There are churches who feel they are called to be prophetic, others feel they are called to be prayer centers others feel they are called to be healing centers and on and on it goes.
I wonder at all this because when we approach this kind of thinking we by default create situations where to get healed you must shop for the special healing church, to get prophesied over you must shop for the special prophesy church, to get serious about prayer one must shop for the special prayer church.
Yet all these matters just mentioned were to be realized in every church with no particular church that I can find in Scripture specializing in any one particular area.
But was it Christ’ intention that churches be singled out in such a manner?
Is there something uniform in Scripture regarding a churches vision and mission that we can embrace for all time?
In my discussion with the other pastors in Florida I asked them if they thought a vision was given by the Lord before His departure that should be able to stand the test of all time. My point being that the church has a commander in chief, there is no changing of the guard for the church. Jesus was the head, is still the head and will always be the head of the church.
That means He has no replacement, and that is reassuring in that since He will always be the head of the church and since Scripture declares He is the same yesterday, today and forever, whatever Jesus gave as the vision before His departure remains the vision in our day as well. It is a vision for all time.
That is good news because it does not require that any church leaders seek to find the will of God for the body they lead, it has already been made known and has never changed. It’s just a matter of walking it out.
What was it that Jesus stated would be the mission of the church He would establish in the earth?
Matthew 28
16 ¶ Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
Vs 17 says, “all authority” In other words Jesus has the right to commission because He was given that right by God the Father.
You cannot get higher than the Father in authority. But not only is it clear that Jesus was given authority here, it is also clear where His authority works and what kind of authority it is, and where that authority works.
We understand authority in specific locations, for instance the county police can arrest within the city or the county whereas the city has it’s jurisdiction within the city. UT police only have jurisdiction on the campus of UT. If they need to pursue a case beyond the campus borders they must seek help from the city or county police.
But it’s not that way with Jesus and his authority. Here we have Jesus given all authority and then He explains where it works. It works in heaven and in earth!
David Wilson said it so well last week when he quoted Psalm 24:
1 ¶ A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.
Who does it all belong to?
All authority belongs to the Lord, in heaven and in earth, the earth is the Lords and who dwell therein!
How much of the earth? All of it’s fullness! No matter how much it may change it is still the Lords.
All who dwell therein means all at any given moment in time!
Because this is true Jesus possesses this authority, He is able to confidently commission something that can outlast the ages. He defines how the church shall be established, where it will be established, and for how long it shall be this way. We are told what kind of people are to make up the church and what they are to be taught.
The church is to be establish in all the earth by making disciples for Christ! We are to teach them to obey all that Jesus commanded! This we are to do for the rest of our lives and the church is to do this till the end of time.
Another part of that commission was the practical side of it.
Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Some important things are noted here. There is a need to receive power. Why? The gospel although it is the power of God unto Salvation, will be the reason the devil will incite his followers who reject it to persecute those carrying it.
It is like when someone is asked to be a defense witness in a trial. The defense attorney calls the witness in order to establish a testimony regarding the validity of his client. The prosecuting attorney however also gets to take his shot at that same witness and unless the witness is well prepared the prosecuting attorney will break him down and destroy his testimony.
Being a witness that is effective requires power. It takes boldness to stand against such scrutiny and opposition to the truth. It takes power to stand under the pressure of opposition.
Think about it, those first believers were going to have to face the entrenched religion of the Jews who were under the Old Covenant and their leaders. They had to face a multitude of different religions of pagan cultures who worshiped other gods.
They had to be able to declare their message as the one true message with confidence in the midst of opposition. That takes power!
Where were they going to have to do this?
At home (Jerusalem) in nearby towns (Judea) in the more distant outreaches of their territory not so appealing and friendly (Samaria) and to the pagan territories of the world they had never before encountered.
This is still the mission of the church. It has never changed and never will for all time. Until Jesus returns this is what we are to be doing.
These were told not to go out until they had been filled with power. Men who had seen the risen Christ were still not sufficiently equipped for what lay ahead until they had been filled.
Later in the New Testament Paul tells us by inspiration of the Spirit in Ephesians 5:17 Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants. 18 Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. 19 Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ.
Now we all know that drunkenness leads people to losing their inhibitions. Drunks are bold and loud. They may enter the bar quietly but more often than not everyone knows they are there after a few drinks.
We are told to allow the Spirit to fill us daily. We need to be soaking up the Holy Ghost in order to achieve the place of confidence that allows us to have a voice and take a stand for Christ in the culture.
Now that brings me to matter of what prohibits us from being filled.
It is hard to fill that which already has contents. That’s right we are like sponges absorbing many things. Those things that come in contact with a sponge get soaked up.
For us there are things we soak in that lead toward a deeper reflection upon God’s character and nature, and upon His ways and will. A soaking that empowers a deeper regard for our responsibility in allowing these things to take root in our hearts so that obedience to Christ is produced in our lives.
Likewise there are things we soak up that lead to a lesser reflection of these important matters, and as a result, distract us from the truly worthwhile and powerful things we should spend time considering and doing. Our heart sponge will soak up what we give it.
I am not meditating on the Lord when I am absorbing things that are merely preaching worldliness and self-awareness to me.
Music and entertainment are powerful tools. They can occupy our thoughts and shape our values. They create imagined circumstances and outcomes that may, or may not, be rooted in Scripture and may, or may not, contradict what God says about certain behaviors, situations and attitudes.
It can create an unreal perspective on real life, and while it is doing so it is taking from us the time we might otherwise be being filled with His Spirit through spending time with Him and being in His word. There are ways to fill your sponge of a heart with good things!
When we are not being filled with His power we are not equipped to do what He commanded us to do. We fall short of the obedience He desires from us. We are not in place to realize opportunities that present themselves, we are not walking in tune with His Spirit and aware of our surroundings as a result.
Filling our sponge with wrong things leads to missing out on eternal adventures because we end up in a state of stupor captivated by the trappings of this worlds amusements and allurements. We think that in our liberty in Christ we can give ourselves to these things and not be effected. But one need only look at the condition of modern Christianity in America, it tells us otherwise.
It is not that worldly things will send us to hell. It is that they intend to steal from us the time and joy of pursuing Christ and allowing ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
When a church forgets it’s mission it loses the motivation for seeking His power in the first place. We do not seek power for the sake of power. Power has a purpose.
Losing our vision and becoming numb to our mission leads to a loss of burden.
Burden is now become a word of the past. You just don’t hear it much anymore. But burden presses us into seeking the Lord for
power that enables us to act in obedience with His will for our lives.
Much of what Jesus did while He walked the earth was rooted in burden. He did miracles from a place of compassion, he healed out of compassion. He came to seek and save that which was lost. His obedience was the fruit of a burden to do the will of the Father!
The Lord desires to use His church just the same if not more than He did the early church. But for that to happen the church must be going! As we go, our goal is to make disciples!
If we fail to get back on mission in America we will continue to witness the steady decline of our country to the point of a nation falling into ruin spiritually, morally, socially, and politically. America can and will be taken over if the church does not respond as it should to God.
The Lord still judges nations He is as He was, He does not change.
The day California legalized gay marriage wildfires sparked by massive storms ignited all over that state and are still raging costing the state millions and creating havoc and disaster. Is it a coincidence? I don’t think so. Over a 1000 fires burn.
This country, our state, our city, our neighborhoods, our schools, our work places, our families all need Jesus.
But how shall they be saved without a preacher?
How shall they hear without someone to declare and how shall we muster the boldness to declare without being filled?
We fill up by daily seeking Him and establishing the discipline to be in His word and act in obedience to what we have heard.
He promises to go with us to the ends of the earth! There is no safer place to be than in the center of His will fulfilling His burden!
