The Vision Thing
January 5, 2009
Dear Friends,
In 1987, President George Bush famously said in response to a suggestion that he turn his attention from short-term strategy and look at the longer term by saying, "Oh, the vision thing." From that time, this phrase has come to represent taking a longer view in keeping with the big picture.
Proverbs 29:18 says "Where there is no vision, the people perish." One could make the case then that when people fall away, where ecclesias shut their doors and where no light is shining to a dying world, in other words when people are perishing, that it is for this simple reason – no vision. If this is true, what is the vision that the believers should have?
Let me state to you what I believe the sole mission of the ecclesia is in simple terms: to assist as many people as possible into the Kingdom of God for the glory of God. It stands to reason that God's mission is our mission. God's mission can be stated in God-centric terms such as "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." (Hab. 2:14) We might also phrase it people-centric terms such as God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Pet. 3:9) Furthermore, He has ordained us to be the vehicles for that mission (see Rom. 10:14 for example). It is when we fail to operate according to this simple mission that we find ourselves occupying ourselves with things that don't matter or may even be harmful. When we get too far from this vision, it is inevitable that our ecclesial lampstand will be taken away (see Rev. 2:5).
I would further segment this simple mission into four categories where it needs to operate effectively.
- The Sheep: the ecclesia needs to nurture and edify its membership
- The Lambs: the ecclesia needs to feed and protect those learning the ways of God who are entrusted to their care – especially our children.
- The Lost Sheep: the ecclesia needs to retrieve those sheep that have gone astray.
- The Goats: the ecclesia needs to preach the Gospel to those ignorant of the ways of God.
So many times we occupy ourselves with things that are not important to our mission. To be sure, there are many times when we must do things that are not absolutely vital to our mission, but if we spend too much time with unnecessary things all the while ignoring these vital things, it won't be long before disaster strikes us. An effective disciple and an effective ecclesia practice a sort of triage where critical things are attended to first and foremost.
In my own ecclesia, our serving brethren used to conduct meetings where the agenda was put together in random order. We might talk about cleaning the gutters, followed by the speakers for our next gathering and finish with a discussion about a couple in meeting whose marriage was in jeopardy. Sometimes, because of the way we ordered things, we would run out of time before we dealt with very important things. Now, we talk about the people first and all the other business of the ecclesia last. We try to do the most important things first based on the principle "Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds." (Prov. 27:23) If we don't get to the gutters, so be it. I don't think we will have to account to our Master if the gutters aren't spotless, but we will if we do not give careful attention to those in our care. This is not to say that we don't get sidetracked from our mission from time to time with unimportant things while ignoring the "weightier matters of the law." We do. However, due to a conscience effort to do things in order of how they impact our mission – our very reason for existence – we seem to do a better job than we did before.
It is easy to get sidetracked with minutiae as individuals too. The Pharisees did too and were rebuked for it by Jesus. Jesus scolded them when he said,
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. (Matt. 23:23-34)
In this humorous visual picture painted by Jesus was see this ridiculous Pharisee working ever so diligently to get a little gnat the size of a speck of sand out of his drink and then drinking down a whole camel the size of a small car. We all have our little pet peeves, idiosyncrasies, crochets and so forth which can cause each of us to lose sight of the big picture and vision that God has painted for us. We need to work on that. There is tremendous power when the ecclesia all pulls in the same direction – God's direction.
In conclusion then, we need to keep the vision that God has for us as individuals and as an ecclesia very clear and foremost in our mind as we go about our business. This will help us pick and choose properly where to spend our "talents" (time, energy and other resources) in God's service. It will help us avoid the condemnation that Jesus laid at the feet of the Pharisees about doing things insignificant while ignoring vital things- "these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."
Have a great week,
The next post of the Time and Chance survey is on the blog. They can be viewed here.
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