Last week we talked about change, because it is New Yearʼs and this is the time that we look at change. New Yearʼs is one of the holidays that I really can appreciate because I believe that an unexamined life is not worth living. New Yearʼs is also a struggle and a strain and it could be a big disappointment, where our good expectations, our resolutions meet up with reality and it is not pretty. Last week we said that it doesnʼt have to be that way, even though we have these brains that scientist show that resist change, we also have Godʼs spirit that propels us and compels us towards change. Last week we said that by what God has done for us in Christ, by bringing us new life we are able to build lives that are powerful because of what God has made possible.
This morning we will be talking about vision, because vision is one of the biggest pieces when it comes to life change. People talk about changing habits and things they know that arenʼt good for them because of what society tells them but they donʼt do it in any real sense of what they are trying to accomplish in their lives, and that is one of the reasons why we fail at change, is because its change for the sake of changing but no greater overall vision.
Vision Is A Decision To Become A Type Of Person
We have no problem defining types of people whether it is scientifically or through our own observations. We are all types of people whether it is by decision or by default we will be a type the issue is are you a type of person that comes from a decision of a vision that you believe in?
Conviction:
Vision comes first by a conviction. We become convicted, when Jesus came to this Earth and he said to people, you must be born again, that there is something wrong deep down inside of you that is going to sabotage you and sink you, there is something inside of you that is corrupt and will ruin everything good thing in your life. Conviction is a belief that we have to change that we believe with all of our hearts that we canʼt go on living this way.
Intention:
The intention to be something different. An intention is what breeds application.
Application:
To look and say this is how Iʼm going to do it. This is what God would have me to change to become the person God would have me to become, and application leads to action.
Action:
Making it all happen.
Gifting - The abilities that God gives us. Promise - What motivates us, promise of the rewards that God has for us. Power - The power of Godʼs Spirit
Vision + Gifting + Promise + Power + Action = Success
_____ + Gifting + Promise + Power + Action = confusion
Vision + _____ + Promise + Power + Action = anxiety
Vision + Gifting + _____ + Power + Action = minimal change
Vision + Gifting + Promise + _____ + Action = frustration
Vision + Gifting + Promise + Power + _____ = false starts
Vision matters because vision is the beginning of all of it. As we look as vision this morning we will explore one of the greatest visionaries of the
world. The only person that ever has come into this world and lived out His vision holy and purely. That was Jesus This passage displays vision and it displays all of the ways that vision can get messed up.
When you go back to John chapter 6, what you find is Jesusʼs ministry is at the very height of popularity, crowds were following him and those crowds were multiplying into bigger crowds, and at one point Jesus is on a mountainside and he was preaching and what he was preaching was the beatitudes, Sermon On The Mount and as he is preaching the disciples come to him and say look you have to let the people go, it is getting late and we donʼt have enough food or water or anything else to feed them, and we have to send them on their way. Jesus asks, what do we have for supplies? this one kid comes up with a few fish and loaves of bread and Jesus takes them and prays over them and blesses them and he hands them to his disciples and tells them to hand them out and you know the rest of the story, everyone was fed and infact not only was everyone fed but they were leftovers. You can only imagine what the people thought after that. Not only can he heal the sick and raise the dead but be fed by him. Then Jesus did something that defyʼs church growth, he turned around and confronted the crowd that was following him because he knew their motives, he knew all they wanted was a free lunch, all they wanted was healing, all they wanted to see something miraculous. they wanted something from him that was not the intention of what he came for. He confronted them and said, look I am the bread of life. In Jewish terms that was a bold statement because what he was saying is, Iʼm God, Iʼm the God who sent manna from heaven, Iʼm the God that can fill all of your needs, and then he went on and said, unless you eat of my body and drink of my blood you canʼt be my disciple. And they look at him and said, what is up with this? Eat of his body and drink of his blood? Is he mad? Some understood that there were of religious connotations that had expectations on them, another words Jesus was saying, I didnʼt come here to give you a free lunch, I came here to give you life and life abundant spiritually. After that all the crowd had left. That is what we see now in chapter 7, Jesus has chased away the crowd that was following him.
John 7
1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him.
Why was he going to Judea? Because everyone was going and it was the feast of tabernacles. It was one of the big religious ceremonies one of the big three of Jewish life, it was a time of remembering how God met their needs in the wilderness, everyone was going and Jesus decided not yet not now because he knew it wasn’t his time. He knew that there were those out to kill him and that wasn’t what God had in mind for him yet.
2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
What was happening here? You have a brother who is becoming really popular and he is rising in popularity what does that mean for you? It means you get to be in a special position right? Things were on a roll and then he blows it up. You can hear the sarcasm of the disciples and they were upset.
6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.”
Jesus says to them, look you go because your time is anytime but it is not my time because is my fathers time. Jesus had made a decision to live a life of vision, to be a type of person, he knew what he was there for. Even when you go back to when Jesus was eight years old, when he wanders off from his parents and he is in the temple and he is teaching the Jewish leaders, and his parents are all frantic because they can’t find them and they go and find them and he say to them, where else would you think I’d be? From the very beginning of his life his life was built on vision of the type of person. Over and over again he says to his disciples, look they are going to crucify me and it is for your good that it happens. They kept looking at him as they did not understand what he was talking about and when the time came when the time was right Jesus gave himself over to be crucified on the cross and be put to death. Why? Because that was the vision he lived by. So he said to his brothers, you go because your time can be anytime, it doesn’t really matter what you do, because you just live by activity.
What vision do you live by?
Do you live by any vision or just gratification?
Most people will never take the time to take a step back and say, what type of person do I want to be?
If I live my life by vision, I know what I do and what I don’t do. I know the words I should speak and the words I choose to speak, I know what God wants me to be so therefore I know what God wants me to do. Once you have the vision piece in place the rest of it is easy. All you have to do is say all right what are the gifts God has given me? And how can I use those kinds of gifts to be that kind of person and how can I put it into action? If you don’t have the vision piece if you haven’t decided this is the type of person I want to be, I don’t want to be rich, I don’t be popular, I don’t want to be in control of anything, I don’t want people to admire me. Was Jesus looking to be a public figure? Popular? Admired? big crowds? In fact he said to his disciples, they are going to hate me because I’m going to speak truth, and they won’t hate you because you are still living in this world, your still trying to be an insider and you can’t be. Insider all try to do the same exact thing. Jesus calls us to be an outsider.
9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee. 10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.
He wasn’t going to miss the festival why? because it was public worship to honor God it was a time to give thanks, Jesus said he didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.
11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?” 12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.
No one said anything publicly about him why? because they lived in fear of losing their possessions, popularity, or power they had, but there is no vision in fear. Because a vision built on God love, a perfect love casts out all fear.
14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”
16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.
Once again Jesus says, even my words are not my own they are the father’s. Jesus pursued a life of truth. That what his vision was built on, standing in the light of truth and being that light. The truth of God’s love for God’s people. The Truth will point you always to the love of God. Vision can’t be built without Truth.
When someone presents truth to you, do you look at it or do you deny it? Do you pursue it? You can’t have vision if you don’t pursue truth.
Jesus lived his life by vision, he made a commitment my will is to do fathers will and he did it.
Is our vision to do what makes us feel good, to gain control, to fill all of our lusts and desires? We need to be real with ourselves, vision means there has to be intention, application, and action or it isn’t real and you will fail.
Ask Yourself
I. See What You Don’t See:
What do I need to see that I don’t see? Being willing to ask people around you, being willing to listen to people around you, when they say, sometimes you can be insensitive or sometimes you gossip or sometimes you are lazy and sometimes you only care about yourself. If your are going to have vision you have to walk in the Truth, therefore you will have to see what you don’t see, what you don’t want to see. We all want to be told how wonderful we are but that is not going to help us. My esteem comes from what God thinks.
II. See What You Do See:
Not to brush it off or to disregard it. Yea, this happened but it is not a big deal. That is how we lie to ourself. That is how we try to make something not true - true so we can live the way we live for gratification but no vision.
III. Conform To What God Wants You To See:
Conform to what God wants you to be, You can become so much more, it is not about changing bad habits for the sake of changing bad habits, where is the motivation in that? Bad habits make you feel good in the moment. Changing your vision is different it comes with being a Christian, being a Christian means follower of Christ partisan of Christ, means my will is the fathers will and my walk is the walk of Christ. That my vision is that I will love God with all my heart, my mind, soul, my strength and my neighbor as myself and I will do it by reaching out to the world and love point them to Christ and I would do it in the context the application of who I am, of the gifts that God has given me, of the talents that I have those are all my hooks into the lives of other people to share the good news of Christ, in doing it by believing that God has made it possible for me to live a life that is powerful. If you do this your changes will come about, Because conviction is what gives birth to intention, what spurs on application, and what results in action.
Notes taken by: Lorelllawrence@comcast.net The notes is for you to have for review in the series, also to reflect on during the week.