"The Great Adventure of Vision"
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Hebrews 11:1, 8; 12:1-2
God Almighty is a God of Vision. Now when I say "vision" I am not necessarily talking about some mystical sight that someone sees. Occasionally a vision from God is like that as the Bible shows us. Paul saw a vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus. John saw a vision of a New Jerusalem coming out of heaven. More often than not a vision is a mental image that expresses the truth of something.
1. Why does God use Visions?
Why a vision? Have you ever heard it said that a picture paints a thousand words? Sometimes the meaning of something is best expressed through an image. Words simply fail to express the idea. I believe God communicated his will to his people through visions. God does this because if God tried to explain it in detail it would boggle our minds. God gives us an image that we can hold onto and comprehend. And this image communicates the essence of what God want us to know about God’s will for us.
Just consider Ezekiel’s vision. God showed Ezekiel a valley of dry bones and said, "Can these bones live?" Ezekiel said, "Lord you know." God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones; to preach at them. Then God proceeded to join the bones together. Then God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind and he did and the wind breathed life into the bodies. Israel was a valley of dry dead bones and God was bringing it back to life! If God had simply said, "I will bring Israel back to life" the message would not have had the same impact. If God had explained in detail how event would unfold, Ezekiel would not have been able to convey the information to the people. So God showed Ezekiel a vision, an image that summed up the redemptive work God was about to do.
2. God communicates through visions
That God communicates through visions is unmistakable. All through the Bible God communicated through visions. When God was going to send his son, he gave the prophets visions of a suffering servant, a shepherd who would die for the sheep. Peter saw a vision of unclean animals and was ordered to eat them to show that Gentiles who do such could be Christians. Paul saw a vision of a man calling him to Macedonia and he realized he was called to go there to preach the gospel. And in the darkest hour of the church when Christians were killed and imprisoned for their faith God gave a vision. John was given a Revelation of God’s coming judgment of the world and the deliverance of God’s people when Jesus returns.
Abram, better known to us as Abraham, was a man of vision! He was old when he had his vision. Most of his contemporaries would not have blamed him if he had simply stayed on his porch and watched the world go by. That’s what most people do at his stage in life.
Not Abraham. He had other ideas. He had this crazy dream of becoming a father. Never mind that his wife Sari had long ago passed that age of child bearing. Never mind that he was old enough to be a great grandfather. Abram still dreamed of being the Father of a nation. Abraham also dreamed of going to far off land and establishing a new nation. Never mind that he was so old that he might not survive the journey. Never mind that he had no idea where this nation would be located. He still dreamed. Abraham had a vision. He could see his descendants as a great nation serving God in a Promised Land somewhere just over the horizon.
People must have thought Abraham was crazy. If not crazy at least a foolish old man. Here was a man in the later years of his life setting out to do what very few had ever done in their prime. How can a man and woman in the seventies or eighties begin a family from scratch? How can they, old and barren, establish a great nation? I am sure people laughed at Abraham and Sarah.
Many people believe it’s truly foolish to follow your dreams. People dream up all kinds of things. Some would tell you that you have the power inside yourself to do what ever you can dream. "If you can visualize it you can make it happen," those people say. I don’t believe that.
I know that I am incapable of anything profound! I know that human beings cannot make things happen just because they want them bad enough. That is silliness. But that is what so many people are saying today. They say "You have the power within you to make your dreams come true."
If that’s the message you want to hear then go somewhere else. I am too honest to try to sell you that kind of silliness. "If you can see it you can make it happen" - "You have the power to make your dreams come true." That is the stuff of fairy tales not of truth.
But you might say, "Hold on preacher. I have read the book of Genesis and Abraham’s dreams did come true. He became the father of a great nation that possessed a Promised Land!" Did Abraham’s dreams come true or did God’s dreams for Abraham come true? There’s a big difference.
I would submit that Abraham’s dreams did not come true, it was God’s dreams for Abraham that came to pass. God dreamed of making a nation where there was none. So God took an elderly couple and by a miracle gave them a child and from that child God brought forth a nation. God took a wandering family and made them wander for a hundred years, then sent them into slavery to make a mighty nation of them.
Sure Abraham dreamed of having descendants and land but not God’s way. Abraham wanted his descendants right away so that he could see his children and grandchildren and maybe even great grandchildren. In fact Abraham and Sarah were impatient and tried to help God’s plan along instead of waiting for God. You know that story: Abraham and Sarah wanted children so Sarah gave Abraham her handmaiden Hagar as a wife and he had a child by her. But that was not God’s plan. God wanted Sarah to be the mother of his nation.
To bring forth offspring from an old barren couple was a miracle of life that only God could perform.
3. God Still Communicates through Visions
God still communicated through visions. God gives Christian leaders today glimpses at his plan for the church. The Bible says that where there is no vision the people perish. Wherever you find the church involved in vital life changing ministries there is a vision; a mental image of God at work in that place. And where there is no vision there is no direction.
I can see this to be true in the United Methodist Church. John Wesley said the world was his Parish and his preachers were intent on spreading Scriptural holiness. Wesley had a vision of preachers and lay people going everywhere, even into the fields, to proclaim the good news. Less than three hundred years after Wesley’s heart was strangely warmed at Aldersgate Methodism is one of the largest Protestant movements in the world. United Methodist churches are everywhere from Akron to Zaire.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries Methodists had a vision of applying Scriptural Holiness to our social structures and making changes that eliminate suffering. The result was abolition of slavery, prohibition of alcohol, child labor laws, workers rights, etc. There also grew up missions for the poor and sick. One offshoot of Methodism the Salvation Army became synonymous with Christian Charity for the needy.
Today the United Methodist Church lacks vision. And the results is three decades of membership decline. At every level the church is floundering with little direction. There are still United Methodist congregations spreading Scriptural holiness and changing people’s lives, because these are churches of vision and purpose.
God has a vision, God has a purpose for Bel Air UMC. God has a plan for us as a church just as God has a plan for each individual. Last Saturday, our Administrative Council began to explore the purposes, the vision that God has for the church. It is not very hard to understand what the general purpose of the church is. The scriptures are very clear about that.
The challenge that we face is understanding clearly what is trying to do through our church as we begin this new century. I would like to think that God is asking us to dream like Abraham. To pray and study and be open to embarking on the next Great Adventure for our church.
4. Following a vision requires faith
We are here today, because other men and women understood the vision that God gave them to plant as church here in Bel Air. And there were visions of this church growing and expanding and becoming a place where a great number of people would come to know and love and serve Jesus Christ. They had the faith to step out and do what God had shown them.
For many of us, we have been driven by a vision for a new building. In a few short months, that vision will be complete. It is time for us to begin a New Adventure, a Great Adventure.
Over the next several months, I will be helping us to discover or re-discover the vision that the Bible has for the church. There is one church in the New Testament that will give us a great understanding of what a church that understands it’s purpose and is faithful to God’s vision looks like. I would call the church in Thessolonica a Great Adventure Church.
Would you commit to talking beginning this Adventure with me? Would you pray for our pastors and leaders as we preach and teach and study and pray about redefining the purpose of our church? Would you commit yourself to reading and studying the book of Thessalonians over the next several months? I also am considering providing a study guide during Lent that will help you explore important biblical passages about vision and purpose.
The problem is that we are not accustomed to listening to God for such a plan. God has a plan for us as a congregation. God had a detailed itinerary of things he wants to do through us. The point is to grasp hold of that plan or that vision and show it to others. God is already at work. It is just a matter of jumping on the wagon with him.
But most importantly to follow a vision we must have faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. God’s promise in Christ is that we will prevail over the powers of this world. Believe that! Even when the task of spreading the Gospel seems too large, trust that God is already at work. When you cannot see the fulfillment of the vision, know that by the will of God it is coming.
Hebrews says that we are surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses. Just read the Bible or the History of the Christian church and over and over again God is faithful to fulfill the vision. Israel was dead, a valley of dried bones, but God brought it back to life. Wesley dreamed of spreading Scriptural Holiness in a worldwide parish and now there are churches with Wesleyan roots all over the world. What is the dream that God has placed in the heart of this church?
I don’t know if you are ready to share that with anybody yet, if you are, I invite you to share that with one of the pastors - or you could just right it on your response card.
At the close of the service today, the pastors will be stay up front here. If you have a dream that you want to share, come and tell us. IF there is a prayer that you want to pray, come and pray. IF you would like some to pray for you, we are here for you.
The key is my friends, is that once the service ends, don’t forget that God is still in the business of putting dreams and visions in the hearts of his people. So listen and get ready for the ride of your life!
