Always At Your PostPart 10: Capturing God’s Vision for Your Life

Introduction

During the previous nine lectures, I have sought to make the case from the Word of God that each one of us is made in the image of God, sovereignly endowed by our Creator with unique gifts and abilities, and called into fellowship with Jesus Christ in order to love and serve Him, wholeheartedly and without reservation, until we receive our Final Call to enter into the presence of God forever and ever – without end. It was my intention from the beginning to have us consider whether there is any sound philosophical or theological basis for believing that life has purpose and meaning or whether distinctive atheistic worldviews have warrant to summon us to consider and embrace their ways.

Winter in JulyLook around wonder whywe can live a life that's never satisfied.Lonely hearts troubled mindslooking for a way that we can never find.Many roads are ahead of uswith choices to be made.But life's just one of the games we play.There is no special way.Make the best of what's given youeverything will come in timewhy deny yourselfdon't just let life pass you bylike winter in July.

Sarah Brightman

Winter in JulyFuture dreams can never lastWhen you find yourself still living in the past.Keep moving on to higher ground.Looking for the way you thought could not be found.We may not know the reason whywe're born into this worldwhere a man only lives to diehis story left untold.Make the best of what's given youeverything will come in timewhy deny yourselfdon't just let life pass you bylike winter in July.

And we may not know the reason whywe're born into this worldwhere a man only lives to dieand his story left untold.So make the best of what's given you.Everything will come in timewhy deny yourselfdon't just let life pass you bylike winter in July.

Introduction

We noted that anyone who rejects the Triune God and seeks to establish his life on material grounds alone will soon discover that his nihilism is the gateway to hopelessness and utter despair. Yet all who call on the name of the one true God acknowledges the truth of His infallible Word: “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory” (Ps. 73:24). The heart attitude of the true believer is revealed in Isaiah, when he writes: “Let it approach, let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so we may know it” (Is. 5:19). Now, in these next four weeks, having built a solid biblical and theological foundation for considering our purpose in life, we will seek to apply these truths and to capture God’s divine plan for our own lives.

Biblical Assumptions

Philosophically speaking, the only foundation that will support a life worth living is one that is formed with divine truth as it is given to us in God’s revealed Word, the Bible. All others are little more than eroding sand that cannot withstand the assailing storms of life. History and experience clearly demonstrate the vanity and consequences of building upon the collected wisdom of man, rather than upon the wisdom that comes from Creator God.

The following assumptions can be made, either directly or by necessary inference, from God’s Word:• God has a plan for every person He created.• Every Christian ought to have a clear vision for his life and work.• Gaining a clear vision is not necessarily an easy task for us.

Biblical Assumptions

• God imparts His vision to anyone who seeks Him with his whole heart.• Through prayer, the Holy Spirit empowers us to fulfill God’s vision.• When we repent, God extends His grace and forgives us for living out past

visions that were contrary to His words and ways.• With God’s help, we can reevaluate our lives in the light of His Word and

set a better course.• The heart of God’s vision for us is to know and love Him, and to serve other

people. • Fulfilling God’s vision for our lives results in eternal rewards.• Joy and peace are two of God’s great gifts to those who seek to live life

under His rule and reign.

The Importance of Vision

1. Having a vision helps prevent failure.

Titanic, April 14, 1912

The Importance of Vision

2. Having a vision promotes the glory of God.

The Importance of Vision

3. Having a vision provides a solid foundation for decision making.

John Tenniel’s Cheshire Cat

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

She was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire-Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off.The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.“Cheshire-Puss,” she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. “Come, it’s pleased so far,” thought Alice, and she went on. “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

“I don’t much care where……” said Alice.“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.“……. so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

The Importance of Vision

4. Having a clear vision reduces distractions.5. Having a vision assists in time management.6. Having a God-given vision contributes to effectiveness (doing the

right thing) and to efficiency (doing the thing right).7. Having a vision strengthens our faith.8. Having a vision cultivates absolute dependence on God.

Clarifying A Popular Text: Proverbs 29:18

• “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (KJV).

• “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law” (NIV).

• “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law” (ESV).

• “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful” (NLT).

The Meaning of “Vision”

The vision spoken of here is not that of a mental image of a preferable future, but of the prophetic revelation, or God’s Word. So the NIV correctly translates the Hebrew word for vision as “revelation” (e.g., “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint”). In other words, without the comforting, revealing, convicting, transforming, exhorting, encouraging, and edifying Word of God, “their heart is bound up. Their eyes are shut up; they can see nothing. Their ears are stopped up; they can hear nothing. They are carried away as a prey into hell, because they have not the knowledge of God” (Charles Bridges).

From the Hebrew Text

“Vision is to be taken in its exact sense of the revelation a prophet receives. Law in line 2 is its complement. Perish, rather, “run wild.” The verb means to let loose, e.g. to let one’s hair down, whether literally (Lv. 13:45; Num. 5:18; Jdg. 5:2) or figuratively (especially Ex. 32:25 –twice)” (Derek Kidner, 1913-2008).The Hebrew word used in this text is “the prophetic revelation in itself, and as the contents of that which is proclaimed. Without spiritual preaching, proceeding from spiritual experience, a people is unrestrained…People are only truly happy when they earnestly and willingly subordinate themselves to the word of God which they possess and have the opportunity of hearing” (Keil & Delitzsch).

What Is Vision?

1. “Vision for ministry is a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God to His chosen servants and is based on an accurate understanding of God, self and circumstances” (George Barna).

2. Vision is “foresight with insight based on hindsight” (Barna).3. Vision is beginning “with the end in mind” (Stephen Covey). To

begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination.

4. “Vision is a picture that produces passion in you” (Bill Hybels).5. Vision is “defining reality” (Peter Drucker).

What Is Vision?

6. Vision “is compounded of a deep dissatisfaction with what is and a clear grasp of what could be. It begins with indignation over the status quo, and it grows into the earnest quest for an alternative. Both are quite clear in the public ministry of Jesus. He was indignant over disease and death, and the hunger of the people, for he perceived these things as alien to the purpose of God. Hence his compassion for their victims. Indignation and compassion form a powerful combination. They are indispensable to vision, and therefore to leadership” (John R.W. Stott).

How to Capture God’s Vision for Your Life

• Know God and yourself.• Answer the question: Who are you? By what name does God call you?• Openly identify and own your worldview.• Enter into solitude and silence to hear God’s voice.• Seek Him with all of your heart (Jer. 29:13).• Look for a man or woman of understanding to give wise counsel.• Approve or test the will of God…and continue to obey Him as He leads.• Look to the Holy Spirit to illumine the Word to your heart.• Enter into a long series of deepening surrenders to God.

Two Memorable Slogans

“Attempt something so great for God that it is doomed to failure unless God be in it.”

John Edmund Haggai

Two Memorable Slogans

“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”

- William Carey (1761- 1834)

Theodore Roosevelt

It is not the critic who counts;Not the man who points outHow the strong man stumbled,Or where the doer of deedsCould have done them better.The credit belongs to the personWho is actually in the arena.Whose face is marred by dustAnd sweat and blood;

Theodore Roosevelt

Who strives valiantly; who errsAnd comes up short again and again;Who knows the great enthusiasms,The great devotions,And spends himself in a worthy cause.Who at best knows in the end

Triumph of high achievement; And who at worst if he failsWhile daring greatly,Knows that his place shall never beWith those cold and timid soulsWho know neither defeat nor victory.