Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/94

Contributor - Jack Van Dyk

Title - Living By faith (Without Giving up Your Sight)

Topic - Faith

The author of the Book of Hebrews writes about a number of individuals who were living by faith at the time of their death. This bold and notable band of 'risk-takers for God' "received not the promise(s)" (I 1:39 - KJV), but only saw them from afar (I 1: 13).

Now, isn't that something?! They were living by faith - without any reduction of their sight! Hebrews II: 13 tells us that THEY SAW, they saw those things which had not yet materialized in their lifetimes.

Now obviously, in saying that faith's Hall of Famer's saw those things that they had been promised, it does not mean that they literally saw certain physical objects and/or events materialize in their presence. They couldn't have. The text says that they died without having received what was promised (Heb. 11:13,39).

When scripture says that "they saw it is telling us that these people had a clear mental picture of those things yet future. In their minds, they could 'see' what God had promised would 'be'. Their faith prompted 'sight'.

Today, it is not uncommon to hear someone speak of these kinds of people as being 'visionaries'. Perhaps you have heard it said before how: "Robert Schuller (or David Mainse, or Oral Roberts, or Bill Hybels, or Bill Bright, or whomever) is a real man of vision". Then you will typically hear a report of how: "At present, the financial resources are not there, but he believes that God is going to provide all that is needed for the purchase and development of a new. . ."

Christian leaders who live with that burning assurance of "what God wants to do (with me and this ministry) in the days ahead" have that uncanny ability to 'see' the unseen of the future as being just as real to them today as is the reality of those things that you and I see existing only at the present time.

Admittedly, the 'clear mental picture of those things yet future' that some Christian leaders have is not truly of God. For some, it is simply a matter of personal aggrandizement and fleshly ambition. Nevertheless, when we look in the scriptures, we do see that God has historically made it His practice to endow His anointed servant-leaders with a sense of 'vision' that is spiritually legitimate.

King David, for instance, was grieved that he should be "living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord" was under a tent (I Chron. 17: 1). The Bible's message is clear: David had a 'vision' for building a temple to honour his Lord and his God.

And it is worth noting that David did not get this 'vision' by hearing voices in the night (At least, not by any that are recorded in Scripture!). Nor did he get this vision' through some revelatory trance or dream, as did the apostles Peter (Acts 10:10 ff) and John (Rev. 1: 1).

No. King David got hold of 'a clear mental picture of what he was to accomplish in the future' because God has enabled David to see a need to experience a burden for that need and to grow in faith's ability to see the unseen (which, by the way, is still the same threefold process that God typically uses to birth 'vision' in His people yet today!).

Because King David had a vision for what God wanted to do in and through him (cf., I Chron. 18:7-1 1; 22:2ff), a magnificent temple was eventually erected to the glory of God.

Nehemiah was yet another visionary leader whom God used to bring His people into His purposes. Who of us would have so keenly seen the need that Nehemiah saw when he heard about the exiles who were "in great trouble and disgrace" (Neh. 1:3) because Jerusalem's buildings and walls were broken down? If it was such an obvious need, then why did no one else arise sooner to summons the local residents to active labour?

And who of us would have felt the 'burden' that Nehemiah felt for restoring dignity to Jerusalem and its inhabitants? Nehemiah writes that "when I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days, I mourned and fasted and prayed (Neh. 1:4).

Out of what Nehemiah both saw and felt, there grew a 'vision' for rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. It was because of what "God had put in my heart' (Neh. 2:12) - and not because of angels, dreams, or prophetic utterances! - that Nehemiah could eventually say to the people:

"Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem" (Neh. 2:17).

King David and Nehemiah stand out in scripture as just two examples of the many who lived having a clear mental picture of what God wanted them to accomplish in the future. They walked in an ordinary faith which God used to birth within them an extraordinary sight.

This is the kind of faith that our church leaders need to be walking in today a faith which honestly examines the call of God, who we are as a church body, what our various resources are, what our ministry context (viz., the community) is like, etc. - in order to determine what it is that our church's ministry should focus upon.

Expecting our churches and our pastors to be 'all things to all people all the time, in the mosaic of today's incredibly diverse society, is highly unrealistic. And so, we must ask ourselves these questions: "What kind of ministry is God specifically calling our church to? In what direction are we headed? What is our church's 'vision for ministry'?"

The past is gone; it cannot be changed. The present is upon us; it also is unalterable. It is only the future that we have any possible hope of influencing for the glory of God. So ... what is that clear mental picture of the preferable future that God is calling your church to make real?

Someone once wrote that "Some people's vision is like a rocking horse - a lot of motion, but no real progress." How many of our churches are like that: busy, busy, busy - going through a lot of religious motion . . . with little spiritual progress in any given direction?

As was brought out in a previous article (Pioneer, Sept. 1994, pp. 4-5), every church is 'driven' by something. The present and future ministry of our churches are being shaped by one (or more) of several forces. It will be either tradition, finances, culture, crises, pastors, a few vocal (self-appointed) members OR a clearly-articulated, corporately-embraced, and consistently applied VISION for ministry that propels us into the future.

There's an inspiring, unifying, motivating, and direction giving power that comes from functioning out of a Bible-based and Spirit-imparted vision from on high to which, no carnal substitute can compare!

In as much as some 'purists' would like to believe that it is only the Bible, or only the head of the Church (King Jesus), or only the Holy Spirit, that is to be the 'driving force' in the church's ministry today (a biblical point well taken!), we must never forget that our God is a God of 'means'. God uses flesh and blood officers in His Church to do His leading, His feeding, and His correcting of the flock. And God also uses flesh and blood people who agree to work together to accomplish His mission (Amos 3:3; Acts 15:36-40). Ministering out of a shared vision' does not diminish, but rather enhances, Divine leadership in the church. It is simply (Re church officers and cooperative members) a 'means' that God uses.

And what about you? What kind of personal vision do you have for life and ministry as you seek to advance the kingdom of God?

Perhaps you do not have one at this time. Perhaps you are a strong supporter of the vision that God has given to someone else, and would therefore claim that person's vision for ministry as your own.

More often than not, this will be the case. The nature of God's design is such that there will always be a greater number of 'Indians' than there are 'chiefs'. But if you do have a personal vision for ministry please be very certain that it dovetails with (e.g. supports) your church's corporate vision for ministry. Ordinarily, it should. But, for if some reason it does not, then one should be asking themselves "For what purpose am I a part of this church's ministry (other than being counter-productive in the kingdom of God)?"

God always works in leading His Church through the church's leadership. God doesn't call the pastor and one-half of the consistory to go one way and the other half of the consistory to go off in another direction. The consistory should be united around the vision that God has imparted (or is 'imparting'?).

Are you supporting the vision that God has given to your pastor and consistory? If not, then why did your church call them? To have them hold hands? Keep peace? Be 'sparring partners'? Maintain the status quo? If pastors and elders are not called to be leaders who are followed (Heb. 13:7,17), then what are pastors and elders for?

Your pastors and other visionary church leaders share something in common with even a man like Walt Disney. Soon after the completion of Disney World, someone remarked with great disappointment how: "It's too bad that Walt Disney didn't live to see all of this!"

Mike Vance, creative director of Disney Studios, replied: "He did see it! That's why it's here."

REMEMBER: Ordinary people of faith (covenant people) have also been extraordinary people of sight! They call it I VISION'.

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