Last week I spoke to you about 2 words - success and significance and we talked about the differences between the two.that vision for our lives is not reached by just being good or successful at a career..and life is not just about making money or even about having a great family life or marriage.But an overarching vision for life can only come from one source - faith in Jesus Christ. He's the one thing..
Now this weak, I want to take this one step further. See here's how I think God works in our lives.When we begin to seek after Him...When we begin our journey of faith and then commit our lives to following Jesus.I believe He then gives us a general plan to follow. He begins to direct our lives..But, as we then take steps to follow Him more and more closely.then more specific plans and details are made clear for us.Then the more knowledge we have of His word (the Bible) and the closer our personal walk and relationship is to Him..The more clearly we understand His plans for our future..It's a long process of clarification.
See, the design of being a Christ-follower is never to just get a little bit of faith..Just enough to understand that God wants to be with us in life..But to move closer and closer and closer to His perfect will and plan for us.
Today we're gonna try and bring into focus some of these inner circles of life direction..
Last week we found out that God was calling us to put Jesus first in our lives..Let there be no question.God has clearly called you.This week we want to clarify what He has called us to.
I believe God wants to speak to you during these moments - Let's pray and invite Him to do just that..
I. Vision for life begins with listening for a whisper.
1 Kings 19:11b-12 - "As Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper."
Life can be very noisy sometimes......and success is often a noisy thing - filled with busyness and clients and issues and paper - files - phones - appointments - a din of make more-be better-be more efficient-be more effective. Those are the sounds of success. Significance, however, begins with a whole different sound - A whisper......A still, small voice is where we hear vision being given......
Now as I have observed life and people (I love just watching and observing people - we are truly amazing creatures...), I have learned that success is a thing many people can achieve.
There are lots of successful people - but few find significance. I have watched many people (me included) live in the wind and fire and storm of success......But it is hard to find the ones who hear the whisper......
People, it's in that whisper where you will hear and believe Jesus' words - "I have come that you might find life - more and better life (abundant) than you could have ever imagined..." John 10:10 (The Message).
Folks, we must make sure our lives are not too noisy - too busy - too successful to hear His whisper and a gentle call to a life of significance.
Many of you have seen this picture (4 bases). For the longest time it has been a visual reminder for us at LFMC of the journey we are on spiritually. Let me quickly tell you the way Buford describes these steps...
First base is about taking the simple step of belief. It is an acceptance that what Jesus said about Himself in the Bible is true. This step involves a leap of faith to bring Jesus inside our lives - to move our faith from simply knowing (minds) to believing (in our hearts).
The journey to second base is then based on this belief......We now engage our heads and hearts in learning and understanding and experiencing the presence of Christ in our lives......This season is full of new knowledge and spiritual awakening.
Rounding second base and heading for third is about becoming an active follower and expressing our faith by working in the church.
Third base is about understanding who God has uniquely made us to be and clearly identifying those gifts and abilities that He has given to us and then choosing to actively use them in the church......
Then we're headed for home base. This stage of the journey involves finding the exact mission God has created us for, and then actually doing it......Moving towards fourth base is all about being an impact player to advance the Kingdom of God. Fourth base is all about the destiny God has called us to.
Now if you look at the whole picture, the complete journey, the first half is mostly rooted in belief.......and the second half is rooted in action - or works......
Now, you can't separate these two. They are to be forever intertwined. James put it like this - "Faith without works is dead..." and I would say this too - "Works without faith is even deader..."
Here is my point. This life of faith as you walk in it must become a life of individual responsibility......We must put action to our belief......
Like I said last week - we might know what we believe, but what do we plan to do with that belief......This is a massive challenge in our culture. See, well over 50% of people in North America declare themselves to be Christians, which should be enough to infuse solid, biblical values into our culture. Now unless I'm not seeing it, those values are not sweeping through Canada like a whirlwind......Why is that? Because most of us are stuck somewhere between first and second base. And why are we stuck there?
Because we're intent on being successful - we're focused on getting and gathering and learning and earning. We're focused on the noise of success......not the whisper of significance.
People, to find the clear vision God has for us, we must fight to hear the whisper. We must center our lives on Jesus Christ. We must grow our lives and faith during these next years to the second half of the journey - and it will take years.
This second half of the faith journey is where you find significance and it includes investing and spending our God-given abilities and gifts in service to other people......and then receiving the personal joy that comes as a result of that investing and spending......
Finding clear vision for your life is all about taking your faith off of cruise control. You must wrestle with who you are, why you believe, and what you do to find meaning in life......Finding personal vision involves a reordering of our lives......(which we'll talk about in a minute). But, hear the key phrase from truth #1......
Vision for life is formed out of a maturing faith..a faith based on life change and action - not simply belief, but - this is big - you will never reach home base without turning down the noise of life - which may mean taking a focus off success and moving that focus and intensity to a new word - significance. Remember, the voice of God speaks in a gentle whisper over many years..and in that whisper, we find the meaning of life - in that whisper, we find significance.
Here's the second truth about vision.
II. Vision for life must be detected, not invented.
Let me quickly speak about this truth and then head to a larger one..
Remember last week I mentioned that placing Jesus as the only source of over-arching vision for my life was not a process of finding something new..I simply had to deal with all the things that were good in my life, but could not be the over-arching vision of life..Things like money and success and even friendships - I had to choose and I could only choose one - Jesus. That clarity came by a process of elimination. Well, finding our personal vision and mission for life is kinda like that - it must be detected, not invented. Why do I say that? Because the truth about our personal vision and mission for life is that we were created with it. God created us with a dream and a vision in mind. All we have to do is sort through all the stuff we've covered it up with. God's job is to create and invent - ours is to detect and find.
Listen to these verses:
Ephesians 1:4 - " Long ago , even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes."
Ephesians 1:18 - "I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future He has promised to those He called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance He has given to His people."
Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago .
People, the significance of those verses to our lives is massive. We must understand that God called us to follow Him - before the creation of the world. And that when God formed His plan for this world, our individual impact and mission was included in that - even before He started the world turning on its axis..you were in His plans. So if this is true, that we were created with this vision placed in our lives, how do we find it? How do we detect/locate and begin to clarify what God has created within us?
Well, first - it doesn't happen over night. And it doesn't happen easily. Simply put, it takes time and effort to clarify vision for our lives. Here are some guiding thoughts..Covey says this: "This process is one of 'deep introspection' - careful analysis - thoughtful expression..and it may take several weeks or even months before you feel really comfortable with it - it is a complete expression of your inmost values and direction."
Getting clarity on your personal mission and vision for life is an awakening process and kinda comes in layers - like peeling an onion.
Now, here's how I approached this - I took 2 or 3 half days of alone time - spread apart - over the period of about 3 to 4 weeks..And I just worked it out by asking myself just one question. "If my life was absolutely perfect, what would the elements be?" And I began to list what those elements were. This was a time of dreaming and categorizing and setting priorities. It was a time where you write down clearly what significance looks like in your life.
And out of that has come several life values and then goals, including work, marriage, family/parenting, money, friendships, mental/physical health, and spiritual discipline. And out of these goals, I am building just one statement that would include all of the above values and goals in a concise thought. I'm putting myself in a process of life change - a season that is clarifying God's vision for my life. A vision that He placed in motion before the creation of the world. A vision He has set in our hearts at the moment they began to beat as a fetus in our mother's womb. A vision that we will continue to clarify and live out in this life and the life to come..
Think about that - we have an amazing God and His greatest desire is for you to know Him and to know His dream for your life. Amazing - what a privilege it is to be able to walk through life with a God like that .. Awesome.
Here's the 3 rd truth of the day..
III. Vision for life is sustained by courageous self leadership.
Self leadership is the ability to lead and control yourself - to understand yourself enough so you can be focused in crises. Jesus' life and ministry was punctuated with incredible self leadership.
I love reading the Gospel of Mark - Mark is the action writer of the Bible. He was caught up in his writing by the energy and schedule and demand that was placed on Jesus' life..and the action that God called him to.
Listen to these words..
1:5 - the whole contryside went to Him.
1:12 - at once the Spirit sent Him.
1:18 - at once they left their nets.
1:20 - without delay they left their father.
1:28 - news spread about Him.
1:33 - the whole town.
1:37 - everyone is looking for you.
1:45 - Jesus could no longer enter a town openly.
2:2 - so many gathered.
2:4 - because of the crowd, they couldn't bring him to Jesus.
2:8 - immediately.
2:13 - a large crowd.
Jesus' life was full and intense and pressure-packed - no question. So how did He stay on track and on mission with the vision God had called Him to? How did He battle the noise of success - to live in significance? By courageous self leadership brought about by intense spiritual discipline and self examination..
Let's look at Mark 1:35. Right in the middle of all this pressure and action and people and stress and noise and success, comes this verse..."Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed." Jesus had this uncanny ability to read Himself very well - He knew when His physical, emotional, and spiritual tanks were running low, and He didn't risk any one of them going empty. Instead He simply said - I've got to get away - alone. I've got to listen and refocus and recalibrate. I've got to slow down enough to take an honest look at how I'm living and then listen for the next move God wants me to make in the mission.
See, right after Jesus takes this alone time with Himself and God..there's a significant change in course. Watch this - look at verse 35-38: "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for Him, and when they found Him, they exclaimed: 'Everyone is looking for you!' Jesus replied, 'Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.'"
The disciples came to Him and said - Look, everybody wants to see you - let's go meet the crowds. Read between the lines and listen to what they were saying. Jesus - let's run to the noise of success. They'll love you. It'll be great..A very human response. (I probably would've felt the same way.) But Jesus says no. That's not what my mission and vision say. Look at the end of verse 38.."That is why I have come." After the discipline of self examination and a soul-filling alone time with God, then comes clarity..
People, we must learn to listen. We must learn to examine our lives and then make the necessary adjustments...That's great self leadership.
I once heard a leader say his goal was to spend 50% of his energy on self leadership. Not necessarily his time, but his energy, on self examination and spiritual discipline - A worthy goal to pursue if you're searching for significance and not simply success. (In our lives, spiritual discipline - 3 weeks - Managing Your Soul..)
Self evaluation for me..happens like this..(very regularly - set aside a time and ask myself some questions).
Answering these questions:
Is my calling sure? Is my vision clear?
Is my passion burning hot?
Is my character fully submitted to Jesus Christ?
Is my pride in check?
Are my fears at bay?
Is my psychological baggage affecting my decisions?
Am I listening to the Holy Spirit?
Do I have compassion for the poor and needy?
Am I patient and kind to my family?
Do I feel the presence of Christ?
Can I be rebuked without being defensive?
Am I serving or wielding power?
Do I have a deep love for spiritually seeking people?
People, questions like that need to be answered in our lives..We need to know what makes us who we are and decide what we do and why we live the way we live..and vision for life gets clearer and clearer every time we ask those questions and then respond with action and life change to their answers..
Well, I've just scratched the surface on a subject so vital to our lives. Remember - 3 truths. Personal vision begins with a whisper - we've got to quiet our lives..Secondly, vision can only be detected, not invented. It's already created within you. And thirdly, vision for life is sustained by courageous self leadership - by doing the hard work of discipline.
People, vision begins and ends with God..So this week, get some time alone with God. He dearly wants to meet with you.
Now - worship - we want to connect with God..Worship is another foundation for vision. |
