Let’s Begin With a Proverb
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” (Proverbs 29:18, KJV).
It seems that I can only remember this proverb in the King James Version. It’s interesting though since modern translations such as the NKJV, NIV, and ESV translate it much different (you can read those translations here), but my mind seems to only have space for this verse in the traditional King James.
For me, this original English translation just comes alive, and seems visceral. When people don’t have a vision for what could be or what should be, their lives become a mess. They “perish” or “cast off restraint” (which is like living without any rules or morality).
For a quick analogy, think about personal finances. When we have long-term plans that are meaningful to us (paying off debt, saving for a home, etc.) it becomes easier to stick to long-term financial goals. We can live well with our money today because we have a vision of what life could be like tomorrow (debt free, a home of our own, etc.). When people lack those long-term financial goals, they use their finances with only the present moment in mind, spending in a way that makes them feel good today, which often leads to financial ruin tomorrow.
The Vision for Church Today
If this verse is true, and I believe it is, it would be nothing more than a logical conclusion to say that we, as Christians, also need “vision”. We need to have our eyes fixed on some point in the future: on what could be and what should be.
Generally speaking, church leaders understand this on at least a basic level. It is why most modern churches create “Mission” and “Vision” statements: for their congregation: something to hold onto, a vision of what could be and should be in their communities.
Except, those “Mission” and “Vision” statements often fall flat, not producing the commitment or passion leaders intend. In fact, many people who identify as “Christian” and who are sitting within our church pews are often living lives that differ very little from the lives of those outside our churches. Divorce, depression, anxiety, addiction to pornography, social media, and video games… these run as rampant in our churches as they do outside of them.
Our people are perishing.
And I believe, down deep in my bones, that this is because (at least in part) we have moved away from the vision of the Church that Jesus has cast; trading it out instead for our much smaller visions of church buildings, church attendance, and momentary “freedom” from worldly chains.
The Sweeter Vision
I’m convinced that there is a better, sweeter, more beautiful vision that the Church can claim as their own that is far superior to our narrow “Mission” and “Vision” statements that we often create for ourselves.
God’s plan for his people is just so much bigger than financial freedom, or freedom from anxiety and depression, or healthy marriages. Those are all good and wonderful things, but it’s like looking at a gorgeous work of art and saying “that brushstroke is so wonderful!” That statement may be accurate, perhaps that brush stroke is a work of genius… but that hyper-focus on one small part ignores the entirety of the canvas that exists in front of you.
The true beauty of the painting is found only when you stand back and take in the entirety of the work.
Oftentimes in our churches, we are also guilty of looking in at the particular brushstrokes and not the whole canvas. We focus on the blessings of following Jesus and perhaps one or two moral imperatives in our following of Jesus (such as sexual morality or a call for social justice). Yet few churches spend time stepping back and focusing on the larger narrative, or the “bigger picture”.
Jesus navigates this much better than us.
It’s a common misconception that Jesus spoke on money more than any other subject. That’s not even remotely true. More than anything else in all the Gospels, Jesus taught on the Kingdom of God. Nearly every parable is about the Kingdom of God: what it’s like, the type of people who inhabit it, what it will be like when it arrives here on Earth, and more.
When Jesus talks about the “specifics” of following him (sexual ethics, use of finances, how to pray, etc.) it’s almost always in the context of painting the larger picture of the Kingdom of God.
Think about the “Sermon on the Mount” found in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. Just after Matthew records that Jesus has begun to preach “repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (4:17), Jesus gives us teaching after teaching on topics such as divorce, murder, oaths, love for enemies, prayer, and so much more. Many people are familiar with elements of this sermon, but few people have “taken a step back” and view the sermon as a whole. When we do that, take a step back and see the sermon in its entirety, we see Jesus giving us a picture of the types of people who inhabit the Kingdom of God, and then (near the end) the kinds of people who will not inhabit the Kingdom of God.
The “Beatitudes” are found right at the beginning and act almost like a thesis statement for the entire sermon, setting the stage for what comes next. In fact, people of those “Beatitude” qualities are those people who are “salt and light”, whose “righteousness surpass that of the Pharisees”, who do not hate or lust in their heart, who stay committed in their marriage, who adhere to their oaths, who “do not resist an evil person”, who love their enemies, who give to the needy, who pray the prayer Christ models, who fast in a way that doesn’t draw attention to themselves, who store up treasures in Heaven instead of on earth, who do not worry but have faith, who do not judge others, and who ask the Lord for what they need.
And all these things are the “narrow way” says Jesus, and there will be false teachers who try lead people astray. But the fruit of someone’s life will show them to be either a true disciple or a false prophet.
And, if we stay the course and adhere to Jesus’ teachings, we will be like those who have built their home upon a solid rock, and will withstand the storms of life.
So, in short, Jesus cast for us a vision that the Kingdom of God is near and we can, and must, live as citizens of that Kingdom today.
The tension is that we don’t have the capacity to live as those citizens: we are deeply flawed and sinful people. Yet Christ, through his work on the cross, creates a pathway for citizenship into that Kingdom and then calls us to follow him by living as citizens of that coming Kingdom, sending the Holy Spirit to give us the power needed to live out that citizenship.
It was this wonderful vision that has compelled millions of Christians to live in radical obedience to Jesus long before the idea of “Vision” or “Mission” statements popularized by corporations. The movement of Christians that thrived inside Rome for 500 years were persecuted because of their allegiance to a king and a kingdom other than Rome.
And they lived lives in alignment with that Kingdom: lives of pacifism, of charity, or sexual purity, and radical generosity. Or, in other words, lives of love.
And they did it all because they had a vision of a kingdom to come.
A Kingdom Vision Is Enough
Many of the people within our churches are perishing. This is true in the sense that they are spiritually lost, but there is also the reality that many true followers of Jesus don’t have a real vision for what their life is supposed to be like.
What happens when they overcome addiction, anxiety, financial debt, have a healthy marriage, and even attend a small group?
For many churches, there isn’t an answer beyond that. In fact, I can even hear many pastors saying as they read this, “goodness, I’m just hoping to get my people to that point!” The thing is, a small vision motivates us in small ways, and eventually doesn’t motivate us at all. Deep down, we know in our souls that freedom from the problems of this life just not compelling enough to push us towards sacrificial love, long-term devotion to Christ, or faith through persecution.
It’s not even compelling enough to get most people to enroll in a small group.
But we could cast a vision that is stronger, more alive, more radical, and more true. It’s the same vision that Jesus cast: that the Kingdom of Heaven is come, repent and believe, joining in on this kingdom by living as a citizen of that kingdom today even while we wait for the coming of that kingdom at some point in the future.
It’s not a “me” focused vision.
It’s a vision utterly focused on our king and on his kingdom.
It’s a vision that doesn’t seem as if it would attract many, a vision that offends a Western worldview and assaults our desire for personal freedom and agency.
And yet it’s the very vision that Jesus spoke of and the Holy Spirit testifies to.
And for those who will see this vision, long for it, and follow it (and those people will be few), they will not perish. Instead, they will have “eternal life”, of which I’m not referring to an infinitely long existence (though that may be a part). I’m talking about the eternal life Jesus refers to in John 17:3, which he defines as “that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
Let this be the vision we cast for our people and that we adopt for ourselves.
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