When Reality doesn't match the vision!

“WHEN REALITY DOESN’T MATCH THE VISION!”

Act 16:9 That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!"

Act 16:10 So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.

Introduction

Unlike many animal species we are the rare exception among living creatures in that we can see colors.

We tend to think of things in visual ways, with pictures. Even when we think about concepts we tend to do so in visual ways.

One of the realities of being visually oriented as a species however is that many times what we imagine doesn’t always look like what we expected it to be.

This can be either good or bad. When things don’t appear the way we expected them to we are called upon to adjust or we become mad.

Think about the hamburger that we see on commercials!

Many Christians have a “vision” of what they think the Christian life will be like, and just like in the real vision world the vision of what we expected from God doesn’t always match the vision we had.

So the question is “How do we respond to these moments in our life when reality doesn’t match the vision we have?”

The Christian life is full of tough calls, and we either become more and more mad when the vision we have doesn’t come together like we thought.

Or we adjust and discover the wonder of God doing things in our life we never expected or at least somewhat different from what we expected.

The Bible is full of situations that didn’t match up exactly like the vision some originally had, but if they didn’t let go of their vision and adjusted their sight then they wouldn’t found the great vision.

The Bible teaches us that God’s will is not found so much in what we do as much as it is in what we are.

When our focus is on God we cannot become disappointed even when our vision doesn’t come together exactly like we expected.

Here in our text: Paul was planning on traveling east to take the Gospel message but was being kept from doing so “by the Holy Spirit.”

We are not told how, but either by prophetic utterance or by circumstances they were kept from going.

The interference however is from the action of the Holy Spirit, so it is accepted as ok.

This meant a change of plans. It is important that they knew this was from God and not just an obstacle.

There may have been problems with travel, weather, or some other difficulty beyond their control that made it impossible for them to go, yet they saw this as from God.

No doubt had it been simply a problem Paul would have pushed anyway, but knowing God was preventing their going made him respond with acceptance.

We need to know when God says “no” and when it is time to persevere.

We need to have our life in such a relationship to God however that we can know when it is God and when it is simply a distraction we should fight.

The problem with many Christians is that we have so many voices fighting for our attention that God’s voice can’t get through sometimes!

Ever been in a room with the TV blaring, a bunch of people talking, I-pad playing instruction on how to play a certain video game, and several kids running making lots of noise and then try to carry on a conversation with someone who is soft spoken?

Too many distractions can make it hard to hear a single voice!

When Christians have too many voices and demands calling for them all at once the danger is that we can miss the voice of God in all the distractions.

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God!

Apostle Paul knew what that meant:

Act 16:9 That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!"

A vision of a MAN from Macedonia (the West) calling to them -- comes at night.

This MAN from Macedonia was calling them to come and help.

Paul interprets the vision to mean that God wanted them to go to Macedonia and preach the Gospel, instead of east they are to travel west.

Paul no doubt creates in his mind an idea of how this vision will pan out:

They will go to Macedonia and find a MAN who will be the link to planting the Gospel in the west.

Was Paul in for a surprise, for the vision was going to be a little different from reality when they get there!

How many times when God has spoken to us that He is going to do something in our life do we form an idea of what reality this will take?

If we are not careful we may put such a strong idea in our mind of what these visions mean that we may miss what God had in mind when we get there!

Paul knew enough to stay flexible with visions!

Let’s me tell you a story:

A middle age farmer who for many years desired to be a Pastor was one day taking a rest in his field while plowing.

As he looked up heavenward he saw 2 clouds that to his amazement formed two letters in the sky “P” and “C”. Immediately he hopped up, sold his farm, and went out to obey this vision which he took to mean “PREACH CHRIST”.

Unfortunately, he turned out to be a horrible preacher and after one sermon a neighbor came forward and asked him why he thought God had called him to preach Christ.

After telling him about seeing the “P” and the “C” in the sky, the neighbor said, “Maybe the Lord wasn’t telling you to “preach Christ” but to “PLANT CORN”!

We need to be careful that we don’t just see what we want to see.

Many Christians have hurt themselves and others because they saw in visions or prophetic utterances what they WANT to see rather than what God may be trying to communicate.

There should always be confirmations before acting on any vision, especially if it comes from someone else!

5. In Paul’s case, the vision to go west and preach had been confirmed in several ways:

a. Prophetic utterance.

b. Blocked abilities to go east beyond human control.

c. Paul’s personal vision of the MAN from Macedonia.

d. And … the general desire to preach the Gospel to everyone!

What does Paul expect to find when he gets there?

Act 16:13 On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there.

He clearly expected to find at least some Jewish men praying by the river side that would be ripe for the truth of the Gospel.

NO MEN! … there were only women on the river conducting a prayer meeting!

Paul’s vision doesn’t match reality here!

So far the vision Paul had was hardly anything like the reality he encountered!

But Paul seems to accept the reality however as the fulfillment to God’s vision!

They stay and work with what they got; a bunch of women who opened their hearts to the Gospel!

If Paul had rejected the circumstances as not being the fulfillment of the vision there might never have been a Church planted in Philippi.

Too many times we miss God’s best because things do not always match our concept of “vision” in ministry!

Too much joy is wasted on false perceptions of visions or at least our ideas or visions.

Paul is not disappointed or bitter, we could learn something here about unfulfilled expectations or ideas.

We need to trust God more in the way reality unfolds in our lives.

If we are proclaiming trust in God, then we should show it in our attitude even when things don’t come together exactly like we expected.

Paul wasn’t about to throw the vision away because it looked a little different from what he anticipated.

Act 16:15 She was baptized along with other members of her household, and she asked us to be her guests. "If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my home." And she urged us until we agreed.

Paul had the privilege of baptizing this woman Lydia and her entire household.

It was a small start but it produced one of the most stable churches!

The Philippian church became Paul’s home church; his epistle entitled “Philippians” which has a central theme: JOY!

The town’s reaction is not one of open arms to Paul’s efforts, they become hostile!

Nearly everything that can go wrong goes wrong! Paul and Silas are thrown into prison as a result of preaching to these ladies!

On top of this a demon possessed woman follows them around to harass them all day long!

Then Paul frees this demon possessed woman all the business people in town get mad because she was the key to their fortunes!

Reality didn’t hardly matched the vision BUT Paul and Silas kept on singing anyway!!!! It didn’t matter that they were put in prison.

At this point many Christians would be questioning the vision!

Almost nothing had been a blessing except the salvation of one Gentile lady and her household and one demon possessed woman who found deliverance!

At this point, many of us would have had these thoughts:

a. “Maybe it wasn’t really a vision from God, just too much pizza before bedtime?”

b. “The guy who prophesied must have been in the flesh.”

c. “They must have hidden sin in their lives, look how things are going!”

If they had given up on the vision one of the greatest churches in the New Testament would not have come into existence!

The trouble is usually not the vision, it is usually how we view the vision against reality!

So what’s a Christian to do when reality doesn’t match the vision?

They make the best of what they have!

Act 16:25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.

How they handle their reality sets the stage for future ministry!

Their faith stays intact even when reality didn’t match the vision!

You would probably ask yourself, “Could things get worse … YES … an earthquake comes next! But this was God’s way of opening up a door of ministry for them!

Finally they get a MAN from Macedonia to minister to! … A jailer!

And lots of other men too – the prisoners, who all stayed put!

It becomes clear now that such suffering was all part of the plan, though reality seemed so different at first from the vision, it is taking better shape now and a great church is starting to form!

Too often we view reality as signs of God’s abandonment or of God’s disapproval of us when in fact it may be His setup for a great plan!