The Vision Driven Life: Part 2

ATTN

You have to see it to be it.

Ill - PIC SAILBOAT

He arrived in Falmouth England 78 days after he left Falmouth Mass. In his 13-ft vessel, “Tinkerbelle,” he made the trip in the smallest craft to ever make the voyage. And the trip was not all “smooth sailing.” Not at all. There were sleepless nights trying to cross shipping lanes without being crushed and sunk; there were the tasteless meals of stale food; there was the rudder that broke three times and the storm that swept him overboard where only the rope tied around his waist made it possible for him to climb back into his boat. What kept him going?

Well it was the vision he had of sailing into port, knowing he had crossed the Atlantic in the smallest vessel ever, checking into a hotel, and having an amazing meal. When he spent those long nights a the tiller, he fantasized about what reaching England would look like, but he never could have imagined what would happen.

Word of his approach had spread far and wide. To his amazement, three hundred vessels, with horns blasting, escorted Tinkerbelle into port. Forty thousand people stood screaming and cheering him to shore. Robert Manry, copy editor turned dreamer, became an overnight hero.

What made it possible for him to make it all the way, even when he thought he was going to die? It as what was in here (point to your head) and what was in here (point to your heart). It was this mental picture of finishing that fueled his passion and kept him going. He proved my point: You have to see it before you can be it.

NEED

We need to know this because, as we said last week, if you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there. You have to have a clear picture of what God wants in your life if you are going to be able to fulfill His mission for you. So many believers are just kind of “there.” They claim to believe—to have faith—but there is little beyond that in their lives. There’s no sense of mission; no clarity about how the fit into what God is doing right now in the world through them.

And that is a problem. If you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there; you have to see it to be it! The question is this: What does knowing God’s vision for yourself bring into your life? Well, last week we looked at some principles we can learn from Nehemiah and what he went through.

BACK

We said that knowing God’s vision and mission for you personally CLARIFIES PRIORITIES. As we saw last week, Nehemiah has some huge enemies. He has come to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall and many from the surrounding area don’t want it rebuilt, so they try to pull him away from what he is doing and engage him in controversy or debate. Actually, they want to bring him away from his work to meet with them so that they can kill him, but Nehemiah says “No, I am doing a great work and I can’t meet with you.” Because of his focus on the vision God has given him, he is clear about what he is supposed to do and what he is not supposed to do.

The same applies to us: When we are clear about God’s vision for our lives, we are able to simplify our tasks and focus our energy on what is really important. God’s vision for us clarifies our priorities.

And it CONFIRMS OUR MOTIVES. You see this in the life of Nehemiah. When his enemies claim that he is trying to set himself up as king, he is able to dismiss that attack because, from the depths of his soul, he knows it is not true! His clear vision of what he’s about confirms his motives even when others falsely question them.

It works that way with you and me too. When you have a clear picture of where you’re headed and what you’re about, you don’t buy into what others say about you. Your own picture of your future and why you do what you do is so clear in your head that, when someone questions your motives, you’re able to legitimately dismiss what they are saying.

Our vision clarifies priorities and confirms our motives and then it CHALLENGES OUR FEAR. You remember that Nehemiah’s enemies try to threaten him into stopping his work because he is afraid of them. He doesn’t give in. Because of his vision, he stands up to the threats and overcomes them. It works that way for us: It is our vision that allows us to face and overcome our fears because, when we are clear about what God wants in our lives, we have a cause that is more important that being afraid. In fact, it is our clear vision of what God wants in our lives that allows us to see our fears and realize that they cannot stop us from doing what He wants to do in us.

TRANS

But this week I have a couple of more principles in this chapter I want to share with you that show us the impact of knowing God’s vision in our lives, so let’s go back to Nehemiah 6 and look at the key verse in this chapter, vv 15-16: 15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.

God’s vision has been worked out in Nehemiah’s life and it has clarified his priorities, confirmed his motives and challenged his fears. But it does more for him and it can do more for us. It can also:

A vision driven life will control compromise.

D1: CONTROL COMPROMISE

EXP

Now you see in this chapter that, while Nehemiah is attacked from without by Tobiah, Sinballat, and Geshem, not all of his enemies were not on the outside. v 17 says:

Nehemiah 6:17–19 NKJV

Also in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them. For many in Judah were pledged to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. Also they reported his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.

Nehemiah was pressured to compromise through greed.

Now there was a lot going on in these verses. You see here three attacks from Nehemiah’s enemies that pressure his followers. There first is the pressure of GREED. When v 17 speaks of the letters going back and forth between the “nobles of Judah” and Tobiah, it is thought that these letters were setting up trade and money-making schemes that would enrich the nobles at the cost of the vision. Tobiah and his buddies over cold, hard cash in the hopes that the nobles will pressure Nehemiah to stop his work.

Nehemiah was pressured to compromise through relationships.

There was the pressure of greed and then there was the pressure of RELATIONSHIPS. V17 also lets us know that Tobiah, the enemy of Nehemiah was actually the son-in-law of one of the Jewish people in Jerusalem. Relationships always bring their own pressure, especially when relatives are opposed to the vision God has laid on us. There is a great temptation in those situations to compromise.

Nehemiah was pressured to compromise through sabotage.

And the result of these compromising relationships and the greed for money led to SABOTAGE. v19 says: Also they reported his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to frighten me. These compromised, greedy merchants send letters back and forth to join forces with Tobiah and hinder the work that Nehemiah wanted to do. While Nehemiah is working his fingers to the bone, you might say, to make sure the work is getting done, there is this letter-writing campaign to put a stop to everything he is doing and to slow him down. Suffice it to say that there was a lot of pressure to compromise, but Nehemiah was able to see through this sabotage and stay focused. What was it that allowed him to do that? I think it was the fact that he was very clear on what God called him to do! He said “No” to all those who tried to get him to turn to the right or to the left and he was able to say no because he was very clear on what he was supposed to be doing.

ILL

Ill - PIC - FIREHOUSE

Medric Cecil Mills Jr., a 77-year-old retired District park worker from Washington D.C., suffered a heart attack next door to the Northeast Washington firehouse. Three times people, including Mills' daughter Marie, banged on the firehouse door seeking help for Mills. But Marie Mills was told that the firefighters couldn't respond unless someone called 911. Finally, after 15 to 20 minutes a D.C. police officer flagged down a passing ambulance to offer aid to the heart attack victim. Authorities later reported that a firetruck from another station had also responded to a 911 call to help Mills. But both the ambulance and the firetruck were too late. The deputy mayor for public safety in D.C. apologized to the Mills family and said, "[Firefighters] don't have to wait to be called. We should have responded to the incident."

So let me ask you, what caused these firemen to sit instead of responding. I don’t know what went through their minds, but I would say that somewhere along the line they had lost their sense of mission. It had been compromised with regulations or perhaps with fears of even getting into trouble if they responded without a 911 call. Only vision cuts through all the messages of compromise that sabotage our success as followers of Christ. We must see it so we can be it. We have to see what God is doing and look above all the obstacles of compromise that are placed in our way.

TRANS

Vision clarifies priorities, confirms motives, challenges fear and controls compromise but there’s one last one and it is huge! You see vision always . . .

The vision driven life creates momentum.

D2 – CREATES MOMENTUM

EXP

The result of Nehemiah’s God-given vision is seen in v15. It’s a very simple statement, yet it is so profound. Five words describe his success: So the wall was finished . . . That’s powerful! And notice that it goes on to say, So the wall was finished in 52 days. That was amazing. In fact, it was so amazing that some liberal commentators have questioned the authenticity of Nehemiah because it was so fast. But listen to me! God’s vision internalized in God’s man will bring God’s success!

But the completion of this wall so quickly has even more impact than simply erecting the wall. Look at v16: 16 And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.

O hang on, it’s about to get good! God’s work through Nehemiah’s wall-building brings great glory to God. Satan is defeated. The enemies’ mouths are silenced. The sarcastic smirk is wiped off of Tobiah’s face. Sanballit’s smug sneer becomes Sanballit’s real fear. The enemies of God realize that what Nehemiah has done was more than Nehemiah’s doing! God has been at work. When God’s man has God’s vision and works with God’s power, God is glorified and lives are changed. God’s vision brings great momentum and great victory.

TRANS

So you can see that knowing God’s mission and vision for you personally is very powerful: It clarifies your priorities, it confirms your motives, it challenges your fear, it controls your compromise and it creates momentum for God to be glorified in the victories He gives you and the influence He brings to your life.

Obviously this has many applications to us personally and I want you to think about what it means for you as a disciple of Christ. But it dawned on me that this goes beyond ourselves personally to our families. So I asked Carl and Mike as our Family pastors for both Children and Students to make some applications to our families.

MIKE AND CARL TAKE OVER