06 - VISION (Your Provider)

Text: “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear [haplous, being motivated by singleness of purpose so as to be open and aboveboard, single, without guile, sincere, straightforward, i.e., without a hidden agenda], your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Mt 6:22–23, NASB).

Theme: Keep your eyes clean, fixed with singleness of vision.

Intro: What should a Christian’s vision be? What is our vision as a church? Today, we’re talking about vision. We want to focus on two things: 1) What our vision must be as a disciple of Jesus, and 2) What is the vision God has given us as a church and ministry. Specifically, we will look at the structure of the eye and how it relates to vision. And while this message is about our church, I believe it will benefit every believer. Through this message, we will be working through the structure of the eye––going out in concentric circles. First, we’ll look at the pupil and then focus on the iris. Next week, we’ll look at the sclera and connect the eye to the rest of the body.

1) Our vision is Jesus (Matthew 14:22-32).

There’s a valuable lesson in the story of Jesus walking on water.

And it's something we’ve been touching on in the last few weeks.

Matthew 14:22–32 NIV

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

Peter walks on water as long as his vision is Jesus (Matt. 14:28-29).

Peter begins to sink when he sees the wind and its effect on the waves (Matt. 14:30).

This is the same thing that happens in our lives.

With the increased stress and cost of living, it’s easy for us to get our eyes off Jesus. When we get distracted, we begin to sink into the world's troubles. We stop living miraculously like Jesus.

Our church’s vision is Jesus (Matt. 6:22-23).

Jesus is our pupil’s purpose in our eye illustration.

Jesus is the apple of our eye. Our purpose is to be his disciple––to be his pupil. Our goal is to learn from him by keeping our eyes on him.

Our church’s vision is to conform to his vision.

It’s not to have a vision of our own––independent of him––but to have his vision.

Again, he is our vision.

One of the major mistakes we can make is that our vision is about things happening rather than focusing on Jesus.

Making our vision about things rather than him leads to disappointment.

2) Our vision is to be a people like Jesus (Matt. 4:19).

“And He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men’” (Matt. 4:19, NASB).

We follow Jesus by fixing our eyes on him (Heb. 12:1-2).

But often, people say they are following Jesus, but there’s something else they are following.

If we’re not careful, we can follow our own vision, feelings, opinions, the crowd, popular thought, money, power, Instagram follows or some relationship.

It takes sacrifice and love to follow Jesus.

Know this: there are a lot of distractions in life. Many things will be competing for your eyes and attention.

Our vision is to be a people like Jesus without all the baggage of man-made traditions and religion.

In other words, we are getting back to the Jesus of Scripture.

The people of our church are the iris.

Do you know what iris means in Greek?

It means rainbow (Revelation 4:3).

Revelation 4:3 NASB95

And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.

The church radiates when it surrounds the throne and values its diversity in Christ.

There’s a great temptation for us to all be the same––to gravitate toward people who are like us.

Our fallen nature is not comfortable with diversity and differences in culture.

But Jesus is building a church that is a house of prayer for all nations (Matt 21:13; Matt. 16:18).

In other words, Jesus is looking for a colourful bride that shines his light.

When Jesus says he is building his church, he’s not thinking of a building––he’s referring to people.

How is it possible for us to be radiant?

Psalm 34:5 NASB95

They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed.

The church falls apart when Jesus is not the apple of our eye, the pupil.

When the people become the main thing, we divide and fight.

We must value one another, but our vision is Jesus first before one another.

One of the amazing parts of the eye is our eyelids.

Do you know how many times you blink?

About 15 - 20 times per minute.

19,200 times a day.

What’s the purpose of blinking?

Blinking cleanses and refreshes your eyes. It keeps your eyes from drying out and brushes away irritants like dust and dirt participles.

God has built into us an ingenious way of keeping our eyes clean.

It’s the little things that damage our vision.

As we read in the Song of Songs, the little foxes spoil the vine.

Spiritually, we need to keep washing our eyes so we don’t lose focus of Jesus and become dry in our devotion to him.

Forgiveness toward one another––often through tears––is one of the ways we blink, cleaning out the dust.

Eyelids also enable us to rest so that our eyes don’t get tired and lose focus.

Stopping and resting are necessary to follow Jesus.

God’s been leading us as a church to build (put into place) intentional times of rest so that we can go the distance with God and not burn out.

When it's dark, the iris opens up the pupil to absorb light.

God’s people need to open up more to the light of Christ in these dark times.

To be continued…

Conclusion: First, our vision is Jesus. Second, our vision is to be a people like Jesus. Next week, we will develop our God-given vision more.

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