Creekside Church Sermon of January 18, 1998 "Vision" Isaiah 43:16-21	Rev. David Bibbee
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It happened before and happened again, the first time in Egypt, then in Babylon. Israel was in captivity singing about home in someone else's land. But that was about to change. Isaiah's message turned hopeful. God was at work on the horizon preparing the way for a new exodus and a new Israel. The way wouldn't be easy, but Israel was going home. "Don't dwell on the former things. Don't dwell on the days of what was. I'm doing a new thing," God said. God is always creating a new thing and wants us to see it and pursue it. God wants to lead us out of complacency and captivity. From cover to cover, the Bible reveals a God ready to deliver people who want to be delivered, because God is determined to have a witness in the world.

Today we will consider the new thing God wants us to see and the process by which we see it and make it a reality. It's called vision...the ability to look at where we are and ask where we need to be and what it will take to get there. The vision can't be vague. Some of you may remember the relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, Dan Quisenberry. He once said, "I've seen the future. It looks much the same as the present, only different." Another baseball player, Yogi Berra knew that readiness for the future required something more specific, and in his unique style said, "You'd better know where it is you want to go. Otherwise, you might not get there." The great people of history and the movements they inspired had one thing in common. Vision. They knew who they were. They knew what they were supposed to do. They didn't shrink from obstacles. They weren't captives to circumstance, but seized opportunities.

In 1859 Robert Chesebrough was a twenty-one year old chemist who was on the road to riches. His growing company refined kerosene from canned oil. But the morning headlines changed the road to riches to impending ruin. It reported the nation's first big oil strike in Pennsylvania.

Chesebrough boarded a train and headed for the oil fields. Things were changing around him. He was scared, but maybe his skills could adapt to the petroleum industry. As he studied the steady rhythm of the oil pumps, he overheard a couple of oil workers cursing their number one nemesis...rod wax. They told him that every few days the pumps had to be shut down because of the paraffin-like build up that collected on the steel rods. He scooped the substance with his finger and put it to his nose. No smell. Put some on his tongue. Basically tasteless. The workers got a kick out of his's fascination with rod wax. "It ain't all bad," one of them shouted. "It works wonders on cuts and burns."

Chesebrough scooped up five jars of the stuff and headed back to his doomed refinery, his mind in overdrive. Most ointments at that time were made from animal grease and spoiled if kept too long. None healed like the Pennsylvania rod wax. Life was changing for Robert. The path to the future was in view. It took eleven tough years and two more as a traveling salesman before his product caught on, but when it did, he made it big. You have his product in your medicine chest...a testament to his tenacity. It's called Vaseline.

Vision spells the difference. It marks the moment of opportunity; a turning point given by God to make better people and better churches because God wants a witness in the world. Vision is a necessity, and can be seized or squandered. Hear Proverbs 29: 18 again, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." It doesn't happen overnight. Strong churches can live off their reserves, for awhile. We can repeat what's been done and keep the program going, for awhile. But without a vision that guides what they do and to whom they minister, they will make a mediocre march toward perishing. There is no such thing as standing still where life and ministry are concerned. Survival is not a goal, not for the church of Jesus Christ. When I hear that some church is surviving, it's just another way of saying they're not quite dead.

We will not be content to survive at Elkhart City. We love the church and its Lord too much to settle for survival, right? The strengths and gifts present here are too precious to keep to ourselves, right? But the strengths must be channeled into a shared vision if we are to flourish and not flounder.

OK preacher boy, so what do you mean by vision? Vision is not just a dream or a wish list. It's not a catchy little slogan. I want you to consider this definition: "Vision for ministry is a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God to the church and is based upon an accurate understanding of God, self and circumstances." Hear the components...it's a clear image of something not here yet...a picture of what "could be". It's not borrowing another church's picture. It is uniquely yours. Vision is about a preferable future. The present can be improved. Something better is ahead and steps can be taken to get there. Improving upon the past doesn't get you where you need to go. "Remember not the former things," God told the exiles. "I've got something new up my sleeve." Centuries later Paul would declare, "If anyone is in Christ, they are new creations", new people with new desires, not refurbished old ones.

Vision is clear, committed to improvement, and future oriented. It's source is God. We say it a lot and for a good reason...it's not what we want that counts, but what God wants that matters. Vision is wisdom imparted by God which makes use of our abilities to accomplish his purposes.

Sounds reasonable. But I'm not saying this to be reasonable. I share it because we've done ministry without where it's headed. I have a friend who is like Harl Russell. He has a saying for every occasion. One of his favorites is, "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail." I know you're not into failure. I know your goal isn't mediocre ministry. It appears that nearly all of us understand that keeping things the same isn't a viable option for Elkhart City anymore. What is needed is a vision of what it means to be the church of Jesus Christ.

Why is it so important? I can give lots of reasons, but for starters, consider this. Bill Easum writes extensively on the changes looming before us in the next century and the challenges the church will face. Among his observations is this one: "Traditional churches that thrive in the twenty-first century will initiate radical changes before the year 2001." Maybe we've got till 2002, I don't know. But I do know that the time has come to make decisions and become intentional about creating a future like we have not done before.

We've come to a fork in the road and can't follow Yogi Berra's other bit of advice, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Our vision will be shaped by the decision we make in two weeks. Either option, remaining or relocating has different challenges. Given who we are and the needs present around us, where will we likely do the most good and have the most effective ministry? What are the potentials and risks of each option? Where can we make a difference and at the same time grow?

God has a vision for us, and God can be served by acting on either option. I am convinced the vision God gives will always be built on the strengths already present. It will incorporate the spirit that is so evident on anointing Sundays...the awareness that Christ is among us in our desire to bring healing through deep care and compassion for one another.

Someone said, "Faith in Jesus begets us three things: vision, venture, and victory." But you can't get from vision to victory without venture. I've got four tackle boxes full of fishing equipment, a dozen rods, sonar, temperature gauges, the works...but it won't catch fish one if I don't take it fishing. We have the resources, now we have to say, "God, we want to decide and focus on the future you want. We want to give it our best shot and trust the outcome to you."

Being in this process is uncomfortable. We're uncertain and anxious. But remember something- the present moment is defined by a larger purpose. This truth has been impressed upon me this past week. Bill and Sarah have been at the forefront of our thoughts. It's been trial upon trial with no chance to catch a breath between for them. We can scarcely imagine what they are going through, and our hearts go out to them. But Bill and Sarah are Bill and Sarah. I know no couple as certain of whose they are as them. Of course they are asking, "Why?" But through this ordeal, they show us that the present moment is defined by God's larger purpose. We don't always know how it's working out in the fine details, but we know who holds us all in the end. They take Isaiah to heart, "I'll make a way in the wilderness to the chosen people I formed for myself."

I offer this to inspire that brand of faithfulness for the church's future. When there is a vision, God's people don't perish, they prosper. They rally around a preferable tomorrow and they all play a part in making it happen.

Clarence Shepard was dying as his work was coming alive. At sixty his career had begun fifteen years before. One book followed another with lukewarm success. They he wrote his best, last book. But the slender volume written from his deathbed was lost. The publisher sent the manuscript to the printer, but when no proofs returned, the publisher became anxious. One call told the story. The printer received it, but it was so thin and wrapped in plain brown paper, it was mislaid and discarded. If the only copy was gone forever, how would the publisher face the dying author. So the search began in earnest.

Lead one: most of the printers discarded paper was sent to a warehouse in Boston. They sent a team of searchers who confronted a mountain of paper they sifted through a leaf at a time. No book. Lead two: some of the waste was sent to a mill in Connecticut. Maybe it was in that batch. The searchers scoured for three days. No book. Lead three: someone at the print shop remembered a small bail that was sent to a Massachusetts mill. That had to be it. The weary hunters arrived believing their job was almost finished, but it had only started.

The bail was thrown into a huge hopper. The machine spewed paper into an acid bath and couldn't be stopped. The searchers stood at the mouth of the chute in shifts around the clock. Their only hope was to snag Clarence's manuscript as it flew on its way toward oblivion. No one knows how long the vigil lasted, but it was long enough to give up hope and tell Clarence. That's when the last sentry quickly turned and spied a brown package flying from the chute. Nearly falling into the acid bath, he lunged for it and caught it.

Clarence was dying when his work was coming alive. He never meant to be a writer. It was just a means of passing time while confined with crippling arthritis. That little book was a gentle portrait from his past that pleasantly haunted him. That's why the book was so precious. It eased the bitterness of endless illness. The lost little book that brightened the long nights of Clarence Shepard Day became precious to many...it ran for an unprecedented three thousand performances on Broadway. It was..."Life with Father".

I offer this as a parable of persistence. Those who pursue a better tomorrow find what they're looking for. If the searchers had cancelled their quest, a dream would have died, and the world would have been denied a treasure.

Acting on the vision God gives, will get us where God wants us to be.

Thanks to Barry L. Johnson and Paul Harvey for the stories used in this sermon.

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