Disposable Insight Compelling Vision 1985

Reading from 1 John 1, verse 5, this is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

Usually when we read this passage about walking in the light, we think about being out in the open, transparent, hiding nothing from anybody, so that we can have fellowship with each other, and so that the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from all sin, because it is true. If I hide an attitude and pretend to be your friend, when in fact I'm holding an attitude of resentment against you, then we can't honestly have fellowship, and I hinder the power of the blood to cleanse my own life. And so we indeed need to come out in the open and be clear about things.

But there is another application to this passage which I just read about walking in the light. We can understand it on another level here. When God causes light to shine, he not only causes us to see things about ourselves, thus exposing us, but even primary to that, he causes us to see something about himself, he comes to us as revelation.

And thinking of this passage and the walking in the light in terms particularly about God revealing himself to us, and walking in the light of the revelation we have, we come up with something that's also very helpful. For instance, when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, he saw light coming to him as revelation. He was seeing something now about God.

His eyes were open. Or when Jacob saw that stairway going up to heaven and God at the top of it, he was being revealed something about God. When Mary met the angel, when Paul heard the Lord speaking to him outside Damascus, there was revelation coming, God bursting into our darkness with light, opening up a path for us, showing us his kindness and his love and his mercy to us, giving us something that we didn't have before, a way to go.

Similar things have happened in every one of our lives. There have been moments when God has caused light to come to us, showing us something about himself, maybe through an answer to prayer, maybe through a word somebody speaks, maybe through a conversion of circumstances, but suddenly our eyes open and we see God. The problem is that many times this light that comes to us doesn't seem to bring about any change in our living.

We have the light for a while, but instead of allowing this revelation to become in our lives a compelling vision, we hold it down. We limit this light so that it's really nothing more than a disposable insight, which we cling to for a few days, enjoy for a few weeks, and then forget. And strangely enough, when we're in the habit of doing that, and all of us hasn't been, we're the first to complain, God never says anything to me, God never reveals himself to me, why doesn't God speak to me? And the answer of the Spirit to us is, I have been speaking to you, I have been revealing myself to you, but it's up to you to take the light that I give you about myself and make it into something more than a disposable insight.

It's up to you to transform that into a compelling vision. Well, how do we do that? Reading from Matthew chapter 16, beginning at verse 13. Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do men say that the Son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon, son of John, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, the rock, and on this rock of your confession, I will build my church and the gates of death shall not prevail against it.

Here was a revelation which came to Peter, something that flesh and blood couldn't possibly have shown him. A revelation that in time changed his life and the life of lives of countless other people. He was able, by the grace of God, by a miracle from the Father, to have his eyes open to see that this indeed, this man that I've been wondering about, is in fact the Christ, the Messiah.

But the day that revelation came to Peter, he was not ready to let it become a compelling vision in his life. He held that thing down to the level of a disposable insight. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Mighty words, true words, powerful words, but they were like a flash of lightning illuminating the forest. You see the trees and the river, and over here's a cliff going down 400 feet. I almost fell off, and then suddenly darkness again.

That's how it was for Peter, because as we read on in this passage, it didn't seem to last. Reading on in the same passage, verse 21, from that time Jesus began to show the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and raised on the third day. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, God forbid, Lord, this shall never happen to you.

But Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You're a hindrance to me, for you are not on the side of God, but of men. And so the same mouth, which just a short time before said, you are the Christ, the Son of the God, now says, you are not going to a cross.

We're not going to let that happen. What are you talking about? Now the time came when this man, Peter, was no longer bumbling along with these disposable insights of flash now and then stumbling for another year and then some more flashes and then stumbling again. But he reached a place where he was driven by a compelling vision.

He was consistent. He, every step of the way, he was led. And so we read in second Peter, second Peter, chapter one, verse 16, Peter is speaking, for we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

For when he received honor and glory from God, the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. We heard this voice born from heaven, for we were with him in the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word made more sure.

You will do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in the dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Now this same Peter is no longer up and down and in and out, hot and cold, but he's consistent. He burns with a steady flame.

He has seen light. He's walking in the light and he's teaching others to do the same. This is a message we have received from him and declared to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. Arise, shine, for your light has come.

Your light has come. What light? The light basically is Jesus revealing himself to us as the Messiah, the firstborn of the new creation, king of kings and lord of lords, the one to whom every soul will give account. That light dawns on us and really that's happening in the body of Christ all over the earth right now with fresh and wonderful power.

But what we do with that light depends on us, what happens to this. You know, it's up to us whether this is going to be another disposable insight which we have for a while and lose or whether it will in fact be the compelling vision of our lives. So how do we take the revelation and make it into a compelling vision? By doing three things.

First, obviously, we need to walk in the vision, then we need to share the vision in the body, and then we need to speak the vision to the world. First thing we need to do, always the first thing, is to walk in the vision. See, if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth.

But if we walk in the light, so if the Lord is showing me clearly that he is indeed the Messiah, that he is the firstborn of the new creation, that all authority has been given him on heaven and earth, and that all will give account, all nations and all people, and that I'm his disciple. If I see that, the first thing I have to do is walk in it, live in it. If I know all that and still live my old life, I'm walking in darkness.

I'm not living according to the truth. If I begin to bring my life around to conform with this revelation I've been given, I begin to live as one who knows that Jesus is the Messiah and that I'm his disciple, then I'm walking in the light and the vision begins to take shape and becomes the compelling driving force of my life. For instance, when the light came to Mary, she walked in the light.

She said, Be it unto you according to your word. Behold, I am your handmaid. Whatever you want to do with me, Lord, here I am.

Take my body. She walked in the light. When Isaiah saw the revelation, he walked in the light.

He said, Here I am. Send me. And the Lord said, Go.

And he went. The apostle Paul saw the light and he said, What am I supposed to do? What do you want me to do, Lord? He says, Go into the city. You'll be told what to do.

And he went. When in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus tells us that we are the light of the world and that we are to let our light shine, he follows this by giving specific instruction, exactly what he means by that, what we're to do. Matthew 5, 6 and 7 and Luke 6 are clear-cut directions as to the path that he would have us take.

And when I begin to step in that path, the light, the revelation becomes compelling vision in my life. For instance, he says, Go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your father in secret. And so instead of saying, Gee, that's a nice thing.

I'll put it down in my notebook. I, in fact, get up earlier in the morning, find some place where I can be alone and begin to pray to my father in secret. I offer myself to him as a living sacrifice this day, each day.

Now I'm walking in the light. Now this is becoming a compelling vision in my life. Or when Jesus says, Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well.

If I take that and I begin to bring my life into that, it begins to, I begin to change the way I use my time or the way I handle my money. Now I, now I'm beginning to walk in the light. Or when he says, Be merciful as your heavenly father is merciful in Luke 6. And it, it hits me.

I do something with, I make an effort to be more considerate of my wife or my husband. I pray for my enemies. I make an effort to show a genuine kindness to people around me.

I'm doing this. Now I'm walking in the light. And now the revelation becomes in me a compelling vision that drives me on consistently through good times and bad, day and night, summer and winter, all the time.

The next thing we need to do to get this revelation to the place where it's a compelling vision in our lives. And we need this very much here, I believe. Not that we don't need the other ones too.

We need to share the vision in the fellowship. See, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. The minute Jesus brings me to himself, he immediately at the same moment brings me into unity with my brothers and sisters.

I'm part of his body, whether I want to be or not, just as surely as these babies today are part of their families. It was not their choice. Now that's their mother and father.

This is their brother. This is their sister. And so when I'm born into Jesus, these become my brothers and sisters and I'm theirs.

When he gives me vision and I take that vision and begin to live it in the body, this vision creates fellowship. Walls come down. Attitudes change.

We begin to encourage each other. We share with each other. We talk with each other.

We work together in the vineyard. We have fellowship. See, if I take the revelation God gives me and go off by myself and write a book about it, the revelation dies.

If I take the revelation God gives me and I come into the fellowship and begin to live it, that revelation now becomes vision for me and for the body and we all grow together. And there is a need for us to see the value of fellowship, taking the vision and making it part of the fellowship. I believe that this time, this hour or hour and a half we spend together every week is essential for me and for each of us, you know, and no matter where we happen to be, any of us, if we're in Canada and they only speak French, go someplace where they only speak French and go someplace where they break bread.

Be with brothers and sisters someplace where people say they're following Jesus. We need that. That's essential.

Unless I'm sick in bed, I need that. But on top of it, I believe we also need sometime during the week where we can be in intimate fellowship of sharing with each other. You know, maybe it's Tuesday morning here.

Maybe it's Wednesday night, even in a larger group. Maybe it's the women's support group. Maybe it's the women's prayer fellowship.

Maybe it's a lunch hour Bible study or fellowship on the job. Somebody's home, Bible study in somebody's home. And if you can't find a place that you can fit into or that fits your schedule, start something, begin something in your own home or somebody else's.

But just get two or three people together and share. You know, it's not a time when we just complain and it's not a time when we gossip. It's a time when we share the vision, spend an hour together, share the vision, pray, and on our way.

And as we do this, the vision remains alive, becomes fresh, expands, gets stronger. Finally, for the revelation to become a compelling vision in our lives, we also, without exception, we need to speak it to the world. Reading from Acts chapter four, verse 18, so they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge. For we cannot but speak what we have seen and heard. We have to speak it.

You want to put us in jail? Put us in jail. But we're going to keep talking. We're going to do this.

Peter now, see, has a compelling vision driving his life because he is speaking it boldly to the world. At whatever the price is going to be, he's going to say it. And in the same way, if God has shown me that Jesus is my Lord and that he is indeed coming again to judge the earth, how can I be ashamed of that truth? How can I be timid about sharing it? I mean, if this is truth, what am I afraid of? If this is so, if he is risen from the dead and if he is King of kings and Lord of lords, what more apt message, what more helpful message do we have to this troubled earth right now and this troubled city? And as we speak it with boldness and consistency, the revelation becomes vision and the vision becomes clearer and sharper and brighter and it bursts into flame and it spreads from our mouths to the ears and the eyes of those around us like a spreading fire.

The day of disposable insights needs to end. It really never was here. The idea of getting a flash of insight, going with it for a while, drying up, getting another one, going with it for a while and drying up, that's not the answer.

God has something so much better for us and he has it for us all. Today the light has come. Even today as we worship together and pray thread together, the spirit of the Lord in our midst opens our eyes to see and if we will walk in what we see of Jesus and if we will share it with each other and if we will proclaim it to the world, what we see will become compelling vision in our lives that will drive us on through the rest of our days into worlds beyond our present comprehension.

Let's just take a moment of silence. Amen.