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SERMONS

July 11/10  

Be A Visionary

Ps. 8; Ps. 145:1--7; Col. 3:1--10 

     An art dealer was strolling down the street one day when he noticed an antique shop.  In the front window was a cat lapping milk from a saucer.  It was not the cat which caught the dealer’s attention.  It was the saucer the cat was drinking from that he was more focused on as he recognized it as a piece of china centuries old, extremely valuable and rare.  Now if you have done yard sales and garage sales, you know you have to be very cagey if you like something.  You don’t want to let the owner know you are very interested or the price will go up.  You try to get away with offering say a dollar, five dollars, etc.  So the art dealer concocted a scheme.

    He went into the shop and said, “I would love to buy your cat.”  The antique dealer said, “No way.  He’s not for sale.”  But the art dealer persisted.  “Oh please, can’t you sell him?  I have mice in my house and I could use a hungry cat to clean them out.  I will give you twenty dollars for him.”  The store owner relented.  “Okay, you can have him.  Give me twenty dollars.”  Then the art dealer said, “Would you mind throwing in his saucer as well?  It’s just that he seems to enjoy lapping his milk from it and it would make him feel at home.  I’ll give you twenty dollars for it too.”  The antique store owner exclaimed, “There is no way I can do that!  That’s my lucky saucer.  I’ve sold sixty-eight cats this week with it.” 

     Obviously, the art dealer saw value where others didn’t.  And that is what God’s people are called to do as well.  Christian physicist David Von Koevering says that we are created to be visionaries.  What is a visionary?  Visionaries are people who see what others don’t and they speak of things that others don’t.  For example, Moses saw a promised land.  His vision sustained him through long years in the wilderness as he led God’s people.  David was another visionary.  He had a vision of Israel as a holy nation ruled by God, prosperous and at peace from its enemies.  The book of Hebrews chapter eleven gives us a long list of visionaries and concludes, “They were looking for a better country--a heavenly one.”  v. 16  Visionaries are people who are so heavenly minded that they can be of some earthly good.  Are you a visionary?  Are you so heavenly minded that you are of some earthly good to your heavenly Father?

I/  A VISIONARY AMONG US   You may have heard of the name of Stephen Hawking.  He is the famous British scientist and cosmologist who taught at the University of Cambridge until just a couple of years ago.  He gets around in a wheelchair as he has ALS and he uses a speech synthesizer.  He recently became scholar in residence at the Perimeter \Institute in Waterloo, ON.  Stephen Hawking is an example of a visionary.  He says, “My goal is simple.  It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”  The Perimeter Institute is devoted to exploring the universe, much as NASA is in the United States. 

     He reminds me of the psalmist who was also fascinated by the universe. 

            O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  …When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?  Ps.  8:1, 3--4

            I will meditate on all your wonderful works.  Ps. 145:5 

When the psalmist beholds the beauty of the universe and its divine order, he realizes that we are small as tiny specks in its vastness.    The book of psalms is full of references to God’s creation, and it calls us to study them, reflect upon them and acknowledge the Creator behind it all. 

     II/  A VISIONARY AND AN OVERCOMER   The reason that I bring up Stephen Hawking is because he is not only a visionary, but an overcomer of limitation.  There is much to be learned from his example. 

1.  WHEN NO ONE BELIEVES IN YOU   Although Stephen Hawking is a genius, that is not the way he was perceived when he was young.  In his early school years, people thought he would never amount to much and they thought he wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.  But that all changed when he discovered the world of the universe in his teens.  Having a vision will change your life forever.  I can relate to that.  When I was in high school, I struggled in the early years.  I was not good at all in math and science and I was thankful that the Ontario school system allowed me to drop out of these courses after grade ten.  I also struggled with French and had to go to summer school to catch up.  Everything changed in the summer before I returned for grade 12.  God made Himself real to me and I became aware of His call upon my life.  I discovered the love of my life, theology and Scripture.  I began to do well in school. 

     You will find there will be times in life when no one believes in you.  That’s when you must remember, “If God is for us, then who can be against us?”  Rom. 8:31

2.  HAVE YOU GONE AS FAR AS YOU CAN? 

     In his twenties, Stephen Hawking was dealt another blow.  He was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Syndrome), a disease which leads to loss of muscle control and left him in a wheelchair.  Doctors told him he had only a few years to live.  Guess what?  He retired from the University of Cambridge a few years ago at the age of 67 and as mentioned earlier, he is still going strong as a Canadian scholar in residence.  For a man who loves to explore the limitless expanse of the universe, limitation does not exist.  Have you heard that same report, “You’ve gone about as far as you can go?”  Perhaps we believe we have gone as far as we can go with the Lord in our spiritual growth, the development of our spiritual gifts and the use of our time, talents and treasure for His kingdom.  Don’t you believe it for a second.  You’re an ovecomer in Jesus Christ.  There are heights to climb and giants to bring down. 

    I find that many people are bound by a rope called limitation.  It is a rope deep within their hearts, full of all kinds of tangled knots that bind them and keep them from moving forward.  Do you have such a rope in your heart?  Do you recognize any of its knots?  For example:

A.  I have KNOT

B.  I can KNOT

C.  I ought KNOT

D.  I might KNOT

E.  I should KNOT

F.  I may KNOT 

G.  I will KNOT

My goodness, that’s a lot of KNOTS, isn’t it?  And the worst of all the KNOTS is, “I’m KNOT good enough.”   Nominating committees in churches hear that one quite often as they seek to fill positions.  Friend, if you are not good enough, then who among us is?  None of us is good enough.  But praise God, there is One who is.  His name is Jesus Christ and we have been made acceptable to God and approved by the blood He shed for us.  Satan delights in playing on low self esteem to keep the people of God as underachievers instead of overcomers.  He fears the Christian who knows his/her position in Christ. 

3.  VISIONARIES REFUSE TO BE LIMITED BY NEGATIVE CHANGE

     The next setback for Stephen Hawking came in 1985 when he contracted pneumonia and had to have a tracheotomy.  As a result, he lost his voice.  Most people would have regarded that as a career ending development as a university professor needs to be able to lecture.  However, Stephen Hawking is not most people and he refused to be limited by negative change.  In fact, he once wrote, “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”  And adapt he did.  He got himself fitted with a lap top computer and a speech synthesizer.  People joke that the only drawback was that it gave him an American accent instead of his normal English accent.  It was a new language for the cosmologist, a digital language.

     Visionaries have things to say that no one else is saying and they find ways to say them.  The psalmist speaks of the language of God in creation.  “Day after day they (the heavens) pour forth speech.”  Ps. 19:2   But when God really wanted to get up close and personal with us, He had a problem.  How was He going to communicate with us?  After all, even Moses was not allowed to see God in all His glory.  The voice of God thundered on Mt. Sinai and the mountain shook which caused people to shrink back in terror.  God tried to communicate with us through His prophets, but people were still not getting the message or refused to.  Then He hit on the perfect way to talk to us.  He said, “I’ve got it!  I’ll come down among them as one of them.  I’ll be on their level, eyeball to eyeball.”  So He sent His Son Christ into the world, a man who would know what it was to cry, to laugh, to hurt and to need comfort.  Before He ascended into heaven, He told us to go and preach the Good News to every living creature.  In fact, one of the prophetic signs of the return of Christ is that the Gospel message will have circled the globe. 

            And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come.  Matt. 24:14

          In November, 2008, a historic and prophetic event began to unfold.  The Wycliffe Bible Translators launched THE LAST LANGUAGE CAMPAIGN.   There are 6, 905 languages in use on our planet.   The Gospel still needs to be translated into one third of these languages.  That works out to 2,200 languages and 350 million people.  The Wycliffe Bible Translators believe the goal will be accomplished by the year 2025.  They are currently raising one billion dollars for the campaign and millions have already been raised.  Enhanced computer technology account for the rapid acceleration of language translation.  It’s a visionary goal, isn’t it?

4.  TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO ONE HAS EVER GONE BEFORE   That was the motto of the Star Trek crew on board The Enterprise.  It would seem to be Stephen Hawking’s motto as well.  It would also seem to be the creed by which many missionaries and Bible translators live.  For the Christian, there is always so much more to discover, e.g. more of God Himself, portions of His Word which remain unexplored and unapplied.  Adventures in faith await us.  Each Christian should be saying, “I want to go farther with God than I eve have before.  I want to go deeper than I have ever have before.”  Is that you?  Stephen Hawking writes of one of his discoveries,

            Events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but they reflect a certain   underlying order which may…be divinely inspired. 

As a nonChristan, his exploration of the universe has led him to acknowledge this.  We need to pray that one day he will discover whose hand flung the stars in place, set the moon, the sun, the earth and the planets in their positions.

5.  VISIONARIES CHANGE THE ATMOSPHERE  When we become heavenly minded, we can finally become of some earthly good to our heavenly Father.  David Von Koevering is a Christian physicist  and he says each Christian is called to be a visionary.  He also says we all have the potential to change the material atmosphere around us through what we see and what we say.  Worship is seeing God and being transformed by His presence.  There is power in the words that come out our mouth.  In Mark chapter eleven, Jesus said that when we have faith in God, we will be able to speak to our problems and command them to be removed.   Here is an interesting little scientific fact.  Studies show that when positive words are spoken over a glass of water, the cellular structure of the wate changes.  Here’s how to change the atmosphere in your home, your church and your community.

A.  CHANGE YOUR FOCUS   “Set your minds on things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.”  Col. 3:1

B.  CHANGE WHAT YOU DO   Having a vision is transformational.  The apostle Paul continues, urging us to get rid of such things as anger, slander, greed, impurity  evil desires, sexual immorality, etc.  He tells us to replace these things with holy living, forgiveness and love as a way of life. 

            And over all these virtues, put on love which binds them all together in    perfect unity.  Col. 3:14

C.  CHANGE WHAT YOU SAY  

            Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise.  ..They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty…They will tell of the power of  your  awesome deeds.  Ps. 145:3, 5--6      

            Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…Be thankful…Let the Word of  Christ  dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another.  Col.  3:15--16

Are you a visionary who is creating a faith activated atmosphere wherever  you are?

6.  VISIONARIES IN ACTION  Here’s how it works.  In 2008, an American Airlines Boeing 757 was flying from Puerto Rico to Philadelphia at 36,000 feet when suddenly the wind screen in the cockpit shattered.  Immediately, the air pressure in the plane destabilized and fires began breaking out.  It was later determined that one loose screw allowed a heater to rupture an inside ply on the windscreen.  It was pure terror aboard the flight as the crew fought to bring it to an emergency landing.  Twenty-four Christian students who were aboard the flight are also being given credit.  Their actions changed the atmosphere aboard the flight, infusing faith into hearts consumed with terror. They prayed, held hands, sang hymns and worshiped God.  They acted as visionaries.  They were so heavenly minded they were of some earthly good. 

    How about you?  Are you a visionary?  Are you creating a faith activated atmosphere wherever  you are?  Are you so heavenly minded that you are of some earthly good to your heavenly Father?

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