MEDIOCRITY, VISION  AND

                                          THE KINGDOM AGENDA

I will instruct thee and teach thee in
the way which thou shalt go:

I will guide thee with mine eye.

Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule,
which have no understanding:

whose mouth must be held in with bit
and bridle,

lest they come near unto thee.
                                                Psalm 32:8-9

Here we have the promise of vision....... 

 

"I will guide you with my eye." i.e. "I will cause your

eye to see what my eye sees."

 

And the warning not to live without that vision.....

.
"Don't be like a horse or a mule that has

to be dragged around with a bit and bridle
because they can't see what my eye sees."

 

Our life as a son or a daughter of God simply makes no
sense if we have no vision. We need to be able to see
what God is doing in the world where we are right now.
We have to see his hand, we have to see how we fit into
what he's doing. Otherwise all we do is go around in
circles and when we come to the end we have nothing to
show for it.

 

So when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill,

he stayed two days longer in the place where
he was. Then after this he said to the
disciples, "Let us go into Judea again."
The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews
were but now seeking to stone you, and are
you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are
there not twelve hours in the day? If any
one walks in the day, he does not stumble,
because he sees the light of this world. But
if any one walks in the night, he stumbles,

  because the light is not in him."
John 11:6-10

 

Here's a contrast between a man who has vision and men
who have none.   And you may say,

 

"Well, Jesus is the Son of God, of course he
has vision."

 

But we need to understand that while Jesus is, in fact,
God the Son he is also absolutely human.

 

- He got hungry just as we get hungry.
- He got tired, as we get tired.

- He got thirsty.

 

And Jesus was as dependent for a vision of the kingdom
from the Spirit of God as we are. But Jesus had vision.
He saw what had to be done.   He saw what the next move
was and he knew which way he had to go. He knew how he
had to fit into his Father's plan. Whereas the disciples
were blind. They were all the time nervous and angry
and confused and trying to help Jesus out, only to make
things worse.

 

"Lord, you can't go back there, they're out
to kill you!"

 

Now we can identify with those disciples, because we're

just like they were. Ninety percent of the time we're confused,

nervous, mixed up and anxious.   And we excuse our lack of vision
by saying,

 

"Lord, I'm only human .... I'm just flesh and blood. Surely God

 can't expect me to know what the next move is."

 

But Jesus says,

 

"If you're my disciples you should have vision."

"He who follows me will not walk in darkness
but will have the light of life....."

 

....that means he will see what the next move is. She
will know the direction to go. They will understand

  what the kingdom agenda is and they will move on it.

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples

       that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer
many things from the elders and chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and on the third
day be raised. And Peter took him and began
to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid, Lord!

This shall never happen to you." But he turned
        and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You
        are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the
        side of God, but of men." Matthew 16:21-23

Notice, Jesus does not say,

 

"Bless your heart, Peter.   You're only flesh

 and blood. You don't have any vision. But

 that's really sweet of you to try to keep me

 from getting in danger."

 

That's not what he said. He said,

 

 "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance
to me. You're not on the side of God, but
of men." i.e. "You ought to be able to see
the agenda and fit into it. This is the
road I'm taking, and you're taking it with
me.... open your eyes Peter."

 

And in a matter of a very short time Peter did have his
eyes opened. He became a man of vision. He walked in
that light. And he had the courage to take the steps
that needed to be taken.

 

Here we are as a congregation bumbling along as best we
can (we like to say) with very little sense of what the
kingdom agenda is for us or even what the next step is
for us. But Jesus promises that,

 

  "He who follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life .... I will
instruct you and teach you in the way that
you should go.    I will guide you with my eye."
i.e. "I will give you vision and you will get
up in the morning knowing that you have specific

 

Now, there's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't have
that kind of vision every single day of our lives. If
we don't, if we don't have that kind of vision, if we're
all the time stumbling, it's only because something is
blocking the light.   Get rid of that block .... in comes
the light. Our eyes open and we see which way to go.
So what is it? What is it that blocks our vision? What
is it that hinders us from seeing?

 

  "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea writes
'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true
witness, the beginning of God's creation.

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot.
Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you
are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will
spew you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich,
I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing
that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and
naked.   Therefore I counsel you to buy from me
gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and
white garments to clothe you and to keep the
shame of your nakedness from being seen, and
salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.'"

Revelation 3:14-18

 

Here was a church which had lost its vision. On the
surface things were going well, they had crowds, money
to spare. But beneath the surface on the inside in the
thing that really counts, in the matter of the kingdom,
this church in Laodicea was wretched,

                                          pitiable,
                                          poor,

                                          blind and naked.

     These things were destroying the vision of the Laodicean

church. The very three things that also block our
vision. Deal with these three things and you will see
the agenda, you will know what the next step is and
you will have the courage to take it.

The three things that block the vision of this church
as well as the Laodicean church are: mediocrity,
mixture and myopia.

 

Mediocrity......

 

"I know your works, you are neither cold nor hot.

 Would that you were cold or hot! So, because

 you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,

 I will spew you out of my mouth."

 

Instead of a blazing flame .... lukewarm.   Salt which has

lost its taste.    A light that's hid under a bushel.

Mediocrity is on the throne of this world. Excellence
is discouraged at almost any level with the exception of
a few athletes who get paid fabulous sums for being able
to hit a ball farther than anyone else ... or a pitcher
that's faster than anybody else. The name of the game
is mediocrity in this world and anybody who tries to
give excellence will be discouraged. And without a doubt
the worst offender of all is the professing Christian church.

 

"Well, after all, we're only working with

 volunteers. We don't want to scare them

 away by demanding excellence, work well done,

 commitment....."

 

But that is precisely what Jesus demands of us. And
he spews our lukewarmness out of his mouth. Now it's
true when we came into the kingdom every one of us was
a slob...vain, lazy, dull. A few perhaps with some
genius and yet everybody a mess.   But now, in the king-
dom, Jesus says to every one of us without exception,

 
      "I want excellence. I want righteousness that

exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees!  

I want hearts that are on fire! I want lives
that are true! I want work well done!"

 

"I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by

fire that you may be rich.....excellence.

Never mind what your I.Q. is. Maybe you're

not a genius.   Or how old you are.   Or what

you think you look like .... I will make you

rich with the riches of my kingdom. I will

make you a burning and shining light, but,

you must give me everything you've got. Your

body as a living sacrifice ... holding nothing

back ... it's mine ... and that's what gets us.

And your mind no longer conforms to this

mediocre world, but transformed by my renewing

Spirit, which always produces excellence."

 

"Repent of your mediocrity," he says to all of us, "give
me excellence."

 

The second thing that blocks our vision is mixture.

Thorns mixed in with the seed so that the seed can never
produce any worthwhile fruit. Hearts that are divided
trying to serve God and mammon at the same time.

 

"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your
eye is single, your whole body will be full of
light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole
body will be full of darkness. If then the
light in you is darkness, how great is the
darkness!"   Matthew 6:22-23

 

In the very next verse which we often fail to connect
with those verses.....

 

"No one can serve two masters; for either he
      will hate the one and love the other, or he
      will be devoted to the one and despise the
      other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

 
....God and money.

 

The unsound eye is the eye that tries to
serve God and mammon at the same time.

The single eye is the eye that fixes on the king
and his kingdom and keeps it there and brings it
back every time it drifts, at whatever price.

 

The unsound eye is the eye that drinks in
the unclean and the false even while it
claims to be worshipping God. The eye roams
around looking at other stuff drinking in garbage.

 

The single eye is the eye that fixes on God and on

his kingdom and is determined to stick with that no

matter what the cost.

 

"Therefore I counsel you to buy from me white

garments to clothe you and to keep the shame

of your nakedness from being seen....."

 

The white garments we buy from him are purity of eye and
heart.   We repent of our impurity ... of our double eye,
our double mind and our double heart. Every time our
eye roams or our mind wanders into vanity or our heart
wallows in compromise, we repent and put on the white
garments of purity by discipline: Disciplined prayer,
disciplined eyes, a disciplined mind, disciplined bodies.

The third thing that hinders our vision is myopia, near
sightedness.

 

We're so obsessed with Babylon and the
things of Babylon (where we live) that we can't see the
New Jerusalem, (where we're heading).

 

"Therefore I counsel you to buy from me salve
to anoint your eyes, that you may see."

 

What is this eye salve? It is the deliberate blotting
out of the near so that we can see the far. Forcing our
selves to turn our backs on anything that keeps us from
seeing God and his purpose. .... anything!

 

Now great multitudes accompanied him; and he
turned and said to them, "If any one comes
to me and does not hate his own father and
mother and wife and children and brothers and
sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be
my disciple."                            Luke 14:25-26

 

If your mother is blocking your vision of the Kingdom,
turn from her. If your child is blocking your vision of
the Kingdom, turn from him.   (You do your mother or your

child a disservice by allowing them a place in your life
above the Kingdom). If your own life and its ambitions
is blocking your vision of the Kingdom, forsake it!   The
price of vision is to turn our eye away from Babylon,
open the window that faces the New Jerusalem and behold
the City of God.... the Lamb of God.   Cure your spiritual
nearsightedness by looking through that window every day.
Soon you will see the angels of the New Jerusalem walking
through the streets of this troubled Babylon. You will
see God. You will see the agenda. You will see what

  God is calling you to do.   You will see the next step.

 "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the

way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee
with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or
as the mule, which have no understanding:
whose mouth must be held in with bit and
bridle.....

 

Far too long we have accepted our lack of vision as if it

were part of our humanity. But the Lord, who shed his

blood for our sins, conquered death to make us sons of

God and now gives us his Spirit, promises that with his

Spirit we will have vision.

 

Our lack of vision is not because we're human.
Our lack of vision is because we have settled for
        mediocrity in our walk with God,
        mixture in our service to him,

  myopia in our view of reality.

 

Today he calls us to repent and open our eyes and walk
in the light.

 

"Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire,

that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you

and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen,

and salve to anoint your eyes that you may see.”

 

“He who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life."