Vision for the Church, Part 2

Well, thank you very much for adapting so well. What I wanted to speak about in the remainder of the time that I have here is a question that I was asked. And you may even be aware of my discussion of it, because some of this has been on a DVD, but some of it will be a little bit different from what I say. Some of it is on the feast video. But I had two of our employees come into my office and say, Vick, we really want to hear what you think.

What is your vision for the church? And you've got to make that clear to the church as to where you want this church to go. Now, I understand and know that we have a governing body, the Council of Elders, we have an administration, and that what I say alone, as my vision, is not exactly what it can turn out to be or what it should be. It's an effort by all of us working together. But one thing that really struck me was how they really wanted me to express this, and they said, one of them is Clay Thornton, one of our producers said, why don't we get into the studio tomorrow?

You stand, you sit there, and you just tell us what you think. And so I got home and thought and thought, you know, I mean, I know what I think, but what am I going to do? I'm not that kind of a person. I don't think of myself as a person that can kind of stand up and just move crowds, especially in a dead studio. And I told him I'd get something for the next day. But when I got into the office the next day, and him with others, I said, look, I really don't think that my ability, at least at this time, is to sit there and just say it out to everybody in a way that I truly feel would be compelling.

Maybe down the road I can talk that way, but not just right away. But I said, I would be very happy to do it in my next sermon. I'll be very glad to express the things that are very dear to me about who I am, you know, where I've come from, where I really think, and where I think the church should go. And he said, great, wonderful. And so that's what I did. Also that weekend, I was on a two-day bike trip with my son Michael, and we stayed in a motel on this bike path.

And I got my Kindle out, and I just got a randomly thinking of what can I read here this morning to get myself up. And I truly feel this was inspired, because I turned to Colossians 1 and read that chapter. I wanted to read something short. I wanted to read something from the New Testament, and Colossians 1 really came to mind. And as I was reading it, I said, I can't believe these words. They are an answer to the way I could make a presentation to the church about what the vision of the church ought to be.

These are the words of the Apostle Paul to a church in Colossae who he had not really been to, because he refers to them as only hearing about them through another elder. But he wishes certain things for them. He speaks about what God is doing for them. He speaks about what he wants these people to become. And he also validates them for what they are right now. I said, this is fantastic! It's almost like a sermon written for me. And I'm going to use this as the basis of my sermon. So I want to use the rest of the time here to go through the main points here in the first chapter of Colossians.

I might say, too, that one thing that also struck me and kind of pushed me a little bit was I went to my Rotary Club, which I go on Tuesday mornings, and I told the people there after I was elected president, because they know the church. Believe me, a lot of those people who are member of Rotary Club, they drive by our home office all the time. One person said, I've been driving past your place for eight years and wanted to meet somebody from that building. I said, well, I'm one of those guys. I told our president that I was just elected as president of the United Church of God.

He said, oh, terrific! Congratulations! And he told all the other members. But then, and he is a president or senior vice president of a transportation company in Indianapolis, a bus company, and he stuck his finger into my chest. He says, you make sure that you're not a caretaker president. I don't know why he said that to me, but he just seemed very, very intent on saying that don't be a caretaker president, meaning don't just sit back and have all the work be done by the other managers, and you just simply kind of react to them.

You set initiatives and you keep things moving forward. He says, if you allow others to do all the work, you'll be shrinking back as an organization. I mean, he was just very, very direct about that. I took those words to heart. And in our club, we have about, I would say, probably at least a half a dozen other presidents of companies that probably have a budget bigger than the United Churches of God. And they were all very supportive and thankful and said, hey, if you ever want to talk about some techniques or anything, feel free to talk to them.

I was just really, really moved by their friendliness and by their acceptance. Well, back to Colossians chapter 1. Let's go and read what the Apostle Paul says about his vision, which I truly believe is a vision that he sets. Now, first and foremost, I don't have any special vision outside of what is the main vision for the Church, which is that we are a Church. This is the vision statement in, it's on our website. And we have a vision statement, which is where we want to be.

And we have a strategic plan or we have a mission statement about how we're going to get there. Well, here's where we want to be. We're a Church led by God's Spirit, joined and knit together by what every member supplies, every member. And that's why I talked about the various groups in the Church. It's not just something that the ministry puts together, but what every member supplies. With all doing their share in growing in love to fulfill God's great purpose for humanity, to bring many children to glory.

That is the vision that I have. That is the vision I have. It's a Church which is going to employ a whole Church effort in love and humility to bring forth many children to the glory of God. I can't state it any better than that. In the first chapter, then turn to Colossians 1, if you would. We read, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy our brother. Back there, they signed their letters at the beginning of the letter, not at the end. So he signs it as Paul and Timothy.

Timothy by his side, so he includes his name. And then it's 2, 2, colon, as we would do now, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae. Grace to you and peace from our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The first thing he wishes upon the people is grace and peace.

If you take a look at the book of Romans, which is the first of the epistles listed to Corinthians, to 2 Corinthians, to almost every book. I guess I didn't check out every single one, but I went through a whole bunch of them. Grace and peace is wished to every single one of the churches and to the individuals that Paul wrote to, whether it was Timothy or whether it was Titus.

Grace and peace be to you. My vision for the church, first of all, has to have an environment where we can do the work. We've not had peace, but I won't go and talk about that or exacerbate that.

I'll have to say right now, what I cherish more than anything right now in our church is a peaceful environment. Because without peace, there's agitation. With agitation, there's discomfort. With discomfort, there's the inability to do anything. When you have distractions, you cannot do what you set out to do.

In order for me to work, in order for any of us to work or to go on with life to accomplish something meaningful, we have to have peace. Jesus Christ, in His last prayer to the Father in John 17, peace, not as the world has it, but peace I leave with you.

And let them be one. Let them be united. Let them be together.

In the last words to His disciples in chapters 14 through 17, and also in 17, as I said, we prayed for unity, he prayed for peace, he talked about peace earlier. In order for us to do our work, we have to be in peace and have to be unified. And right now we have that. And believe me, I am doing like a just very, very protective of that environment. And if anything threatens that environment, I'm going to speak up right away in front of nip things in the bud. Because if we let things happen, as they have happened, we will be distracted once again. And I cannot be distracted anymore in this lifetime. I've had enough of that. Thank you. I really want to be able to get a work done, but it has to be in that proper environment. Then he says grace, grace to you. Now I have actually enjoyed speaking about the subject of grace, and every time I think of it, it seems to magnify my own mind, my own small mind, into the wonderful things that God is doing. The basic definition, or the Greek word for grace and gifts, is the same for the spiritual gifts. Charisse, or love, or gifts, is the basic words. It's also the word for charity, or the basis of the definition for charity. And when you look at the word grace in other languages, so unfortunate in the English language, the word grace, and even in our culture in the church, has been somewhat tainted. Because we're so afraid that by speaking about God's goodness, and forgiveness, and so forth, that we may become permissive. And so we've scaled back on that. Not that we have said something different, but we've scaled back on all the wonderful things that God is able to do, and wants to do for us. In the Russian language, for example, the word grace is very, very obvious to one hearing it. It means the giving of good. And interesting enough, the word blessing means the saying of good. And it's very clear to people of what it is.

But the word grace is the giving of good, God's giving of good things to you. Not limited to forgiveness and mercy. Not forgiveness. Not being limited to unmerited pardon.

But actually expanded into gifts, spiritual gifts, that are listed in Romans 12, in Ephesians 4, and 1 Corinthians 12. This is what Paul is wishing upon the members of the church. Grace to you and peace. And he says this in every single one of the epistles.

I also, as part of my vision for the church, and where I want to see the church be, wish the same upon every single one of you, upon every single one of us.

I wish peace, and I wish grace. I'm going to be talking about that. I may even be over-repeating myself, but I really want that in the frontlets of everyone's eyes, about how important it is for us to live at peace. We can be if we want to. The thing is, peace is something right now that any conflict we've had is not from the outside. It's been from the inside. And conflict from the inside we can fix, if you really want to fix it.

I feel that one of the signs before the end will be that we will have conflict from the outside. That's going to be a whole different kettle of fish, believe me.

It's going to cause people to sing way differently among groups.

You know, right now people are a little bit fat and sassy. Some get different ideas about what days they should worship. They're off by a day or two. They're kind of proud of the fact they have some inside knowledge, or some other doctoral deviation. Believe me, if we'll get all rounded up and put into a concentration camp, those questions are not going to be asked. Now, what day did we worship Passover? I want to survive, you know. I think there's going to be greater unity enforced by when they have a common enemy. But right now, we're just a little bit too fat and sassy. In verse 3 in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 3, we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you. This has been instruction to me in a big way because every day, including this morning, I say, God, thank you for the people in the church.

Thank you for the sacrifice. Thank you for the conversion. Thank you for what they've been able to endure and still put first things first, still put first the relationship that they have with Jesus Christ in spite of people, in spite of ministry, in spite of those that were to lead them.

They have still been able to maintain their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul, to some of the groups that he prayed for, had the exact same prayer, such as to the Galatians.

He said, I thank God for you. You know, but there's some people that have come around here who represented and talked about another Jesus. There are people that tried to lead you astray. There are some who tried to be with you, but thank God that you have prevailed and stayed with it.

We give thanks to the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you.

I'm thinking about the Apostle Paul as he's walking between church and churches. Probably he's walking, he's praying and saying, God, thank you for Lydia. Thank you for the people that we met with. You know, thank you for Aquila, for Priscilla, and thank you for my trusted young man that's walking with me, Timothy. Thank you for the leaders. Thank you for the brethren.

And at the end of some of the books, he says, greet this person and that person.

Some were members. I mean, some were members, some were leaders. But Paul deeply loved the people in the church and he prayed for them and he thanked God for them. One minister one time wrote a letter to us. He was in charge of the ministers at that time. He says, have you prayed as ministers for the people in your church? Have you thanked God for them? Have you thanked God for all that they have gone through? Have you thanked God for their tithes and offerings? That's a very, very important behavior by the ministry and for that matter everyone, to be thankful for the Spirit.

Verse 4, since we heard of your faith, we pray always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints. This is an important verse, far more important than may seem on the surface. He says, we heard, so it was something that was told to him, third hand, of their faith in Christ Jesus. Church in Colossae is a Gentile church.

For that matter, it didn't matter whether it was Jewish or Gentile. Nobody naturally really liked Christ. Gentiles weren't aware of him and Jews hated Christ, killed him. But also, that these people had come to a point where they believed in Jesus Christ.

They had given their lives to him. Their behavior was changed and, as a result, they began to love their brethren. When you take a look at the first chapter of Romans, for example, where Paul talks about all the ugliness in society's behavior, all the wicked thoughts, and fornication, and adulteries, the dissimulations, anger, murder, all this kind of thing, and to see people who have repented of this and now treat each other with respect and with love.

He expresses this so openly to the brethren. And you know something? When we walked into the room here, several people have talked to us and they tell us their stories and ask us questions and so forth. I'm looking forward to sitting down and talking some more. You know, I'm just sitting here saying, what an interesting story! What a marvelous story! Some of you have had a past where you had to go through this and maybe step away from the church for a while, take another route, come back. I'm thankful for everybody who's sitting in this room here today. For what you have gone through, keep the vision clear about where we're going. Don't give up.

He that endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 24. He that endures. The word endurance does not suggest that you just sit around. Endurance means you suffer. When you endure something, like you have to endure whatever it is that you endure, you're suffering through it.

And Christ says, he who suffers through it all will be saved.

Through much tribulation we enter into the kingdom of God. Let's see here. I lost my place here. Verse 5. Okay, here we go. Pardon me. I just kind of lost my mark place here. Colossians 1.5. Because the reason that they had the faith and the love is because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. He actually brings in faith, love, and hope here, the greatest of the three gifts together here that really grounded the people for which he was so very thankful.

And things that are in heaven are the things that are going to come from heaven and give us eternal life, the kingdom of God. But he said, the things that you heard before in the word of truth, the things that you have heard, the things that you were instructed in, are the things that you were educated in the truth of the gospel. I read the Bible in my church before, and I don't know how much I really understood of it, but the Bible became very clear when I was really educated in who Jesus Christ really was, what happens after death, what the kingdom of God is. All these things became very clear, but I had to be educated. I had to be taught that.

I had to listen to it on the radio. I had to read it. It doesn't say that that's the only way or the exclusive way, because there are people to whom God reveals things. There's people that pick up the Bible and say, this isn't what religion is teaching. The Bible speaks about things in this way, and yet I'm taught to keep Sunday. I don't get it. There's cognitive dissonance.

You have been taught the truth of the gospel which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and it is bringing forth fruit, is bringing forth good results, as it is also among you, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.

Certainly, this is Paul's vision of people, first of all, complimenting them, and then telling them that they have come to the right place and they are going to the right place.

I'd like you to turn to verse 9.

For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. As I was reading these words, I said, these are phenomenal words of an apostle's wish to a congregation, that you may walk worthy of the Lord. That is my vision of the Church, that the people in the Church can walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. That's my vision, that they become fruitful in every good work, that as a result of obeying and changing their lives, good things happen.

Not bad things, not more suffering, but as a result of your becoming obedient and repentant, that good fruits ensue, and that you also increase in the knowledge of God.

So Paul, in his prayers, prays that those who hear the Word of God become filled with knowledge, leading to wisdom, to spiritual understanding, and more knowledge.

Our vision for the Church is that it would be a whole group effort. It's not just something that Mr. and Mrs. Smith do, not something that Bev and I do, and you just sit around as spectators.

But that through a powerful example of being those who are filled with faith, demonstrate that faith, others see it and are impacted by it.

God has given us all gifts, and has given gifts to us at different phases in our lives.

And they're spoken of in the Word of God, in the practical applications of how churches were established and done. We have seniors, those who are older, who can advise and encourage the younger. We have young people who have energy and opportunity to serve their congregations and the community. It doesn't take that much effort. It doesn't even take time or much money to be one who really makes an impact.

I have tried to, in small ways, to be a light to the community around. I wanted the Young Church of God to be a light in our community in Cincinnati and Milford, to be a light of people see that these are good people. Not to glorify us, but to glorify God because we have changed our lives and are doing good things. Women can perform valuable services in the congregations.

The younger are taught by the older, the older women mentor the younger, as is spoken of in Titus.

It's often the women of the church who build the infrastructure of the church. They're the ones who organize really the main things. The men are the ones oftentimes doing the talking and organizing and speaking and so forth. But it's the women oftentimes organize the infrastructure, whether it's through educating children or whether it's potlucks or whether it's another system of socializing and social networking in a literal sense. It's the women who do this.

People who have the mind of Christ are a valuable asset to the church. As I've said, the gift of healing is it something that's done by some super pastor who has some special oil to anoint?

I don't think so. The gift of healing could be the end of the prophetess who prays and prays because she heard announcements about people who are suffering from cancer. And so she takes to heart to go and pray for that person. The gift of healing may be something done by an older lady who gives herself to prayer, who has the time, who has the care, who talks to God about that person, the power of prayer, the gift of healing.

In Romans 12, verse 4, I'll just turn briefly there.

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another, having them gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.

God's goodness has given different gifts to different people, to different genders, to different classes, to different personalities that He's given gifts to different ages.

Let us use them. Let us use the gifts that you have. What gifts do you have? Do you use them?

If it's prophecy, let us prophesy. Or if it's preaching, let us preach, if we're asked to. Doesn't that mean that somebody stand up as a self-appointed teacher? The Apostle Paul, when he said he came by the will of God as an apostle, it's not because he set himself up. He was put there into that role.

In the same way, if somebody is to become a preacher, it's because he's put into that role.

Or ministry, or service. Let us use it in our ministry. There are many services that we can perform in a church. He who teaches in teaching. If we could find people that are very good at explaining things, you might want to prop them up and say, hey, we want to give these people to give some sermonettes, because they explain concepts so clearly. And there are people who have a gift of making something very, very clear. Now, I work with all kinds of people and talk to all kinds of people who talk to me about the things that are on their minds. Some are very clear, and some, I don't know what they're talking about. Have you ever talked to people when somebody's just talking to you and they think that you're understanding, but you don't, but you're afraid to say you don't?

I just nod. But there are people who really make things crystal clear.

We had one insurance person who came and visited the home office and talked to us about, you know, some of the benefits plans. I had one person who tried to explain him, and they were so unclear.

I thought, I must be really dumb. Then we had somebody else come. This person I've really gotten to like. He made it so clear, the same information. It was so clear, because he was actually getting my feedback. And he was able to answer my questions about the things that he had and explained it in a very short order, about things that were more complex by somebody else, you know, they were the same. Okay, back to collagions. Well, back there, I just read a few more here of the gifts, because they are the ones that really could be used by us in a church.

Verse 8, He who exhorts in exhortation. There are people who are really crowd movers, motivators, motivating speakers. If you're a good person in that particular field, exhort.

He who gives with liberality. There are some people that are philanthropists. They love that. They love to be able to use their resources to make changes with people. Let him use it in a wise way. And he who leads, he was put into responsibility of a program, a project, activity in a church to do with diligence. Not to be put into a job and then not perform it.

He who shows mercy with cheerfulness. And there are people who are very, very good at encouraging others and making others feel useful and to feel loved and to feel comforted. That's so very, very important. Those people are very important in the church. They are the person, people working behind the scenes when somebody is going through a very hard time and somebody sitting in services and there's a prayer request that's read about somebody in their family that's very serious.

They have the ability to know what to say or when to touch them or when to make them feel good.

It's very, very important. To finish up here in verse 18 down to the remainder of the chapter. He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he may have the preeminence.

Jesus Christ is the head of the church right now alive. He isn't a figure from the past historically that was died and we have a memory of him as our founder. The one thing about Jesus Christ and what Paul makes clear in the book of Colossians that Jesus Christ is the one who is the living head of the church right now. Interesting, the book of Ephesians and Colossians, the book of Ephesians is about the body of Christ. The book of Colossians is about Christ as the head of that body.

And the one thing that I look to is not to any man but to Jesus Christ to lead and guide and direct this church. And it's under his inspiration and guidance and his spirit that we will get to where we need to go. For verse 19 in Colossians 1, it pleased the Father that in him all of faithfulness should dwell and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him whether things on earth or things in heaven having made peace through the blood of his cross. That could be a sermon in itself.

That God the Father used Jesus Christ to really bring reconciliation and peace. I truly believe that he's brought that in my life and now in this church and ultimately in this world. We want to continue working with that and have him direct and guide us. And you who were once alienated, verse 21, who were Gentiles, enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled.

In the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. If indeed you continue in the faith. This was Paul's vision for the church. You who have been dragged out of the cesspool of this society, the Greek Gentile society, Greek-based Roman world, that now you will continue to live a life of repentance and to be blameless and above reproach. If you indeed continue in the faith, it's got to be something that isn't just for today, it's something for next week, and something for next year. At this phase in my life, I really want to go out strong in belief, no matter what happens to anybody or anything around me.

Grounded and steadfast and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I Paul became a minister, or the NIV uses the word servant, which I feel is stronger, because it's not talking about him in his rank, it talks about him in his role as being a servant. I now rejoice, verse 24, in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the church. Paul gave himself so completely and fully, of which again, he says, I became a minister or a servant, according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints. You've been given a lot of very special knowledge of understanding doctrine, behavior in this very, very wicked world.

And this world is getting more wicked all the time. This world doesn't even know it's wicked.

The world thinks that all the disgusting evil practices are normal, where even in my generation, where people did wrong things, but they knew they were wrong, but they still did them, now wrong and evil is good, or people are amoral. Not amoral, but amoral. They don't even know what right and wrong is, and it's just hard to get them even to that point, but we do know what that is.

The last two verses, where I'll conclude.

To lend God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you. That is the mind of Christ. That's what we're going to emphasize in the feast video. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we, that's all of us, all of us working together, may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. This is my vision of the church. It's not really my vision. It's a vision that the Apostle Paul presented, and a vision that he lived by.

Our vision of the church is what we have decided as the Council of Elders, and I still worked on it to fabricate, to formulate a vision that includes every member in fulfilling the job of preaching the gospel to all the world, to bring many children, sons and daughters, as we had before, but now we change it to children, to bring many children to Jesus Christ.

I am truly very awed by the role that I have. Sometimes I wake up and I don't believe I have it.

Sometimes I want to turn to the President and say, what do you think about what we should do today? That I say, well, I am the President.

When I got up here today, when I speak to congregation I speak to, I always give greetings to the President, and I realize I'm the President. So it's been somewhat humbling in that way. I want to remain humble as a servant, as the Apostle Paul called himself. He was appointed by God, and I want to continue to serve in humility. I pray frequently for wisdom and humility.

To be able to accomplish what I do. I do want to communicate with the Church, through our E-News, through our member letters. I want to communicate with our Good News List, in notations, in blog type communications, in different ways. To be able to have everyone look to the great vision of becoming part of the family of God. And I look to the mission as what we have as our work to do.

Thank you.