2) God's Today Vision

Everything Christians believe and the reason they believe it isto be founded upon God's Word. The Bible is God's heart expressed to us. Opening its pages and reading Scripture allows us to gaze into the very heart of God. We can hear His heart beat. We see His likes and dislikes. We learn to see our world through God's eyes and embrace His vision. Oh yes, God has vision! He has vision for this world, His Church and your life. 

Embracing God's vision has not always been easy for His people. The nation of Israel is a perfect example of this. They had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years and it was now time for God to honor the prophetic Word He gave to Abraham (Gen 15:13,14). It was time to set His people free and give them a place they could call their own. 

God had a very specific vision for His people. He purposed to take them "up out of" Egypt and take them "into" Canaan, the Land of Promise (Ex.3:8). God knew exactly want He wanted for the people He loved. He wanted to bless them and yet the first generation of "exodus Israelites" refused to move forward into God's vision for them. They simply refused to believe that God would be so good to them (Heb.3:19).

What is God's vision for the Body of Christ today? Right now we're going through a major spiritual crisis in the Church. It seems to me that we've become so "user friendly" that it's becoming increasing more difficult to differentiate between the so called saved and unsaved. If the moral failure we're experiencing in Christian leadership is any gauge (and it is) of what's going on in the congregations then we're definitely experiencing the low end of God's best for us.

Only Joshua and Caleb chose to look at things through the promises of God. Today this is how we must look at the spiritual potential God has set out for the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we're going to be considering now is, "God's Today Vision" and we need to look at it through the promises of God not through the limitations of human understanding. Unbelief today results in the same thing that happened to the Israelites. When we balk in unbelief at God's Word we're left to wander in the spiritual wilderness of doubt, fear and unbelief.

Let's look at God's Word and find what He is speaking to us. Rev 2:7 - He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (ESV)  I firmly believe that in order for genuine lasting revival to solidly take hold it will require that we fully embrace "God's Today Vision" with a determined resolve to move in that direction, trusting the Lord for the strength and faith to accomplish His purposes for the Church.

The Scripture that I feel reveals God's heart for the Church is found in Ephesians chapter one.

Eph 1:16-23 - I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.(ESV)

How does God see the Body of Christ? To Him the Church is the "FULLNESS" of Christ. The Amplified version enables us to understand the concept of "fullness" a bit clearer. Eph 1:23  Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].  The same word for "fullness" is used of Jesus being the "fullness" of God. Col 1:19  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, The fullness of the godhead was in Christ, meaning, God was fully in Jesus. To this agree Heb 1:3 - He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. When people saw Christ on earth they were seeing God exactly. They were seeing the fullness of God in human, bodily form. The point is; God envisions the Church on earth as the fullness of Christ. As Jesus expressed God exactly so the Church is to express Jesus exactly. Is this what the Church is presently doing? When the unsaved world looks at the 21st century Church are they getting a exact representation of the Lord Jesus Christ?  No they're not. There's a lot of room here for revival.

Are we prepared to embrace God's vision for the Body of Christ. God's vision of His Son on earth was that Jesus would represent God exactly. Did He do this? When Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father Jesus said to him in, Jn.14:9, "if you have seen me you have seen the Father". The Church has the spiritual potential of fully representing Jesus. Through the promises of God are we seeing this as a very real possibility? Do you believe we can walk into this promised land with God's grace, strength and faith?

NOTE:

There's another portion of Scripture in Ephesians chapter four that projects the same truth as Eph.1:23 confirming God's "Today Vision" for the Body of Christ, the New Covenant Church. 

Eph 4:11-13 -  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

GOD'S  VISION FOR THE CHURCH TODAY?

"THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST"