VF: 4 The Risks of Visionary Faith I

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Chapter 4 The Risks of Visionary Faith

They Come with the Territory

Table of Topics

A) The Necessity of Risks in Visionary Faith

B) Failure is Not an Option, But a Guarantee

C) Foolishness is Not Faith

Extras & Endnotes

Primary Points

Faith and a trust in God are needed to even embark on a journey of visionary faith, let alone endure one. Our faith cannot be in our plans because we have not received them by divine revelation. Rather, our faith must be in a Person, the One Who is personally encouraging us to take risks for Him.
Fear is the opposite of faith and will strangle, suffocate, and kill visionary faith. Our perception of God is the real issue that decides whether or not we will take the risks needed.
In our pursuit of visionary faith there will be failures along the way, and we may never actually accomplish what we desire.
Like Joshua, we serve God in enemy territory and real risk comes with the territory.
Unnecessary waste, mistakes, and hurts do not please God. In our visionary faith to pursue human plans to fulfill God’s commands, He also wants us to be wise and careful.
Testing God is coercing Him to do the miraculous because we are doing something unnecessarily harmful and foolish.

A) Some Conclusions on the Risks of Visionary Faith

We pray that through His power you will accomplish any passionate resolve to do good, and every action prompted by your faith. (1 Thess 1:11)

The association of churches the author belongs to planted churches in Berlin and Amsterdam at relatively the same time. A great deal of leadership, preparation, time, money, research, and sacrifice was invested in these efforts. Unfortunately, a short time later the Pastor of the Amsterdam church was caught in adultery and the Pastor of the Berlin church was abandoning it, returning home, and fairly bitter about the whole thing. A lot of people were very disappointed and hurt. A lot of resources were wasted. Was it a mistake for their sponsoring churches to send these men to lead these church plants? Absolutely! Was it a God-pleasing faith that led them to do so? Absolutely!

Likewise, a current member of our church graduated from Bible college and shortly thereafter was asked by someone from his home town to return and establish a city-wide youth ministry. He was promised a salary for an extended period of time. After much prayer and counsel he decided to move his family and purchased a home. On move-in day he received a phone call informing him that the promised salary would not be available. He labored valiantly for several months trying to raise the necessary funds for the ministry, but in the end, the endeavor failed. Was it a mistake for him to trust the man who promised him a salary? Absolutely! Was it a God-pleasing faith that led him to do so? Absolutely!

Unlike empowering faith in the promises of Scripture, there is some real risk involved in visionary faith. God’s biblical promises on which empowering faith is based will never fail. Our human plans to fulfill God’s commands often will. Therefore many do not embark on such a journey for God. This is why in the context of doing “any passionate resolve to do good . . . so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him” the Apostle mentions the necessity of “action prompted by your faith” (2 Thess 1:11).

Faith and a trust in God are needed to even embark on a journey of visionary faith, let alone endure one. Our faith cannot be in our plans because we have not received them by divine revelation. Rather, our faith must be in a Person, the One Who is personally encouraging us to take risks for Him.

Remember again the guy who was given “one talent” by “his master” (Matt 25:15, 21). Why did he hide his “talent in the ground” (v. 25)? He told the master: “I was afraid.” More specifically, he was afraid of the master, believing him to be “a hard man” (v. 24). The word used here is sklēros and meant harsh, cruel, merciless. Of course this servant’s belief was wrong. ^[1] But disillusioned Christians can be greatly tempted to believe the same.

Nonetheless, we need to notice two things here. First, fear is the opposite of faith and will strangle, suffocate, and kill visionary faith. Secondly, our perception of God is the real issue which decides whether or not we will take the risks needed in visionary faith.

In pursuing our visionary faith and our human plans to accomplish God’s commands, we will encounter many things that will be a little scary. Maybe even really scary. Perhaps we need the help of others, and cannot be sure of their response. Perhaps we need resources to try something and it might fail. Perhaps there is the risk of embarrassment. Perhaps our visionary faith leads us to do something in which we could even die. What we want to do for God will require many “actions prompted by your faith.”

More specifically we could say here that visionary faith requires courage. Of course, the Christian life itself demands courage, the Apostle telling all the Corinthians, “Be courageous” (1 Cor 16:13). But attempting great things for God especially requires courage. This is precisely why God told Joshua before he embarked on His mission for God:

“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I promised to give to their forefathers. Be strong and very courageous. . . . This is My command: Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged, because the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Josh 1:6-7, 9)

God was determined to do everything He needed for Joshua’s mission to succeed. But one thing He required of Joshua was courage. Why did God tell him three times to be courageous? Because we can easily forget and courage is so desperately needed if we are to do anything in this world for God. And remember, Joshua was leading families into enemy territory to literally fight with swords and spears and risk their lives. Yet even in such a daunting and serious endeavor, God commanded courage.

In fact, John Ortberg writes:

The single command in Scripture that occurs more often than any other—God’s most frequently repeated instruction—is formulated in two words: Fear not. I think God says, “fear not” so often because fear is the number one reason human beings are tempted to avoid doing what God asks them to do. Lloyd Ogilvie notes there are 366 “fear not” verses in the Bible—one for every day of the year, including one for leap year! If you live in fear, you will never experience the potential that God has placed in you. As we have seen, growth always involves risk, and risk always involves fear. ^[2]

We are reminded of an interesting statement from the Lord: ““From the time of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it” (Matt 11:12 ^[3]). Jesus seems to be referring to two things regarding the “advancing” of “the Kingdom of Heaven” on Earth. First, it requires “forceful” people who are not content with the status quo and not afraid to go against it and to cause changes. Secondly, there is a warning that in such endeavors, “violent people” will be “attacking it.” Both our proactive pursuits to advance God’s Kingdom, and our reaction to attacks against us, will require courage. Only with courage can God advance His Kingdom on this Earth through us.

John Ortberg rather humorously writes of the risk of just being human:

If you are looking for absolute safety, you chose the wrong species. You can stay home in bed, but that may make you one of the half million Americans who require emergency room treatment each year for injuries sustained while falling out of bed.

You can cover your windows, but that may make you one the 10 people a year who accidentally hang themselves on the cords of their venetian blinds.

You can hide your money in a mattress, but that may make you one of tens of thousands of the people who go to the emergency room each year because of wounds caused by handling money, everything from paper cuts to (for the wealthy) hernias.

If you step up to the plate, you may strike out. The greatest hitters in the world fail two times out of three. ^[4]

Your visionary faith will encourage your church to take the necessary risks to pursue human plans to accomplish God’s commands. Dr. Malphurs writes:

A shared vision fosters a congregation’s willingness to take risks. This is especially true in church planting situations. When the point person or leader pastor cast the vision, everyone knows what needs to be done.

But the question is, how will we do it? Sometimes we know the answer, but most often we do not. Consequently, ministry for Christ becomes an exciting adventure into the world of the unknown. We intend something from Christ in it does not work. We attempt to something else and it does work. The much of what we’re doing is experimental, it is not ambiguous.

It is perfectly clear to all involve the reason we do it. It is for god in the savior. People are not asking for guarantees success. They all know that no guarantees exist, yet people are committed any way. The risks are great, but so is the God we serve and the vision he has given us. ^[5]

B) Failure is Not an Option, But a Guarantee

In our pursuit of human plans to obey God’s commands there will be a number of failures along the way, and we may never actually accomplish what we are endeavoring to do for God. We are not gods, this is not Heaven yet, we have a great enemy, and God is expecting us to live out our faith with all the weaknesses of being human. Therefore, failure is not an option- it is a guarantee.

One of the great obstacles to visionary faith and the “passionate resolve” (2 Thess 1:11) it requires, is that this kind of faith involves real risk. In the process of pursuing your plans, precious resources might be wasted, serious mistakes made, and even people might get hurt. All unintentionally, but still, very realistically.

We are reminded of the story in Joshua chapters 7-8. The Israelites had a general command to take over the land, and even a promise they would do so (1:1-6). After a victory over Jericho, we read:

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go and investigate the region.” So the men went and spied out Ai. When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the people will have to go in battle against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few enemies are there.” (7:1-3)

This was good. Joshua was doing his research to determine how to accomplish the next part of the task God had given him. And the spies concluded correctly, as we learn later, that the whole town was only 12,000 men and women (8:25), and only a relatively small portion of them would probably have been experienced fighting men. “So about three thousand [Israelite] men went to capture Ai” (v. 4).

This was visionary faith. Joshua did not have any specific revelation regarding Ai, as he did Jericho (6:1-5) and later Ai (8:1-2). And there is no divine rebuke anywhere implying that Joshua should have had more specific divine revelation. He was simply and legitimately pursuing human plans to accomplish God’s commands. But the plans failed horribly:

So about three thousand men went to take Ai, but they were defeated by the men of Ai. About thirty-six Israelites were killed. The men from Ai chased the Israelites from their city gate as far as the stone quarries and slaughtered them in the hills. (vs.4-5)

These people were doing God’s will. And thirty-six of them died. Joshua had done his research. But he concluded wrong and his enemy made him pay dearly for it.

Like Joshua, we serve God in enemy territory and real risk comes with the territory. We cannot forget that, like the Israelites, we have an enemy that seeks “only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10) God’s people and God’s work. Pursuing human plans to obey God’s commands and fulfill the Great Commission is a real battle where people get hurt and even killed.

“Our fight against the devil is not against humans” like Joshua’s was. “We are fighting against the rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against spiritual powers in this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the spiritual realms” (Eph 6:12). And God does not promise our enemy will never touch us. Even if we are doing all of the right things. In fact, He promised just the opposite. “This world will hate you . . . they will persecute you. . . . In this world you will have trouble” (John 15:19; 16:33; cf. 2 Tim 3:12). Especially if you are seriously trying to serve God.

As a leader, has any of your wrong decisions hurt people? Such risks go with the territory of visionary faith. Have you spoken with leaders of Christian missionary organizations ministering in radical Islamic countries? Missionaries are failing to influence Muslims and are dying in their failed efforts to do so. Yet they are exercising visionary faith.

The big mistake so many make in visionary faith is that they automatically think that a failure means they have done something wrong. Regarding the story above we learn later that God had removed His blessing and protection from the Israelite army because of Achan’s sin (cf. vs. 10-12, 16-21). But Joshua had not done anything wrong. Neither had the spies. And there is no indication in the text whatsoever that the thirty-six warriors who were cruelly “slaughtered in the hills” (v.5) had done anything but obey God by obeying Joshua. Isn’t it amazing what God might allow in our endeavors to simply serve Him?

Accordingly, we must be extremely careful not to assume that we or someone else has done something wrong when we experience failures in our ministry. Advancing the Kingdom and fulfilling the Great Commission are extremely hard tasks on this Earth, and as we have said, failure comes with the territory. In our pursuit of human plans to accomplish God’s commands we will encounter many things that will feel like failure. But in fact, are all a part of God’s plan. Along these lines, John Ortberg writes:

Failure is not an event, but rather a judgment about an event. Failure is not something that happens to us. It is a way we think about outcomes.

Before Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio that finally worked, he tried two hundred unsuccessful ones. Somebody asked him, “How did it feel to fail two hundred times?”

“I never failed two hundred times in my life,” Salk replied. “I was taught not to use the word ‘failure.’ I just discovered two hundred ways how not to vaccinate for polio.” . . .

Sir Edmund Hillary made several unsuccessful attempts at scaling Mount Everest before he finally succeeded. After one attempt he stood at the base of the giant mountain and shook his fist at it. He said in defiance: “I’ll defeat you yet because you’re as big as you’re going to get—but I’m still growing.” . .

To run the best race you can, to give it everything that is in you, and win—that is glorious. To run the race, to give your best and lose—that’s painful. But it is not failure. Failure is refusing to run the race at all. ^[6]

Nonetheless, even our innocent mistakes in pursuing human plans to accomplish God’s commands can really be costly and painful. Accordingly, we read the following response of the people and Joshua to this failure:

Because of the defeat the people were overwhelmed with fear and lost all their courage. Then Joshua and the leaders tore their clothes, threw dust on their heads, and fell to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there until evening.

Then Joshua cried out, “Sovereign LORD, why did You bring us across the Jordan River just to have us destroyed by the Amorites? We should have just been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say? Israel has needed to run away from its enemies. Now the Canaanites and the other people living in this country will hear about our great defeat and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the Earth. And then what will happen to the honor of your great name? (7:5-9)

Joshua was losing that courage that God had repeatedly commanded him to have. So would we if thirty-six people died under our leadership. Joshua and the people were tempted to really fail here by giving up on the whole mission and even God Himself. But God encouraged Joshua. We read: “The LORD said to Joshua, ‘Stand up! Why are you lying down on your face?’” (7:10).

That is God’s attitude toward our failures: stop wallowing in fear and resume working in faith. Why? Because the mistakes in such circumstances are innocent. Even if people die. Obviously this is an extreme example, but again, real people are really dying in the pursuit of human plans to accomplish God’s commands in the Great Commission. Are you getting a better idea of why an especially courageous faith is needed for visionary faith?

C) Foolishness is Not Faith

The Prudent see danger and …

We need to add an important note here. Unnecessary waste, mistakes, and hurts do not please God. In our visionary faith to pursue human plans to fulfill God’s commands, He also wants us to be wise and careful. We are commanded to be good stewards of the resources God gives us (cf. 1 Cor 4:2), including our time, money, and people.

If we deceive ourselves into thinking that our extra-biblical plans and decisions are the direct revelation of God, we will be tempted to be more careless in pursuing our visionary faith. This is another reason it is important to distinguish between empowering faith and visionary faith. Empowering faith is believing and pursuing the sure commands and promises of God written in Scripture. Visionary faith is pursuing specific and merely human plans to accomplish something we have decided to do for God, based on the general commands of Scripture.

People constantly mistake visionary faith for empowering faith. They are always tempted to believe their own ideas and desires are the direct revelation and command of God. Many teachers speak as if the greater the foolishness and risk in an endeavor- the greater faith it reflects. They forget that an Angel from God told Gideon to attack an army of thousands with 300 men. From a pillar of fire God told the Israelites to march around Jericho for seven days. And if the Angel of the Lord appears to you and tells you similarly crazy things to do then you had better do them. But you had better have more than just a thought in your head.

Only God has the authority to devise a foolish looking plan. And we are only required to follow them if God objectively, even physically appears to us to tell us a more specific plan beyond Scripture. Apart from a vision, apparition, or Angel, we are expected to do careful research, obtain abundant counsel, and think through the details of what we plan to do for God. Unnecessary foolishness, mistakes, waste, and hurts do not please God- not even when we put the label of “faith” on it.

It is important, therefore, to understand the difference between trusting and testing God. The devil wants the one and not the other as illustrated in his temptations of our Lord:

Then the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. The devil said, “If you are the Son of God then jump. The Scriptures say: ‘God will command His Angels to protect you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not even hurt your foot against a stone.’ But Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’” (Matt 4:5-7)

Unless God clearly commanded Jesus to “jump” from “the highest point of the temple” it would have been foolish to do so. And it would have been foolish and disrespectful to God to expect Him to make up for such foolishness by miraculously intervening. Testing God is coercing Him to do the miraculous because we are doing something unnecessarily harmful and foolish. Trusting God is putting confidence in His written promises and commands, and not interpreting them out of context as the devil did here. ^[7]

Extras & Endnotes

A Devotion to Dad

Our heavenly Father, it is life changing to realize You actually want us to risk resources and love to accomplish things for You. And we take comfort that You are watching the whole thing to bless and help us along the way. Help us to trust You enough to risk something for You.

Gauging Your Grasp

Why do we say that ultimately our faith must be in a Person rather than our plans?
Why does visionary faith require courage?
Why do we say that failure is not an option in pursuing visionary faith?
How is God’s relationship with Israel comforting for us in our own failures?
What are other biblical examples of godly people experiencing failure or little fruit in their ministries?
Why is wisdom an important part of visionary faith?
What is the difference between trusting and testing God?

Publications & Particulars

Some would interpret the Parable of the Talents as suggesting that Christ is being portrayed as harsh and cruel. Indeed, it is clear that the master is to be seen as Christ Who will return and evaluate His servants. But there are several considerations that dispel the servant’s accusations.

First, again the master does not repeat that he is “a hard man,” implying that he disagrees with the servant’s perspective.

In the parallel Parable of the Minas in Luke 19:12-27 a different Greek word is used to refer to the “king” (v. 15) being “a hard man” (v. 21, 22). It is austēros meaning “being strict in requirement” but not harsh or cruel as is included in the meaning of sklēros used in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew.

Secondly, it may be significant that Matthew uses two different words for “know” in the Parable. In verse 24 the servant says, “I knew [egnōn] that you are a hard man.” However, the master replies, “you knew [ēdeis] that I harvest where I have not sown.” These words are derived from gnosis and oida, and while they are often used synonymously to refer simply to “knowing,” the W. E. Vine remarked:

While ginōskō frequently implies an active relation between the one who “knows” and the person or thing “known,” oida expresses the fact that the object has simply come within the scope of the “knower’s” perception.” And a perception that could be false.

In other words, the master may be implying that harshness was the wicked servant’s personal experience and perception of the master. This would accord well with the obvious fact that this servant was an unbeliever, and in a world of evil and pain, God can be perceived as “a hard man,” although incorrectly so.

Nonetheless, while the master (Christ) denies he is harsh, he admits being a master who is “harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.” While the wicked servant perceived that as being harsh and cruel, it could also be understood as the legitimate right of a master like Christ. Creation proved that God can make something out of nothing, and as Creator He has unlimited rights over that creation. The statement from the master’s (Christ’s) perspective could be referring to either His supernatural abilities or His divine authority.

Along these lines, John Nolland comments in his NIGTC on Matthew regarding the description of Christ as “harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed”:

Perhaps we are to understand that there is something true about these, if not exactly what the slave takes from them. The one who reaps where he has that sown is one who proves to be master of the situation, one who is ultimately dominant. God asserts his claim to be the lord of all and will ultimately make good that claim.

To those who are alienated from him this may well look like taking unfair advantage, that assertion of his superior power to the hurt and loss of others. The parable acknowledges that this is how things may seem, but it does not specifically address the question of the theodicy thereby posed. For the parable, God’s right as the lord of all takes precedence. He does not need to defend himself against his detractors. The parable places the spotlight on the behavior of the third slave, not on the question of the validity of these images of his master. It is content to imply that the images are not entirely right, but they are not fully wrong either. (The Gospel of Matthew [Eerdmans, 2005], 1019). ↑
John Ortberg, If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat (Zondervan, 2001), 117-118, 127. ↑
The NLT of Matthew 11:12 is very similar to the NIV. However, this is not an easy verse to translate. Dr. MacArthur writes:

The form of biazō (from which suffers violence comes) can be read as either a Greek passive or middle voice.

In the middle voice the verb carries the active idea of applying force or of entering forcibly—in which case the translation would be, “The kingdom of heaven is vigorously pressing itself forward, and people are forcefully entering it.” With its focus in John the Baptist, the kingdom moved relentlessly through the godless, sin-darkened human system that opposed it.

The first of those two interpretations is negative and the second is positive; but both are true [as reflected in the NLT and NIV]. As already seen, the negative is illustrated by the persecution of John. The positive is illustrated by the many people that John’s preaching led to the Lord. . . .

Although both interpretations are possible and true, the second seems preferable in the context. . . . Following the Lord demands earnest endeavor, untiring energy, and the utmost exertion. To be a Christian is to swim against the flow of the world, to go against its grain, because the adversary—satan, his demons, and the world system—are extremely powerful. ↑
John Ortberg p. 20. ↑
Malphurs, 147. ↑
Ortberg, 22, 24, 147. ↑
Leon Morris comments on Matthew 4:4-7:

The servants of God cannot demand that God should keep on intervening with miraculous provision for their needs. To jump from a height and then look to God to avert the natural consequences of such an act is just such an offense. Furthermore, it is worse than what happened at Massah, for at least the people there were in real need of water [cf. Deut 6:16].

What satan is suggesting is that Jesus should needlessly thrust himself into danger; he would be creating a hazard where none previously existed. And for what? To compel God to save him miraculously. It is a temptation to manipulate God, to create a situation not of God’s choosing in which God would be required to act as Jesus dictated.

Jesus rejects the suggestion with decision. He prefers the way of quiet trust in the heavenly Father, a trust that needs no test, and a ready acceptance of his will. He refuses to demand a miracle even if from the perspective of someone on earth that might seem desirable, even compelling. Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew (Eerdmans, 1992), 76. ↑