God's Vision for His Church: A New Year's Plea to Leadership...Continued from page 1

T.M. Moore

Further, the Lord calls His Church to aspire to greatness in His name. He intends His people to be strong, like a mighty warrior, filled with gladness and joy, and raising up a generation of children who share their enthusiasm for the work of the Lord: “‘I will strengthen the house of Judah…[they] shall become like a mighty warrior, and their hearts shall be glad as with wine. Their children shall see it and be glad; their hearts shall rejoice in the LORD’” (Zechariah 10:6,7). God’s vision for His Church is of a great army, fully armed, well-disciplined, clear as to its mission, and filled with zeal for the battle. God is gathering His people from all parts of the world, and every neighborhood of our communities, in order to equip them for the work of the Kingdom (vv. 8-10). He intends to fill up His churches with new recruits for the great Kingdom struggle to which He has called us (v. 10). And though His Church will meet with opposition and affliction, yet they will be strong, and will walk uprightly in the name of the Lord (vv. 11, 12).

Glorious, shining in goodness and beauty, strong and filled with gladness, drawing people in from all around, equipping young and old alike to take up the work of the Kingdom with joy, bursting at the seams, prevailing through trial and affliction: Is this the way we think of our churches?

To put the question more directly: Is this the way today’s pastors and church leaders think of the congregations they serve?

A WARNING TO CHURCH LEADERS
Like most of the prophets, Zechariah has some choice words of warning for those who lead the flock of the Lord. God consistently laid Israel’s failure to live up to her covenant prospects at the feet of shepherds who ignored His vision for His people and struck out instead in directions of their own (cf. Ezekiel 34:1-10). The Lord through Zechariah condemned leaders who pandered to the idolatrous inclinations of the day, spun out visions other than what the Lord had given them, failed to exercise vigilance over the well-being of the people, and preached things other than the plain Word of God (Zechariah 10:2,3). The Lord’s anger was “hot” against such shepherds, and He resolved to punish them severely (v. 3).

Jesus said that no congregation would be able to rise above the level of its leadership (John 13:16). If today’s churches are failing to realize the Lo

rd’s vision for them it can only be because their leaders have adopted some other vision to guide their lives and work. For most churches that vision can be summarized as “perpetuating the status quo indefinitely into the future.” Such a vision denies the plain teaching of Scripture concerning God’s will for His people. It fails to challenge the priorities and values of the followers of Christ, and encourages them to spend most of their precious time, energy, and resources on temporal rather than eternal things. Such a vision settles for a “good enough” approach to managing the affairs of God’s people instead of the “press on” attitude recommended by the Apostle Paul (Philippians 3:12-15). It leaves the church prey to the whim of the pastor and leaders rather than the will of God in Scripture. And it does not take seriously the requirement that every member of the Body find his or her proper place of service in building the Church and advancing the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 12:7-11; Ephesians 4:11-16).