Unity of Vision

Last two weeks we’ve looked at how we find our vision (see Six Keys to Finding our Vision) and what can stop it (see Vision Stoppers).

We’ve seen the last two weeks why vision is important (Proverbs 29:18b) and that it has been promised to us in these last days (Acts 2:17). And I want to say that our visions and our dreams are birthed out of who we are and what we are doing. Or maybe a better way to say it is that vision comes from who God says we are and what He wants us to be doing.

Today’s text comes from the eleventh chapter of Genesis, just after the death of Noah. (Gen 11.1-2) Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. Not only was everyone speaking the same language, but they were all of one mind, saying the same things. Now skip down with me to verse 4. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." So arriving at Shinar, this great flat plain, they decided to build a great city where they could all live and to build a tower to heaven, so they could be reunited with God almighty. Now skip back a verse to verse three. 3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly. They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Bricks of clay instead of stone and slime instead of mortar. In other words, they did not have the right tools for the job, so they decided to use what was available to them.

Verse 5 and 6: 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.6 The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. God came down to see what was going on, and he discovered two amazing things: First, the people are all of one language and on e speech (i.e., united) and because of that, God says nothing they can imagine and plan will be impossible for them to accomplish. Now, is God a liar? Can God lie? NO! So watch this, church. God says, if I don’t do something, they will build a tower to heaven. With clay bricks for stone and slime for mortar, they will do what we with all of our technology could not even begin to fathom. That’s what God says!

So why is that a problem? Well, in Genesis 9:1,7 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the whole earth. 7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it." Not suggestions, but commands that God gives to humanity. Instead, humanity decided to reach heaven by their own works. And top what purpose? So they could “make a name for themselves.” Motivated by pride, they sought to undo the loss caused by sin by sinning again. And the crazy thing is, because they had unity, they would have succeeded.

So God came down and confused their languages. Unable to communicate, they lost their unity and their common speech. For that reason, their great tower became known as the tower of Babel.

If we can come together with the visions and dreams that God has placed within us for His church, if we will unite with one language and with one speech (one mind), if we speak our faith over that which God has provided to us and begin with what we have, then church: Nothing that God puts in our heart will be impossible! If sinful, rebellious men could reach heaven with slime and bricks, how much more will we be able to see the kingdom of heaven be established in our community?

1. One mind. Put aside our differences and look to that which unites us. The things that unite us far outweigh the things that divide us.
   
2. One speech. Begin to speak your faith over the vision and your church.
3. Begin with what we have. No excuses. Whether it is people, money, materials, or expertise, God has already given us everything we need to begin.

God, we thank you for your word, which will not return void. We thank you for the dreams and visions that you are placing upon our hearts. And we thank you for bringing us into unity. Help us to put aside our differences, to speak our faith, and to take those first steps of faith, so your vision may become a reality. Begin this work within us, Lord. Begin it in me. In Christ's name.
Amen.