Pioneers of the Heavenly Way
The great need of Christians today is to be recovered for the full heavenly thought of God and to be freed from settling for less and becoming involved in the world.
T. Austin-Sparks emphasizes the urgent need for Christians to reclaim their heavenly perspective, warning against the tendency to settle for worldly distractions that diminish their spiritual testimony. He notes that throughout history, believers have faced the peril of gravitating towards earthly concerns, losing sight of their divine calling. Sparks calls for a community of believers who are deeply aware of their heavenly destiny, driven by an inner conviction that transcends worldly limitations. He stresses that true usefulness to God is directly linked to the depth of one's spiritual vision and connection to the heavenly realm. Ultimately, he longs for a people whose hearts are filled with the immeasurable reality of heaven.
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We will put it this way. The great need of Christians today is to be recovered for the full heavenly thought of God. They have settled down to something less. They have become involved in something less and largely other. It has always been like that. The New Testament was written almost entirely because of it. The Lord's people are always at least in peril of doing that - at least in peril. They do gravitate spiritually toward this world and lose their heavenly testimony in one way or another.
The pressure is always there to bring down, and the Lord needs lives that have seen - that have become like those of whom we were thinking in our last meditation, for whom the centre of gravity of life has been transferred from this world to heaven, within whom there is this sense - whether they can interpret it or not, whether they can put it into a system of truth, doctrine, Bible teaching, or not - there is this sense that they are in the line of some great destiny which is beyond what this world can provide, that they have been gripped by something that they can only say is the heavenly calling, which has held them.
I am going to say more about that later on; but the Lord needs a people like that, who just cannot be satisfied with things as they are: it is not just a matter of the mind, of the reason at all.
It is inside of them; they know that God has done something. Because God has done something, they are committed to something far greater than the poor limits of this life and this world. They have been inwardly linked on with something tremendous. I say again, they may not be able to preach it, but they know it. We shall never be useful to God beyond our vision, our true God-inwrought vision, beyond our own reach of heart. Our measure of vision will determine the measure of our usefulness. Oh, for the immeasurable measure of heaven in the heart of a people! That is the need today.
Sermon Outline
- The Great Need of Christians Today
- The Peril of Losing Heavenly Testimony
- The Lord's Need for a People with a Heavenly Vision
- A people who cannot be satisfied with things as they are
- A people who are committed to something greater than this life and world
Key Quotes
“We shall never be useful to God beyond our vision, our true God-inwrought vision, beyond our own reach of heart.” — T. Austin-Sparks
“Oh, for the immeasurable measure of heaven in the heart of a people!” — T. Austin-Sparks
“They have been inwardly linked on with something tremendous.” — T. Austin-Sparks
Application Points
- Christians must be committed to something greater than this life and world.
- Having a true God-inwrought vision is essential for being useful to God.
- The pressure to conform to the world is always present and must be resisted.