Smooth Via: Live Blogging

Recently, my brother and best friend, Josh Via (those who are near and dear simply call him "Fro"), commented on my live blog posting of Perry Noble at the Innovate Church conference. His comment was worth noting and my response is even more worth noting (Just kidding... not really). Anyway, the comment in questions from Noble is highlighted below. Fro's comment and my response are below that.

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"Here's how you know you have a vision from God: It will make people mad."

8:26

²⁸"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

³¹" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

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Fro's Comment

I'm not sure that anger is the best barometer for measuring vision. Obviously, I wasn't there to hear Perry's talk, but from the context of Scripture, the younger son didn't exactly have a vision from God to begin with, so the anger of the older son doesn't correlate.

Posted by: Josh Via | May 21, 2009 at 07:42 PM

My Resonse (This is the part you really want to read!)

I would agree that "vision" never even comes into play in this text. If you know Perry, you know his preaching style: dude is all over the map. So his comment on vision wasn't directly related to the text. It was more of a bonus comment that he made along the way while following a rabbit trail.

I would also agree that anger may not be the "best barometer" for measuring vision. But would definitely say that there is a correlation between God giving you a vision and other people responding in anger. We see it all throughout scripture.

Moses wants to lead God's people out of Egypt: even the people of God get angry at Moses (multiple times).
Moses, Joshua, and Caleb are ready to take the promised land: the people were angry and ready to stone them...
Joseph had a dream from God that made all of his family angry. His brothers were angry enough to kill him.
King David's faith made Saul angry.
The prophets always had visions from God, and they were always pissing off the powers that be.
Daniel preached that it was God's will for the king to surrender to the enemy in order to be saved. The king threw him in prison.
Jesus had a vision for drawing together for himself a people redeemed by his blood. His revolution was so counter culture, that religious leaders and political leaders alike were angry at him.
The disciples had a vision to reach the lost, and were constantly being killed for it.
Paul had a vision that God's church was to include the Gentiles, and pretty much everyone who wasn't a Gentile was angry about it.
The early church had a vision for a pure and holy church abstaining from all pagan practices while waiting for the return of the King. The Roman government was angry.
Over the next century, there were many "prophets" who had a vision to bring Roman Catholic church back to it's pristine beginnings, and they were hunted and killed for it.
Others during the same period had a vision to print the Bible in the language of the people, and they too were hunted and killed for it.
The imperial reformers had a vision for church that preached salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and the Roman Catholic church (and government) was angry.
The anabaptist reformers wanted to take seriously every word of scripture and questioned infant baptism. The imperial reformers were angry and killed them for it.
Many years later a fresh wind of missionary fervor swept through the world and people like John Wesley, Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, and many others wanted to reach the world for Jesus Christ, but the stagnant Calvanist powers-that-be were angry.
Throughout the years since the Reformation, there have been numerous revivals and "awakenings" across the world. All of them have made many people (even Christians) angry.
In the 70's there was a movement among "hippies." They were being unexplainably and irresistibly drawn to this man called Jesus. It made the straight-laced church people angry, and the hippies were marginalized and the movement fell into doctrinal error and disarray.
Today there is a movement of people and churches desperate for an authentic community of faith where they can serve and worship the One True God in their own cultural expression. And never in my life have I seen so many Christians angry about things that don't matter.
One more (for all you Baptists): Danny Aiken has a vision to call Southern Baptists back to focus on the Great Commission rather than so many peripheral issues... and already the controversy has begun.

It may not be an exegetical point (though it might be), but I think it is safe to say that a vision from God breeds anger from those who are unable to see God's vision for his people.

Speaker: Perry Noble

Pastor of Newspring Church - Anderson, SC

As you can tell, I skipped out on session 3 today. I wasn't just playing hookie, I actually had some work I had to get done. I'm looking forward to tonight's session with Perry Noble. I like Perry because he is a man who is not afraid to tell it like it is. Too many times, we refrain from saying things because we think they are "innappropriate." In reality the only thing that is innappropriate is not speaking the truth in love. Or sometimes we do speak it, but we water it down and speak in terms that are so vauge that no one even knows what we're talking about.

I already liked Perry, but I liked him even more when I saw that he posted a blog entitled "Attention Pastors: Keep you penis in your pants!!!" last October. It's been a couple of years since I've had the opportunity to hear him in person. I'm looking forward to tonight. I hope you enjoy tonight's live blog as well.