Sermonette: The Right Goal

Success Depends Upon a Transcendent Vision
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Bill Onisick
Given 05-Jul-03; 13 minutes

What is the formula for success, and why are some people seemingly able to succeed regardless of what is thrown their way? Is their success a result of some rare character trait, perhaps being goal oriented? Or has their success been just handed to them on a silver platter absent of any blood, sweat, or tears? And just what is success anyway? And how do we measure our progress? In Herbert Armstrong's booklet, The Seven Laws of Success, he states: The first law of success is to fix the right goal, or mission.” He comments that most people go through life without understanding or even defining success. He later states that in fact most people go through life without any goal at all!

Simply put, if we do not define success, how do we know what it looks like when we get there? Perhaps more importantly, how do we know we are heading in the right direction? In the King James Version, Proverbs 29:18 reads,

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.

Paraphrasing John Ritenbaugh's article, “The Elements of Motivation, Part 2: Vision,”

The world is an ever-present burden; always exerting its will from every side. The world is always a distraction, blurring our vision and clouding moral and spiritual issues making them indistinct and imprecise. [John later states], For a person to succeed, he must maintain strong reasons to drive himself to success, and that the path to spiritual success is a road for one who has a vision of where he is headed. Without vision we will become discouraged and not follow the road to its end.

The power and importance of maintaining clear vision is extraordinary. Goal oriented children perform better scholastically. Teams and organizations with a strong sense of vision and mission outperform others that do not. And even the success of entire civilizations or nations has been linked to the collective vision they have for their future.

And while we all have some vision of ourselves in the future, it often remains somewhat informal, undefined, and/or unclear. Formalizing our vision to the process of creating a mission statement can help us maintain focus. A mission statement—one or two sentences that summarize our primary reason for living—can be branded in our minds to provide a ready reference, a benchmark in the moment of choice.

If our vision or mission becomes blurred, we tend to make decisions based on what is right in front of us. We tend to become distracted easily, discouraged by severe trial, and or otherwise lose focus on our true purpose in life. In other words, without vision, we become a victim of circumstance.

The Bible is full of exemplary visionaries: Abraham, Moses, Jacob, David, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, to name just a few. We could get a dozen more just by going through Hebrews 11. But let us turn to Romans 4, verse 20. And, as we turn there, I will provide some context because we are picking up in the middle of several scriptures regarding Abraham's righteousness.

Romans 4:20-21 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

Abraham had a clear sense of vision, a defined mission that served as a plumb line for every decision that he made, for every action that he took.

Let us turn now to James 2, verse 20, please.

James 2:20-22 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?

As James tells us earlier in chapter 2, verse 17, “faith without works is dead.” Likewise, vision or a mission without goals is dead, or doomed to failure. So then, the first step to success is to define success by clarifying our vision and establishing a clear mission.

The second step is to define the goals that tell us what we need to accomplish to realize that mission.

Each year during the first week in January, thousands of gyms and health clubs around the U.S. are filled to the gills with new members having a newly defined mission, or New Year's resolution to get in shape. During this time, you literally have to wait in line. The place is busting at the seams. But each week thereafter, it starts to diminish. The crowd goes away and you ask yourself, “What happened to all those people?” The answer is that after five days of working diligently out in the gym, these folks went and looked in a mirror. And when they did not see an immaculate transformation, they did not see themselves transformed instantly into physical perfection, they gave up hope.

Some of the stronger minded might maybe lasted two to three weeks, but ultimately by February, attendance is back to normal, and we are at about 20% capacity.

So why do people give up so easily? More often than not, it is because they failed to set realistic goals. They set their mission and goal as one and the same: to become physically fit. And when that did not happen overnight, they gave up hope because that mission was seemingly unreachable. They failed to set realistic short term goals, and as a result, the fire to achieve the mission that once burned so brightly suffocated because it was not fueled by short term goals and measurable progress.

When navigating a boat, a captain uses a predefined course with multiple wave points. The reasoning is that if you are 200 miles offshore, and you are navigating to a single point on land, just one degree off on your compass can be the difference between landing in Charleston, or Myrtle Beach. Way points act as checkpoints or milestones that mark the ship's progress and reaffirm that the ship remains on course and is heading in the right direction.

Similarly, the establishment of supporting goals provides us a sense of direction, a reference point to measure progress based on where we are in relation to reaching our mission—our goal.

Please turn to Philippians 3.

Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

In these scriptures, Paul shows us that he maintains a clear mission, constantly pushing towards things which are before. In verse 9, we learn that Paul's mission is to obtain the righteousness of God. In verse 14, he then references pursuing his goal, which we learned in verse 10 is to know Christ, to experience the power of His resurrection, and to share in His sufferings.

So to recap, a mission statement is our vision, our one true purpose for living. Our goals are our high-level statements of purpose, or what we need to accomplish to achieve our vision.

Finally, then, objectives define how our goals will be accomplished and our written descriptions of the measurable results we want to achieve. In other words, objectives state what we are trying to change, to create, or to improve.

A general guideline for objectives is that they should be smart, specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time oriented. Again, specific objectives should be clear and describable, measurable. There must be a way for us to know that we have achieved them. Assignable, we must be committed to doing them. Realistic, we must ensure that what we want to be done can be done. And finally, time-oriented, we need to ensure that what we want to be done can be done within the time we have allotted.

So let us look at a quick example. First, let us start with a personal mission statement. It might read something like this: To diligently pray, study, and actively work to develop a more godly character so that I will glorify God in my every action and yield to His will as He works His transformation in me. And to never forget how far I remain from God's holiness and that all my efforts combined, although required, can never repay or replace the need for God's love, grace, and abundant creative works on my behalf.

In Richard's sermon, “The Glory of God, Part 4: Glorifying God,” Richard states our mission as a royal priesthood is to glorify God. In his sermon, he identifies nine ways we can glorify God, or restated nine primary goals that support our mission—to glorify God.

So an example goal, picking one of the ways we can glorify God: Glorify God by doing good works. What are some example objectives? Perhaps monitor the prayer request list and pray for the brethren in need each day. Pray for the ministry, and the unity of the church. Actively reach out to brethren in need. Send cards to brethren who are sick; send cards for anniversaries or congratulations for baptisms. The list could go on and on. The important point is that we need objectives to support our goals.

To recap, we can think of mission goals and objectives in the form of a pyramid. At the very top mission or vision is the stone on top our one true purpose for living. Underneath that, our goals are the stones that support our mission by stating what we need to accomplish. And finally, our smart objectives are the measurable results that tell us how to achieve our goals and allow us to monitor our progress.

But we must be mindful that just because we create and document our mission, our goals, and objectives, it does not mean we will be successful. We must always remember God's sovereignty, and we must remember that missions, goals, and objectives themselves are not solutions. They are tools. And as tools, they are of little use until placed in the hands of a capable craftsman. We must put our mission, supporting goals, and smart objectives to action.

Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

I want to focus on the word daily because in order for our goals and objectives to be effective, we must live them daily and constantly revisit them to monitor progress. We are in a daily battle with Satan and the world, and Satan uses the world as a distraction to blur out our vision and cloud our judgment. Our spiritual success lies in our ability to remain focused.

So a way to stay focused is to start each day with reflection and prayer, and ask for God's assistance on our mission; our one true purpose for living; on our goals; what we need to accomplish to achieve our mission and our smart objectives; and how our goals will be accomplished.

We can focus again at the end of the day by reflecting on our progress and daily accomplishments. We can ask ourselves questions like, What did I do today that glorified God? Which objectives did I meet today? Which objectives did I not meet today? What could I have done differently?

As we conclude, many in the world have mastered the craft of success by establishing and staying focused on a mission and by setting long-term goals fueled by short-term deliverables, but they misuse these principles to obtain power and material possessions.

But with God's help, we can apply these to our lives and obtain an imperishable crown. Referring back to Herbert Armstrong's Seven Laws of Success for a moment, “That ultimate true success is something we cannot attain by ourselves. We must expend our full effort. We must work at overcoming, growing, and developing spiritually and sticking with it. Yet God supplies the all-important ingredient: His power, His faith, His guidance, His life.”

Personal mission statements, goals, and supporting objectives provide a framework to measure our progress and remain focused on our vision, our mission to glorify God. A defined mission statement will provide a ready reference for us, a benchmark in the moment of choice. With a clear vision and realistic goals and objectives as a guide, we will often find that some of our toughest decisions are already made for us. And today's victories will become the motivation for tomorrow, and each step, each incremental success increases that fire that burns within us to accomplish our mission, to glorify God in our every thought, our every action, our every word.

With incremental successes come an increased confidence and courage to resist the temptations of this world and actively practice God's way of life as He transforms us in His loving character.

And so let us close by once again reading,

Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

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