March 17th, 2019
Transcription:
So today I don’t know if you’re ready or not but we are gonna wrap up this series on worship. And so today I’m really hoping that many of us would say two little words and in response to what God is saying and those two little words are: “send me.” Like, God me. I want to go, send me. And we’re going to go back to the passage that we have kind of talked about and rediscover some of the things. Like this,there’s you know, a very cool thing about the Word of God is that we can station in one passage for a long time and learn a ton of new things. So today we are going to look at the response of Isaiah.
If you have your Bibles on your phones, or in your pockets, or just go to your Bible. Open your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 6. And we’re gonna look at, you know, a couple things that have happened in Isaiah’s life that were absolutely life-changing. Like for him, life changing many of us, all of us, we strive and we look and we want to be sensitive to the things that would change us for good, for better and forever. So when we are changed, we’re changed forever, for good. And so here’s something that happened in Isaiah’s life, so let’s read a few verses and we are going to really focus on verse 8. But let’s read from verse one, just to get a background and the story of what’s going on.
It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled The temple. Attending him were mighty Seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other,
and this is absolutely awesome, this is what they were calling…
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory! Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. Then I said, “It’s all over!
Remember this is Isaiah right, saying it’s all over…
I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. (Isaiah 6:1-5, NLT)
Now when he’s talking about and saying “filthy lips” it’s not like, you know, dirty. It’s not like you just finished eating. Like my kids eat breakfast, with you know, eat pancakes yesterday, right with Nutella, and I mean they leave the table and Nutella is all over their mouth. That’s not what he’s talking about, he’s talking about just simply using your lips for, you know maybe gossip, maybe just you know bringing other people down, tearing them down, all that stuff. So he lives, he recognizes that he lives among the people with filthy lips.
Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Then one of the Seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. (Isaiah 6:5-7, NLT)
I don’t know if he had to say “see”, I mean he probably felt it right, like it’s just, oh my gosh. So here’s
“See this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.” (Isaiah 6:7, NLT)
Isn’t that an awesome thing. Like your guilt is removed and your sins are forgiven. And verse 8, this is where we’re going to station for a little while…
Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom shall I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8, NLT)
So my, just dream for today, is that we will leave this place and every one of us would leave this place with this on our lips, “send me God”. Like I want to actually go, and make a difference in this world. Like I want to go and everyday, from Monday to next Sunday, I want to make a difference. Something that would actually count, and that would be just tremendous in my life.
So Isaiah’s experience in the Temple, is perhaps the most stimulating illustration of this genuine, genuine worship that we can find in the Bible. I mean it’s just, it’s very vivid, it’s very you know descriptive. And so, just like we said, King Uzziah died. And he’s gone. So he’s no longer sitting on the throne, and that was a shocking thing to a lot of people because you see the leader is gone, what do we do now? And so after Isaiah saw that, and you know maybe coming to the temple he was kind of, you know a little bit nervous, he was, you know, in distress a little bit because the leader is gone. Like it’s, you know, he’s gone and what’s next?
How many of you find yourself sometimes with, I mean, in that spot? So the thing that was is gone, I mean the now, and I don’t know what’s gonna happen. Like I don’t know what’s gonna happen tomorrow. And we are fearful of that. We are afraid of stuff. We don’t know. That’s one thing, we don’t, we just don’t know the future right. I mean we know the history, we know we can learn, you know, what’s happening now, we can stay current with everything that is going, but you don’t know the future, no one knows the future. And so that is a source of fear and just really uncomfortable feelings for a lot of people. But before he even, you know, gets too nervous and too desperate, he all of a sudden has this vision, like I saw the Lord. And the Lord, this vision changed everything for him.
My desire today is that that we would leave with this incredible feeling that God, I know you can change me completely. And no matter in what situation you’re in, the very cool thing about God is that he is able to do that. He’s able to transform whatever situation you are in, or maybe if the situation is not gonna be transformed, you are gonna be walking through that situation with God. I saw this quote this week, and there was talking about peace, that peace is not the absence of difficulties, but true peace is actually having Jesus in whatever situation you’re going through. So if you have Jesus in you and with you, you can go through whatever, and in that, you can have peace.
So first of all, and I will not be long, I just want to bring up three points. First we see that God was a little bit perplexed here, like he’s just like, whom should I send? Like, who will go for us? Isn’t that like, have you ever thought and asked yourselves like, why would God like, God knows everything. But all of a sudden he’s like, hey you know, whom should I send? And so here’s the truth, God is even today still looking, and asking, and he’s still saying that same question, whom shall I send? Like who will go for us?
Will you? Will you go for God? Will you? Will you do something radical in your life and just actually go? And I mean this could, and you know as I’m speaking, the very cool thing about the Holy Spirit is that He will be saying things to you, and to your situation. It could be you know, hey God is speaking, or maybe he has been speaking to you about, you know, going on the mission field. Or maybe he is talking to you about, you know, a new adventure in your life. Maybe a new job, maybe a new situation, maybe, I just you know, doing something, a ministry here where you are with what you have. And so God continues to be really burdened and concerned about our sinful state and this lost world. He still is. Ok, so God has created this world and he takes a great interest in it.
Now there are different philosophies and different, you know, views, world views saying that yeah, God like deism, which is God has created this but then he’s not taking interest in anything that is going on right now. Okay, so he’s just kind of removed himself from the equation, and you know things are just happening. It’s not so. God is involved in my life, God is involved in your life, God is involved in the in the life of this church. And so, God is still concerned about the people. Okay, the difficulties and the hurt that they are going through. You see God is concerned about this beautiful opportunity that people have to be saved. To give their lives to him and to live for him. I mean that is why Jesus came, and that’s why he died on the cross, so people wouldn’t have to do that people wouldn’t have to die. See how God is involved in our lives.
Thirdly God is looking for workers today. God is looking still like he was looking back then, he was saying to Isaiah, it’s like oh uh who will go? I mean, Isaiah’s right there, right. It’s like who? Who will go? Yes and Isaiah’s said “Yes I will go”, but we’ll get there, but God is still looking for workers today.
Matthew 9, and then you probably can skip to that passage, Matthew 9:36 says this…
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them… (Matthew 9:36, NLT)
Let me ask you, how many times, okay, you see something happen and you find yourself not annoyed with things and situation and people, but you are overflowing with compassion. Now here’s a sort of on the meter, on this spiritual meter, when you are overflowing with compassion, when you are full of compassion, when you see people in need, see people that you know maybe are even hurting you, or maybe you know cursing you out, doing whatever, and you are still filled with compassion for them, it’s like wow! You allow the Holy Spirit to be really close in your heart. So verse 36…
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:36-38, NIV)
Now the situation has not changed, God is still looking for the workers. Okay, like the kingdom of God has never been overflowing, God never said “Whoa, whoa, whoa! That’s too many of you now”. Okay, like it’s enough. All the, you know, positions all the needs have been filled, no more. It’s not the case. The very cool thing about the kingdom of God is that if you are willing, if you just come before God and say “God you know what, I don’t have many talents, I don’t even know if I’m talented. I don’t know what I could do for you, but I’m willing.”
I remember when I was in Bible College I don’t know if our professor was trying to just encourage a group of, you know, students that were just not talented that much, but he would always say, “You know what hey, God is not looking for like top talent. He’s just looking for willingness, you know, willing hearts”. And we’re like “Yeah, yeah, that’s us. We’re willing, we’re not, you know, top, you know, talented but we are willing”. And you know what, and I have seen just absolute faithfulness of God in my life. I just, I have seen. I’ve learned that when I am willing, He will fill in the blanks, He will do everything else. In fact he will he will put people around you who are just so much more talented in so many areas, and it’s all about teamwork, it’s all about let’s do it together, right? And so in your life, God is looking for willingness. Just be willing, and go on this adventure with Him and see what he can do in your life. So God is still looking for workers. It’s not too late, the door is not shut. So God, here’s the thing, God could and would do some incredible awesome things through you, and through me, if we were just willing. If we were willing, and if we were just simply, allow him to help us.
Secondly, I see this possibility of a partnership. He says “who will go for us?” Have you ever, have you ever been in a partnership? Like okay, so like, relationships, or business, or different things? And it is possible that you have been, that it wasn’t a good partnership. It’s possible that it has, it has left some scars on you, and has left some bad taste in your mouth, like I don’t want to be in partnership with anyone more. Like, done. It’s possible but let me tell you, with God it’s never like that. Like with God when you enter into this partnership with God and God is saying, “Okay, who will go for us?” that means this invitation is open to any one of us. Now my desire today is that we would leave and know that you are just the perfect person to enter into partnership with God. And when you are, when you are going to enter into that partnership with God you know what? Sky is the limit, God can do such awesome and mighty things through you. When was the last time you thought of yourself as a mighty warrior and as a victor? As someone who is just rocking life? Well let me tell you, with God it’s not because of who you are but with God it’s all possible. With God, God makes it possible. So my encouragement to all of us is that hey, let’s enter into this partnership with God and one another, with each other.
So the kingdom of God, like I said just a second ago, has never had a surplus or oversupply of workers. So today God is looking for you, he’s looking for you. A couple of facts, God is the creator, He’s the sustainer, He is sovereign, He’s the sustainer of this universe. He sustains everything, He makes everything possible. And so if you would just let Him, allow Him to change some of those things, and allow Him to be this creator in your life. Let Him create situations, let Him create relationships and things in your life. Let Him sustain those things. It’s like, we need to stop, try to sustain a lot of things ourselves but we need to allow Him to just be Him, be God. We’re not God, He is.
Now God calls you, how does he call you? He calls you by His Holy Spirit, He calls you by scriptures. I was preaching, I think it was last week or two weeks ago, and He calls you through, or He speaks to you through his Scripture, right? And I was talking, you know the scripture says that you know who has ears let him hear, right? But I started with the, and I said, “Who has eyes, let him see”, but someone was like “Who has eyes? Let him hear”, you know and and so we had a good laugh. But the truth is look, God gave you eyes so you will be able to see some of the spiritual things, God gave you ears so He speaks to you through Scripture, He speaks to to you through the needs of other people, He calls each of us to invest our lives and whatever is happening so he could redeem people. Now here’s the very top reason for our existence. That we would be involved in situations, so those situations and our speaking, our seeing, our hearing could be involved in this redemptive activity. That God would be able to redeem people, save people. That is top purpose of our existence. Like if you would be able to just, if we would be able to say, “hey you know what I just simply following God, I don’t know often he you know where I’m gonna be tomorrow what I’m gonna be doing and stuff but I simply, I feel like I’m in the will of God and I feel that he is actually doing things in other people’s lives through me”. That is the top, that is awesome, that is incredible.
So God calls you, God calls you where you are, God calls you because of who you are and you are precious to Him. You are so valuable to Him. He loves you just the way you are. Just the way you are He wants to come into your life, He wants to live in your heart, He wants to change you slowly, but He loves you the way you are. And so he calls you because He knows what you can do together. You and God, this team, dream team, can do so much. You and God can change people’s lives. So God calls us, He calls each and every one of us first of all to know Jesus. To know Him, to have a relationship with Him, to accept Christ, to love Christ, to obey Him and to serve Him. It’s very simple. We get to know Him, we get to accept Him, we get to love Him, we get to obey Him and serve Him and then just go and life is so exciting and thrilling.
With this I will finish, what was the response of Isaiah? When I looked through this, he clearly was a volunteer, Isaiah volunteered. No one forced him, no one put any pressure on him. Right after that he says, “Here am I, send me”. God I’m here, send me. I have this picture of, you know like kindergarten kids when they know the answer they’re like, “Me! Me! Me!” right? And sometimes they have a wrong answer like, it’s but they are still so excited like, “Me! Me! Me!” It’s awesome, it’s awesome. I think God is looking for passion like that and you’re not gonna make a fool out of yourself because it’s between you and God. Be excited about serving him God i’m here. Me!
So Isaiah was a volunteer and you see no one, even though he had this thing in his heart to know what is right but that thing in his heart wasn’t pressuring him, wasn’t putting any constraints on him, wasn’t you know pushing him to do something, he just simply knew the will of God and he wanted to be part of that so he volunteered. And that’s why he said, “Here I am. Send me”. Now a person says, “Here I am. Send me.” and I’m gonna give you just a couple of reasons why. First of all is the gratitude of the people that you can have impact on. The people’s gratitude, that’s why you want to serve God as well, like that’s why when you see people being grateful for, hey thanks for telling me about God, I mean my life was in ruins, and my life was going in the wrong direction, I was on the wrong track, and you told me about God, and everything changed. Because of that you want to serve God, it’s an awesome feeling. Tell someone about God and God will change their life and you will see, that your life will also change because of that.
So following his confession of sin, Isaiah’s confession of sin, and this experience of being cleansed, Isaiah all of a sudden knew the joy of forgiveness. How many of you have ever known joy of forgiveness? Yeah, like have you ever been forgiven for something? Oh come on, no one is perfect right? You had to be forgiven for something. I was forgiven for many, many things and I continue to be forgiven for many things you know. Probably in the eyes of my wife and of course in the eyes of God I continue to be forgiven. Isn’t it awesome when that weight just is being lifted off of you, when you are forgiven, when you mess up, when you do something wrong, and all of a sudden you’re you free and it’s like wow! It is awesome. And so that’s what happened in the life, in Isaiah’s life. He began to feel this gratitude for what God has done but then when you see other people, when you tell other people about Jesus and their lives are changed the gratitude is incredible.
Isaiah’s compassion for the people of his nation and that compassion was in him. And you know, he looked, and you know how those people are suffering. He even calls them like I live among the people that need God. Basically calling their lips filthy, he was saying they need God. He was saying I need God. And there was this moment, and if we can all try to just see it, there was this moment when Isaiah saw God and he had this revelation of how holy God was. And all of a sudden there was this thing, that he saw himself, man I am really not perfect. I’ve messed up so many times, I have said so many things that don’t glorify God, I just need God. And in that moment it wasn’t a negative moment, it wasn’t a bad moment, it was a holy moment when it didn’t lead to his depression and other things, like God wasn’t putting him down, it was leading to Redemption, it was leading to this forgiveness. And so when he had realized, oh I have messed up, all of a sudden he was like, now I’m forgiven. Now I’m forgiven and there was other opportunities.
There is also wisdom, in our wisdom demanded this voluntary response in Isaiah’s life. When we look at the benefits of serving God it’s just wise to serve Him, to continue to serve Him. It is just, when you see the benefits, when you serve God, when you walk with Him. When you completely surrender your life it is wise to continue to do that because He knows not only the past and the present but He knows the future. Like He knows where are you gonna end up, when you’re gonna be serving Him. It’s just common sense, let’s serve God, let’s do something for God.
With this I finish, if we would, and I hope I will be able to convey this point, if you’re not getting it just tell me “Just say it again”, or just you know, but here’s the thing, one day we’re gonna be in eternity. Eternity is such a thing that it’s just, it doesn’t have the beginning, doesn’t have the end, it’s just we are going to be there after this life. And you will see, you will see there’s just an incredible rewards that even right now we cannot understand, and see, and know. But when you live for God, and you work for Him, and you do things, and when I say work for Him, just simply everyday doing things for Him, wherever you are at your workplace, or but just investing in eternity, investing in the kingdom of God. One day we will be in eternity and we will see it’s like, wow all those rewards that we will reap, that we will have. How many of you love rewards? I love to be rewarded. Oh come on, don’t be. Yes? It tells you that you’ve done something well. It tells you that you are what? Appreciated, that you are valued, it’s just in our human nature, that’s how God created us. Nothing wrong with that. I think one day, you and I, we will see the rewards, that right now we don’t even have an idea that they exist. We know it’s gonna be something but we have no full understanding of what it’s gonna be. John chapter 6 verse 27 says this…
Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval. (John 6:27, NIV)
Basically, invest in the thing in your life and the things that matter.