Home
Up

"Please Send Someone Else!"

March 17, 2002  Rev. Dr. John Ward

Please turn with me to our morning's reading.  We'll be reading from Isaiah, chapter 6, starting with verse 1.  That's to be found on page 635 in the pew Bibles, in the Old Testament section.  We're going to go this morning from verses 1 through 8 and I'll also point us to a few other passages as well.  Let's read the Word of the Lord:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.  Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings:  with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.  And one called to another and said:

 "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory." 

The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house was filled with smoke.  And I said, "Woe is me!  I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" 

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.  The seraph touched my mouth with it and said, "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out."  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"  And I said, "Here am I; send me!" 

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

This passage we are quite often familiar with as we know the prophecies of Isaiah, the prophet who was active about 500 B.C., active in the life of Israel as it faced what I would consider its discipline for having strayed from total reliance upon God.  As it says in Scripture, "God disciplines those whom He loves."  He sent a disciplining Word to God's people.  A word which reached out not only to them in particular, but which reaches out to all the world.  And in fact Isaiah's prophecies, some of which were directed specifically to the Israelites--but much of his prophecy was directed toward a world that had yet to exist, but does now.  A world where the promised Servant of Israel would come and be for all people.

Now when we think of being sent by the Lord, perhaps you may be familiar with a particular song called, "Here I am, Lord."  It's one that's very popular.  In fact, if you're part of the Cursillo community, you've heard that song before.  We're going to be commissioning our Stephen Ministers at the next service.  That's a favorite song of theirs and we'll be singing the first verse as they come down for commissioning--for our newly commissioned Stephen Ministers.  It's one that's a sign for us, because we wish to honor the call:  "Here I am, Lord.  Send me," is what Isaiah said.

On the cornerstone of Bethel Theological Seminary (where I did doctoral studies) right there on the cornerstone as you walk into the main building it says, "Here I am, Lord.  Send me."  It's a sign for us that we're called to particular ministries and we wish to say the same thing.  "Here I am, Lord.  Send me.  I wish to do your will."  But if we don't understand the full will of God and even what Isaiah said in the beginning, we may wish to say, "Here I am Lord.  Would you please send somebody else?"  Because not all of what the Lord tells us when He sends people is popular.  Not all is something that feels good.  But all of it is right.  I want to have you continue reading what Isaiah was called to say after he said, "Here I am, Lord.  Send me."  Let's continue on in these verses.  "Here I am, Lord.  Send me," is the end of verse 8.  Here's what the Lord gives Isaiah to say to the people of his day:

And the Lord said, "Go and say to this people:

'Keep listening, but do not comprehend;

keep looking, but do not understand.'

Make the mind of this people dull,

and stop their ears,

and shut their eyes,

so that they may not look with their eyes,

and listen with their ears,

and comprehend with their minds,

and turn and be healed."

In other words, this was a people who had forgotten God, forgotten that God had indeed rescued them out of slavery in Egypt, that God had rescued them and brought them to a Promised Land and told them to continue to depend on Him for all of their lives.  Over the years they began to forget that, one thing at a time.  They began to make political alliances with the nations around them who were nations that did not follow God.  And God always said, "Never do that.  You are a witness to all nations of our relationship together.  You depend upon me."  And they began to forget that.  They began to forget that they were a nation to be united together, and by this time the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah began to war against each other.  This nation called to be together and be a light to all nations began to even fight amongst themselves.  It was a terrible time in the life of Israel.  And God told Isaiah to speak the truth and that that truth would fall on deaf ears.  It became an indictment for those that were not listening.  God would not speak the truth any less.  God still, because He cares for us and wishes us to love Him in return, gives us the freedom to love Him or not to, but still speaks the truth.  And the truth, as God said, would fall on deaf ears.

And now Isaiah--poor Isaiah!.  He didn't ask for this, by the way.  He didn't say, "Here I am.  Send me" before he was called.  Remember this wonderful heavenly vision that he was given.  It's the one that's so important for us to understand in Scripture because of what Isaiah says--that Isaiah needed to have a strong commissioning from God and God gave that to him.  Isaiah didn't come up running and say, "Send me" first.  First he was given a vision, a gift by God.  It was God who commissioned Isaiah, not Isaiah who chose himself first to be one of God's representatives.  Isaiah was given a vision of the holy temple of God, a holy temple filled with seraphs, these winged beings.  "Seraph" is the Hebrew word for "on fire," or "the ones on fire." They were the purified ones, the attendants of God, who was sitting on His holy throne.  As the words between them, the seraphs were shouting the antiphonal "Holy, holy, holy!"  As they spoke that, the foundations of the room began to shake. 

You know, we get a little closer to that every time we improve in technology.  When you go to the theater and they have the newest sound technology, they can really make the theater rumble and roar, can't they?  I went to an older theater recently (one that hadn't changed over) and it was  amazing the difference.  They can get that sound and that bass moving and it just makes your head run and the walls move!  Just watching a movie without that technology--we grew up without it.  But now that we have it, it's hard to imagine life without it. 

Well, that doesn't even compare with the reality of how the foundation of the holy temple of God, in this heavenly vision that Isaiah received, shook because of the voices of the seraphs--just the angels themselves!  And then God Himself spoke, but not before Isaiah realized who he was and where he was.  Again, he didn't come forward and say, "Here am I.  Send me" first.  He was given a vision, and the first thing he says is, "Woe is me!  I am undone!  I am standing in the glory of the Lord and it's shining upon me, and letting me know who I am--a frail human being, one with no power of his own.  In fact, I feel very unclean right now, and I feel myself to be what you're going to call me to be--the prophet to unclean people, as well."  What's going to happen next?

A seraph flies over with a burning coal from the altar of incense and seals Isaiah's lips to let him know that now his life is purified, his sins are forgiven, and now he is free to do the work.  Now he is excited, and he doesn't know what he's going to say.  But now he does.  And his next response after what he said is this (verse 11):

Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" 

Think of that:  "Here I am.  Send me."

"This is what I want you to say.  It's not going to be popular."

And his response is very human:  "Well, how long do I have to say this, O Lord?  How long do I have to say it?  I kind of jumped the gun--I said, 'Here I am.  Send me,' and now you give me this word."

The response is this--and it doesn't sound pretty: 

"Until cities lie waste without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is utterly desolate;

until the Lord sends everyone far away,

and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. 

Even if a tenth part remain in it,

it will be burned again,

like a terebrinth or an oak

whose stump remains standing where it has fallen."

And then there's this seed of hope, this verse that reminds us of the reality that when God disciplines those whom He loves, He has not disciplined them to death, but disciplines them to new life.  Just as we have been disappointed in our own lives--just as when we were growing up as children we were disciplined by our parents not because they hate us, but because they love us.  Not because they liked to punish us, but they had to set healthy parameters for us so we wouldn't hurt ourselves.  So, indeed, God's discipline is for the same reason, so we don't hurt ourselves, so that we don't utterly destroy ourselves.  And God is going to go to great lengths for us to be free to follow Him for ever and ever.  And here is the hope at the end of this beginning prophecy:  "The holy seed is its stump." 

A holy seed that begins to provide hope.  We hear about this seed as we continue to read from Isaiah.  That's the hope that is given to us.  But quite often we like to hear that hope before we hear the discipline.  You and I are familiar with the words of Isaiah.  We may wish to jump forward--for instance, the next chapter over, 7:14.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Look, the virgin is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel, which means "God with us."

You may like to jump ahead--in chapter 9, verses 2 and following:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; 

those who lived in a land of deep darkness--

on them light has shined.

Verse 6:

For a child has been born to us,

a son has been given to us;

authority rests on his shoulders;

and he is named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

We hear that quite often during Advent.  Not during Lent, but during Advent, during the Christmas season.

His authority shall grow continually,

and there shall be endless peace

for the throne of David and his kingdom. 

He will establish and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time onward and forevermore. 

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

We may want to jump ahead to chapter 11.  In chapter 11 we hear about the peaceable kingdom and that righteous seed:

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 

The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

      the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

      the spirit of counsel and might,

      the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 

His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. 

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

      or decide by what his ears hear;

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

      and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; 

He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

      and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,

      and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

And listen to the wonderful promise--the promise of the everlasting Kingdom that will be brought in at the end of this age:

The wolf shall live with the lamb,

      and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, 

the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

      and a little child shall lead them. 

They will not hurt or destroy

      on all my holy mountain;

but the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

      as the waters cover the sea.

I'm sure that Isaiah, if he was given the option, would have enjoyed proclaiming that first.  But he did not proclaim that first.  He proclaimed that second. 

It's important for all of us to understand that we're called to give out the Word of God.  We're to give out the full counsel of God--even if it falls upon deaf ears, even if it is unpopular.  It is true, and it is real.  It's important for us to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Messiah who will indeed fulfill the promises of the prophets because of what he did and what he earned as His Christ.  Especially as we enter into Holy Week, beginning next Sunday with Palm Sunday, we hear these words from Isaiah--those Christmas words we like.  And we have to remember that those Christmas words truly began first as the Lenten words, and as the Holy Week words, as the Maundy Thursday and as the Good Friday words, and then the Resurrection words.  And then the power of Christ comes and reveals to us who Christ is and then we can look back and say, "Yes, Christmas is worth celebrating because the resurrection was indeed accomplished."

You and I may be tempted--very much so--to give out the good news before we give out the words that don't seem to be, but are just as good.  Friends, before we can give out the love of God, before you and I can truly reach out to people with the love that we wish to give them, we must proclaim the means by which it comes, which is through the lordship of Jesus Christ.  Before we can give out peace and grace, we must ourselves understand the work of the cross of Christ upon us.  Only then can we truly give out peace and grace, because we understand its source--not just our hearts, but our hearts transformed by the power of Jesus Christ.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book The Cost of Discipleship writes this so well.  Let me read to you some words that he wrote about "cheap grace" and "costly grace."  Cheap grace--that's the kind of grace that we just wish to lavish to make people feel better.  It's usually the first order of grace we want to give people.  We want them to feel better.  We ache for them, but at times we override the system and take it upon ourselves rather than pull back and realize what kind of grace we truly wish to give people.  Grace that can make them feel better for a moment or two, or one that's everlasting?

Cheap grace [as Bonhoeffer writes] is preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance.  It is communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.  Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.  Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field.  For the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has.  It is the pearl of great price to buy, for which the merchant will sell all his goods.  It is the kingly rule of Christ for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble.  It is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him.  Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.  Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow.  It is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.  It is costly because it costs us our life.  And it is grace because it gives us the only true life that there is.  It is costly because it condemns sin.  And grace because it justifies the sinner.  Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son:  "Ye were bought at a price," the Bible says.  And what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us at all.  Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, to deliver him up for us.  Costly grace is the incarnation of God.

God may be calling you to proclaim His mercy and His grace to those around you who you know need it.  I believe that's part of our calling.  I want us to understand that the source of that, and the resource of that, is the cross of Christ.  As you and I stand in the Lord and jump up and down in our excitement for our newfound faith and say, "Here I am, Lord.  Send me," let's not forget to speak the truth no matter what.  Yes, at times the truth offends.  But anyone who acts against that truth will find it offensive.  We're still called to be truthful.  The truth shall set us free, and if we wish to rid the world of all its pain and all its suffering, it will not be done through us and through our power, but through the power of God in Christ Jesus.  And there are we called to proclaim and to live.  Let us pray together.

Lord, between this Sunday and next, as we still participate in our final weeks of Lent, that time of preparing for what it means to truly believe in you and to understand how costly this grace is, we ask that you bless us and allow us, Lord God, to give your truth to those who need it.  Lord, let us not be afraid to speak the truth, yet we know that we must do so in love.  We must speak the truth in love.  We must act out the truth in love. We must not be afraid to speak the truth.  No matter what the outcome, Lord, is we know that it's right.  We know it's right because you have created us as well--not of our own accord.  Just as Isaiah received that gracious vision and knew that he could not do anything on his own, we cannot do that as well.  Fill us with your Spirit.  You've given every person quite a task, Lord God--to go out and proclaim the good news.  Let us do so, Lord.  In Christ's name we pray.  And all God's people said, "Amen."

The Rev. Dr. John Ward

Associate Pastor for Discipleship

Faith Presbyterian Church

Minnetonka, Minnesota

[Transcribed from an audiotape of the 9:30 a.m. Worship Service on March 17, 2002]