Sermon Notes for February 4, 2007
February 4, 2007
Isaiah 6:1-8
“Whom Shall I Send?”
1. Have you ever been sent somewhere? Have you ever been asked to do something by someone? Have you ever been called upon to perform some task or to carry out some responsibility?
I suppose our first experience with being sent somewhere is as
A child. For instance, we may have been sent on an errand to get something for our mother – such as to pick up the mail or buy something at the story.
Or we may have been sent to our room for being disobedient.
So, I suppose, the experience of being sent some where, or called upon to do something can have both positive and negative connotations when we are growing up. It may be that we are being disciplined for something we did, or it maybe that in being sent that we come to feel important – a sign that we are growing up.
2. Being called, usually means that we are subject to some higher authority, whether it is a parent, a teacher, or an employer or supervisor.
It may be that we have been sitting on the bench watching the game and waiting for the coach to notice us … when suddenly he calls out our name – and we are suddenly sent into the action. A moment of happiness that we are now going to get to play and a moment of anxiety as we wonder “am I ready – can I do it?”
Now, of course, we all like to think we are in control of our lives. We like to make our own decisions in life. We have all subscribed more or less to the idea that we should “do our own thing.”
After all, nobody likes to be told “what to do” – do we?
Nobody likes the idea that we are subject to higher authorities. And yet,. That is the way it is much of the time, isn’t it?
3. It starts early. For instance, everybody remembers their first job. What was it? Probably some relatively simple task … like making hamburgers at the drive in restaurant – as it did in high school – or sweeping out the barbershop – which I also did.
Mostly repetitive work and mostly boring wasn’t it? And mostly there was someone older than us who was there making sure we did the job responsibly.
But it was a learning experience that probably taught us something about obeying orders and being on time. And we learned from it didn’t we?
Tell story about being a copy boy at the Star Tribune.
4. But, of course, as we grow up, the work gets more complicated.
The responsibilities increase and eventually we may even be put in a position where we get to give orders and tell other people what to do. We may even be a coach like in the superbowl today. Or a quarterback like Peyton Manning or Rex Grossman and get paid a lot of money and get all the glory if you win and get all the blame if you lose.
Mostly, we see this whole business of giving and receiving orders and accepting responsibility in terms of everyday life. For, in fact, it is the reality in which we live. After all, if we act irresponsibly we can end up “paying the price” – as we say. Only it is a lot worse than being “sent to our room.” We all understand that. We all understand that we have to be accountable in life and sometimes it is not all fun…
In fact, when I interviewed people for the Red Cross we had a question which we asked everyone which went something like this:
Tell us about a time when your supervisor asked you
To do a job or perform a task which you did not exactly agree with. How did you handle it?
5. So, now we are going to jump from the more mundane aspects of the life to the existential or the religious level and ask the same
Question. Only in a different way.
The question now is: How do you handle life? Your life?
What do you like about it? What don’t you like about it? What tasks in life do you perform joyfully and with excitement and with a sense of fulfillment … and what tasks are tiresome, worrisome, and leave you worn out and exhausted?
6. For in the final analysis, we all must ask the really big questions. Such as: What is life all about? Is it all an accident? Or is there some higher purpose? Is it all just a matter of getting through it, of gratifying our appetites, of making a lot of money, of achieving some kind of reputation? Or is there something more? Are we accountable to some higher power? Are we accountable to God?
And if there is a higher purpose to life – what is it? And what does it have to do with me?
Now, this is a rather profound question. Maybe we would rather shrug our shoulders and say … I don’t really know. It is too much for me to comprehend. And so we despair of ever knowing what life is all about. We don’t know if we have been sent and we don’t know if we have been called. And we look around and see what other people are doing – but that is of no help either. And is that not the condition of many people today? They have no higher power in life.
So, let us turn now to Isaiah, who was, in many ways, not unlike people today. He was going along, like everyone else, wondering what life is really all about. He was worried about the world conditions. And he was shaken up by the recent death of King Uzziah. And in the midst of this, he wanted some answers.
7. Now, Isaiah, who became one of the most well known prophets in the Bible was probably born in Jerusalem. A Jewish tradition says he was the cousin of King Uzziah. In his early years, he worked as an official of the king (2Ch 26:22). We can therefore say that he was very close to the king.
So Isaiah was deeply affected by the death of the king. But it wasn’t only because Uzziah had been personally close to him. There were also dark clouds hanging over his people, and he was concerned about the future of his nation. Before his death, Uzziah (aka Azariah; 787-735 B.C.) had ruled the country for 52 years, longer than any other king. He was only sixteen years old when he became king. He was an able and powerful king. Under his rule, his nation enjoyed peace and prosperity. Upon his success, however, he became proud. Against the advice of the 81 priests, he entered the temple to burn incense, the duty reserved only for priests. He did so well in everything that he thought he could be a high priest as well (2Ch 26:16). Then God struck him with leprosy. And he had leprosy until the day he died.
7. With the death of the king, the geopolitical conditions surrounding the country seemed ominous. The neighboring Edomites and the Philistines would frequently attack and plunder his people. Only 18 years earlier, the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the invading Assyrians. Judah seemed to be at the brink of destruction as well. Things were not looking so good.
The most serious threat, however, came from within. His people were morally and spiritually corrupt (2Ch 27:2). In fact, the long and prosperous reign of Uzziah was a mixed blessing for the people of Judah. With the economy booming, many of his people turned away from God. People became selfish. The rich oppressed the poor. Everyone partied and people stayed up late at night. (5:11). Bars and nightclubs in Jerusalem were doing good business. You get the picture. Isaiah 1:5 says that the whole head of Israel was injured.
In this situation, Isaiah despaired. It seemed hopeless. In his eyes, the end of Judah, the end of God’s chosen people, was inevitable. It seemed to him that the question was not “how” but “when.” In his despair, he would say many negative things. Perhaps he told his friends and family, “I don’t see how we can get out of this situation. So what’s the point of struggling to live by faith? Anyway God doesn’t seem to care.” The king was dead, but Isaiah spoke as if God were dead.
9. One day, however, something happened to Isaiah to change his life forever. By chance, he strolled into the temple. There he had a vision. Through the vision, he discovered the truths about God, about the world, and about himself. Things he had not known before.
The first thing he discovered was that history is ultimately in God’s hands. Look at verse 1 again. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. In a spectacular vision, God the King revealed himself to Isaiah, showing him that he was not only alive but also seated on a throne, high and exalted. This meant that God was in control of the universe. Isaiah thought that he and his people had no hope because of their human situations. He thought that the world was ruled by the superpower nations such as the Assyrian Empire. Other people seemed to think so as well. The pundits in Jerusalem paid a close attention to what was happening in the Assyrian Empire. The news media reported all troop movements in the Empire.
But Isaiah discovered that history is in God’s hand, not in the hands of the Assyrian Empire. When Isaiah saw that the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, he realized that God was ruling the world according to his purpose. The truth that God is the Ruler of history remained in Isaiah’s heart throughout the rest of his life. He later proclaimed to his people, “Your God reigns!” (52:7) “Your God reigns!” These three words gave hope to the hopeless people when things went bad in Israel.
10. And so, in the midst of the vision, Isaiah did what anyone would do. He felt overwhelmed. “I am not worthy,” he cried out. In other words, “Why Me?”
These are the same words that all the prophets, including Moses, said when God approached. “Why Me?”
And, so it is the same with each of us. We are going along feeling confused, worried about making a living, paying the bills, worried about the worth situation and all the rest. And we say, “Well, that’s just the way the world is, I guess.” Nothing I can do about it.
And then God calls us …and says, “Whom shall I send?
For the truth is that God calls us – in small ways and large. We are all called in one way or another. And how will we respond? Will it be like Isaiah. Will we say, “Here am I."
11. Today is communion Sunday. In the old days in the Methodist Church they didn’t have communion very often. Maybe only a few times a year. Instead, they had altar calls. People came down to kneel and prayer at the altar. In some parts of the country they still have them. Often, they are associated with evangelistic efforts and excessive emotionality and this makes some people uncomfortable.
But, you don’t have to be “saved” to take communion. This is not an evangelistic rally. However, this is a time to commit or recommit yourself to God and to accept for yourself the gift of God’s salvation and to hear once again God speaking to you in your heart. And a time to be refreshed, accepted, strengthened and prepared to be sent out into the world again knowing that in all things God is in charge – despite appearances to the contrary. This is God’s word of hope to Isaiah and to us – today, as well.
And so, at the end of the service, as we prepare to leave, we will sing these words:
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?I have heard you calling in the night.I will go, Lord, if you lead me.I will hold your people in my heart.
Isaiah 6:1-8
“Whom Shall I Send?”
1. Have you ever been sent somewhere? Have you ever been asked to do something by someone? Have you ever been called upon to perform some task or to carry out some responsibility?
I suppose our first experience with being sent somewhere is as
A child. For instance, we may have been sent on an errand to get something for our mother – such as to pick up the mail or buy something at the story.
Or we may have been sent to our room for being disobedient.
So, I suppose, the experience of being sent some where, or called upon to do something can have both positive and negative connotations when we are growing up. It may be that we are being disciplined for something we did, or it maybe that in being sent that we come to feel important – a sign that we are growing up.
2. Being called, usually means that we are subject to some higher authority, whether it is a parent, a teacher, or an employer or supervisor.
It may be that we have been sitting on the bench watching the game and waiting for the coach to notice us … when suddenly he calls out our name – and we are suddenly sent into the action. A moment of happiness that we are now going to get to play and a moment of anxiety as we wonder “am I ready – can I do it?”
Now, of course, we all like to think we are in control of our lives. We like to make our own decisions in life. We have all subscribed more or less to the idea that we should “do our own thing.”
After all, nobody likes to be told “what to do” – do we?
Nobody likes the idea that we are subject to higher authorities. And yet,. That is the way it is much of the time, isn’t it?
3. It starts early. For instance, everybody remembers their first job. What was it? Probably some relatively simple task … like making hamburgers at the drive in restaurant – as it did in high school – or sweeping out the barbershop – which I also did.
Mostly repetitive work and mostly boring wasn’t it? And mostly there was someone older than us who was there making sure we did the job responsibly.
But it was a learning experience that probably taught us something about obeying orders and being on time. And we learned from it didn’t we?
Tell story about being a copy boy at the Star Tribune.
4. But, of course, as we grow up, the work gets more complicated.
The responsibilities increase and eventually we may even be put in a position where we get to give orders and tell other people what to do. We may even be a coach like in the superbowl today. Or a quarterback like Peyton Manning or Rex Grossman and get paid a lot of money and get all the glory if you win and get all the blame if you lose.
Mostly, we see this whole business of giving and receiving orders and accepting responsibility in terms of everyday life. For, in fact, it is the reality in which we live. After all, if we act irresponsibly we can end up “paying the price” – as we say. Only it is a lot worse than being “sent to our room.” We all understand that. We all understand that we have to be accountable in life and sometimes it is not all fun…
In fact, when I interviewed people for the Red Cross we had a question which we asked everyone which went something like this:
Tell us about a time when your supervisor asked you
To do a job or perform a task which you did not exactly agree with. How did you handle it?
5. So, now we are going to jump from the more mundane aspects of the life to the existential or the religious level and ask the same
Question. Only in a different way.
The question now is: How do you handle life? Your life?
What do you like about it? What don’t you like about it? What tasks in life do you perform joyfully and with excitement and with a sense of fulfillment … and what tasks are tiresome, worrisome, and leave you worn out and exhausted?
6. For in the final analysis, we all must ask the really big questions. Such as: What is life all about? Is it all an accident? Or is there some higher purpose? Is it all just a matter of getting through it, of gratifying our appetites, of making a lot of money, of achieving some kind of reputation? Or is there something more? Are we accountable to some higher power? Are we accountable to God?
And if there is a higher purpose to life – what is it? And what does it have to do with me?
Now, this is a rather profound question. Maybe we would rather shrug our shoulders and say … I don’t really know. It is too much for me to comprehend. And so we despair of ever knowing what life is all about. We don’t know if we have been sent and we don’t know if we have been called. And we look around and see what other people are doing – but that is of no help either. And is that not the condition of many people today? They have no higher power in life.
So, let us turn now to Isaiah, who was, in many ways, not unlike people today. He was going along, like everyone else, wondering what life is really all about. He was worried about the world conditions. And he was shaken up by the recent death of King Uzziah. And in the midst of this, he wanted some answers.
7. Now, Isaiah, who became one of the most well known prophets in the Bible was probably born in Jerusalem. A Jewish tradition says he was the cousin of King Uzziah. In his early years, he worked as an official of the king (2Ch 26:22). We can therefore say that he was very close to the king.
So Isaiah was deeply affected by the death of the king. But it wasn’t only because Uzziah had been personally close to him. There were also dark clouds hanging over his people, and he was concerned about the future of his nation. Before his death, Uzziah (aka Azariah; 787-735 B.C.) had ruled the country for 52 years, longer than any other king. He was only sixteen years old when he became king. He was an able and powerful king. Under his rule, his nation enjoyed peace and prosperity. Upon his success, however, he became proud. Against the advice of the 81 priests, he entered the temple to burn incense, the duty reserved only for priests. He did so well in everything that he thought he could be a high priest as well (2Ch 26:16). Then God struck him with leprosy. And he had leprosy until the day he died.
7. With the death of the king, the geopolitical conditions surrounding the country seemed ominous. The neighboring Edomites and the Philistines would frequently attack and plunder his people. Only 18 years earlier, the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the invading Assyrians. Judah seemed to be at the brink of destruction as well. Things were not looking so good.
The most serious threat, however, came from within. His people were morally and spiritually corrupt (2Ch 27:2). In fact, the long and prosperous reign of Uzziah was a mixed blessing for the people of Judah. With the economy booming, many of his people turned away from God. People became selfish. The rich oppressed the poor. Everyone partied and people stayed up late at night. (5:11). Bars and nightclubs in Jerusalem were doing good business. You get the picture. Isaiah 1:5 says that the whole head of Israel was injured.
In this situation, Isaiah despaired. It seemed hopeless. In his eyes, the end of Judah, the end of God’s chosen people, was inevitable. It seemed to him that the question was not “how” but “when.” In his despair, he would say many negative things. Perhaps he told his friends and family, “I don’t see how we can get out of this situation. So what’s the point of struggling to live by faith? Anyway God doesn’t seem to care.” The king was dead, but Isaiah spoke as if God were dead.
9. One day, however, something happened to Isaiah to change his life forever. By chance, he strolled into the temple. There he had a vision. Through the vision, he discovered the truths about God, about the world, and about himself. Things he had not known before.
The first thing he discovered was that history is ultimately in God’s hands. Look at verse 1 again. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. In a spectacular vision, God the King revealed himself to Isaiah, showing him that he was not only alive but also seated on a throne, high and exalted. This meant that God was in control of the universe. Isaiah thought that he and his people had no hope because of their human situations. He thought that the world was ruled by the superpower nations such as the Assyrian Empire. Other people seemed to think so as well. The pundits in Jerusalem paid a close attention to what was happening in the Assyrian Empire. The news media reported all troop movements in the Empire.
But Isaiah discovered that history is in God’s hand, not in the hands of the Assyrian Empire. When Isaiah saw that the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, he realized that God was ruling the world according to his purpose. The truth that God is the Ruler of history remained in Isaiah’s heart throughout the rest of his life. He later proclaimed to his people, “Your God reigns!” (52:7) “Your God reigns!” These three words gave hope to the hopeless people when things went bad in Israel.
10. And so, in the midst of the vision, Isaiah did what anyone would do. He felt overwhelmed. “I am not worthy,” he cried out. In other words, “Why Me?”
These are the same words that all the prophets, including Moses, said when God approached. “Why Me?”
And, so it is the same with each of us. We are going along feeling confused, worried about making a living, paying the bills, worried about the worth situation and all the rest. And we say, “Well, that’s just the way the world is, I guess.” Nothing I can do about it.
And then God calls us …and says, “Whom shall I send?
For the truth is that God calls us – in small ways and large. We are all called in one way or another. And how will we respond? Will it be like Isaiah. Will we say, “Here am I."
11. Today is communion Sunday. In the old days in the Methodist Church they didn’t have communion very often. Maybe only a few times a year. Instead, they had altar calls. People came down to kneel and prayer at the altar. In some parts of the country they still have them. Often, they are associated with evangelistic efforts and excessive emotionality and this makes some people uncomfortable.
But, you don’t have to be “saved” to take communion. This is not an evangelistic rally. However, this is a time to commit or recommit yourself to God and to accept for yourself the gift of God’s salvation and to hear once again God speaking to you in your heart. And a time to be refreshed, accepted, strengthened and prepared to be sent out into the world again knowing that in all things God is in charge – despite appearances to the contrary. This is God’s word of hope to Isaiah and to us – today, as well.
And so, at the end of the service, as we prepare to leave, we will sing these words:
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?I have heard you calling in the night.I will go, Lord, if you lead me.I will hold your people in my heart.
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