Isaiah's Vision Transcript

Years ago, there was a contemporary Christian song written by a group called Mercy Me called I Can Only Imagine. It's a beautiful song asking how we would respond on that day when we end up at the throne of God, when we end up in the presence of Christ, what will we do? How will we respond? And it's such a beautiful song, and I encourage you to go find it and listen to it. But it raises that question that Isaiah is answering today as well in this passage.

Isaiah had such a profound vision of God and God's throne room with angels flying around singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. Heaven and earth are full of God's glory. And Isaiah has to figure out how to respond. Isaiah is just watching this unfold, amazed by it all, but he's not having the time to respond. He's not having the time to respond. He's not having the time to respond.

He's not having this vision just to see it. He's not having this vision just to say that God is holy, which is something worth knowing and remembering, but that's not the point of why he's there, why God gave him this vision. He's not there just to come back and say, I've seen the throne room of God, and it truly is magnificent, and I've seen these creatures with wings, with six wings, and they would cover their feet and cover their eyes, and they would fly around, and the foundations of the throne room of God shook with the voices proclaiming God's holiness and singing praise to God.

Now that in of itself would be a tremendous vision to share with others, but that's not why Isaiah is there. Isaiah is there because God has a task. He's looking for someone to proclaim his message. He is looking for someone who will go out into the world and share what God wants them to share. And Isaiah, encountering God's holiness, has a choice to make.

Because God doesn't just say, I want you, Isaiah, to do this. God is calling out saying, whom will I send? Who will go out for me? Who will share this message? And Isaiah has to respond. In the holiness of God, he could have remained silent. In the holiness of everything that he had seen and his understanding of his uncleanliness, his inability, his unworthiness, he could have shrunk back from such a request, such a call to arms.

He could have just remained silent and taken all of God in, and that would have been the end of it all. He could, like so many other in the Old and New Testament, and so many of us here saying, I am not worthy. I do not have what God needs. I am going to hold back. And so because I'm not worthy, I'm certainly not going to volunteer.

How many of us heard the call of God? How many of us heard that inner voice, that inner desire to use the gifts that God has given us to go into the world and bless it and transform it? And doubt creeps in. Those self -questions that are saying, what do I have? What can I offer? Why would anybody listen to me? How could God possibly use me?

I'm not strong enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not able to do it. I'm not able to do it. I'm not able to do it. I'm not able to do it. I'm not eloquent enough. How could God possibly use me? If God only knew what I have done in my past, and if other people had only known what I've done in my past, then surely they would not want to listen to me. As if when God calls us, he's not already aware of who we are and what we've done.

There are so many reasons we come up with to explain why we're not the one who should raise our hands and say, God, send me, here I am. And when we do that, we miss out on being a part of what God is doing in the world. God's plan of redemption, God's work at work in the world, bringing transformation. we miss out on being a part of God's grand story because we think we're unworthy even when God is the one calling us.

Now, in this story, the seraph grabs a hot coal from the altar and touches it to the ground. And he says, God, send me, here I am. Isaiah's lips and brings cleansing through the burning of the coal. There is a moment that happens in this passage where Isaiah, in spite of his doubts, in spite of him feeling unworthy, something happens that makes him worthy. And it's the act of God through the seraph that does that.

Now, we as Christians gathered here today are offered up the same call. The world is hurting. The world needs, someone to proclaim the good news. The world needs someone to cry out against injustice. The world needs someone to use their hands and feet and bring healing and hope and justice and mercy into this world. The same spirit that was alive in this vision is alive and well now, calling out among God's people saying, I need someone.

And so few of us hear the call. So, so few of us believe we're worthy. So few of us raise our hands and say, here I am, send me. Sometimes we're worried about whether things will work out. If God uses me and I say yes, and it somehow fails, is it my fault? If it doesn't work out, it all, it reflects poorly on me. And so why would I volunteer? It's just further evidence, that I'm not worthy.

But just as Isaiah had that burning coal, we who follow Christ have that transformative moment when we have decided to follow Christ wherever he leads us. And through his death on the cross and resurrection, we are made worthy in the eyes of God to do his work. And that worthiness does not disappear. It does not diminish simply over time or because we've done something wrong. That offer of forgiveness that brought us to that point is still offered to us today.

And we can always say, God, forgive me. And then we can say, God, use me. We have that defining moment through the power of Christ that makes us worthy, makes us holy, makes us have what we need. And that confidence through the Holy Spirit to step out in faith, no matter what's going to happen next, no matter whether it's going to work or not, to say, God, here I am, use me.

If you kept reading in this morning's passage, I stopped it at chapter, verse 8, and I almost went further. But for this morning, I didn't. I was wrestling with that because it goes on. And Isaiah is given a message that isn't like the message that Jonah was given, we talked about last week, where there was an expectation of repentance and forgiveness, and the city kind of, coming to God. This was a message that was going to fall on deaf ears. This was a message that was going to fall on hard hearts. This was a message that wasn't going to lead to the salvation of the people.

It was going to, it was a reminder telling that hardships were coming. And Isaiah is left looking at this saying, oh God, how long will this be? How long will this last? How long will your people suffer? Isaiah's message, his outcome, probably wasn't what he was expecting or what we would hope for. Because when we go about our works, we want to see transformed life. We want to see redemption. We want to see people to come back to Christ. That's one of the reasons why we do it.

But that's not up to us. What is up to us is our willingness to say, here I am, use me. That's where our actions start. Following after and doing what God has commanded is where our actions lie. Whatever happens after that is not up to us. The only thing we can do is be faithful. The only thing we can do is heed the call. The only thing we can do is say, I am here and I will go.

And I don't know about you, sometimes that sounds a little fatalistic. I mean, what's the point if it's not going to work out? What's the point if it's just going to fail? What's the point if it's not going to lead to something that's going to transform the whole world? Why even bother? And there's a way of looking at it that way. But instead, I look at it this way. If everything that happens after I do my part, after I am faithful, is not up to me, then that takes a lot of pressure off of me.

If the redemption of the world, if the redemption of a loved one does not rest on my ability to speak well, doesn't rest on words or saying the right prayer, if it doesn't rest on me doing the right thing or being in the right place, but only on me being faithful and everything else rests on God, then all I need to do is be faithful and speak. That takes a whole lot of pressure and worry off of us.

In a few moments in this service, we're going to recognize and thank the volunteers of the food ministry of this church. I remember when I first got here, I was in the food ministry. I was in the food ministry. It was about six months, I believe, after it first started, if I remember correctly. Roughly, I got here in 2022 in July. I think it started in that December, roughly.

Anyway, people were coming and people were receiving bags of food. It was a vision of Pastor Rodney, but we knew it needed to grow. We knew it needed to transform. The way it was, was serving some need, but I got the sense of speaking to some, it just wasn't there. It looked nothing like it does now. But those initial steps taken to create this ministry, the investment in the resources and setting up the pantry room, the investment in resources and the bags and buying food and getting things running for the first six months or eight months, almost a year, the food pantry was primarily stocked through donations of the people of this church who thought this ministry was worthwhile.

And it was run by... By a handful of people that were active, stocking shelves, organizing, picking food and putting them in bags and welcoming those who are hungry. It truly was amazing. But at any point along the way, there was no guarantee of success. There was no guarantee that because this ragtag group of people said, here I am, use me, would lead to what it is today. And if that was the fear, it would have never started.

But along each step, along the way, more and more people have said, here I am, use me. The people building and shaping the ministry built relationships with the Chester County Food Bank, which led to food distribution over at Trinity House on a monthly basis, which led to even more people being able to say, here I am, use me, as they unload pallets and boxes and sort fresh produce and bag it up and then distribute it with open hearts and smiling faces to those who are hungry and looking for relief.

What started, what seems small with no promise of success has grown to a place where people can use their gifts and use their desire to serve to reach and bless those who are hungry in our community. And we look forward to sharing a little bit of that story with you in a bit. But it began and functions even today and will become what it will be in the future, simply because there is a voice in the community that is always crying out to God's people through the Holy Spirit saying, there is a need. There are people who are hungry. There are people who feel lost. There are people who are desperate for a long time and people who need a short -term help. Whom shall I send?

And the people that we are going to recognize today have all said at one point, here I am, send me, and have brought transformation healing, hope, respite to so many in our community. And if we as the people of God can do that with this food ministry and the food pantry and the food distribution over at Trinity House, then that is a prime example that what we can accomplish is immeasurable when we heed the call. When we get rid of those feelings of inadequacy, we get rid of those feelings of need. And we get rid of the unworthiness and simply say, use me.

This is the message of Isaiah. This is one of the messages of Isaiah. This is what I pulled out this week. There is so much more in it. But I want you to hear that message now, that God can use you spite of what you've done, in spite of what you think you are able to do. He is just looking for a willing heart and to say, here I am, use me. Amen.