Vision For Mission
Sermon
PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS
Sermons for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany
There are many wonderful passages in the book of Isaiah, but none lovelier than this gem - the call of Isaiah in the temple of God. This text is lovely and bright in spite of dark elements of sin and unworthiness, because the light of God calling is not overcome by the darkness into which it comes. The light overcomes the darkness. The mission of Isaiah is to represent God. The mission of the Church of Jesus Christ is the same. That mission begins with vision.
Vision
Isaiah's vision includes self insight and a call to serve God's purposes in spite of human limitations. Isaiah sees his own uncleanness, "Woe is me! For I am lost." This sense of being lost in the presence of God is a sign of the true calling of this man of God. Martin Luther put it this way: "It is God's nature to create out of nothing. Unless you are nothing, God cannot make anything out of you." Isaiah sensed that he was nothing, that he was lost.
Have you ever gotten lost? I was lost when I was a child. It was at a big sports show in a bit amphitheater in Chicago. I think I was six or seven years old. Somehow I wandered away from my parents; it was scary with all that noise and all those people. I looked here, there and everywhere. Finally, over the loud speaker a big booming voice said, "If you are a little boy named Ron Lavin, please identify yourself and stand still so that your father can find you."
At about that same time in my life I nearly drowned. Our family was swimming at a big lake. I was playing at water's edge. The warning had been sounded, "Don't go into deep water." My parents glanced away for a moment and I was gone. They couldn't see me. Fortunately, a friend, Ann Or-ton, was there and she saw what happened. She dove in the dark water approximately where she saw me go under, found me and brought me to shore. I don't remember the details, but my parents always referred to Ann as the one who saved my life.
In both childhood experiences of being lost the chief ingredient was disorientation. Disorientation is what Isaiah must have felt too, but not because of unfamiliar places or a near drowning accident. He was disoriented by seeing a vision of God and his angels. In such heavenly company, Isaiah did not know where he was or who he was. He felt lost. He also felt unclean.
Isn't it strange how often a positive reorientation of our lives starts with a recognition of limitation. All of our resources disappear. All of our strength fades. We don't know where to turn or what to do. This often happens in serious illness, when divorce comes, when death takes a loved one or at critical times in the lives of alcoholics or drug users. Isaiah began his reorientation by confessing uncleanness in himself and all the people around him. "I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips ...," he said. We are all "undone..." We have all stepped over the line of sanity into insane thinking, acting or speaking. Perhaps our preconceptions were punctured, our illusions destroyed, our foundations shaken.
Paul Tillich, the theologian, calls this recognition of limitations "the shaking of the foundations." Tillich says, "'The earth is split in pieces' is not merely a poetic metaphor for us, but a hard reality. That is the religious meaning of the age into which we have entered." He says that man has been given the power to destroy himself and modern man seems to be bent on using that power for self destruction. The threat of nuclear war and its catastrophic consequences is a shaking of foundations for many. Forgetting God and setting himself up as God, modern man brings despair and self destruction.
Tillich puts it:
When he (man) has rested complacently on his cultural creativity, or on his technical progress, on his political institutions or on his religious systems, he has been thrown into disintegration and chaos; all the foundations of his personal, natural and cultural life have been shaken. As long as there has been human history, this is what has happened; in our period it has happened on a larger scale than ever before.
Now with that kind of analysis of our times, place yourself in the temple and experience with Isaiah the call to minister in the name of God. This call includes a vision of hot coals being placed on Isaiah's mouth. The meaning here is two-fold. Isaiah must be cleansed and he must speak with pure zeal for the Lord.
Isaiah is a man of his times. He, too, has fallen into idolatrous disloyalty to the Lord. He, too, is unclean. He, too, must repent. He, too, is sick and must be made well. The symbol of Isaiah's need for cleansing is the burning of his lips as a healing process. This burning is also a promise or proleptic of things to come. Isaiah will henceforth speak for God.
Zeal for God and God's ways will not be well received by the people of God. The people are satisfied. They don't want to change. They don't want to repent. Most human beings will not be receptive to the prophetic message that the very foundations of life are shaking. People caught in illusions deny their condition. They live with illusions until it is too late. Therefore, nothing less than persistence and zeal for the Lord will be necessary when one speaks for God. The burning of Isaiah's lips means prophetic proclamation and the call to repentance to a self-satisfied people.
The vision of Isaiah means seeing and hearing: seeing beyond which he beholds and hearing the Word of God about the noises of a materialistic world. The call of Isaiah includes voices as well as vision.
Voices
Angelic voices and the voice of the Lord are heard by the prophet. The angels said, "Behold, this (hot coal) has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven."
Voices of forgiveness precede the voice of commission. God gives us something before he expects us to do something. The gift of renewal precedes responsibility for Isaiah and us. God never asks us to do anything without first equipping us to do it. Our real sense of inadequacy is overcome by God's greater adequacy. This story of Isaiah's call provides us with the biblical corrective for humanistic self-affirmation, distorted professionalism in ministry, and mixed priorities.
In our time there is a lot of talk about self-affirmation. We are told to believe in ourselves and love ourselves and forgive ourselves, but all too often the God factor is missing. Many human beings today try to have the benefits of forgiveness and renewal without a relationship with God. The New Age movement, for example, is based on self-fulfillment, but beneath the veneer there is little more than seif-centeredness based on self-deification. All man-made religion is self-centered. The biblical cOrrective in Isaiah is that the living God must forgive and renew or we remain in our sins with only an illusion of forgiveness. The danger of humanistic affirmation looms large in our day.
The danger of professionalism in ministry also looms large. Ordained pastors insisting that they be treated like "other professionals" in compensation, respect, limits on their time, and their pension benefits have missed the point of the call. In other words, many ordained clergypersons see themselves primarily as professionals instead of called servants.
In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America we have
professional leaders' committees, conferences for professional leaders and a Division For Professional Leadership. All of this is well and good. In a certain sense, pastors are professionals. But that is secondary. Primarily, pastors are called ministers, servants of the gospel. Isaiah, chapter six, is a reminder to pastors and congregations alike that the call to serve is more important than any status as professionals. In other words, the call to mission is a matter of the highest priorities for clergypersons. That priority is not just for the ordained. That priority of the call to missions is for all Christians.
Is God's mission foremost in our lives? Are we more concerned with making money than saving souls? Are we really concerned about our lost brothers and sisters? Are we discovering the gifts of God for the service of God and thus discovering the will of God for our lives? Do we see our jobs as Christian vocations which afford us opportunities to witness? Do we have a giving spirit? Are we all listening for God's call? Is all that we do evaluated around the question, "Is it for God's glory?"
Pastors and laypersons are called by God to proclaim the Word of God, to the glory of God, to win people to God and his church, and to serve people in the church and the world selflessly like Jesus Christ did. Isaiah, chapter six, is the biblical corrective for a church and people easily led off center. We need to be reminded of the call of God to center life on God, his will and his glory.
The question of Isaiah 6:8 is the God question addressed to all of us to set the mission of God above everything else in life. "Whom shall I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go?"
Isaiah said, "Here I am. Send me."
What do you say?
Vision
Isaiah's vision includes self insight and a call to serve God's purposes in spite of human limitations. Isaiah sees his own uncleanness, "Woe is me! For I am lost." This sense of being lost in the presence of God is a sign of the true calling of this man of God. Martin Luther put it this way: "It is God's nature to create out of nothing. Unless you are nothing, God cannot make anything out of you." Isaiah sensed that he was nothing, that he was lost.
Have you ever gotten lost? I was lost when I was a child. It was at a big sports show in a bit amphitheater in Chicago. I think I was six or seven years old. Somehow I wandered away from my parents; it was scary with all that noise and all those people. I looked here, there and everywhere. Finally, over the loud speaker a big booming voice said, "If you are a little boy named Ron Lavin, please identify yourself and stand still so that your father can find you."
At about that same time in my life I nearly drowned. Our family was swimming at a big lake. I was playing at water's edge. The warning had been sounded, "Don't go into deep water." My parents glanced away for a moment and I was gone. They couldn't see me. Fortunately, a friend, Ann Or-ton, was there and she saw what happened. She dove in the dark water approximately where she saw me go under, found me and brought me to shore. I don't remember the details, but my parents always referred to Ann as the one who saved my life.
In both childhood experiences of being lost the chief ingredient was disorientation. Disorientation is what Isaiah must have felt too, but not because of unfamiliar places or a near drowning accident. He was disoriented by seeing a vision of God and his angels. In such heavenly company, Isaiah did not know where he was or who he was. He felt lost. He also felt unclean.
Isn't it strange how often a positive reorientation of our lives starts with a recognition of limitation. All of our resources disappear. All of our strength fades. We don't know where to turn or what to do. This often happens in serious illness, when divorce comes, when death takes a loved one or at critical times in the lives of alcoholics or drug users. Isaiah began his reorientation by confessing uncleanness in himself and all the people around him. "I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips ...," he said. We are all "undone..." We have all stepped over the line of sanity into insane thinking, acting or speaking. Perhaps our preconceptions were punctured, our illusions destroyed, our foundations shaken.
Paul Tillich, the theologian, calls this recognition of limitations "the shaking of the foundations." Tillich says, "'The earth is split in pieces' is not merely a poetic metaphor for us, but a hard reality. That is the religious meaning of the age into which we have entered." He says that man has been given the power to destroy himself and modern man seems to be bent on using that power for self destruction. The threat of nuclear war and its catastrophic consequences is a shaking of foundations for many. Forgetting God and setting himself up as God, modern man brings despair and self destruction.
Tillich puts it:
When he (man) has rested complacently on his cultural creativity, or on his technical progress, on his political institutions or on his religious systems, he has been thrown into disintegration and chaos; all the foundations of his personal, natural and cultural life have been shaken. As long as there has been human history, this is what has happened; in our period it has happened on a larger scale than ever before.
Now with that kind of analysis of our times, place yourself in the temple and experience with Isaiah the call to minister in the name of God. This call includes a vision of hot coals being placed on Isaiah's mouth. The meaning here is two-fold. Isaiah must be cleansed and he must speak with pure zeal for the Lord.
Isaiah is a man of his times. He, too, has fallen into idolatrous disloyalty to the Lord. He, too, is unclean. He, too, must repent. He, too, is sick and must be made well. The symbol of Isaiah's need for cleansing is the burning of his lips as a healing process. This burning is also a promise or proleptic of things to come. Isaiah will henceforth speak for God.
Zeal for God and God's ways will not be well received by the people of God. The people are satisfied. They don't want to change. They don't want to repent. Most human beings will not be receptive to the prophetic message that the very foundations of life are shaking. People caught in illusions deny their condition. They live with illusions until it is too late. Therefore, nothing less than persistence and zeal for the Lord will be necessary when one speaks for God. The burning of Isaiah's lips means prophetic proclamation and the call to repentance to a self-satisfied people.
The vision of Isaiah means seeing and hearing: seeing beyond which he beholds and hearing the Word of God about the noises of a materialistic world. The call of Isaiah includes voices as well as vision.
Voices
Angelic voices and the voice of the Lord are heard by the prophet. The angels said, "Behold, this (hot coal) has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven."
Voices of forgiveness precede the voice of commission. God gives us something before he expects us to do something. The gift of renewal precedes responsibility for Isaiah and us. God never asks us to do anything without first equipping us to do it. Our real sense of inadequacy is overcome by God's greater adequacy. This story of Isaiah's call provides us with the biblical corrective for humanistic self-affirmation, distorted professionalism in ministry, and mixed priorities.
In our time there is a lot of talk about self-affirmation. We are told to believe in ourselves and love ourselves and forgive ourselves, but all too often the God factor is missing. Many human beings today try to have the benefits of forgiveness and renewal without a relationship with God. The New Age movement, for example, is based on self-fulfillment, but beneath the veneer there is little more than seif-centeredness based on self-deification. All man-made religion is self-centered. The biblical cOrrective in Isaiah is that the living God must forgive and renew or we remain in our sins with only an illusion of forgiveness. The danger of humanistic affirmation looms large in our day.
The danger of professionalism in ministry also looms large. Ordained pastors insisting that they be treated like "other professionals" in compensation, respect, limits on their time, and their pension benefits have missed the point of the call. In other words, many ordained clergypersons see themselves primarily as professionals instead of called servants.
In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America we have
professional leaders' committees, conferences for professional leaders and a Division For Professional Leadership. All of this is well and good. In a certain sense, pastors are professionals. But that is secondary. Primarily, pastors are called ministers, servants of the gospel. Isaiah, chapter six, is a reminder to pastors and congregations alike that the call to serve is more important than any status as professionals. In other words, the call to mission is a matter of the highest priorities for clergypersons. That priority is not just for the ordained. That priority of the call to missions is for all Christians.
Is God's mission foremost in our lives? Are we more concerned with making money than saving souls? Are we really concerned about our lost brothers and sisters? Are we discovering the gifts of God for the service of God and thus discovering the will of God for our lives? Do we see our jobs as Christian vocations which afford us opportunities to witness? Do we have a giving spirit? Are we all listening for God's call? Is all that we do evaluated around the question, "Is it for God's glory?"
Pastors and laypersons are called by God to proclaim the Word of God, to the glory of God, to win people to God and his church, and to serve people in the church and the world selflessly like Jesus Christ did. Isaiah, chapter six, is the biblical corrective for a church and people easily led off center. We need to be reminded of the call of God to center life on God, his will and his glory.
The question of Isaiah 6:8 is the God question addressed to all of us to set the mission of God above everything else in life. "Whom shall I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go?"
Isaiah said, "Here I am. Send me."
What do you say?
