WhoÕs Listening Now?
One thing that never fails is the will of God. We can be certain that when God calls us to do something. He is faithful to see it through. He will never ask us to do something then change His mind half-way through and leave us to wallow in our misery. Amen? Then why do we question Him? Why do we claim to want to follow God but then when He lays a plan out for us we have all these grand reasons why we cannot do what has been asked of us?
Just as the wise
Solomon told us in Ecclesiastes 1:9, there is nothing new under the sun. You and I are not the first or the last
ones to question things or doubt.
The Biblical record has many examples of so-called dedicated Christians
that doubted God when He asked them to do something. Take Jonah for example. When God called Jonah what did he do? He packed his things and went straight
to Nineveh right? No. The Bible tells us in Jonah 1:2 and 3
that the Lord told JonahÉ
JonahÕs response is not one that I would recommend to any
of you. Because we all know how
the story goes. Next thing you
know Jonah is cast overboard from the ship and he gets swallowed by a great
fish. He is stuck there three days
in the belly of that thing and then finally agrees to do what God asked him to
do in the first place before he is spit up on the beach. How much trouble would Jonah have saved
himself if only he had done what God asked him to do from the beginning? Jonah was not the only hard-headed man
of God. If we turn back a little
further to the book of Exodus 3 we
find Moses. Moses is hanging out
in the desert looking over JethroÕs sheep and then God comes along and drops a
request in his lap. Moses was not
quite as bad as Jonah but he could have done better.
In Exodus 3 verse 10
God tells Moses É Of course God tries
to coax him along and tell him that He will be with him and that is till not
enough. Moses still tries to make more
excuses. Who do I say sent
me? Moses says they will not want
to come because they have not seen God.
Then he says in Exodus 4:10,
ÒI canÕt talk plain.Ó Moses went
on and on trying to find every excuse he could muster to get out of GodÕs
calling. We are finally told in Exodus 4:14 that the LordÕs anger was
kindled against Moses. I am not
the brightest light in the hall but I can assure you that having the Lord
kindle anything against you is not a
good thing. I wonder how many
times it could be written of us that the anger of the Lord was kindled against
us. I feel confident that we could
each fill a chapter or two of with the excuses that we have given to God. But just like Jonah, Moses finally got
his act together and went to take care of the LordÕs business.
There are examples in the Bible of how not to answer GodÕs
calling. But I wonder, are there
any examples of how it should be done?
Thankfully, the answer is yes.
If we turn in our Bibles to Isaiah
6 we can find out the right way to do it. Here in chapter 6 we find the faithful Isaiah in a
vision. He finds himself in the
temple with God and he is blessed with an awesome experience. LetÕs read togetherÉ
We have a setting where Isaiah is privileged enough to be
in the very presence of the Lord God, and he overhears God asking a question to
the heavenly host assembled there.
God asks, ÒWhom shall we send, and who will go for us?Ó Isaiah could have played Jonah and ran
and hid or he could have pulled a Moses and started listing his inadequacies in
hopes of being disqualified, but no.
Isaiah took a different path.
He said, ÒHere am I, send me.Ó
I love how the Hebrew reads in this verse. The form of the verb that is used here is in the
emphatic. The literal translation
would actually be: Behold me! Send
me! ItÕs almost like he was waving
his arms saying here I am Lord. I
will go for you. His
response is the polar opposite of Jonah and Moses.
I think there is something else that is very important in
these verses. Isaiah was willing
to go before he knew the assignment.
He did not wait and see if the task the Lord had for him was going to be
easy. He did not hold back and see
if the offer was to go to the best church district or where he could make the
most money. Before he had any
details of the assignment he took the leap of faith and answered GodÕs
calling. We can read on and
discover that it was going to be anything but a gravy job. But the assignment is not the focus for
us today. I want us to look at how
we should respond to God when He
calls us.
There were several steps outlined in our text. STEP
1 there was repentance. Isaiah
knew himself pretty well. He was
willing to be honest. He openly
admitted he was sinner. Did God
zap him right there? No. Instead STEP 2 took place. The angel took a coal from the altar
and placed it on the IsaiahÕs lips.
Why the lips, because it is with our mouths that we defile ourselves
according to Jesus in Mark 7 and by IsaiahÕs own admission. So the seraph placing the hot coal on
IsaiahÕs lips symbolizes the forgiveness that can only come from God. And we need to notice that Isaiah was
will to accept the forgiveness granted to him. This set up Isaiah to be able to
follow the next step. STEP 3 is listening for the voice of
God. This was not the first time
Isaiah heard the voice of God. It
was common practice for Isaiah to listen to and for God.
One of my favorite stories is of Elijah when he ran from
Jezebel after he slaughtered all of her priests. Hold your finger in Isaiah 6 and flip back to 1 Kings 19:11. Here we find the mighty prophet of God
having his own little pity party because he thinks that he is the last one left
to serve the Lord, but the Lord teaches Elijah a very powerful lesson in
listening. Isaiah on the other
hand, knew this lesson very well.
He knew that it was not all about him and that he needed to take time to
just be still and listen to the still, small voice of the Lord.
The fourth and final point is STEP 4. This is the
action phase. Not only do we have
to listen for the voice of God, but we have to be willing to say in some
measurable way, ÒHere I am Lord!
Send me!Ó
How many of you right now believe that God still speaks to
us today? I hope you all do in
some way or another. Most of us
donÕt have visions these days, but nonetheless God still speaks to His
people. If we pray for forgiveness
accept ChristÕs sacrifice and take ownership of salvation then we will be able
to listen to the voice of God.
Sometimes He speaks through human agencies. He may use a Bible verse or you may just hear a still small
voice in the back of your mind. I
cannot tell you how God will choose to speak to you. All I can tell you is that God is eager to speak to each of
us and guide us down a path that will bring joy to us and glory to Him!
I wish I could tell you that I have always modeled IsaiahÕs
response when it comes to following the Lord, but that is simply not the
case. I too have had times in my
life where I wanted to run from God instead of saying, ÒHere am I, send
me!Ó In fact, when the Lord first
called me to ministry I did not want anything to do with being a pastor. IsnÕt that encouraging? The very first Sabbath you hear a
message from your new pastor he tells you that he did not want anything to do
with being a pastor. I wish I were
joking, but itÕs true. I was
perfectly happy working in my local church and I did not want to move out of my
comfort zone. I began to make
excuses to God about why He had the wrong brother. But like Jonah and Moses I finally got my act together and
ever since I gave in to the Lord I have been happier and more fulfilled that I
have ever before in my life. I find my greatest joy in sharing Jesus Christ
with those around me, and I praise the Lord this morning that He has called me
to serve here in Mt Pleasant with you folks.
Some of you may say, ÒPastor that is all well and good, but
what are you trying to say to me today?Ó
That is a great question and I am very glad that you asked. What I am trying to say to each of you
today is that God has called you to serve Him in this time and in this place
and He has a mission field for each of you. I am a firm believer in the priesthood of all believers that
Peter wrote about in 1 Peter 2:9.
When we come to Christ we become a part of the holy nation and that
chosen race of GodÕs special people.
And that heavenly citizenship should motivate us to want to share the love
of Jesus with those around us. Our
love for Jesus should drive us to want to tell everyone we meet. We do it with restaurants and movies
donÕt we? When we eat out at a
great place and the food is awesome we tell our friends about it. When we rent a good wholesome DVD and
are blessed by it we tell our friends.
Whatever we find that enriches our lives we eagerly tell people about
it, but far too many of us shy away from sharing Jesus with those around us. Perhaps it is because we have not spent
enough time with Jesus to have allowed Him to have an impact on our lives. Sorry, I forgot to warn you guys that I
may step on your toes today. If I
do, please ask the Lord how He would have you respond.
Anyway, back to the point at hand. Are we all called to be pastors or
evangelists? No. But you do not have to be a pastor or
evangelist to hand out a piece of literature or the invite someone to church. There are ways that each one of us can
reach this world for the Lord. And
guess what? We each have a unique
testimony that allows us to reach people that someone else may not be able to
reach. Lay people are able to
reach some that I as your pastor cannot reach. The Lord needs you to reach those within your circle of
influence.
As we begin our journey together as a church family it is
simply my desire to encourage each one of you to be willing to take action for
the Lord. As I have talked with
Deon, I realize that many of you are already out there working for the Lord as
you live your lives and care for your families, but I am certain that there are
probably some of you who take more of a spectatorÕs approach to
Christianity. And by doing that
you are robbing yourself of the greatest joy that this life has to offer, and
that is the joy of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with a sin-sick world.
We have to be willing to take action. We have to be willing to say
emphatically behold me Lord! Send
me! I know in my life I would have
experienced less anxiety if I would have just followed God from the start, and
it is my sincere prayer today that each of you would be willing to repent,
accept forgiveness, listen for the voice of God, and then be willing to take
action for the Lord wherever He may lead you.
**Appeal**
4-Part
Call