Fifth Sunday after Epiphany 2/04/07 Text: Isaiah 6:1-13 Title: When God speaks, things happen
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
2/4/2007
Text: Isaiah 6:1-13
Title: When God speaks, things happen.
As is my custom I usually base my sermon on the Gospel lesson for the day, but this morning I want to spend some time in both the Gospel and Old Testament readings for today, for together they teach us something about the power of God’s Word.
We see in verse one of chapter six that King Uzziah has died. Now that might not seem like an important detail, but it is, for King Uzziah had become the king of Judah at the age of 16, and ruled for 52 years. According to 2 Chronicles 26 he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
That is until he became full of himself, you know, prideful. In fact, he became so prideful that he went into the temple himself to burn incense to the Lord. The problem with him doing that is that it was not allowed, only priests could do that by the command of God. Because of his pride God struck him with leprosy which he had until he died. During the last part of his reign the people became as prideful as he was, and went back to their sinful ways.
That brings us back to our Old Testament text for today. We see that Isaiah had a vision when he was in the temple. He saw God on a throne and his robe filled the whole temple, which would signify God’s complete presence.
He saw two seraphim, which are flaming creatures, created by God to serve him. The wings covered their faces, because they could not see the face of God and survive. The wings covered their feet because; as it still is in the Middle East, feet are considered unclean. With the other two wings, they flew about.
As they praised God, the very foundations of the temple shook. Isaiah was terrified and he called out, understandably so, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Notice that he did not separate himself from the rest of the nation.
One of the seraphim takes a burning coal and puts it to Isaiah’s mouth as he tells him, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” The burning coal was symbolic of purification. In other words, God had forgiven Isaiah.
Then God, speaking to Isaiah asks him, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Notice the us. It is a reference to the Trinity.
Isaiah, without even knowing what God wants him to do, responds with, “Here am I! Send me.” For you see when God speaks things happen. God then tells Isaiah what he is to say to the people of Judah.
What he tells him to say to the people sure does not qualify as good news, for God is going to lay the countryside waste, but look at the last half of the last verse of our text. God tells him to tell the people that, “The holy seed is its stump.” The Hebrew word interpreted as seed can also be interpreted as the shoot which makes the statement much clearer, for God is promising that a shoot would spring up from the dead stump, the dead stump of Jessie’s line. This of course took place at Christ’s birth. The Good News has been spoken.
Let’s leave this text for a moment and take a look at the Gospel reading for today. It is the familiar account of Jesus calling his disciples to be fishers of men, that is people, instead of fishers of fish. What is interesting is that in the Greek text the word “alive” follows men. It is a shame that the translators did not use the word “alive”, for it tells the reader that when they catch men, the men will become alive, and not dead, as fish who were alive, become dead, when they are caught in a net.
We all know the text is about us becoming fishers of men. Some of you might even have the little fishhook that was popular some time ago. When I tell you that you are to be fishers, I would say most of you would say, “Yes I know that.” Some of those listening might even feel a little guilty, but know that there is not a snowballs chance in hell that you will ever become fishers of men.
You have a good excuse, you think because, “God did not speak to you like he did Isaiah and Peter. You think that if Jesus had talked to you personally, you like Peter would become fishers of men as you followed Jesus.
If a flaming seraphim had touched a flaming coal to your lips you too would have willingly followed God. You say, none of those things happened to you. In fact, nothing even remotely close to what happened to Isaiah, and Peter has happened to you. And so you are off the hook.
Your right, you would have done exactly what Peter and Isaiah had done if God had spoken to you the way he did to them. Your right, except for one thing, well actually three things. God spoke to you when you were baptized with the water and Word of God. For it is in that water and Word that you received faith, forgiveness, and salvation.
God speaks to you every time you read his Holy Word. Those of you who partake of Jesus’ Holy Supper God here God speak to you. But in the supper he does for than speak to you. He touches you as you eat his body and drink his blood. He comes into you, in way that we cannot understand, giving you forgiveness, life, and salvation.
You see, each of you here this morning have been spoken to by God, just as he spoke to Isaiah and Peter. And, when God speaks, things take place. Look at Peter’s reaction. He dropped the net into the water. He did not have to go get the fish. God brought them to him. God spoke and things happened.
God spoke to Isaiah, and Isaiah said, “I will go,” even before he knew what the plan of God was, and then God surrounded him with a people who needed to hear the law of God so that they would be receptive to the Gospel message. God spoke and things happened.
That is just the way it is. God speaks and the baptismal waters become the means of forgiveness. God speaks and the bread and the wine become his body and blood, giving you forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. God speaks and things happen.
Why is it then, that when God speaks to people, some follow his commands and others do not? Maybe the problem is that those who do not follow his commands really do not believe that God is speaking to them through his Word and Sacraments. Maybe they believe that God’s Holy Word is only one of many ways of being in touch with God. Maybe they do not believe that God’s Word is relevant today, that it is only speaking of life after death, and has really nothing, or very little, to do with life as we know it.
There are no doubt countless reasons why people do not follow Jesus commands, but I think there are really only two reasons why some Christians do not follow Jesus commands. The first is that they do not believe that Jesus commands fit with what they want to do. God’s plan is not their plan, and so they say, “No thanks God, I know my plan is better.”
The second reason that Christians do not follow God’s command is that they believe that they are not qualified, so they reject his command, his direction.
The problem with both those excuses is that they both put human reasoning above God’s perfect will. Neither of the two men we read about today was really qualified to tell others about God and his saving work, but something changed them. Both of them realized their total inability to stand in God’s presence. Both of them knew that they were doomed in God’s presence. They both wanted God to go away, but God did not go away, the did the opposite, he came to them. He spoke, and when God speaks things happen.
There is not a single person in the Bible that deserved God’s favor. Many of them, if not all were not used by God until they fell at his feet in total repentance. People like Jeremiah, Moses, Gideon, Elijah, David, Saul, and countless of others since, have been used by God when they fell at his feet.
Have you fallen at his feet? Have you let God destroy all that is in you that you consider worthy of God’s love? I pray that you have, for it is only then that you can be raised up by God and made into the person God wants you to be.
You think you do not have any thing that God can use. Phooey, that is Satan talking. It is not God, for God has made each one of you. He has formed you into the vessel he wants you to be, with all your faults and weaknesses
You see faults and weaknesses, God sees a redeemed person, fit for the service he has planned for you to do. I urge you to listen to God as he speaks to you through his Word, and Sacraments, for when God speaks things happen. Amen
2/4/2007
Text: Isaiah 6:1-13
Title: When God speaks, things happen.
As is my custom I usually base my sermon on the Gospel lesson for the day, but this morning I want to spend some time in both the Gospel and Old Testament readings for today, for together they teach us something about the power of God’s Word.
We see in verse one of chapter six that King Uzziah has died. Now that might not seem like an important detail, but it is, for King Uzziah had become the king of Judah at the age of 16, and ruled for 52 years. According to 2 Chronicles 26 he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
That is until he became full of himself, you know, prideful. In fact, he became so prideful that he went into the temple himself to burn incense to the Lord. The problem with him doing that is that it was not allowed, only priests could do that by the command of God. Because of his pride God struck him with leprosy which he had until he died. During the last part of his reign the people became as prideful as he was, and went back to their sinful ways.
That brings us back to our Old Testament text for today. We see that Isaiah had a vision when he was in the temple. He saw God on a throne and his robe filled the whole temple, which would signify God’s complete presence.
He saw two seraphim, which are flaming creatures, created by God to serve him. The wings covered their faces, because they could not see the face of God and survive. The wings covered their feet because; as it still is in the Middle East, feet are considered unclean. With the other two wings, they flew about.
As they praised God, the very foundations of the temple shook. Isaiah was terrified and he called out, understandably so, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Notice that he did not separate himself from the rest of the nation.
One of the seraphim takes a burning coal and puts it to Isaiah’s mouth as he tells him, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” The burning coal was symbolic of purification. In other words, God had forgiven Isaiah.
Then God, speaking to Isaiah asks him, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Notice the us. It is a reference to the Trinity.
Isaiah, without even knowing what God wants him to do, responds with, “Here am I! Send me.” For you see when God speaks things happen. God then tells Isaiah what he is to say to the people of Judah.
What he tells him to say to the people sure does not qualify as good news, for God is going to lay the countryside waste, but look at the last half of the last verse of our text. God tells him to tell the people that, “The holy seed is its stump.” The Hebrew word interpreted as seed can also be interpreted as the shoot which makes the statement much clearer, for God is promising that a shoot would spring up from the dead stump, the dead stump of Jessie’s line. This of course took place at Christ’s birth. The Good News has been spoken.
Let’s leave this text for a moment and take a look at the Gospel reading for today. It is the familiar account of Jesus calling his disciples to be fishers of men, that is people, instead of fishers of fish. What is interesting is that in the Greek text the word “alive” follows men. It is a shame that the translators did not use the word “alive”, for it tells the reader that when they catch men, the men will become alive, and not dead, as fish who were alive, become dead, when they are caught in a net.
We all know the text is about us becoming fishers of men. Some of you might even have the little fishhook that was popular some time ago. When I tell you that you are to be fishers, I would say most of you would say, “Yes I know that.” Some of those listening might even feel a little guilty, but know that there is not a snowballs chance in hell that you will ever become fishers of men.
You have a good excuse, you think because, “God did not speak to you like he did Isaiah and Peter. You think that if Jesus had talked to you personally, you like Peter would become fishers of men as you followed Jesus.
If a flaming seraphim had touched a flaming coal to your lips you too would have willingly followed God. You say, none of those things happened to you. In fact, nothing even remotely close to what happened to Isaiah, and Peter has happened to you. And so you are off the hook.
Your right, you would have done exactly what Peter and Isaiah had done if God had spoken to you the way he did to them. Your right, except for one thing, well actually three things. God spoke to you when you were baptized with the water and Word of God. For it is in that water and Word that you received faith, forgiveness, and salvation.
God speaks to you every time you read his Holy Word. Those of you who partake of Jesus’ Holy Supper God here God speak to you. But in the supper he does for than speak to you. He touches you as you eat his body and drink his blood. He comes into you, in way that we cannot understand, giving you forgiveness, life, and salvation.
You see, each of you here this morning have been spoken to by God, just as he spoke to Isaiah and Peter. And, when God speaks, things take place. Look at Peter’s reaction. He dropped the net into the water. He did not have to go get the fish. God brought them to him. God spoke and things happened.
God spoke to Isaiah, and Isaiah said, “I will go,” even before he knew what the plan of God was, and then God surrounded him with a people who needed to hear the law of God so that they would be receptive to the Gospel message. God spoke and things happened.
That is just the way it is. God speaks and the baptismal waters become the means of forgiveness. God speaks and the bread and the wine become his body and blood, giving you forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. God speaks and things happen.
Why is it then, that when God speaks to people, some follow his commands and others do not? Maybe the problem is that those who do not follow his commands really do not believe that God is speaking to them through his Word and Sacraments. Maybe they believe that God’s Holy Word is only one of many ways of being in touch with God. Maybe they do not believe that God’s Word is relevant today, that it is only speaking of life after death, and has really nothing, or very little, to do with life as we know it.
There are no doubt countless reasons why people do not follow Jesus commands, but I think there are really only two reasons why some Christians do not follow Jesus commands. The first is that they do not believe that Jesus commands fit with what they want to do. God’s plan is not their plan, and so they say, “No thanks God, I know my plan is better.”
The second reason that Christians do not follow God’s command is that they believe that they are not qualified, so they reject his command, his direction.
The problem with both those excuses is that they both put human reasoning above God’s perfect will. Neither of the two men we read about today was really qualified to tell others about God and his saving work, but something changed them. Both of them realized their total inability to stand in God’s presence. Both of them knew that they were doomed in God’s presence. They both wanted God to go away, but God did not go away, the did the opposite, he came to them. He spoke, and when God speaks things happen.
There is not a single person in the Bible that deserved God’s favor. Many of them, if not all were not used by God until they fell at his feet in total repentance. People like Jeremiah, Moses, Gideon, Elijah, David, Saul, and countless of others since, have been used by God when they fell at his feet.
Have you fallen at his feet? Have you let God destroy all that is in you that you consider worthy of God’s love? I pray that you have, for it is only then that you can be raised up by God and made into the person God wants you to be.
You think you do not have any thing that God can use. Phooey, that is Satan talking. It is not God, for God has made each one of you. He has formed you into the vessel he wants you to be, with all your faults and weaknesses
You see faults and weaknesses, God sees a redeemed person, fit for the service he has planned for you to do. I urge you to listen to God as he speaks to you through his Word, and Sacraments, for when God speaks things happen. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 12:25 PM
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