One Perspective, Three Positions | A Sermon from Isaiah 6:1-8

well 2020 will surely be one of those years that will live on by simply saying the number 2020. it's like saying 9 11. just say those two numbers together to any american and you'll usually get a visceral response this has been one of those years it has shaken us up with pandemic violence in the streets a nasty election season deep political divisions i mean it's a mess and we're still in it and my guess is that you are still filled with a great level of anxiety about where it's all going it's one of those years remember 2020. a year like this leaves me with two questions one what is god trying to say to us in all this and two how am i supposed to be in all of this well our story today speaks to these questions and gives us a little bit of hope even in the midst of a dark time this week we're continuing our series people of faith stories of faith last week we met a prophet named jonah who was very reluctant to bring the message of god's grace and forgiveness to his enemies then we saw god's faithfulness in the face of jonah's unwillingness well this week we see just the opposite we encounter a man named isaiah who shows us a picture of faithfulness and willingness in the midst of a faithless generation this passage it gives us one perspective and three positions that will help us know how to be in this year first let's look at the perspective it starts out in one of those years in the year that king uzziah dies oh that year now it means absolutely nothing to our 21st century years but that is the year that things started unraveling for the people of judah and the city of jerusalem now we need to remember david's unified kingdom split into two rival kingdoms israel to the north and judah to the south in the year that king uzziah died it was the beginning of the end for the people that was the year that the empire of assyria made its first move into the northern kingdom of israel assyria captured a huge chunk of the kingdom and took them captive and assyria kept coming they captured more land they slaughtered the people they completely destroyed the kingdom of israel and they laid siege to the city of jerusalem it was a horrible time for the people of judah and it all began the year king uzziah died oh that year life was a mess everything that the people thought was right and normal was getting turned upside down and the immediate future did not look good it was a 911 it was a 2020. now the entire book of isaiah is a message that god was sending to the people of judah through isaiah and i got to tell you it's not pretty now here's a summary of isaiah chapters one through five the section that immediately precedes our text today this is the message okay judah i called you to be a light to the nations i planted you like a vineyard to produce the sweet line of my love to all people and you blew it now you're too far gone the consequences of your destructive behavior they're coming and i'm gonna let it you will be cut down by the invaders and all that will remain is a stump but someday a faithful shoot will rise from the stump now that's a harsh message but it's because the people have forgotten who they are and what god had called them to be and do they had lost their perspective and here's the key passage that shows the message if we look at isaiah chapter 1 verses 16 through 20 it says wash yourselves make yourselves clean remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes cease to do evil learn to do good seek justice rescue the oppressed defend the orphan plead for the widow come now let us argue it out says the lord though your sins are like scarlet they shall be like snow though they are red like crimson they shall become like wool if you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land but if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword for the mouth of the lord has spoken you see the the people needed to readjust their perspective we see this in the first four verses of our text today god is seated on the throne god is not contained within the little box of the temple but god's glory is overflowing the temple and god's feet are resting on it like a footstool flying fiery six-wing serpents called seraphs are flying around the throne and they're crying out holy holy holy is the lord of hosts in other words this is the true commander-in-chief of all the world god is not intimidated by the assyrians or the babylonians nor is god controlled by the israelites god's got this and this is not about political domination it's about god's holiness and the mission of god to bring healing and light to all nations this is the heart of the kingdom of god every nation will be judged by god on one standard did your system seek justice by rescuing the oppressed defending the orphan and pleading for the widow or did your system make the rich and powerful more rich and powerful at the expense of the weak this is exactly what jesus taught in matthew when he showed that parable of the dividing of the sheep from the goats and what was the standard between sheep and goats what you have done for the least of these now god calls isaiah to spread this message to bring a new perspective now how would you feel if god was calling you to give that message isaiah's response to this perspective shows us three positions that might be helpful for us the first position is face down when isaiah is confronted with the holiness of god and his perspective is realigned it destroys him i mean he cries out woe is me i am lost for i am a man of unclean lips and i live among a people of unclean lips now we might call this a position of confession of repentance of contrition or remorse over the ways that we have participated in the nastiness of our society and we go face down now the second position is heart open one of these freaky flying serpent seraphs picks up a burning coal from the altar and touches it to isaiah's lips can you imagine how much that must have hurt and yet the fire it didn't consume isaiah it purified him it burned out all the junk god performed open heart surgery on isaiah now isaiah your heart is aligned with your perspective and you're ready heart open the third possession is hands up the lord asks whom shall i send and who will go for us remember the message that the lord has for the people it's not an easy message to preach it's not a prosperity gospel it's not a do whatever you want to do because god's just a big pushover gospel it's a message that will call people to make hard choices it will challenge them to inspect their lives and evaluate if their perspectives are aligning with god's perspective it will ask the political leaders and the system itself to evaluate whether it is seeking justice by rescuing the oppressed defending the orphan and pleading for the widow or if it is a system that is making the rich and powerful more rich and powerful at the expense of the weak and the marginalized would you sign up for that assignment you see isaiah had been on his face he had been purified by the fire of god's holy loving presence and now isaiah lifts up his hands in surrender here i am send me hands up 20 20 is one of those years it is so easy for our perspectives to get focused on fear hatred power control the convergence of events in 2020 has sucked the best of us into the worst of us we are all in this together and my prayer is that this story of isaiah will help us to remember the bigger perspective as disciples of jesus we are not called to american political allegiances and petty turf force we are not called to the american dream whatever version of it you may dream we are called to the kingdom of god which is to remember that we are blessed to be a blessing to all people we are forgiven and set free by the true king of kings we are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world we are called to be the vessels of the sweet wine of god's love for all people no matter who they are so what position are you in right now you know i tend to find myself moving through each position on a daily basis god uses something in my life to remind me of the kingdom perspective and how unaligned i am and i fall on my face and then god often uses difficult circumstances to actually burn away the junk and open up my heart and then sometimes when i take the time to get centered in god's love again i can raise my hands and say okay here am i send me so the question is where are you today let's pray gracious god give us eyes to see give us ears to hear open our hearts and give us courage to follow wherever you lead in jesus name amen you

Channel: SteveThomason

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Keywords: sermon, sermons, preaching, isaiah, Isaiah 6:1-8, Isaiah's vision, holy holy holy, assyria, vocation, calling, the holy bible, the old testament, old testament prophets, God's judgment, god's justice, justice, social justice, bible, christianity

Id: bM6sBMheXMQ

Length: 12min 59sec (779 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 17 2020