CWC- Old Testament Lesson - Epiphany 5 - Kieth Bernard Kuschel
Isaiah 6:18
{1} In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. {2} Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. {3} And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." {4} At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. {5} "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." {6} Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. {7} With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." {8} Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
Tell children to go back and tell their parents:
Jesus lived and died and rose for you.
Jesus washed away your sins and give you eternal life.
HERE I AM. SEND ME
I. In spite of my sinfulness
A. Woe to me
1. In trouble
2. Unclean lips
3. Unclean people
4. LORD is King, Almighty
B. God’s call
1. Question in verse 8
2. Sends us to......
C. Our reaction
1. Not good enough
2. “Good enough” is bad
II. Because of my Savior
A. Seraphs
1. Definition
2. Give glory to God
B. Special action
1. Touch lips
2. Guilt removed
3. Sin atoned for
C. God’s call
D. Our reaction
1. I am qualified
2. Others need to know what I know
Conc
IA1 “Woe to me!” When was the last time you said that? Anybody know what it means? Isaiah helps us out with what it means. The next statement is: {5}“I am ruined.” We might say: I am in lots of trouble! Should we join Isaiah in saying “I am in lots of trouble!”?
2 Isaiah tells us the reason he said “Woe to me!” “I am ruined.” What was it? {5}“For I am a man of unclean lips.” So are we. Instead of glorifying God, we toss His name around as if it is just another word. Instead of speaking God’s truth in love, we don’t bother to speak it at all. Instead of building others up, I verbally abuse them. Instead of praising God for His wonderful creation, I make fun of other people’s body parts. Instead of speaking reverently about God’s gift of sexuality, I trivialize it. I am in lots of trouble because I am a man of unclean lips.
3 “Woe to me,” Isaiah says, (5)“because I live among a people of unclean lips.” I am in lots of trouble. The people around me are just as much sinners as I am. They encourage me to live for myself. They tell me the Bible is a fairy tale. They want me to be as disrespectful as they are. They indicate that being nice doesn’t get me anywhere. They laugh at my sexual restrictions. They influence me to think life is about toys. All of that helps me to be unclean.
4 “Woe to me,” Isaiah says, “(5)my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." I have taken a look at the LORD. I see that He is the King. He has oversight over everything. He sees my unclean lips. I see that He is Almighty. He has the power to punish me with death and hell because I am unclean. I am in lots of trouble.
B1 {8} Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" When God says this to us as He said it to Isaiah, He isn’t indicating that He is at a loss as to whom He should send to tell people the truth about Himself. What is God trying to do when He says to us, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" He is trying to get us to realize that He is telling us He wants us to go and share His truth with others.
2 He is telling us that He wants to send us into a career of teaching His truth as pastors or Lutheran School teachers. He is telling us He is sending us into our families to teach all of our family members that they are sinners and Jesus is their Savior. He is telling us He is sending us to our friends to share with them as part of our relationship with them that Jesus lived and died and rose to give them forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life. He is telling us He is sending us into our neighborhoods to invite people to hear about Jesus the Savior here at church. He is telling us He is sending us into that checkout line at the grocery store when the person in front of us starts talking about god. He is telling us that He is sending us to Zambia, and Malawi, and Puerto Rice and wherever we can go through the missionaries we pay for in the WELS.
C1 Our first reaction is, “Who me? I am the unclean one, remember, Lord. I am not good enough to have you send me to people with Your truth.” It is true that the Lord has some expectations of his messengers. We are to know what we are talking about. We are to back up our message with lives lived to the glory of God. But when the Lord says to us that He is sending us to people with His truth, I don’t think it is our place to say that is a bad idea because we are not good enough.
2 On the other hand, it would be a big problem if people would react to God’s call to send them to others with His truth by thinking proudly, “I can do that because I am good enough. My resume as a child of God qualifies me to serve as Christ’s messenger.” That attitude scares me. It sounds as if the person hasn’t looked at himself with Isaiah and concluded, “Woe is me! I am man of unclean lips.” God would much rather have us join Isaiah and say together: “Here I am. Send me in spite of my sinfulness.”
IIA1 God granted Isaiah something that He doesn’t give to many people. Isaiah was able to see the Lord and some seraphs in a vision. Seraphs are angels. From the symbolism in the vision we can conclude that these seraphs are ready, willing and able to do what the Lord tells them to do. They can go quickly to accomplish what the Lord wants. Yet, they are humble, reverent creatures.
2 {3} The seraphs were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." They are praising God, telling others what God is like.
God is holy-separate from sin. God is Almighty - can do anything. He deserves to be praised everywhere by His whole creation.
B1 {6} Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. {7} With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips.” Remember in the vision God is sitting on His throne, the cover of the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy part of the temple. From one of the altars in the temple, probably from the altar of burnt offering where there was an offering burning all the time, the seraph took a burning coal and touched Isaiah’s lips. Remember what had Isaiah said about his lips? They were unclean.
2 The seraph also said, “See, this live coal from the altar has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away.” Remember what the sacrifices on the altars in the Old Testament meant. They were pictures of the truth that a life would have to be taken to remove man’s guilt. They were pointers to the Messiah. God here was reminding Isaiah that through the sacrifice of the Messiah, foreshadowed in the Old Testament offerings, Isaiah’s guilt was taken away. Even though God was holy, Isaiah didn’t have to fear God because of Isaiah’s unclean lips. Isaiah could accept God’s commission as a prophet because God had cleansed him of his guilt.
3 The seraph also said, “See, this live coal from the altar has touched your lips. Your sin is atoned for." Our sins separate us from God because God is holy and we are not. When our guilt is removed, we can be at one with God again. God takes away our guilt and puts it on Jesus. God brings us back to be at one with Him by covering us with the holiness of Jesus. We will be at one with God forever because of the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. The seraphs reminded Isaiah and us that God’s cleansing makes us at one with Him again.
C {8} Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" God is telling us that He is sending us as individuals to share His Law and Gospel with all the people with whom we have contact in life. He is sending us to share Jesus through the individual ministries that we carry out in this congregation. He is telling us He is sending us to share Jesus’ forgiveness, holiness and eternal life though all the functions of our congregation. He is telling us He is sending us to share Jesus with the whole world through the ministries we do together as the WELS.
D1 And we respond, “Here I am. Send me.” We can accept our commission from the Lord because we are qualified. We are qualified because we are no longer men of unclean lips. God has cleansed us of our guilt with the blood of Jesus. He has made us at one with Him by covering us with Jesus’ holiness. Here I am. Send me because of my Savior.
2 Here I am. Send me. I want to go to some people to share with them what I have seen. I have seen that the Lord is the LORD. He is the unchanging God who doesn’t back down on His covenant to forgive the sins of the human race. I want others to experience what I have experienced. The Lord comes into people’s lives and touches them with the blood of Christ and makes them guilt free. He comes into people’s lives and touches them with the holiness of Jesus and makes them at one with Him. Here I am. Send me. Because of my Savior in spite of my sinfulness.