Do you Want to be used?
Isaiah 6:1-6
Message by Pastor Carlos Castaneda
Grace Church - July 18, 2010
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!" Isaiah 6:8 (NIV)
This morning I want to share with you what God taught me through that special encounter that Isaiah had with Him.
The main thing I learned from this passage is that He wants to use me. The question comes to mind this morning:
Do you want to be used?
There are some requirements to be used the most important one is to be willing to obey His commands.
We also need to understand that there are no barriers in order to be used by the LORD!
There’s no cultural barrier, no language barrier, no age barrier
In other words it doesn’t matter where are you from, what language you speak, or what is your age?
If you want to be used by God the only thing you need TO DO IS OBEY.
There are many passages in the Word where it teaches about being used but this passage in Isaiah in particular really impact my life because it teaches that wee need to be in the presence of the Lord in order to be used.
The major factor here is to be in His presence.
Let’s look at Isaiah 6:1-6
We know this passage, we have probably heard preaching about it many times.
We are familiar how Isaiah was in the temple and was transported or received the vision to be before the throne of the Lord. We also learn that he is cleaned with a coil from under the altar and how he hears the voice of the Lord and how he offers himself to be used.
The first thing that we need to approach in regard to this passage is the encounter that Isaiah has with God.
This is an experience with God. I don’t know if you’ve had an experience with God.
I don’t know if you had an encounter with God.
The encounter with God is the principal factor that we need if we want to be used.
Now let me explain.
Probably you would say I am already a Christian. I come to church every Sunday.
Well I not saying that you are not a Christian, I’m not saying that you don’t have Jesus in you.
What I’m saying is that you and me need an encounter with God if we want to be used the same way Isaiah had that encounter that day in chapter six.
Chronologically as well as logically the book of Isaiah begins with this chapter.
Prior to this we don’t have no information about Isaiah, but for sure we know he was a Jew.
We know that he went to the temple before. As Jews costumes, he probably attended many sacrifices in the past before this episode.
So we know that Isaiah knew about God already and he attended on Saturday to the temple.
But at this precise moment in this chapter we found Isaiah having an experience with God the same as Moses, Abraham, or Ezekiel. He is having a special encounter with God.
Well if you want to be used, if I want to be used we need that special moment. Although I already know him, although I trust Him, although I’m saved, although I have eternal life, I need to have that special encounter.
A moment in my life where I can experiment the presence of the Lord in front of me or better put; me being able to dwell in His presence, to live constantly before the Lord.
This has to be a constant action. This has to be a lifestyle. It is necessary to prolong that moment in our life so we continually, constantly live in His presence.
In other words if you want to be used by the Lord the first requirement that we need is to live in the presence of the Lord.
Someone would say: How do we do that?
Well as Ephesians 5:18 says: “Be filled with the Spirit”
The Spirit is in us for more than to give us gifts is also in us to enable us to live in the presence of our Lord.
Remember the first requirement is to have that encounter with God and to maintain that relationship that constant communication, that constant life in the presence of the Lord is essential for our lives when we want to be used and when we want to work in His kingdom.
See Christianity is more than a religion; well I don’t even like to call it a religion because Christianity has to do with the relationship that you and I have individually with our Lord.
It doesn’t have to do with what denomination you are in, or how many times you come to gather at church, or if you are part of any committee or any other group at church.
It has to do with what is your relationship with Jesus!
I don’t know if you hear this before, but when someone calls you Christian, in reality what they are doing is using a nickname on you.
A nick name that means you and I are similar to Jesus, it means we act the same as Him, we have the same attitudes as Him, and we react the same as Him.
But getting back to Isaiah
Let’s recount
Requirement #1
To have an encounter with God and keep living in His presence continually.
The next one is not a requirement. I would call it result.
The first result as we are before the Lord is recognizing that we are not worthy in His presence.
The next verse will give us light of what I’m talking about.
Verse 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."
Brothers and sisters it is impossible for someone to be in the presence of the Lord and to be standing.
The normal reaction is to bow down. There is no pride, there is no selfishness.The only normal reaction when we are in His presence is Worship.
We will fall down to his feet. We will never be worthy in His presence.
The same reaction that Isaiah had in this chapter I think I would have before the Lord.
Right now at this moment, I can tell you if my spiritual eyes were to be open and I could see His Throne I would fall down in front of Him because I’m not worthy.
I would say the same as Isaiah. I’m dead. I’m finished!
Continuing with the next verse
“Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
What the Lord teaches me in this verse and I want to share with you is the other requirement
-In order to be used we need to be holy.
Isaiah recognized that he was not worthy; he recognized that he was a sinner
He recognized that before the Lord there was no chance to come out alive.
The Lord knew this so He sends the seraphim to make him holy.
The seraphim gets the coil from the altar and touches his lips.
Someone could ask why his lips and not his heart.
This is because is symbolic. See what it says in Luke 6:45
Luke 6:45 (New International Version)
“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
Holiness is what we need when we want to be used.
Holiness can be obtained only through obeying God’s commands and with the help of the Holy Spirit with His power.
He is telling us today that we need to be holy.
What is holiness?
Holiness is obeying God
Holiness is getting away from anything that is causing me troubles between my God and me.
Some people have problems with the word holy because in the past has been misused.
Some people think that being holy is not to sin. But in reality holy means to be separated from anything that is against God.
The Lord Himself says in Exodus 31:13
"Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
Leviticus 11:44
“I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground.”
The only one who can make us holy is the Lord Himself.
If we would think that being holy is not to sin than 1 John 1:9-10 would be obsolete.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”
Well Jesus is the one who clean our lives. Jesus is the one who give us the pass to get before the throne but as John says in one of his epistles we need to be in the light. We need to be with Jesus We need to be clean, we need to be holy.
HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
We need to divide this verse in two parts
The first part is the part where we can see that Isaiah was not called at this point.
We know somehow he was called but not literally. As soon as he is holy through the coil from the altar he can hear the Lord’s voice.
This is no coincidence, the only reason we sometimes do not hear His voice is because we need to be holy, separated for Him.
In short we need to be holy to listen to His voice.
Isaiah was not called by name or to an specific service.
The only thing that we see here is that Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord.
See one thing that we learned is that when you have encounter with God you are in His presence and when you are in His presence he makes you holy.
And when you become holy you can hear the voice of the Lord.
Isn’t amazing to know that you can hear the Lord talking when you live in His presence.
Isaiah Heard the Lord
"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
Have you noticed that as soon as Isaiah was holy immediately he could hear the Lord?
Did you know that if we keep looking for holiness we can also hear his voice?
As Christians we need to live in His presence to hear His Voice.
We need to hear His voice to do His will.
It is impossible for me to do His will if I do not hear His voice. It is impossible for me to understand His Word if I can Not hear Him.
The second part of this verse is other requirement to be used by God
YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING
When Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord he said:
“And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
The first thing that comes to mind when I see this is Moses.
Remember the reaction of Moses.
Can you see the difference with Isaiah?
I’m not judging Moses is just that we see the difference in the reaction.
This serves the purpose to know that if you have said no to God do not feel bad. There is still time for you to live in His presence and to be made holy and hear His voice to do His will.
After you are touched by the coil, after you are separated for God, after you separate yourself for God, then you are willing to do everything because you know is not in your strength. Is in His power.
It is in the strength of the Lord that we can accomplish His will!
When we hear the voice of the Lord we realize just as Solomon did; There’s nothing important on earth more than God.
We as Christians should know that our lives must be revolving around Christ just as the apostles.
When Jesus ate they ate, when Jesus walked they walked, when Jesus slept they slept as well. Everything was revolving in their lives around God.
We need to live our lives with one purpose only, to be used by God until he comes for us.
Summary::
Imagine in the morning you wake up and as you are getting ready to prepare the coffee you heard the Lord talking
He is saying something about your neighbor
Apparently your neighbor doesn’t know Jesus
And when you hear this, right away you said let me go talk to him
Let me go tell him about you!
How willing are we to tell the Lord "Here I am"?
How are we living our lives?
Do we want to be used?
What are we doing for the kingdom of God?
Remember if we look for that kingdom everything else will be attached.
If you want to be used today pray to the Lord and ask for that special encounter and for that coil from the altar to come to our lives so we can hear His voice.
If you are already doing something for His Kingdom remember, keep it up because at the end we’ll see the reward in heaven.
Let’s Pray. Amen!
