I have this reoccurring nightmare that goes something like this. It’s Sunday morning. I’m at church. The service is just about ready to start. I realize that I forgot to write a sermon. Why? I’m not sure. The church service is starting and I’m frantically trying to figure out what I’m going to do, what I’m going to say, realizing that I am completely unprepared. I’ve talked to a couple of other pastors, and strangely enough they’ve had similar dreams and I don’t think that we’re alone. You’ve probably had that dream where you are completely unprepared for something: a presentation at work, not having tickets for something, walking into a high school or college classroom for a final’s exam that you didn’t know you were supposed to take. You wake up and you hope it’s just a dream because it’s not a real good feeling to be unprepared. This morning I have a question for you, “Are you ready to be a disciple of Jesus?” This morning we going to look to God’s Word and to two men who were called to be disciples of the Lord, and see what it takes to be prepared to be disciple of Jesus.
The first person that we look at is Peter, the Galilean fisherman who we heard about in our gospel lesson this morning. Jesus came to Peter and three of his fellow fishermen and called them to be his full-time disciples. Did you notice that Jesus didn’t ask them. He didn’t say, “So are you guys ready to my disciples?” Jesus simply says, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people” (Luke 5:10). Peter had already realized something about himself when he had personally witnessed the divine power of Jesus with the miraculous catch of fish on that day. Peter realized that the man who stood before him was none other than the Lord God Almighty and so he fell to his knees and pleaded, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). Peter realized that on his own, he was woefully unprepared to stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus, no less, be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Peter realized the same thing that Isaiah had come to realize 750 years earlier.
Isaiah was living in the southern part of Israel called Judah during the reign of King Uzziah, a powerful king who reigned for nearly 50 years. It was during this time that the Lord gave Isaiah a vision – a vision that began with awesome terror. You have the Lord sitting on the throne of a king which is “high and exalted” a position of power and authority. The train of his robe “filled the temple” demonstrating the vastness and majesty of the Lord. There are these 6-winged angelic creatures called “seraphim” hovering above the Lord, covering their faces in the presence of the Lord. The seraphs are calling back and forth to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). Their glorious proclamation shakes the very foundations of this heavenly temple and fills it with smoke. Like Peter, Isaiah quickly realized who he was standing before, that this was none other than the Lord God Almighty and his reaction is nearly identical, “Woe to me! I am ruined!” (Isaiah 6:5).
At first this reaction might seem a little strange to us. We often talk about how good it will be to see the Lord. But there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of goodness in Isaiah’s vision, only terror. The truth is that it is only good to be in the presence of God if you are holy as God is holy. And Isaiah realized that he was anything but holy. He says, “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” (Isaiah 6:5). Our mouth reveals what is in our heart. The anger and resentment that lives in our heart demonstrates itself in hurtful and hateful words. Greed and selfishness leads to belittling others and lying in order to get ahead. These are the lips and hearts that have been stained by sin, that cannot live in the presence of a holy God. Isaiah would later right, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (Isaiah 64:6). The writer to the Hebrews describes what it is like to be a sinner in the presence of a holy God when he writes, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). Like Peter and Isaiah, we must admit that to stand before a holy God covered in the filth and stench of sin is a terrifying thought. By nature we are completely and utterly unprepared to stand before God. Instead of discipleship, we deserve to be banished from God’s presence for eternity.
But did you hear what Jesus said to Peter? “Don’t be afraid” (Luke 5:10). You might wonder, how could you not be afraid to stand before a holy God? We know what we are like. We know what God is like. How do we ever stand a chance? There is only one thing that can take that terror away, and that is what the Lord showed Isaiah in his vision. Just listen, “Then one of the seraphim 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’” (Isaiah 6:6,7). The altar was the place where sacrifices were made. With this vision, God was showing Isaiah that because of the sacrifice that the Lord had made for Isaiah, his sin was taken away. The sin that once made him an object of God’s wrath had been removed. Isaiah was clean of his sin. He was holy in God’s sight.
Peter would get to see that perfect sacrifice that God would offer at the altar of the cross, not in some vision, but with his own eyes. His fellow disciple John would write about Jesus, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). The sin that once made us objects of God’s wrath, God has placed upon his Son Jesus. Jesus has suffered that wrath of God for the sins that have lurked in our hearts, and that have been revealed through our words and actions. The lack of patience with a child, the jealousy over what others have and we don’t, the arrogance that leads us to look down on others. For those and every sin that makes us unclean, Jesus has taken the wrath of God and sacrificed his life. Jesus has removed the guilt of our sin so that we can stand confidently before a Holy God and without fear. Yes, like Isaiah and like Peter you no longer need to be afraid to stand before God. You are fully prepared to be a disciple of the Lord, not because of who you are, but because of what Jesus has done for you and made you, holy. That’s what made Isaiah, that’s what made Peter, that’s what makes you and every Christian fully equipped to be a disciple of Jesus.
Isaiah’s reaction to this good news of God’s forgiveness is rather memorable. He hears the deliberations of the Trinity, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8). And you can almost picture Isaiah being like that anxious 3rd grader who cannot contain his excitement at the thought of being chosen. His hand shoots up in the air and he says, “Here am I. Send me!” Peter and his fellow fishermen also had that same eagerness as we’re told that after Jesus called them to be his disciples, “So they…left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:11). Maybe you look at that reaction and think, “I wish I felt that way, that I had that eagerness and that excitement to serve the Lord and to follow him as one of his disciples.”
I don’t think that it’s so much a feeling, as it is an appreciation of what God has done for us. This is an appreciation that comes from repeatedly remembering WHAT I have been rescued from. The Lord has not “rescued” me from a puddle in the parking lot. The Lord has rescued me from a tsunami that was about to sweep me away. From that terrifyingly hopeless situation that sin has caused, the Lord reached down and pulled me to safety, to stand securely upon the sacrifice of Jesus, offered for me and for all at the cross, so that I might live with him for eternity, and that I might live for him today and every day of my life. You see, that equipping that Jesus provides to be one of his disciples is actually something that is ongoing our whole life through. As we listen to Jesus and learn from him, the Lord is equipping us to live as his disciples. It is the equipping that is taking place right now, as you recall what Christ has done for you in his mercy. It is the equipping that takes place as you come to the Lord’s Supper and receive Jesus’ body and blood with bread and wine and hear, “Your sins are forgiven.”
You see, when you regularly stop to stand before the Lord and listen to him, to see your sin and the God who has fully rescued you from it, you are better equipped to say, “Here am I! Send me!” Send me into me into my marriage to be the Christian spouse you have called me to be. Send me into my home to be a parent who reflects the patience and commitment of Christ. Send me into work tomorrow to faithfully use the abilities and relationships that you have given me to glorify you. Send me into school to be the student that develops my intellect and has friendships that honor you. Send me into my neighborhood to be a witness of your kindness and compassion. Send me to serve you in whatever way you allow me, Lord Almighty.
Dear friends, you are ready. The Lord has and continues to make you ready to be his disciple through the sacrifice that he has offered for your sins. May that sacrifice of Jesus bring you peace and empower you as disciple of the Lord Christ Jesus. Amen.
