Dangerous Prayers: Send me!
Isaiah 6:1-6
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
12-27-2020
In My Mind I’m Going to Carolina
In the winter of 1990, I became involved in a college outreach at the University of Memphis. I was tired of the party life and was searching for a purpose for living. At a new year’s retreat, almost 30 years ago, I surrendered my heart completely to Jesus and started the great adventure of faith.
I was going to graduate school at night and waiting tables during the day. For the first time in my life, I was experiencing the joy of Christian fellowship. I had a serious girlfriend who was already picking out Tupperware. My life seemed full and complete.
But the Holy Spirit began to tug at my heart and soon I began to reevaluate my dreams and goals. Is this where God wanted me? Is this what He wanted me to do? Soon I began to pray a very dangerous prayer - Send me! I was available to do whatever He wanted me to do wherever He wanted me to do it.
God answered that prayer. It wan’t like a Morgan Freeman voice that boomed from heaven. He impressed upon my heart the answer to my prayer send me. And that meant I was headed to North Carolina.
I put a map of North Carolina on my wall. Most guys had pictures of Michael Jordan or Christie Brinkley. Not me. I had a full size map of the Tar Heel State.
When people walked in the room, it was the first thing they noticed.
“What’s the deal with the map?” they would ask.
When I told them that I had prayed a dangerous prayer - send me and God was leading me to North Carolina.
More follow up questions. “No, I’ve never been there. No, I don’t have any family there. No I’m not going to school there. I don’t know where or when, but I know I’m going.”
That was a concern for several of my friends and even my family. They feared that I had misinterpreted heartburn for a message from God. It didn’t make sense. It was irrational.
But the prayer “send me” stayed on my lips for several months and I became more convinced. I had settled it in my mind.
My mother who though I may be losing my marbles, called and told me to look in that day’ paper in the job ads. She thought there might be something that I would find interesting.
Sure enough, there was an ad for a job opening at Crossnore School. You want to guess where that is?
North Carolina!
I called that day. I drove 400 miles the next month, interviewed and accepted the job on the spot.
I quit school. I quit my job. My friends had a huge going away party for me. The girl cried.
My best friend asked me to reconsider. I responded that he taught me that when God calls we go.
I packed my entire life into my 1983 Mustang and drove east on I-40 for eight hours and 13 minutes, right into the mountains of North Carolina. Steven Curtis Chapman was blasting out of my speakers:
We will abandon it all
For the sake of the call
No other reason at all
But the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die
For the sake of the call
It was a bold move. After my car broke down on the way there, I even questioned if I had heard God correctly. God reminded me, “You don’t have to know how this works, just trust Me!”
Looking back, it was exactly the next step I needed to take. It was in North Carolina that I preached my first sermon, wrote my first worship song. It was also at Crossnore that I met a little red-headed girl that stole my heart and became my partner for this adventure.
All because I prayed a dangerous prayer - Send me!
The outline for this message is from Craig Groeschel’s book, “Dangerous Prayers.”
Most of the time when we pray, it’s about what God can do for us. But when’s the last time you said to God, “What can I do for you God?”
Throughout the Bible, we see God calling people and I want to look at three different responses to that call.
Jonah Said Here I am, I’m not Going!
This summer, we walked verse by verse through the Old Testament book of Jonah. Here’s how it begins:
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.” (Jonah 1:3)
God told Jonah to go preach in the city of Nineveh, the capital of Israel’s enemies, the Assyrians, and Jonah’s response was…
“Here am I, I’m not going!”
Maybe that’s where you are today. God has been calling you but you have planted your feet and are refusing to move.
Moses - Here I am, Send Someone Else
Moses has been tending sheep in the back country for forty years when he saw something very curious - a burning bush.
God called to Moses and told him that he would be the one to go to Pharaoh and demand that he let the Jewish people go.
Moses makes multiple excuses until he finally says:
“Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
(Exodus 3:10-12)
Then Moses reveals his heart:
But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” (Exodus 3:13)
Maybe that’s you this morning. God has called you teach a class, or hang out with students, or share the Gospel with someone and your response is simply…
“Here am I, send someone else.”
Isaiah - Here I am, send me!
The third response is found in Isaiah 6:8. Isaiah says “Here am I, send me.”
He didn’t make excuses. He didn’t ask where he would be sent. He didn’t ask if the climate was warm or how much vacation he would get.
He was totally willing, completely available. How did he get there?
Turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah 6.
Prayer
The Text in Context
Before we begin, a little background would be helpful. Uzziah became king of Judah at the age of sixteen and reigned for fifty-two years.› As a young man his heart beat for the things of God and he turned the people back to the Lord.
Scriptures says, “As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.” (2 Chronicles 26:5).
As he grew older, his fame spread and he became very powerful. And, as is often the case, his pride led to his downfall. He became so arrogant that he attempted to burn incense in the temple. The temple priests confronted him and reminded him that this was a duty of a priest and not a king.
Scripture says that he became angry and while he was raging at the priests leprosy broke out on his forehead (2 Chronicles 26:19) King Uzziah, the powerful, prideful, king lived in isolation, as a leper, the rest of his life and his son, Jotham, inherited the crown.
Enter Isaiah. Isaiah had been ministering as a prophet for nearly eighteen years when Uzziah died in 739 B.C. The people had not experienced prosperity and power like this since the days of Solomon. If truth be known, many placed their trust in Uzziah rather than God.
The year that Uzziah died something happened to Isaiah. He had a vision of God. What he saw, what he heard, what he felt, and what he did forever changed his life.
He had a genuine experience of God
“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. Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a throne high and lifted up and the train of His robe filled the Temple.
We must recognize that God is the ruler and king over not just the earth, or the entire cosmos, but King over us as well. With King Uzziah’s death, some may have been feeling fearful about their future. God wanted to assure Isaiah that God was still on the throne.
Psalm 45:6 affirms this truth:
“Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.” (Psalm 45:6).
God is omnipotent - all powerful, the only God. He is high and lifted up.
Isaiah describes God’s robes as filling the Temple. One of the ways that ancient rulers where described was by how big their robes were.
I remember back to Princess Diana and Charles’ wedding and how long the train of her dress was. It was so long it had to have attendants to manage it.
God is majestic!
God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal, and who lives in unapproachable light. (I Timothy 6:15).
Then we are introduced to the seraphs, These six-winged blazing ones, as the Hebrew puts it, were angelic beings mentioned only in this passage. Their reaction to God is a model for our worship.
Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings. With two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory. At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.” (Isaiah 6:2-4).
First, they covered their face with their wings. We must approach God in reverence. The covering of the face signified respect and that their eyes were not equipped to gaze at God’s blazing holiness.
David said,
“But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence I will bow down toward your holy temple.” (Psalm 5:7).
They are also said to cover their feet. Actually, they covered their entire lower body, which was a sign of humility in Isaiah’s culture. We must approach God with humility.
The seraphs were calling out to each other:
“Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory.”
The description of God as holy is used 637 times in the Bible and 30+ times in Isaiah.
In Hebrew thought, when you want to make a strong point, you repeated the word three times.
God is never called love, love, love. He isn’t described as mercy, mercy, mercy. But the angels sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy!”
R.C. Sproul writes, “God’s holiness is His divine perfection, that which makes him unique and separate from anyone and anything else.”
This is the only time in Scripture that one of God’s attributes is repeated three times. God’s holiness defines who He is. He is completely other.
The Psalmist gives us these words,
“Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord, the glory due His name, worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.” (Psalm 29:1-2)
His holiness, his glory, his love, his justice fills the whole earth.
The blazing truth of His righteousness drove the seraphs to praise and worship. The throne was surrounded by angelic beings shouting and singing God’s praises. The doorpost and the threshold shook and the temple was filled with smoke representing God’s power and presence.
Isaiah had a genuine encounter with the living God. He had a genuine experience with the presence of God.
He also experienced a genuine awareness of his sinfulness.
“Woe to me!” I cried. I am ruined! For I am a man with unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5)
When I was a junior in high school, I wanted to try out for the jazz band. I fancied myself a good guitarist and coveted attention I would receive if I got the gig.
A friend of mine was also going to try out and began asking me if I like the Pentatonic scale as much as the Ionic. He also asked me if I had trouble with jazz progressions. I had never even heard of these chords. He got out his guitar and began to play.
I was stunned. I cried “Woe is me!” Needless to say, I did not try out for the jazz band, and I thanked Mike for saving me from certain embarrassment. When I compared my skills against his, I was aware of my obvious shortcomings.
You might think you’re a pretty good golfer but play around with Tiger. You might think that you are a pretty good artist but compare yourself to Rembrandt.
Standing in the presence of God, Isaiah became painfully aware of his how far short he fell. He understand his own sinfulness.
What did Isaiah feel? Doom. He felt complete and utter failure. Basking in the light of God’s glory was too much for him. It drove him to despair. How did Isaiah respond?
Instead of wow, he cried, “Woe is me!” The prophet who had been pronouncing woe on everyone else now is faced with the hopelessness of his own desperation. Seeing the purity, the holiness, the majesty of God overwhelmed him and he actually pronounced a curse upon himself. He is doomed.
Luke tells us that after fishing all night Jesus asked Peter to try it one more time. Peter humors the Master, puts out into deep water, and lets down the net. They had such a tremendous catch that the boat started to sink. But Peter was not concerned about the boat or the fish. Scripture says,
“When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus feet and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’” (Luke 5:8).
The writer of Hebrews quoted Moses,
“ For the Lord your God is a consuming fire.” (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29)
“For I am a man of unclean lips.” Interestingly, Isaiah sense of conviction centers on his mouth. As a prophet, his mouth was his ministry. Out of his mouth came the pronouncements of God.
He recognizes the awesome responsibility he has to proclaim God’s words and how unworthy he was to do such a holy thing.
There is little difference between Isaiah and me. Many Sundays, including this one, I am overwhelmed with my unclean lips. Satan, who knows Scripture better than I do, whispers in my ears, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1).
Warren Wiersbe knows this feeling well. He has said, “Lord, I know You forgive my sins, but can you ever forgive my sermons?”
“and I dwell among people of unclean lips.” Isaiah was counting himself in with the rebellious people of Israel. He was no better than they are.
Uzziah had bailed spiritually at the end of his life and the country had followed his lead. Jotham was attempting to lead with spiritual integrity but no one was interested. In Isaiah 29, he describes the people with these unflattering terms,
“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8)
Isaiah counted himself as part of a people, or better yet, as part of a race, that reeked with the smell of sin.
“and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Seeing God for who He really is always leads to us seeing ourselves for who we really are. Isaiah knew that he was doomed.
He was standing in the blazing heat of God righteousness and every sinful thought and motive was laid bare for all the heavens to see. He had seen God’ glory and he knew that meant certain death for “no one can see God and
live.” (Exodus 33:20)
Romans 3:10-12 states it plainly,
“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together have become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Romans 3:20 sums it up,
“All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”
and Isaiah, perhaps remembering his encounter with God’s holiness wrote,
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that He will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2).
I hate to trample on your self-esteem but you are not OK and I am not OK. Because of our sin, we are separated from God and do not have the power to get to God on our own.
When I hear people say that there is no way God would accept them because they are “too bad” I smile. They are halfway to heaven. In fact, they are a lot closer than many “churched” people who think that they are good enough based on their church attendance.
Once you experience the presence of God and the depth of your sinfulness it will always drive you to your knees in despair due to your sin and lead you to cry out for the one thing we desperately need - mercy.
Isaiah experienced the presence of God and the depth of his sinfulness.
3. He had a genuine understanding of God’s grace.
“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 is atoned for.’” (Isaiah 6:6-7)
Just when Isaiah thought God would destroy him, his eyes focus in on one of the seraph’s hovering towards him. In his hand a red-hot coal taken from the altar. This was the altar of sacrifice. The altar symbolized the perfect sacrifice of the spotless lamb who would take away the sins of the world (John 1:29).
The angel is sent on a mission of mercy. Isaiah had been feeling like a failure, now he will experience freedom and
forgiveness.
“See, this has touched your lips.” Although not in the original Hebrew, here is my guess as to what Isaiah said following the angel touching his lips with the coal ‚ “OUCH!”
Have you ever eaten something too hot and burned your mouth? Imagine a red-hot coal pressed to your lips. The cauterization process provided cleansing where Isaiah sensed his deepest need. This process would have left his lips swollen and blistered.
Someone has said, “Pain plants the flag of reality in the fortress of a rebel heart.”
“Your guilt is taken away.” - Isaiah’s sense of condemnation was relieved and his conscience is appeased. This is
God’s mercy. Paul writes,
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23)
I like the Chuck Swindoll paraphrase of this verse:
“Jesus Christ came to our wall, Jesus Christ died for our fall; So regardless of death and in spite of our sin, through grace, He might put us together again.”
God did not ignore Isaiah’s sin, or cover over it, and that’s where grace comes in.
“your sin is atoned for.” Isaiah received God’s grace. Not only had his guilt been taken away but his sin had been taken care of as well.
It was not because of anything Isaiah did or said but this cleansing was solely based on the atoning work of Christ that would take place in the future.
Isaiah’s guilt was real and he deserved destruction, but God in His mercy and grace chose to cleanse him of his sin. Paul proclaimed our innocence based on Jesus Chris atoning work,
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)
Did you hear that? No condemnation! None! Are you guilty? As sin! Do you deserve destruction because of your sin? You bet! Did God annihilate you? Nope! He sent His Son to be annihilated in your place.
The story is told of Frederick the Great who visited a prison in Berlin. As he walked past the prisoners cells they all started telling him that they were innocent.
The ruler stopped at the last cell and there was a man who was sitting with head in his hands.
Frederick asked him, “Well I suppose you’re innocent too?”
The man looked up and said, “No sir. I’m guilty. 100% guilty. I deserve to be in here.”
Frederick was shocked at the man’s honesty and said to the guards, “Let this rascal go or he will contaminate all the innocent people in here.”
“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
In the presence of God we realize our sinfulness and cry out for mercy. It is that need that we discover just how amazing God’s grace really is.
Once you have been there, then there is only one logical response.
Here am I, send me!
“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)
Isaiah is basking in God’s presence and has now experienced God in a fresh and new way. He has seen God for who He really is which lead to the despair of seeing himself for who he really was. He then experienced God’s mercy in a way that totally rearranged his view of his relationship with God. God is now ready to use Isaiah. He has undone him to reshape his heart.
In a haunting call, God seeks a faithful messenger.
“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Notice the plural of us. The Trinity is seen in this passage as Isaiah sees God in the entirety of His essence. God issues a holy “help wanted” advertisement for messengers on mission to proclaim His truth to a wandering nation.
“Here am I. Send me.” Isaiah is a new prophet with a new appreciation of the God he serves. Notice he does not say, “Here I am.” He gives God his availability, not his location. He submits his will to God’s will.
God then says “go!” God commissions him into service. We have been drawn into the presence of a perfect God and realize that we have no right to stand before Him. We have felt the forgiving touch of God’s hand and expressed our thankfulness. The next step is seeking to serve!
How do we begin?
In response to God’s incredible mercy that He has lavished on us, surrender all you are to Him.
You notice that He just asked for a volunteer. God is not looking for super-talented people. He is simply asking “who will go for us?” He will equip you for the task ahead, he just asks for your life.
That’s the call I answered when I moved to North Carolina. And it’s the call that the Uchereks have answered multiple times in their lives.
[Dan and Christy Ucherek interview]
Ending song: I will Follow
