ALTERING OUR COURSE
Text: Isaiah 6:1-8
Rev. Dan R. Dick has a sermon on this text. In his sermon he said that unclean lips he mentioned that “unclean lips” is an evocative phrase that covers a wide range of behaviors”. (David N. Mosser. ed. The Abingdon Preaching Annual 2012. Dan R. Dick. “Lip Service.” Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011, p. 179). He also mentions that Jesus once addressed the Pharisees saying that it is not what goes into a person that makes him unclean but what comes out that can defile. Of course Jesus was talking about the heart and its contents. If there are unclean thoughts that proceed from the heart, then there can also be impure results in the form of “insults, rumors, gossip, lies, unkind comments, thoughtless [insensitive] remarks, and prejudiced statements.” (Dan R. Dick , p. 179). Our natural inclination is to think of unclean lips as foul language.
Rev Dick points out that “… in big and small ways, we are people of unclean lips, as well as unclean thoughts and not always sparkling behaviors”. (Dan R. Dick, p. 179). So why is this passage of scripture so important during this time of year, on the Sunday following Pentecost? It is important because it reminds of God’s grace which justifies us through Jesus and sanctifies us through the Holy Spirit. In this experience Isaiah encounters a vision of God, sees his own unrighteousness and responds to God’s call and alters his course.
ISAIAH SAW A VISION OF GOD.
Isaiah probably did not anticipate that he would see this vision.
1) Spiritual geography: God met Isaiah where he was. It can be a scary thing when God meets us where we are.
2) Un-surrendered territory: The experience of God meeting us where we are can remind us of both our need for God as well as our unresolved unholiness. It can remind us of areas in our lives where we have lost God.
Have you ever felt like you lost God?
There two boys who were brothers. One day they got into some mischief. The parents sent the boys to talk to their preacher. The preacher called the oldest boy into his office and asked him, “Where is God?” The boy was puzzled and did not know how to answer such a profound question. He was speechless. The minister asked the same a question a second time and got the same kind of result. He asked the question a third time and again the result was the same. However, by this time, the older brother got anxious and ran out to his younger brother and told hi to come on. His younger looked puzzled so his older brother began to explain. The preacher is in there asking me where God is. They’ve lost God and they are going to try to pin it on us. We laugh when we hear a story like this one. We need to remember that any time we feel as though God is not close to us it is not because God has moved. It is because somehow we have moved.
ISAIAH SAW HIS OWN LACK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
When Isaiah saw this vision of God, he also saw his lack of righteousness. 1) Too dirty for washing detergent: Tide won’t do the job. Surf won’t do the job. Not even Bold, Al Temperature Cheer, or Bold will do the Job. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that our righteousness is a filthy rags. That one sentence describes how Isaiah felt when he stood before God’s presence. 2) Shame: Just as deer freeze and are stunned by headlights, Isaiah has his equivalent of “ a deer in the headlight look” at the moment he encounters God’s presence. If ever Isaiah must have been tempted to run and hide, now was the time. Isaiah was well aware of the fact that we cannot hide our sins from God because God sees us as we really are.
I read about a fellow, chef who used to have his own TV show. He was successful enough to have his own TV show, but he still felt empty until God filled him with His spirit. He got saved. After his conversion, he went on the air apologizing for all the inappropriate things that he said in earlier shows. God made this chef righteous through grace. God did the same for Isaiah and He does the same for you and me. God cleansed Isaiah not because he deserved it but because he could not continue to serve God in the filthy rags of his own righteousness. So God cleaned him up.
God took away Isaiah’s guilt.
1) Baggage: God did more than just cleaning Isaiah up, he healed him when he took his guilt away. God healed him of his guilt, his baggage. The baggage of guilt can make us ineffective.
2) Burdened: God never meant for us to be burdened with our guilt to the point that it hinders us from serving Him.
3) Divine intervention: The book of Isaiah might have ended here if God had not had intervened in his life. God was not finished with Isaiah. God had plans for Isaiah. God also has plans for each of us in the ways that we have been called to serve God.
ISAIAH RESPSONDED TO GOD’S CALL.
Isaiah heard God say “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8 NIV). Isaiah said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8 NIV). God was sending Isaiah to go warn people to alter their courses to avoid destruction. God first helped Isaiah to alter his course so that he could help others to alter theirs.
Is there more to do after God cleans us?
There was an officer in the navy who had always dreamed of commanding a battleship. He finally achieved that dream and was given commission of the newest and proudest ship in the fleet. One stormy night, as the ship plowed through the seas, the captain was on duty on the bridge when off to the port he spotted a strange light rapidly closing with his own vessel. Immediately he ordered the signalman to flash the message to the unidentified craft, "Alter your course ten degrees to the south." Only a moment had passed before the reply came: "Alter your course ten degrees to the north." Determined that his ship would take a backseat to no other, the captain snapped out the order to be sent: "Alter course ten degrees—I am the CAPTAIN!" The response beamed back, "Alter your course ten degrees—I am Seaman Third Class Jones." Now infuriated, the captain grabbed the signal light with his own hands and fired off: "Alter course, I am a battleship." The reply came back "Alter your course, I am a lighthouse." No matter how big or important any of us think we are, God’s Word stands forth as an unchanging beacon. All other courses must be altered to His. (James S. Hewett. ed. Illustrations Unlimited. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.). How many of us can relate to this captain’s pride? How well are we altering our courses?
God wants us to alter our courses when we are facing sure disaster. That is why God was sending Isaiah. That is also why God sends us.
I read of an incident that happened in 1986 as two ships collided. The accident was one that could have been avoided. It happened in the Black Sea. The real tragedy of this accident was the lives that were lost. The captains of both ships refused to move out of each others’ way. Both captains were two proud to turn out of each others’ path. (Herb Miller. Actions Speak Louder Than Verbs. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1988, p. 25). Both captains were too proud to make the first move. Unlike the highway, the ocean does not have stop signs, traffic lights or yield signs. It is common sense to understand that if we do not alter our course when there is an object in our paths, then more than likely we will collide with it. Pride will make us do stupid things like refusing to alter our course when we are about to collide with temptation and crash into sin. When we sin we miss the mark of what it is that God wants us to do and be.
When we run from God we are sure to run into trouble. When we run to God, we will find that He meets us where we are and shows us the changes we need to make to stay on course. Pride will make us run thinking we do not need anybody’s help. Guilt will also hinder us and make us run thinking that we are not worthy. Pride and guilt are the tools of the devil that he uses to get us off course. When we give our struggles to God, He will give us the grace that we need and show us what He wants us to do for His glory as He did for Isaiah. AMEN.
