Have you ever read about the homeless children that live in Russia, India and South America? There have been several stories and TV documentaries that have aired in which the plight of these children has been described. There are literally thousands of these children that live in the most pitiful conditions. In some of the larger cities, countless of these abandoned children literally live in the sewers.
Now I want you to imagine - just for a moment - that you are one of these children. Imagine that you are in their shoes. You are virtually blind because you’ve been underground. Living in the darkness of the sewers has caused you to lose the capacity to see clearly. You are filthy. The waste that drains from thousands of homes has become your adornment. And because the sewers have been your home for as long as you can remember, you don’t know that there is anything different. The filth and the stench have become a normal part of your life.
One day a kind person enters the sewers. He finds you and tells you that there are more beautiful places. He gives you the opportunity to leave the sewers. And so, believing that there is a lovelier world waiting, you jump at the opportunity to leave. But then something strange happens. As you approach the light - as your eyes become accustomed to it - you start to see the state that you are in. For the first time you see clearly the filth on your clothes and in your hair. As you recognize your condition, you realize that you must be repulsive to the kind man leading you out. And no matter how hard you try to brush off the stains and the filth, they will not go away. In fact, the harder you try, the more you rub the filth into your clothes and your hair. To your horror, you discover that as you get closer and closer to the light of day, filth and dirt become more obvious. You begin think to yourself, “I don’t belong in the light. Look at me – a filthy, miserable person. I can’t be in the light.” (Adapted from an illustration on SermonCentral.com; Contributed by: Mark Barnes)
Beloved, that revulsion that you would feel is a hint of what Isaiah felt when God ushered him into heaven through a vision. Listen to what Isaiah saw and what he felt as God revealed his beauty and holiness:
1. In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 1:1-5)
Isaiah could not bear to be in the presence of a perfect, holy God. Indeed, how is it possible that any human being could approach God? God is perfect and holy and we are quite the opposite. To approach God in our sinful condition is to subject ourselves to a burning searing holy light. And in that holy light emanating from God, wouldn’t we, just like that child crawling out of the sewers, see our pitiful, sinful, repulsive condition, beloved?
The holiness of God is overwhelming. Listen to what Dr. Tony Evans writes in one of his books: “Holiness is the centerpiece of God’s attributes. Of all the things God is, at the center of His being, God is holy. Never in the Bible is God called, ‘love, love, love,’ or ‘eternal, eternal, eternal,’ or ‘truth, truth, truth…’ But God has stressed that He is holy, holy, holy.” (Adapted from an illustration on SermonCentral.com; Contributed by: Brian La Croix)
We see this clearly in the reading from Isaiah. Isaiah was privileged to see, seraphim – a special kind of angel. These stand at God’s throne and their purpose is to say: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And even these holy angels stand in God’s presence with their eyes and feet covered. Think of that beloved, even holy angels need to cover themselves because of God’s holiness.
The holiness of God is entirely more than anybody can bear. Isaiah was overwhelmed. When he felt the foundations shake; when he saw the smoke filling the house of God; when he recognized the holy perfection of God - he cried out in terror: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 5:5)
What makes it so difficult to be in God’s presence? It’s sin. Sinful people are afraid to be in God’s presence. We see that truth lived out in today’s Gospel Lesson. Dr. Luke tells us that Jesus got into Peter’s boat. He asked Peter to put out into the water just a little bit. From that vantage point, Jesus taught the crowds of people that had gathered along the lakeshore. When Jesus finished teaching the crowds, He told Peter to move the boat to deeper water and to lower the nets. Peter protested – “Lord we fished all night and caught nothing. But because you say so, I’ll do what you say.” (Luke 5:5) When they did as Jesus instructed, their nets were so full that they were breaking. They had to get their buddies to come over in another boat to help them. Even so, there were so many fish in the nets that both boats were filled and almost sunk from the haul of fish they caught.
In his preaching to the crowds and in this miracle of the great catch of fish, Jesus gave Peter and the other fisherman just a glimpse of his divinity. Now the Lord didn’t let it all hang out. There wasn’t thunder and flashes of lightning – just a sermon and a huge catch of fish. It was just a sliver of his awesome holiness and power. But this showed Peter that the One standing before him – Jesus Christ - was holy and righteous. And in the presence of that holy divinity – even if it was just a glimpse - the reaction was predictable: Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:4-8)
In the face of Jesus’ revealed holiness, Peter could not stand. He knew that he was a sinful man and felt ashamed to stand before Jesus. In the presence of a holy God, Isaiah could not stand. And in the presence of a holy God, we cannot stand, beloved.
Contemplating the holiness of God can paralyze sinful man. It can paralyze you and me. The enemy can use this to keep us from serving God. The enemy can deceive us by making think that our witness would be impure and ineffective. The temptation is to do and to say as Isaiah did, as Peter did – as we have each said at one time or another: “Lord I’m not good enough to serve you.”
And so God took the initiative. When Isaiah expressed his unworthiness to be God’s servant God did something to make him fit. Verses 6 & 7 of the Old Testament Lesson say: “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’ ” (Isaiah 1:6-7) God took care of the sin problem in Isaiah’s life in order to prepare him to be his messenger. Isaiah received an advance of the righteousness that was to flow from a Cross on which the very God that he saw in his vision would die.
And in the Gospel Lesson, when Peter fell at Jesus’ feet, it was Jesus Himself who said, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” (Luke 5:10b) Again, it was Jesus’ authority to forgive that made Peter fit to serve as a fisher of men. And beloved, it is that same forgiveness that makes us fit to serve in the Kingdom.
It is a beautiful irony that we find at the Cross. You see, only at the Cross of Christ do we fully see how unworthy we are. Our sinfulness becomes so abundantly clear at the foot of the Cross. It is also at the Cross, and at the Cross alone where we see that God has restored us to Himself. Nowhere else do we see that pure, perfect and inviolable holiness of God and the impossibility of guilty man standing before Him. And yet, beloved, nowhere else does the limitless mercy of God, which utterly transcends all human understanding, become more clear than at the Cross. (Adapted from an illustration on SermonCentral.com; Contributed by: Emil Brunner)
Because of his Cross and Resurrection, Jesus has the authority to make us fit to be God’s servants. It made Peter fit to respond to Jesus’ invitation. The Gospel tells us: “And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.” (Luke 5:11) Because of God’s authority to forgive Isaiah was made fit to respond to God’s call. Isaiah tells us: “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’ ” (Isaiah 1:8)
What made Peter and Isaiah – both sinful men – fit to serve the Kingdom? - God’s forgiveness! Jesus has the authority to forgive and to send. On this Epiphany Sunday we see it in his calling, capacitating and making Peter and the others ‘fishers of men.’
And Jesus has the authority to forgive and send you and me. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He told us: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” And beloved, it is by and in this authority that we serve. It is by this authority that we preach. It is by this authority that we engage the world as the commissioned and sent people of God.
And so I say to you, beloved, don’t keep that light under a bushel basket. By Christ’s authority and in his forgiveness, “…Go and make disciples of all nations…” Tell them of God’s love. Tell them about the Cross. Tell them about the forgiveness. Tell them about life eternal. You are forgiven. You are qualified to be Jesus’ messengers! Amen.
