What Comes After "Here Am I Send Me"...

There are those texts in the Bible where our interest in them has made them famous, so famous that in some ways we don't know what is said before or after them.  We make a mistake in making some verses so famous that we lose sight of the inspired words that surround them.  One of those texts is found in Isaiah 6 and here it is...

Isaiah 6:1 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!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Have we ever noticed there are 5 more verses in the chapter? In every one of these verses, God is continuing to communicate with Isaiah concerning His call upon the prophet's life. This continued conversation between the Lord and the prophet define for us an early picture of the kind of proclamation of Scripture commitment that is necessary in a culture that has abandoned the truth.  Isaiah's culture had no interest in truth.  

The beginning of Isaiah's famous missionary call that we love so much includes strong instruction to him about how long Isaiah would be sent and how long he would serve.  Let's look at the words that have long been ignored...

Isaiah 6:9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord? ”And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, 12 and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

Isaiah's missionary call was to be one of Proclamation of truth that would result in little results. When he said "Here I am! Send me", not one aspect of answering that call was going to be easy as he was going to go into a culture that had no interest in what Isaiah would have to say about anything for his culture had abandoned Biblical truth long ago.  

Take a look at verses 9-10 and try to imagine that being your task from God in one of the most difficult settings in the world's history to speak of truth. These two verses define what the results of his ministry would bring among the people.  Obedience to God would have to matter more than results.  

I appreciate the prophet's honesty in 6:11 when he asks, "How long do you want me to say those words?"  God's answer to his question must have landed heavy on Isaiah for the response from the Lord was not one that said Isaiah would lead a revival.  He would not see an awakening, but he would continue to preach until the land was desolate and the people were taken away to far and forsaken places. That is a difficult calling! 

This is to be no less for us as well.  The call we have to proclaim the Gospel is not one of convenience nor comfort, but rather it is one of being wholeheartedly compelled to not being able to do anything else but speak the Words of the Gospel. 

I am reminded of Paul's Words in line with this...

2 Timothy 4:2 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

This is one example as to why we ought to read everything before and after "famous" verses as we just might be able to learn a bit more.  

As I reflect upon my own life, I want to be like Isaiah, one who is willing to preach even if people hear but don't understand, see but never perceive, have hearts that are dull and ears that are heavy. The Gospel matters that much!

In an age where churches, ministers and denominations are solely judged on how big they are or cool/hip music they have - it makes you wonder if anyone is left who would be willing to be an "Isaiah preacher" or go to an "Isaiah church"? 

One where obedience to the proclamation of the Gospel matters more than anything else.

Where are you Isaiah? For your commitment is needed in our day!

The First 8 Words

Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

                  The First 8 Words

I want us to only look at the first 8 words of this passage and no more.  Here is why?  Because everything else we seem to love about this passage is predicated on those 1^st 8 words.  Everything flows out of them.  It is not just by chance that they are the first 8 words, but it is by intention.  

It is my contention and conviction that these first 8 words were what they saw from Jesus day in and day out. They were continuing what had been modeled for them while they were with Him and what He told them to do in the Great Commission in these words “teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).  In the gospels alone, there are right at 154 references to Jesus’ teaching, preaching, proclaiming, telling of parables, talking of the truth as they went on their way.  The gospels are permeated with His proclamation of truth.  This is what He modeled with them for 3 years.  Why was this His pattern and why is it the pattern of the Jerusalem church?  The world lies in sin and is predicated on lies so God’s truth must invade and wipe out the great lies of the lost culture of the world.  John wrote these inspired words, “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” 1 John 5:19.  Therefore the light of the truth of Christ in regard to who He is and what He says becomes the only answer to this bondage.  

The fact that the apostles made sure that the teaching of scripture was first and foremost as the church began came out of their relationship with Jesus and desire to be obedient to Him in all matters.  From Acts 2:42 through the rest of the New Testament this pattern is shown in all of the books of the New Testament.  The truth of scripture mattered to them and it must matter to us.

We have so gotten this confused and out of line.  As they waited in the upper room for the coming of the Holy Spirit, they did not spend their time making decisions about location, funding, worship style, formal/informal, denomination affiliation, websites, or whether they would be seeker-sensitive or expositional.  They did not wait until they came up with a purpose statement or vision statement or who would be their target group to reach.  They weren’t told they were going to have to fill out monthly ministry report forms so the denomination could measure how things were going. They were not devoted to having a cool band and music in a room that was full of darkness or one with cool lights or great staging and hip dressed players.  All of these kinds of thoughts churches go through should say everything that needs to be said about why the model of church has gotten so off base from scripture.  

It leads me to the most obvious question, “Why have those things become our considerations in regard to church?  It shows we have lost our way. What is wrong with the first 8 Words of Acts 2:42 as our primary consideration for all that we do in church life?

                  

It does not take long to see what a church is devoted to.   It is evidenced quickly from the platform on a Sunday morning.  In a sense, what takes place there shows what a congregation desires and is willing to put up with.  The fruit of the Jerusalem church came out of their marked devotion to the teaching of scripture.  Just in case you and I might think this path of church life was not real "seeker or lost person" friendly, read the rest of Acts 2:42-47 and you will see words that “seekers” are interested in, words like fellowship/community, wonders, having a unity in regard to who really owned possessions. They were able to see that Christ-followers had all things in common and sold their possessions so peoples needs would be met, and they spent time hanging out in their homes all over the city eating and studying the scripture together.  

You mean to tell me that those words are not attractive to people who are lonely, disconnected and overwhelmed?  As if those words are not enough, the believers were marked by glad and generous hearts and all of this led them to have favor with the people of the city.  This is why we marvel at them I think, their faith was marked by joy and generosity, something that is missing in the large part in the church of the West.  The lost in the city joined the church through faith in Christ and then by walking in that faith in Christ as new member of the kingdom of God.  It was contagious!

                  

Again, all of that happened I contend, because of the devotion to the scripture as the foundation to ministry.  It is this devotion we have lost in our quest for whatever we think church is to be about.  We must get back to the primacy of what the 1^st church did in Acts 2:42a where “they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching”.   I am calling us back to this devotion.  They taught the sacred scripture and some of these men wrote the sacred writings under the inspiration of the Spirit.  It is there, where we must return and reside.  We must teach what the apostles taught and wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  Could this be the key to awakening?  Could this be what the church in the West is lacking?

Jesus said He is the light of the World – John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  This also means that Christ is the light of the church.  If He is ever excluded from the church, then the natural result will eventually lead the church to go into darkness.  A church that has no light of Christ from the revealed Word will ever be able to escape the darkness that comes from that, no matter how creative, formal, financially sound, or strategically located.  We must return to the Light, which means that we proclaim, proclaim, and proclaim the glory of Christ in the Word

Whatever happened to this and why is this not the main question being asked today?  Why are we looking everywhere else for the answer to our struggles, but to this devotion? 

The answer to a significant church future will be found in a return to a devotion to confessing Christ in scripture.