A Life Marked by Faithfulness
Another Kind of Fear
When in your life have you felt the most afraid?
I remember watching this movie on TV when I was a kid. It was first released in 1939, and it became wildly popular.
It featured a little girl named Dorothy, a Tin Man, and a Scarecrow who were walking through a dark, spooky forest down a yellow brick road on their way to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz. They were trying to stay brave but as they walked through the dark forest, they began to imagine all the creatures they might encounter along the way.
Then they began to chant, to say those fears out loud… Lions, and Tigers, and Bears! O My! Lions, and Tigers, and Bears! O My!
That’s when a LION jumped out of the forest and scared them to death. Ironically, the LION was the most fearful of them all!
There are a lot of things that scare us as we walk the road we’re on, as we make our way on our journey. We’re not necessarily worried about lions, and tigers, and bears.
But there is a lot to be afraid of.
And there’s more than one kind of fear.
Sometimes fear rises within us because of the situation we’re in. Like Dorothy and her friends we’re walking through a dark forest and we’re not exactly sure what we’re going to face. But there are external forces that threaten us.
Sometimes we’re afraid because we feel all kinds of internal anxieties that are rising within us. That was the Lion’s problem. Some of you know what that feels like, too.
Sometimes we’re worried that we’re not smart enough like Scarecrow.
Or maybe like the Tin Man, that we’ll never know love.
But there is another kind of fear that is different still. It’s the kind of fear every person of faith has to face. What we do in that moment has the potential to change everything about us.
When One king Dies
This is the fear that a prophet by the name of Isaiah faced when he came face to face with God. If you asked Isaiah that question, “When in your life have you felt the most afraid?” my guess is that he would tell you this story about this moment that happened in Isaiah 6.
Isaiah was a prophet of God during the 8th century BC. His name, Isaiah, means “Yahweh Saves.” He was the son of Amoz (Isaiah 1.1). He was a father. He had two sons (7.3, 8.3). We’re not sure, but there’s a possibility that he was a part of the royal family. He prophesied during the reign of King Uzziah who could have been his cousin.
During King Uzziah’s reign the people of Judah experienced a time of peace and prosperity! Overall he was remembered as a good king who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord (2 Kings 15.3).
He reigned for 52 years (2 Chronicles 26:3) and during that time, the people of Judah enjoyed stability, security, and prosperity. But now all of that is in question.
In Isaiah 6, we learn that things are about to change. Isaiah 6 opens with these words…
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
In the year that the king of Judah dies, Isaiah sees the King of kings and the Lord of lords, high and exalted, seated on his throne!
While the rest of the world is filled with fear and anxiety and worry about the future and the uncertainty of it all, Isaiah sees the Lord who is eternally seated on the throne, the throne that is never vacated, never in question, never in doubt.
There is only one King who has ever sat on THIS throne and who will ever sit on THIS throne. It’s not up for grabs. It’s never going to change. There’s no uncertainty here!
Isaiah has a vision of the King of kings seated on the throne and he says that the train of his robe filled the temple!
In other words, Isaiah doesn’t have a category or a way to describe the majesty, the glory, the incomparable greatness that his eyes are taking in.
He doesn’t have a way to translate what he’s seeing into human words. The greatness of God is so great that just the train of his kingly robe, the hem of this majestic garment, fills the entire temple! This is the greatness of God. Even the heavenly temple can’t contain him, it can barely contain the train of his robe!
The Song that Never Gets Old
Then Isaiah says…
2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Can you imagine, this is the song that is being sung 24/7 around the throne room of heaven, the angels are singing it right now, this is the worship of heaven! And this song never gets old. This chorus never gets tired.
Sometimes I hear people talk about some of the more recent worship songs and joke about how you just sing the same thing over and over and over again. And, I get it. But don’t miss this, this is the chorus that is being sung on repeat in eternity right now and it never gets old.
Isaiah hears the angels singing this song and he says…
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
Can you imagine being Isaiah in this moment? He’s having a vision of heaven. He’s standing in the presence of God. He’s hearing the worship of heaven. He’s feeling the ground shake beneath his feet because the worship of the angels is so great. His lungs are filling with smoke.
Ruined and Undone
What do you do when you come face-to-face with the Living God? What do you do when your ears hear the worship of heaven and your eyes have seen the King!?
Isaiah cries out…
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! 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 cries out in FEAR.
But this is a different kind of fear. This is the kind of fear that every person of faith has to come face to face with.
This is fear that is felt on the human side of faith that has the potential to change everything about us.
Isaiah cries out, “Woe to me!”
It’s a passionate cry of grief and despair. Why would Isaiah feel grief or despair in this moment?
He tells us why. He says…
“I am ruined!”
In other words, I am undone! In this moment, Isaiah recognizes who he IS and who he IS NOT.
Who God is in all of His divine majesty and glory and holiness and indescribable greatness.
And Isaiah is filled with a different kind of fear. This is a fear filled with reverence. With awe.
Is Isaiah afraid in this moment because of the situation he’s in? I’m sure he is. But this kind of fear that he’s experiencing isn’t just triggering his fight, flight, or freeze reflex… it’s a fear filled with holy wonder and a deep realization of the fact that he is somehow standing the presence of THE Holy God.
Isaiah 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 knows he is a sinner somehow standing in the presence of The Holy God. And Isaiah is keenly aware that there’s nothing he can do to remove his sin. There’s nothing he can do to change the fact that he lives among sinful people.
The Grace of God & the Call of Isaiah
But there is something God can do.
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
In that moment, Isaiah experiences God’s incredible grace. In that moment, his sin is removed, taken away, atoned for. God did what only a Holy God could do for Isaiah so that Isaiah could do what God wanted Isaiah to do for Him.
After having his sins removed, Isaiah says…
8 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!”
When God called Abraham, he said, I’m too old!
Jacob wrestled with God.
Moses said, “No,” five times.
Barak said he would go to war only if Deborah went with him.
Samson relied on his own strength.
Naomi blamed God for her situation in life.
Elijah just wanted to curl up and die.
But Isaiah says…
“Here am I. Send me!”
Isaiah has seen God. And now, He is going to be sent by God to serve God. But the calling that God is placing on Isaiah’s life is not going to be easy. Here’s what God says to Isaiah…
9 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
In other words, Isaiah… I’m sending you to preach to a people who will never hear your message, they’re never going to respond to your invitation, by the world’s standards, you’re going to look like a complete failure because they are never going to listen and they are never going to change!
A Difficult Calling
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a difficult calling.
I can only imagine if God called me to go preach to a church that was never going to listen, never going to understand my message, or the message God had given me to share, never going to respond, where no one ever came forward for prayer, no one ever got baptized, where the church never grew, and never listened to anything I ever had to say. I mean, this is a difficult calling that God is placing on Isaiah.
So you can understand his next question…
11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”
Is this going to be for a week? A month? A year? Maybe they’ll just tune me out for a sermon series or two?
God said… this is how long it’s going to go on.
And he answered:
“Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
Isaiah, this is your calling for the rest of your life. No one is ever going to hear your message. No one is ever going to repent and turn back to me.
By our standards today, we might think Isaiah’s life and ministry were a complete failure. His message wasn’t received; it was rejected.
We’ve made an idol out of success, even when it comes to ministry. We’ve made an idol out of productivity, numerical growth, success, and all the metrics the world says are important.
We don’t know much about Isaiah’s life. And we don’t know for sure how he died. But tradition says that Isaiah was sawn in two because he wouldn’t stop preaching the word of God.
Isaiah’s life was marked my something greater that most metrics don’t account for.
Marked by Faithfulness
Isaiah’s life was marked by Faithfulness.
Isaiah was called to long obedience in the same direction not knowing if or when he would see the results.
Yet his calling was never about production, or success, or responses; it was always about faithfulness. Isaiah was one of the greatest prophets who ever lived because of his willingness to say YES to the Lord over and over again, regardless of the outcomes.
By the way, we’re not in charge of outcomes.
Isaiah asks God, How Long?
And God essentially says, it’s going to be a while. And it’s going to get so dark and so dire that it’s going to feel utterly hopeless. But then God says this…
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
God ends His commissioning of Isaiah with a word of hope. There will be a holy seed. There will be a remnant of faithful people. And ultimately, one day, the Messiah, the Savior of the world will come.
How long Isaiah?
You just keep preaching this message and even when it seems like nothing is changing, even when it feels like people are failing and falling away from me, take heart. Because through your prophecy, through the word of the Lord through you one day the Word of God will come, the Son of God, and He will bring Hope, He will bring Peace, He will bring Life.
Isaiah had an encounter with God that changed the trajectory of his life.
Life Changing Encounters
Have you had that kind of encounter with God?
I’m not suggesting that you’re going to have the same kind of vision that Isaiah had or that God is going to call you to do what Isaiah did, but every person of faith, as far as I can tell, has some kind of encounter with God that changes the trajectory of their lives.
Maybe you had an encounter with God when you were hearing the word of God preached or taught in a way that really had an impact on you and changed you.
Or maybe you’ve encountered God through spiritual disciplines like prayer, reading the Scriptures, fasting, or worship.
Maybe you found yourself serving in a classroom or on the mission field or somewhere else and you encountered God and experienced His presence like never before.
Maybe it was that time that God put just the right person at the right time in your life and that relationship, well… you would say… it’s a God thing. Because that person showed you what the love, the grace, the kindness of God looks like.
Or maybe something happened in your life, maybe it was an extremely difficult time, or maybe you experienced what you can only describe as a miracle, and that situation, that circumstance, that moment… you would say God met you there.
However it happened, when you have that kind of encounter with God you probably experienced FEAR. You might not have been afraid like you would be afraid of a lion, or tiger, or bear… but you experienced a holy reverence and awe as you realized you were in the presence of God.
Here’s what I want to challenge you to do with that kind of fear today…
Let the fear of God fill you with faith to fulfill your mission.
Say Yes Lord
Will you say YES to living a life of faithfulness to God again today?
The success of your life isn’t determined by what you produce, how productive you are, but by your willingness to say YES LORD over and over again. By your willingness to say to God, Here I Am, Send Me.
No matter the outcome, no matter the response, no matter the result… Here I am Lord, USE me. SEND me. CHOOSE me. And no matter the outcome, I’m going to live my life pointing those around me to God.
This exactly what Jesus did. By the world’s standards, his life looked like a failure as he hung on the cross and died. The crowd shouted out, “He saved others; let him save himself…” Luke 23.35, NIV).
Jesus said Yes to living and dying and rising again for you and for me and for the world!
Hear me say YES to whatever it is you’re calling me to because my eyes have seen the King!
You Will Not Be Disappointed
At the end of the movie, when Dorothy comes to the end of the yellow brick road and meets the Wizard of Oz, she’s disappointed to discover he’s just some old man hiding behind a curtain.
Can I tell you something?
When you reach the end of your road you will not be disappointed.
When you come face to face with the King of kings and the Lord of lords, you will be filled with reverence and awe.
Until that day, can I encourage you to live every day for Him.
No matter the outcome, live for Him.
No matter what happens, live for Him.
No matter if they listen, point people to Him.
No matter if they respond, tell people about Him.
Let the fear of God fill you with FAITH to fulfill your mission.
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