Epiphany 5              February 9, 2025
Isaiah 6:1-8              Pastor Ryan Wolfe

“Are you worthy? No…and YES!”

When a pastor writes a sermon he usually has two goals. First, to explain the text. Help people understand what is happening in these verses and what it means. Sometimes that’s easy. Sometimes not. Second, we have a goal to apply the text. Help people see what these words mean for them – either for their faith life and hope of heaven or for their daily life and service to God. Or both. Generally, to do this right a pastor needs to do the first part first and the second part second. But can we go to the application for a second? Very clearly the parts of Scripture we heard in worship today are telling us to go and speak to others about our Savior. You get it. I get it. We know this. But we don’t. Not to the degree God wants us to. Not even to the degree we want to for ourselves. How many times have you walked away from a chance to share your faith, wishing you had said something more?

There are probably numerous reasons we fail to speak. Number one is plain old sinful laziness. It’s easier to NOT take up the cross of Christ and serve him. It’s easier to keep my mouth closed instead of tell someone about their sin. Easier to avoid an awkward conversation about faith and “deep” things. The only solution to that cause of unfaithfulness is good preaching and God’s Word. A message of law that doesn’t let us get away with it. That honestly tells us what a damnable sin it is for us to stay silent when someone is lost and on a path to hell. And that followed by a message of gospel that assures us we are forgiven and motivates us to put those failures behind us and strain ahead to do better the next time. Good preaching that calls us to account and then calls us to new life in Christ.

Last week we saw God call Jeremiah into ministry only to see him initially refuse the call, saying he was too young. In the children’s sermon last week I brought up Moses, who refused God’s call from the burning bush multiple times. Moses had all kinds of excuses: “The people won’t believe me. I’m not good at talking. Who should I say sent me?” Finally, he flat out told God, “Please send someone else.”

Today, it’s Isaiah’s turn to hear God’s call to speak. And his response is similar, but with a slightly more noble tone. Isaiah looks at his life and his people and tells God that he’s not worthy. A man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips, who is he to speak for a holy God? And Isaiah was right. He wasn’t worthy to speak for God. And neither are we. The sermon theme asks the question and gives you the answer. Are you worthy? No. Not at all. But also…YES. Without question. That’s the message we take from Isaiah 6:1-8. Let’s look at the text now and see how we get there.

It begins with the words: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord…” Isaiah saw the Lord. Great! What did God look like? I don’t know. Isaiah doesn’t really tell us, does he? The most he said about God was that he was seated on a throne that was high and exalted and that the train, or hem, of his robe filled the temple. Isaiah did describe the angels above God. Seraphs he calls them, which means something like “burning ones.” These angels each had six wings. With two they covered their eyes, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. As they did so they called out to one another with words of praise for God, their voices shaking the whole temple as the sanctuary filled with smoke.

Although Isaiah doesn’t really describe God he doesn’t have to for us to get the point. The lofty throne, the booming angels, and the pungent smoke all tell us that this is an awesome God. Almighty. Majestic. Impressive. But God is not just awesome in appearance and power; he’s awesomely holy. The angels were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” What does it mean that God is holy? It means that he is totally set apart, in a different league than us when it comes to power, wisdom, AND morality. God’s holiness means that there is no sin, no evil, nothing bad in him whatsoever. The perfectly perfect One in every way. And the glory of this perfect one isn’t contained to one place but fills the whole earth. It fills the heavens, the oceans, the land. Your house, your office, your bedroom. God’s glory and holiness are everywhere, even if you can’t see it.

Are you worthy to speak for one such as this? Isaiah knew he wasn’t worthy to even be in God’s presence. “Woe to me! 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 saw this vision of God on his throne and he was terrified. His neighbors may have thought he was a pretty good guy but the awesomely holy God knew better. He is holy, holy, holy. Three persons in one God, all of them perfect. And now Isaiah stands in the spotlight of this awesomely holy God with no one to hide behind. Like an ant caught in a magnifying-glass-concentrated beam of searing sunlight, Isaiah knew his unworthiness. He felt it. Do you?

An ant may be able to scurry away from a beam of sunlight, but we can’t hide from God’s holiness. There is no place for pride in ourselves among Christians. Just take the unclean lips that Isaiah mentioned. We think our white lies are just little lies, no worse than a milk moustache. “Sure, I stretched the truth about why I was late for work. Big deal.” But speaking the truth, the whole truth, is a big deal to the holy, holy, holy, Lord Almighty, for he is Truth. And our unclean lips are just one symptoms of our unclean hearts. Are we worthy to speak for God? No, we aren’t even worthy to stand before God. Isaiah knew it. God knew it. We know it.

Don’t you think Isaiah’s unworthy heart must have leapt out of his chest when a six-winged angel flew at him with a hot coal from God’s altar? It’s amazing Isaiah didn’t scream as the seraph pressed that coal to the prophet’s lips. It’s a good thing he didn’t though or he might not have heard the angel say: “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

This is our God! Isaiah not only learned firsthand that day that God is awesomely holy; he learned that God is also totally forgiving. Did you notice Isaiah didn’t even have to ask for forgiveness? He didn’t have to reach out and grab it. He didn’t do anything! God brought forgiveness to him. With a coal from the altar, the place where sacrifices were offered as a picture of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus to come, God communicated to Isaiah that his sin had been atoned. Paid for. Wiped out. The unworthy sinner that cried out in fear could now stand in God’s presence in peace. This is why we come to church week after week. Where we see an altar and a cross and remember this truth for ourselves. Where God’s servant touches the burning coal of God’s Word to our lips again and tells us our guilt has been taken away. Our sin is atoned for.

So now, are you worthy to stand before God? Say it out loud. Yes! Are you worthy to speak as Isaiah spoke? As Peter and James and John? Say it out loud again. This is our epiphany moment again: God doesn’t call the worthy to follow him. He declares those who follow him worthy in Christ.

Look back at the vision of Isaiah for just one more moment. As soon as the prophet was assured of forgiveness he heard God himself speak for the first time. God said, as if to no one in particular: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” God needed a volunteer. But what was the mission? How difficult would it be? How long would it take? How much would it cost? None of that mattered to Isaiah. Before he even knew what he was signing up for Isaiah said: “Here am I. Send me!”

God’s call, if we’re hearing it clearly, is mightily motivating. God doesn’t guilt Isaiah into action. He didn’t scare him into obedience. He showed Isaiah who He is, and who Isaiah is in him. Holy. Worthy. Ready. Like Isaiah, every one of us has been totally forgiven by our awesomely holy God. Now he calls us to serve him. Not by guilt. Not by force. By gratitude. And what does God want us to do? Listen. Learn. Live. Isaiah’s call would be a difficult one. He was to preach to stubborn Israelites who wouldn’t listen. In the very next verse God tells Isaiah that their hearts would be hard and they would not listen. Nevertheless Isaiah was told to preach, and that’s what he did.

Brothers and sisters, worthy to serve, we too have been sent out as messengers to a stubborn world. It’s not an easy job, and we don’t always feel qualified. But when we’re tempted to ask long it will take or how much it will cost, look again through the eyes of Isaiah and see God as he is: awesomely holy and totally forgiving. And then see yourself as you truly are: worthy to serve and called for a purpose. May God lead us to seek out the lost. To comfort the hurting. To serve together in love and unity. To cry out with Isaiah again and again, “Here am I. Send me!” Amen.