If Not Now, When?

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Last Monday night, Preston, Will and I drove to Greensboro to watch the WWE Monday Night Raw wresting match. Now, I haven’t been into wrestling since the days of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Rowdy Ronnie Piper, Dusty Rhodes, Macho Man Randy Savage, and the like. I knew then it was fake, that the winners were predetermined and all of that but it was still fun to watch until it got to the point where I realized there was no point in watching it since it’s all staged anyway. I’ve always felt that way, that is until last Monday night.

When we pulled into the parking lot at the coliseum, all the people, seeing the WWE trucks lined up. Walking inside and seeing just how big this thing was, how excited the people were and we were acknowledging each other, just the nod of the head almost as if to say, “we’re here.” Here for what was still a question in my mind, what was I here for? I mean it was Will’s idea to come, he follows WWE and loves it, and since he just graduated college and high school I wanted to reward him with something but he never wants anything, so that is one reason we were here. But it’s all fake, the winners are already celebrating before the match has begun, so what I am and everyone else here for?

Walking out of the main hall into the interior the entrance was covered with this black cloth, the only way to see what was going on was to part that curtain, we could hear what was going on, and I’m like oh great here we go, to see something so unlike me and who I am but it’s only for a few hours so here we go.

I opened that curtain and was speechless almost, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, it was something unlike anything I had ever seen before, I couldn’t even imagine anything like this, nothing that I thought I would see. The space was dark, interrupted by flashes of light darting in every direction, the music playing wasn’t my kind of music but I found myself loving it and I was amazed. After we walked in, we just stood there for a moment trying to understand where we were at and what we here for. I still didn’t know why, but one think I did know was that I had arrived.

Isaiah wasn’t into WWE but he was into something, something that was pulling him in a direction away from God and onto something else and that was himself.

“In the year that King Uzziah died.”

Is 6:1.

Uzziah was respected by Isaiah but he did something he shouldn’t have done. Although Uzziah did not commit idolatry, he still overstepped his royal authority by assuming a role that God had denied to any person who was not a descendant of Aaron of the tribe of Levi. He went into the holy place and burned incense, something that only a priest was allowed to do. (Winfried Corduan, “2 Chronicles,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 680.)

Because of this God punished him and turned him into a leper by giving him a skin disease and he had to be led out of the temple and into seclusion. Isaiah was mourning his death, he was in a state of despair, feeling sorry for himself, trying to figure out what to do and he was just spiraling downward and now was only focused on himself. As we talked last week about the valley of dry bones that we walk through at times in our life, this is a good example of where he was, but he couldn’t stay there and God knew that so God stepped in.

The New King James Version (Chapter 6)

“I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.”

Pulpit Pages: Old Testament Sermons A. The Call’s Authority

King Uzziah was dead, but the King of glory was still seated on His throne. By the way, He is still on the throne today! We serve a sovereign Lord who possesses all power and authority. The point I’m making is that Isaiah had received a call directly from God. He saw the holiness and power of God as well as the fact that he was undone. In fact, all of Judah was undone and wretched before holy God.

This began the process of pulling him out of focusing him on himself and seeing the God of glory, to redirect him. How often have we been in this position where we have so focused on ourselves that we have shut everything else, like our own type of valley, or our own brand of mourning is something unheard of before?

All of us go through these times in our lives and we must deal with them and one that is common to us all is that the world wants to place us in this position so we can’t focus on God, all we can do is roll around in our own self pity and no longer see any good in life at all, that this will forever be our position forevermore.

God comes to us to bring us out but he doesn’t do that to just leave us there but to call us to something better, not to continue standing in that valley or a state of mourning. We must get to the place that we recognize God for who he is.

We have met here this morning to worship our Lord for he is worthy of our praise, worthy of our devotion and he alone has the authority to direct our lives and when God speaks we should at least listen to what he has to say, AMEN?

Isaiah was in the perfect place to hear God now. For many people their most realistic experience with God has been in a time of deep personal need when they threw themselves completely on God. It is not just at the crisis times that God approaches us, but at those times we are often most receptive to him and for many, we are most receptive when we feel like we are in a place where we most need him.

In a place that doesn’t look anything like what we expected, don’t know why we’re here or for what reason, but we’re here now, so what are we going to do? When we, like Isaiah, find ourselves in a place we don’t understand, hurting, searching, placing ourselves, baring ourselves before God we must listen to the voice and he heard it, in fact, he saw it and it scared him almost to death.

Hearing that voice should scare us, to show us how good God is and how sinful we are and to be like Isaiah and exclaim,

“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because 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 6:5

God knows what we go through in this life, he knows we are going to question, have doubts, wonder what we are doing here and what is the meaning of it all, what is the grand plan that God could possibly have for us? It is to bring us into relationship with him, to draw us close to him so we can finally see and hear what he has for us.

Isaiah confesses that he’s a sinner among sinners, a sinners, sinner and now he is finished, he fears that his death is now imminent and he makes this confession to God and what does God do? Forgives him. It’s that simple.

God removes a piece of coal from the alter, which is the alter of sacrifice, to signify that an offering has been (will be) made for his sins that this has redeemed him and he is now clean and God calls him to serve him, to help fulfill God’s plan.

This plan is not about the past. It's not about what has been, but what is to come. It's not about what we have done, but what He will do. It's not about our past failures, but His future victories. It's a plan that looks forward, that anticipates, that expects. We receive mercy for our past mistakes and grace for the future mistakes.

This plan is not about comfort. It's not about ease or convenience. It's a plan that involves sacrifice, struggle, and suffering. It's a plan that demands our all, our best, our everything. It's a plan that calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.

This plan is not about isolation. It's not about individualism or independence. It's a plan that involves community, relationship, and unity. It's a plan that calls us to love one another, serve one another, and bear one another's burdens.

This plan is not about certainty. It's not about having all the answers or knowing all the details. It's a plan that involves faith, trust, and dependence. It's a plan that calls us to walk by faith, not by sight.

We find ourselves, then, in the heart of Isaiah's narrative. A narrative that is not just about a prophet, but about each one of us. It's about our purpose and our tendency to procrastinate. It's about hearing God's call and responding to it. It's about saying, "Here am I. Send me!"

There's something about the human condition that makes us prone to delay. We hear God's call, we understand our purpose, but we hesitate. We find excuses. We say, "Not now, God. Maybe tomorrow." But God's call is not for tomorrow. It's for today.

And we say that in different ways, I mean, we are an imaginative people. We often have the problem of being too busy, we have too much going on, running here and there and just don’t have time to fit it all in and we actually use that to exalt ourselves if you will because the busier we are the more important we are.

Nothing is more important than serving God and it’s not going to be easy but it is a task that we must take up because if not us, then who, if not now, then when?

Pulpit Pages: Old Testament Sermons B. The Call’s Anticipation

The Lord hadn’t come with a mere suggestion for service; He came with a work for Isaiah to do and fully expected him to be obedient to the call. Isaiah was God’s man for the job, but the Lord wanted to know if he was willing.

Pulpit Pages: Old Testament Sermons B. The Call’s Anticipation

Listen, God doesn’t burden our hearts with suggestions or ideas for consideration. When the Spirit begins to deal with our hearts, God expects us to move! This thing of serving the Lord is a serious endeavor. If you are a child of God, there is a work to do! God is asking whom shall I send? We weren’t saved just to fill 18” on a church pew. If that’s all the desire I had, I would seek God to make sure I was saved.

God is asking, “Whom shall I send?” Accepting God’s call isn’t always an easy task, but it is always rewarding. Are you willing to go for God? Are you willing to stand for Jesus? Are you willing to share the gospel with a lost and dying world? If you are saved, God expects you to heed His call. The question is will we accept it or reject it? Only you can decide.

God's grand plan is not just a distant, future event. It's happening right here, right now. And we're not just bystanders, we're active participants. God has chosen us, equipped us, and called us. He's asking, "Whom shall I send?" And our response should be, "Here am I. Send me!"

God's love is so vast, so deep, so wide. It's a love that calls us, a love that equips us, a love that sends us. It's a love that never gives up on us, even when we're ready to give up on ourselves. It's a love that believes in us, even when we find it hard to believe in ourselves and you may find about yourself.

You may find yourself standing on the threshold of your faith staring out at a scene you could never picture, let alone picture yourself in standing in the midst of. But you stand there saying “We’re here, we have arrived, send me.” Who knows, you may find yourself in Washington, DC August 27 at WWE Smackdown because the first experience was worth it.