Sermon Tone Analysis

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message.

The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

Much of the time when we pray, our prayer is pretty self-centered.

We tend to pray when we want something from God, either something for ourselves, or, if we’re really spiritual, we’ll ask God to give something to a loved one or friend or fellow Christian.

So most of our prayers are for things like health, or financial needs, or a job situation, or for safe travel.

We even make our own plans and then ask God to bless them.

There is certainly nothing wrong with most of those prayers and we should keep on praying for those things.

But, as I hope you’ve seen in this series, Dangerous Prayers, there is a deeper level of prayer that focuses on offering our lives up to God and asking Him to use us for His purposes, plans, and ways.

So far, we’ve looked at two prayers:

Search me.

That’s a dangerous prayer because we are opening up our lives to God’s scrutiny and asking Him to reveal our blind spots and our hidden sins.

And that is dangerous because once God reveals those things, we have an obligation to make some changes, sometimes some radical changes, in our lives in order to address the things we have now become aware of.

Break me.

This is undoubtedly the hardest of these prayers to pray and the one that most of us are reluctant to pray.

When we pray that prayer we’re telling God that we are willing to be totally sold out to serve Him regardless of the cost.

And there aren’t a lot of Christians who are willing to do that.

Tension

The final prayer that we’ll look at in this series is “Send me”.

We’ll be developing that idea by looking at Isaiah’s call in Isaiah chapter 6, so go ahead and turn in your Bibles to that chapter.

Before we read part of that chapter, I want to talk about three possible responses that we can make to God’s call on our lives.

And in order to do that, I need to explain what I mean by God’s “call”.

It is one of those theological words that we tend to throw around without always understanding what we mean by it.

Let’s begin with a definition:

“call” =

God’s initiative to bring people to Jesus and to participate in His redemptive work in the world.

In that definition, we can see that there is both what we could label a “general call”, as well as what I’ll term a “specific call”.

The general call is the universal call that God issues for people to enter into a relationship with Him through faith in Jesus.

That call is probably best expressed by this familiar verse:

Whoever is willing to believe in Jesus and put their faith in Him receives eternal life.

And praise God, most of you joining us today have responded positively to that call.

And that call is a prerequisite to every “specific call”.

By a specific call I am referring to the specific plan that God has for each individual.

Each person could have a number of those calls in his or her life and those calls are going to be different for each of us.

And although what I’m going to share today also applies to some degree when it comes to that general call to follow Jesus, I’m going to primarily speaking about these specific calls on our lives.

THREE POSSIBLE RESPONSES TO GOD’S CALL:

I haven’t really mentioned it so far, but I am indebted to Pastor Craig Groeschel from Life Church for the idea for this sermon series.

So far in this series, while I have watched and/or read his messages, my sermons have taken a direction that has been quite different from his.

But this morning, some of the principles I’m going to share are derived directly from his sermon so I want to make sure to give him proper credit.

And that is true when it comes to these three possible responses to God’s call on our lives.

Here I am; I’m not going

This was Jonah’s response to God.

God called him to go and preach to the people of Nineveh, but initially Jonah ran from God and from that call.

Jonah only reluctantly agreed to do what God had called him to do after being swallowed by a large fish and spending three days in its belly.

Before we’re too quick to criticize Jonah, I’m pretty sure that all of us have done that, too.

We’ve sensed that God is calling us to serve Him in some way, but we choose not to heed that call - at least until God brings something into our life to get our attention.

Here I am; Send someone else

This is how Moses responded to God.

God calls Moses to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt and Moses tells God that he is not qualified and that God ought to use his brother, Aaron, instead.

Frankly, this is probably the most common response I see within the church.

Whenever there is a need or an opportunity for service, many immediately just assume that someone else should do it.

Here I am; Send me

This is how Isaiah responds.

Look at verse 8 of Isaiah chapter 6:

This is certainly a dangerous prayer for Isaiah.

And I want you to notice what Isaiah doesn’t do before He prays that dangerous prayer.

He doesn’t ask God where God is going to send him.

He doesn’t try to negotiate his salary.

He doesn’t ask about the cost of living or the schools there.

So here is the main idea we’re going to develop today:

When I pray “send me” I am giving God a “blank check” and offering to let Him use me however He wants

Are you willing to do that?

I’m going to be honest with you.

If you do pray this prayer, God might lead you in a lot of different ways.

He might call you to move to another city.

He might lead you to a different job.

He might do something completely unexpected in your life like He did in mine when He called me to be a pastor.

I sure didn’t see that coming.

Truth/Application

But Isaiah doesn’t make that commitment in a vacuum.

Let’s look at the rest of the beginning of this chapter and identify...

THREE PREREQUISITES TO PRAY “SEND ME”

Isaiah experienced three things here that prepared him to pray “Send me”:

A genuine encounter with God’s presence

It’s not completely clear from the structure of the book of Isaiah but it seems likely that Isaiah had already begun his prophetic ministry.

But in the face of the death of King Uzziah and the crisis that Judah faced, he wanted to make sure he heard from God before entering the next phase of his ministry.

So he goes to the temple to meet with God.

Obviously, God’s presence is not limited to any building, but at that point in the history of God’s people that is where He had chosen to manifest His presence among His people.

And as he entered the temple, he had a vision in which he was able to see God in all His glory, surrounded by angels who were constantly praising God and singing “Holy, holy, holy”.

This is very similar to the scene in Revelation 4 where John has a vision of heaven where the four living creatures are singing that same song.

In Hebrew literature repeating a word or phrase three times like this is used for emphasis.

So God is not just holy - He is holy beyond our ability to comprehend.

And it’s also likely that the threefold use of “holy” is also a reference to the triune nature of God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Obviously our encounter with God’s presence probably are going to be a lot different than Isaiah’s.

We don’t have to go to the temple to experience His presence.

And even though God certainly could appear to us in a vision if He wants, it is much more likely He is going to reveal Himself through His Word.

So every day I have an opportunity to experience the presence of God as I read the Bible.

But it is also helpful to regularly find time to get away from all the distractions of the world so that I can just be with God and listen to Him speak through His Holy Spirit.

I still remember one of the first times that I ever did that and what a tremendous impact it had on my walk with Jesus.

When we were younger, Mary and I and our kids had the privilege of attending a Navigators family retreat at Glen Eyrie near Colorado Springs.

The retreat center was in a beautiful location and for me one of the highlights was the free time that we had to just get alone in the surrounding forest and spend time with God in His Word.

I didn’t know it at the time, but God was using those that experience to prepare me to one day be able to pray “send me”.

So since then, I’ve tried to make sure that I find time for some of that quiet solitude with God from time to time.

For me, there is something about being out in nature that seems to heighten that experience for me, whether that is walking along a mountain stream with my fishing pole in hand or hiking one of the trails in Catalina State Park.

For you, your favorite place to be with God might be completely different, but what I can promise is that the better you get to know God, to know that He is sovereign and holy and that He loves you and wants what is best for you, the more likely you will be able to pray “send me”.

A genuine awareness of my sinfulness

As soon as he got a vision of God and His holiness, Isaiah immediately recognized his own unworthiness.

The same man who had already been busy proclaiming woes against Judah, now cries out “Woe is me!”.