Sermon at First Presbyterian Church Lockhart
Isaiah 6:1-13, Psalm 138, I Corinthians 15:1-11,
Luke 5:1-11
February 7, 2010
by James Greene
Sometimes, we unexpectedly
experience the call of God on our lives, and we just are
not prepared for it. It always seems to come at a time
when we are unprepared and we are
taken by surprise. This theme of God’s Holy call is revealed in
the texts we have read today.
The
reading from Isaiah, is the story of his call, and his response in his commissioning. This event occurs before the nation of
He
sees God, enthroned on the Mercy Seat above The Ark, with the guarding Seraphs. Suddenly, he both hears and feels their voices as the
“Holy, Holy, Holy”.
We see Isaiah reflecting upon the reality of his own existence. He realizes
that he is in the presence of the righteousness of the living God of the universe, and he is critically aware
of his “unholieness.” His best
words are, as Calvin
describes, nothing but “filthy rags” before the Holy One of
Isaiah must have
been thinking –Why is God, talking
to me? I know my state, and I
know that I’m not a clean. But he is
chosen by God, and he is made
righteous by the cleansing action of God’s servant
- (the Cheribum).
Isaiah’s response
to the call of the Lord is reflected
in bold action, and confidence, and its immediacy. “Here
am I, send me!” There is a stained
glass window in the base Chapel
at Offutt AFB in
Here, God
is commissioning Isaiah, to serve, to tell the people with the ironic twist that if they truly hear, truly see, and truly understand
with their hearts, they would turn
from their way and experience
God’s salvation. But in God’s plan, he
1
declares that
there will be destruction in the
land. There will be only a portion
of God’s people (a stump) that will
be left of his Holy seed
(
In Psalm 138, we see a song of praise and salvation. It is a poem of praise in action, reflected
in the phrases: “I will praise”,
“I will sing”, and “I will bow down”. It demonstrates
the total commitment and trust of the author “with all my heart.” The “heart”
in the Old Testament was concerned with the will of the person. It was the
place of moral choice, where decisions by the individual were
weighed. It was the focus and intent of the
person reflected in their actions. Like in the passage from Isaiah, the people’s hearts
were hardened to their actions,
and resulted in the land being ravaged and them being forsaken. It is in his heart, that the servant is faithful and praises the Lord. It is because of this, God will
not abandon him, but will be
his salvation. God will be his shield.
The Psalmist praises God’s love and faithfulness
in righteousness. He has heard
God speak to him in his life. God has answered the call of his servant, and strengthened
the psalmist’s moral courage. The call by the
Lord, and the ways of the
Lord, will be praised and sung about, by the kings of the
earth. The “hand” in Hebrew is symbolic
of a person’s power. The right
“hand” was the righteous
hand. Lord, in his power and authority, will fulfill the purpose
of his servant. In his righteous power he will save the psalmist.
In I Corinthians, Paul preaches about the resurrection of Christ. How God has been speaking to the early believers through his preaching. Paul’s call to them is God’s call to believe the fact of resurrection. He lists the witness of Peter, the Apostles and 500 who had witnessed the risen Christ. It is because of that good news they may believe and be saved. Paul witnesses to Christ’s resurrection appearance in his own experience. The people need to not only listen to God’s Word in the scriptures, but also to hear God’s living Word in Jesus, and through Paul’s preaching that they might not doubt Jesus’ resurrection. The proof is that it has all happened, according to the scriptures, and that their faith is useless, if they do not believe the preaching and raising of Christ from the dead.
In
the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is standing with the crowds and the
crowds are listening to the Word of God on the shore of the lake.
Jesus begins a conversation,
by talking with Simon. He asks him to put his boat out into
the water so that he may sit
and teach from this floating
pulpit. When he is through teaching, he asks Simon to take the boat out into the deeper water, and “let down his nets”. We can hear the question “What?” Simon has worked through the night shift,
had wrapping up his work, and
cleaned his nets, when Jesus asks him to take his boat back
out, get his nets dirty;
Jesus is making his life difficult. He’s tired,
and the non-fishing teacher
is asking him to fish.
2
If
you’ve ever been around Sailors, or Marines, when they have finished
their work, and are securing
their work for the day. They are looking forward to only one thing and that is their “liberty” (their time off) when
they get off of the ship, or
get out of the office. They do not want to stop and work overtime, especially after a night watch. And, depending upon how salty they are, they’ll let you
know in frank four letter expletives, just how much they really
“enjoy” the thought of getting
out gear that they have just
cleaned and put away.
Isn’t
this how God comes and talks to us sometimes? It is at the end
of a long day, or a 12 hour night shift that ended
up to be 17 hours.
We get “asked” to come
back into work 2 hours after
we’ve gotten home, to fix a time
card. If we don’t, one of
our people will not get paid on time. So, we do it, because we care, and
in our heart we care for the people that we shepherd.
So
Simon says to Jesus, in his salty attitude,-
“But, because YOU say so,- I will
let down the nets.” The expected question is, “What does the Teacher know about fishing?” But he is faithful, like the Psalmist,
and in his heart does what
is right.
In doing that, the reward is beyond his comprehension.
In this visual demonstration
with the fishing nets, we see a
reflection of Isaiah’s same answer to God’s call, when Simon asks Jesus to “Go away from me Lord;- I am a sinful man.” But we see also Simon’s faithful response, when Jesus says “Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch men.”
It
not only impacts Simon, but James and John, are amazed with the abundance
of fish and the call of Christ. They all respond to the call of the Lord. They too, like Isaiah’s response, reflected their commitment in bold action,
and confidence and in their immediacy. They get up and leave their work, and their boats to follow Jesus. In power
and authority, they will fulfill God’s purpose (like the Psalmist) to become fishers of men.
God
may not speak to us in a smoke filled sanctuary, with a voice that shakes the foundations of our existence. He sometimes comes to us in the
still small voice in the
peace of confidence, born out
of His righteousness and our
response in faithfulness. But we know
in our heart that he calls us, to His service,
and to His purpose.
We
like the Psalmist must in our heart trust God’s faithfulness,
and love, and reflect that
trust in praise and song, even through the tears of our trials. It is what gives us a heart of confidence, knowing we are called upon, by the Lord, he will answer, and he will save us to fulfill His purpose.
When
the Holy One
of
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