The mission of Seed Church is to help people know God, experience freedom, discover a purpose and make a difference. Today, we will focus on Knowing God.
Each part of the mission springs from what we value. In this case, it is a result of the value at place on biblical knowledge and prayer – the revelation of God and our response to him.
To understand this relationship we can go to Isaiah 6. It was the year that Uzziah died, who had been king for over 50 years – a time of transition and uncertainty for Israel. For Isaiah, it represents a commissioning of Isaiah for a specific, difficult task.
Isaiah gets a somewhat warped and veiled vision of God, but one that still demonstrated the power and majesty of God – “the foundations of the thresholds shook.”
We sing songs about wanting to see God, but reading this passage may give us pause. Seeing and knowing God is not a small thing – it is a terrifying, all-encompassing, surprising thing.
That is why Isaiah responds the way he does: “I am toast.” Seeing the Lord of Hosts made it clear to him that he was far too sinful to survive the process. He had unclean lips, made unclean by what was in his heart. And of Isaiah said this, consider how we today would stack up. Why don’t we also respond with “woe is me.” It may be because we don’t truly see God, and one of the reasons we seek to know Him better is to better see ourselves as well.
But the response to this recognition of guilt, sin and unclean lips is simple grace. Isaiah’s guilt is atoned for, ultimately through the future sacrifice of Christ. When we take the elements of communion, we also put the coals to our lips as we remember the way we were atoned for.
With his guilt removed, Isaiah hears God’s call. “Who will go for us?” His response this time is the opposite of “woe is me.” Because his sin has been taken away, he immediately leaps forward to take up the task that God has presented.
The task was to preach to Israel despite the fact that they will not listen even after severe punishment. They will not listen, becoming as insensitive to the truth as the idols they worshipped. We all become what we worship.
This hopeless task is much the same as what was given to Jeremiah and Ezekiel – preaching the word of God to the hard-hearted. We even see this in the ministry of Christ, with Isaiah’s message serving as a prophecy, as cited by Matthew, Mark and John – the latter of whom declares that the prophecy itself sprang from Isaiah seeing the glory of Christ.
Paul also cited this passage, warning that many people would remain hard of heart despite the coming of Christ. However, our mission is not the same as that given to Isaiah. We were given the Great Commission, a far more hopeful task following the new covenant.
But the warning here is still applicable. We cannot just coast on the faith of the past. We cannot live a life of faith in neutral. We cannot let our hearts be hardened or our ears closed. We must always continue to seek after God, to receive his revelation through the scriptures and give our response through worship and prayer.
– Sermon Notes, Mahlon Friesen, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, January 5, 2020