The Mission

 I went to a discipleship conference this past weekend and WOW! So much conviction packed into three days. So the next few posts are unapologetically going to be coming from what I heard there. 

Isaiah isn't generally the book I think of when talking about salvific experiences, nor Christian Missions. (Well, except perhaps v. 8) But that's where we started. 

Ch.6: 1-10 Isaiah’s Commission

6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “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.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;  be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” 11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?” And he answered: 

“Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged 12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

Oof. Fun start huh? But I love what Chris Millar, the speaker, did with these verses. He said that in order to understand our calling (our mission,) we must first understand who we are and who God is. God is God. Profound. I know. But I think sometimes we forget that. We forget that He's not our buddy, or our get-out-of-jail-free card, or our heavenly grandfather who loves and spoils us. He is God. And yes, he does love us, but if we miss who He truly is, then we miss how incredibly AMAZING that fact is. Look at this picture of God at the beginning of Chapter 6. He's high and lifted up. He's seated on a throne with celestial beings hiding their faces and proclaiming his holiness and their proclamation is so powerful that the foundations of the thresholds shook! Side note: when it says that His robe filled the temple--this isn't just a fashion statement. During this time, when a king conquered another kingdom, he would take the robe of the defeated king and have it sewn onto the end of his. God's train fills the entire temple. He is THE conquering king. No wonder Isaiah responded the way he did! 

"Woe is 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!" 

You see, when we get a right picture of who God is, the result is that we get a right picture of who we are. We are people of unclean lips, living among a nation of unclean lips. AND YET, just like He did for Isaiah, God has chosen to offer us cleansing. This is the amazing truth of the gospel that, "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

Fun Fact: God is the only being in the universe that can come in contact with uncleanliness and rather than being tainted, He cleanses. 

And it's only after all this (seeing God, seeing himself, and being cleansed,) that Isaiah receives (and accepts) his calling. "Who will go for us?" >>> "Here am I send me." 

And the great and terrifying truth about our mission is that we don't get to dictate where/what it will be. It's God's calling, it's His choice. That's right, we do not have any control--and that scares the pants off of most of us. BUT, it also means that the results aren't up to us. We just go. As Millar pointed out, most of us stop reading the story right after Isaiah says, "Here am I, send me;" and we are all inspired and being praying "Me too! Here am I, send me!" Which, hey, is a pretty awesome prayer. But look at what Isaiah was called to do. For the next 40+ years, Isaiah would faithfully serve God by prophecying to a nation that would not listen to him. He didn't see 1000's repent. He didn't see the Israelites renew their dedication to God. In the end, the people were sent into exile. It doesn't feel like a win. It doesn't feel like a success. And yet. 

We are not called to results. We are not called to performance. We are not called to be impressive. We are called to be obedient. And we leave the rest up to God. So whether we are talking about universal calling (i.e. Matt 28: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...”) or personal calling, our job is in one sense very simple: We are to go.