What The Church Needs: Isaiah

What The Church Needs: Isaiah

 There are many examples in Scripture of godly men fulfilling their call and glorifying God. They serve as models; albeit, they are imperfect ones. However, they can teach us many truths both by their positive and even their negative actions. We look to these men only in an effort to project their emulative characteristics back onto us, realizing all the time that they are mere men, and sinful men at that (except, of course, Christ Jesus). We can learn; we must learn from those who have gone before. We look at these men and examples of the past in order to reform the present. Ultimately, however, we must look to Christ. We know looking back throughout the Bible that Christ was active within his people. As we look back on them, we are actually focused on Christ and his work then to better our now. So, what do we need?

Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8-13)

We need an Isaiah-like willingness to go and preach despite the blindness and deafness of the people. Oh, to see and hear what the prophet Isaiah experienced. He saw the Lord high and lifted up. He witnessed Christ seated on his throne ruling and reigning; he saw his glory filling the temple. He saw the seraphim and had his sin removed by a coal from the altar. But, all was not well. Isaiah saw this and more; he experienced a dramatic calling and heard audibly from the Lord, but his ministry is not something that we would desire. Why?

      The prophetic ministry of Isaiah was characterized by hardness of hearts and no repentance. God revealed to the prophet that he would not be successful. The people would hear, but they would not understand. They would see, but they would not perceive. The hearts of the people would be made dull, their ears heavy, and their eyes blind. This is not the kind of people that we would want to preach to, but this was Isaiah's calling and ministry. God told Isaiah that the people would be in this state and condition so that they would not see, hear, understand, and turn back to him in order to be healed. It was the will of the Lord for his people to be judged and punished. This is a frightening example of judicial hardening.

     What was the response of Isaiah? He cried and wondered, “How long, oh Lord?” He wanted to know the duration of time that the Lord intended to harden, blind, and punish his people. Notice, he did not complain, question God or his motives, say that God was being unfair, or that the people did not deserve this. No, he knew that they deserved this. He deserved it also, but he received grace from God. This was to be the ministry of Isaiah. It was not successful in the people's eyes or numerically. Isaiah did not win any popularity contests. I am willing to bet that nobody invited him over for dinner. He was hated and despised because of his message.

     Notwithstanding, Isaiah was willing to go and preach. He obeyed God in spite of the circumstances, and he was faithful to his calling. He sought to please the Lord and fulfill his will, so he was successful. Maybe not in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of his Lord, he succeeded.

     This attitude is needed today. We need preachers to proclaim the word of God simply because that is what he has commanded. We are not to worry ourselves with popularity or try to win the hearts of men. There are plenty of occupations where somebody can be a people-pleaser. A pastor or preacher is not one of them. If you proclaim the truth, not everyone is going to love you for it. People will be offended and cause division and strife. We must remember that it is God's message and not ours. We do not have the right to change it in an attempt to make it more palatable or acceptable to sinful and carnal men. We must not water the message down, shave off the rough edges, sugar-coat it, leave parts of it off, or add to it in any way. As the prophet before us, we have to be willing to go and preach no matter the condition of the hearts of the people in which we are called to minister.