You Cannot Serve Before You Surrender

Isaiah 6:1,5-9: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted . . . . '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.' Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.' Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here I am, Send me!' He said, "Go . . . "


Here is a good word for those who believe that they just need to do something charitable to get right with God, feel better about themselves, or find purpose in life. Whereas being involved in something charitable is not necessarily a bad thing, it actually can be sin if it lures you into the fallacious notion that good deeds are all you need in life to find purpose and/or to appease God.

Notice in the Isaiah passage mentioned above that there is an intentional order to one's relationship with God. First, Isaiah was overwhelmed by the holiness of God. Holiness means "set apart, above, and transcendent." When Isaiah saw the pre-incarnate Christ in His holiness, Isaiah's first response was dread. He pronounced that he was cursed for he had seen the majestic Lord and instantly was aware of his unworthiness to stand before the One True God. Isaiah realized that God is perfectly righteous, and compared to a holy God, the prophet was an ugly sinner . . . rebellious against God at his core. In a state of despondency, Isaiah lamented his sins against the Lord as he capitulated himself to the lordship of the Almighty God. Because of Isaiah's recognition of the Lordship of the pre-incarnate Christ (John 12:41), and because of his repentance of his sin against the Lord, Isaiah found God's atonement for his sin.

THEN and only then do we find God seeking out Isaiah to send him forth as a messenger to the rebellious Israelites. Notice that Isaiah did not start his encounter with God by wondering to what service project or charitable ministry he should commit. He did not organize a charitable fundraiser or mission trip to "do something for God." Instead, he encountered a Holy God FIRST! Then he submitted himself to God's Lordship and repented of his sins. Lastly, he yielded to the service call of God upon his life.

This order is sequential. For one to attempt to rearrange this order is to commit sin . . . Yes, I did say it . . . one can actually sin against the Lord by performing charitable acts of service without first encountering the Holy God.

Read for yourself in Isaiah 6 the account of the seraphs (literally "burning ones") . . . the heavenly beings who are before the throne of God. They have six wings . . . two which cover their eyes (they are overwhelmed by the transcendent holiness of a Holy God), two which cover their feet (they are submitted and humble as frail creatures before a transcendent Lord), and two which fly at the bidding of the Lord. Only two of the six wings are service oriented, the other four are responsive to relationship with God. It sounds to me that we would do well to learn from the seraphs. Let's not become spiritual busybodies; rather, let's submit to the Awesome Lord first and repent of sin. Then, we can await God's calling to do what He wills to be done.