(Sermon by Pastor Michael D. Schultz 08/19/07)

INTRODUCTION:

Sola Fide has a history with the vicar program.  There were vicars at this congregation through the late eighties and early nineties.  On the Vicar Assignment Day two years ago, we were ready to get back into the vicar program again, but a phone call from Wisconsin informed us that the Lord was saying, “Not now.”  Two years later, here you are, and it’s been interesting to hear the comments that have been made.  There have been those who have talked about the desire we have to help our synod by being a congregation that can help train future pastors.  But there have also been those comments that run something along the lines of… “Vicars do bring a fresh, youthful enthusiasm to the work of the church.”

I’m not sure what that says about those who’ve been around for a while – like maybe they should be downloading the applications for admittance into a nursing home?  I’m sure that’s not the case, but young workers in the church – like vicars, pastor graduates from the seminary, teacher graduates from the college receiving their first call – they are understandably like race horses in the gate.  They’ve had plenty of classroom time; they show up in the place where they’re going to serve and more often than not they are ready to hit the ground running.  I’m not poking fun or making any kind of jab at all when I say that regularly they are wide-eyed and ready to roll and, if anyone does, they seem like the kind of servants of the Lord who are saying what Isaiah said, “Here am I; send me.”  Fresh, eager, ready to go wherever they need to go, willing to do whatever needs to be done!

I sense that’s the case with our vicar this year, and it is not my intention to say or do anything that would slow him down.  But like the captain who addresses the platoon that’s about to board helicopters and head into the hot zone to take the enemy hill, it’s awfully good to pause at the front end of this vicar year, it’s awfully good for all of us to pause as we all take that one step forward indicating our willingness to serve – it’s good to pause and remember what preceded Isaiah’s memorable line, “Here am I; send me.”   That’s what we’re going to do this morning as we listen to a message for a new vicar and for all of us:

Before You Go Out For God, Visit His Throne Room

There are plenty of people in this church who could tell you what they think of the worship services here.  People who are looking for a church regularly ask what kind of worship services are held here.  A good share of what a vicar does during the year revolves around preparing and leading worship.  But before we give an opinion, and before we ponder what people might be looking for, how about we listen to some angels.  They’ve been worshiping the Lord since he created them and they have never in the least little bit gotten tired of it.  They might know something about the topic. 

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”  Choirs of angels, songs bouncing around like a tennis ball, back and forth goes the antiphonal singing, all for one simple reason.  You see the same kind of thing in Revelation 4-5, recently studied in Tuesday morning Bible Class – saints and angels gathered around the throne.  Worship has a focal point and it’s not you and me.  It’s the triune, three times holy Lord Almighty.  His glory fills the earth. 

Yes, people come here to have their faith fed.  Yes, we want to prepare services so that they’re done well and people never have to think, “They didn’t put a lot into that, did they.”  But Isaiah 6 draws back the curtain on the worship that’s taking place in the courts of heaven – angels covering their feet and veiling their faces because the Lord is too dazzlingly brilliant to describe.

Before you go out for God, visit his throne room.  Reflect on what worship is by reflecting on who God is.  What’s prepared for this room and what takes place in this room is the worship of the one who is seated on the throne, high and exalted, and his train fills the temple.  Before any of us ever thinks to say, “I don’t know if I got much out of that today,” /  “This or that person or group did real well or not so well,” before any evaluations or preferences, we would do well to ask, “In whose presence are we?” and to utter, perhaps with a shudder, a silent, “Wow!  The Lord Almighty,” to remember what Jacob learned through the dream he had about a ladder to heaven: “Surely the Lord is in this place.”

…which leads one to ask, “What am I doing here?” He is so magnificent and I am so repugnant.  Being in the throne room of God with Isaiah the prophet is something that quickly turns horrifyingly sickening.  “Woe to me – I am ruined.”  God gave me these lips to bless and praise, and from these lips have come rude words, means word, disrespectful words, gossiping words, filthy words, and sometimes no good words at all.

Before, “Here am I; send me,” it’s, “Here am I; spare / rescue / deliver me.”  Even if the terms aren’t all that popular anymore, we diminish God’s deliverance every time we sugar-coat sin.  Sin earns the fire of hell, the wrath of God, eternal destruction, being shut out from the presence of the Lord, and we are filled with it. Hell is pictured as a lake of burning sulfur, a place where people weep and angrily gnash their teeth forever, a dungeon of unending darkness.  A few seconds in the throne room and Isaiah knew he deserved to be thrown out of the throne room.  Before you go out for God, visit his throne room.  Remember what repentance is.  Have mercy on me, Lord.  I’ve sprayed the white robe of your holiness with the used dirty motor oil of my rebellion.  It’s not just a mess I’ve made of things. I’ve spurned the holy One. Woe to me!

On an altar in a vision of heaven there was a burning coal because, as Isaiah knew and preached, on a cross-shaped altar outside Jerusalem there was a suffering servant.  Clearly, since it comes from the place of sacrifice, that coal symbolizes the sin-removing sacrifice of Christ that cleanses you, the righteousness of Christ that covers you. 

Anyone who’s hearing this lesson and raising their hand with Isaiah to say, “Here am I; send me,” has to first know that grace is real.  We’re not so naïve as to think that anything of substance that happens in a Christian’s life of faith happens here at church, but when it keeps happening, perhaps privately, that real tears are shed out of fear of a real hell that’s been earned, when it keeps happening that muscles tighten and spines tingle at the thought of seeing God slamming the door closed and being on the outside, people who have any notion of going out to serve God need to hear God say, “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Hear it now and hear it this moment.  Before you go out for God, visit his throne room and rejoice over what grace is.  The sin of the world and the sin of you and the sin of me that was placed in Jesus’ body and that landed him in hell has now landed at the bottom of the ocean.  The location of your sin has now become an unanswerable question of physics – how far is east from west anyway?  That far gone is your sin.  Hear it now and hear it this moment and don’t stop hearing it.

When a pastor or vicar stands before this altar, hymnal and service folder in hand, it’s the same live coal that’s being placed against your lips – the words are spoken, the sign of the cross given, the forgiveness of sins granted.  And when two forgiven sinners wearing white gowns travel left to right across that communion rail, it’s the same live coal that’s being placed against your lips – Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.

This pause in the throne room of heaven is not one that is taken at the beginning of a vicar’s year of service.  It is one that is taken at the beginning of each new day and at the inhaling of each new breath.  How does there remain a humble yet confident thrill in your voice when you say, “Here am I; send me”?  Let it be the forgiveness and strength and hope and love of Jesus Christ that keeps you fresh and keeps you going.

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