Hear am I, Here am I
Isaiah 65:1-9
Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7)
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for the second Sunday after Pentecost is the Old Testament reading Isaiah 65. On January 12, 2007, a man walked into a Washington DC subway stop and stood against the wall. Opening the case at his feet to encourage contributions, he placed a violin to his shoulder and started to play. During the next forty-three minutes, six beautiful pieces of music filled the walkway. More than one thousand commuters passed by. Only seven slowed to listen a little. Of these, one recognized the young musician. She tossed in $20, increasing his total take that hour to $32.17. The name of the man playing in the subway was Joshua Bell. He is considered one of the finest violinists of our age. Already that same year, Bell was selling out symphony halls with tickets running $100 and up. In that subway, he had passionately played the same marvelous music on a splendid violin that he had purchased for $3.5 million. Most of the people at that subway were too busy to notice him. Most of the people at that subway were too busy to stop for a moment and enjoy the wonderful music. Sometimes people miss the beauty of what they are hearing.
God comes to us this day not with violin music but with something far greater. He comes to us and speaks to us in His Word. What God has to say to us in His Word is powerful and beautiful, honest and filled with grace. What God has to say to us in His Word is more important than anything else. But like the people walking by the violinists we too often fail to hear what God has to say to us.
We see that happening in our Old Testament reading for today. God delivered the people of Israel from the slavery of Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land. He defended them from their enemies and blessed them. He promised them that a Savior would come and bring them to the heavenly kingdom. He continued to speak to them through the prophets, reminding them of His presence. Yet the people of Israel ignored the words of our Lord. The people failed to slow down and listen to God. Instead they got caught up in their busy lives. They stopped listening to the Lord and started listening to their own thoughts and desires. They stopped following the ways of God and started to follow the ways of the world. And so God came to them through the prophet Isaiah and spoke to them. Recall the words of our Lord. “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, Hear am I, hear am I”. In our Old Testament reading God exposed the sins of the people, declared His judgment against sin, called them to repentance, and gave to them the gift of salvation. The Lord stood among His people and said, “Hear am I, hear am I”.
Our Lord continues to come to us this day and He speaks to us in His Word. God speaks to us His wonderful, beautiful, life changing Word and yet all too often we fail to listen to it. We get so caught up in our busy life style that we sometimes forget to listen to the Word of God. During this time of the year we especially get distracted as we get engrossed in all the usual summer activities. We fill our days and weeks with all sorts of things that keep us very busy. There is nothing wrong with summertime activities, they are generally good things. But all too often we get so caught up in them that we forget to stop and listen to the Word of God and we get out of our routine of coming to church.
We get so caught up with our busy lives that we forget about God’s Word. We stop listening to the Word of the Lord and instead we start to listen to our own thoughts and desires. That is what verse two in our text warns us about. “I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices”. When we get so caught up in our busy lives and neglect God’s Word we start to get molded by the culture. We stop following the way of the Lord and start to follow the ways of the world. That is what verse three tells us about. “A people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; who sit in tombs, and spend nights in secret places”. Isaiah is talking about how the people of Israel engaged in the sinful pagan practices of their day. We can also get caught up in the ways of our sinful culture of today. We will always be tempted to live a busy life directed by our own thoughts and desires and molded by the culture we live in. If we are not careful, we can make this material world more important than following Christ.
We can become indifferent to the things of God such as judgment, forgiveness, grace, salvation, heaven and hell. We will be tempted to replace them with the things of this world. We think that our life is about collecting temporal things, self-fulfillment, and the quest for earthly happiness. In other words we love the world more then we love Christ. When a person loves the world more then God then they are drifting away from Christ. That is a terrible thing because a life without Christ is a life that leads to death. It is a life that leads to eternal ruin.
God does not want us to have a life that leads to ruin. The Lord does not want us to be led by our own thoughts and desires; he does not want us to be molded by the sinful world. He wants to give us life and salvation. Remember what was said at the end of our reading. “I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of My mountains; My chosen shall possess it, and My servants shall dwell there.” The Lord wants to fill us with joy, peace and hope. He wants us to be with Him in the heavenly kingdom for all eternity. That is why He comes to us this day in His Word. He comes to us in His powerful, beautiful, honest, life changing Word that if filled with love and grace. He comes to us this day and says, “Here am I, here am I”.
God comes to us and He speaks to us in His Word. He exposes the sins that are in our hearts and minds. He exposes the sins of our society. He does this to bring us to repentance. He turns us away from our sins and He directs us to His grace. He brings to us the Gospel message of His Son, Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who defeated Satan, sin and death by His death and resurrection. It is through Jesus that we are forgiven and given new life. God tells us that He is gracious to us because of what His Son has done for us.
The Lord comes to us this day and assures us of His presence. He will never leave us or forsake us. He has redeemed us, and He now guides us. He is our rock and fortress. He is the source of our security and comfort. Through Christ Jesus, the Father in heaven has adopted us and made us heirs of His everlasting kingdom. He has prepared for those who love Him such good things that surpass our understanding. He comes to us and makes a promise that through His Son, Jesus, we will receive the crown of eternal life. He comes to us, and He says to us, “Here am I, here am I”.
And so by the power of the Holy Spirit we respond to the Lord in prayer, praise, and giving thanks. We worship God and we live our life declaring what He has done for us. Our hearts our filled with joy as we talk of God’s righteous help all day long. As followers of Jesus, we trust in God, hear His Word, honor His Name, and love and serve our neighbor.
There will always be that temptation to get so busy in this life that we stop listening to the Words of the Lord. Of course a life without God’s Word leads to ruin. That is why the Lord comes to us and speaks to us. He speaks to us in His powerful, honest, life changing Word. He comes to us and directs our attention to Him. And he says to us, “Here am I, here am I”. Amen.