[Read Luke 5:1-11 & Isaiah 6:1-8]
Calling the Unqualified
You can, perhaps, see a master’s priorities in the quality of servants he calls to serve him. There was one master who employed only the best of the best – the most talented, the most capable, with unblemished records – servants who would bring the most profit to his household.
And there was another Master. His servants varied in talent – some with some abilities and others with practically none. Some looking pretty good. Some looking shabby. But servants who all looked more in need of this Master’s household than they were of profit to this Master’s household.
This Master needs nothing. He calls servants not to be profited by them but to be of profit to them by calling them into service in His abundant household.
Jesus is the Master who has come not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many [Matthew 20:28].
Because He has heaven’s riches and desires to share them, He calls – not the best of the best – but the unworthy and unqualified. He needs nothing from us – not even our holiness – He has it all. Instead, it’s for our benefit that He calls each of us to be servants in His household.
In today’s Old Testament reading [Isaiah 6:1-8] and in today’s Gospel [Luke 5:1-11], the Lord calls men to service who were well aware of their own unworthiness and unfitness.
In Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah, as a priest serving at the altar of incense, enters the temple – enters the church – but instead ends up standing before heaven itself. God sitting on His throne up where the altar is supposed to be. Angels, called seraphim, flying around Him calling out, “Holy, holy, holy…”
Isaiah sees this and says about himself, “I’m done for!” ““Surely I stand condemned.” “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
“Like the rest of my people, I have lived a life of sin in the words that I say – in how I speak – in how I curse – in how I gossip – in how I complain – in how I grumble under my breath – in my unclean jokes or words – and in the praise and thanksgiving I fail to speak about God – I am a person of unclean lips.”
And now Isaiah is standing before the Lord. He thinks he is judged and done for. But then an angel flies to Isaiah with a coal picked up from the altar with tongs. The angel touches it to Isaiah’s lips and says, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Instead of burning him, the coal from God’s altar cleanses him from his guilt. His lawless deeds are forgiven, his sin is covered [Romans 4:6-8].
An then, what happens? Isaiah, whose sin was in his speech, is called to speak for the Lord. To be God’s spokesman as a prophet. After that coal was applied, God then said, “Whom shall I send?”, Isaiah said, “Here am I! Send me!” Isaiah believed that his unclean lips really were forgiven. He could now even speak for the Lord from those forgiven lips.
And then, in our Gospel reading today, the Lord – which is the Lord Jesus Christ – calls and comforts another man, a fisherman, named Simon Peter.
The Lord had employed Simon’s boat to get out from the shore a little bit, onto the water, to have room to speak to all the people gathered on the beach to hear the Word of God.
Jesus, after teaching the crowd, says to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
Simon responds, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
Simon, and his brother Andrew, do this and catch an enormous number of fish so that their nets begin to break. Their partners, in a second boat, James and John, help them bring in the load which filled both boats.
It’s a miracle. This man in Simon Peter’s boat is holy Lord. And Simon Peter is a sinner. Afraid, Peter exclaims, “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
And what happens? Jesus does not depart from Peter but instead calls him: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” They bring their boats to land, leave everything, and follow Him. Not because they were holier than other men but because they had found the Savior of sinners.
You are called, brothers and sisters. Not because you are holier than other people but because you have found the Savior of sinners.
There is one Spirit, but various kinds of service [1 Corinthians 12:4]. There is service in the church. There is service for charity. There is service in your home to family or spouse. There is service to your neighbor. There is service in your vocation and hobbies. And there is service to each other. The many ways we toil all night for the Lord.
Because He has forgiven the guilt of your lips, you can even serve Him by what you say. Speaking to each other the admonitions, encouragements, and forgiveness of the Lord.
God has put people in your life, in many places, whom you serve. Wherever and whoever you serve, you serve as servants of the household of God, the Lord of heaven and earth. You are His servants. Not to benefit God but because He calls into His household those who need Him.
We are – each of us – like street beggars who, to our surprise, have been called to serve in the palace of the King. There are many ways to serve, and He even makes you His spokesmen – fishers of men – to many people, when you show, by your words and conduct, that you have found the Savior.
When we look in the mirror, we can see our Master’s priorities. He didn’t call the best of the best. He called us to be His servants – and is even willing to use each of us to bring in His great catch. Amen.
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