Be Bold

Scripture Passage

Isaiah 6:1-8

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ “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.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Sermon Script

In today’s passage, we see a picture of boldness in Isaiah. When God was looking for a new leader to guide the nation of Judah, Isaiah stepped up and said—

Here am I. Send me!

Isaiah 6:8

What God was calling Isaiah for was not going to be an “easy” task. Isaiah would have to deliver an uncomfortable message that the people of Judah will go through a dark and difficult time. Yet, Isaiah was bold still.

Isn’t this inspiring to see? Don’t we wish we could be like this sometimes? Be able to step up and say, “Yes, I will do it!” Even when it is something that might be challenging for us. Instead, what do we usually do? We don’t raise our hand. We hide or look away. We wait for someone else to step up. We struggle to be bold.

But Isaiah wasn’t always bold either. Look at moments earlier. You see a completely different picture when Isaiah is standing before God.

“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.”

Isaiah 6:5

Isaiah saw nothing good in himself. When he speaks about his ‘lips’, he is talking about his heart. He saw all the negative things about himself. He felt unfit and unworthy. He felt small in the presence of God.

In that sense, Isaiah struggled just like us. We wrestle our own insecurity, shame, and guilt. We often feel like we are not enough. Our darkness weighs us down and keeps us from being bold.

What, then, gave Isaiah the power to be bold? It wasn’t his ability, status, or wealth. It was God’s grace. It freed him from the power of darkness that was holding him back. Listen to the vivid way in which Isaiah describes the experience—

Then one of the Seraphim 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.”

Isaiah 6:6, 7

Our power to be bold comes from our freedom from fear. We cannot free ourselves from fear by our own effort. People act ‘bold’ in order to mask their fears. That’s not boldness. That is narcissism. You do things ultimately for your own image. You are still bound to yourself.

Only God can free us from our fear. Only God can drive out the darkness that imprisons our spirit. God frees us to go beyond ourselves, our own needs and concerns. God gives us the strength to embrace difficult situations. Being free means we are no longer enslaved to ourselves. We are free to live for God and to do what is good. That is boldness.

In order to live boldly, we need to be freed from sin. We need God to remove whatever sin is in our hearts.

Sin is not just some ‘bad’ thing that we do. We tend to have a very casual attitude toward sin. Ironically, Christians tend to do this the most. They reduce sin down to behaviour. If you lie, you are sinning. If you swear, you are sinning. If you smoke or drink, you are sinning. So if we do none of those things, we think we have no sin. Very childish way of thinking about sin.

Sin is more than what we do. Sin is not merely personal. It is cosmic. It is a dark power that negatively affects the quality of our life and our relationships. It pollutes the heart and shapes our thinking. You may not have done anything necessarily, yet you still wrestle with its effects. You feel down, anxious, and depressed for no reason.

In that sense, asking God to forgive you of your sins is asking him to free you from its power so that you can live. And God will. John said—

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

We don’t do this once a day. We do it whenever we experience the power of sin at work in our life. We don’t deal it with our own power. We won’t be able to handle it. Instead, we seek God’s grace that is stronger and greater than the power of sin.

Our Leadership Team interns started this week. They worked on many different projects. But that’s not all you do during the internship. A big part of what our internship consists of is study and reflection. The interns get to do daily devotionals and weekly Bible study.

This week, they reflected on what it means to live an empowered life. They experienced disempowerment in their own life. They found themselves held back by their fears and worries. They had a hard time seeing the bigger picture because of it. Rev. Simon shared how being empowered comes down to our ability to say, “Yes!” A resounding YES to LIVING, LOVING, and SERVING. Isn’t that what it means to be bold?

God’s deepest desire for us is to live our lives with boldness. That is our calling.

When we are bold, we can think creatively. We can envision new possibilities. We can face any challenges head-on. We can embrace and inspire others. We can start growing into who we are made to be, rather than who we think we are. We can finally start walking the path God has called us to.

Isaiah went on to live as a great prophet to the nation. He was no different than you or I. You can do great things too. God will give you the power to do what you cannot do on your own.

God has given you his Spirit. The Spirit not only reminds you that you belong to God. The Spirit inspires you to live boldly. The Spirit doesn’t keep you inside, but sends you out. Be filled with the Spirit, and live by it.

You will be able to say like Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me!”