Enabled to speak for God

In our travels, we attended many different churches. One of them was particularly special. Their pastor had been there many years. We moved again after two years but even though that was forty years ago, I still remember the points made in some of his sermons. His teaching and preaching remains biblical, powerful and enabled by the Holy Spirit.

Later, we were in another church in another state when a guest pastor came in to preach. His message surprised me. It was almost word for word the same as one given by the man first mentioned. There was one huge difference though — the Spirit was absent. Perhaps this guest preacher thought that if he used the message given by the other man, it would have the same power to change lives. Today’s devotional tells why it didn’t.

“It is not enough that we are willing and eager to work for God, but the work itself must be of God.… This is one of the deepest deaths that Christians are often called to die. Indeed, our work is unacceptable to God and useless to ourselves and others until it first has been bathed in the blood of Calvary and touched with the sign of crucifixion. It must cease to be our work and thus become His and His alone.”

A borrowed message could be powerful, but it is not because of its words. Whoever preaches it needs to be utterly empowered by God and commissioned to give that message. In Tozer’s example, Isaiah was commissioned by the Lord through a vision:

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘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!’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’” (Isaiah 6:1–7)

What stands out to me is Isaiah’s words: “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!” This prophet knew his sinfulness and that he was living among sinful people. He didn’t think he had a good message that would change them, but that he was as unclean as they were.

Isaiah was close to God; he had seen the Lord. Those whose spiritual lives involve that sort of seeing are undone, brought to the deep awareness of how far we are from the holiness and goodness that He is and that He sets for us.

However, Isaiah also experienced forgiveness, cleansing, and had his lips anointed with the power of God. He could speak for God, and even though God warned him that not everyone would listen, his words would be not his own but the Lord’s words. He could say declare:

“The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.” (Isaiah 50:4)

Tozer points out that as much as the church can do good things for the world, the very best is that people hear the Word of God translated into human speech by the power of the Holy Spirit. While he says we don’t need less people to show mercy and more who can do that prophetic work, isn’t it true that mercy and preaching go hand in hand? Isn’t it the greatest mercy to show undeserving sinners how to gain a saving relationship with God? We all fall short. We all deserve His wrath. To know that He loves us and has made a way of salvation for us is a great mercy indeed.

However, the main point is that this preaching and teaching is only noise without the speaker being filled with the Spirit of God. Not only that, the listener must hear both the speaker and the Holy Spirit. This is God’s grace. It happens because of His great mercy and power, and because of Jesus Christ.

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Jesus, my prayer is like Isaiah’s — I also am a person who cannot speak for You, just as everyone else cannot speak for You. I know my words and the words of others are useless unless You are in them. We may have good intentions and even use well-written messages, but without the power of the Holy Spirit, they are not helpful and may even be harmful. Those words need to be sent by You through those who have realized Your great majesty and Your utterly humble sacrifice. Only then will lives become unhinged like Isaiah’s did, then transformed by forgiveness and atoning grace enabling Your people to speak for You.