One key truth: You are covered—head to toe—by God’s grace. And his love doesn’t just cover you: his love qualifies you.

I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 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. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
“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.”
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.”
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!”
Isaiah 6:1-18

The Least Qualified Are the First Sent

Do you like going to the gym? Maybe you do, and maybe you don’t.

Maybe you like exercising—you just don’t like the feeling you get when you walk into the gym and you’re surrounded by people whose bodies are as toned and sculpted as Greek statues. You don’t like the feeling you get when you’re struggling to bench press as much as the “body builder” next to you is curling. You don’t like the feeling you get when the elliptical has exhausted you after just five minutes and the woman next to you has been on hers for nearly fifteen minutes and barely broken a sweat. We don’t like the feeling of not measuring up—where you say to yourself, “Maybe I shouldn’t be here. Maybe I don’t belong here.”

Isaiah knew the feeling.

God gave him a vision of fiery angels, billows of smoke, and the LORD Almighty enthroned in radiant splendor. This vivid, awe-filling vision would humble even the haughtiest of the LORD’s prophets. It is in this vision that the LORD Almighty calls Isaiah, son of Amoz, to serve him as his prophet. And as Isaiah is brought into God’s “office,” the first voice he hears isn’t that of the LORD, but of choirs of angels flying throughout the temple. And these angels describe God as, not just holy, but three times holy—absolutely holy. The choirs are so loud, the temple is shaking, and smoke is billowing everywhere. “Woe to me!” Isaiah cried, convinced he would drop dead where he stood—because he knew that no sinner could see God’s face and live. Isaiah felt like he shouldn’t be there—like he didn’t belong there.

You would be very wise to cry out “Woe to me” every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to sleep. We would be wise to we say it together. Don’t ever stop confessing sin, don’t ever stop fearing sin, and don’t ever stop hating sin. “The soul who sins is the one who will die ” (Ezekiel 18:4). There it is: cold metal grating on hard steel. The tragic truth is this: Sin kills… every sin kills… my sin kills me and your sin kills you!

But this vision doesn’t end there. Isaiah continues, “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.’” The verbs that describe what this divine fire does as it touches Isaiah’s lips paint amazing pictures of God’s love for you. The first: “Your guilt is taken away.” It’s a picture of God removing the immense, debilitating burden of guilt from you forever. The second: “Your sin is atoned for.” It’s the picture of your sin being covered forever—that there’s Someone who stands between you and the unrelenting holiness of God—Someone who makes peace between you and God so you can stand before him forever.

That Someone is Jesus.

He touches our unclean lips with the tip of the cross—the symbol of our forgiveness. He declares, “You are no longer a sinner, but a saint!” Jesus satisfied God’s justice by embodying the needed atonement to cover over your sins. Your Savior declares you clean! Your God qualifies you to confidently stand before him.

You might not feel like you belong at the local gym—but never doubt your belonging to God in Christ. Covered head to toe in his grace, God asks, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Equipped by his Holy Spirit—where you are, as you are—answer his call, “Here am I. Send me!”

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, in your love for us, you would die our death on a cross and credit us with the gift of your holiness. Thank you for your boundless mercy and gracious gift of forgiveness. Because of you and you alone, we not only have confidence to stand before you on the day you take us to heaven; because of you, we have confidence to dynamically live our lives of faith before the world. In your name we pray. Amen.

One key truth: Our God stands by ready to give exactly what is needed when and where you are afraid to shine for our Savior: not an escape from shining our faith, but a boldness to shine even brighter.

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
“‘Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord
and against his anointed one.
Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Acts 4:23-31

Rejection is Not Proof of Failure

The past few days had been quite eventful for the apostles Peter and John. While they were at the temple in Jerusalem, they met a lame man begging temple-goers for money. And God, through Peter, performs an amazing miracle and heals that man on the spot! Just as Jesus had promised, his chosen apostles were equipped with an incredibly unique outpouring of the Holy Spirit—enabling them to perform amazing signs and miracles. Those miracles were performed not only to confirm their message, but also to draw massive attention to it. And this miracle did! And as a massive crowd gathers around Peter and John, they share the good news of Jesus.

While many who heard [their] message believed in Jesus, not everyone did. Members of the religious elite—the Sadducees—arrive at the scene, and with them the captain of the temple guard. The Sadducees hated the name of “Jesus.” And they would not tolerate anyone proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead on temple grounds. So, they had Peter and John thrown into prison.

The next day, Peter and John stood on trial before the Sanhedrin—the religious ruling council. That should sound familiar. Because that’s the same religious ruling council that oversaw the trial of Jesus—the same council that accused Jesus of blasphemy, condemned him to death, and had him crucified. The Sanhedrin eventually let Peter and John go, but not without a series of serious threats. They were told to never teach anyone about Jesus or talk to anyone about Jesus ever again . . . or else.

How would you react to this news? That you can never talk about or share the good news of Jesus ever again—by threat of capital punishment? Let’s be honest: we’d be afraid. Extremely afraid.

Thankfully, you and I live at time and place where we’re able to worship freely and talk openly about God’s Word and the hope we have in Jesus. And yet, so often we don’t.

You see, we don’t need the help of a Sanhedrin to silence our sharing of Jesus, do we? We care so much about what other people think about us that we’ll willingly silence ourselves. We’ll treat religion as a taboo topic like everyone else. We want a comfortable Christianity. A Christianity that never pushes us outside of our comfort zone. A Christianity that compromises conviction for the sake of fitting in. Fear is one of Satan’s favorite weapons he works against the Church; and his goal is to rob us of courage to the point where the only place we’re comfortable talking about Jesus is here.

But when adversaries of the Church would plot her destruction, the One enthroned in heaven laughs. Nations can rage and people can plot against God’s plan of salvation: it’ll backfire every time! Herod, Pilate, and the Sanhedrin tried to bury Jesus—and it looked like all their plotting had paid off as the Son of God hung on a cross; yet there, in the weakness of the cross God revealed his strength; there, in the foolishness of the cross God revealed his wisdom. There on the cross, God was winning—not for himself, but for you! God was winning you!

In Christ, we find God’s faithfulness to his word as he fulfills centuries of promises to you. Jesus is the greater Passover Lamb who would be sacrificed once and for all for us—so that we would have complete forgiveness before God! Jesus is the Suffering Servant that Isaiah spoke about—the one who willingly endured hell so that we who cling to him in faith would inherit heaven as our home!

That these Christians cry out “Sovereign Lord” invokes a dimension of God’s divinity—his might, his control, and his power over all things. In other words, your God defines himself by promises he’s made and fulfilled for you. That alone gives us boldness, doesn’t it? When this world would rage against Christians everywhere, your God thunders back, “Who again is Lord of heaven and earth?” That’s a gamechanger, isn’t it? That means that, instead of running from confrontation and discomfort, we can run to God for courage and confidence to face it.

Prayer:
Lord God, Heavenly Father, so often we are afraid to give reason for the hope that we have in your Son. So often, we let fear get the better of us and we hide our faith from others. For times like these, we rest in the refuge of your grace and forgiveness. By your Spirit, work within us a confidence to be your witnesses boldly. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

One key truth: Your baptism is the explicit proof of your adoption into God’s family, and God’s pledge of undying devotion and fidelity to you.

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Titus 3:4-6

The Cure for an Identity Crisis

Have you seen the docuseries called, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace?

Natalia was born in Ukraine with a rare form of dwarfism, and subsequently surrendered by her mother for adoption. Eventually, a family from Indiana, the Barnetts, adopted Natalia. But the relationship she had with Kristine and Michael Barnett—her foster parents—was anything but ideal: their relationship was abusive, manipulative, and dangerous.

Why? Depends on whom you ask.

Kristine and Michael Barnett depicted Natalia as a sociopathic con-artist who tried to harm them; Natalia, on the other hand, would tell you the actual crimes committed were by Kristine and Michael Barnett; they, according to Natalia, neglected her, abused her, abandoned her, and disowned her.

So, who’s telling the truth?

Right when a particular side of the story sounds more plausible, the docuseries presents you with reason to discredit it. It’s as if the producers want you to be left constantly without any narrative clarity—starving for closure that will ultimately never come. You’re left feeling like Natalia’s belonging to a family that loves and cares for her is an ending to the story that is always out of reach—where adoption into that kind of family is too good to be true.

Our adoption can sound too good to be true, too—can’t it? That’s what your baptism is: Baptism was—and is—a washing of rebirth and renewal—a washing of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Baptism is the explicit proof that God has adopted you into his family. In baptism, he has adopted you to be his.

As much as we get hung up on the “how” of baptism, our real hangups are on the “why.” “If baptism is not merely a sign, but a seal of God’s grace, why would God both sign and seal himself over to me?”

We’re self-righteous and proud. We’re selfish and unsympathetic. We’re users and abusers. We’re liars and cheaters. We’re hateful and hurtful. We’re not even worthy to stoop down and untie the straps Jesus’ sandals. Why would God want to adopt us into his family?

It’s when you and I ask “Why?” of our adoptions that our God takes us to the waters of Christ’s baptism.

Think about it: why would Jesus need to be baptized? Why would the sinless Son of God need a washing of rebirth and renewal? Why would the blameless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world need to be baptized for repentance and the forgiveness of sins? He’s not being baptized for his own sake—but for yours. It was fitting for Jesus to be baptized as us for us to fulfill all righteousness.

That word—righteous—refers to absolute, complete, total perfection and holiness. And if we had any hope of standing confidently before God, that righteousness is something we didn’t have and couldn’t give—but we desperately needed it.

There at the Jordan River, we find the sinless Son of God emerging from the ranks of sinners to live and die for sinners like us. In Christ, all righteousness has been fulfilled.

Jesus actively kept his word to the letter—and not one stroke of the pen fell through his fingers. Jesus has passively suffered and died—clothed with our rags of sin and regret—so that we would be clothed with the robes of his righteousness. Your baptism is assurance Christ’s wardrobe is yours. Your baptism is God’s promise to you that you, in Christ, are completely and totally forgiven—that you have been washed—head to toe—by the cleansing tide of his grace—that you belong to him!

Some adoption stories of this world might resemble the story of Natalia Grace; but your adoption into God’s family is a completely different story. No cliffhangers. No lack of closure. Your baptism is God’s pledge of undying devotion and fidelity to you! In Christ, your adoption into God’s family is signed and sealed.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, at the waters of your baptism, you emerged from the ranks of sinners to live and die for sinners like us. But because of you, our primary identity is that we are baptized children of God. Whenever we doubt your love for us, bring us not only to the waters of your baptism, but the waters of our baptism, too. For there, we’ve been clothed in your righteousness and adopted into your family. In your name we pray. Amen.