Isaiah 52:7 - Our Highest Calling

Isaiah 52:7 - How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

Message: Our Highest Calling

Time: Isaiah prophesied from 739–681 BC to a nation that had turned a deaf ear to the Lord. He wanted to see the nation of Judah return to serving God with humility and love for their neighbors. But he was called to pronounce judgments to on a people offering meaningless sacrifices in the Temple and committing injustices throughout the nation. It provides the most prophetic picture of Jesus in the entire Old Testament.

What the Lord is Saying: As I close out this month's issue, it has as usual taken me longer than expected. I haven't done a great job getting through the lessons these past 2 months. The first lessons on Baptism were engaging, but then I started reading daily from the Bible as well and the last two months have had some illness creep in and not been waking up in a timely manner to do stuff each day. After baptism were lesson's on the Lord's Supper, the other sacrament and then lessons on preaching or teaching God's word. 

Today's lesson is about the vocation of ordained pastors or ministers and how we think of them in our culture. I suppose I have always had a lot of respect for pastors. It is true that I wish the church took the bi-vocational role of pastor that the Mormon church takes rather than full-time pastors. I think there are many great people in our church body that could be the pastor as churches start focusing I think too great on rating churches based upon preaching and how good the sermon meets people's needs. I suppose I am similar in this way. We've now been at our church since November 2021 and we have yet to find a way to get plugged in. 

Pastors or priests in our culture are not viewed in high manner. I think of the show Young Sheldon we have watched recently. Mary, the mom, started out in the first almost 4 seasons involved in church and then got disengaged when she felt like the church was not welcoming her because her son got a girl pregnant. The culture portrays this but unfortunately rather accurately. But the pastor in that series was a person that was kind of not real bright and did not have a wife that was engaged in the church. It also showed a youth pastor that was possibly getting involved with Mary or tempted in that direction, giving the idea that authentic living is not a high standard. 

And yet we should have the highest respect for our preacher. What makes a preacher special is his calling to carry the message of the gospel to the Church. This is a significant vocation. In many ways he is our leader in carrying this message to God's people. And yet all of us has this mission. 

More recently I have been engaged in conversations with two pastors in Uganda and through my correspondence watching how they are involved in ministry to their body. It definitely goes beyond Sunday morning. They seem to be real active throughout the week in going to the people, to their homes, to their residence and having home group times with them. It is interesting to hear of their work. People are coming to faith in the process. I can't help but wonder how deep faith is in these interactions. But I am so impressed with their zeal and passion and commitment to God. 

And so today's verse is a fitting one: How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

This verse is a great anthem of the pastor and the high esteem and role we are to have towards him. And right now I am still of the opinion that this is a male vocation. 

Summary: We are to have a high value on our pastors and preachers who are our leaders in bringing the good news of the Gospel and God's word to the people. 

Promise: The highest calling that any of us will ever have is to be a witness to the gospel. Some of us are called to witness to the gospel full time as ordained preachers and teachers of God’s Word. Others of us will witness to the gospel in the course of fulfilling other vocations. Let us thank God for this high calling and ask Him to give us the courage to proclaim the gospel where He has put us.

Prayer: Thank you God for the high calling each of us has to proclaim the Gospel. Thank you for calling people to be your ambassadors for truth in sharing this with others through full-time ministry. Thank you for the missionaries as well as the pastors that are serving You. I appreciate those individuals I have had in my life. Help me to honor them more. Help us as the church to champion truth and not simply to show up to church with the hopes of entertaining our intellect but to be challenged and answer the call. I pray for me and my wife right now that we would seek to get involved in some way.