Christmas Heroes - Isaiah

The word advent means coming and so today we not only enter into a season where we prepare to celebrate God coming to us as the child of Bethlehem, but we also prepare ourselves for the coming again of Jesus & this Advent I want us to prepare by looking at the heroes of that first Christmas. There’s a popular TV show on NBC called Heroes & while its plot line and characters are a bit strange, I really like how they define a hero. They say a hero is an ordinary person who discovers that they have superhuman ability to help save humanity. What I want to do is change that definition slightly and say that heroes are ordinary people who discover they have been called by God to be help save humanity. The heroes of the Christmas story we are going to look at are ordinary men and women. They don’t have any superhuman powers, they were just called by God and when they were, they were willing to say yes and then be used by God to help bring salvation into the world. My hope is that by reflecting on these heroes we will discover how God is calling us to be the men and woman who today will help bring the message of salvation into the world.

The first hero we are going to look at is the prophet Isaiah. While Isaiah lived hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, he was the prophet who most often talked about the coming of the Messiah. It is the prophet Isaiah who said, (See Isaiah 9:6-7, and Isaiah 11:1-9)

More than any other prophet, Isaiah looked forward to the coming of the Messiah and while the Messiah wasn’t going to come for 100’s of years, Isaiah worked hard to not only keep hope alive among the people, but he worked to bring the people of God to a place of deeper faith and greater trust. As heroes today, are we willing to surrender ourselves to a work that we may never see complete? That’s what Isaiah did, he surrendered himself to the work of God – proclaiming that the Messiah would come, but he knew that he might never see that day arrive. Are we willing to give ourselves completely to a work that we may never see finished? That’s an interesting question for us to consider on this weekend as we celebrate Thanksgiving.
Many of the Pilgrims who left England with hopes and dreams of building a new nation and a better community never saw that dream fulfilled. Half of the company that came over on the Mayflower never made it past the first winter, but they were willing to live and die for their vision and their dream. Many of those who did survive the first harsh winter worked for years to establish this new nation, but they never saw it completed. Being a hero means we may work for God’s purpose & plan but we may never see that plan fulfilled. Like Isaiah, are we willing to place ourselves into God’s hands & work for God’s plans?

As we dig deeper into Isaiah’s life, I want us to focus on three things that helped make Isaiah a hero. The first one is that Isaiah was willing to make the most of ever God given relationship. One of the first things we learn about Isaiah is that he was the son of Amoz who was the brother of Uzziah who was the king of Judah. So Isaiah was the nephew of the King, which meant that he had some pretty powerful and influential relationships as part of his life & Isaiah used those relationships to further the work of God.

Every relationship we have is God given, so every relationship we have is important? Think about the people who surround us each and every day. Who do we work with? Who do we go to school with? Who are our neighbors? What about our family and our circle of friends? These are the people God has placed in our lives and each and every relationship is important. The first thing we need to make sure is that we are praying for these people? Are we asking God how he wants to use us in their lives? Are we reaching out and loving them the way God wants us to? Are we speaking words of grace and truth? Part of being a hero and being used by God is knowing how God wants to use us in the lives of others.

Isaiah not only had God given relationship, these relationships brought God given opportunities. Because Isaiah was the nephew of the King he moved in the courts of the priests and royalty. Isaiah had access to the highest levels of government not only his but others. What an amazing place to be. Isaiah had the opportunity to speak God’s words to the most important and influential leaders of his day, and he made the most of it. Isaiah spoke God’s word to kings and he challenged the political and religious establishment of his day. But heroes aren’t just those who walk in the courts of kings, heroes are those who see God given opportunities all around them and make the most of them.

Again, think about where you work or where you volunteer. Think about the places you go day in and day out. How can God use you in these places? Many people here work at Penn State so you have the opportunity to work with some of the best and brightest leaders in our nation. If you work with students you have opportunity to connect with and influence the future leaders of our world. One of the amazing things about Penn State is that the world comes here, so we don’t have go around the world to be involved in international missions, we can drive just 15 miles down the road. Are we making the most of the opportunities God is giving us?

We are also living in the middle of a growing community. All around us there are new developments and new people moving in. God is bringing people to us, like Isaiah in the courts of the king, we have an incredible opportunity to speak to the hearts and lives of many new people. Will we step out in faith and trust God to use us among our neighbors? Will we make the most of these God given opportunities? And then as a church we have an incredible opportunity to work with children and youth. Every day there are over 100 children in our church and the 5th quarters drew over 200 youth on Friday nights. We sit right next to the high school and all their athletic fields. We have an incredible opportunity to be used by God in our community in ways that can bring life and salvation. Will we make most of those opportunities? Will we explore all the ways God might want to use in order to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to others? Isaiah made the most of his God given opportunities & if we want to be heroes today, if we want to be part of God’s plan of salvation & share the good news of Jesus Christ with others, we need to make the most of the opportunities God gives us.

Isaiah also made the most of his God given talents and abilities. God had gifted Isaiah in unique ways which helped him to carry out God’s purpose and plan. Growing up among the royalty Isaiah was well educated, he was a gifted writer and poet and speaker and God used those unique gifts for his purpose and plan. Over the next several weeks we are going to be spending a lot of time thinking about gifts. What gifts are we going to buy for people, and what gifts might we want to get, as we think about gifts I would invite you to think about the unique gifts God has given to you and how you can best use them to further the work of God in our church and community, and world. What unique passions and interests do you bring to the church? How can God use those to build his kingdom? Look at 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. Paul writes about the gifts that were given to the church and he says…

Look at V7, to each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. The Message translates that this way, Each person is given something to do that shows the world who God is. Everyone gets in on it and everyone benefits from it. So here’s the truth, each person here has been a given a gift by God to be used to show the world who God is. Each person here has been given a gift to be used to help others find salvation and life in Jesus, or we might say God is calling each of us to be a hero, to use our God given gifts in ways that will help bring salvation to the world

Now you may be sitting there thinking that you don’t have anything to offer, maybe you think you are too old, or too young to be used by God. Well Moses was an oldm an when God called him to the lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, and Paul told Timothy don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young. So it doesn’t matter how old we are, or how young we are – each and every one of us has been given a gift, what matters is whether or not we are willing to use those gifts for the glory of God. What matters is whether or not we will surrender ourselves and allow God to use us.


Each Sunday during Advent you will see that as we light our Advent candles we are going to sing Surrender because that’s what we need to do to be a hero, surrender ourselves fully to God and give ourselves completely to God’s purpose & plan.

Isaiah was willing to do this. Isaiah was willing to use his God given relationships, God given opportunities and God given abilities for God’s purpose. Look at Isaiah 6:1-8. It is here, in this very personal encounter with God that Isaiah surrenders himself to God, and it will be through our own personal encounters with God that we will hear God’s call and be given the opportunity to surrender ourselves to God as well. My hope is that during this busy season of Advent we will find times of worship, devotion, study, reflection and prayer that will draw us closer to God where we will be able to hear God’s voice and respond to God’s call. Heroes are those who understand all God has given them & respond in faith and trust when God calls them. God is calling out today and he is saying the same thing he said in the days of Isaiah, Whom shall I send, who will go for me? Who will take all that I have given them and work to bring salvation and life to the world around them. May we be the heroes today who say, Here am I, Lord, send me.