Isaiah's Call vs Isaiah's Ministry

The prophet Isaiah probably has one of the most well-known calls to ministry in the bible: 

Isaiah 6:1–8

[1] 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. [2] 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. [3] And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

[4] And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. [5] 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!”

[6] Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. [7] And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

[8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

That's amazing! Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up in his holy and heavenly temple. Then we read about God asking for someone to go and speak for Him, and Isaiah immediately responds with – Here I am! Send me! And if we're honest, we want to do the same. Volunteer for the Lord's army and be sent wherever he tells us to go and do whatever he tells us to do. But is that true? Let's continue reading the call story of Isaiah:

Isaiah 6:8–13

[8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” [9] And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

[10] Make the heart of this people dull,

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes;

lest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.”

[11] Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”

And he said:

“Until cities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is a desolate waste,

[12] and the LORD removes people far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

[13] And though a tenth remain in it,

it will be burned again,

like a terebinth or an oak,

whose stump remains

when it is felled.”

The holy seed is its stump.

You may want the call of Isaiah, but do you want the ministry of Isaiah? The Lord essentially says to Isaiah, "You're going to preach and no one is going to listen. In fact, your preaching is going to turn more people away than to bring them in." Do you want that ministry? Most people will look at you as a failure. Is that good enough for you? If you want the call then you have to accept the ministry the Lord has given you. Even Isaiah begins to question what he has signed up for by asking – How long, O Lord? He probably regretted that, as the Lord says, until everything is destroyed and only 10% remain. Imagine being called to a church of a thousand people and saying to them, "God has called me to harden the hearts of the people here and to reduce this church from 1,000 to 100." Or "from 100 to 10," and so on. You may want the call, but do you want the ministry? Is that enough for you? Will the call sustain you as the world, and even the church, looks at you as a failure?

Let's take it even a step further. Have you read Isaiah 20? 

Isaiah 20

[1] In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it—[2] at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

[3] Then the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush, [4] so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. [5] Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. [6] And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’” (ESV)

You want Isaiah's call, but do you want to walk around naked and barefoot for 3 years? No? Why, because that would be shameful and embarrassing? It is not my assertion that the call of a pastor nor the ministry of a pastor is the same as an OT prophet. However, many want to claim they have been called into ministry by God just as Isaiah had been, and yet our plans for ministry may be far different than the ministry God has planned for us. Is the call enough? Do you trust God enough? 

If you want to accept the call to ministry and say – "Here I am! Send me!" – then you have to be willing to go where God sends you and do what he tells you. The fruitfulness of our ministry is determined by God. It may be that 3,000 people are saved in one day (Acts 2), or it may be that only 10% are left when we are done. And yet, what we are to focus on is being faithful to the God who has called us and sent us.