On April 22, 1877, Charles Spurgeon, pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in inner city London, preached on Isaiah 6:8. His sermon was titled “A Divine Call for Missionaries.” Isaiah 6:8 says, “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I, send me.’” The sermon begins with Spurgeon saying that missionary work among the nations should be pursued because the lost are perishing and because the only way for them to be saved is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says, “Brethren, the heathen are perishing, and there is but one way of salvation for them, for there is but one name given under heaven among men whereby they must be saved.” Spurgeon believed missions was compelled by two things: the final damnation of the lost and the exclusivity of salvation in Jesus.

Spurgeon then discusses how the vision of glory that Isaiah saw compelled Isaiah to offer himself for service to the Lord. He said that he knows of nothing “that will supply a better motive for missionary work…than a sight of the divine glory.” After Isaiah saw the Lord, he was broken by his sin and the sin of the people to whom he was sent, and he was humbled by the majesty of God’s holiness.

Spurgeon says that Isaiah was a worshipper before he was a worker and he prays that the Lord would raise up “a tabernacle full of worshippers first, and of workers afterwards.” Workers who have been touched by the burning coals from the altar of God are given “lips ready for preaching.” This preaching should be motivated by Jesus’ work on the cross and the reality of perishing sinners. “Since Jesus Christ has died for us,” he said, “we need to be touched with something of that same zeal for the rescue of others from eternal ruin.” The gospel of God’s grace in Jesus creates worshippers who are committed to the work of rescuing people from eternal judgment through the proclamation of the gospel.

The climax of the sermon was Spurgeon’s challenge that his hearers consider the divine call, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Spurgeon was dismayed by the lack of men and women who were willing to take the gospel to the nations. He said:

It is grievous, grievous beyond all thought, that there should be such multitudes of men and women in the church of God who…never offer to go. What, out of all these saved ones, no willing messengers to the heathen!…Here are thousands of us working at home. Are none of us called to go abroad? Will none of us carry the gospel to regions beyond?…Here are multitudes of professing Christians making money, getting rich, eating the fat and drinking the sweet, is there not one to go for Christ? Men travel abroad for trade, will they not go for Jesus?…Can it be true that the majority of educated, intelligent Christian young men are more willing to let the heathen be damned than to let the treasures of the world go into other hands.

Spurgeon could not understand why so many people would go overseas for business but not for the gospel. He wondered how so many could be so unconcerned about the fate of the unreached, why so many would stay home and so few would go.

As we enter the Christmas season, we remember what Jesus said to his disciples before he went back to the Father, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (Jn. 20:21). The Father sent the Son to rescue sinners and then the Son sends his followers to rescue sinners. God rescues us in order to rescue others. Your salvation is not about you!

This Christmas, pray and look for ways to speak of Jesus to those who need him, whether your children or spouse or parent or roommate or classmate or neighbor or coworker or stranger you meet along the way. People are perishing without the Lord. Christmas reminds us that the Son came to rescue us so that we can rescue others.

Have you seen the divine glory of God’s rescue in Jesus? If you have, you cannot help but become a worshipper, and worshippers are called to be workers. Are you a worshipper who has become a worker?

Going After the Lost, With You,

Pastor John