I. INTRODUCTION
A. When the prophet Isaiah heard the call of God, he volunteered to go for the Lord.
1. In the sixth chapter of Isaiah, we read of Isaiah’s vision of God sitting on a throne in the temple.
a. Isaiah saw a glorious scene and heard the seraphim calling out, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (v. 3).
b. Isaiah was bewildered at these sights and sounds because he knew that he was "a man of unclean lips,” but his iniquity was taken away and his sin was forgiven (vv. 5-7).
2. In the midst of this scene, Isaiah received and accepted the call of God. Consider Isaiah 6:8:
Then 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!”
B. Today, God calls us through the gospel of Christ (2Thess. 2:14). Will we volunteer for His service?
II. A WILLING ATTITUDE
A. Willingness is the first requirement for anyone who would serve God.
1. No one can begin to follow Jesus until he is first willing to do so. Only then can he begin to take the necessary steps to walk with the Lord.
a. Service to the Lord must begin with a desire to follow Jesus. Notice Matthew 16:24 – Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
b. This point seems patently obvious, but the sincere willingness to follow Jesus is sometimes missing among people who are attempting to be Christians. Such people do not truly love Jesus and are unwilling to follow His commandments (John 14:15), but they want the eternal rewards that come by being Christians or they seek to soothe their consciences or to satisfy the expectations of men.
2. Willingness is the first qualification for every good work.
a. God has created us with free will, and He does not force any of us to serve Him against our own will. God’s word implores each person to "choose for yourselves today whom you will serve” (Josh. 24:15).
b. Before we can be of any service to the Lord, we must first desire to do so. Consider a few examples.
i. Ezra became a great servant of God because he first "set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ez. 7:10).
ii. Paul told the Corinthian Christians to desire spiritual gifts for the edification of the church (1Cor. 12:31; 14:1, 26). We don’t have spiritual gifts today, but there are many other works we should desire to do for the edification of our brethren (Eph. 4:11-16).
iii. To properly practice benevolence, we must begin with a willingness to give to others (2Cor. 8:10-15; 9:7).
iv. Men who would serve as elders must first desire the office of overseer voluntarily and not under compulsion (1Tim. 3:1; 1Pet. 5:2).
B. Willingness to serve God arises from a heart that sees the honor and value of being a servant of the Lord.
1. When we are sanctified in Christ, we not only receive the gratification of salvation and the hope of eternal life, but we also are blessed to be made fit for service to the Lord.
a. Notice 2Timothy 2:20-21:
Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.
b. There is no greater ambition than to be "a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” If a person values the opportunity to be a servant of God, then he is willing to cleanse himself from dead works (Heb. 9:14).
2. Consider the willingness of the churches of Macedonia to give for the relief of needful Christians living in Judea.
a. Notice 2Corinthians 8:1-5:
Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.
b. The Macedonian churches were so willing to supply the needs of the saints and produce thanksgiving to God that they exceeded the call of duty.
III. GOD’S WILL BE DONE
A. The Lord Jesus taught us by commandment and example to submit to the will of our Father in heaven.
1. In Matthew 6:10, Jesus taught His disciples to say in their prayers to the Father, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Submission to God’s will is a prerequisite for entering the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 7:21-23).
2. In Matthew 26:42, Jesus prayed to the Father Himself, saying, "Your will be done.” He perfectly exemplified submission by learning obedience from the things He suffered and becoming the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Heb. 5:8-9).
B. If we are bold enough to pray for God’s will to be done, then we must also be willing to actively participate in the doing of His will.
1. Consider a lesson from the example of the seventy disciples sent out by the Lord, who were the fulfillment to their own prayer in Luke 10:1-16.
a. In verse 2, Jesus said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
b. These seventy disciples immediately became the laborers for which they were praying.
c. The lesson for us is that we should be as willing to be the fulfillment of our own prayers for God’s will to be done.
2. Another lesson can be learned from the Corinthian Christians, who had begun to practice benevolence toward the needful saints but had not finished the work.
a. Notice 2Corinthians 8:10-12:
I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.
b. The lesson for us is that our willingness to do God’s will must be complete in order to be effective. We must not start with a flourish and then allow our efforts to fade.
3. A third lesson can be taken from the example of Moses, who once sought to deliver God’s people in his own way but later resisted delivering them according to God’s will.
a. When Moses killed an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite, he was surprised at his people’s rejection of him. Therefore, he fled to the land of Midian (Acts 7:23-29).
b. Forty years later, when God called Moses to deliver Israel, he attempted to excuse himself from fulfilling God’s will (Ex. 3:1-4:17).
c. The lesson for us is that we must do God’s will in His way and in His time. This may not always agree with our expectations, but we must be ready to adapt and submit to God’s will at every opportunity.
IV. CONCLUSION
A. When we are willing to submit to God’s will and work to achieve it, God works through us. Consider Philippians 2:12-13:
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
B. Therefore, let us have the same attitude of willingness that was in Isaiah when he answered the call of God, saying, "Here am I. Send me!”