Reading: 1.2-1.3—Our Seeking God, The Seeking Church

1.2 Our Seeking God: Our God is a seeking God; seeking what? Rather, I should say, seeking whom? Scripture informs that God is seeking two categories of people. He is seeking the “lost” and He is seeking “true worshipers.”

Luke 19:10 is a familiar and often quoted verse that is tied to the call to evangelism. In the words of Jesus at the close of His encounter with Zacchaeus, Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” (Luke 19:10). With this statement, Jesus identified the very purpose for His Incarnation. This purpose and divine commitment are seen much earlier in Scripture through the Prophet Ezekiel, who served hundreds of years before the coming of Christ. In Ezekiel 34:1ff., we learn that the word of the Lord had come to Ezekiel and, in that word, God stated, “My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them,” (Ezekiel 34:6).

What, then, was God to do? His sheep, meaning His people, were widely scattered and there was no one to search or seek for them. God determined to take on this challenge Himself. He declares, “Behold: I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land,” (Ezekiel 34:11-13a). God the Father commits to a search and rescue mission to find who’s missing and bring them together and into their own land.

With the Incarnation of Christ, we witness the passing of this search and rescue mission from God the Father to God the Son. Jesus informs that seeking and saving the lost is at the very core of His mission. First, God the Father took it upon Himself to search for His sheep and seek them out. Now, God the Son takes on that responsibility.

So, God, as Father and Son, is about the business of seeking the lost, but what else, or whom else, is God seeking? John 4 renders the account of the exchange between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. This encounter is jam packed with opportunities to learn, but I’m going to zero in on one aspect of the dialogue. John 4:23 records these words of Jesus, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”

What does it mean to worship God in spirit and truth? Whole books have been written on this subject but I will offer a brief comment. My text is Romans 12:1-2. To get a grip on worshiping in spirit, I turn to Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” To worship God in spirit, then, is to engage life as a living sacrifice, living for God rather than self; living in obedience. This takes us back to the reality that God’s ultimate vision is His own glory, and, when we live sacrificially in Him, for Him, with Him, we give Him glory and we worship in spirit. It is only through the Spirit that we are enabled to live sacrificially because, in the flesh, we are trapped in self-centeredness. This is not about a service of worship but defines a life of worship in service.

To get a grip on worshiping in truth, let’s read further into Romans 12:2. The Apostle Paul writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” What is it that renews our minds? The Word of God renews our minds. What is the Word of God? In short, the Word of God is truth. To worship God in truth, then, is to engage life in obedience to God’s Word that tells us what we are to believe and how we are to live. In combination, to worship God in spirit and truth is to live a life that is righteously sacrificial and that is driven, in both belief and behavior, by obedience to God’s Word. Concerning this verse Morris comments, “One must worship, not simply outwardly by being in the right place and taking up the right attitude, but in one’s spirit… The combination of ‘spirit and truth’ points to the need for complete sincerity and complete reality in our approach to God,” (The Gospel According to John, Revised: Morris, p. 239).

In the opening sentence of this section, I mentioned that God is seeking two categories of people, the “lost” and “true worshipers.” I’ve come to realize that, though these are two different categories of people, both categories exist in the same person. Consider this question: Why is God seeking the lost? Certainly, He is seeking the lost so that they might be found, that they might be saved from their sins and marked for eternal life in heaven. As important as this is, however, it’s not the top priority. Remember, it’s all about God’s glory. God is seeking the lost so that they might become true worshipers, worshipping Him in spirit and truth, now and forever. Salvation, being found, is the starting point. Becoming a true worshiper for all eternity is the ultimate destination. Understood in this light, then, outreach and evangelism are not primarily about salvation; they are about eternal worship. To borrow from a popular praise song, Awesome God, let me tinker with the lyric: Our God is a seeking God, He reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power and love, our God is a seeking God (sung to the tune of Our God is an Awesome God).

Rightly discerning and developing a godly vision incorporates God’s commitment to seeking and saving the lost and growing them into becoming true worshipers.

1.3 The Seeking Church: Ezekiel 34 revealed that God the Father originally took the lead in the search and rescue mission to gather the scattered and bring them home. Luke 19:10 revealed that this responsibility had been passed to God the Son, who came to seek and to save the lost. Corroboration is seen in other places in Scripture such as Luke 4. The setting here is that Jesus had gone to the home of Simon Peter and had discovered that Peter’s mother-in-law was ill. He healed her. Later in the evening, people brought those who were sick to Jesus and He healed them and cast out demons. The following morning, we see that Jesus had gone off alone to a desolate place, but people sought Him out for obvious reasons. The text reads, “And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.’ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea,” (Luke 4:42-44).

Jesus was sent by whom? He was sent by God the Father. Why was He sent by God the Father? He was sent to preach the good news of the kingdom of God, which is another way of saying that He was sent to seek and to save the lost.

Now, let’s shift the scene. We’re no longer in the vicinity of Simon Peter’s house near the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It’s the evening of Resurrection Day as seen in John 20. The Apostle John writes, “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit,’” (John 20:19-22). Twice Jesus pronounces, “Peace.” Why? I’m sure they were miles from being at peace at that moment, and the assignment they were about to receive was going to rattle their foundations. Still, the peace of God, the shalom of God, would be upon them. He would be present with them through God the Spirit.

The disciples were sent by God the Son, just as God the Son had been sent by God the Father. God the Son had been sent by God the Father to seek and to save the lost, to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. Therefore, the disciples were being sent by God the Son to do what? They were sent to take on the responsibility of the search and rescue mission to seek and to save the lost; to take on the responsibility of preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. It’s extremely important to grasp that the objective of this search and rescue mission was to seek and save THE LOST, and that the objective of preaching the good news of the kingdom of God was to deliver this good news to THE LOST. As THE LOST were found, they would cross the starting line of salvation and begin the journey to the finish line of true worship through discipleship.

The band of disciples and the believing community around them were the first Christian church, and they were called to be a seeking church. That mission is still in play today and the churches of today are equally called to be seeking churches. What guarantee do we have that our seeking will be fruitful, that the lost are, indeed, reachable, that maturing true worshipers will, in fact, come to pass? Our guarantee of productivity rests on two truths: 1. Jesus Himself is building His church (Matthew 16:18) and 2. The harvest is plentiful (Matthew 9:37).

Rightly discerning and developing a godly vision incorporates God the Father’s sending of the Son and God the Son’s sending of the church, empowered by God the Spirit, to seek and to save the lost, growing them into becoming true worshipers, all to the glory of God.