Seek The Lord

Epiphany Around the World.

In Spain, children generally receive presents from the Three Wise Men, rather than Santa Claus, and they leave shoes outside the door on the night of the 5th to be filled with gifts. Malaga is one of the many Spanish cities that hosts a parade, too, with the Magi on elaborate thrones and performers on floats tossing sweets to children in the crowd.

Across Italy, it’s the good broomstick-riding witch Befana who visits children on Epiphany, bringing sweets and presents. But only in Venice can you watch several suspiciously masculine-looking Befana witches rowing down its most famous canal. This gondola regatta sees several ex-gondoliers dressed up in witch-like clothing and racing each other down Venice’s Grand Canal.

The Orthodox version of Epiphany celebrations, in contrast, involves stripping down to swimming trunks and diving into the icy water, such as the Golden Horn in Istanbul. Participants aim to retrieve a wooden crucifix that has been thrown in by the priest. It’s believed that catching the cross will bring health and prosperity, and hopefully protect from pneumonia.

If jumping into icy water doesn’t sound appealing, then eating cake in Mexico might. Here, a sweet bread decorated with candied fruit called rosca de reyes is prepared. It’s shaped in a ring to resemble a crown, and inside there’s a little figure of baby Jesus. He’s hidden in the cake to represent the hiding of baby Jesus from King Herod.

Crazy things are done.

Just like the Magi.

Left a life of comfort to be “on the road”

700 to 1000 miles on camels

3 to 4 months

Following a star that was a prophetic sign.

Why?

Matthew 2:1–2 NASB95

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

We Have Come To Worship Him

When I say, “The wise men said...” You say, “We have come to worship the King.”

Isaiah 55:6 NASB95

Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.

This journey required determination, discipline, diligence, focus, faith, reverence, and humility.

Worship requires the same things: determination, discipline, diligence, focus, faith, reverence and humility.

Their desire to seek the Christ child in order to worship Him moved them to action.

And the call to seek the Lord in this way has not changed.

Matthew 6:33 NASB95

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Last week we looked at the historical setting of Hosea so as to get the background of why God asked Hosea to do some of the crazy things that he did. We saw God’s ultimate heart in pursuing us even when we don’t pursue Him. And then through Hosea’s use of powerful word pictures and metaphors, we saw God’s covenantal call of love to Israel come back and pursue Him again.

Today we will look at the second part of Seeking the Lord, and how just like the wise men brought 3 gifts, so we to can bring 3 gifts of our own in seeking the Lord afresh and anew for this next year.

Read Hosea 10:11-15

Last week, I introduced the 3 terms we will break down more in depth today.

Sow with a view to Righteousness

Reap in accordance with Kindness

Break up your Fallow Ground

First I’ll define worship and then we’ll look at those 3 terms in toto and how they tie into our attitude in worship, just like the wise men.

Secondly, we’ll break each phrase down and how they connect to the wise men and to us.

Finally, using these three phrases, I’ll set a vision for the church for this next year as we transition into the new facility to seek the Lord here at the Lighthouse.

Let’s define worship.

Worship is the lifestyle lived in submission to the King of Kings.

It includes our attitudes and actions.

Humility

Service

It includes our heart, mind, body, and soul.

There is no facet of our life that should not be lived in worship.

There is nothing we should hold back in worship.

Worship is all of us.

It is more than just the songs we sing, but in how we live our lives.

Submitted to the order of God.

How God does things.

It is tailoring our life to the God-life. Not tailoring God to our life.

It is a continual seeking of the Lord to take over every aspect of our lives.

It is non stop 24/7 365

It is intentional and diligent.

It is about finding our satisfaction in Him.

It is giving credit where credit is due and doing what will be to His glory.

This life is not about us.

This life is for Him.

He died for us so we could live for Him.

That being said, we do see worship played out in three ways with our three phrases from last week.

As the wise men said, “We Have Come To Worship The King.”

Last week I showed how these three phrases lined up with some of the word pictures we examined in verses 11-13 and now I want to flesh this out keeping that definition of worship in mind.

I will harness Ephraim - (to) sow with a view to righteousness - (rather than) plow wickedness.

Judah will plow - (so as to) reap in accordance with kindness - (instead of) reaping injustice

Jacob will harrow for himself - (in order to) break up your fallow ground - (so that you will not) eat the fruit of lies.

All three of these terms give the sense of discipline, diligence, purpose, determination and intentionality.

If you’ll remember, last week I described how Ephraim had been living an undisciplined life of pleasure.

Just do what feels good.

Do what I want to do, when I want to do it, in the way I want to do it.

Immediate gratification.

And the result of that led to them sowing seeds of wickedness.

Both directly and indirectly.

Both consciously and unconsciously.

As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else...

Worship requires discipline, diligence, purpose, determination, and intentionality

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 NASB95

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Worship requires time and effort.

Worship will not just “happen”.

We have to be intentional.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

They also all tie into three traits of God: truth, kindness, and justice/righteousness

Worship must be done with a right spirit and in truth.

John 4:24 NASB95

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Humility, reverence and faith

We Seek The Lord Through Worship.

As the wise men said, “We Have Come To Worship The King.”

How’s your worship of the newborn king look?

What areas of our life are unfettered and roaming free that should be brought into submission and service to God?

Where do I need to be more intentional in my worship?

Now let’s look at each phrase.

Gift 1: Sow With a View to Righteousness

With a view to

with the end game in mind.

looking ahead to the results.

keeping that focus no matter what.

Ties into discipline. Self-discipline.

Hebrews 12:11 NASB95

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

What is righteousness?

Being in a right relationship with God. Jesus

Thinking what is right, doing what is right, speaking what is right.

Because of being in a right relationship with Jesus, we can do those things.

The more we seek Him, the more we are filled with Him, the more we act like Him.

And once everyone is acting like Jesus, we experience righteousness in return.

The wise men had a singular focus: Seek the Righteous King in order to worship Him.

They sacrificed much and the proof of their devotion was in their actions.

Their desire, their focus was on THE Righteous ONE, so that righteousness could be enjoyed.

They knew that the reward for seeking the King, was going to be righteousness. Both in relationship and in lifestyle.

Isaiah 9:7 NASB95

There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Matthew 5:6 NASB95

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

We Worship By Seeking The King Of Righteousness And Then By Sowing Righteousness.

As the wise men said, “We Have Come To Worship The King.”

We worship the newborn King by keeping the goal of righteousness in our field of vision.

Embracing THE righteous one.

Living in righteousness.

Pursuing righteousness even when it hurts.

Questions to Ponder:

Are you hungering and thirsting for the righteous One?

Are you hungering and thirsting for His righteous ways?

Are you sowing righteous seeds into your field?

Gift 2: Reap In Accordance With Kindness (Hesed)

When we are submitted to the order of God (righteousness), we will see a harvest.

In accordance with Kindness: The thought is, “Have we sown lovingkindness?”

HESED

lovingkindness

goodness

faithfulness

trustworthiness

loyalty

mercy

We all want to reap kindness, but we can’t reap what we haven’t sown.

Have we sown faithfulness?

Have we sown trustworthiness?

Have we sown loyalty?

Have we sown mercy?

Matthew 5:7 NASB95

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Now I’m thankful that God will continue to show His HESED to us, in spite of our misbehavior, which was a main point of last week’s sermon, but this week is focused on what it looks like on our end to worship God by sowing God’s HESED.

Secondly, reaping in accordance with kindness carries an implication similar to the first phrase.

We will reap with the thought of looking ahead to how we can show kindness with our bounty.

How can we show the goodness of God through generosity of His blessings to us?

There was a certain generosity that Israel was expected to show to the widow, poor, alien, and orphan at harvest.

Leviticus 23:22 NASB95

‘When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the Lord your God.’ ”

Deuteronomy 24:19 NASB95

“When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

The wise men exhibited this through their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

We Seek The Lord Through Worshipping With Our Generosity Towards Others.

As the wise men said, “We Have Come To Worship The King.”

We worship the newborn King by sowing seeds of HESED.

Just like God is faithful to us, so we need to be faithful to Him by being faithful in our dealings with others

Just like God is merciful to us, so we need to be merciful to others.

Just like God is forgiving to us, so we need to be forgiving to others.

Just like God has been generous to us and blessed us, so we need to be generous and bless others.

Gift 3: Break Up Your Fallow Ground.

Contextually, this phrase is connected to the knowledge of God, or rather, the rejection thereof.

This new plowing which is to bring Israel a life of wholeness is a plowing of the knowledge of God.

That is why it is contrasted with “eating the fruit of lies”.

Ties into the lie in the Garden.

Are you going to seek and pursue God’s truth or the world’s?

Are you looking to establish your own truth or bring your life into conformity with God’s truth?

Biblical worldview

Proactively, this growing in knowledge is both intellectually and experientially.

The fallow ground can mean fallow in the traditional sense, but it can also mean virgin land that has not been touched.

This would mean that this is a new plowing.

When you break up the new, fallow ground, what do you come across? Rocks.

Delwin Feenstra and the field across from us.

Never seen so much rock ever...

Putting a positive spin on this metaphor, though, It carries the thought of mining the field of God’s Word for nuggets of gold, nuggets of knowledge.

The Wise Men were studied men who poured over prophecies and charts seeking to find when the King of the Jews was to be born.

One final part of this metaphor: Humility and brokenness.

Just like we break up the fallow ground so that it can become usable for planting, we have to allow the word of God and the Holy Spirit to till our hearts and break up our pride and stubbornness so we can be useful in service for the King.

We Seek The Lord Through Worshipping By Digging The Treasure Found In The Word Of God And In Humility Allowing It To Break Us Up So We Can Be Fruitful For The Kingdom

As the wise men said, “We Have Come To Worship The King.”

We worship the newborn King by growing in our knowledge of Jesus.

Intellectually

Experientially

We worship the newborn King by allowing Him to till up our unplowed ground.

What field have we allowed to be untouched by God?

What area of our life have we kept back from Him?

What weeds might we have allowed to grow in our field.

What rocks do we need to pick out of our field?

unforgiveness

bitterness

compromise

regret

hurt

disappointments

Final Application

Church Direction and vision for the new year.

There is a focus in this section of Hosea of doing this in community.

Kingdom terms are used

Ephraim - northern kingdom

Judah - southern kingdom.

Jacob - All Israel.

Pronouns are plural, until end of vs. 13.

Your fallow ground - plural. you all.

rain righteousness on you - also plural.

Sow, Reap, and Break up in connection to the new building.

How are we doing in Sowing with a view to Righteousness?

We have invested all this time, energy and capital into this building for what purpose?

I believe we started out with the right heart and attitude.

We wanted to be able to better minister to the surrounding areas and our families internally.

Let’s not forget that. Let’s lean into that even more.

How else can we use this facility with a view towards righteousness?

Pray for God to full this place for His glory

Pray for lives to be touched and changed.

Pray for the glory of God to fall upon this place.

How are we doing in Reaping in accordance with Kindness?

This does tie directly into the last one, of course.

As we lean into the last point, we pray expectantly for what God will do.

We thank Him in advance for the good work He will accomplish.

We lean into the promise that as we sow to the Holy Spirit, we will reap from the Holy Spirit.

We continue to show God’s HESED to everyone who walks in these doors.

How are we doing in breaking up our Fallow Ground?

What area of this church have we overlooked?

Is there an area of ministry that we need to improve?

Is there an area of ministry that we need to re-establish?

Is there a new area of ministry that we need to investigate?

How are we doing persevering until He comes to rain righteousness on us?

Pray for God to fill the seat next to you.

Keep on persevering in prayer until He answers.

As a church, let’s recommit to seeking God and worshipping Him.

Worship is the lifestyle lived in submission to the King of Kings.

We want the Lighthouse to be a house of worship where we live in submission to the King of Kings in all things.

We want the Lighthouse to be a place where God’s presence rains down in righteousness on us.

We want the Lighthouse to be a place of righteousness, generosity, humility, committed to studying the Word of God, and allowing His Holy Spirit to use us.

We want to sow with a view to righteousness and reap in accordance with kindness where we allow God to break up our fallow ground so that we can be useful for His service.

As the wise men said, “We Have Come To Worship The King.”

Closing Song: The More I Seek You.