The Seeker

Introduction

We’re at the end of the series on the Father Heart of God. Where we’ve talked about what scripture reveals about His Heart for us.

This is a topic that’s so close to my heart because I think as Christians we can sometimes put a lot of effort into catching the practise of faith, but not the heart behind it. But when we do that, faith becomes not much more than just a routine.

I think catching the Father Heart of God toward us, toward people is something that is just so essential, without which the faith can become just a dry, repetitive routine.

I actually grew up in fairly conservative churches - I was a Baptist and a Methodist long before I joined the pentecostal church. If you’re unfamiliar with what this means they are basically quite conservative denominations of the faith - absolutely nothing wrong with that. But they shaped my faith in a specific way.

I found my faith being shaped on a theology that was heavily based on SEEKING God.

Again - there’s nothing wrong with this. But it shaped the kind of questions that I would ask in the faith. I would ask questions like: “How do I hear the voice of God?” “How do I draw nearer to God?” “How do I seek God?”

But then when I joined the pentecostal church in my early 20s I started to hear a different kind of messaging. It was almost like God wants you, God’s after you, God wants to meet you and encounter you.

And I guess this birthed a sort of an internal faith conundrum in me.

Was faith about God being the one who pursues us? Was He the one chasing me down and so it was more about BEING found by God? Surrendering to God so that He could take me as I am?

Or is faith about seeking God desperately? Chasing Him, learning how to hear His voice, it’s all about pursuing God?

I think the answer to this question is particularly important because it shapes the way that we live out our faith. Are we living as someone who 1) is trying to pursue God? or 2) as someone whom God is pursuing?

And I think to understand this question - we actually do need to look at the Father’s Heart once more.

Pray

Segment 1: The God Who Seeks

John 4:19–24 ESV

19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

This verse comes in the context of Jesus meeting a woman at a well. It’s quite a famous story - He meets a woman living in sin at this well, and they have a conversation about faith. And she doesn’t know that Jesus is the Messiah, she just thinks He’s a prophet because he tells her about her sin.

And so this woman tries to talk about worship from the perspective of geography - she tries to make it a debate about who is right, the Samaritans or the Jews. But Jesus tells her that worship is not about a location, it’s about an identity. It’s not about WHERE it’s about WHO. And so Jesus says a very famous line that many of us will be familiar with in John 4:23 “23 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.”

And whenever this is preached - it’s usually from the angle of the kind of worshipper that we should be.

But I want to draw your attention to a specific word here that caught my eye when I first chose to study this passage when I was in my early 20s and caught in that conundrum of faith I was talking about before.

The Father is SEEKING such people to worship Him.

This is the first time in the New Testament that such an EXPLICIT statement is made about God SEEKING us.

Don’t breeze past this - don’t ignore this because it reveals something CRUCIAL about the Father Heart of God.

The Father’s Heart is to SEEK

He is not PASSIVE in redemption.

What we have to realise is that in the ancient world - this was quite unheard of. Because it would be the burden of the WORSHIPPER to SEEK out the gods. They were the ones who wanted the glory and the reverence from their worshippers. And so it was the worshipper who would have to make usually large displays of allegience to these gods as a function of seeking them out.

It would be unheard of to have a god who seeks the worshipper out.

And do you know what - more than for other gods, that makes sense for our God, Yahweh. Because we know that He has no lack, we know that He does not NEED anything, we know that He is perfect in all that He does.

And yet He still SEEKS us.

The question that would naturally come to us is: why? Why does God seek us DESPITE His fullness?

Is it because He needs something from us? Is it a power trip? Is it just to Lord it over us?

No, The answer is simple. Turn with me to

Hebrews 12:2 “2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

What is this “joy” that’s referenced in this passage? What could possibly motivate God to leave His place in heaven, to be humiliated and shamed, and to eventually be killed. What motivation could be so powerful?

Let me tell you something friend, that Joy was YOU. It was the joy of being reconciled with the people He loves. YOU are the joy that was before Jesus, the reason that He endured the cross, the reason that He endured the shame.

God does not seek us for His need - but for His joy.

Jesus did not NEED to do any of this. God was not seeking us because He requires something of us - no, there’s absolutely nothing that we could bring Him that would make Him more perfect, that would add to His glory.

He doesn’t do it for any reason other than He loves us and ENJOYS us, and wants to be in relationship with us again.

This revelation should frame how we view scripture throughout the entirety of the Bible

From as early as the book of Genesis where Adam and Eve sin and God searches for them in Genesis 3:9 “9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?””

God was searching for them - He was looking for them. Don’t read this as God vindictively searching for them as we can sometimes read into this passage. See it as a Father enjoying fellowship with His children and wanting to know where they are so He can be with them

Think of the three parables in Luke 15 - the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, the parable of the lost son

Do you know the reason behind Jesus giving these parables? It’s a response to Luke 15:1–2 “1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.””

And so Jesus responds by telling them 3 parables, each revealing in greater measure the Father’s Heart to SEEK the lost, to SEEK us.

The Lost Sheep - a shepherd goes looking for one sheep - leaving the 99 behind in order to go and pursue, to seek after this one sheep.

The Lost Coin - a woman who loses one coin and lights a lamp and sweeps the entire house until she finds it.

The Lost Son - a son goes wayward and leaves his father’s house to pursue a life of extravagance. He loses everything and makes his way back to the Father in shame, only to find the Father not only waiting for him, but running toward him - eager to restore him back to sonship.

You know what’s in each one of these parables that we can often so easily skip? In every one of these parables, the shepherd, the woman and the Father all REJOICE when they have found what was lost.

Sheep: Luke 15:5 “5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”

Coin: Luke 15:9 “9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’”

Son: Luke 15:32 “32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ””

The Father’s Heart is so FOR us that there is JOY when we draw near to Him, when we are found by Him, when we are in relationship with Him. Because that IS His goal - there is no other hidden reason.

God doesnt seek us because He needs something from us, He seeks us because He loves us. Because it brings Him joy.

ILLUSTRATION: Father seeking despite the poo

You know a parent’s love for their child is something else. I was once with a mentor of mine at a meeting of pastors and church leaders. At the time, he and his wife had just given birth to a beautiful boy, their second who was still pretty much in diapers at this point and had just learned how to walk.

We sat through this meeting which was quite boring and when the meeting was over he was like oh let me just go get my son who was with his wife at the back of the hall. I became aware something went wrong when a couple of minutes later I heard a bit of a commotion at the back of the hall. I rushed over to find my friend panicking and searching for his baby - his wife had thought he had the baby the whole time while he thought that she had the baby. And so this little fella who had just began to walk was missing somewhere in this church building.

We searched frantically for a couple of minutes trying to find him - in that time I just remember the look on my friend’s face - sheer desperation. I could almost hear his thoughts. Did someone take my son? What if he got out of the main door? But we didn’t give up we kept searching.

A couple of minutes into our search we found him - he was under a table in the closed of dining area. And so you know relief flooded over all of us. That relief lasted all of 5 seconds before my nose picked up something strange. Poo. I smelled poo. Baby poo. Which is like next level poo. But it wasn’t the smell that was the worst bit. It was the sight. This baby was covered in it. He had somehow managed to reach into his diaper and smeared his own poo all over himself, it was on his face, his chest, everywhere.

And just as we all had that realisation - little baby boy stands up on his little feet and calls out “dada!” and starts walking over to us with his arms stretched out wide - gloriously covered in faeces. I was the closest person to him, so I do what any reasonable person would do - and take off in the other direction.

As I’m running away from this poo covered baby though, something beautiful happens. I watch my friend, moving towards his son. With nothing but joy written on his face, a joy that I could literally read: i’ve found my son! And without a moment of hesitation, he picks his son up and holds him close. And poo goes everywhere, all over my friend, all over his clothes, his son touches his face, his mouth, everything - my friend is just covered in baby turd.

But do you know what I observed? (from a very long way away). The joy of a Father who had found His lost son. He didn’t care about the mess, the poo, the dirt. He didn’t care about his own clothes being soiled, the smell, what other people thought. He was just happy to see His son.

And I see in that a beautiful image of how our Father receives us. Soiled in the worst possible way, as dirty and sinful as we are. When we hold up our arms and call out to Him “Father” He runs towards us and scoops us up.

His joy at finding us far outweighing the sin that we’ve got all over us.

Segment 2: The Cross

John 3:16 “16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

I think that more than any passage that I can think of - knowing the Father Heart of God helps us to truly capture the right weight behind this famous verse.

God so loved the world that he GAVE.

The Father Seeks after us - SO desperately wanting to find His lost sons, so dearly wanting to be reunited with those who have strayed far from Him that he GAVE His only Son.

You know what this isn’t? This isn’t the Son convincing a reluctant Father for permission to go down and save humanity.

It’s not like Jesus was pleading with the Father “Please Father, let me go down and save them” and the Father reluctantly giving in.

This isn’t the Father reluctantly, begrudgingly sending the Son down as a sacrifice like “man I guess if this is the only way then fine…son I guess you have to go.”

This was the Father INITIATING the rescue of humanity.

This is the Father fully knowing the cost, and fully loving the Son - and yet loving us to such an extent that He sends Jesus WILLINGLY as the atoning sacrifice for our sins; so that you can I can enter into relationship with Him

This is God KNOWING the price for you and WILLINGLY paying for it.

Segment 3: The Father wants to be known

But the cross also reveals something about the Father’s Heart to us that I think we gloss over.

John 12:32 “32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.””

Do you catch it? The Father’s Heart is not just to seek us - it’s that He wants to be KNOWN by us too.

The cross was not just about God’s desire to SEEK - but it also enabled man to SEARCH.

Hebrews 10:19–22 “19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

The cross paved the way for us to SEEK God with a new confidence that we never had before.

We can now approach the throne of grace with CONFIDENCE, not CAUTION.

Why would God do all this? Because His Heart is to be KNOWN by you.

You know - one of the things that I encounter as a pastor walking people through their faith journey is that people can really perceive God as this “hidden” God. Almost like He’s somewhat hiding from us, like he’s relucant to be discovered by us.

And this is what I was talking about right at the beginning - the outworking of that is our faith becomes a very one sided pursuit of God. We feel like we’re always trying to chase God as He’s running away from us, we always have to find God as if He’s hiding from us, we have to decode God as if He’s ignoring us.

That’s where the questions come from: How do I hear God more? How do I experience more of God?

These questions are not bad questions in themselves, in fact I think that they are all valid and important questions to ask at some point of the faith journey - but it’s the heart behind the questions that often faults us; because we don’t perceive the Heart of the Father as SEEKING us

So we ask from a place of almost this loneliness, like we’re worshipping a God who doesn’t want to be found - who’s making it purposely difficult for us to find Him.

And so we ask out of this frustration “God where are you, when will you speak to me? How do I learn how to hear you? How can I tell when you’re speaking?”

But Hebrews 1:1–2 “1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

God has ALREADY spoken - DECISIVELY and CLEARLY to you.

And He CONTINUES to speak of His love for you in the forever finished work of the cross. He speaks of His relentless seeking after you, and His Heart to be known by you. The cross CONTINUES to speak to us today of God’s unfailing love over you. About how God is FOR you.

When it comes to hearing God - there is no greater thing to hear than that which was spoken through the cross.

Segment 4: Our Seeking is a response to Him Seeking us first

I asked a question at the beginning of the sermon which I believe is very important. How are we meant to live our faith? Do we live as if God is the one seeking us? Or do we live as the ones who are meant to continually seek God?

I think the answer is in the original passage of John 4:23 “23 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.”

The answer lies in this phrase “worshipping in TRUTH”.

That means Worshipping according to who God has revealed Himself to be. Not just our own idea of Him.

In other words in order to worship in truth - the believer has to earnestly want to SEEK God for a revelation of who He really is. A revelation of the Father’s Heart, a revelation of the grace given to us through the cross, a revelation of His love for you.

In other words The father is SEEKING people who are SEEKING Him.

So - do we live as if God is the one seeking us or do we live as the ones who are meant to be seeking God? The answer is both.

But to truly see the Father’s heart we have to understand one simple fact - we can only seek Him out because He first came to seek us out. We can only know God because He wants to be known by us.

You aren’t seeking after an indifferent God who’s trying to hide from you, who’s bothered by your attempts to know Him more. You aren’t even seeking after a passive God who doesn’t care whether you find Him or not.

You are seeking after a God who loves you so deeply and who wants to be known by you so much that He initiated the rescue - sending His only son to die for you so that He could be known by you, and so that you could seek Him in return.

This is what John means when he writes in 1 John 4:19 “19 We love because he first loved us.”

We can seek God because He first sought after us first.

That’s the Father Heart of God.

ILLUSTRATION: The mother of a gang member demonstrates love

There’s a priest by the name of Gregory Boyle in the USA who wrote a book called Tattoos on the Heart. I remember reading this book - and being moved by one of the real stories in there.

Father Boyle was at a county detention facility ready for a special worship service that his church holds for incarcerated youth who have committed serious offences. That week there was a new boy - a 15 year old gang member named Rigo.

Father Boyle sat with Rigo and tried to make small talk to get to know the boy better. He asked Him if Rigo’s Father was going to be attending the service today. Rigo answered him simply, “No. He’s a heroin addict and has never been in my life. Used to always beat me.” When Father Boyle questioned about the beating Rigo told him a story. “When I was in fourth grade, I came home - I got sent home in the middle of the day. When I got home my dad was home. And he asked me why the school had sent me home. But because my dad always beat me I said to him - If i tell you, promise me you won’t hit me? To which my dad said “I’m your Father, of course I’m not going to hit you.” So Rigo told him why he had been sent home.

At that point, Rigo began to weep openly. Father Boyle sat with his arm around Rigo until he calmed down. When Rigo could finally speak again he spoke quietly to Father Boyle “He beat me with a metal pipe. With a pipe.”

After Rigo had calmed down, Boyle asked him what about his mum.

Rigo pointed to a small woman in the corner of the chapel and said “that’s her over there. There’s no one like her.” He continued “I’ve been locked up for a year and a half. She comes to see me every sunday without fail. Do you know how many buses she takes to see me every sunday?”

At this point Rigo starts to weep uncontrollably, even moreso than before. But between the sobs he says, “seven buses. She takes seven buses.”

We don’t have a God like Rigo’s dad - who’s just waiting to punish us for whatever wrong we’ve done.

We have a God who’s like Rigo’s mum. The God of seven buses - The God of the cross - He did everything to reach you, so that you could know Him and seek after Him now.

Tim Keller has one of my favourite quotes when it comes to the Father’s Heart. “You are more sinful than you could imagine but you are more loved than you could ever dare hope.”

Altar call

Salvation altar call

Sing Give me Jesus - Seek after God.