6 22-29 Why Do People Seek God
liberty bible church 5/25/08 a.M.
By Tom Zobrist
“Why DO people seek god?”
John 6:22-29
introduction
Illus. of skit on preacher shopping. This is a little far-reaching, however, some people have become this picky when it comes to shopping for a church, so much so that many churches have become “seeker-sensitive” developing programs to appeal to people that are seeking God. The problem is, the Bible indicates that unsaved people cannot seek after God. Cf. Rom. 3:9-12 True, there are verses such as we read in our Scripture reading that says that if we seek, we will find. But, that is in relation to believers. Jesus is speaking to His disciples in Luke 11. Yet, with all that said, there are people that are unsaved that visit churches looking for something; some answers to life’s tough questions. Why do they do this? What are some possible motivations? Are all these reasons good? Should they seek God in this manner?
OPEN to the passage.
Prop. In this passage, we see some wrong reasons for seeking God and what we should be seeking after.
Open in PRAYER.
PREVIEW the passage. Jesus is a couple of years into His ministry. He has fed the 5,000 men, excluding women and children, and has walked across the Sea of Galilee. Cf. 15-21. That gets us to the next day and…
i. the search is on vs. 22-25
Illus. of our world is in dire straits. We are looking for a Savior. Will it be Barak Obama? How about John McCain or perhaps Hillary Clinton? Who will fix the economy, health care, the oil crisis? In a sense, we’re not much different than the people in this section. They are looking for a Messiah. Who will deliver us from Rome? Who will set us free? Who can meet our needs? They don’t know it, but the subjects of this section are seekers. They are looking for God, in the person of Jesus of course. As we look at this, we notice to mistakes they seekers make. First…
a. god should be where they thought he should be
Illus. of we all have our own conception of what God is like. Some think He is the grandfather with a white beard in the clouds. Some think He is a tree. Some think He is a little bit of everyone. In this passage, these all thought they knew what the Messiah should look like.
V 22 1. The next day, the people are looking for Jesus. They are hungry…again. They have day to day needs and Jesus was good at meeting them. But, He is no where to be found. They go down to the shore where there had been only one boat the day before. It is that boat that the disciples entered the night before…without Jesus. So, where is He?
V 23 2. Soon boats began to land from Tiberias. Evidently, news of Jesus was spreading people were seeking Him out. But, He was not here.
V 24 3. They decided to seek Him out in the region of Capernaum. This is where He had been many times before and it had become His base of operations. Then, they make a second mistake in their search.
b. they question God
V 25a 1. They found Him, not really where they thought He would be, but where He knew He should be. Illus. of often people are disappointed with God because He is not what they think He should be. “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? What about the earthquake in China? What about the typhoon in Myanmar?
V 25b 2. They were perplexed as to how Jesus got there. He never does explain how it happened. The miracle of walking on the water was for the disciples only at that time. God is not required to explain to us what He is doing, yet sometimes we feel that He is obliged to do this. We are not to question why or how or when God does or does not do something.
Trans. THE SEARCH IS ON and they find God or the Messiah, or so they thought. Now, it’s…
ii. finders keepers, losers weepers vs. 26-29
Illus. of losing my wallet. The finder was the keeper and me, the loser, was the weeper. It’s not that clear-cut with spiritual issues, especially salvation. Sometimes those that think they are the finders are actually the losers and eventually the weepers. Here we see that…
a. losers are motivated by the flesh
V 26a 1. Four times through this discourse Jesus uses this phrase. It means that what is to follow is a true statement. What He was saying was important and they needed to heed it.
V 26b 2. They had seen the miraculous signs that Jesus had performed, but they failed to see the significance in the miracles. They merely realized that they benefited from the sign and so were back for more. They were motivated by physical desires rather than by spiritual desires. Their bellies were full and they liked that feeling. Their needs were met. Now, meet them again Jesus.
V 27a 3. Jesus rebukes their selfish motives. The food we eat will spoil if not used quickly, unless it’s a Twinkie. It eventually perishes. Granted, we have to eat to live, but physical food is such a little thing to God.
V 27b 4. Don’t labor for what perishes, but rather labor for what lasts forever. Cf. Mt. 4:4 We should work for what has eternal benefits. Physical food is temporal, spiritual life is eternal. Where do we get this food?
V 27c 5. Jesus possesses this food. This was proven by the miracles that He did. The feeding of the 5,000 was not about bread and fish, but about the eternal life that Jesus could give. But all these people were missing this message because they were motivated by the flesh.
V 28 6. These people were coming from a works-based religion. Cf. Rom. 10:2-4 They sensed that they needed to do something. So, what should they do?
b. finders believe in Jesus
V 29 1. The only work that would appease God would be to believe in Jesus. This is exactly opposite of what they thought. They wanted to DO something. They needed to learn that it was not what they could DO. They had to learn to trust…trust in the One that God had sent to make a way for them.
2. Because of their sin, their works could not save them. Cf. Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5 No one can be saved until they recognize that they cannot save themselves. These needed to be lost before they could be found.
conclusion
Many are searching for God today, but are doing it for the wrong reasons. They may think they will be more fulfilled; they may think their life will have a greater sense of purpose; they may think they will find relief from pain. Although these may be side benefits of salvation, this is not why God seeks us out. It is to save us from our sins. Cf. John 3:17 This is just the beginning of this long discourse by Jesus. What do we learn here about seeking God?
1. God seeks us, we need to respond. GOSPEL Illus. of T-shirt that said “Take The Deal.”
2. Believers are God’s seekers. We seek out the lost and share the Gospel with them.
3. Don’t use God for selfish purposes. We are to serve Him. Any benefits are on the side.
Illus. of Jack Buck CD. His wife said, what would you do if you met the Lord? He said he would ask him why me?
As believers, we are truly blessed. God has sought us out and saved us from our sins. Now, we serve Him through the local church. We seek out the lost and share with them that God is seeking them. Now, they must take the deal.
Cf. Matt. 6:33 as our last thought on being seekers. God did not send Jesus to this earth to satisfy our flesh, but to save us from our sins and enable us conquer our flesh. We do this by seeking first His righteousness.
pRAY
“Why DO people seek god?”
John 6:22-29
introduction
The Bible indicates that unsaved people cannot seek after God. Cf. Rom. 3:9-12 Yet, there are people that are unsaved that visit churches looking for something; some answers to life’s tough questions. Why do they do this?
i. the search is on vs. 22-25
2-mistakes
a. god should be where…
b. they _____________________ God
ii. finders keepers, losers weepers vs. 26-29
a. losers are motivated by the ______________
Cf. Mt. 4:4; Rom. 10:2-4
b. finders believe in ____________________
Cf. Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5
conclusion
Cf. John 3:17- What do we learn here about seeking God?
1.
2.
3.