A Fellowship of Glad Hearts

February 26, 1989 AM

Psalm 105:3-4;43

"Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually." (verses 3,4)

Introduction:

When the word "seek" is coupled with God, and with His promises it is a magnificent word. Jesus said, "Seek and ye shall find!"

Never be ashamed to be known as a "seeker."

It is a humbling thing, sometimes, to admit to being a seeker. By definition a seeker does not have what he is seeking; he wants more. Possibly everybody is seeking for something. But the Bible says that those who are seriously seeking after more and more of God are more and more aware of a growing JOY! The old hymn says:

I love to tell the story;
'Tis pleasant to repeat
What seems each time I tell it
More wonderfully sweet...
I love to tell the story,
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it like the rest.

Here is a text about seeking. About seeking after God. In this passage the word "seek" is used with three shades of emphasis. It says that we are to (1) seek the Lord; and we are to (2) seek the Lord's strength; and we are to (3) seek the Lord's face continually.

It is a beautiful focus for our thought.

I. WE MUST SEEK THE LORD.

It certainly is God's will that we seek Him!
The prophet Isaiah says: (55:6) "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found; call ye upon Him while He is near." And Hosea says (10:12) "It is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you." And Jesus said: (Matthew 6:33)" Seek the kingdom of God first, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
How does a person go about seeking God?
1. Actually, God seeks us first! God calls us by His Spirit, with what we call CONVICTION. The Holy Spirit says: "You need to know God! You need to change the direction of your life! You need LIFE!"
2. And we respond in OBEDIENCE, with REPENTANCE. Obedience is a foundation in all seeking after God. [Illustration: Saul (Paul) on the Road to Damascus; said (1) Who ARE You, Lord!; and then (2) What do You want me to do?] We CAN and we WILL find God if we will come with a willingness to OBEY!
What "seeking God" and "knowing God"— what "finding God" means: It means NEW LIFE IN CHRIST:
- justification ...
- regeneration...
- adoption...

[But as wonderful as it is to find GOD in salvation, that is not all the seeking we must do. The text says:]

II. SEEK THE LORD AND HIS STRENGTH!

Living the Christian WAY is NOT "automatic."
It takes all we are and all we have PLUS the love and grace of God. We cannot live the Christian life without God's strength.
And, too, we find out that God has not just saved us in order that we can "enjoy" LIFE. We are called to live with a purpose. And we are challenged to find and do God's will for our lives. God wants us to BEAR FRUIT!
How do Christians go about seeking the Lord and His strength? How do Christians go about finding God's will for them?
1. Once again, the initiative is God's! The Holy Spirit calls us to "Present our bodies, our whole beings, as living sacrifices to God, in order that we can find out what is God's good and acceptable and perfect will for our lives. (Romans 12:1,2)"
2. And we respond with OBEDIENCE, yes; but now we are coming to another word: CONSECRATION. The very HEART of spiritual worship is this act of presenting our bodies as living sacrifices to God.
  There are studies of "gifts." There are what amount to spiritual aptitude tests. And these are fine. But the very heart of finding God's will and God's strength is CONSECRATION.
  [But consecration is not quite ALL!]
OUR CONSECRATION MUST CULMINATE IN A COVENANT!
Our God is a covenant Maker.
God does NOT "make deals." [A deal means "I'll do this in exchange for that."]
Covenant is NOT "unilateral." It is not asking God to bless "my plans, and be with me" but rather it is letting God be God, and asking Him to let me do His will, whatever the cost! It is dedicating life to God's will: finding the purity of a single purpose. God's COVENANT with His people is: You be MY people, and I will be Your God! And we find God's strength when we SEEK IN THE CONTEXT OF COVENANT.
There is great beauty and strength in the knowledge of God's Spirit flowing through us to make us His Body, the Church.

[But the Scripture says: "Seek God's FACE!" What do you suppose that means? Can there be something beyond "experience?" Can there be something beyond sanctification?]

III. SEEK HIS FACE CONTINUALLY

The whole purpose of salvation and the reason we are called to holiness is in order that we can come to KNOW God! There is nothing "beyond being saved." There is no other experience that goes beyond being filled with the Holy Spirit and finding God's strength. But being saved is not complete until we are comfortable in God's PRESENCE!
How can we go about seeking God's FACE? [ We do seek God for forgiveness of sins. We must seek Him for His strength and sanctifying grace. We will seek God's face when the crises come. But when will we learn that we are made for God, and that we desperately need God all the time?]
1. Once again, the initiative is God's! If we listen, if we pay attention to His Word, we see how very much God is reaching out to us! "Fear thou not for I AM with thee ..." "Go— make disciples — AND LO, I AM WITH YOU!"
2. And we respond WITH LOVE!
  Oh, OBEDIENCE is still there: the foundation; and CONSECRATION /COVENANT is still valid. But we are still SEEKERS! SEEKERS AFTER GOD'S FACE!
  We are not now seeking 'salvation.' Not now seeking 'a clean heart.' Not now simply seeking to be effective, or to bear more fruit. These are vital, and important; and we will, must should seek them. But what our hearts crave is LOVE. And God alone fills that craving.
GOD WANTS OUR LOVE!
Somehow we get the idea that God's greatest interest is destroying sin, and making us feel guilty so we will quit the sin business. And there is no question in my mind that God is sick of injustice and sin in this sin-sick world. But that is not the end God has in mind.
Or, as Christians we think God is primarily interested in what we can GIVE to Him, and what we can DO FOR HIM. And God has commanded us to go into this needy world and spend and be spent for Him. But God is not impressed with your great gifts or mine; your talents or mine. There is something even more important that God is concerned about.

Conclusion:

GOD WANTS OUR LOVE! He wants us to leave sin because we LOVE Him!

He wants us to spend and be spent because WE LOVE HIM! And we learn to love Him because HE FIRST LOVED US! God wants to fill the deepest need any of us can have: THE NEED TO KNOW THAT WE ARE DEEPLY LOVED!

The world is crying out for LOVE. We all want to BE loved; we want others to love US, but we want to love US, supremely, too.

Most of the sins of the world are twisted LOVE. It may not seem possible to look to God to fill this need for love; it may seem as though it would invalidate or take the place of other loves. Becoming a friend of God is a life-time project. It means a never-ending SEEKING!

But those who seek the FACE of the Lord find that along with the seeking comes a wellspring of JOY! And the seeking gets better, and goes deeper as we grow in the knowledge of God.

First we seek and find the reality of being saved from our sin. Then we begin to discover the purpose of God, and being saved from self-worship, and we begin to know the satisfaction of accomplishment in Him.

But then little by little we begin to discover the face of God. Remember, when the word "seek" is coupled with God, and with God's promises it is a magnificent word. Never be ashamed to be known as a "seeker."

It is one of the open secrets of faith: Those who SEEK TO live in God's Presence know JOY. And those who know God best are those most actively seeking after more of Him. "Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his face for evermore." Amen

#38 O for a Closer Walk with Thee