Hide and Seek

 February 3, 2023

In Acts 9, we read about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. One of the interesting things about his conversion is that he wasn’t seeking Jesus; Jesus was seeking him. Some years back, “seeker-friendly” worship was all the rage. Perhaps it still is. Highly successful, it was heavily influenced by Bill Hybels and the Willowcreek Church and Association. Many people who were turned off by traditional Christian worship came to Christ through this innovative approach, both in Hybel’s Willowcreek church and in those who followed his leadership. I myself learned much from him and others who were of the same mindset.

The term “seeker-friendly” however, is somewhat of a misnomer. The Bible says, “There is none who seeks God” (Romans 3:11, quoting Psalm 14). The Gospel story is of a God who isn’t sought, but is himself the seeker. Saul wasn’t seeking God, and my own testimony is similar. I was quite content in my lost condition; my mother decided one day that we were going to start attending church, a decision which wasn’t at all what I wanted. I was dragged to church, unwillingly, I might add. There is no way I could have been called a “seeker.” That was God’s job.

Instead of looking for people who may be sensitive to the Gospel, we should be seeking the lost. Fact is, most of those who seem to be sensitive to the Gospel are in fact de-sensitized to their sin and oblivious to their need. I don’t want to raise any unnecessary barrier to someone’s salvation, so speaking the language of ordinary people instead of religious jargon makes sense to me. The same goes for music. I love the old hymnody, but am not willing to let antiquated terminology and musical meters get in the way of someone needing Christ. But much of the debate around how we worship stems from a misunderstanding of how the Church is intended to operate. 

Worship is what God’s people do. Even if they are familiar with Christian religion, an unbeliever—one who hasn’t surrendered to Jesus Christ—cannot worship “in spirit and in truth” as Jesus commanded. The Biblical pattern isn’t “bring the unbeliever in,” but “send the believer out.” If we as Christians were doing what Jesus told us to do, we would be going into our world with the Good News, winning people to Christ. Only then would we bring them in so we can finish the work of making disciples. 

In Scripture, God is always the protagonist. He is the seeker; we are the ones he seeks. Once we are found, he seeks others through us, just as through Saul who became Paul, God sought countless others who were lost and seeking all sorts of things except God himself. God’s plan and program hasn’t changed in 2,000 years. He is the seeker; we are the sought.