Thursday, February 10, 2011
Reading: John 6:25-59
Reflection: I have always found the term...and frankly the method...of seeker sensative worship to be quite odd. The idea is that if the church needs to be sensative to the backgrounds and preferences of those who are not yet believers...but are seeking God. If the church will simply take those preferences into account and structure their services to carefully connect with these seekers, they are more likely to return to church and eventually come to faith. Initially, it seems like this is a good idea. However, what do we do with Jesus words here where He directly states that "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them..." R C Sproul reminds us that the word draw literally means compels.
Now, this is pretty significant. What Jesus is saying is that no one seeks God. Rather, it is God is the one who seeks the lost. This makes sense. After all, if it is the lost person who is seeking God, then it would seem as though God is doing all He can to hide from people, and only those who seek hard enough, long enough and creatively enough ever find Him. But that is not what God is like. In fact, it is the lost who are seeking to hide from God...and He is the one seeking them. This matches Paul's thoughts in Romans 3:11 where he states that no one seeks God.
Why does this matter? Well, it matters to me as a pastor because it cautions me against designing a service someone who doesn't even exist. If no one seeks God, then how can I design a service for seekers that do not exist. Maybe we should develop seeker sensative services. However, as God is the only real seeker, then maybe we should be building services that take His desires and preferences into consideration. Maybe we should be more concerned about pleasing the true seeker...the God who came to seek and to save the lost!
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