Introduction: If you and I believe that God is an unchanging God then this verse from the Psalms is still true: God is now at this time in history looking for those who will seek him. Yet what does this mean when we say seek the Lord? What do I use to seek the Lord? How do I do this? Those are the things I want us to talk about this morning and for the next two Sundays as we prepare for a time of spiritual renewal. This morning I want us to take a walk through the Old Testament and see what is said there about drawing near to the Lord.

Our message this morning is focused on what is inside of us. It deals with the inner life. One of the things I have wrestled with this week is how this applies to you in the everyday affairs of life. I watched the construction workers out of my window when they took their breaks and asked what could this possibly have to say to them? I sat with a woman and her husband making hard decisions related to the treatment of the ever-growing cancer in the wife and wondered how a message on seeking God fits them. I see people and ask within, "God are you serious about wanting people to seek you?" I look at a church, our church, and ask how we as a people recognize that God wants us to seek Him.

Perhaps this story can help us put it into perspective: "A close friend was once an officer aboard a United States Navy nuclear submarine. He related to me an experience that happened one day while the sub was on duty in the Mediterranean. Many ships were passing overhead on the surface, and the submarine was having to make a large number of violent maneuvers to avoid possible collisions. In the absence of the captain, my friend was duty officer, in charge of giving the commands by which the submarine was positioned at each moment. Because there was such a sudden and unusual amount of movement, the captain, who had been in his own quarters, suddenly appeared on the bridge asking, "Is everything all right?" "Yes, sir!" was my friend’s reply. The captain took a quick look around and then started back out through the hatch to heave the bridge. As he disappeared he said, "It looks all right to me too." That simple, routine encounter between a naval commander and one of his trusted officers provided me with a helpful picture of the order of one’s private world. All around that submarine potential danger of collision was lurking. It was enough to make any alert captain show concern. But that danger was outside. Down deep inside the sub was a quiet place where there could be absolute control of the ship’s destiny. And that was where the captain instinctively headed. In that center of command there was not an ounce of panic; only a calm and deliberate series of actions being carried on by a highly trained crew of seamen doing their job. Thus when the commander appeared on the bridge to assure himself that everything was in order, it was. "Is everything all right?" he asked. Assured that it was, he looked about and agreed, "It looks all right to me too." He had gone to the right place and received the proper answer. That is how the captain organized his sub. The appropriate procedures were practiced a thousand times when there was no danger. Thus, when it was time for action in a precarious situation, there was no need for the captain to panic. He could anticipate an excellent performance from the people on the bridge. When things are in order there, the submarine is secure no matter what the external circumstances. "It looks good to me too," says the captain. (From "View from the Bridge," Ordering … by Gordon MacDonald)

Every one of us has an inner "bridge" where the center of our life is focused. What we are talking about is your answer to the question "Is everything alright?" It is my desire that you are able to respond, "Yes, Sir!" hearing God say, "It looks good to me too!" How do you get there? You get there by doing The Old Testament writers called "seeking the Lord."

"So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes." The Hebrew word "seek" means "to tread on or frequent, to follow or pursue, therefore to seek or ask". It actually is a word picture similar to cattle or sheep that follow the same path to feed over and over until a path is worn in the field. The actual translation of Daniel 9:3 says that Daniel "gave his face toward the Lord". You get the idea that to seek the Lord has something to do with giving our full attention toward the Lord. To "seek the Lord" would mean to give the absolute attention of our life both inwardly and outwardly to a unique awareness of the presence of God. It implies a deep desire on the part of a believer to have our relationship with God as the consuming passion of our life. This tells us that we will know Him to the degree we want to. Now understand it is not that the Lord is not with us for there is never a moment that He is not present with us or us with Him. It is that because of our inattention, our lack of interest, we are not aware of His presence. Thus, there is more of our preparing our life and the condition of our life to being aware of His presence than of our struggling to find Him!

NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, Bart Starr said that Green Bay Packer Coach Vince Lombardi taught him that, " you must have a flaming desire to win. It’s got to dominate all your waking hours. It can’t ever wane. It’s got to glow in you all the time."(Restoring Your Spiritual Passion, Gordon MacDonald, p.15) It is that kind of passion that Daniel had when it came to giving his absolute attention to a unique awareness of the presence of God. It is that passion that drives and compels us to do everything needed to say to God, "Everything is alright!"

Repeating our definition then to "seek the Lord" means to give the absolute attention of our life both inwardly and outwardly to a unique awareness of the presence of God.

I Chronicles 22 contain David’s last words to his son Solomon. He is reminding Solomon of the need to build the temple and that when the temple is complete to return the Ark of the Covenant to the temple. He tells him, " Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise, therefore, and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the Lord." (1 Chron. 22:19) David commanded Solomon to use his "heart and the soul" to seek the Lord. Over and over in the Bible those two aspects of our inner life are mentioned as what is used to seek the Lord. What do we mean by our heart and soul?

The "heart" is used by the Hebrews to define the totality of a man’s inner life. Sometimes that word is translated "wholeheartedly". Basically it includes our mind-where we think, our will-where we choose and our emotions-where we feel. How can I use my mind to "seek the Lord"? By encouraging anything that guides the mind toward hearing God’s voice and by discouraging anything that will hinder me hearing that voice! How can I use my will to seek the Lord? By making definite decisions that put you in touch with God’s presence! How can I use my emotions to seek the Lord? By practicing control over any emotion that would grieve the Spirit of God working within me! Your heart is your mind hearing God, your will obeying God and your emotions under God’s control.

The "soul" is similar to "heart" but is understood as that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, the inner being of a person. This is the spirit within a person. It is the part of us that was given at creation: Augustine called it a God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill. It is that part of a person that lives on after we die either in heaven or hell. It is the part of us that will only be satisfied by being at peace with God. It is that part of us that can answer, "Yes," to God’s Spirit convicting us of sin! That spirit, soul or mind – that is to seek the Lord!

When someone uses their heart and soul to do something what doe it look like? I think it looks like Lance Armstrong winning the Tour de France. That unimaginably grueling 2000-mile bike race through France has been one by Armstrong three times. While other bikers may race in other events Armstrong focuses on this one race. His heart and soul are so focused on this event that it dulls his sense of pain, fatigue and every other unnecessary pleasure of life to be the best in the world as racer! Drawing near to God with our heart and soul is not a pastime- it is an all consuming passion!

III. We’ve talked about what it means to seek the Lord. We’ve said that the material used to seek the Lord is to be our heart and soul. How do you do this? What about the manner of seeking the Lord? (Dan. 9:3) Dan. 9:3 says, "So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes." Now immediately you hear those words and recognize that Daniel is involved with something with which we are very unfamiliar. In fact what Daniel describes is something strange to us. Yet in these words are some concepts that are essential for us to draw near to God. Daniel’s example lays out three principles that answer the question: How are we to seek Him?

We are to seek Him radically committed to prayer (Dan 9: 3): Daniel sought God with "prayer and supplications". That means intensive praying, earnest prayer and deep prayer. Prayer that is done with a sense of urgency.

We are to seek Him radically giving up all other distractions (Dan. 9:3): Daniel used fasting as a tool to draw near to God. To me this would mean a condition of our life where only fellowship with the Lord was essential. This could mean a "fast" from TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, certain foods – anything that might distract from having our heart and soul set toward God may be a candidate!

We are to seek Him radically surrendering to see our sin through His eyes (9:3): It says Daniel put on "sackcloth and ashes". Those are outward signs or symbols of repentance, shame, guilt and desperation before the Lord. We are uncomfortable with the idea of such desperate actions or demonstrations of admission of responsibility for our failures or in this case the failure of others. Both testaments of our inspired Scripture present the idea of being close or coming near the Lord as a somewhat risky affair. The portions of Scripture read earlier from Exodus 19:16-25 present God as someone unapproachable, distant, threatening. The verses from Revelation 1:12-15 shows us John’s vision of the Lord Jesus Christ as someone who has come to rule and to reign. I fear we do not know whom the God of Israel is to dare to ask such a bold request.

Such intensity is beyond our imagination. Phillip Yancey tells of being in Russia in 1991 and visiting a prison that had a chaplain affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church. While in the chapel of the prison another minister asked if the chaplain would say a prayer. The priest asked, "Prayer? You want a prayer?" The other minister said yes. Yancey writes, "A prayer? You want a prayer?" Brother Bonifato asked, and we nodded. He disappeared behind the altar at the end of the room. He brought out another icon of the Lady Who Takes Away Sadness, which he propped up on a stand. Then he retrieved two candle holders and two incense bowls, which he laboriously hung in place and lit. Their sweet fragrance instantly filled the room. He removed his headpiece and outer vestments, and laced shiny gold cuffs over his black sleeves. He placed a droopy gold stole around his neck, and then a gold crucifix. He carefully fitted a different, more formal headpiece on his head. Before each action, he paused to kiss the cross or genuflect. Finally, he was ready to pray.

"Prayer involved a whole new series of formalities. Brother Bonifato did not say prayers; he sang them, following the score from a liturgy book propped on another stand. Finally, twenty minutes after Ron had requested a prayer for the prisoners, Brother Bonifato said, ‘Amen,’ and we exited the prison into the bracing fresh air outside… I knew that Brother Bonifato was no otherworldly mystic, for I had seen his service among criminals in a place that could only be called a dungeon. His tradition had taught him, though, that you do not approach the Other as you would approach your own kind. The ritual helped him move from a spirit of urgency and immediacy—the demands of the prison ministry—to place a calm whose rhythms were the rhythms of eternity…If you find God with great ease, suggested Thomas Merton, perhaps it is not God that you have found." (Reaching for the Invisible God, Phillip Yancey, p.26-27) We must seek Him radically!

The courage and uncertainty of drawing near to the Lord is beautifully described in a scene in C. S. Lewis’s "Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". Aslan is a lion who is obviously the Christ figure in the fantasy story. He has been sacrificed on a stone table to atone for the misdeeds of one of the children. He has come back to life and is surrounded by the children: "Oh, children, said the Lion, "I feel my strength coming back to me. Oh, children, catch me if you can!" He stood for a second, his eyes very bright, his limbs quivering, lashing himself with his tail. Then he made a leap high over their heads and landed on the other side of the Table. Laughing, though she didn’t know why, Lucy scrambled over it to reach him. Aslan leaped again. A mad chase began. Round and round the hill-top he led them, now hopelessly out of their reach, now letting them almost catch his tail, now diving between them, now tossing them in the air with his huge and beautifully velveted paws and catching them again, and now stopping unexpectedly so that all three of them rolled over together in a happy laughing heap of fur and arms and legs. {It was such a romp as no one has ever had except in Narnia; and whether it was more like playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten Lucy could never make up her mind.} And the funny thing was that when all three finally lay together panting in the sun the girls no longer felt in the least tired or hunger or thirsty." (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe p. 160-161). Our problem is we have forgotten the thunderstorm and abused the kitten.

Conclusion: "The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if there is even one with real understanding, one who seeks for God." (Psalm 14:2) This morning we’ve examined the meaning of seeking the Lord: "giving the absolute attention of our life to a unique awareness of the presence of God." We’ve thought about the material. That we are to use our heart: mind, will and emotion to seek Him. We’ve also looked at the manner: The how we are to seek Him, and saw three different ways we are encouraged by Scripture to seek Him.

This morning "Is everything alright down below in the center of your life? What ever you may be searching for this today you need not look any farther than Him!! Is this for everyone? Yes! Jeremiah said: "'For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart." What is stopping you today from seeking and finding Him? Is your heart the problem?

"The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if there is even one with real understanding, one who seeks for God." (Psalm 14:2)

Sunday, August 5, 2001

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org