“THE SEEKING CHURCH” Isaiah 55
INTRO – “Get Rid of Clutter for Good” – article in Woman’s Day magazine. Author Lisa Cohen Lee discusses how to update and organize a home office. Gave 4 steps:
1. Control the clutter
2. Develop a strategy
3. Decide on décor
4. Putting it all together
That’s good advice for churches, too. If we’re not careful, we can get pretty cluttered as we try to do the Lord’s work. Simple Church – Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger – Researched 400 churches and found that the growing, vibrant churches were simple churches, i.e. – “Simple churches are growing and vibrant. Churches with a simple process for reaching and maturing people are expanding the kingdom” (p. 14).
Back to “clutter” article from Woman’s Day.
- Effective churches learn to control the clutter. Have a clear purpose and evaluate everything we do by that purpose. Shoot with a rifle instead of a shotgun.
- Effective churches develop a strategy. Using a purpose statement, a strategy for making disciples is developed.
- Effective churches decide on décor – Décor defined as “style or mode of decoration” (www.dictionary.com). I’m not necessarily referring to what color the paint is going to be. The décor of a room or building is going to be the first thing that a person sees and notices. For us as a church, what’s the first impression that an outsider is going to have about us? What is our spiritual décor going to look like?
- Effective churches put it all together. Even when it means taking risks, changing some things, doing away with some things that are no longer effective, implementing some things that will make us more effective.
Today, begin a series through the month of August entitled, “Who We Are.” Hope to help us rediscover who we are as a body of believers and where each of us as individual Christ-followers fit into this body. 1 Cor. 12:27 – “Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body.” (CEV)
This morning, our focus on “Who We Are” is that we are the seeking church. As we look at Isa. 55, we read in v. 6, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.” Our purpose statement says that we will SEEK GOD, SHARE CHRIST, & SERVE OTHERS. What does it take for us to be the church that fulfills that purpose? This morning, we are focusing on the first part – SEEK GOD. What does it take for us to be THE SEEKING CHURCH?
I. WE WILL SEEK GOD WHEN WE GET A GRIP ON GRACE – v. 1-2
Do you really understand grace? Do you really have a grip on grace? We sing “Amazing Grace,” but do we really understand it and live by it?
We use the words “grace” and “mercy” together many times. What do they mean? Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. The truth is that we are sinners who deserve God’s wrath. We deserve His wrath, not His forgiveness. We deserve hell, not heaven. We deserve condemnation, not pardon. We deserve eternal death, not eternal life.
Grace goes even further than mercy. Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve. We deserved to die for our sins, but Jesus Christ died for us so that we might live. We deserve to go to hell, but, instead, we have been given a place heaven. We deserve God’s incredible wrath, but He incredibly forgives us. We deserve to be God’s enemies, but instead, He gives us the right to become His sons and daughters. We don’t deserve anything, but God “has blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing” (Eph. 1:3).
This is what v. 1-2 in Isa. 55 show to us. These are unbelievable verses! They don’t make any sense! If you have no money, how are you going to buy food? How are you going to buy wine and milk “without money & without cost?” I’ll tell you how. You don’t buy it b/c it has already been bought for you! It’s free b/c the price has already been paid! In my Bible, I have the word, “WHOA!” written out beside these 2 verses. There is such freedom in these verses. There is such freedom in God’s grace! We don’t DO anything to receive our salvation. We don’t DO anything to receive His blessings. We don’t DO anything to gain His approval and acceptance. It is all about His grace and we need to get a strong grip on His grace. When we do, we will seek Him like we’ve never sought Him before. We’ll seek Him, not b/c we HAVE to, but b/c we GET to!
II. WE WILL SEEK GOD WHEN GET SICK OF SIN IN OUR LIVES – v. 7
When will this happen? When we get a grip on grace! When we get a grip on grace – when we realize the price that was paid for our sins; when we are blown away by the fact that God loves us and accepts us; when we stop trying to BE good and realize that Christ’s goodness lives w/in us; when we are driven to our knees in extreme gratitude for the complete forgiveness that is already ours – THEN we will get sick of sin in our lives, & we will want to live for Him in a passionate, enduring relationship of obedience.
Titus 2:11-12 – “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” The grace of God does not make it OK to sin b/c the price has already been paid. That’s cheap grace. The grace of God transforms us. It exposes sin & produces in us a genuine sorrow for it. It creates in us a tremendous passion to do what is right in the sight of God.
C.S. Lewis – “The true Xn’s nostril is to be continually attentive to his inner cesspool.” When we smell the stench of our sin & realize that God’s grace has covered our sin, we get sick of the sin in our lives and turn to the Lord. That’s what seeking God is all about.
III. WE WILL SEEK GOD WHEN WE GET HUMBLED BEFORE GOD – v. 8-9
When was the last time you were just completely blown away by who God is? When was the last time you came to the stark realization that God is God and you’re not? When was the last time you tried to comprehend the greatness of God, the majesty of God, the transcendence of God, the love of God, the works of God, the compassion of God, the bigness of God, the truths of God, the power of God – and you found yourself just breathless? When was the last time you realized that you can’t put God in a neat little box? When was the last time you realized that you’re never going to completely figure God out, never going to completely understand all of His ways, never going to be completely comprehend all of His workings? And when was the last time you understood that that’s OK? That is what it means to be humbled before God.
I take great comfort in these verses. When I get a grip on God’s grace and when I get sick of the sin in my life, I am going to want to grow more and more in my understanding of who God is and what He wants to do in my life. I’m going to want to study and strive to grow. But I also realize that there are simply some things I’m not going to completely figure out this side of heaven. And I’m ok with that. He’s God. He’s huge. He’s amazing. He’s awesome. He’s incredible. He’s beyond me in many ways, and intimately personal in so many other ways. That’s bigger than my mind can comprehend. And that humbles me and makes me want to seek Him even more. How about you?
IV. WE WILL SEEK GOD WHEN WE GET A FRESH APPRECIATION FOR THE WORD OF GOD – v. 10-11
V. WE WILL SEEK GOD WHEN WE GET FIRED UP ABOUT WHO GOD IS & WHO WE ARE – V. 12-13
