“Seekers”- Seeking a Biblical Understanding, Part 1

For well over a decade, many evangelical churches have increasingly targeted “seekers.” Most commonly, this approach involves removing the traditional trappings associated with church and providing an alluring atmosphere to plant them in the pews. Seeker-friendly churches are widespread throughout most medium to large U.S. cities. Some of these churches do an excellent job of removing the nonessentials while retaining the essentials. Sadly, other churches dilute the gospel and retreat from sound, holistic biblical teaching in an effort to provide ‘relevant and practical’ messages.

What is the underlying reason that some churches water-down the gospel message and shy away from controversial passages? An increasing number of evangelicals describe “seekers” as people who are searching for a relationship with God because of inherent decency and desire. They contend that most people are curious about the Lord but reluctant to attend church due to previous negative experiences, outdated music and communication styles, undesirable religious symbols, unfamiliar terminology, awkward alter calls, and a host of other reasons.

While the earnest, glass half-full view of human nature seems commendable, numerous scriptures present a tremendous challenge to adopting this perspective. Perhaps most pointedly, Paul references passages from Psalms 14 and 53 as he writes in Romans 3:10-12, “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’"

Going beyond the dimension of seeking God, Romans 3 provides deeper insight into man’s condition. By nature, all people (not even one) are unenlightened and unrighteous – even bad! Ephesians 4:18 describes unbelievers as ‘darkened in their understanding’ and separated from God because of their hardness of heart. Prior to salvation, Ephesians 2:1-3 explains that we were children of wrath and spiritually dead in our sins. Understanding man’s bleak spiritual condition apart from Christ, we come full circle to John 3:20, “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”

Scripture says nothing of people, in and of themselves, seeking after the one true God. However, let us not confuse this truth with people seeking a god. False gods are abundant. False religions and spiritual philosophies masquerade as alternatives to knowing the real God, as their adherents worship a god derived from demonic influence (1 Cor 10:20, Col 2:8, 1 Tim 4:1) and merely human thoughts. This Sunday, many Christian church goers will seek social acceptance, meaningful friendships, peace of mind, physical health, material wealth or supernatural experiences without truly seeking a right relationship with God. Religious people often seek a god they can serve in order to obligate certain privileges, but this scenario doesn’t end well when the benefits they’ve so diligently earned don’t arrive. Tragically, some decades-long church members have regularly warmed their favorite pew, but the light of Christ has never warmed their heart.

Dead, blind, deaf, dumb, rebellious and condemned. These words describe our condition before faith in Christ. If all people are disinclined to seek the Lord, what causes some people to sincerely seek Him? We’ll unpack an alternate understanding of a “seeker” next week.