LET ME STAND WITH THE SEEKERS
Introduction
God has always been pleased with those who seek him. In Deuteronomy 4:27-31 we find these words.
And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
This didn't happen for a long time. But the promises came true. We can always trust God. God's truth is never destroyed.
Later God gives King Solomon a similar promise regarding the temple and worship in Jerusalem. II Chronicles 7:13-14:
When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
It is truly the seekers of God and truth that God hears and is pleased with.
David
After the ark had been away for a long time, David prepared a tabernacle for it in Jerusalem. He had a great celebration of thanksgiving. He gave food to the people and he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark. He offered a psalm of thanksgiving. Note an excerpt from that psalm. I Chronicles 16:8-11:
Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the
peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who
seek the Lord!
Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek
His face ever more!
When David was old and was appointing Solomon to be king, he commanded the leaders of Israel, "Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God." In I Chronicles 28:6-9 Speaking to the leaders of Israel, David recalls the Lord's instruction to him and instructs Solomon regarding serving God.
Now He said to me, "It is your son Solomon who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be his Father. Moreover I will establish his kingdom forever, if he is steadfast to observe My commandments and My judgments, as it is this day." Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, be careful to seek out all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land, and leave it as an inheritance for your children after you forever. As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.
David is thought to be the author of Psalm 27. In verses 4 and 5 we find:
One
thing I have desired of the Lord,
That
will I seek:
That
I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All
the days of my life,
To
behold the beauty of the Lord,
And
to inquire in His temple.
For
in the time of trouble
He
shall hide me in His pavilion;
In
the secret place of His tabernacle
He
shall hide me;
He
shall set me high upon a rock.
Rehoboam, Solomon's son - Regarding Rehoboam, we
find these words in II Chronicles 12:14, "
And he did
evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord."
Just the opposite is said of Jehoshaphat in II
Chronicles 18:3, "Nevertheless good things are found in
you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and
have prepared your heart to seek God."
The preparation of one's heart is important. We need to carefully look at ourselves and consider where our allegiance lies. For what have we prepared our hearts?
Asa Asa was a good king who instructed the people. II
Chronicles 14:4 says, " He commanded Judah to seek the
Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the
commandment." During Asa's reign we find the following recorded
in II Chronicles 15:9-15: Then
he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who dwelt with them
from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to him in
great numbers from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was
with him. So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month,
in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. And they offered to the
Lord at that time seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from
the spoil they had brought. Then
they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers
with all their heart and with all their soul; and whoever would not
seek the Lord God of Israel was to be put to death, whether small or
great, whether man or woman. Then they took an oath before the Lord
with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and rams' horns. And
all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their
heart and sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them,
and the Lord gave them rest all around.
Ezra
Ezra was a Levite of the lineage of Aaron. We find
he was prepared to serve God just as other noteworthy ones that have
been mentioned. Ezra 7:8-10 records: And
Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh
year of the king. On the first day of the first month he began his
journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month
he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon
him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord,
and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.
Early Church Seekers
In the church from early times we find those who
want to have a doctrine, a fixed standard to set and keep the church
in line with what is considered to be acceptable teaching. In New
Testament times it was the Jews with circumcision. They had a
precedent in Abraham and strong feeling for the physical
demonstration of who was truly a Jew, but this was not the right
way. Paul faced his toughest opposition in the churches from those
bent on the tradition being carried forward into the church. John in
the late days before the fall of Jerusalem speaks of Diotrephes,
as one who, "loves
to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. 10
Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does,
prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that,
he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish
to, putting them out of the church - III John, verses 9-10. The teaching and concern of John was that they walk in truth. He
says in III John, verses 1-4: THE
ELDER, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth: Beloved, I pray
that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your
soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and
testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in
the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk
in truth.
Jesus' teaching about the kingdom rings out in those words and
continues to ring out now to those who love truth. The pearl of
great value or the treasure hidden in the field, Matthew 13:44 and
45, both come to mind as we think about the seekers of truth. In order to have the Pearl or hidden treasure it was worth selling all other possessions.
Another well known and often quoted scripture which comes to mind
is:
"But
seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added to you." - Matthew 6:33 In the second century, there were those who would
align the church with the beliefs of the times and those who wanted
to be the rulers and leaders who were not qualified. Clement writes
to the Church at Corinth: Every
kind of honor and happiness was bestowed upon you, and then was
fulfilled that which is written, "My beloved did eat and drink,
and was enlarged and became fat, and kicked." Hence flowed
emulation and envy, strife and sedition, persecution and disorder,
war and captivity. So the worthless rose up against the honored,
those of no reputation against such as were renowned, the foolish
against the wise, the young against those advanced in years. For
this reason righteousness and peace are now far departed from you,
inasmuch as every one abandons the fear of God, and is become blind
in His faith, neither walks in the ordinances of His appointment,
nor acts a part becoming a Christian, but walks after his own wicked
lusts, resuming the practice of an unrighteous and ungodly envy, by
which death itself entered into the world. Clement goes on to mention Peter and Paul Let
us take the noble examples furnished in our own generation. Through
envy and jealousy, the greatest and most righteous pillars of the
Church have been persecuted and put to death. Let us set before our
eyes the illustrious apostles. Peter, through unrighteous envy,
endured not one or two, but numerous labors, and when he had at
length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to
him. Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient
endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled
to flee, and stoned. After
preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious
reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the
whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered
martyrdom under the prefects. Thus was he removed from
the world, and went into the holy place, having proved himself a
striking example of patience. Present Seekers
When we seek God and his truth we stand with the
faithful of all ages - David, Asa, Josiah, Ezra, Paul, Peter and
many others. That is where I want to stand.
In the church now there are those who want to have
doctrine by which to govern the church. They want to set the
standards of fellowship and dogma by which to judge other members.
It is by their truth - not God's truth. It is pseudo truth, not
real truth. They would have you believe that all the arguments have
been answered, the truth found and set in stone but it is by
their own standards of reasoning. They set themselves up as
guardians and defy any who challenge them and their understanding.
We see the results of their evil ways. Good men are slandered,
ridiculed and cast aside so that their knowledge in seeking truth is
lost because of prejudice built up against them by malicious
brethren who seek to control and protect what they conceive to be
the only correct understanding. The eyes of their understanding are
blinded by the traditions they have adopted as doctrine. Good men,
knowledgeable men, studious men have had their reputations tarnished
so that their understanding and wisdom have been lost. I might not agree with any or all that any of them
taught, but they are seekers of truth and I must appreciate that. I
want to stand with those who seek, not because I agree with them but
because they seek truth. I can work with seekers of truth to find
truth. I cannot work with those who have blinded eyes, hardened
hearts and tongues that slander the innocent.
I was watching the Gaither Homecoming on TV
yesterday. This was the gathering of gospel singing groups to spend
an afternoon singing together. I stand amazed at the happiness these
people show. A discussion of this followed with wife Linda, who
pointed out that they are professional performers. This is true, but
still they generate enthusiasm. Many of these people believe in the
direct operation of the Spirit in today's times. They call
themselves apostolic and Pentecostal and believe if they had it in
the Bible, we have it now. Many are well versed in the scriptures
and have knowledge of biblical history and languages; yet, every
time they read a passage that might teach otherwise, they see it
through their tinted glasses. Every passage about having the Spirit
is read with the bias that it can happen now. I don't agree with them.
I must question if they seek truth. They seek their truth, a pseudo
truth on which to base their doctrinal teaching. I cannot stand with
them. Neither can I stand with those who read about
marriage and divorce with their tinted glasses on. I do not stand
with those who read the gospels and see only universal application.
I do not stand with those who read all of the "coming of Jesus"
passages as pertaining to a yet future coming. They need to take
those glasses off. Such teachers have set their own rules
concerning marriage. Others have invented false concerns regarding
the resurrection and judgment. They misunderstand the situation of
the whole period in which the apostles taught. They seek a doctrine,
a dogma, but not truth. They have proclaimed their pseudo truth,
their church dogma, to protect their church from error; and then
claim righteousness because they stand on the traditions they have
learned and pass on. Members who trust men rather than God, believe
what they say because they neither love truth nor seek it. They
prefer to be spoon fed from the canned doctrine, the pseudo truth of
those who stand in control by their influence and power. No doubt
there are some who have power which has been gained by their
self-appointment as guardians and protectors wrought by their evil
desires for preeminence. Others have justly obtained influence but
do not use it correctly. These lack the basic element, love of
truth. I do not stand with these. These people might as well be
Pentecostals; their approach to the scriptures is exactly the same. They study with bias.
They differ only in doctrine, not in heart or attitude about the
scriptures.
I know that we do not stand alone. A few have not
grown tired or become discouraged. But look around, there aren't
many people standing at the door looking and wanting in to search the
scriptures with us. Most are in the feeding line with their mouths
open waiting for the spoon with more standardized dogma that they
can take in abundance and then sleep soundly until the next
feeding..
Where do you stand?
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