One Exegetical Comment for the Seeker Sensitive Worship Conversation

One Exegetical Comment for the Seeker Sensitive Worship Conversation

“Pleasing God is at the heart of worship. Therefore, our worship must be informed at every point by the Word of God as we seek God’s own instructions for worship that is pleasing to Him.”

“How then shall we worship? To honour God as God, we must worship Him as He, and He alone, decrees.”

The Seeker Sensitive Movement is a fairly recent church movement, where the distinct feature of the movement for the church is seen in its striving “to be as modern, relevant and attractive as possible to its community in order to reach the ‘seekers’ around it.”[1] It is this distinct feature that has a key part to play in the construction/designing of all aspects of the church, including the Sunday Worship Services. It is primarily those Sunday Worship Services that are the main concern of this article.

The opening two quotes from Dr R.C. Sproul[2] summarise neatly and clearly my personal beliefs on the issue of how to construct/design a church’s Sunday Worship Services. I also agree with Dr Sproul’s referencing of Romans 3, that non-believers do not seek after God at all, thus the basic principle of a Seeker Sensitive Church movement is based on a somewhat faulty premise.

It is not my intention or expectation to provide here a comprehensive argument on this issue or to end its debate, but rather to add one comment to the on-going conversation for consideration by others.

In Mark 12:28-34, we find that a certain scribe has been listening to Jesus’ conversations with various religious leaders who were trying to catch him out with their questions, subsequently hoping to destroy His credibility as a respected and authoritative teacher. The scribe, in seeing how well Jesus had answered them, seemingly began to consider that Jesus might well be a good Teacher after all – but just how good is He?

The scribe challenged Jesus on the matter of the greatest commandment, to which Jesus answered fully with the following amalgamation of three portions of Scripture:

‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, The Lord is One.’ ‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. (v.29-31)

The scribe recognises that Jesus has answered his question well, himself adding a further detail, that to obey these commandments is actually more pleasing to God than all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices from the Jewish religious system. It is then that Jesus, now seeing that the scribe has answered well, replies, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” (v.34)

It seems to me that the Seeker Sensitive Church Movement has, at its very core, a desire to see the unsaved brought into the kingdom of God. This is a very commendable aim. In fact, any church that does not have that desire and longing is a church that does not know its Lord very well, if indeed at all. Now, we have to recognise that the church does not have the ability or power to bring anyone into the kingdom of God. That is for the Lord and the Lord alone. What is possible for the church, as we can learn from the scribe of Mark 12:28-34, is to bring the unsaved near to the kingdom of God. There are two clear aspects of this scribe’s near position that we are able to learn from:

Firstly, the scribe has a knowledge of God’s truth. In fact, we can see that he has a very good knowledge of God’s truth, albeit falling short at one key part.

The scribe recognises the importance of love regarding God’s truth. Hendriksen, in his commentary on these verses, writes that the scribe, “understood that the key that unlocked the door of the kingdom was LOVE.”[3]

Our love for God is imperative if we are to enter into God’s kingdom. We just cannot get into the kingdom with it. The scribe gets this.

Our love for one another is also imperative if we are to enter into God’s kingdom. The scribe also gets this (whereas even many Christians fall short of grasping it fully!).

There is one thing of the highest importance, however, that the scribe has missed – because if we are to enter into God’s kingdom then God’s love toward us is most important of all.

John 3:16, for good reason regarded as many a Christian's favourite gospel text, tells us very clearly that it is God’s love for us that brought Jesus Christ into the world to win salvation for us; not our love for God. 1 John 4:19 makes very clear that we can only ever love God because He has first loved us.

Secondly, the scribe is in the presence of Jesus Christ. This is a fact so obvious it is easily overlooked or discounted, but, once again, it is a matter of the upmost importance to our consideration.

We are all born outside of the kingdom of God, sinful and needing salvation. To be saved, and to become a Christian, we must, therefore, enter into the kingdom of God. There is only one way into the kingdom of God and that is through Jesus Christ.

To be in the presence of Jesus must needs mean then that we are not far from the kingdom of God! He is both the embodiment of God’s love, and the Door to God’s kingdom; He is the only Way into the kingdom of God. To be in the presence of Jesus Christ is to be near the kingdom of God.

Conclusion

If the church desires to see the unsaved brought into the kingdom of God, then to construct or design the worship services with the unsaved in mind is a woeful fallacy; completely misguided and with damaging consequences to a church and its evangelical witness. The best thing that the church can do in seeking the saving of the lost is to bring the unsaved near to the kingdom of God. It is God who must bring them into His kingdom. If the church is to actually bring the unsaved near to the kingdom of God, then its focus must be on proclaiming clear gospel truth and seeking to cultivate the presence of Jesus Christ in its midst. This is not done through people-pleasing and entertainment, but through God-pleasing – and what pleases God is reverent, whole-hearted worship combined with holy love (love to God, love to one another, and with thankfulness to God for His love to us).

Is this not what God has prescribed for His church as revealed through His Word? That it is God who has prescribed this worship ought to be enough for us, but maybe God has also, out of the abundance of His grace, revealed to us some of the benefit to us that comes from worshipping God in His way, not ours.

[1] Robert Hampshire, Should the Church Be Seeker Sensitive? (christianity.com), 22/12/2022. [2] R.C. Sproul, How Then Shall We Worship: Biblical principles to guide us today, (David C. Cook, 2013). [3] William Hendriksen, The Gospel of Mark, (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1999) p.496.