GOD SEEKING WORSHIPPERS
D. C. Brown
Divine Persons are seeking, it is a wonderful thing that the Father and the Son and the Spirit are active now, seeking. Think of the glory that belongs to God what it is that God in His love should be acting now in the gospel to seek persons. God is looking for something; He is looking for you, to bring you into the area where He is known, to bring you into blessing. That is His desire in the gospel.
You know the story of the lost sheep very well and the good shepherd. Has it affected your heart, this fact that Jesus, the Lord Jesus, is seeking? He came into this scene. Why did He come? He came to seek and to save that which was lost. The Lord Jesus came here to seek. He was looking for persons who were lost. They did not deserve it, and you do not deserve it; there was nothing good in them, nothing in them but sinnership, nothing in them but what was contrary to God; yet He condescended to come down to look for such persons, like you and me. He came down from the glory. Think of the glory that belongs to Him, the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, God in His own Person; yet He has come into manhood for that purpose, to seek, to be the display of the love of God as the Good Shepherd seeking lost sheep.
Why are you lost? Why are men lost? They are lost because of what they have done, because of what they are, because of sin. How terrible it is, as you look around and see the world that surrounds us; it is marked by death, by loss, by weakness, by depravity, and by all that is contrary to God’s heart. God’s own Son has come to the world to seek the people who were enmeshed in that, people who were held by that, people who were lost, like you and me. Has it touched your heart that Jesus, the Lord of glory, came so low to seek you? He was looking for you, a lost sheep—one who is spoken of in the psalm, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep”, Psalm 119: 176. Isaiah says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way”, Isaiah 53: 6. We were lost because we have taken our own way. If you take your own way you will be lost, you will be far from God. That is how we were, and maybe you still are, but God has come near in His Son, in Jesus, to save you. Wonderful! He has come to the cross. He has come to suffer death, to suffer the death of the cross that He might reach you. He has come to touch sin because He was made sin. He was made sin. Think of that, the Lord Jesus has come on that way that led Him to the cross, and there on the cross He suffered, and He was made sin, so that all that question of your lost condition could be met; your condition and my condition, met by the precious blood of Jesus; met by the sufferings of Jesus. If you have trusted Him you can say, He did it for me. Can you say that? Are you assured in your heart and soul that you can say, He did it for me?
He came all that way, seeking this sheep that was lost. It is not merely a good story, it is a picture of me in my lost condition. Jesus has come that way to seek me. He has come that way to seek you. What would He seek from you? What is He looking for? He is looking for what is referred to here, repentance, repentance towards God. What does repentance mean?
That you turn from what is in your heart that is contrary to God. You are not going to depend on that any more, you are not going to trust in what you are in the flesh, you are not going to trust in any other man; you are not going to trust in anything but Jesus; you are going to turn from yourself, reject yourself, reject your sinful way; you see that Jesus is the only answer.
The Lord Jesus would appeal to you; it is you He is seeking tonight; it is you He is looking for tonight; it is you that He has gone to such a depth for; and He wants to bring you into the enjoyment of all that is in His heart, all that is in His affection. How wonderful the way that Jesus has gone! How wonderful all that He has in mind for you now!
I want to speak, briefly too, of the second section in the parable, the woman seeking. This has often been linked to the service of the Holy Spirit. He is seeking now, He is actively seeking persons that can be used in the divine system. The divine system on this earth at the moment is the assembly. How precious it is! We can think of its preciousness to Jesus because He is spoken of as like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who has found one pearl of great value.
Think of the preciousness of the assembly to Jesus; He gave all for it, He sought and He has found it. But He wants you, as a believer, to have an active part in it. He wants you to be one of its active components. There are many, many believers in the world who have only a limited part, only a limited enjoyment of God’s system, but He wants you to be one who has an active part in the divine system.
These silver coins would represent redeemed persons. The redemptive work of Jesus has been for them, but there is one that is not available for the Holy Spirit to use. Now, I would have to ask you, a believer, if you are a believer, are you one whom the Holy Spirit can use? If He has something to do, could He use you? Are you active in response to the Lord Jesus? Are you active in response to the requirements of the affection of the Lord Jesus? His love, all that He has done, all that expenditure, requires an answer from you, and the Spirit would seek you for that purpose. It is beautiful to see the detail that the scripture goes into. The Spirit would bring in the light of Jesus. The light of Jesus would be brought to your heart now. He lights a lamp and that is particular, that is close. There is light in the heavens and it is always there, but there is a lamp, and that brings in the word of God to you now; He is seeking with the lamp now. And He is sweeping and He is seeking carefully. The Spirit of God would surround you with the light and say, I want you to have part in this system, I want you to be part of what answers to Christ.
The Father is seeking too; we have that in John’s gospel, “the Father seeks”. What is He seeking? He is seeking worshippers; He is seeking persons, persons of a certain quality, a certain calibre, something that is according to His mind. He is looking for that. Where is He going to find it? He is not going to find it in the world. He will find it in those with whom Christ has worked. There is a woman in this chapter, one of the lost, and Jesus came near to her. How near He came, how low He came to speak to her, to touch her heart, and to bring her into His system. It does not speak of repentance, but the principle of repentance comes into the chapter; she turns away from what she had been in the past to be active in His system. He speaks of the blessed Holy Spirit as a power for her, and refreshment in her life for her, and He says that the Father is looking for worshippers. Can you think of anything greater than to be one for whom God the Father is looking? Are you a worshipper? There are those who love Jesus and give Him a degree of praise, yet they have not been affected so fully in their inward beings that they would worship in spirit and truth.
I was affected this morning, that what God is seeking is worshippers. He is seeking persons of a certain quality. Our aged brother took part, and what was there was a worshipper. If your abilities were taken away from you—I speak carefully and affectionately what there is that relates to you externally, your ability to speak, your ability to search the Scriptures, and all that might attach to you naturally, would God find a worshipper under that? Beloved, might that be so. Might it be true of each one of us, when all that is of nature is at its weakest, that there is a worshipper there.
Think of Jacob, after many years of experience with God, he worshipped on the top of his staff. What experience it was! Beloved, God is seeking worshippers. He is not seeking ability in speaking, He is not seeking anything that would be fancy and feathery according to this world; He is seeking this quality of person. Is that going to be you? May it be so for each one of us, for His name’s sake.
Preaching at Dundee
1 September 1996