A Seeking God
In His teaching about the Kingdom, Jesus introduces a new concept; that is that God is the seeking God. In doing so He wasn't bringing new theoretical truth about God. As George Eldon Ladd writes;
"God is one who is to be experienced, not a teaching to be imparted. ... In one sense the God of Judaism was not the God of the Old Testament. The God of the prophets was constantly active in history both to judge and to save his people; the God of Judaism had withdrawn from the evil world and was no longer redemptively working in history." We see this unfortunate mindset too often in the Evangelical world. It seems that many think God has left His written Word and a hand full of guys with big brains to interpret it for the rest of us. Very, very sad.Francis Schaefer often wrote that we serve a God who interacts in space-time history. He rightly understood that God has moved, is moving, and will continue to move redemptively. With Jesus we see an extraordinary interaction - the messianic salvation was present! The Kingdom of God had come near! God has taken the initiative to seek out and to save the lost sinner! To redeem from darkness into the light!With the breaking in of His Kingdom, God has shown Himself to be a seeking God. Jesus came to minister to sinners. He does not deny sin nor make light of guilt. But rather than condemn, He meets them at their point of need and restores what was lost. Somehow evangelicals are often missing the mark by constant focus on our faults. In response to that, it seems many are over-looking our spiritual guilt and confusing the work of the Kingdom as only restoring physical and emotional brokenness. Both are wrong. We were all morally guilty but rather than condemnation and rules, the Kingdom brings good news which restores our whole being and brings freedom.So here, now, we find that God is a seeking God. He searches for the sheep that strays. He seeks the coin that gets lost. He welcomes home the prodigal son.
Rick Ianniello
"God is one who is to be experienced, not a teaching to be imparted. ... In one sense the God of Judaism was not the God of the Old Testament. The God of the prophets was constantly active in history both to judge and to save his people; the God of Judaism had withdrawn from the evil world and was no longer redemptively working in history." We see this unfortunate mindset too often in the Evangelical world. It seems that many think God has left His written Word and a hand full of guys with big brains to interpret it for the rest of us. Very, very sad.Francis Schaefer often wrote that we serve a God who interacts in space-time history. He rightly understood that God has moved, is moving, and will continue to move redemptively. With Jesus we see an extraordinary interaction - the messianic salvation was present! The Kingdom of God had come near! God has taken the initiative to seek out and to save the lost sinner! To redeem from darkness into the light!With the breaking in of His Kingdom, God has shown Himself to be a seeking God. Jesus came to minister to sinners. He does not deny sin nor make light of guilt. But rather than condemn, He meets them at their point of need and restores what was lost. Somehow evangelicals are often missing the mark by constant focus on our faults. In response to that, it seems many are over-looking our spiritual guilt and confusing the work of the Kingdom as only restoring physical and emotional brokenness. Both are wrong. We were all morally guilty but rather than condemnation and rules, the Kingdom brings good news which restores our whole being and brings freedom.So here, now, we find that God is a seeking God. He searches for the sheep that strays. He seeks the coin that gets lost. He welcomes home the prodigal son.
Rick Ianniello
posted by Gary O'Connor at 5:13 PM
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