Seek the Lord - Edwin Bontrager

Good morning to all of you, and may the blessings of what the name

of Jesus means, what the accomplishments of Jesus life means. May that be

our portion here as we as we continue our worship, as we have the

attitude and mood of worship and the focus of worship. Thanks to the local

ministry that gave me some latitude on schedule to come at a different time than

what I was scheduled. Appreciate that. Just a bit of reflection. The

Sunday School lesson called us to accuracy, accuracy with our information, and certainly

accuracy in our living. I'm also impressed with the life of Rahab in Matthew's

genealogy. In Matthew One, there's five women mentioned in the genealogy, and

all five of those women were from I'll just say irregular stations or situations of

life. And what that tells me is that God can accomplish perfection from imperfection

that happens through Christ. That gives me hope and that gives me a confidence.

I'd like to look in Amos five for four four aspects of seeking God.

So title my message is to seek the Lord and looking at Amos five

to find a basis for that, a little bit of introduction as you're turning

there and thinking about this. The setting is prosperity for both the Northern Kingdom

and the Southern Kingdom. Prosperity, good times, but specifically apostasy in the

Northern Kingdom, to whom Amos's message was directed. It was directed to the

Northern Kingdom. So two kings of fairly long duration were at this time,

and Jereboem the second was the king of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and

it was very prosperous. Things were going well, time of prosperity, and

King Ziah was King of Judah. He also had a long reign. Josephus,

according to the information we have in chapter one, verse one, Josephus

hooks the earthquake that is mentioned here to the episode of Aziah violating God's law

that the Levite should be the only ones going into the sanctuary of the temple,

and Aziah violated that and became a leper. And anyway, Josephus hooks

those two events together. The term saith the Lord occurs forty three times in

the book of Amos, and again just to place Amos. Amos was from

the southern kingdom of Judah, so he was contemporary as far as prophets.

He was contemporary with Jonah and Moses. Pardon me, Jonah and Josiah from

Israel, and he was contemporary with Isaiah and Micah from Judah. Gives a

little bearing of where he fits in with some of these others. All right,

seek the Lord, Seek the Lord from this chapter, and I'll go

right into verse four with number one, like to find from these four occurrences

of seeking the Lord, what might be the what might be a specific thing

about the particular emphasis of each one of these four injunctions here. And so

we have him in verse four, verse six, verse eight, and verse

fourteen. So those are ones we'd be looking at. So first in verse

four and so Amos five and verse four says, for thus saith the Lord

under the house of Israel, seek ye me and ye shall live. But

seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba,

for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

Well, I think that he's saying, seek the Lord for salvation. That's

where relationship with the Lord starts that should be the first thing to seek after

be logically the first thing, the most important reason to seek the Lord before

salvation. And when we talk about when we talk about the Bible, we

talk about the collection of books and information and the writers. Why we conclude

that to bring it down to one word, that salvation is the topic that

is posted. It's emphasized throughout the scripture. Of course, Jesus is a

central figure, but salvation is what the Bible is all about, and we

read that from Genesis to Revelation, and life, which is also mentioned in

this first verse or in this fourth verse. Life is prominent in the New

Testament. The New Testament is about real life, real life in Christ,

abundant life, eternal life, meaningful life, profitable life, acceptable life.

But we read about other places in the Old Testament of God's call to man

to seek Him. And I like to just mention several of those in the

Deuteronomy for twenty nine who read. But if from thence thou wilt thou shalt

seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him. If thou seek him

with all thy heart and with all thy soul Isaiah fifty five six, seek

ye the Lord while he may be found. Call you upon him while he

is near. For Chronicles twenty two nineteen. Now set your heart and your

soul to seek the Lord your God, Psalm twenty two sixteen. The meek

shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him.

Your heart shall live forever and some one hundred nineteen two. Blessed are they

that keep his testimonies and that seek Him with the whole heart. Just a

sampling, kind of a cross section of verses from the Old Testament that often

we read that seek the Lord, and so as we think about reading from

an Old Testament prophet, but yet being in the New Covenant, I think

that Amos would say to us, first off, seek the Lord for salvation.

That's where it starts. These verses we looked at in the Old Testament

about seeking the Lord. In a sense, they're prophetic about Christ because Christ,

Christ became the way that man could find God and relate to God and

have a covenant with God was through Christ, and Christ, of course was

the only means of full deliverance. He was the author of salvation. In

the New Testament, he was a source of real life, and in verse

five, places towns are mentioned, and I thought about the woman at the

well and among the things that she brought up to Jesus, either to change

the subject or just to get things straight in her mind and find her a

way spiritually. She says, oh, you, you Jews, you worship

over here, and we worship here. Well, Jesus wanted her to understand

that there wasn't the place of worship that was so important. It was the

person of worship. And so I think we see that here really perhaps a

mass, but it's here. In verse five, you know, don't go

to Bethel, don't go to Gogal, don't go to Beersheba, because that's

won't be profitable. There Bethel out a golden calf. At Gilgal there was

daily idolatry practiced, and at Beersheba there also was a golden calf. So

don't go there. You won't find God there, you won't find what you

really needed one there. Back to the woman at the well and John four,

verses twenty twenty one and twenty three, she says, our father's worshiped

in this mountain, and YE say that in Jerusalem is the place where men

ought to worship Jesus saith under her woman. Believe me, the hour cometh

when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father.

Our fathers worshiped in this mountain. And ye say, pardon me,

Jesus saith under her woman, Believe me, the hour cometh, the are

cometh. There will be a time when neither one of these places will be

the place to worship, neither one of these places, but there will be

a person to worship that can be worshiped from any location, at any location.

Changing people's hearts was God's plan, and he pointed to that in the

Old Testament Ezekiel thirty six, twenty five and twenty six. Then will I

sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your faith,

your filthiness, and from all your idols. Will I cleanse you.

A new heart also will I give you, And a new spirit will I

put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your

flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Here's something else,

is something that's almost mystical to them, that we're so involved with the

ritual, with the with the material, with what could be seen and felt.

Yet God says, I've got a better way coming. And to look

at the other side of that. In Isaiah one thirteen, God said,

bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination. And to me,

yet God adapts for those things, says the new Moons and Sabbath. The

calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the

solemn meeting, And so God wanted them to understand that from the perversion and

make believe in pretense of ritual God wanted. God wanted something inside. That's

what he wanted. And so this seeking, seeking the Lord for salvation is

really the focus that God was pointing at in the Old Covenant, and then

of course he made it a primary focus in the New Testament by providing the

perfect Savior Hebrews five nine, and being made perfect as Jesus, he became

the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. And so this

collecting together of what God provided and what He asks of us, of people,

both in the heart and with hands and feet in mouth, all is

a package. So a question that I asked myself in considering this point is

do I ever want or seek something else for my security. If the message

here is to seek God for salvation, and it certainly is from New Testament

perspective, that's to make us complete, that's to provide everything for us.

And so I must ask myself, do I ever want something else? Do

I ever seek it? Do I ever put forth effort to gain or wire

something else for my security? Right number two then in verse six says seek

the Lord and ye shall live, lest he break out like fire in the

house of Joseph and devour it, and there be none to quench it in

Bethel, ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the

earth. What's he's saying here. I think he's saying, seek the Lord

for holiness, for holiness, because living that God approves requires holiness. He

says, seek the Lord and you shall live. So there's a way,

there is a way that God will approve. There's a way that is real

life, and that's the way of holiness. And the description that goes on

there is about unholiness and God's judgments, God's response to what's unholy, what's

unsuitable, what's unsatisfactory, but what doesn't fit, what's unapproved God, as

God responds with that to judge. And I think about God's judgment on the

people at the time of the Golden Calf. Seems seemed like that was so

soon after the miracles, after God's presence was shown, and after they were

on the journey, and yet so soon there was that idolatry Exodus thirty two

twenty six. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said,

who is on the Lord's side, let him come unto me. Well,

there's a lot more to the story, and we know that there was judgment.

There was sound a large scale judgment on those who identified in that worship

of the Golden Calf. And Aaron also was condemned by Moses for his part

in that. Well, seek the Lord for holiness. What is holiness?

Often we define it by what it isn't, But let's try to stay positive.

Holiness would be absolute moral cleanness. Holiness would be sanctification. Holiness is

separation unto God with the resulting behavior and Hebrews twelve fourteen follow peace with all

men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. And so

as we think about the starting place of salvation and going on to the profitable

living. The way of life that God accepts and wishes people to seek him

for is the way of holiness. Holiness would include righteousness and spirit fruit.

But again to try to define righteousness or little commentary on that, remember,

Jesus said that in Matthew, I say unto you that accept your righteousness shall

exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. You shall in no case enter

into the Kingdom of heaven. And so is it complicated to have the right

kind of righteousness? Probably only if we ourselves get in the way and build

our own platform. Of what of how we define and how we live,

it can be complicated. But I think Jesus was saying that beyond the letter,

to the to the spirit, to the purpose, to the design that

God has for holiness and righteousness. So holiness of character and an inward vital

the inward and vital dimensions of righteousness over the formal and certainly obedience, righteousness

in principle and motive in its aim and in the manner of intent and performance.

Also righteousness in simplicity, in humility, and in charity. Well,

the spirit fruit also comes into holiness. And we could look at Galatians five,

and see all the different parts of the cluster of fruit that God asked

to be, to be growing, to be developing, to be showing in

our lives, to bearing what he calls fruit, evidence result of that which

comes from the nourishment of the root up into the branches which we are as

Christians. So the question I ask on this one is does the Holy Spirit

have freedom in me to bear fruit, to keep me righteous and to maintain

holiness? Does the Holy Spirit have that kind of freedom in my life?

Right number three? Then in verse eight says seek him, doesn't say Lord,

but we know that's who he's pointing to. Seek Him that maketh the

seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning,

and maketh the day dark with night, that calleth for the waters of the

sea and pours them out upon the face of the earth. The Lord is

his name? What's What's he saying? There's what? Should we seek the

Lord for their well? I think seek the Lord for order, order in

life, structure, things that are settled, and the right way. Amos

spent time with animals. He was outside a lot, so he saw the

stars and no doubt observed the different stars that they could be identified even in

his day. And we know that stars and consolations are predictable. We the

we can recognize them, and we can we can plot or take note of

their position and their orbits, and we know that they will stay in the

place where they were put. And in the thousands of years since history or

or geography or account account has been recorded of things, why there's slight,

there's slight changes in the position of the stars. But I believe that if

Abraham were living today and was outside on a clear night, he could he

could recognize the same sky, same stars, same positions, nearly as what

he did way back there, thousands of years ago, when when God stood

beside him, as it were, and pointed and said, the stars,

that's the way you're inherance, that's the way you're you're your people from you

will be be like. But Centauri, the nearest star four point three light

years away, didn't seem very far, does it, until we understand that

that is about twenty five trillion miles. That's the that's the nearest one.

And then they go on from there. But seeking the Lord for orders,

so Centauri as well as the other ones that we can name or that that

are noted, they're they're they're they're predictable. In the verse here why things

they're referred to or night and day meteorological cycles are predictable. It happens,

happens predictably all the time. Think about one hundred years ago, people could

set their watches by the steam locomotive engineers pulling the trains, or by the

mailman, And seems like that isn't quite as accurate today or consistent today.

But but we read about those kind of things that were that were orderly in

the conduct of people. But those who seek God, as this verse says,

can find a fixed purpose in life, a purpose that's that's steady,

a purpose that has has a plan and a design and an order to establish

and conduct and fulfill and serve. That's what I believe God wants for all

of us. Similar behavior, similar response, similar performance over a period of

time that can be counted on. We have some more examples in scripture about

that. Jesus gave the example of the house in the storm, and in

Matthew seven twenty five, the rain descended and the floods came, and the

winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it

was founded upon a rock. And Luke's account talks about the man who built

that house. It says he he digged deep, he went down to where

he could find a bearing point that wasn't gonna wasn't gonna move, wasn't gonna

wash out, and he built his house that way. So God wishes for

that kind of order in the houses we build, the house of our lives,

the houses of our demonstration of what we believe. He wants that to

have order and structure and consistency. So that points to points to the to

to God and the fact that we're seeking him saw one verse three. And

he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth

his fruit in his season. His lief also shall not wither. And whatsoever

you do is shall prosper. Gives that picture of steadiness and predictability and profitability.

And studying the wording there, that word planteth could be could be defined

as to be placed or to be transplanted. And so we think about where

God puts you and I as individuals, where he puts us, where he

places us The conditions that are where He places us. He wishes for us

to respond in an orderly way, and that by his grace, by his

presence, by his work in us, there can be ordered, there can

be predictability, there can be profit in what we are and what we do.

So questions, here, is there anything that's not in order in your

in your life? What is for sure in your life? Jesus gave a

formula in Mark eight thirty five. He said, for whosoever shall save his

life, shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake

and the Gospels, the same shall save it. And so Jesus went on

in March record. There there's a little bit more than just the facts about

this losing and saving. He says, for the sake of the Gospel,

for my sake, for jesus sake, and for the Gospel's sake. So

that gives us a clue of what all is in this order that we're seeking.

Has to do with the message, the good news that God wishes to

be shown and told to those around right. Finally, then in verse fourteen

is the fourth one, where we read, seek good and not evil,

that you may live and so the Lord, the God of Host, shall

be with you as ye have spoken. Again, the term live is included

in this, So I think he's saying here, seek the Lord for discipleship.

He's talking about living real life and that the Lord would be with you.

That's discipleship. God with us, God in companionship. God as the

director of our lives, and we as the compliant and willing, obedient disciples.

So seek the Lord for discipleship. The contrasts in Versus fourteen and fifteen

seek good and not evil. Of verse fifteen, hate the evil and love

the good, establish judgment in the gates, and so on. Those contrasts

and associates, associates, and the wording I think point to discipleship under Jesus

Christ. When we are his disciples, we'll find ourselves in the right category,

producing the right kind of evidences and having the right kind of responses.

We think about discipleship. God wants the best, not the mediocre. He

wants the excellent, not the ordinary. Again some references in Luke fourteen twenty

seven. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be

my disciple. Philippians, that you may approve things that are excellent, that

you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ John ten ten.

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have

it more abundantly. I think different different views from different perspectives and vantage points

of what discipleship is is like, what it's all about, what includes where

it places you and I in our lives. Discipleship is the whole spectrum of

the substance and expressions of one's walk with the Lord, everything about that walk

with the Lord. That's what discipleship is all about. Just some terms that

came to my mind. Love and surrender, loyalty and allegiance following God's master

plan, consistence, obedience, And there's some references that that I think support

that. John fourteen twenty three. Jesus Andred said in him, if a

man love me, he will keep my words, and my father will love

him, and we will come unto him and make our abode our abode with

him. And so this this loving, what that means, Loving prompt obedience,

just as simple as that love prompts obedience and the surrender Jeremi twenty nine

thirteen. And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for

me with all your heart, with all your heart. That's that surrender with

everything, everything that we are, everything that we have, in our capabilities,

in our are, the work of our minds, and our view of

life. All those things to be surrendered must Matthew ten thirty seven. He

that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and

he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

So this is not about loving this and not loving this, but it's it's

the priority and having the love starting at the right place and practiced properly in

the facts of God's existence and the reality of connection with Him. Then the

matter of relationships, the horizontal relationships will fit into that and become a part

I think of love for God and the resulting responses and obedience to God.

John SEVENO seventeen. If any man will do his will, will he shall

know the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.

It may be taking this slightly out of context, but the will issue,

the will issue that goes with being a human. What I want,

what my will inside of me really wants to do. And so according to

this verse, it needs to be steered, It needs to be placed,

It needs to be probably redirected from focus inwardly and focus towards me, to

be focused to God. So I think it's telling me that if I want

to do his will, why then his will will become known to me.

And we go through life and what is God's will for me? What is

God's master plan? Well, perhaps, especially as we're at the younger end

of life, see like there's unknowns, we're not sure what is all?

What are all the things that God wants of me? Where? What?

How? And yet to have that will problem taken care of, to have

the commitment to obedience taken care of. Then God gives us the details now

and then in the order and the speed and the timing that he wants to

so that so we can we can know enough to trust, we can know

enough to obey, we can know enough to respond, we can know enough

to feel like we're we're worth We're worth something to him, not because of

what we can generate, but because of what He chooses to include us in.

Well, that that will thing is an issue, and Hebrews I have

nine refer to that earlier. But we're talking about God's plan and my obedience,

and we read there, I'll read it again, and being made perfect

as Jesus, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey

him. And so again, obedience. What does that mean? Can I

do it all the time? Am I conscious continually about the importance of obedience?

I'm speaking from my own experience, my own life, my own positives

and negatives. And so in conclusion, I ask, can God point you

out as an example of discipleship accuracy? Remember how he pointed to Job and

says, well, here's here's someone that will make it on through. And

Satan's somehow had opportunity to test that. But what about the test for you

and me? Can God point and say he she, They'll, they'll keep

on going, They'll they'll utilize all the provisions for discipleship and use them accurately,

use them as best they can, use them to full strength. And

I can point, God can point and say, look at him, look

at her. They're a product of redemption, They're a product of willingness of

surrender. They're an example of those who have who seek the Lord, and

so seek the Lord for salvation, seek the Lord for holiness. Seek the

Lord for order life, Seek the Lord for discipleship,