A lot of modern, evangelical churches have lost their way by trying to be “seeker friendly”. Their whole premise is based on a false assumption. The assumption is that there are lost people who are seeking Jesus and they (the church) are just providing a welcoming environment, a place for seekers to find Him. So they shave off the hard edges of sin in an attempt to not offend. The Bible tells a different story; one in which our condition before conversion is much darker and more more dire – spiritual death. We were dead in our sin and rebellion. Just to state the obvious, dead people don’t seek; they do what dead people do… be dead. People who physically die in this spiritual condition spend eternity in punishment under God’s wrath.
Ephesians 2:1-4
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Romans 3:10-12
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; [11] no one understands; no one seeks for God. [12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Isaiah 53:6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way…
This is way worse news than “they just haven’t made the right decision the follow Jesus yet”. It’s not a matter of lack of wisdom or desire… It’s a matter of utter inability! Before we are born again we don’t seek God; not only because we just don’t want to, not only because we love our sin, not only because we are His enemies… We don’t seek Him because we can’t. I’m belaboring the point a bit to help us see how bad our condition before Christ actually was. And how hopeless is the case for everyone who isn’t in Christ yet. It is humanly impossible.
This makes the Good News of our Lord so good, all the more glorious – miraculous even. The proclaiming/telling of the gospel actually is what the Spirit of God uses to bring dead souls to life!! We don’t have to “win over” or persuade the supposed “seeker” because there is One who does seek! Jesus seeks us out to rescue us from our lost, dead, Hellbound condition. He did all the work for us… and He seeks us out to apply that work to our lives. Our job is to tell and proclaim the whole truth (bad news and good) to dead souls and pray the Lord does His work. Then we watch Him do what He does, perform the impossible – make dead things live!
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…
Ephesians 2:4-5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved…
A true “seeker-friendly” church/message/gospel presentation is one that preaches the whole gospel of Jesus Christ – the True Seeker.
Luke 19:10
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Ezekiel 34:11-16
“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. [12] As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. [13] And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. [14] I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. [15] I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. [16] I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. a I will feed them in justice.