Disclaimer: this post is not about any specific church, person, style of music, program, or any other contemporary methods involved in what is frequently called ‘doing church’. If you draw a similarity between the topic(s) discussed herein and any actual church you know of or are involved in, please do not accuse me of being hurtful, intolerant, or accusatory. However, do take it to heart, apply the Berean principle and be obedient to what God would have you do (or not do).

First of all, let’s say the principal of ‘seeker-sensitivity’ assumes that deep down inside everyone is seeking God, whether they know it or not. The purpose of being seeker-sensitive is to attract those who do not know Christ to come to church, hear about him and choose him.  By the way, I actually heard a sermon propose that to hear of Christ and NOT choose him is to go against human nature. Let’s see what scripture has to say about the ‘natural’ man:

“As it is written:
There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.
Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit;
The poison of asps is under their lips;
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.”  Romans 3:10-18

In the above reference, the Apostle Paul spoke specifically to everyone being in the same boat, Jews and Gentiles, NOT seeking God.  I’ll leave it to you to look up where “it is written”.

Now hear Paul again, to believers in Ephesus.

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” (Ephesians 2: 1-30)

Here he tells believers they used to be just like everyone else, spiritually dead and as ‘natural’ men, objects of God’s wrath. So mucn for the ‘natural’ man.

Now let’s assume all men are ‘seekers’. Now that’s a perfectly sound statement. We are all seeking after something. Maslow would tell you the highest goal of ‘natural’ man is self-actualization. If you are unfamiliar with Maslow, the hierarchy of needs’ he developed is still the most prominent and accepted theory of human behavior. Pertaining to the ‘natural’ man, his theory is ‘spot on’, according to the Bible. We live for ourselves.

A couple of points here:

1.  Yes, all men are seekers, but NOT after God.

2. Those who do seek God, seek him because they were made alive by the Holy Spirit. (See John 4:44, 65)

If the above is true what does being ‘seeker-sensitive mean?

It means we are in the business of appealing to the spiritually dead who are only attracted to what pleases THEM, and what pleases them isn’t God.  We end up using worldly gimmicks and methods because that’s the only way they’ll come. That, my friends, is ‘self-centered’ church and dishonors God.

On the other hand, if we understand that only those whom the Holy Spirit has awakened from the dead will receive the message of the gospel, all we have to do is preach it!  The church doors are open to anyone who wants to enter, we preach the gospel in love (including sin, judgment and God’s holy wrath), awakened hearts hear their true condition apart from Christ, are drawn to the Savior, and God receives ALL the glory!