Seeker Sensitive Ignores The True Seeker

There is a movement in Evangelical Churches today that most have seen in play for some time now. It is a movement to become what is known as "Seeker Sensitive." You may here it defined in many different ways, but basically, it comes down to an idea that unsaved people will respond better if Church feels a little less like Church. The idea is that this Church is here to serve you, and while we will talk about Jesus, and you will here words like Salvation and Gospel, we're not going to talk about the fact that you are a sinner, or other things like that. Obviously there are many degrees of commitment to the Seeker Sensitive model. While some churches don't even preach the Gospel at all, some simply try to phrase it in softer terms, which is still not good, in my opinion, but certainly not nearly as bad as ignoring it. More commonly though, I would say, is the idea that hard Doctrines shouldn't be preached and all Sermons should be soft, and practical for daily living.

My biggest problem with the Seeker Sensitive movement is that, more often than not, the true seeker is ignored in this system. Of course, the true seeker is Jesus Christ Himself. Consider the following Scriptures;

Luke 19:10 "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Luke 15:3-6 "³So he told them this parable: ⁴ "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' "(ESV)

Luke 15:8-10 "⁸"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? ⁹And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' ¹⁰Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." " (ESV)

In the Parables above, Christ is pictured as the Shepherd and the Woman respectively, as the one who searches diligently for that which is lost. That is to say, Christ is the seeker, not the thing (or person) which is lost. Romans 3:10-11 says, "¹⁰As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. ¹¹There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." Or as the ESV says, " no one seeks for God." You can see clearly from the Bible that it is not sinners that seek Christ, but rather Christ that seeks for sinners. If we water down the Gospel, or worse refuse to preach it all together, we reject what God has ordained as His way of seeking for His lost sheep. How sad truly sad is that?