Pursuing God – Seeking the Giver not the Gifts

Key Verse – Psalms 42:1-2 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

What are you seeking after? Are you happy with the blessings and gifts God has given? Are you grateful for those? Great! But we are called not to just enjoy what God gives, but to enjoy God Himself. We are called to pursue Him.

Now let’s dive in to what it means to pursue God. We will look at the lives of two Biblical characters who had a deep and personal relationship with the Lord.

#1 – Abraham – Pursue the Giver, not the Gifts

Most of you know the account of Abraham. Abraham was chosen by God to be the patriarch of His chosen people. He was commanded to leave his home and culture and go to a new place that God would show him. He obeyed. He left everything that he was familiar with, his culture, home, friends, and family to seek after God and His plan for his life.

Throughout these years God promised to Abraham that he would would be the father of a great nation.

“I will make of you a great nation…” (12:2)
“To your offspring I will give this land.” (12:7)
“I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth…” (13:14-16)
“This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” (15:4)
“I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her.” (17:16)
“Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.” (17:19)
“I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (18:10)
“At the appointed time I will return to you… and Sarah shall have a son.” (18:14)
“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” (21:12)

The promise was made to Abraham over and over. He was old and Sarah was barren, but God promised a son. This son was an essential aspect of God’s Covenant promise to Abraham.

God fulfilled His promise. Abraham and Sarah had a son. Obedience to God does bring about blessings. God exceedingly blessed Abraham. He was very wealthy. He miraculously had a child.

Have you stopped to count your blessings?

James 1:17 – Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

God gives us many gifts. Amen? I like to give gifts to my children. God does the same to us.

Our job, homes, family, the opportunity to meet here at this nice hotel. I have heard many people mention that they had no idea they would have an opportunity like this to meet and worship with other believers in China.

Yet the gifts from God can become a distraction if we focus on them.

Think about Abraham. He had been childless for almost 100 years. God graciously gave him a child.

Could this child have become the focus of Abraham’s attention, affection, and love instead of God?

Parents here know that children can easily become the center of our universe. I have seen parents chasing their children around the house following them with a bowl and spoon to feed them. The child is playing and every so often turns his head and opens his mouth for his parent to put food in.

How easy it would have been for Isaac to become the center of Abraham’s world. He was the child of promise. They waited for him for twenty-five years. Parents often getting nervous if their toddler falls. How might Abraham and Sarah have reacted to Isaac falling, climbing trees, getting lost? Their full attention could have easily turned to Isaac and they could have even argued that doing so was protecting God’s plan and promise.

Abraham surely delighted in him.

“The baby represented everything sacred to his father’s heart: the promises of God, the covenants, the hopes of the years and the long messianic dream. As he watched him grow from babyhood to young manhood the heart of the old man was knit closer and closer with the life of his son, till at last the relationship bordered upon the perilous.” – Tozer

A wonderful gift from God could become an idol.

It is so easy for our hearts to turn to something else besides God. We can admire the creation instead of the Creator. We may appreciate the gifts instead of the Giver or salvation instead of the Savior. We can love the Word instead of the Speaker.

God knew Abraham’s heart. And this is what He told him.

Whom you love –

This short phrase highlights Abraham’s deep love for his son. God knew how much Isaac meant to him. Likely it was just for that reason that God gave this command.

Take your son, your only son… and offer him there –

Wow. What an incredible command. What must Abraham have been thinking? The Bible actually doesn’t tell us. It goes straight into verse three which reports Abraham as obeying “early” the very next morning.

But Abraham was a human like you and me. As parents, we desire to protect our children. I know how I would have felt. A million questions would have come into my mind. Confusion. Doubt. Distress. The logical side of me would have argued, “You promised the covenant through my son. If I sacrifice him, your covenant will not come to pass. For Your sake, I should spare him.” There would have been no sleep for me that night.

Whatever Abraham thought or felt, he obeyed. That in itself is a great example of pursuing God. You obey. You do what He wants instead of what you want.

We know how the story ends.

Genesis 22:10-12 – Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

Then God provided a ram, pointing to Christ as the perfect once-for-all sacrifice.

So why did God command Abraham to sacrifice his son to begin with? There are perhaps many reasons. I believe one of them was to restore God as Abraham’s number one priority. God should occupy the temple of Abraham’s heart, not Isaac. God should be the focus of Abraham’s love and affection, not Isaac. Abraham should hope in God, not Isaac.

Everything Abraham had, even his own child, belonged to God. Isaac was a means for Abraham to experience God’s faithfulness.

Let’s bring this to our own lives today.

Nothing you have is actually yours.

Last week we were reminded of what David Brainard said in his journal, “My body is not my own.”

Your body is not your own. Your house is not your own. Your things are not your own. Even your children are not your own. They are from God and they are for God.

What is your Isaac? Is there something in your life that is taking priority over God? What are the idols of your heart?

• Comfort
• Power
• Approval and reputation
• Security
• Money
• Marriage – (Find someone you can pursue God together with)
• Children

Here are some questions that can help you pinpoint things that could be becoming idols in your life.

• What do you think about when you are free?
• What do you spend your time on when you have “leisure time”?
• What do you dream about doing?
• What do you spend your money on?
• What do enjoy talking about? (Compare how eager you might be to answer if someone asks you about how God is working in your life lately or if they ask you about your favorite sports team.)

I don’t stand up here as someone who perfectly pursues God all the time. Not even close. When I look at that list, I am convicted. Does my soul earnestly thirst for God like David’s did?

Often it does not. Too often I am satisfied with things in this world. Sports. Cookies. Nature (mountains, streams, lakes). I am going to tell you a secret. I don’t really like Guangzhou. Yes, its convenient and safe. It’s a good city. But I don’t really like cities. My fleshly dream is to move to the big American West, have a ranch or something with few people around. Have a horse, grow things, go fishing, go hiking, see the sunrise, see the mountains, and enjoy autumn weather. But if I pursued that now, I would be pursuing myself, not God. There are basically no people there. So who would I share God’s Word with? One of my Isaacs, and I have plenty, is the dream of a peaceful, country life.

What is your Isaac? What are you pursuing?

Recently, I talked about pursuing joy. People pursue their own happiness. But in the end, they don’t get it. We are called to pursue God. When we do, He gives us joy.

God calls us to thirst after Him, not all of these other things. Jesus is the Living Water, the Bread of Life. He satisfies. These other things do not.

See what God told to Abraham.

Genesis 15:1 – I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.

God is our reward. A relationship with Him is more precious than anything else in this world. Amen?

We verbally agree, but do we really pursue God as if He is the greatest treasure in the universe?

#2 – Moses – “Show Me” More of You

Moses had an extremely close relationship with God. He visited with God face to face. Moses craved for that.

The people didn’t. When God came down on Mt. Sinai, this was the people’s response.

Exodus 20:19 – “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”

They didn’t want to get close to God so they didn’t.

Exodus 20:21 – The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Moses wanted to be close to God so he pursued that relationship with the Lord.

Let’s dive further into this attitude. In Exodus 33, Moses is interceding for the people and he makes three statements showing his desire to pursue God. We will see a progression here.

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Exodus 33:13 – Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight.

Show me your ways

Moses wanted God to reveal His character. What was He like? How did He act? He wanted to “know” God. Moses was not just asking for general knowledge about God, but for the essence of who God was and how that identity shapes His actions. He wanted to know and experience God firsthand, to have a relationship with Him.

It is not enough for us to simply listen to others talking about God. Each one of us should come to God directly and say as Moses did, “Show me your ways.” Sometimes that can be hard to ask. Sometimes we are like the Israelites. We are afraid to actually come close to God. We know He is holy and perhaps we don’t want Him in certain parts of our lives that are not. To go deeper, we have to want it. And we should ask Him, “Show me your ways.” If you are not there yet, ask God to give you this desire.

The second thing we see is that Moses wanted God’s presence.

Exodus 33:15 “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.”

Be with us

He doesn’t want to go anywhere without God. Moses recognized that the people would fail utterly if God was not with them. Their plans are fruitless without Him. Their decisions are vain without Him. Their ambitions will collapse without Him.

Without God’s presence, they would have no hope, no future, and no victory.

Moses didn’t make his own plans and then say, “God, please bless my plan.” Neither was he doing his own thing six days a week and then going to sing some songs or make a sacrifice on the seventh day.

He was saying, “I want you with me ALL THE TIME. I don’t want to go ANYWHERE if you are not there. I don’t want to DO ANYTHING if you are not in it. I don’t want to be ALONE. I, WE, NEED YOU.”

Pursuing God is not just something to do once a week at church or even once a day during devotions. It is a lifestyle of seeking God’s presence.

It is the same awareness that the Psalmist had, “Psalms 139:8-10 – If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”

He is all around us. He is with us all the time. We are called to live in the light of His presence.

Paul said the same thing when preaching in Athens. “Yet he is actually not far from each one of us”

God is here. He is all around us. He is accessible. He delights to hear us ask for more of Him and He is pleased to answer us favorably.

Look at His answer to Moses.

Exodus 33:17 – And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”

I don’t think there is a single case in Scripture where someone is sincerely and humbly seeking for God, wanting more of Him, and God says, “No, go away.”

He rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6)

God answered Moses and He will also answer you.

But Moses wasn’t done! He wanted even more!

Exodus 33:18 – Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

Show me your glory

He wanted to know God. Then he wanted to be with God. Now he asks God to show him His glory. Pursuing God will lead you deeper and deeper. Because He is infinite, there will never be a time, now or in eternity, when you can say, “I am finished, I know God.” Moses had an insatiable desire to know God more. He wanted to behold the light of His beauty, to be amazed at His strength, to be awed by His power, and to be inspired by His holiness. He doesn’t want to only hear God’s words or to know He is nearby, he wants to literally see God.

Do you pursue a deeper walk with God like that?

God did not rebuke Moses. He gives him what he asks for, but with a limit.

Exodus 33:19-20 – And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

God wants to be known. He wants to be worshiped. He loves it when we come along and say, “I want to know you more.” Moses didn’t deserve this honor, but God still chose to grant his request. At the same time, He famously said that Moses could not see His face and live. So He showed him everything he could handle.

Wherever you are on your journey with God, I hope today you will take the next step.

Let us ask God to “Show me your ways.”

Then ask Him to “Be with you,” to help you live in the awareness that He is always by your side. He promises to never leave or forsake us.

Finally, ask Him to show you His glory.

Conclusion –

Christianity is not about the church or the festival or the friends. I know that we enjoy GICF. We enjoy meeting together. Many of us enjoy lighthouses and life groups and fellowship get togethers. That is good. We should. But our faith is not about that.

I hope you enjoy reading the Bible and doing Scribes and Sunday School and Youth Group and Young Adults and men’s conferences and women’s conferences and single conferences. But our faith is not about that.

The disciples said “What beautiful stones and what beautiful buildings” as they admired the magnificence of the temple.

Jesus said, “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.” Most people going to the temple had no relationship with God. They missed the Messiah, who was right in front of them. Let’s not get distracted from the real reason we are all here, pursuing God.
The early name for Christianity was “The Way.” It is about The Way to get near to God. It is about pursuing God. Something far greater than GICF is here.

Jeremiah 29:13 – “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

He is not far. He is near. He wants a relationship with you. Let this be the year you truly seek Him. Let’s pursue God together. Pray and ask God to show you more of Him. That is a prayer He will love to answer.