Reading: Matthew 13:44-45
Seek My Face
Bishop’s Waltham 22.02.15
This morning I am going to share from Hos 10:12 “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit
of unfailing love, and break up your unploughed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he
comes and showers righteousness on you.” But first let’s make a few comments from Mt 13.
Altogether there are seven parables in Matthew 13. The most well-known is the parable of the
Sower which takes up as much space as the other six. I want to concentrate our attention upon
these two particular parables in verses 44 & 45.
In verse 44 we read the parable of the treasure hidden in a field. Somehow this guy is in a
field. We don’t know whether he is actively looking or searching for treasure, like those people
today who have metal detectors and they explore beaches, historic ruins and around ancient
landmarks looking for treasure, or whether he was simply rambling in the countryside, off track.
However it happened, he stumbled upon some amazing treasure. It says he was overwhelmed
with joy and this joy prompted him to sell everything that he had and buy that field.
Then in verse 45 we read a similar parable about a man who is a pearl expert. He was a
merchant. He was in the jewellery trade and was always on the lookout for that precious stone or
pearl. One day he came across an incredibly beautiful pearl. It is described as having “great
value.” He also made some quick mental calculations and concluded that his entire estate - that
includes his house, his means of transport, his business, everything that was any value at all, was
minuscule in comparison with the value of this pearl. So he sold everything he had and bought it.
What do these two parables mean? Historically, there have been two entirely different,
completely opposite interpretations to them. And I believe that both of them are valid.
The first interpretation says that each of these men represent God. It was God who was the
seeker. Luke 19:10 says that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. Mt 10:6 He
came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Ez 34:16 says that God will search for the lost and
bring back the strays. Imagine! God looked down from the splendour of heaven and the
immensity of eternity and from amongst myriads of celestial beings called angels, from His world
of infinite and unimaginable beauty….and he saw in you and I something that was far more
beautiful than any night sky or sunrise, far more valuable than the treasures he had created in the
earth and far more desirable than anything in all creation, or anything that exists in heaven itself.
He made the decision that he would sacrifice everything to purchase us for himself.
Isn’t that what the gospel is all about. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” God is passionate
about you and I. Romans 8:31 “He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all space how will he not also, along with him graciously give us all things?” Jesus said, “it is the
father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Can you imagine this? How wonderful it is to be
loved by God! Whatever you’ve done in the past, however many times you’ve messed up,
however useless you feel as a Christian, God sees you as treasure, as a precious pearl, that is still
worth paying the highest price for. Peter says “it was not with silver and gold or perishable things
that we were redeemed but it was by the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb of God without defect,
who was chosen before the creation of the world but revealed in these last times for our sake.”
No wonder there was joy in heaven when one sinner repents! But how much joy the Father has!
The Father was ecstatic, he knew you from before the foundation of the world. Ps 139 says he knit
you in your mother’s womb. He chose your parents, he arranged your upbringing, he oversaw
everything that happened in your life. You know precious stones are produced by great pressure
underground. And pearls are made in the heart of an oyster. At pearl begins life as a grain of sand
and it becomes an irritant to the oyster. The oyster protects itself by covering a grain of sand with
layer upon layer and organic substance also known as mother-of-pearl, until the iridescent gem is
formed. And that’s what happened to you. God was always superintending everything that
happened to you until it produced a beautiful pearl God considered more valuable than anything!
The second interpretation is the other way around! This time we are the man who finds the
treasure or the pearl. And the treasure or pearl represent the incomparable splendour, the
unparalleled magnificence, the unsurpassed glory and the unrivalled beauty of Jesus and his
kingdom. Do you remember when you were first converted, when you first realised that God loved
you, that God saw beauty in you, that God wanted you to be with him in time and in eternity? I
remember those first days, when the blush of first love for God overwhelmed me. It transformed
me in a moment. It gave me a sense of dignity and worth that I had never experienced before. It
made me feel special and valuable and it melted my heart, and spoiled me for any other love.
Both of these interpretations are true because they each concentrate on the depth of relationship
between the LJC and us.
The Bible contains a number of real love stories. The main ones for me are the stories of Ruth and
Boaz, and the book called the Song of Solomon. These two stories illustrate the relationship that
Jesus has with every believer. The Bible describes him as the bridegroom and us as the bride.
Have you ever thought about the first miracle that Jesus did? Turning water into wine at a wedding
in Cana. Do you know why he started with this? Because he needed to get fixed in his mind, right
at the beginning of his three-year ministry, that the end of all his hardship, and sacrifice and
pouring out of his life would be the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! Rev 19:7-9. I believe that this is
what motivated him throughout his life. He was, and forever will be consumed with passion for her.
There is no doubt that we were saved for relationship with Jesus. That means intimacy, sharing,
fellowship, oneness with him. And his desire is that we employ our lives in developing this
relationship with him, in preparation for the fulness that will come in glory.
Think about it! Jesus Christ, the great Son of God and Saviour, craves our love. He wants us to go
deeper, to share more, to know him better and to experience His amazing presence in everincreasing ways. Like Paul, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
And the only appropriate response to this is that we continually “seek his face.” It is time to seek
the Lord. This is the burden of Paul’s heart: Eph 1:17 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you
may know him better.” And this is the burden of Christ’s heart for us. And how do we pursue and
maintain and develop this relationship? By seeking His face.
There are 6 verses in the OT which speak of seeking God’s face –
1 Chronicles 16:11 Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive
their sin and will heal their land.
Psalms 24:6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.
Psalms 27:8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Psalms 105:4 Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
Hosea 5:15 Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face;
in their misery they will earnestly seek me."
I think its rather appropriate that there are six verses because six is the number of man in the Bible
and the only proper response of man in the light of His love, is to look to God and seek his face.
“His face” means God’s face turning to you in felt, experienced, manifested acceptance and
favour. It’s like God coming and revealing His great heart of love for you personally. To see the
accepting, affirming and affectionate look of God’s face towards you.
“Seek” means to desire, to examine or explore, to seek earnestly, to diligently search for, to
wish for, to crave, to investigate, to pursue.
So we are talking about a serious, intentional activity on our part to enjoy God more.
Genesis 32:30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face,
and yet my life was spared." (Peniel’ means face of God.) And we have the same privilege 2 Cor
4:6 ‘For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.’ When we are as desperate
as Jacob was, having a resolute, unyielding determination to pursue a relationship with him we will
see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It is time to seek the Lord.
WHEN IS IT TIME TO SEEK THE LORD?
1. When you are backslidden in heart. (1st mention in Scripture)
Deut 4:29-31 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him
with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have
happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him. For the
LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with
your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.
What’s important here is that the very first time seeking the Lord is mentioned in the OT is when
the people have God have backslidden. This is not a condemnation. This is the loving heart of
God, saying, ‘When you get like this there will be a facility to seek the Lord, to get restored, and to
get your relationship renewed and reinstated again. Seek the Lord and you will find Him.
This is an Old Testament promise. God knows that we are weak. He knows that we will sometimes
fail. And it doesn’t condemn us. Rather, he provides this facility to come back into fellowship with
him. So when you’ve messed up or when you’ve grown cold and God seems a million miles away,
it’s time to seek the Lord, to make special efforts to return to him, to meditate on his beauty, to do
your best to get things right, to be forgiven and restored in your relationship to him.
2. When you have been negligent, distracted or preoccupied with other things.
Do you remember the first letter he wrote to the 7 churches of Revelation? He commended the
church at Ephesus for a number of things in which they were exemplary, but the one thing that
really upset him was the fact that they had lost their first love. They have failed to maintain their
intimacy and closeness with him. He said, “Yet I hold this against you, you have forsaken your first
love.” When you get like this, doing it all by rote, in automatic pilot, with no passion, it is time…
3. When you need God to guide you and to take the wheel of your life again.
This is what happened to Jacob. His life was out of control. He felt he was facing the
repercussions of bad decisions that he had made in the past. He was in a place of extreme fear
and intimidation. And he knew that unless God intervened that his life was finished. He was
desperate.
Do you know that, sometimes, God allows bad things to come into your life, and for you to get so
low that the only place you can look is up! He so wants to capture your attention, and your
affection and your heart. When these times come it is time to seek the Lord.
4. When God “hides his face.”
Isa 45:15 Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God and Saviour of Israel.
Job 13:24 Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?
Ps 10:1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
Who has not been in a situation like this? You feel that your life is relatively righteous. You don’t
believe doing anything that is particularly wrong. You are praying, reading your Bible, going to
church, doing all the things that normal Christians do - yet nothing seems to be going right for you!
Relationships get strained, situations don’t work out like you thought they should, troubles that had
nothing to do with you find their way to your door, and the heavens seem like brass. Even church
meetings seem dry and unfruitful to you! What’s all this about?
Have you heard that expression, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder?” Do you think that may
be true of God? Isa 8:17 “ I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I
will put my trust in him.” He doesn’t interpret the absence of God’s presence as a sign of his
disapproval or punishment. Rather he understands that God cultivates passion for him by
withdrawing his presence until we become desperate for him to return.
We find the same experience in the Song of Solomon. Here we find descriptions of the most
intimate and personal relationship between a woman and a man. In chapter 2 there are vivid
descriptions of their intimacy, their joy and she says “I am faint with your love.” But in chapter 3 he
seems to have disappeared. She can’t find him anywhere. We see her running through the streets
asking people “Have you seen the one my heart loves.” She is frantic and beside herself until he
returns. And that’s what happens to us. It is time to seek the Lord. He cultivates our hunger and lv
What does it mean to seek the Lord? How do we do it?
1. Embark on a reckless quest for God
It means earnestly hungering, thirsting, and longing for a closer friendship with the Person of
Jesus Christ. It’s more than reading the Bible. It includes this but John 5:39 "You search the
Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.
2. Fix your thoughts on Jesus
Psalms 63:6, we must seek after Him purposefully, earnestly, and meditate on Him day and night.
Meditation requires us to concentrate on Him and what we have learned about Him. 2 Cor 3: tells
us that when we behold the glory of the Lord with an open face we are changed into the same
image as Jesus Christ. This beholding is a long, purposeful, intentional look at the glory of Jesus
Christ.
Ps 27:4 one thing I ask of the LORD,this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
4. Pursue him with confident faith
1 Chron 28:9
If you seek Him, He will be found by you
Proverbs 8:17
Those who seek Me will find Me
God wants you to find him! He gave up everything for this! Of course God has no needs, for he is
totally complete and fulfilled in himself. Yet the one thing he desires this closeness with you. Your
fellowship, your friendship, to hear your voice and to share your life. He will not disappoint you.
5. Seek Him with seriousness and passion
Psalm 119:2
Blessed are those who seek Him with all their hearts
Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.
Do not let this be a half-hearted, casual or feeble attempt. Do it with all your heart.
6. Meditate on His works and his wonders
1 Chron 16:11-13 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. 12 Remember the
wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
Psalm 69:32
The heart that seeks God shall live