The Great Pursuit

Seeking and pursuing God's Kingdom and His righteousness must be our life's greatest priority. In this sermon we will review several of God's qualities or characteristics which He instructs us to pursue, and we will also consider an ironic aspect our God-given pursuit in life. Like God's faithful ones who came before us, though we are pursued and harried and even persecuted, we must continue in that great pursuit, our great pursuit to be like God.

Transcript

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Well, as we look forward to observing God's spring holy days in just a few months, we're kind of in between the fall festival season and the spring festival season. It seemed to me now a good time for each of us to take stock of where we've been and where are we going. It's a time of the year to make investigation or lives evaluation, and if we see a place where we need to make a course correction, it's a good time to begin doing that. It's a good time to pursue better goals. We know, of course, that Jesus Christ instructed us about what our pursuit in life must be. We often quoted Matthew 6, 33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Now, among the many things we might seek and pursue in life, more than food or drink or clothing or anything else, seeking and pursuing God's kingdom and his righteousness must be our life's greatest, highest, most important priority.

My purpose today is to encourage us to keep pursuing salvation and to be like God, no matter the troubles we may face. And to help us in our life's endeavor, we will consider several of God's qualities or characteristics which he instructs us to pursue. And we will also consider an ironic aspect of our God-given pursuit in life. We will see that if we are pursuing the good things of God, then we are also in very, very good company. The title of today's sermon is The Great Pursuit. The Great Pursuit. Now, the words seek and pursue are often used synonymously, but though their meanings are similar, they each have distinct differences. To seek, well, to seek means to search for, to look for, whereas to pursue, to pursue means to follow after, to chase as well, and it can also mean to take part in, to practice. Sometimes we might ask someone, well, what, maybe one of our young people going to college, what career are you going to pursue? What are you going to be participating in?

What does God's word instruct us to pursue? What does God's word instruct us to pursue? If we search the New Testament and those things addressed by the English word pursue, we will find ourselves with an important list of spiritual qualities that we, yes, we need to pursue in life. I'd like to consider some of those qualities with you today. We'll start over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 15. 1 Thessalonians 5, 15.

1 Thessalonians 5, 15. Here the Apostle Paul wrote, he says, See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

Pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

Well, that would mean that though people may treat us badly, though people may do us harm, if we are pursuing the ways of God, well, then that means we will resist any inclination to have vengeance, to vengefully repay wrong for wrong. When we're told here, we're instead to respond in a way that is beneficial for ourselves and for all people, including that very same person that just wronged us. That's part of the challenge of pursuing, isn't it? To pursuing the things of God. We see the same principle in Matthew 5, verse 44 to 45. This is the same principle that Jesus Christ taught. The apostles were not teaching any new ideas. They were teaching what Jesus Christ himself had taught and had taught them. Matthew 5, 44. But I say to you, Jesus said, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you, and those who persecute you. Why? Verse 45. That you may be sons of your Father in heaven. It points us back to that first priority, to pursuing the kingdom of God, salvation in his righteousness. And so we must be striving to do good to everyone, not as the world would do it, not as we ourselves might decide what good means. We have to follow God's definition of being good to other people. We have to do it in accordance with God's law, with the way he instructs us through his holy scripture. And so the point here, first point, pursuing good means to pray for and to help others, even our enemies. Pursuing good means to pray for and to help others, even our enemies. Let's next turn to Romans 14 verse 19. Romans 14 verse 19. And here Paul exhorts Christ's followers to pursue more good things, more good things.

Romans 14-19, therefore let us pursue, and here the Greek word is dioko, d-i-o-k-o. We're going to come back to that word later in the sermon. It's dioko, pursue. Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another person.

Here we are told we are to pursue God's way of living which encourages peace. Peace is the Greek word irene, and it means harmony, concord. It's the opposite of conflict, squabbling, and discord. Have you seen anything like that going on lately?

Yeah, just turn on the television set for 30 seconds and you'll probably see it. We're to be pursuing harmony, God's peace, the opposite of conflict, squabbling, and discord. We see it so much in our society right now. Peace will often require, though, that we practice reconciliation. We have to get right with people. It also requires we practice repentance from sin.

Sometimes our discord is because we've sinned against someone. We need to correct that. We need to change our ways. In that piece, along with the word edify, edify means to build up others. Not necessarily to build up ourselves. That happens pretty easily. We're supposed to be building up others. That's what it means to edify. That'll often require that we do good things to encourage other people. We do good things to improve one another, especially in the ways of God.

Philippians 2 verses 3 through 4 is a good scripture to tie in here. Philippians 2 verses 3 through 4. Here we read Philippians 2 verses 3 through 4. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, pride, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others.

Very much what we do here as we see in Romans 14.9, pursuing things for peace, doing things that edify one another. To do this, of course, it requires that attitude of humility. It requires that we seriously try hard to be more selfless, to benefit other people, and how much better our lives would be and will be when we do practice more selflessness, more humility in our lives. The point here is that pursuing peace and edifying requires that we put aside pride and selfishness. Pursuing peace and edifying requires that we put aside pride and selfishness.

Next, let's turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 9 through 11. I want to start in verse 9. This leads up to our next list of things we need to pursue in verse 11. 1 Timothy 6 verses 9 through 11. Paul is addressing this epistle to Timothy, but it's really addressed to any of us who is striving to practice the way of God.

In verse 9, Paul gives dire warning about the temptation of harmful lust, things of the flesh. Don't pursue those things, Paul is saying. In verse 10, Paul gives dire warning about pursuing the love of money and greediness. Don't pursue the love of money or greediness, Paul says. In verse 11, though, Paul does six things that we must pursue. Six things he says we all must be pursuing. But you, O man of God, speaking to each of us, you, O man of God, flee these things, the harmful lust, the greediness, and pursue diocho, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.

And so, with these words, Paul urges those who follow Christ to pursue more qualities of God. These godly qualities are very similar to the fruits of God's Holy Spirit that Paul lists over in Galatians 5, 22 through 23. Spiritual fruits are qualities that we allow God to help us grow. We allow God to help us grow spiritual fruits, and we do that through the study of His word and with the help of His Holy Spirit.

And, of course, it means we must take them into action. We need to try to do these things. And with God's help, we pursue these spiritual fruits and qualities, these characteristics of God, again, by striving with His help to put them into practice. And so we're going to look at each of these six qualities, briefly define them, give a sense of what they mean. Any of these could be turned into one, two, or more sermons, and we may be doing that. But I just want to touch upon them briefly in today's sermon.

And as we look at each of these, I'd encourage each of us to be asking ourselves, am I pursuing these qualities of God? Am I pursuing these qualities of God? Ask ourselves that question. So let's begin with righteousness. We're to pursue righteousness. Pursue righteousness. Righteousness is a condition of living which is acceptable and pleasing to God. Really, it's about living life God's way, the way that pleases Him.

According to Thayer's Greek lexicon, righteousness, the way the word is used here in this verse, means integrity and purity of life. Righteousness means correctness in thinking, in feeling, in acting. The verse to tie in here is Romans 6, verse 12 through 16. Romans 6, 12-13. Let's look there, please. Here Paul's words in Romans lend greater meaning as to how to live a life of righteousness.

Righteousness, again, is how to live a life which is one of integrity or purity of life, of correctness in thinking, feeling, in acting. Romans 6, verse 12, Paul writes, therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it, and it's lost. You're going to live a righteous life. You need to be casting sin out of your lives. Verse 13, do not present your members. Don't go doing sin. Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but instead, present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead. This new life would live in Christ. And your members as instruments of righteousness to God. We're living lives of service to God, doing what God would have us do and what would please God.

And so to pursue righteousness requires that we choose to live by God's law, to practice repentance. And of course, we also need to understand that we're not going to be able to do that by ourselves. We can try, but we're going to fail terribly. We need the help of God. We see that in Romans chapter 3. Let's turn back a few pages to Romans 3, verse 21 through 23. We have to practice living faith in the sacrifice of Christ for our sins. That's what Paul's talking about here in Romans 3, 21. He writes, but now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, you can't just strictly keep God's law in a physical manner, but now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference for all of sin and fall short of the glory of God. We need to understand that we cannot redeem ourselves from the death penalty we've earned for sin. We cannot take ourselves out of the grave we've dug for ourselves. We need the help of Jesus Christ. We have to have faith in Christ. Jesus willingly paid that penalty of our sin and all humanity's sin so that we might receive salvation.

And so a point here with righteousness, pursuing righteousness means that we willingly choose to submit to God and to live by faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation that great pursuit is not possible without living faith in Jesus Christ. Next, we're to pursue godliness.

Pursue godliness. Godliness means to have reverence. That's awe, respect, and devotion to God. A sincere reverence and submission to God is key to true godliness. But in contrast, a false godliness is founded upon appearances. It's founded upon pretense. That's a false godliness, not true. 2 Timothy 3, verse 4 through 5. 2 Timothy 3, verse 4 through 5. Paul refers to the false godliness that will be evident to those who have eyes to see in years to hear. In the end times, it'll be evident a false godliness has taken hold of humanity. 2 Timothy 3, verse 4 through 5. Let's see what that's about. Starting with verse 4, breaking into this list of thoughts, list of things that'll humanity will be like in the end times. Paul writes, men will be traders. Verse 4, traders, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God. It may sound like what we're seeing around us. Verse 5, they will have a form of godliness but denying its power. And Paul says, from such people turn away. And so there will be a false godliness. There will be a false appearance of reverence, of devotion, of holiness, but it's false. Pursuing godliness, the point here, pursuing godliness means we need to love God with sincere devotion. That will require that we're humble and we will do what God says, not what society says, not what others around us say, but what God says. And we do it with reverence, humility, with no pretense or hypocrisy. You know, some weeks ago, maybe a month or so ago, I gave a sermon about loving without hypocrisy. It's very much tied into what we're talking here, talking about here. We're next to pursue faith. We've heard many sermons, we're going to hear many sermons about faith, but just to briefly touch upon here. Faith refers to one's conviction of God's truth. It's a conviction of one's belief. Over in Hebrews 11, verse 1, you may have this memorized, but we're going to look there. Hebrews 11, verse 1 tells us, as I get there, Hebrews 11, verse 1 tells us, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is rooted in one's belief or conviction about God in Christ. It's rooted in the conviction that God exists, in the conviction that God is the creator, that God is the ruler of all things, that God is the provider and the bestower of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. That's part of our conviction, part of our faith. It's also rooted in our faith, belief, and conviction that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Jesus is the Messiah through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God. Let's look at Hebrews 11, verse 6, just a few lines down from where we were. Hebrews 11, 6 also reveals that faith is just not belief. Faith requires action. Faith is an action word. Hebrews 11, 6, but without faith it is impossible to please, and for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. The reference, diligently seek him, means we're going to be applying, putting into our action the things he says. Let's look, I probably should have had you put a bookmark in 1 Timothy 6, but 1 Timothy 6, the verse following, 1 Timothy 6, verse 12, we've been looking at this short list of six items. 1 Timothy 6, verse 12, Paul makes very clear reference that faith is an action. It is an action founded upon our conviction. 1 Timothy 6, 12, that's not right.

Yeah, that's right. 1 Timothy 6, 12, scared myself again. My eyes didn't land on it. 1 Timothy 6, 12, fight the good fight of faith. It's an action. 2 Timothy 6, 12, lay hold on eternal life to which you are also called, and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

And so it is that a useful definition, we put this all together, the definition we've heard many times from this pulpit from Dr. Ward and many others, to believe God and to do what he says is a very good definition of faith, to believe God and to do what God says. And so the point, pursuing faith means to believe and to live by God's holy scripture, to yield his holy spirit. Faith is having the assurance that God exists, and he forgives those who repent. Repentance is an action of faith, and he rewards all who believe and who do. That's another action, who do his will. Faith requires action. Next, we're to pursue love, agape. In 1 John 4, 7 through 8, 1 John 4, 7 through 8, we read several profound statements that help us understand what God's love, not what human love, not what love you hear about on the Pop 40 songs, is all about. This is agape. This is God's love. 1 John 4, 7 through 8, beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born, or rather the word is ganahoe, it should be is begotten or fathered of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. You can write, talk, speak a long time about that. That's your definition of love. God is love. Dr. Ward gave a sermon on that not so long ago. To love God, it's vital that we keep God's commandments. God's commandments define what love means, love towards God and love towards neighbor. In verse still here in 1 John 4, verse 20 through 21, John continues to explain more about love, what it is and is not, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, well, that person's a liar, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he possibly love God whom he has not seen? In this command in verse 21, we have from him, we have from God, that he who loves God must love his brother also. That's core to the 10 commandments. Let's also read in next chapter, verse 5, 1 John 5, 2 through 3. 1 John 5, 2 through 3. Again, a rather brief definition of love. Verse 2, by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. Why do we keep talking about this? Because so many in the world, they look at the Bible, they read the commandments of God, they don't like them. And somehow they come up with reasoning, which is human reasoning, apart from God, and decide, well, we don't need to keep those anymore. And so we're reading these verses because it says what? Oh yeah, you need to keep these. And who are you going to listen to? God or people? I vote for God.

In his, by the way, this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. They're not a burden. They are a very lightweight. The point, pursuing love then, pursuing love requires that we live according to God's commandments, and with the help of his Holy Spirit. Love means to endeavor earnestly to be more like God by striving to practice his way of life. To be more like God by striving to practice his way of life. Next to pursue patience. Pursue patience. Patience is more than, well, some of us are pretty good with patience in one level, aren't we? Patience, though, is more than just the ability to wait a long time without getting upset.

Some of us can be pretty good at that, waiting a long time without getting upset, but that's not quite what patience means here. Patience here means steadfastness. Patience means constancy. It means endurance. That's from Thayer's Greek lexicon. Patience means steadfastness, constancy, endurance. It continues, Thayer's adds, that patience is the quality of unwavering loyalty to faith, even in the greatest trials and suffering. Unravering loyalty. The faith to God, no matter what life brings to us. In Hebrews 10, verse 36, Hebrews 10, 36, we see this same Greek word, and here instead of patience, it does appear as the word endurance.

Hebrews 10, 36. And I'll start in verse 35. Hebrews 10, 35, we read, therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. Verse 36, for you have need of endurance. Endurance, again, that steadfastness, loyalty, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. It's referring to how we have to stick with God no matter what, good times and difficult, until we're done in this walk, this present age, in this physical life. Until we're done walking, we have to endure and stay with God. And to the point, pursuing patience. Pursuing patience means to endure, to endure, to remain steadfast, to remain loyal to God, no matter how good or how difficult life may be. Now, why would I say no matter how good life may be, we have to endure?

Am I the only one that is experienced when life gets easy? It becomes easier not to be so obedient to God. It becomes easier to compromise in God's way of life. Sometimes I wonder, maybe you feel the same way, I need greater need of patience and endurance with God when times are good and only when times are bad. I think that's something we might want to jot down and think about.

Finally, we come to the last of these six qualities that we are to pursue from 1 Timothy 6, 11. Pursue gentleness. Pursue gentleness. Gentleness can also be translated as mildness.

It can be translated as meekness. And sometimes it's also translated as humility.

And it's wrong to think of gentleness as weakness. That's not what it's about. Mounts' Expository Dictionary has a nice description of gentleness. Mounts' Expository Dictionary says this. It says, gentleness means to approach others, including one's enemies. Gentleness means to approach others, including one's enemies, in a humble and caring spirit, not using force to get one's way. That helps me to understand what gentleness is. Gentleness means to be humble, caring, and not using force to get one's way.

Have you ever been bullied? I don't think we would call bullies as being gentle.

I think being a bully, being bullying should be the opposite of gentleness that we're talking about here. When we think of Jesus Christ, we... well, let's... example of gentleness.

It's a notable feature that Paul notes. Let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Gentleness or meekness was a quality that Jesus Christ was well known for. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 1. Paul draws this out in his letter to the Corinthians.

Did I say first? I meant to say second. 2 Corinthians 10.

Paul writes here to 2 Corinthians 10 verse 1, Now I, Paul, myself, myself am pleading with you, and here he calls upon Christ's example, I plead with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence amlolly among you, but being absent I am bold towards you. He's trying hard to practice to mimic the same gentleness that Christ had, the gentleness that Christ was well known for. And we need to think about Christ's example, and this is something... obviously, it's something we're to be pursuing. We should remember how Jesus Christ was gentle to the very end. We should remember how even though he was beaten and spat upon by his enemies, Jesus never raised his voice. He never raised his voice back at them in anger. He never struck back and returned. And gentleness and with compassion instead, Jesus willingly died for all people. He died for the same people that were striking him and spitting upon him and ridiculing him. That's a good reminder of what gentleness should be about and what we're pursuing. And so again, the point here, pursuing gentleness means to be humble. It also means to be compassionate and caring to all people, even to our enemies, even to our enemies.

And so at this point, we have gone through a number of qualities of God that we are to be pursuing in this lifetime. We're pursuing goodness and peace, edification, building up others, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. These are just some of the characteristics, some of the qualities that are to characterize us as Christ followers. We'll be known as Christ followers if we do these things.

We need to be asking ourselves daily, how well are we putting these things into practice?

You see, pursuing these qualities is in keeping with what John says in 1 John 2, verse 6. Let's look there real quick. 1 John 2, 6. Pursuing these qualities is in keeping with what John writes here. 1 John 2, 6. John declares, He who says he abides in Him, in Christ, ought himself also to walk just as he walked. Jesus Christ is our example. He's the one we're to follow. I've mentioned this before in sermons. I think I mentioned it last time I spoke here. It just, it's, I love it when I see children walking like their dad or like their mom. They're walking like their parent whom they love, whom they adore. Think about that as we try to pursue the ways of God. Are we walking the way Jesus Christ walked? Now, about these qualities we're to be pursuing. Pursuing these qualities of God, when we do that, these qualities of God, as we pursue them, put them in our practice in our lives, these qualities will make us stand out. These qualities are going to make us stand out in a crowd. These qualities will make us stand out as being different from people. We're going to come across as being different from many people. People will notice that difference, though they won't readily know why.

People want to know why, why are you so unusually kind?

Why are you so dependable? Why are you so forgiving?

Have you ever shocked people when you've walked out of the store and you realize they gave you too much change? When you turn around, you take it back? Have you ever shocked people when you do that? Well, why are you so nice? Most people wouldn't do that. Maybe we do. We stand out as being different. That's not what usually happens. And again, people won't understand that because it's because we have chosen to pursue the things of God.

And yet, at the same time, we need to be humble to realize it's not because of me that I'm doing it. That's not what I would normally want to do as a carnal, selfish human being. I'm doing that because God has helped me to follow my choice. He's helping me through Spirit with instruction of His Word to pursue these good things that we, you and me, that we really want to do. We want to do better. We want to do well. And we know it's only with the help of God in the Scripture. It's only with the help of our living faith, that faith we need. And we have help through Jesus Christ's sacrifice. We have to keep striving little by little, and we do, to be more like God. This is our great pursuit in life. The great pursuit. But it does not come easily, does it? These same qualities of God that we pursue in practice will also draw negative reactions from some. If you've noticed that, sometimes the more we try to be like God, sometimes we can suffer for that. We read about that. It's just not you. It's just not me. That's what Scripture says. Let's look at Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, 32 through 33. So I'm starting to address some of the irony. Some of the things we maybe are shocked happens, both good and bad, when we pursue the ways of God.

They happen because we live in a world that hates God. We live in a society that does not want to be told by God what to do. They do not want to read his Scripture and accept what it says. And so we read in Hebrews 10, 32, 33. We read that troubles and harassment and, yes, even persecution, even persecution, these things will pursue those who are following and pursuing Christ.

Verse 32. We read, but recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, after you were enlightened by the Word of God, after God the Father called us and we began to understand, we began to follow. Recall the former days, those earlier times in your Christian walk in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings. We started to change our ways. We started to change our course. We started making a course correction to do what God says. And we struggled and we suffered. Verse 33. Part of those sufferings, part of them came partly while you were made a spectacle, both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were treated. I didn't grow up in the church. I came to it and I was in college the first time many years ago. I went to college several times. And I had a lot of friends that thought I was becoming, what's the word, uppity, sanctimonious, cocky, self-righteous.

Oh, what was the other one? Religious nut. I think that was it. A religious nut. And maybe I was because I was over eager, trying too hard sometimes. But that was some of the reproaches. And I didn't hate them for it. It was okay. I expected it, I guess. But then maybe you felt that way. Maybe that's happened to you. And for some of our young people that have grown up in the church, they may get that accusation themselves from classmates and friends when they can't participate in certain things. It's not that they can. It's that they choose not to participate in certain things because it's the Sabbath, because it's a Holy Day. And they're doing the right, great thing. If you've done that, young people, you should know that means you are pursuing the things of God, too. And God is very pleased and very greatly pleased with you doing that. And sometimes, as it says here, partly we suffered because we became companions of those who were so treated. We became part of the church. And the church is a larger group of people. They're seeking the joy of God in a very powerful way. And even though that means trouble for them, they keep at it. And that's what we're keeping at. And so while we're pursuing the things of God, the irony is that we are being pursued by forces that would have us fail.

We are being pursued by forces that would have us fail. But we must endure, pursue patience. We must keep up our great pursuit. Let's continue reading here in Hebrews 10, verse 35-36. Therefore, do not cast away your confidence which has great reward, for you have need of endurance, part of that patience, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. We read that earlier, and now you get the larger context.

And so yes, there are times when pursuing God's ways that will be pursued, will be pursued, have you noticed, will be pursued by our own self-doubts, our own fears.

When God's way will be pursued by a thought that God's ways are hard, sometimes I'll feel like it's too hard, it's too difficult to achieve these things. Too hard to sustain the way we truly want to be the way we really want to go. You know how it goes, don't you? One day we're humbly serving others, right? One day we're humbly serving others, and the next day we're lording over them. We're bossing them around, telling them what to do. One day you're gentle, and I shouldn't say you, let me put it this way. One day we are gentle, and kind, sweet as punch, and the next day we're short-tempered, cranky, and rude.

One day we've conquered all our temptations, we think, and the next day it seems the very first one to come across our path trips us up, and we're conquered by the temptations. At those times, the old man in us would have us give in to despair. The old man in us would try to convince us to quit our great pursuit. But at those times, we need to remember why it can be so difficult to pursue the things of God, and why we must endure, why we must pursue patience and never, never give up. You see, again, while we are pursuing salvation and striving to be more like God, we are being pursued by forces contrary to God, forces contrary to what we want to do, namely those forces Satan, the world, and the flesh, our own carnal nature. And that is the ironic reality of our great pursuit. While we are pursuing the things of God, something else is pursuing us, trying to keep us from achieving what we're pursuing. The English word pursue, like the T-ber and Greek equivalents, bears both positive and negative meanings. You see, in the positive sense, we have seen that the word pursue means to seek eagerly. It means to earnestly endeavor to acquire. But in the negative sense, the other side of that meaning, the negative sense, pursue also can mean to harass, to trouble. And yes, that same word pursue can mean persecute to that degree of trying to stop, that degree of pursuit. And so it is while we pursue the things of God, Satan, the world, our own carnal nature, pursue us, to dissuade us, to trip us up, to waylay us, to persecute, to do anything possible in order to prevent us from achieving our great pursuit. As we read earlier in Hebrews 10, life may seem pretty easy, relatively speaking, until we choose to pursue the things of God, and that it seems like things can turn against us. And all we're doing is trying to do what God says. You know who else felt that way? Paul. Let's look at the life of Paul. Let's turn to Acts chapter 9. The life of Paul illustrates that truth while pursuing the things of God we ourselves are being pursued. Let's look at Acts 9 to illustrate. Before he became the apostle Paul, Paul, as we know, is also known as Saul with an S. He was a zealous Pharisee, so zealous that he was throwing people in a prison, taking people to their death. He was a zealous Pharisee who pursued and persecuted the followers of Jesus Christ. And as we see in chapter 9 of Acts, even into the city of Damascus, he is reaching out, going farther afield from Jerusalem, in the area around Jerusalem, to bring in those who followed Christ. Acts 9, verse 1-2. And then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples, followers of Christ, who were pursuing the things of God. He went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, pursuing the way of God, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem, prisoners to Jerusalem. But then something amazing happened, right? Verse 3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. And then he fell to the ground, and he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. This Greek word for persecuting is Dioko. This is the same word we saw in Romans 14, 19, and verse Timothy 6, when we were speaking of pursuing peace. It's the same word, but it's used in the negative sense now to mean persecute. And there's a little irony here, I think. Saul, who pursued and persecuted Christ's disciples, who were themselves pursuing God and his way of life, well, Saul at that very moment was being pursued by Jesus Christ.

I think that's interesting.

Verse 6. So Saul, he trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do? And then the Lord said to him, arise, go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. And then verse 9, and it was he was three days without sight, and he neither ate nor drank. Three days and three nights, no eating, no drinking, blind. He was doing a lot of soul-searching, I'm sure. Then verse 17, we read how Ananias, the disciple at Damascus, was told to go to Saul. Verse 17. And Ananias went his way and entered the house and laying his hands on him. He said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, he has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. With his hands on him, immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales and received his sight at once, and he arose, and he was baptized. So when he had received food, he was strengthened. And then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Look at verse 20. And immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. Doesn't it strike you, as it does me, that Saul underwent an amazing change of pursuits? He made an amazing course correction, didn't he? Verse 21 through 25 described how Saul's new pursuit, his new pursuit now of salvation through Jesus Christ, changed his life. Verse 21. And then all who heard the news what Saul was doing, all who heard were amazed and said, Is this not he? Is this not the guy who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priest? But Saul increased all the more in strength, and he confounded the Jews who dwelled in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. Now, after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. Things were turning. But their plot became known to Saul, and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. And then the disciples took him by night and led him down through the wall in a large basket. Not a very noble way of leaving the city, is it? So Saul fled from his persecutors by hiding in a basket. It's rather ironic. Saul, who had pursued and persecuted the disciples, once he began his pursuit as a disciple of Jesus Christ, he then became pursued and persecuted. Isn't that interesting? It seems to be an aspect of discipleship to one degree or another. Paul is not the only one to admonish us to pursue and strive for the qualities of God. Peter does. Just real briefly, look at 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 8 through 12. 1 Peter 3, 8 through 12.

You see, Peter has the same message. It's the same theme. They serve the same Lord Jesus Christ and God, our Father. Pursue and strive for the qualities of God. Let's read here 1 Peter 3 verse 8 through 12. 1 Peter 3, 8 through 12. He's encouraging the brethren to pursue these qualities of God. Verse 8, finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another. Here's some of that list. Love us brothers. Be tender-hearted. Be curious. Not returning evil for evil and reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing. Knowing that you were called to this. This is part of our calling, our pursuit, that you may inherit a blessing. We want to receive that blessing of salvation. And Peter continues verse 10 through 12. He quotes here, For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit, let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it, for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. God is also against those that are pursuing us. And so Peter urges us to seek and pursue the things of God, even as Paul did. But notice, maybe you see it in your margins of your Bible. He does so here in verses 10 through 12 by quoting from Psalm 34. Psalm 34 is a Psalm written by David. And we're going to turn there. Let's look at Psalm 34. Now, that is a rather appropriate psalm for Peter to quote from, because in it David exhorts those who read or hear his Psalm. David exhorts those who hear his message to pursue God. And thus, Peter's quoting. But more than just telling them to pursue God, David, of course, is speaking from his own experience. So let's look at Psalm 34 verse 1. Seems like I'm turning everywhere except where I want to be. Psalm 34. You never do that. Psalm 34 verse 1. And here, very first one, don't skip the subtitle in this case. The subtitle, well, I don't know if we call it subtitle. Let's just read it. Begin verse 1. It's called a Psalm of David. Notice when the context of this Psalm. It's a Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he, David, departed. Well, what we find out if you investigate this, and I have, I did it for you. David wrote this Psalm about our need to seek God and trust him while he was pretending madness. Now, I know we've probably read this in the past, but do you remember why he pretended madness? Well, we don't have time to read the whole account. You can jot it down for your study later. It occurs in 1 Samuel chapter 21, specifically 10 verse 10 through 15. And there we are told the account of how David was fleeing King Saul. That's why he ended up pretending madness. David was fleeing King Saul who wanted to kill him. Yeah, he is being persecuted.

Verse 10, read a little bit here of 1 Samuel 21. And then David arose and fled that day from before Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. This is, we're not sure why the names are different, but this is the Abimelech of Psalm 34 verse 1. And the servants of Achish said to him, is this not David king of the land? Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another? And dance is saying Saul has slain his thousands and David is ten thousands. So they've heard about this David, how he's highly esteemed. And now David took these words to heart and he was very much afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them. He pretended madness in their hands and he scratched on the door. Visualize that. He scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva fall down his beard. He drooled a lot. Could you imagine? It's not a pretty picture, I admit. But my point is, could you imagine just how desperate he must have felt that he was behaving in such a bizarre and uncommon way? He was extremely desperate. He was being pursued. He was scared for his life. And then Achish said to his servants, look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? I don't want this guy. Have I need of madmen that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? So this fellow will come into my house? No, get out of here. Verse 1, next chapter, David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of the Dallam. David left there and went and hid in cave in the wilderness of Judah. David was fleeing. He was hiding. My point is, his inspiration for Psalm 34 came from these terrifying early days when Saul was pursuing and persecuting him.

And David sought God to deliver him. And that's much of what we see in Psalm 34. Let's read a bit more here. Psalm 34 verses 4 through 7. Look how he sought God. I sought the Lord, he says, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears.

And they looked to him, they may refer to other people like David, who looked to him. They looked to him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. And this poor man cried out, probably referenced to David himself, this poor man speaking of himself. And the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. And the angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear him and delivers them. In verses 11-14, David urges us as well all who will hear him to revere God, to repent from evil. Do what we can to please God. He writes verse 11, Come, you children, listen to me. I can speak from experience. I will teach you the fear of the Lord, that reverence and awe and devotion. Who is the man who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?

Well, then keep your tongue from evil. Pursue this way. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. That's what Peter is saying. That's what Paul is saying. Same message, same God. David's experience and trust in God convinced him that those who seek God and pursue his ways can absolutely trust in God to deliver them. Can absolutely trust God to deliver them from their troubles. And that's what we read, verse 17 through 19. Verse 17, The righteous cry out. That's what you and I are to be pursuing righteousness. The righteous cry out and the Lord hears, and he delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, who are humble, gentle, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Now David admits, verse 19, many are the afflictions of the righteous, of those who are pursuing God. But the Lord delivers him out of them all. In verse 22, the Lord redeems the soul of his servants, and none of those who trust in him shall be condemned.

Psalm 34 is such an inspiring and encouraging psalm. It's all about trusting God. It's all about seeking him and his righteousness, trusting him. And remember the backdrop, the background. This psalm, so positive and encouraging, came about from David's harrowing experience of being pursued, being persecuted by psalm. I'd encourage us to ask God to help us take to heart the lessons we see here from David, the examples we've seen from Paul, the examples we know to investigate more about Peter's life. In any of the men and women of faith, Scripture tells us about even men and women of faith we have known growing up in our own lifetimes. There are examples all around us in Scripture and around us in real life to encourage us onward as we pursue the things of God, no matter what happens, no matter what happens in our lives. One last place I'd like for us to turn before I conclude today, Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3, verse 12-14.

I hope maybe with what we've looked at together today, these things we are to be pursuing, understanding that as we're pursuing God, we are also being pursued. Forces are against us, trying to keep us from achieving our this great pursuit given us by God. Let's look at Philippians 3, verse 12-14 and appreciate Paul's words here, perhaps in a deeper way now that we've come to think on these things today. Paul never gave up. Paul never gave up the great pursuit. Paul would suffer much in service to God, to God's church, and so it is his exhortations for us to continue our pursuit in our day and age, in our lives, continue our pursuit of salvation in the ways of God are especially meaningful. Paul never gave up, and neither must we. Verse 12, look what he says here. He says, not that I have already attained, he hasn't reached the end achievement of his goal, his pursuit. Not that I've already attained, or am already perfected. I haven't learned it all. I'm trying. But I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, those things he is pursuing. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Those need to be our words. And so, like God's faithful ones who came before us, though we are pursued and harried and even persecuted, we too must continue in that great pursuit, our great pursuit, to be like God. And so, I encourage all of us, I encourage all of us, to always seek and pursue. Seek and pursue first salvation in the kingdom of God. Seek first, and always let us pursue to be like our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, His Son.