IGNITION Part 4 - BEAUTY
Bruce Chant
Pulse – generation-j
5 April 2002
Intro.
We live in a world that pursues beauty.
Eg GMA advertorials – gym ball, hair no more, healthy juicers – all pitch at the desire we all have to be beautiful. And to reinforce the message who does Bert interview? Famous Beautiful people.
Beauty defined:
\Beau"ty\, n.;
1. An assemblage or graces or properties pleasing to the eye, the ear, the intellect, the [ae]sthetic faculty, or the moral sense.
Beauty is more than prettiness, more than evenly applied make-up or Miss whatever pageants. Beauty is all around you.
You may find beauty in the morning with the sun rising and the birds singing in the trees, you might find beauty in a simple act of selfless kindness, you might turn on your system an hear a work of beauty or you might see beauty all around you – in the created world (sunsets, mountains, deserts, bushland, waterfalls, all sorts of animals) and in the created world’s creation (architecture, paintings, music, drama, historical sites, new cities)
This is final part of Ignition that looks at foundational
elements in our Christianity (Truth, Fruit, Love) and now Beauty. Beauty is
illusive and deceptive but as Christians we can and should appreciate it and
see it emanate from our lives.
We as God’s people are uniquely placed to understand beauty and We should have
as our goal to be beautiful people.
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THE WORLD IS SEARCHING FOR BEAUTY
1.
God is beauty.
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.
Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty
of holiness.
Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His
sanctuary.
Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him,
all the earth.
-- God is Beauty. He is the essence of what it is to be beautiful as can seen from the verses.
-- In Him we will find total fulfilment to all we desire – He is totally pleasing to our sense and our soul. It is folly to search for that elsewhere but, being carnal, that is what we are prone to do. We seek pleasure from created things and not the source of that pleasure – God.
This is part of the fallen state of the world in which we live – satan perverts what God has created to drag us away from God.
-- But God desires to put His beauty upon us and have His beauty in our redeemed lives shine out into the world.
and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of
beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a
garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of
righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour.
God’s desire in His plan for redemption of mankind is to replace our ashes of burnt out living and fried lives with a crown of beauty. This will be fully seen in eternity and will be continually worked out in the meantime.
2.
False beauty (vanity etc) deceives.
-- There is a difference between the beauty of man and the beauty of God.
When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty
melt away like a moth; Surely every man is vapor. Selah
Man thinks he is beautiful and worthy of worship but really it is God who is.
He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry
ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his
appearance that we should desire him.
– Jesus did not have beauty that we would humanly recognise (he was not voted most likely to the God)
All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their
heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the
perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?"
-- Those who scoff at the beauty of God are blinded by their carnality.
Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you
with her eyes,
-- Beauty can be perverted and, like all created things, can be the object of our longing. This would make it idolatrous.
This realisation leads to following conclusions:
- We are created with the ability to create beauty or idolatry.
Eg Bezalel vs Aaron.
Exodus 31
1 Then the Lord said to
Moses, 2 "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son
of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the
Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- 4
to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 5 to
cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of
craftsmanship.
God used Bezalel to make/create: Bezalel's art was where man met God since the
very presence of God dwelt with his art. His art combined fine materials and
tremendous symbolism pointing to Christ. His bronze altar for sacrifices
pointed to Christ, our sacrifice. The laver, where priests washed and were
cleansed before entering the Holy Place and presence of God, pointed to Christ
our forgiver of sin. His golden lampstand pointed to Christ the Light of the
World. The Table of the Bread of the Presence of Life pointed to Christ the
Bread of Life. The Alter of Incense pointed to Christ our incense, the
beautiful fragrance to the Father, through whom our prayers ascend to His
throne.
Exodus 32
1 When the people saw that
Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron
and said, "Come, make us gods [2]
who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt,
we don't know what has happened to him."
2 Aaron answered them, "Take off the
gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and
bring them to me." 3 So all the people took off their earrings
and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made
it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then
they said, "These are your gods, [3] O
Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
…7 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go
down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become
corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded
them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have
bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O
Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'
The Israelites created a god in their image (ie what they thought God should be, to meet their needs). Their creation of beauty was used in idolatry.
3.
This ability to reflect beauty and create comes
through man created in God’s image.
God is beautiful and
His creation reflects His beauty. God created man and woman in His image and
likeness to also create works of beauty.
At the Genesis we
discover that "In the beginning God created . . ."
God is the source of
beauty since His creation is the essence of all beauty. God was the first
Creator and provided the elements necessary for beauty and art; light, colour,
shapes, natural objects, diversity, creativity, space, and unity.
After creating man and woman, God proceeded to create a covenant in which they
could also create in their image and likeness. Upon seeing his beautifully
crafted lover-friend, Adam recognized God's masterpiece and spoke of her in a
poem. The first words we have from any man were rhythmic beauty crafted deep
from his heart in response to the beautiful creation of God. From Genesis
onward the remainder of Biblical history shows painting, sculpting, music,
architecture, crafts, poetry, psalms & drama as elements of the redemptive
process.
THREE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTIFUL LIVES.
1.
Beautiful people create beauty
Because God has created us in His image and His image is as a creator we too have within us the ability to create and be creative. Eg Doodling
And it is through this creativity that we can worship God and bring glory to Him by reflecting His creative beauty out to the world.
a. Use
of Art in medieval times to proclaim the gospel (show video)
Eg Cathederals – designed visually for the illiterate nature of society – communication needed to be visual. Lights, pictoral stories-stained glass, insence.
b.
Use of our giftings.
It doesn’t matter what your gifts are; the important thing is that you find them and use them to obey the One who gave them to you. You don’t have to be a painter or an artiste – just do what God has gifted you in.
Of course, the other side of the coin is that we have to trust God to
use us in the way that He chooses — because although He wants us to use our
gifts, He also has a way of springing surprises on us. Eg Aaron “making” it
happen.
2.
The focus on inner beauty over vanity
1 Peter 3:3-4
3Your beauty should not come from
outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and
fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the
unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's
sight.
To be beautiful in our world people think you have to have genetics, money or chance on your side (or all three). You are either naturally beautiful or you have money to change your looks or you weren’t beautiful then trends changed and then you are beautiful.
And if you don’t fall into one of these categories then you have to spend endless hours and $$ trying to fit into these categories. It’s futile especially when as Christians we can have full understanding of true beauty.
God wishes to replaces you corrupted view of self beauty with a beauty that radiates from the Spirit He puts in you.
Instead of make-up – you need the Word. Instead of new clothes and aftershave – you need prayer. Instead of a face-lift – you need a holy spirit lift!!
”beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be
praised.”
Fearing God is the objective of a godly person. That is beautiful.
3.
They are courageous, heroic
May the favour [Or beauty] of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us- yes, establish the work of our hands.
Beautiful people are favoured.
You don’t see any good looking homeless people. When interviewing you see
people that are used to relying on their good looks to get by (ie the have
little other skills!).
Beautiful people act and dress and are confident in a beautiful manner. Not
vain but assured within and people notice that and covet it.
Esther 4
16 "Go, gather together all the
Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days,
night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go
to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I
perish."
Esther 5
8 If the king regards me with favor
and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the
king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I
will answer the king's question."
Esther was favoured by God, and also by man. She was made queen of the Medes and Persians after a kingdom-wide search. She is also a Jew and follower of God’s ways. An amazing turn of events occurs and Mordecai – her cousin and guardian – saves the kings life. But he gets on the wrong side of Haman a Jew hater and he wants the king to wipe out all the Jews. Esther is the man err girl and through an act of God (realises that Mordecai hasn’t been honoured) she appeals graciously with favour and courage for her people to be spared. The result was Haman was hung on a 23m tall gallows he built for Mordecai.
Esther was a beautiful person – not just from the outside – but from within as God used her to save her nation. She was beautiful and favoured for a reason – God used her.
God wants to use you too – he has made you beautiful for a reason – to use the favour He has on your life, plus a bit of courage, to speak truth and comfort into your friend’s life. To stand up to what is wrong and injust in your situation. To proclaim to gospel and see people respond even when it looks like you’re going to be attacked and killed.
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