Christ and Creativity

I appreciate Alex being willing to lead us in music today.

I asked him to do that before I told him that I was going to be talking about art.

So that maybe wasn't at all fair to him, but I really appreciate that.

Our main text this morning, if you want to go ahead and turn there, is going to be Exodus 31.

So that should be pretty fun to talk about art, to talk about creativity and what the Bible has to say about that.

It was my pleasure to volunteer.

I was kind of in a hurry to volunteer as soon as we started talking about speaking on Christ and culture this summer.

So I really want to talk about art because for the last, I don't know, year and a half,

I've been doing a personal study on the topic of what the Bible has to say about art and creativity

and what other Christians before us, other contemporaries, have said about art.

What part our church should play in creating and promoting art.

So I will mostly refer to Christ and art instead of Christ and creativity, which was our original topic,

primarily because the Bible doesn't use the word creativity to describe our actions.

More so the Bible uses that to describe God's characteristics and actions.

The word creativity or creative wasn't even applied to a person until the Renaissance when it was applied to a playwright.

And even then, the person who used it to describe the playwright was saying,

it's as if God is speaking when this playwright writes his plays.

So mostly I'll use the word art, but understand that if I do say the people are creative,

it's not heretical or blasphemous or anything like that because we're made in the image of God

and he is the chief creator and we're to imitate him.

So I think it's okay to use that type of language just with the understanding that creativity on our part

is always mimicking the ultimate creator of God.

So let's read our text and then we'll jump into our discussion.

It's Exodus 31, verses 1 through 11.

Exodus 31:1–11

And Moses is up on the mountain.

He's getting God's commandments.

He has the Ten Commandments and the tablets,

and God's giving him all the instructions for how Israel ought to operate.

And verse 1 says,

The Lord said to Moses,

See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,

and I have filled him with the Spirit of God,

with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship,

to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze,

and cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood to work in every craft.

And behold, I have appointed with him the Holy Ab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.

And I have given to all men ability that they may make all that I have commanded you,

the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony and the mercy seat that is on it,

and all the furnishings of the tent, the table and its utensils,

and the lampstand with all its utensils,

and the altar of incense, and the altar of burn offering,

with all its utensils, and the basin and its stand,

and the finely worked garments, the holy garments,

for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons,

for their service as priests,

and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the holy place,

according to all that I have commanded you,

they shall be.

Pray with me.

Father, we ask that you would give illumination,

life to these ancient texts that we'll be reviewing,

these commandments that you've given,

the principles and the truths that you've outlined in your word.

Help them to be real and alive to us today,

as you have very clear instructions on how we are to operate,

how we are to rely on your spirit for all things.

Help us to see those things today as they relate to our topic.

Father, I pray that you would use me,

that in my weakness, your strength would be perfected,

that great things would be accomplished in and through this congregation,

as a result of the way that we open up our senses,

and receive your truth and apply it to our lives.

We praise you for this great opportunity.

Let it not be wasted on us.

Amen.

Okay, so in the interest of time,

I'm going to give you a really brief introduction to kind of lay the framework.

Okay?

But if you're interested in the history of art in the church,

then I would encourage you to talk to me more about it later,

because I just have pages and pages of notes and things that I found interesting over the last 18, 19 months.

But they just wouldn't really be pertinent to our discussion today.

So this is something that I would really love to talk more about,

because I'm really passionate about it.

I think that there's an application, a wide application,

even for people who wouldn't consider themselves artists.

So with that said,

I'm going to really breeze through just a brief introduction.

We'll call it a brief history of art in the church.

First, if you flip over to page 32,

our discussion of art in the church,

in order to get us to today,

really begins in chapter 32 of Exodus.

We're not going to read there,

but if you notice your heading,

you're probably familiar with the story.

Moses is up on the mountain,

and what do we find Aaron and the people doing,

but going,

Moses must have forgotten about us.

He's not coming back down.

Who are we going to worship now if God's not with us?

So they build this golden calf,

and they begin to worship it.

And it's interesting.

They make the golden calf,

which is an artwork.

It's a sculpture, statue.

But it's an idol for them.

And they don't only worship the idol,

but they want to incorporate it into their worship of God.

So you would see in verse 5 of chapter 32,

an Aaron made proclamation and said,

Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.

But then what do they do?

They get up the next day,

and they begin worshiping their idols.

So they're trying to incorporate this idolatrous piece of art

into their worship of God.

And the reason that I bring this up

is because it highlights a problem for all of humanity

because we're fallen,

because our sinful nature is rooted so deeply.

We're really prone to idolatry.

And art is primarily image making.

Images are really hard for us to keep in their rightful place.

And that's exactly what we found with the golden calf.

A piece of art, I guess, if made for other intentions,

could have been a really nice piece of art,

could have even brought glory to God.

But instead, it was elevated to the status of an idol or a false god.

And the people worshiped it.

Throughout history, God's people have continually done that.

And even outside of the church and outside of Israel,

people really want to see something,

want to touch something,

have something tangible to worship rather than God.

So art has a real sneaky way of displacing our affections for God.

And we find that in history,

that's what had happened about the time of the Protestant Reformation.

The Catholic Church was in a lot of trouble.

I mean, the Reformation happened for good reason,

not the least of which was the idolatry of the Catholic Church.

Their cathedrals, their relics,

Martin Luther and some others made fun of them

with a term that was used to describe the circus,

to say it's extravagante, it's just gone way too far.

So the Protestant Reformation happened,

and as a reaction to the Catholic Church,

Protestants began removing art pieces from their meeting spaces,

removing art altogether.

And it was for good motivation.

They said, look, people are worshipping these things instead of God,

so let's take away these distractions.

The problem with that, of course,

is that there wasn't anything inherently evil with beautiful pieces of art.

There wasn't anything inherently evil about musical production

to aid in congregational singing.

So we, as a piece of application even right here,

need to be really careful about reactionism.

We, as people, we tend to see something that's causing wrong,

and instead of looking at the root of the problem,

we react from the entire situation altogether.

Well, there's an infinite number of directions that you can run away from something.

We need instead to begin pursuing godliness,

which is a singular direction.

We have to stop creating these hedge laws for ourselves,

which may or may not be intended to keep us from sinning,

but ultimately prevent us from receiving and redeeming things

that God intends to use for His glory.

And art's one of those things.

The Protestant Reformation got us into a really bad spot with art

because it created a skepticism about art that lingers till today.

It created a big gap, a widening gap,

between the church and artists.

What happened as a result of that gap were twofold.

Art was negatively impacted in the church and outside of the church.

Outside of the church, there's a...

Well, I'll read you a quote.

Stuart McAllister wrote a book,

What is Good and Who Says?

And he said,

Much of the energy and effort of our artists and cultural architects

has gone into debunking, dismantling, or deconstructing

all that is good, beautiful, and respected,

to be replaced with the shallow, the ugly, and the ephemeral, or the passing.

Philip Riken, who...

And actually, Liz, will you grab that book for me?

Philip Riken wrote a great book called Art for God's Sake.

It helped me out a bunch in preparing for this sermon.

He said,

Most contemporary art is the art of alienation,

which, if it is true at all,

is true only about the disorder.

Thank you.

The disorder of a world damaged by depravity.

Did you catch that?

Most contemporary art is the art of alienation,

which, if it is true at all,

is true only about the disorder of a world

damaged by depravity.

So, art has been affected negatively outside of the church

because the church is withdrawn from the artistic community.

But art has also been negatively affected within the church

as we've distanced ourselves from the artistic community.

We lost touch with artistic standards of excellence,

and we lost the ability to describe and illustrate

transcendent truths of Christianity

in the language of the culture around us.

So, now we have songs like,

I could sing of your love forever,

I could sing of your love forever,

I could sing of your love forever.

And it's a good thing,

because we don't have anything else to say anymore.

We've lost the ability to speak in terms

that the community around us can engage with and connect with,

because, in an artistic sense,

we've divorced ourselves from them.

The main thing there is that both the world and the church

suffer loss when we, as Christians,

refuse to engage in the pursuit of high aesthetic standards.

I want to read you another quote from Rikens' book

on this particular topic.

He says,

All too often, we Christians settle for something that is functional,

but not beautiful.

We gravitate toward what is familiar, popular, or commercial,

with little regard for the enduring values of artistic excellence.

Sometimes what we produce can be described only as kitsch,

tacky artwork of poor quality that appeals to low tastes.

The average Christian bookstore is full of the stuff,

as the real artist will tell us,

if only we will listen.

Ultimately, this kind of art dishonors God

because it is not in keeping with the truth and beauty of His character,

and also undermines the church's gospel message of salvation in Christ.

Art has tremendous power to shape culture and touch the human heart.

Its artifacts embody the ideas and desires of the coming generation.

This means that what is happening in the arts today

is prophetic of what will happen in our culture tomorrow.

It also means that when Christians abandon the artistic community,

we lose a significant opportunity to communicate Christ to our culture.

Furthermore, when we settle for trivial expressions of the truth in worship and art,

we ourselves are diminished as we suffer a loss of transcendence.

What we need to recover, or possibly discover for the first time,

is a full biblical understanding of the arts.

Not for art's sake, but for God's sake.

Then we will be able to produce better art

that more effectively testifies to the truth about God and His grace.

This goal is important not just for artists,

but also for everyone else,

made in God's image and in need of redemption.

So to review our introduction.

First, because people have always been prone to worship art instead of God,

the church began to reject art during the Protestant Reformation.

This rejection led to a deep-rooted skepticism about the arts,

creating a widening chasm between Christians and artists.

As the chasm grew, art outside the church became less beautiful,

less true, and increasingly disconnected from the reality

or even the possibility of transcendent truth.

Likewise, art within the church became tackier,

shallower, and increasingly disconnected from the reality of the world around us.

So it's the framework that we're working with

as we begin to discuss what God's instructions are for art within the church

and how we as Christians should connect with art and relate to and create art.

So as we come to our text,

keep that kind of a framework and a background in your mind

that art has been damaged both within and without the church

because of our general neglect of it as Christians.

So Exodus 31, 1-11.

We've read that earlier.

There are four biblical principles of art

that have real implications for us today that we can find in our text.

We're going to discuss each of those this morning.

So those four principles that we're going to look at,

first is that God calls and equips artists.

Second is that God loves all kinds of art.

Third is that God has high standards for art.

And fourth is that art exists for the glory of God.

Okay?

So the first principle is that God calls and equips artists.

And we see that in verse 2.

We're not going to discuss verse 1,

which is the Lord said to Moses,

because it would take too long to get into the implications

of the fact that God was speaking to Moses.

But verse 2, God says,

See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Bere, son of Hur,

the tribe of Judah,

and I have filled him with the Spirit of God,

with ability and intelligence and knowledge and all craftsmanship.

Right?

So he calls Bezalel by name.

And then later in verse 6, he also calls Aholiad by name.

Artists play a very special part throughout history

in accomplishing God's plans.

Now the second part of this principle is that

he not only calls artists, but he equips artists.

And we see that in verse 3, as I just read.

I have filled him with the Holy Spirit.

See that we'll list out the things that he equips artists with.

The Holy Spirit with skill or ability

and intelligence and knowledge.

And then the last is craftsmanship.

Jean Edward Veith said skill or ability.

must refer to the artist's innate talent,

described here as a gift from God.

The second gift is intelligence,

and that underscores that a true artist

not only works with his hands, but with his mind,

in contrast to current views that consider artistic inspiration

to be non-rational or even anti-rational.

Knowledge, the third thing,

as a gift for the arts,

means that artists must know things,

from the properties of their materials

to the ideas that their art can convey.

Craftsmanship refers to the artist's technique,

the difference between a work of any kind

being poorly executed or well-made.

And then Veith continues to point out

that these terms that are used to describe

the gifts that God gave to Bezalel

to equip him to make good art for the tabernacle,

these terms may be used as a criteria

for evaluating any work of art

which may exemplify or fall short

in some measure when it comes to skill,

intelligence, knowledge, or craftsmanship.

So you can take that with you

as you're experiencing art,

because art is all around us.

The culture at large is increasingly artistic.

Hopefully the Christian community

will begin to be more artistic.

But as you're evaluating art,

you can look back to the things

that God gifted Bezalel with

to make good art and say,

well, does this art employ these skills?

The main point here is that God calls artists

to make art for his purposes,

and he equips them to be obedient to that calling.

The artist needs to have spiritual insight

as well as practical skill

in order to honor God with the art that we create.

So, to say it a different way,

the ability to create God-honoring art

comes from God

and takes all of a person to create it.

Our minds and our bodies and our emotions.

The application for everybody else,

because I know some of you

may be sitting around going,

well, I don't really consider myself an artist.

The application here is that

God is calling all of us

into particular actions,

and he will equip us

to be obedient to him

in those actions.

We're going to come back to that idea

in a little bit,

but God always equips the called.

He doesn't always call the equipped,

but if he's calling you into an action,

he will equip you

to be obedient to him.

So the second principle is that

God loves all kinds of art.

We see that in verses 3 through 5.

I have filled him with the Holy Spirit,

with ability and intelligence,

with knowledge and all craftsmanship,

he says,

to devise artistic designs,

to work in gold, silver, and bronze,

in cutting stones for setting,

and in carving wood,

to work in every craft.

Right?

To work in every craft.

And I do want to mention,

just before I move too far ahead

of the things that God equips artists with,

he equips every Christian

with the Holy Spirit.

He certainly begins his discussion

of the artist with that.

And it's actually the first time

that that language being filled

with the Holy Spirit

is used in Scripture.

So artists get dibs on that.

But as we're continuing

to apply these truths to ourselves,

I don't want you to get so bogged down

into the idea of artistry

that you neglect the fact

that God has given all of us,

as Christians,

means the Spirit within us

to produce obedience,

to produce the good works

that he's planned ahead

for us to walk in.

It's a really key element,

it's maybe the key element

to living Christian life

is to be empowered

by the Spirit of God.

So begin applying aspects

of these truths to yourselves

in as much as you can,

because the Spirit of God

is within you.

And we're going to see

that there's obedience

called for on all of our parts,

even if we don't call ourselves artists.

So, to move on,

God loves all kinds of art.

And we see that in verses 3-5.

He gives to these artists

all craftsmanship,

and then he says,

he gives them these gifts

to work in every craft.

And he uses language like that

throughout the passage.

It doesn't mean that all artworks

are necessarily good

or even godly.

Certainly, let's not make that mistake.

Just that all forms of art

are intended to be used

for God's purposes.

He doesn't say,

I'm really into music,

I'm kind of into painting,

sculpture sort of out

because of the whole

golden calf thing.

All art forms are intended

for God's glory,

for His purposes.

I want to show you

just how far-reaching

that concept is

in the types of art

that Bezalel and Aholiab made.

So we can see

that they made symbolic art,

which symbolic art

can be representational

or non-representational.

I'm going to talk about

what those mean.

But they made symbolic art,

they made representational art,

and they made non-representational art,

what we call abstract art.

So symbolic art,

that's physical form

that stands for

a spiritual reality.

An example of it

in the tabernacle

was the gold lampstand.

It symbolized

the light of God's glory

and grace.

You see that's symbolic.

There were several things

in the tabernacle

that represented something else.

They were to remind us

of spiritual truth.

The second type of art

that they made

was representational.

And representational art

imitates life

by portraying

recognizable objects

from the physical universe.

So, for instance,

on the high priest's robes,

there were pomegranates

sewn into the design

on his robes.

They really looked like pomegranates,

and they were supposed

to look like pomegranates.

They were supposed to

remind people

who saw them

of the physical universe

that God had created.

So that's representational art.

It looks like

what it's supposed to represent.

And then the third type

is non-representational art,

which is just pure form.

It's form apart from meaning, per se.

An example is the colorful curtains

in the holy place.

They didn't mean anything,

but they were pretty,

and God instructed these artists

to make them beautifully.

So there was abstract art.

There was representational art.

There was symbolic art.

There are a lot of art forms

that are left out here,

but they're discussed

in other places in Scripture.

The main thing to gather

from those truths

is that as the house of God

on earth,

the tabernacle

was the ultimate statement

of God's eternal values

concerning art.

So God intended

that the tabernacle

be made up of all kinds of art

because He values

all kinds of art.

Furthermore,

the Bible's full

of different forms of art.

There are psalms

that mention different music,

different songs.

A psalm will say,

to the tune of,

and then it'll be like

the death in the valley,

or another will be like

the morning and spring.

I make both of those up,

but they're really diverse

song titles

throughout the psalms.

There are stories

and poems

and historical narratives,

prophecies,

proverbs,

parables,

et cetera,

et cetera,

all these different forms

of creative expression

that communicate

and convey the truth to us,

and they're all examples

of different types

of art forms

that God employs

in His own Word,

certainly giving

some approval

of these diverse forms

of art.

We have painting

and dancing

in Scripture,

different use of different

instruments mentioned

in Scripture.

So there's broad,

very broad application

for the arts

being employed

by Christians

and not just

specific

types of art.

So we might make a case

in our meetings together

for using

varied instrumentation

instead of just

singing without instruments,

which some

denominations

and churches

have said,

no,

we can only have

singing by itself,

no instruments,

because that's

idolatry.

Well,

that's not what

the Bible has to say

about music at all.

We don't have to have

drab colors

in our meeting spaces.

We can have

paintings up

and we can

enjoy ourselves.

When we're singing,

we don't have to stand

tall and erect

and hold our hymnals,

but we can move

a little bit.

It's okay for Nathan

to shake a tambourine.

It's okay for you guys

to get outside

of your Baptist

non-dancing

comfort zones.

It's all right

because God

intends for all

forms of art

to be used

to bring glory

to Him.

Stan made a joke

Wednesday about

line dancing.

I was about to

make fun of it.

It even means

line dancing

if you're into

that kind of thing.

So,

a final note

about different

art forms

before I move on.

Bezalel and Aholiab

had been filled

by the Holy Spirit

and given

craftsmanship

and the idea

with craftsmanship

is that they had

practiced

and perfected

their skills.

They spent a lot

of time doing

these things.

In fact,

they had been

building these skills

and building on

these skills

far before

God called them

to build the

tabernacle.

In other words,

before they were

given a

quote-unquote

holy calling

for their art,

they were making

art.

And God was

pleased enough

with their

artistic expressions

that he called

them into

this sacred

task of

creating the

tabernacle.

So,

I use the word

sacred task

because I actually

want to point out

that to distinguish

between sacred art

and secular art

is a really

terrible mistake.

Art itself

is amoral.

There's no such

thing as Christian

songs.

I've never

heard of a song

that was dead

and in need

of a savior.

People who sing

songs are dead

and in need

of a savior.

People are moral

or immoral,

but songs

really can't be.

Paintings really

can't be immoral

in that sense.

Certainly,

paintings and

songs and art

pieces can be

displeasing to

God, but it's

not the art

piece itself

that's sending.

It's the person

who creates it.

God is also,

besides art

that goes into

our corporate

meetings,

God is also

pleased with

so-called

secular art.

As long as

it doesn't

violate his

character and

standards,

it's okay if

it doesn't serve

strictly church-related

functions.

Even secular

art by

non-believers

is an exploration

of the world

that God has

made,

and it can

serve us.

It can serve

to deepen our

understanding of

his work and

his character.

If creation

itself is general

revelation of God,

art as an

interpretation of

the world around

us and our

reality can also

serve us to

enhance our

experience of the

general revelation

and creation.

We're not

limited in our

art forms to

only images that

have been used

by the church,

or only modes of

communication that

have been used

by the church.

We don't have to

only stick with

images of the

cross on

flannel board.

We can get

outside of that a

little bit.

We don't have

to only sing

hymns.

We don't have

to only sing

the new

praise choruses.

We're not

stuck with

cheap evangelistic

skits if we

want to get

into theater.

We can make

movies and go

to movies.

If we're crying

out loud, we

can go to

movies.

All of the

possibilities that

art provides are

open to us,

and God wants us

to use the arts

to flourish in

all of the great

artistic potential

that they

possess so that

we can discover

the possibilities

that creativity

affords us for

coming to a

deeper knowledge

of our creator.

The second

principle is that

God loves all

kinds of art.

The third

principle is that

God has high

standards for art.

This is the part

that I tried to

scare Alex with,

but he had no

reason to be

scared.

God has high

standards for art.

Now, post-modernity

says that there

are no absolutes,

and especially

not in art.

Post-modernity

really wants to

divorce our idea

from absolutes,

and especially

when it comes to

art.

But God says that

he has an absolute

standard for art.

So this is where

we really become

divergent in our

thinking about art,

if we hadn't

already, from the

world.

God says that

there is an

absolute standard for

art.

God's aesthetic

standards include

three major

things that we're

going to discuss

at a little more

length.

They're goodness,

truth, and

beauty.

You can see

these in

scripture.

First, goodness,

and I don't

mean ethical

goodness, although

that's certainly

included.

I think we're

all kind of on

the same page

there.

If you paint

something that

is unethical,

if you sing

something that

is unethical,

if you sculpt

something unethical,

that obviously

is not going to

please God.

What I'm

talking about

when I say

goodness more

has to do

with the

quality of

the art

itself.

Verse 11

of our text,

we see that

they are to

do all

according to

all that God

has commanded.

Now,

some background

that you have

to know about

these two

artists is

that they

were the

best artists

in all

of the

land.

We know

that because

God gives

them instruction

to teach

others who

come along

to help

them,

because they

are supremely

qualified,

they're the

masters of

art.

So God

calls these

men who

are the

best at

art,

and then

he says,

do according

to all

that I've

commanded

you.

And if we

read the

preceding

chapters,

we find

out that

God's

standards

and his

commandments

are those

of perfection.

Colossians

3.23

says,

whatever you

do,

work

heartily,

as for

the Lord.

And 1

Corinthians

10.31

says,

whatever you

do,

do all

to the

glory of

God.

If we're

going to

do anything,

whether it's

art or

otherwise,

we ought

to do it

the best

that it

can be

done,

because an

infinitely

powerful God

resides within

us.

So if we're

going to do

things in

such a way

as to show

that he is

empowering us

to do

them,

we better

do it

well.

Because if

we don't

do it

well,

then what

we're

showing is

our God's

not really

that great,

he's not

that powerful

to work

through us.

So God's

standard then

for art

includes

goodness.

The Bible

actually says

very little

about the

specific skills

required for

particular art

forms.

It would

take a long

time,

and new

art forms,

I would

imagine and

hope,

are always

going to be

kind of

emerging as

technology

changes.

Moses couldn't

have written

about

digital

art,

because

digital

would have

been a

really weird

word for

him to

even use,

right?

So the

Bible is

going to

lay out

some

principles

for us

as far

as the

specific

skills

required.

The

measure

of goodness,

and if

you're

really into

art and

thinking about

art,

here's a

good way to

think about

measuring

goodness or

quality in

art.

The measure

of goodness

comes from

creation itself,

whether that's

the sights or

the sounds that

are involved in

putting together

the art.

general

revelation

gives us

also a

revelation of

quality that's

intrinsic to

the materials

used to

make the

art.

So I'm

going to

give you an

example.

If I were

to draw a

stick figure

and say,

is this a

good picture,

is this a

good sketch

of me?

You would

have to say

no,

because it

doesn't look

like me.

See how

God has

generally revealed

some truth

just in your

ability to

perceive what I

look like

compared to

what my

sketch would

look like.

So goodness

has to do

with how

in line

with the

created order

and created

materials are

being used.

Music is another

example that we

won't get into

the science of

music, but the

sound waves that

travel together,

we can hear

when music is

bad, because the

sound waves don't

harmonize, they

don't match up.

You can tell

when somebody's

off beat or

out of key or

off pitch, because

the physical

materials used for

creating music are

constant.

Now, good

artists, even

if we can't

always tell the

difference between

good and bad

art, good

artists always

know.

It is intrinsic,

it's not

necessarily objective,

but it's not as

subjective as a

lot of artists

would like you to

think either.

Good artists

know the

difference between

good and bad

art.

Now, God, being

the primary

creator, the

chief artist, he

also knows the

difference between

good art and

bad art, and

that's a biblical

principle we can

see over and

over throughout

the scriptures,

that he knows

the difference

between good and

bad art, and

that he has a

taste for

excellence.

So while the

particular standards

for particular

art forms are

outlined for us,

the general

standard is

that God

desires that

goodness be a

part of our

art or excellence

be employed.

The second

standard is

truth.

Our art can't

just be good, it

can't just look like

what we say it's

supposed to look

like or sound

like it should

sound, but it

also has to be

true.

We can see that

outlined pretty well

in the tabernacle.

If we look at

some of the art

pieces in the

tabernacle, there

was a golden

ark, and it

reminded us of

God's royal

throne.

It was a bronze

basin, and it

reminded us of

his power to

wash away sin.

The tabernacle

itself was where

God dwelt among

his people, and

it reminded us that

God with us,

Emmanuel, would

save us.

The tabernacle, and

all the art pieces

in the tabernacle,

pointed us to

truths about God.

another way to

say that is the

art in the

tabernacle was in

service to the

truth.

I'm going to

hopefully make

this a little

more clear.

Postmodern and

modern art may

be true.

A lot of it just

completely ignores

the possibility of

truth, but it may

be true in

describing the

painful or

difficult or

absurd aspects of

humanity, but it's

only true in part

because it ignores

the reality of

the possibility of

redemptive work.

Postmodern art

says there is no

God, there is no

truth, there is no

redemption.

This is it.

Well, that isn't

true.

So even though you

may look at a

painting of someone

suffering and think

people do suffer,

that's only part of

the story.

If that painting

doesn't point my

attention towards the

possibility of

redemption, then it's

only told me part of

the truth, which

makes it untrue.

Now, art is an

interpretation, as

we've said, of

reality.

You can't get away

from that.

Art is always an

interpretation of

reality.

But if art leaves

out the reality of

God and the

reality of his

plans, then it

isn't fully the

truth.

True art always

tells the whole

story.

It points us to

this ultimate truth

of redemption.

John 14, 6, Jesus

says, I am the

way, the truth, and

the life, and no

one comes to the

Father except through

me.

Why does he make

that connection

with the truth and

coming to the

Father through him?

It's because the

two are inseparable

that Christ is the

truth.

If I'm going to

tell the truth, I

have to include

Christ in my

discussion.

And Christ's

primary function on

earth was to

glorify God by

redeeming his

church.

So good art must

be true.

And finally, it

must be beautiful.

Now, how do we

know that God

cares about beauty

and art?

I'm glad I don't

have to spend a ton

of time talking

about this because

Chris is going to

talk about it next

week as he discusses

Christ and creation.

But if we read

Genesis 1 and then

walk outside with

our senses open, see

what kind of a

world God has

created, see what

kind of work he

does when he's

creating, then what

more proof do we

need of the fact

that God cares about

beauty?

He has made

things beautifully.

God created man in

his own image.

And up to that

point, it's very

interesting, you should

go and look at

Genesis 1.

All we know about

God, if we just

open the Bible, first

page, and I never

read another word of

it, when God creates

man, all we know

about him is that he

exists, he's self-aware,

and he's creative.

That's it.

And he has a lot of

power to create,

right?

But God makes man in

his own image, and

all we know about

God's image is that

he exists, he's

self-aware, and he's

creative.

We learn a lot more

about God's

characteristics throughout

the rest of

scripture, but certainly

one of the primary

ways that we are

like God is that we

are creative.

If we're meant to

display his image

when we create, then

we'd better care a

whole lot about

beauty, because he

has shown us that he

cares a lot about

beauty when he

creates.

And if we look back

to our example of

the tabernacle,

there are tons and

tons of really fine

touch kind of

elements that are

just simply

aesthetic, which

teaches us that God

cares about function

and form.

Something that the

church has gotten

really wrong.

We say, does it

work?

Okay, that's what we'll

stick with.

Well, God cares about

more than just the

function of things.

He cares about the

form.

An example is the

table of showbread.

It was really

ornately trimmed.

And God didn't even

give specific

instructions as to

how it ought to be

decorated, but just

that it should be.

So we see that it's

trimmed in gold and

that there are

artistic designs

that should.

We don't even know

what that looks like

because God didn't

give specific

instructions for how

the artist should do

it.

But it would have

sufficed just to say,

put a table in there.

Like, this table would

have done fine.

Could have held the

bread, holds our

bread.

But God instead

instructs that it be

beautiful.

We've already talked

about singing versus

using many instruments

to accompany singing.

We can apply an

aesthetic of beauty to

any artistic or

creative task that

God's calling us to,

and we should because

one of the characteristics

or qualifications of

art that he's given to

us is that it be

beautiful.

Now, truth and beauty

always go together in

art as far as Christians

are concerned.

So we can tell the

truth about sin, but we

have to include the

truth about redemption.

That's the beautiful

part of our art.

We can talk about the

beauty of our faith, but

we also have to include

the truth about sin and

fallenness.

We have to have both

elements in our art, and

that's something that

churches really struggle

with.

We want to talk about

all the great things that

God has done, but we

don't talk about the

hardness of being a

Christian.

I read this week that

something like 90% of the

Psalms are laments, and

approximately 0% of modern

Christian music is a

lament.

If we're going to be true

to the calling of

Scripture, then we need to

include all of our

experience in art.

art.

So we find that God, in

the Bible, has the

characteristics of being

good and being true and

being beautiful.

An art that pleases God

is good, true, and

beautiful.

So what we learn from

that is that art must be

in keeping with God's

character to be pleasing

to Him.

Francis Schaeffer wrote a

book called Art in the

Bible, and he said that

the minor theme of all

Christian art is the

lostness of humanity and

the defeated and sinful

side to the Christian's

life.

But that the major theme

was the grace of God

that gives meaning and

purpose to life.

And now we're going to

move into our fourth

characteristic, our fourth

principle of art, as

discussed just in the

interest of time.

And so the final

principle of art that we

pull from Exodus 31 is

that art exists for the

glory of God.

Johann Sebastian Bach

used to sign all of his

works, SDG, which

refers Sola Deo Gloria.

It's Latin for, to God

alone be glory.

Because he understood

that his art was an

offering to God.

It was intended to please

God.

So beauty, we talked a

little bit about beauty.

It does have its own

intrinsic value.

Some of the tabernacle

art was not symbolic.

It wasn't representative.

We talked about that.

It was abstract art.

But it all served the

higher purpose of drawing

people's attention to the

holiness, to a beautiful,

redemptive God.

When art exists only for

its own sake, that's just

as much idolatry as when

we try to live our own

lives for our own sake.

And to prove that, we have

Romans chapter 1, 24 and 25.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

We talked about that

recently in our study of

Romans.

Paul wrote,

Therefore God gave them

up in the lusts of their

hearts to impurity, to the

dishonoring of their bodies

among themselves, because

they exchanged the truth

about God for a lie, and

worshipped and served the

creature rather than the

creator, who is blessed

forever.

Amen.

So we have to keep this

proper perspective on art,

that it ought to serve to

glorify God.

When we begin to have art

for its own sake, then we've

elevated it above God and

said, well, it exists for

itself, God exists for

himself.

Every detail of the

tabernacle was a physical

display of the glory of

God, and our art should live

up to that blueprint.

It's important because a

creation always tells you

something about its creator.

Because art works with the

materials of God's creation,

then we can convey with art a

commitment to a good and

loving and gracious and

beautiful creator.

Do you see that?

Francis Schaeffer said,

Christian art is the

expression of the whole

life of the whole person who

is a Christian.

What a Christian portrays in

his art is the totality of

life.

Now, I don't want some of you

at this point, and I hope

not, but some of you may be

thinking, okay, it's a lot of

information about art.

I hope that you'll see that as

image bearers of God, who is

the chief creator, that creating

is an inescapable part of our

existence.

And that's certainly a takeaway

from this sermon, that as we do

anything artistic, from setting up

the chairs in this room to

arranging the furniture in our

houses, some of us are great at

silling.

My daughter's wearing a dress

today that Heather Cheatham

made.

Some of us are really crafty and

can work with wood.

Anything that we do that's

remotely artistic gives us an

opportunity to portray the

greatness and the glory and the

beauty of God to the world

around us.

So don't neglect the fact that we

are all, in some degree, doing

art, whether we're called to

careers in art or whether we

would call ourselves artists.

artists.

But in conclusion, I just have

some final thoughts and maybe

challenges to hopefully connect

some of the dots.

So if I've lost you, we're

wrapping this up.

Please come back to me.

The first thing that I want to

point out that we haven't talked

about is that certain artists,

just like Aholiab and Bezalel,

certain artists are called to

full-time careers in artistry.

Now, we all have specific

callings on our lives and we all

should take drastic measures to

be obedient to our callings,

just like we've seen.

God will provide for what we

need to be obedient to Him.

The church, likewise, should

promote obedience.

So as it relates to art, we

should identify and encourage

talent when we see it.

Some of you have probably seen

like American Idol or

America's Got Talent.

Have you seen some of those

people that come in to

audition and they're just

awful and they get shot down,

I mean, like laughed at by

the judges and like 90% of

them say, well, my church

thinks I'm a great singer.

Well, that's horrible of those

churches.

We ought to be identifying

talent and promoting talent,

encouraging talent to grow and

to thrive.

Furthermore, we ought to be

honest with people about their

talents and try to direct them

to places where God is

obviously gifting them.

Finally, as a church, and as it

relates to full-time artists, we

ought to promote and fund,

commission and distribute good

art made by believers as a way

of affirming the artist's calling,

as a way of helping them to

glorify God and being obedient,

and as a way of ourselves being

encouraged by the things that God's

doing around us.

If you need a painting, get Sam

Rayner to do the painting.

Don't go to wherever you go,

Hobby Lobby.

If you need to have family

portraits done, get Andy Truitt to

take your pictures.

He's a great photographer.

Encourage the people in this

congregation who have artistic

talents to use them for God's

glory.

Second, and we've spoken about this

briefly, but as image bearers, we

should all seek forms of artistic

expression as ways to portray the

goodness and the truth and the beauty

of God in us and in the world.

Philip Rikin said,

The church can help with this pursuit by

serving as a community of encouragement

that affirms the calling of artists and

nurtures the artistic aspect of every

human soul.

Our hope here at Christ Family Church

over the last several years has been to

reverse the reformer's decision about art,

to be propelled toward godliness in all

parts of our life, including the arts,

rather than just repelled away from sin.

We want to receive the things that he's

given us to receive, redeem the things that

he's given us to redeem.

We want to stop this tendency among

Christians to live according to our own

inventions, hedge laws that reject things

that God ultimately intends us to use for

his glory.

Becoming all things to all people has been

a theme of this series.

Paul says that, and he says,

I've become all things to all people in

order that some might be saved.

And as far as art is concerned, that looks

like us becoming conversant about art.

It looks like us preparing ourselves to

engage in an increasingly artistic community

around us.

Look at Dahlonega, look at Gainesville,

full of artists that we kind of have

capped at arm's length.

If we're going to be obedient to God's

calling to engage our culture, well, our

culture is full of artists.

And we need to be able to communicate with

them the glory of God and the power of God

for salvation in terms that they understand

and modes that they connect with.

And to do this, we have to reverse the

church's mindset that, whereas we might not

say it, we treat artists like an unsavable

people group.

We need to begin to attract and engage

artists with the gospel because no culture is

beyond God's sovereign power to save.

So I hope that you'll make it your prayer,

as it has been my prayer, that God would use us

as a community of believers, a community of

creative people to save artists, to glorify

himself in the art community, in the art culture,

in order to begin redeeming art.

Because art's going down a terrible path to

destruction.

It's taking artists with it.

But we have an opportunity as the church to

reverse that and to inject hope into the art

community.

So many Christians seem to have dismissed

artists altogether and left their souls in

such a dangerous state.

So my prayer, and I hope it will be your prayer

too, is that God would use us to reverse that.

Let's pray together.