God’s Word: It’s a Beautiful Thing
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. . . what is beautiful to you?
For Tony Conza, it is a 6” sub.
(Short story of the Blimpie Guy)
Tony Conza embodies what American Dreams are made of. He started off small, working on Wall Street, but with no money, connections, or mentors. But with time, hard work, and taking some risk with a couple of college buddies, he created a 2100 store chain, where you can buy the famous Blimpie sub.
Even when financial troubles and poor management threatened to put Blimpie out of business; even with his own bank account depleted and his insurance policies cashed in, Conza found a way to survive.
He did it for the love of his dream, which is encapsulated in the Blimpie slogan:
Blimpie -"It’s a Beautiful Thing"-
For him, “It’s a beautiful thing” appeals to the heart as well as to the mind. It is also the Title of the book that details the achievement of his dream. It wasn’t money that motivated him, but the desire to see his dream fulfilled fueled the hard work necessary to achieve it.
(adapted and excerpted from http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471381470.html)
What is beautiful to you? Perhaps more than a 6 inch sub? Is it the spiraling football thrown by Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, or the gritty scrambling and last minute dishes of Bret Favre? Is it a shiny new set of tools, or a diamond necklace? Is beauty wrapped up in the beaming face of your spouse, or the Sunday school craft of your children?
Your definition of beautiful can be many things, and many things ARE beautiful. Beauty is bound within the nature of God and how he works, even transforming what appears useless into something useful.
God is in the habit of making things beautiful
Landfill Transformed
In his book An Unstoppable Force, Erwin McManus shares the story of how prayers resulted in what can only be called a miraculous re-creation.
While ministering in South Dallas, McManus’s small congregation began to grow. Looking for a place to build a larger church building, the leadership spotted an acre of land for sale. Given its location near downtown Dallas, it seemed strange that the property was available. Excited at their good fortune, this small group of people—many on welfare—began to pray that the site would soon be theirs. Eventually, they were able to purchase the property after receiving financial help from an association of churches.
As the congregation began the process of obtaining building permits, they discovered the property had been declared "unbuildable." The acre of land in a prime location was nothing more than a worthless landfill. McManus grieved over this waste of precious time and money. He writes:
We had bought an acre of garbage. Several core samples were taken. From what I understood, they went at least twenty-five feet deep and found nothing but trash…All I could do was ask our congregation to pray with me and believe that God was with us and that he would even use the worst of human mistakes to perform the greatest of miracles.
After months of prayer, a woman from the congregation told McManus that since they had asked God to turn the land into something useful, surely it had been taken care of. Feeling God’s confirmation of her words, McManus asked for more core samples to be taken. This time the researchers found soil. McManus writes:
How did this happen? Was it because the core sample was in a different part of the land? Or could it be that God had actually performed a miracle and changed the landfill to good land? What I do know is that the same realtor who sold the property to me came back and offered me three times the amount he had sold it for once he heard the clearance to build had actually come through. What I do know is that the previous owners could not build on the property, but we could. What I do know is that we were told the property was worthless and unusable. What I cannot tell you is what happened beneath the ground at 2815 South Ervay Street. All I can tell you is what I know—and that is that God took my failure and performed a miracle. Today Cornerstone worships on that acre of land in a sanctuary built by our own hands. (Erwin McManus, An Unstoppable Force (Group, 2001), pp.151-153; submitted by John Beukema, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania)
Transition: Last week we took a look at Santa Claus and Jesus. We learned that Santa Claus was NOT really coming to town, but Jesus did, is, and will.
• Did, because he was born in Bethlehem and buried in Jerusalem: “When the grace of God appeared . . .”
• “Is” because he lives through us in this present time, to be self-controlled and gracious people who make an impact in the towns where we find ourselves.
• Will, because he is coming again, and if there was ever a doubt who HE IS, there will be no doubt on that day. (Titus 2:11-14)
Those “comings” of past, present, and future teach us that when Jesus comes to town “He changes EVERYTHING.”
Now we are going to look a bit closer at this mighty little letter and look at the various ways Jesus does make a difference in our lives.
Question: Do you believe that The Word of God is a Word of timeless beauty?
Now, I don’t like to force things into the reading of the Bible. I don’t like to make things up, twisting and turning the scripture to fit my fancy. And so, I hope you will forgive me, but while “God’s word” is a key part of our text today, the word “beauty” is not.
But the more I studied this passage for today, and the more I considered this special time of year, with its sparkling array of dazzling lights, glittering ornaments, shiny faces (--shiny faces??), the more the word “beautiful” came to mind.
Let me explain the fuller picture by backing up a bit in history:
Consider the artistry and care that went into the temple. Only the best materials, gold, bronze, wood, fabric went into them. God not only laid out the plans, but he endowed the artisans with the ability and the inspiration to create the most exquisite and beautiful temple, fit for the Creator of the Universe.
God himself is described as beautiful. David said that the “one thing” that he will seek after is “to behold the beauty of the Lord” in the temple (Ps 27:4), Isaiah promises that “your eyes will see the king in his beauty, they will behold a land that stretches afar” (Is 33:17 RSV) (Above inspiration taken from Ryken’s Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, and other sources)
If God himself is beauty beyond description (and we have only touched the surface of how the Bible describes him thus), and his temple was crafted to radiate the beauty fitting of the King of all creation, is it too far a stretch that now, the crowning achievement of all his plans on earth, the good news fulfilled in his Son, salvation for all mankind, is any less beautiful? And when you consider the fact that WE, now, are his temple, is not the work being carried out in us, through the power of his Word, is any less beautiful?
Perhaps, by the end of my preaching you might find it not so strange that maybe there is a small, but powerful chance that, with me, you will declare:
“God’s Word, It’s a beautiful thing!”
Let’s read our text:
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— 2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3 and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Notice that God’s word is mentioned once in verse 1. This “word” is the good news, the gospel, the message about Jesus Christ. There are other words in this passage that are close in meaning:
• v. 1: “knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness (similar to one of our observations last week that “sound doctrine/teaching leads to godliness and good works”. That doctrine, or teaching, as we learned, was none other than the “good news.”
o This truth, then is the truth about Jesus, the good news of salvation through him
• Promise in v. 2, is also related to “the word”. God promised the blessing of Jesus, whose good news about him is “the word.”
• v. 3: “preaching” is not a synonym, but it is the activity is closely related to the “word”. In fact, some might say you aren’t preaching unless you are preaching the word!
And there are many other words that directly link to “word”.
• Faith in v. 1: “faith comes through hearing.” Hearing what? The word.
Each of these words, and a few others like them, in these short verses could spawn a sermon, or a whole series of sermons. And yet, often, when we read these introductions to Paul’s letters, we just skip right over them as if they have little meaning.
We cannot treat each as they deserve today, that is why I would like to focus on the “word” and how it’s a beautiful thing.
Transition: the first connection of God’s word and beauty in this text is it power to take what are objects of scorn and transform them into objects of beauty.
1. BeatifulTransforming Power (changes what was repulsive and offensive to what is beautiful and God-glorifying.)
It would be interesting to find out what comes to the minds we Christians here, when we think of the Apostle Paul.
• Stained glass figure?
• Master Teacher?
• Missionary?
• Bald guy?
• Early church dude?
• Writer?
What emotion do you have? Do you get excited, bored, puzzled?, stimulated in thought?
There was a time when only one word came to mind of Christians: Persecutor! And one emotion: Fear!
If he had lived in the 20th century we might have read about his pursuit and execution of Christians in Voice of the Martyrs magazine. Perhaps we’d hear about him on the Bob Dutko show, or read about him in Christian magazines about this fiery writer who wants to destroy our faith with his blasphemous fiction.
He was a Christian killer until Jesus came to town. Actually, until Jesus met him on the road as Paul was going to town: In a dazzling display of light, he heard a voice say to him:
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
For three days he fasts, and is blind, while God prepares another servant, Ananias, through a vision to go lay hands on him to restore his sight.
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
And yet here he is, after suffering beatings and being imprisoned himself for the cause of Christ, announcing:
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ
No longer a murderer, he is a messenger.
11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Now here we have Paul quoting a familiar OT text, underscoring the beauty of the feet of those who bring good news! And Paul is not just speaking to us, but he is referring to his own major ministry: bringing the gospel to lost outsiders! He who once brought anguish and fear is now seen as a beautiful messenger of peace! Amazing!
PLAYMATE Illustration:
Susie Scott Krabacher had her 15 minutes of fame as "Miss May 1983" in Playboy magazine. What has happened in and through her since then is a testimony to the grace of God.
After her time at Hugh Hefner’s mansion, Krabacher became a Christian, married, and began looking for a God-honoring purpose for her life. At the urging of a friend, she made a trip to Haiti. From that initial visit came the determination to devote her life to helping Haitian children.
The Haitians did not take the blonde American beauty seriously—at first. "They thought I’d pass out candy and toys, make promises, get my name in the paper, and go home as soon as I got scared," she says. But through her tough determination, God has smiled on her mission. Her nonprofit foundation has raised millions of dollars and used the money to build six schools, three orphanages, and a hospital. Hundreds of Haitian children call her "Mama."
"I was born to do this work," says Krabacher. "I was not put here to be a Playboy centerfold."
The Week, vol. 4, Issue 182 (11-12-04), p.14; submitted by Rubel Shelly, Nashville, Tennessee
What a story! And don’t overlook the obvious contrasting of what the world thought was beautiful, and what her final realization of what beauty really was! She was beautifully transformed by the power of God’s word!
Author, pastor, and onetime atheist Lee Strobel says in one sermon:
How can I tell you the difference God has made in my life? My daughter Allison was 5 years old when I became a follower of Jesus, and all she had known in those five years was a dad who was profane and angry. I remember I came home one night and kicked a hole in the living room wall just out of anger with life. I am ashamed to think of the times Allison hid in her room to get away from me.
Five months after I gave my life to Jesus Christ, that little girl went to my wife and said, "Mommy, I want God to do for me what he’s done for Daddy." At age 5! What was she saying? She’d never studied the archeological evidence [regarding the truth of the Bible]. All she knew was her dad used to be this way: hard to live with. But more and more her dad is becoming this way. And if that is what God does to people, then sign her up. At age 5 she gave her life to Jesus.
God changed my family. He changed my world. He changed my eternity.
(Lee Strobel, author and teaching pastor at Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, California, from sermon "The Case for Christ")
God is at work in you, as his word takes hold of your life. He is in the business of transforming you—making you beautiful!
For me, this is at times a sensitive subject. One of my own quirks and immaturities is the struggle I face to “feel” transformed. I get burdened with my feet of clay, and sometimes—I say this to my shame—it leads me to doubt that God is really at work in me. Often I think God is forcing me to grow up the hard way, to fully understand his work of grace that is ongoing in me. Sometimes, however, he uses some unique methods to encourage me.
I don’t know what your belief on “visions”, etc, are, and I am not totally sure either. I believe God works both in the Bible, and in modern day, in part, by given his children vivid images to teach them something, much as he did Peter with the sheet from heaven, or other examples.
At a retreat once, I had been struggling with some personal failing, and was seeking God, and his rest. During one of the early days of that week, I kept seeing little birds when I closed my eyes to rest or meditate. Now, part of me explained that it was because this beautiful place was filled with finches and hummingbirds and the like. But what made my image different was that this one bird kept a frantic pace, and would cock its head to look “at me” and then its head and eye would zoom, or “bulge” toward me. It was quite unsettling and weird. This happened a few times. Then, during one of those times, I closed my eyes, and that bird just stayed calm and beautiful. I wondered what was going on—half expecting its eye to bug out again. Then I felt this interpretation impress on me—that frantic bird was actually like me—buzzing around, freaking out at times, yes, it had its share of problems and abnormalities. But the key was the final part of my “understanding:” I felt God say: “Dan, that bird is like you—but I am working to transform you into the beautiful man you were meant to be!” And I nearly broke down, crying.
I don’t know what you do with experiences like that, but one thing is for sure: it is 100% backed up by God’s word that he is working in us to work and will according to his good pleasure! His desire IS to transform us, and while it will come in degrees while on earth, in heaven we will be completely transformed and glorified!
Transition: another aspect of beauty that is important is for it to have a lasting, even eternal, quality. A depth of beauty.
2. Lasting Beauty of God’s Transforming Word
Have you ever experienced things that were only “thinly” beautiful?
Our “Solid surface veneer” counters: beautiful, but cracked with crock pot heat. (describe how cracked they are, how they don’t even make that “veneer” anymore, and that my initial joy at their beauty was quickly tempered by our experience)
My belt, simple, elegant, reversible brown/black: After several Sunday’s, I noticed that the black is wearing off to reveal brown. . .
Some of you have had a beautiful person express their undying love for you, only to see it wane after a few dates, a new face, or perhaps a TV remote control.
Some things appear beautiful, but are only skin deep.
Other things withstand the test of time (describe in “color” as time allows): a well designed, deep cushioned, brown leather chair. French country homes. A jet black Bugatti sedan. A six inch Blimpie sub (wink).
And while the image of beauty, of even those things appears “lasting”, things rust, tear, collapse, . . . or get eaten.
Life parades by us an assortment of laughter, heartache, complexity, simple moments, revulsion, despair, hope and breath taking beauty. It is hard at times to take it all in, to make sense of it.
Solomon wrote:
10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
In God’s eyes, and according to his plan, all things make sense, all things are “made beautiful.” Yet man, while having a sense that there has to be “something more”—with “eternity set in our hearts”—just can’t tie all the loose ends up and make sense of everything. Life gets pretty rough and ragged, and we don’t have all the answers, try as we might.
That is just as true today as it was in the days when those verses were written. Almost. Let’s take another look at our verses for today:
2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3 and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me
We have a different perspective today, than Solomon did. Now, while we agree with Paul that we still see “dimly”, and only in heaven will all be clear, we certainly have the fulfilled promise of Jesus made abundantly clear to us: he transforms and give us hope!
We have God’s word, bringing the hope of eternal life to us: to us, who are being transformed into his glorious image:
God’s Word was promised before the beginning of time: BEFORE!!
His Word is not unreliable, half-hearted, error-ridden, powerless or for show:
HIS WORD IS ETERNAL
[refer to] Recent Jewelry ads touting “The Journey diamond necklace” 7 diamonds with increasing size to show “how your love has grown”. (see powerpoint image) (I go off on these ads, good naturedly, and poke fun at us guys and the gifts we still need to get our wives)
O.k. Fine. But that has nothing on God!
His word is eternal, originating in heaven and sent to earth, it spans the universe:
Illustration of Milky WAY
If the Milky Way galaxy were the size of the entire continent of North America, our solar system would fit in a coffee cup. Even now, two Voyager spacecraft are hurtling toward the edge of the solar system at a rate of 100,000 miles per hour. For almost three decades they have been speeding away from Earth, approaching a distance of 9 billion miles. When engineers beam a command to the spacecraft at the speed of light, it takes 13 hours to arrive. Yet this vast neighborhood of our sun—in truth, the size of a coffee cup—fits along with several hundred billion other stars and their minions in the Milky Way, one of perhaps 100 billion such galaxies in the universe. To send a light-speed message to the edge of that universe would take 15 billion years.
(Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? (Zondervan, 2006), p. 20; submitted by John Beukema, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania)
Now, while Philip Yancey used that illustration in a discussion of our praying to God, I got to thinking: How important is his word of hope, how lasting is his promise of eternal life, how secure is the beautiful transformation he is beginning in us if he has taken great care to send that message over that expanse to us? If that message required his son to be born on this seemingly insignificant planet—yet he carried it through at great cost and time to him!
We must matter to God! His Word must have lasting value! His Word has a beauty that spans both time and space, and will never fade away.
In fact, just the opposite.
Paul says not only are we being transformed into ever increasing glory, but there will come a day when though while now we see “dimly”, THEN, we will sees face to face.
We will behold his beauty has He is, and His beauty will be radiating from deep within us, never to fade again.
CONCLUSION:
Pastor and freelance writer Mark Buchanan tells about a conversation he had with a young philosophy student who was a healthy, good-looking man in his early twenties. Mark had officiated a wedding on a gorgeous day on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, and at the reception the student asked Mark if he really believed all that religious stuff he had spouted at the church.
Mark writes:
I said I did. He smirked. I asked him what he believed. "I tried your religion for a while," he said. "I found it’s just a burden to carry. You know what I’ve figured out? Life justifies living. Life is its own reward and explanation. I don’t need some pie-in-the-sky mirage to keep me going. This life has enough pleasure and mystery and adventure in it not to need anything else to account for it. Life justifies living."
"Good," I said. "Very good. And I believe you. Today, here, now—feel the warmth of that breeze, listen to the laughter of those people, smell the spiciness of that shrimp cooking, look at the blueness of the sky. Yes, today I believe you. What a superb philosophy. Life justifies living. Bravo!
"Only, I’m thinking about someone I met last February. Richard. Richard was 44, looked 60, and had been living on the streets since he was 12. He was a junkie. To support his habit, he was a male prostitute until he got too old and ugly and diseased for that. Now he has AIDS.
"The last time I saw Richard was on a gray, rainy day in winter. I bought him a bus ticket and put him on the bus. He was going to his mother’s home in Calgary. He hadn’t spoken with her in almost 15 years, but he was hoping he could go home to die. Almost incoherent, he sputtered, ’I wish I’d never been born. My whole life has been a mistake. My whole life has been misery.’
"I’m thinking about Richard. And I’m thinking about Ernie. Ernie was a man on the rise. While he was in his twenties, he was already vice president of a thriving national business. He was tough-minded, hard-driving, prodigiously skilled, hugely ambitious. He was a superb athlete, a natural at any sport. He had a beautiful wife. They were unable to have children of their own, so they adopted four, three from Africa and one from Mexico. On the day the fourth adoption became final, Ernie got the results back from some medical tests he had undergone to account for some dizziness, blurring of eyesight, and tingling in his hands. The tests came back with stunning news: Ernie had multiple sclerosis.
"Yes, I’m thinking about Richard and Ernie. And I have a question about your philosophy: How exactly do I explain to them that life justifies living?"
The young philosophy student had no response. He said he’d have to think about it and get back to me. I gave him my address and asked him to write me when he came up with something. I never heard from him. Because life does not justify living. Eternity does.
Used by permission of Multnomah Publishers Inc. Excerpt may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of Multnomah Publishers Inc. Submitted by Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky
Mark Buchanan, "Is Life Its Own Reward?" Discipleship Journal (July/August 2003); adapted from Things Unseen (Multnomah, 2002).
Richard and Ernie both could use the transforming power of God’s beautiful word and its eternal hope!
My wife, Angie, reminded me last night that the verse I quoted earlier from Ecclesiastes was a special verse for my mom, as she was going through her darkest hour as a parent. Some of her children, my sisters, where going through some extremely difficult and rebellious, sinful times. She feared for their lives, if not for their eternal destiny.
Yet through her meditation of that scripture, she felt the Lord impress on her that he will make everything beautiful in His time, that she had to trust in Him, and give up her constant worry about her children. It brought her great comfort and peace, even though she would not know the exact outcome.
I can’t promise you that any person you know will spend eternity with the heavenly Father. But what I can promise you is this:
If God’s Word is planted deep in your heart, governing your mind and your walk, he is, right now, engaged in a beautiful transformation, that will make you everlastingly beautiful . . . in his time.
Yes, God’s Word is a beautiful thing.
What are you going to do with it?
