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.
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.
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,
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.
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.