WEBVTT

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 Good morning, everyone.

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 Welcome to Beautiful People, the second class in the series on beauty, art, and the gospel.

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 So we'll start by just quickly reviewing a takeaway or one of the main concepts from last class.

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 So we brought scripture to bear upon a dictionary definition of beauty, largely inspired by the philosopher Immanuel Kant from the 18th century.

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 Though there are many definitions of beauty, I focused on the feeling of pleasure that people have through the senses, which is given to us in the Oxford English Dictionary.

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 This theme of what is pleasing to the senses, though not framed as beauty in scripture, is present as a theme in scripture.

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 And we can relate it first and foremost to God.

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 Scripture thus revises a common conception of beauty.

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 Though scripture does not neglect the sensory phenomenon of pleasure for people, the most important beholder is not the person, but God.

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 So, in the second class, a single verse from the book of Romans shows us how God beholds us as pleasing or beautiful to him.

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 I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship.

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 So, two of the takeaways are quite simple and come directly from that verse.

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 Beautiful people see the mercy of God in view of God's mercy, which will impact a little bit in the first half of this class.

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 And their beauty is to God, not primarily to anyone else.

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 So, the first takeaway, beautiful people see the mercy of God.

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 As it therefore suggests in the Romans verse from Paul's letter to the Romans from around 57 AD,

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 he has for many previous chapters and verses expressed the mercy of God.

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 In chapter 11, in particular, he writes about the generous mercy of God for both Jews and Gentiles.

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 So, though Paul focuses on the Gentiles in chapter 11, his message is also for Israel.

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 If we look to the Old Testament, the concept of mercy appears in different ways.

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 One such way is tied to the presence of God.

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 The mercy seat is one such example which we see in Exodus, the Psalms, Isaiah, and 1 and 2 Samuel.

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 Related passages refer to God as King who sits upon the mercy seat.

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 So, we'll take a look at Exodus, where we find first mention of the mercy seat in chapter 25.

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 The mercy seat is very small compared with the entire complex of the tabernacle.

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 The design of said complex given to Moses by the Lord is pictured on your left.

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 I've circled the area of the Ark of the Covenant to which the mercy seat is attached.

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 So, it's that tiny red circle.

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 We discover more about the mercy seat in the context of a Jewish annual festival called the Day of Atonement,

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 a major theme in the book of Leviticus.

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 In this passage, we discover that God appears over the mercy seat.

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 The high priest cannot enter at any time the space of the Holy Holies,

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 where God presents himself over the mercy seat,

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 because the said priest would come undone, namely die in the presence of God.

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 Still, there was one day, the Day of Atonement,

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 on which the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies.

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 On this day, the priest reunited himself and Israel to God through the offering of a ram, bull, and two goats.

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 On this day, the Lord instructed the high priest to enter the Holy of Holies

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 and go before the mercy seat.

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 He could not go before the mercy seat unequipped.

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 The priest would take a few handfuls of coals and sweet-smelling incense

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 and burn them in a censer, a vessel for burning incense.

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 He would then bring them inside to the room beyond the curtain

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 with a four-winged cherubim, where the ark was.

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 As such, the fumes from the censer would cloud his view

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 of the presence of God in the mercy seat and protect him in that way.

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 The very reason for which he entered this special room,

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 which contained the mercy seat, also known as the Holy of Holies,

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 was so that he could sprinkle the blood of an animal on it.

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 One of the animals taken as a sin offering,

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 which he burned on the altar outside the tabernacle, framed in blue.

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 In sum, the mercy seat was restricted to a high rank of priests and one day a year.

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 Shifting from Leviticus to the New Testament book of Hebrews,

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 set after Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension,

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 we learn that the method of entering into the presence of God,

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 like the high priest on the Day of Atonement, is obsolete,

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 or in the terms of Hebrews, a shadow of things to come.

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 Jesus offers us a model of being a priest that is different from the priest in Leviticus.

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 He is not like the kinds of priests who need incense to protect themselves from God on the Day of Atonement.

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 This is why the unknown writer of Hebrews connects Jesus not to the Levitical priesthood,

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 but to the order of Melchizedek.

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 Little is written about Melchizedek.

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 We know from Genesis 14 that he blesses Abraham with a meal in Jerusalem after his military victory.

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 He is a priest of God Most High,

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 and his name Melchizedek translates from Hebrews into King of Righteousness,

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 which points to Christ.

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 So while Jesus is not connected to the Levitical priesthood,

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 he still in some way acts as a priest.

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 He achieves unity to God, or atonement.

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 Jesus achieves unity to the Father,

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 not by the blood of animals and goats,

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 but by his own blood.

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 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come,

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 then through the greater and more perfect tent,

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 not made with hands, that is, not of the creation,

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 he entered once for all into the holy places,

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 not by means of the blood of goats and calves,

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 but by means of his own blood,

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 thus securing an eternal redemption.

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 Most importantly, Jesus' priesthood is merciful

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 and allows more people to enter the presence of God.

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 His presence in this tent, in the tent stated in Hebrews,

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 signals throughout Hebrews not an earthly tabernacle,

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 as in the images that I've shown,

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 but a space in heaven marked in some fashion

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 by the reign of God the Father,

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 with Jesus at his right hand.

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 In drawing near to God through the blood of Christ,

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 we draw near to his mercy.

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 Curtain nor cloud of incenses

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 separates us from his mercy.

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 So beautiful people see God's mercy.

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 The second point that I'll make is beautiful people are pleasing to God.

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 So we see in the context of sacrifices

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 that the pleasing aroma is to God.

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 So I'll just briefly go over five of the sacrifices

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 from the Old Testament

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 where we see this theme of a pleasing aroma to God come up.

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 So the system, as I've mentioned, is very complex

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 and my understanding is very limited of it.

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 But I'll mention five main offerings or sacrifices.

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 The latter term sacrifice excludes the grain offering

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 in which nothing actually dies.

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 So we have burnt offerings,

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 which consisted of slaughtered cattle, sheep, goats, birds.

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 Fat, the most valuable part of the animal, was not consumed.

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 Blood was poured...

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 Sorry, I negate that comment about the fat.

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 So blood was poured on these sides of the altar

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 and it was entirely burnt on the altar

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 for the burnt offering.

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 And then for grain offering,

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 we have flour, grain, oil, and frankincense,

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 which is the dried sap of trees,

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 which smelled good.

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 And then peace offering, cattle, sheep, goats.

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 Sin offering, cattle, sheep, goats, and birds.

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 Guilt offering, rams.

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 Each of these five types of offering

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 for the most part include

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 slaughtering an animal in the court of the tabernacle

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 in the altar framed in the blue in the last slide

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 and throwing the blood against the sides of the altar,

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 peeling the skin off the animal,

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 burning on the altar parts of the animal,

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 which created a pleasing aroma to the Lord,

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 sprinkling the blood of an animal inside the temple,

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 and a priestly and lay person

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 consuming certain parts of the animal,

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 but not in the case of a burnt offering,

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 and then handling the rest of the parts of the animal

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 outside the court.

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 So a few examples of where we see

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 God as an aesthetic being coming up,

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 a pleasing aroma to the Lord,

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 is in this verse from Leviticus,

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 for the burnt offering,

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 and the priest shall burn all of it on the altar

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 as a burnt offering,

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 a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord,

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 and then another example for the grain offering,

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 and one shall take from it

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 a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering

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 and its oil and all the frankincense

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 that is on the grain offering,

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 and burn this as its memorial portion on the altar,

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 a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

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 So back to our verse from Romans,

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 I appeal to you, therefore, brothers,

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 in view of God's mercy,

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 to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

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 holy and pleasing to God,

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 which is your spiritual worship.

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 So, yeah, so the five offerings and sacrifices

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 that I have referred to show that God is pleased

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 with those sacrifices then,

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 and now he is pleased with spiritual worship

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 or the worship of the believer.

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 And the one who views God's mercy.

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 I'll finish with six instances

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 where God,

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 where his people as living sacrifices

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 bring a pleasing aroma to God.

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 So, in Luke,

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 now when all the people were baptized

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 and when Jesus also had been baptized

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 and was praying,

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 the heavens were opened

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 and the Holy Spirit descended on him

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 in bodily form like a dove,

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 and a voice came from heaven,

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 you are my beloved son,

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 with you I am well pleased.

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 So at the beginning of his ministry,

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 what pleases God is Jesus in prayer and in baptism.

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 It is difficult to say whether Jesus saw his own mercy here

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 in this intimate exchange with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

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 God, though, is certainly the beholder of Jesus's beauty.

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 You are my beloved son,

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 the Father says,

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 with you I am well pleased.

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 And then in Ephesians,

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 and then in Ephesians,

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 therefore be imitators of God

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 as beloved children

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 and walk in love,

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 just as Christ also loved you

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 and gave himself up for us,

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 an offering and a sacrifice to God

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 as a fragrant aroma.

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 In Paul's letter to the Ephesians

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 from around 62 AD,

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 we see the author's view of God's mercy

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 in the blood of Christ.

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 Therefore be imitators of God

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 as beloved children

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 and walk in love,

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 just as Christ also loved you

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 and gave himself up for us,

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 an offering and a sacrifice to God

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 as a fragrant aroma.

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 We see the same concept of walking

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 in this verse from Colossians,

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 which I'll ask Elise to read.

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 Colossians 1.

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 Oh, sorry.

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 Yeah, Colossians.

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 Colossians 1.

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 And now you're 10.

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 And so, from the day we heard,

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 we have not ceased to pray for you,

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 asking that you may be filled

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 with knowledge of his will

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 in all spiritual wisdom

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 and understanding,

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 so as to walk in a manner

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 worthy of the Lord,

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 fully pleasing to him,

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 bearing fruit in every good word

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 and increasing in the knowledge of God.

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 So to walk is a Jewish metaphor

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 for conducting or behaving oneself.

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 It corresponds to the Hebrew term halak.

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 The rabbis had an entire oral tradition

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 called halak for behavior,

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 especially in the Mishnah and the Talmuds.

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 And as a former rabbi,

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 Paul calls the readers of his letter

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 to walk in the shape of a cross.

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 He calls them to imitate Jesus

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 in the laying down of his life

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 for the world he loves.

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 The imitation of believers is here,

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 beautiful to God.

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 And then 2 Corinthians.

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 2 Corinthians 2.

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 verses 14 to 17.

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 But things be to God,

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 who, in Christ,

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 always leads us in time of procession,

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 and through us,

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 attracts the fragrance

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 of the knowledge of him everywhere.

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 For we are the aroma of Christ to God,

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 among those who are being saved,

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 and among those who are perishing,

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 to one, a fragrance from death to death,

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 to the other,

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 a fragrance from life to life.

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 Who is sufficient for these things?

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 For we are not,

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 like so many,

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 who have words of God's word,

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 but as men of sincerity,

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 as commissioned by God,

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 in the sight of God,

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 we speak in Christ.

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 Thank you.

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 In his letter to the Corinthians,

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 Paul praises God

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 for leading him in triumphal procession,

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 a metaphor,

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 perhaps with two layers,

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 that reflect the themes of 2 Corinthians,

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 that Paul is like a suffering prisoner in Rome,

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 but Christ,

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 as the victor,

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 is the general,

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 and has captured him.

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 Given the language of sacrifice,

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 and allusion to suffering,

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 it is possible that,

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 as in Ephesians,

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 Paul refers to the knowledge of Christ's death,

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 as embodied by Paul,

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 in his suffering for Christ,

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 the victor.

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 Notably,

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 this knowledge is pleasing,

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 to those who are being saved,

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 and are not pleasing to those

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 who are not being saved.

00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:19.000
 Philippians.

00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:21.759
 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,

00:15:22.060 --> 00:15:22.940
 that now at length,

00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:24.740
 you have revoked your concern for me.

00:15:25.340 --> 00:15:26.980
 You were indeed concerned for me,

00:15:27.259 --> 00:15:28.420
 but you had no opportunity.

00:15:29.259 --> 00:15:31.340
 Not that I am speaking of being in need,

00:15:31.680 --> 00:15:33.780
 for I have learned in whatever situation I am,

00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:34.379
 to be content.

00:15:35.139 --> 00:15:36.460
 I know how to be brought low,

00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:37.680
 and I know how to abound.

00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:39.599
 In any and every circumstance,

00:15:40.019 --> 00:15:41.159
 I have learned the secret of

00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:41.439
 facing,

00:15:41.659 --> 00:15:42.379
 hunting hunger,

00:15:42.859 --> 00:15:43.219
 abundance,

00:15:43.459 --> 00:15:43.839
 and need.

00:15:44.259 --> 00:15:45.359
 I can do all things

00:15:45.359 --> 00:15:46.679
 through him who strengthens me.

00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:48.399
 Yet it was kind of you

00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:49.179
 to share my trouble.

00:15:49.739 --> 00:15:50.859
 I am well supplied,

00:15:51.319 --> 00:15:53.079
 having received from Epaphroditus

00:15:53.079 --> 00:15:54.059
 the gifts you sent,

00:15:54.519 --> 00:15:55.459
 a fragrant offering,

00:15:56.079 --> 00:15:57.299
 a sacrifice acceptable

00:15:57.299 --> 00:15:58.359
 and pleasing to God.

00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:00.139
 And my God will supply

00:16:00.139 --> 00:16:01.259
 every need of yours,

00:16:01.399 --> 00:16:02.379
 according to his riches

00:16:02.379 --> 00:16:03.599
 and glory in Christ Jesus.

00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:08.820
 So the Philippians view God's mercy

00:16:08.820 --> 00:16:10.440
 in their devotion to Paul,

00:16:10.620 --> 00:16:12.019
 whose finances waver.

00:16:16.019 --> 00:16:17.800
 So Paul considers

00:16:17.800 --> 00:16:19.680
 their affectionate sacrifices

00:16:19.680 --> 00:16:21.200
 partnership in this letter,

00:16:21.460 --> 00:16:22.940
 which attests to their view

00:16:22.940 --> 00:16:24.680
 of the mercy of God through Jesus,

00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:26.060
 who laid down his life

00:16:26.060 --> 00:16:27.040
 for them willingly.

00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:29.440
 Paul here specifies

00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:31.399
 that the gift is beautiful to God.

00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:33.779
 And then Hebrews,

00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:35.459
 through him, Jesus,

00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.779
 then let us continually offer up

00:16:37.779 --> 00:16:39.759
 a sacrifice of praise to God

00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:41.480
 that is the fruit of lips

00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:42.759
 that acknowledge his name.

00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:44.759
 Do not neglect to do good

00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:46.360
 and to share what you have

00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:47.679
 for such sacrifices

00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:49.360
 are pleasing to God.

00:16:50.220 --> 00:16:51.779
 Again, in Hebrews,

00:16:52.059 --> 00:16:53.439
 the generosity of the church

00:16:53.439 --> 00:16:55.299
 is primarily beautiful to God.

00:16:55.960 --> 00:16:57.500
 Though we know Paul's appreciation

00:16:57.500 --> 00:16:59.079
 of the gift from the Philippians,

00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:01.800
 it is God who finds it beautiful.

00:17:03.500 --> 00:17:05.680
 Now for a few questions.

00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:09.700
 How does beauty relate

00:17:09.700 --> 00:17:11.299
 to our experiences of giving?

00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:13.620
 Do you usually see your acts

00:17:13.620 --> 00:17:15.579
 of giving as beautiful to God

00:17:15.579 --> 00:17:17.039
 or as beautiful to people?

00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:19.019
 And in which ways

00:17:19.019 --> 00:17:20.340
 are we tempted to orient

00:17:20.340 --> 00:17:22.100
 our beauty towards people

00:17:22.100 --> 00:17:22.840
 more broadly,

00:17:23.059 --> 00:17:24.220
 maybe not in the context

00:17:24.220 --> 00:17:25.819
 of generosity or giving?

00:17:25.819 --> 00:17:28.559
 So I'll ask you to

00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:30.859
 get into small groups

00:17:30.859 --> 00:17:32.119
 and then we can share

00:17:32.119 --> 00:17:33.899
 and pray for each other after.

00:17:33.899 --> 00:17:35.899
 So maybe...

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 Do you...

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