REFLECTIONS ON THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF BEAUTY

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD. Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to y you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek’."

Psalm 27:1-8 ESV

“The personal attractions of Jesus are all inviting and irresistible! His love wins us.
His glory charms us. His beauty attracts us. His sympathy soothes us. His gentleness subdues us. His faithfulness inspires us. He is the "altogether lovely One!”

Octavius Winslow

In 2005 I spent eleven days right above Panama in the southernmost part of Costa Rica on the Osa Peninsula at a place called Cabo Matapalo. To get there you have to take a redeye flight on a very cramped and uncomfortable airplane. When you land in San Jose you then have to take an hour cab ride which is much like Mister Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland to get to another airport where you need to fly to get to Puerto Jimenez. From there you fly an hour of pure turbulence on a puddle-jumper prop plane. When you land in Puerto Jimenez, that is, if you survived the flight; you then take a forty five minute ride in a four wheel drive truck on a potholed, narrow, rugged road with numerous deep river crossings. Then you arrive at Matapalo and are utterly thrilled both to have survived the ordeal and to behold this place.

What is it about Cabo Matapalo that makes people go through all of what I shared to get there? There must be something about Matapalo that made the pursuit worthwhile? There has to be a reason that I would be willing to go through all of that hassle. The answer is that Cabo Matapalo is right at the top of the most beautiful places that I’ve ever seen. The pleasant tropical weather, the density and beauty of the tropical rain forest, the uncluttered and secluded beaches, the incredible surfing and warm 80 plus degree water, the variety of birds, monkeys, and wildlife, the solitude and quiet of only hearing the sounds of nature, are but a few of the things that attract me to this place and make me desire to go back again and again. To show you pictures, to try to describe it, will never impact you until you’ve actually been there and seen it yourself.

But as wonderful as Matapalo is, there is nothing as breathtaking as God! What is it about God that makes him so enjoyable? What is it about God that makes our pursuit of Him a worthwhile endeavor? What is it about God that is so fascinating? What is it about God that causes people to turn from all worldly allurements and diversions to focus on knowing and seeing and experiencing Him? What is it about Him that brings in our soul emptiness for anything less than His companionship and presence? What is it that caused a man named Augustine, who indulged in every form of earthly pleasure to say “How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose!...You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure…Oh Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.”

There must be something about God that brings a pleasing pleasure, a longer-lasting joy, a fullness of joy, a turning from fruitless joys to finding the superior pleasure in God alone. There must be something that makes Him more appealing than what the world, the flesh, and sin have to offer. Do you feel like that this dear reader?

King David sure did? The answer to all our questions is found in his single­-minded passion and desire in Psalm 27:4. “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple”. Throughout Psalm 27 David seems to be ransacking the Hebrew language for nouns to describe this desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord (verse 4); to inquire in his temple (verse 4); in His dwelling (verse 5); the shelter of His tabernacle (verses 5-6).

This desire spoken in all these ways is centered in one thing, the main thing: to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, the incomparable, transcendent, all­ satisfying, awe-inspiring beauty of God.

David's resolution reminds me of a scene in the 1991 movie City Slickers. Mitch, played by Billy Crystal and his two friends from New York City are middle-aged, middle-class guys trying to rediscover the purpose of their mundane lives. Curley, played by Jack Palance, is a tough-as-leather trail boss who is not particularly reflective or philosophical. In one scene, Curley, the old crusty cow boy, is talking with the city folk about life. They are confused and have made a mess of their lives. They ask Curley for some advice on life. Curley: “You city folks…You spend 50 weeks a year getting knots in your rope and you think two weeks here will work them all out. You just don't get it.” Curley holds up one dirty, black-gloved finger to them. With a squint in his weathered old face and a cigarette dangling from his lips, he says to them, "Life is about one thing. It’s this," Palance says, holding up a single finger. "The secret of life is your finger?" asks Crystal. "It’s one thing," Palance replies. Mitch: “What thing?” Curley: “That's what you have to figure out.”

Christian, I have good news for you, you don’t have to figure out what is that one thing; it’s the very purpose and desire of God for your well being and happiness and His glory. Our “one thing” is to see and cherish the glory of God. That is God's design and that is our duty.

But wait a minute Bill; you’ve been talking about the beauty of God. Why did you say that the “one thing” is to see and cherish the glory of God? Well, let’s define the glory of God and I think you’ll understand what I mean. What is the glory of God? Glory is a word that we use in church life often times without having the slightest idea what it really means. When I speak of His glory I am speaking like David of the beauty of God unveiled.

Augustine rightly insisted that God is beauty itself, referring to Him as “my Father, supremely good, beauty of all things beautiful.” Glory is all of God that makes Him God, and shows Him to be worthy of our praise, our boasting, our confidence, our trust, and our joy. Glory is the external manifestation of the internal excellencies of God. Glory is what you see and feel when God goes public with His beauty.

The wonderful thing about God is that He desires us to see His beauty. He wants us to not only see it, but cherish it, enjoy it. Jonathan Edwards shows that this is the root of worship. What he says has had deep and profound impact on my understanding of God and His glory.

“God glorifies Himself toward the creatures . . . in two ways: 1. By appearing to . . . their understanding. 2. In communicating Himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying, the manifestations which He makes of Himself. . . . God is glorified not only by His glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. . . . When those who see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by understanding and in the heart.”

God is always manifesting His beauty in creation, in providence, in scripture, and pre-eminently in the face of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:4). His purpose is designed to evoke breathtaking delight and incomparable and unspeakable joy. God’s beauty is what makes Him eminently desirable, attractive, and quickening to the soul that it was made for another world.

God has pulled back the curtain on His glory. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth” (Psalm 50:2). He has disclosed Himself on the platform of creation and redemption that we might stand awestruck in his presence, beholding the sweet symmetry of His attributes, pondering the unfathomable depths of His greatness, baffled by the wisdom of His deeds and the limitless extent of His goodness and mercy and grace. This is His beauty and glory!

Throughout the Psalms we read frequently of David’s insatiable passion for God’s beauty. Read and catch his “One thing” passion:

Psalm 42:1-2, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”. Psalm 63:1-3, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory…Your steadfast love is better than life.” Psalm 84:10, ^“For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Psalm 16:2, 11; “I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you… You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

For David nearness to God in order to see Him in all his beauty and glory was the only experience that would truly satisfy him. Only God could satisfy a heart like David’s and David was a man after one thing: the beauty of God. This is what we were created and redeemed for! This is the essence of loving God –as John Piper says, “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him”.

Jonathan Edwards understood about the one thing. That’s why he wrote: “God’s is glorified not only in His glory being seen, but by in His glory being rejoiced in.” God’s beauty satisfies the heart with joy and delight.

So what happens when we desire the one thing? As we have already seen; first, beauty satisfies the heart with joy and delight. Secondly, beauty transforms the soul. The encounter of the human soul with divine beauty, is more than merely satisfying and enjoyable, it is profoundly transforming. There is within it the power to change our lives into something radiating God’s own beauty! The apostle Paul alluded to this in 2 Corinthians 3:18 when he said, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” The point is what we see is what we be! Or as Jon Piper puts it, “beholding is becoming.” We do not simply behold beauty: beauty takes hold of us and challenges the allegiance of our hearts.

Beauty calls us to reshape our lives and exposes the shabbiness of our conduct. It awakens us to the reality of a transcendent Being to whose likeness of beauty we are being called and conformed by his gracious initiative. Beauty has the power to dislodge from our hearts the grip of moral and spiritual ugliness. The soul's engagement with beauty elicits love and forges new affection that no earthly power can overcome.

Jonathan Edwards wrote of this transforming beauty in his sermon The Way of Holiness.

“Tis the highest beauty and amiableness, vastly above all other beauties; 'tis a divine beauty, makes the soul heavenly and far purer than anything here on earth-this world is like mire and filth and defilement [compared] to that soul which is sanctified-'tis of a sweet, lovely, delightful, serene, calm, and still nature. 'Tis almost too high a beauty for any creature to be adorned with; it makes the soul a little, amiable, and delightful image of the blessed Jehovah. How may angels stand with pleased, delighted, and charmed eyes, and look and look with smiles of pleasure upon that soul that is holy."

To be continued...

GOD IS WORKING IN YOU!

“For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13)

When I was into golf I greatly admired Jack Nicholas. I wanted to play golf like him so much that I bought his video called Golf My Way. Religiously I would watch it over and over again. I would run it in slow motion, stop action, and attempt to mimic every aspect of Jack Nicholas’s sweet swing. After frequent viewings, confidence would be high and then I would go on to the course and anticipate 300 yard drives, great shots with my woods and irons, having a great balance with my long game, short game, and the ability to sink the most difficult of putts. Frequently, I would watch it right before I played a round of golf hoping that like magic in a bottle, I would catch something that would transfer to the golf course. But something happened when I’d get to the golf course and set out to play. As I’d step up to the tee my game rapidly deteriorated. My will and mind and body could not seem to work together and my game was more like Bill Robison than Jack Nicholas. Golf My Way wasn’t golf my way.

Mark Twain once wrote, “Few things are harder to put up with up with than the annoyance of a good example.” Perhaps the most annoying thing about a good example is the inability to accomplish the same achievements in our own lives. Admiration for someone great can inspire us, but it cannot enable us. Unless a person can enter into our own lives and share his skills, we cannot attain the heights of accomplishment. It takes more than an example on the outside; it takes transformation and power in the inside.

The beauty of the Christian life is that it too is a life of admiration. God created the whole universe with the design of admiring His glory which is supremely admirable. That is to say, God's design is that the whole duty of man is to see the glory of God in order to admire the glory of God so as to magnify, proclaim and live for the glory of God, and show the glory of God.

But how can we fulfill that duty on our own? That is the root of our problem isn't it? Trying to imitate Christ and show His supreme worth on my own is like me trying to imitate Jack Nicholas! The good news is that God doesn't just inspire us with admiration of His glory; He enables us to live for his glory by transformation and power in the inside.

The apostle Paul writes in Philippians 2:13, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” Paul is saying that God is the decisive worker in your life! We work, but we work by and through and because of His working in us. It would be like me going out on the golf course and playing golf with God doing a work inside of me that begins causing me to play like Jack Nicholas!

There are two great needs in every Christian life. First, there is the desire to do God's will and the second is the ability to do His will. Paul tells us that God not only creates the desire but provides the ability. But I would add that even before that the sovereign God first opens our eyes to see His supreme admirableness and worth; to see and perceive His design for my life; and then to see and perceive and treasure my duty towards Him. h

God does more than merely strengthen our willing and doing. it is not synergistic where God adds a little help so that I can partner with Him. It is monergistic. Paul's explanation goes deeper. "God himself is working in us both to will and to act: He works in us at the level of our wills and at the level of our doing God works in us, not merely with us. It is not the thought that my work plus God's work gets it done.

Augustine wrote, "Our deeds are our own, because of the free will producing them, and they are also God's, because of his grace causing our free will to produce them." And he says elsewhere, "God makes us do what he pleases by making us desire what we might not desire."' And finally he says, "Give me the grace [O Lord] to do as you command, and command me to do what you will! . . . O holy God . . . when your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them."

Take the following texts as encouragements from God that He will help you fulfill His purposes for your life.

Jeremiah 31:31 33, `Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.... I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.

Deuteronomy 30.6, "The LORD your God will circum­cise your heart...so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. "

Ezekiel 11:19–20, A new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them."

Ezekiel 36:26-27, `I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.

Second Thessalonians 1:11-12, "To this end we always pray for you, that our God may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you.”

Hebrews 13:20-21, `Now may the God of peace. equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

1 Corinthians 15:10, “by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

Romans 15:18, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me.”

First Peter 4:11, "Whoever serves" is to do so `as one who serves by the strength which God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Thessalonians 3:12. "May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another "

God is working now at this very moment! Even when we are most actively working out for God, we are still the recipients of His working in us. God is always there to work for us and in us every moment that we enter. Not only that, He doesn’t stop and wait for you to get working rather He is now and always working The God who in the past worked and changed you is the same God who is at work in you now to change you.

And let me tell you, that truth keeps me from despair, because one of the great realities that I live with every waking moment is that I know that I am not what I ought to be. And the Apostle Paul is simply saying to you here, ‘Child of God, He’s not finished with you yet. He is at work with you, in you, for you, for His pleasure and glory.’ And I cannot imagine a more comforting and encouraging thing to know in the pursuit of godliness in the Christian life than that my God is not done yet. It keeps me from going over the edge. It keeps me from the brink of despair.

It is the promise (God will work in you!) that sustains and gives hope to the willpower (work out your salvation). Take heart. God will not leave you to yourself. John Newton once wrote: I am not what I want to be, I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I should be, but by the grace of God, I am what I am.”

Can anything be more radical than this? It means every good desire; every Christ-like thought, attitude, decision, and aspiration which I have is something which has been produced in me by God. God controls my willing, it is God who is energizing my very desires and hopes and aspirations and thoughts. He stimulates it all!” It means God understands our weakness and is committed to helping us. It means we are not left to simply work to muster more of our strength but we are invited to tap into His. It means we don't have to worry about falling away in the end because God is working on our desires and appetites so that we won't want to drift away. It means that the victories and accomplishments we have in the spiritual realm should be acknowledged as coming from the Lord and we should give Him the glory. It means that we can live the Christian life. AMEN!

Pastor Bill

THOUGHTS ON PRIDE AND HUMILITY PART 2

"God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble...Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. "
James 4:6,10 ESV

In 1967 I played in the Hawaiian State Golf Championship for Aiea High School. I’d like to say that I was able to participate because I was such a great golfer, which I wasn’t; it was because every school got to play, even though we finished in last place and I was the bottom golfer on the team. At the tournament were representatives from various universities checking out the talent for recruitment. I remember thinking to myself as my turn was coming up at the first tee, “Bill you hit an awesome drive off the tee, this could be your meal ticket to college.” When it was my turn to get up to the tee, the loudspeaker blared, “And now representing Aiea High School, Bill Robison” At the tee were not only recruiters but also pros, golfers from all the other high schools, all sorts of media types, and several hundred people. Suddenly, the gaze of all these people, especially the recruiters utterly paralyzed me. It seems as if every basic skill I had and every golf fundamental I ever had learned left me at that moment. I stood over my ball for what seemed for an eternity, taking several practice swings, all the time thinking of all these people watching me and not blowing my drive off the tee. Finally I swung my driver and proceeded to hit the ball. Immediately I knew I had done the worst thing possible, I had looked up to see my 350 yard drive without looking at the ball. As a result, my 350 yard drive turned into me topping the ball and the ball dribbled about ten yards from the tee. I wanted to die! There went my golf future and in place entered complete humiliation. I didn’t even want to look at the crowd after that embarrassment. I just picked up a club and immediately hit my next shot and never looked back. I ended up taking twelve strokes to get into the hole in the Hawaii State Championship! So much for my golf career!

Phillip Yancey says, “What we think about God and believe about God matters-really matters-as much as anything in life matters.” There have been times in my life that I have thought that God was like those scouts, looking for talent to help His team win. There have been times I have thought that I was that talent that could do just that. But then spiritually I have way too many times approached the tee and have failed miserably. Now I know that when it comes to the Christian life neither have I the talent nor is God a talent scout.

What is God looking for from us when it comes to Christian living? What gets the attention of God? In Isaiah 66:2 we read these words from the Lord: “This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” Here God is telling us what it is that gets His attention. This is the one to whom I will look is a striking statement. It’s pretty hard to get God’s attention, but right here God is telling us what makes him stop what He is doing and take a second look.

Brothers and sisters, Humility draws the gaze of our Sovereign God. Humility attracts His active and gracious gaze. The eyes of God are a theme running throughout Scripture. Take, for example, the familiar words of 2 Chronicles 16:9, "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him." Obviously God doesn’t have physical eyes, God is spirit (John 4:24). He doesn’t need physical eyes, because He's also omni­scient. Nothing escapes His notice. He's aware of all things. But though He's aware of everything, He's also search­ing for something in particular, something that acts like a magnet to capture His attention and invites His active involvement. God is decisively drawn to humility. The person who is humble is the one who draws God's atten­tion, and in this sense, drawing His attention means also attracting His grace-His unmerited kindness. Think about that: There's something you can do to attract more of Gods gracious, underserved, supernatural strength and assistance: humility!

As I said earlier, though He's aware of everything, He's also search­ing for something in particular, something that acts like a magnet to capture His attention and invite His active involvement. God is decisively drawn to humility. The person who is humble is the one who draws God's atten­tion, and in this sense, drawing His attention means also attracting His grace-His unmerited kindness. Think about that: There's something you can do to attract more of Gods gracious, underserved, supernatural strength and assistance! What a promise! Contrary to popular and false belief, it's not "those who help themselves whom God helps; it is those who humble themselves.

This is the promise of humility. God is personally and providentially^- supportive of the humble. And the grace He extends to the humble is indescribably rich. Nothing could be better than to have an infinitely powerful and wise God treat us graciously. Grace is a wonderful word. It means we are recipients of the favor of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When we are humble, we are in a place to receive His grace which He lavishes upon us. Isaiah 57:15 "For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." What a promise! You cannot be too insignificant for God to reach you; He loves to dwell with the lowly and contrite. That is bad news for the proud and self-reliant, but good news for broken sinners.

In William Bridge's lovely words, `If you lay yourself at Christ's feet he will take you into his arms.” What is humility? James’ wording here again speaks of continual action. God has always and will forever continue to give grace to those who humble themselves before the Lord. The word “humble,” as it’s used in verse six, is not only a reference to an attitude, but to a position as well. God gives His grace to those who recognize their lowly position in the presence of a holy and righteous God by honestly assessing ourselves in light of God's holi­ness and our sinfulness. That is the twin reality that all genuine humility is rooted in: Gods holiness and our sinfulness.

Fenelon explained, "A peasant shut up in his village only partially knows his wretchedness, but let him see rich palaces, a superb court, and he will realize all the poverty of his village. He cannot endure its hovels after a sight of so much magnificence. It is thus that we see our ugliness and worthlessness in the beauty and infinite grandeur of God.” In the same way, it's easy for a man or woman to be proud until they catch a glimpse of God's holiness. John Piper says, “Humility can only survive in the presence of God. When God goes, humility goes. In fact, you might say that humility follows God like a shadow.”

John Calvin wrote, “It is evident that man never attains to a true self knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look at himself.” Without an honest awareness of the reality of God’s holiness and our sinfulness, all self-evaluation will be skewed and we'll fail to either understand or practice true humility: We'll miss out on experiencing the promise and the pleasures of grace that God offers to the humble. That is why I want to direct you to God's help for evalu­ating your life honestly, to understand whether you're growing in the humility that draws His gaze and attracts more of His grace.

What are you building with your life? A marriage? A family? A business? A church? A career? A ministry? A friendship? In all your ven­tures, are you aware of your need for God's grace to give your efforts lasting value? So many human ventures have failed because humility was lacking. Ultimately, there can be no effective expansion of your life’s mission and ministry, no growth and maturity, no fulfillment of the specific purpose that God has called you to, apart from the cultivation of humility in your heart and the weakening of pride in your life. But I don’t want you rooting out pride because of its perils and pitfalls. Our pursuit should be driven by the amazing promise James gives that humility holds out to us: God gives grace to the humble!

Do you long for God's providen­tial help and blessing? Then let's allow the promise of humility to shape our life and choices, so that your life will begin to be colored in every area by grace. God clearly states that He is drawn to the humble. He's also clear that He opposes the proud. These two, humility and pride, cannot coexist. Where one is fostered, the other is defeated. Which will you pursue? If you feel convicted of pride in any form, of failing to humble yourself or failing to glorify God, take the time right now to flee to the cross and receive the forgiveness for this sin of pride that God hates. Humble yourself before Him and confess it specifically to the one whom you have offended. And receive the grace of His forgiveness. Tell Him that you want to declare war upon pride in your life- that you want to declare war on this active, daily tendency towards self-sufficiency, this desire to live independently of Him when in truth we are dependent upon him for every breadth. Gladly announce make a declaration of dependency. Make this confession humbly and daily for the rest of your life. Hold on to the promise God gives to those who are humble before Him: GOD GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE!

Pastor Bill