Spirit-Filled Ability and Craftmanship

[0:00] Please open your Bibles to the book of Exodus, chapter 31. At this 31, we're looking at the entire chapter today, so that's verses 1 through 18.

[0:39] Follow along with me as we read this. At this 31, beginning in verse 1, The Lord said to Moses, See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

[0:54] 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, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.

[1:15] And behold, I have appointed with him Oholab, the son of Ahishamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able 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 pure lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt 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 of his sons for their service as priest, and the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense for the holy place.

[2:07] According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do. And the Lord said to Moses, You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, Above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.

[2:30] You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

[2:43] Six days shall work be done. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.

[2:57] Therefore, the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever.

[3:08] It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth. And on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.

[3:18] And he gave to Moses when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written with the finger of God.

[3:31] Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We, Lord, come before you again acknowledging we need your spirit's help.

[3:44] We pray that you would send your spirit, that you would help us to see how beautiful and how glorious you are, how you are deserving of all praise. Lord, we ask that our focus, our attention, would be set upon the truths of your word.

[4:04] We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. So here we see that God gives the details and specifications of the tabernacle and its furniture.

[4:16] We've been looking at that for weeks. He's also, though, determined who the workmen will be and the overseers for the building of the tabernacle with all of its furniture.

[4:28] But he doesn't just stop there. He further gifts them. He gives them gifts for the task that he set before them. And so from first to last, from the design, the description of everything that's to be done, who's going to be doing the work, their ability to do the work, it's God's work all throughout.

[4:47] So I want to look at this idea of spirit-filled ability, what we see happening here in this passage. The workers that he speaks of, we see in verse 3 of Bezalel, I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship.

[5:19] So I want you to understand that this man who's overseeing the work of the building of the tabernacle is supernaturally gifted to do the work. I say supernatural beyond natural means.

[5:32] It's the Spirit that's working in him to do that, but he's enabling him to go about the work. We get a little bit more detail about the work that he will do in Exodus 35.

[5:43] So remember, we're getting now the description of what's to be done. When we get to Exodus 35, 36, we see what they actually did. And so if we look there, Exodus 35, verses 30 through 35, Then Moses said to the people of Israel, See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

[6:05] And he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship. To devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood for work in every skilled craft.

[6:22] And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Ohalab, the son of Ahishamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver, or by a designer, or by an embroiderer, in blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twin linen, or by a weaver, by any sort of workman, or skilled designer.

[6:48] So similar to the list we have here, it even expands some, but these two men in particular, were gifted in such a way that they were basically jewelers, they were cutting stones, they were detailing, or setting the stones, they were engraving things, but we also see that they were gifted in workmanship, I'm sorry, in woodmanship, working with wood, so they're expert carpenters.

[7:15] And then it also says, in embroidery and weaving. By now you ought to figure this is supernatural, right? Because they're experts in all these fields.

[7:26] Whatever had to do with the artistic beauty of the tabernacle, these men were gifted in, and they oversee the work. They're looking at, they know exactly what needs to happen, what it needs to look like.

[7:40] And they're making sure, according to God's purpose and plan, that it happens. Aholab, I'll just keep butching the names, okay?

[7:52] The other guy, assistant supervisor, in Etc 38, 23, it says, and with him was Oholab, the son of Hishamak, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer and embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.

[8:08] So again, we see the description of him being an expert in these things. Back in Etc 31, our passage, it speaks of what the Spirit gives to him.

[8:20] Ability and intelligence with knowledge and all craftsmanship. In some way, he's really giving wisdom to him to go about the work. And wisdom here is very practical.

[8:33] Sometimes we think of wisdom, I don't know how many of you guys know this, but in college I majored in religion and philosophy. Right?

[8:44] What do you think of when you think of someone majoring in philosophy? They're going to be unemployed somewhere, but somehow you guys hired me anyway. But this isn't that kind of philosophy.

[8:55] Philosophy's great, don't get me wrong. Love of wisdom, if it points us to God and Christ. But this isn't that kind of, let's sit around and ponder the meaning of life.

[9:07] God grants wisdom to these men and it's wisdom in practical things, how to do things well. And that's really what we see oftentimes, even in examples of the book of Proverbs.

[9:18] The wise man is making wise decisions that are beneficial to him. He's good at what he does. Proverbs 3.13, blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding.

[9:33] And so we're reminded this is a blessing. And when we think of blessing, we literally mean this is a gift from God. This is something God is granting to us. And so, again, I don't want hands raised, but if we think about how many of us are good at our job, we believe we're doing a great job there.

[9:55] We know how to go about it. We're doing, I don't know, we're the expert in the field. And then to think, we're gifted by God with the wisdom to go about that work.

[10:09] It's not our own, it's what God has gifted. Now, I want to make a distinction because what we see here is the first time that we see the Holy Spirit being given to someone in the Old Testament.

[10:24] At least it being spoken of here. The Holy Spirit's given to them that they can go about this work. And just as a side note, the understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament versus, or we could even say the Old Covenant versus the New Covenant.

[10:40] The Spirit often worked in people for certain purposes, even indwelt them for a time, for example, the kings of Israel. And so, we read of Saul having the Spirit of God taken from him.

[10:57] You may remember when David stands with Bathsheba, he prays, take not your Holy Spirit from me. But here we see the first giving of it and what's the purpose of it? That they might go about building the tabernacle the way God desires it to be built.

[11:13] And so, when I say this about everything we have, our wisdom is a gift of God. That's true, and we're going to get to that in a little bit. But I also want to say there's something special happening here.

[11:23] This isn't just the normal gifting that maybe God grants to all men, common grace. This is a special grace he's instilled upon them. They have his Holy Spirit to guide them in being experts in the field and making things beautiful.

[11:38] Now, we understand as well that when we receive the Spirit, such in the Old Testament, the Spirit would come upon people at times. In the New Testament, what we see in the New Covenant is all God's people are indwelt with the Spirit.

[11:50] The Holy Spirit lives inside of every Christian. And along with that Spirit is some type of gifting. So, for example, in 1 Corinthians 12, verses 4 through 7, and then a little bit further in verse 11, we read, Now, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

[12:09] And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

[12:24] And in verse 11, all these are empowered by one in the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. And so we understand that being a Christian, you have the Spirit, and with the Spirit comes gifting and ability.

[12:38] If we just think about what we saw already with wisdom, we understand, looking again at the book of Proverbs, that wisdom really is a reflection of salvation. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

[12:51] And the fool consistently goes after that which is not godly. And so, what wisdom we have, even the decisions we have, the restraint we have not to sin at times, our love for the Lord, maybe even the desire to get up this morning and come and worship God.

[13:15] That kind of wisdom is a gift from God. But we also see in 1 Corinthians 12 that the Spirit gives various gifts for the purpose of the building up of the body for the common good.

[13:32] And so, God gifts the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit to us so that we can use them to build up one another. So this isn't something, can you imagine if, I won't even try to say their names, but let's just call them the supervisors.

[13:46] Can you imagine the supervisors, God gives these gifts to be experts in everything, and so they stay home and do it as a hobby and never let anyone see it. Don't use it for the tabernacle. It doesn't guide the work.

[13:59] Maybe even the leave it to someone of lesser ability and, eh, it'll be fine. God's given them the gifts to use for the purpose of, in this instance, building up the tabernacle, but in the New Testament in the church age for the purpose of building up the church, which is one another.

[14:19] Also, I want you to see, I said spiritual gifts God gives us, but if we understand what we see here, knowing that what they receive from the Spirit is not just spiritual things, but physical realities, we could say the same thing is true for us, that the Spirit equips us for our work, whatever God calls us to, even those things that are not necessarily spiritual.

[14:43] Or if we want to think about it another way, if God gives the Spirit to help us in whatever we go about, then we can say that all of life is spiritual, right? We really don't make that distinction by secular employment.

[14:55] God's called us to a spiritual work there, and He's enabled us with His Spirit to do well at whatever task He's called us to. Ian Camel, on his commentary on this passage, he says that the emphasis falls on the fact that this is God's work.

[15:16] The design is His, the workmen are His, the equipping is His, so that all the glory will be His. I think that's what we're seeing in this passage.

[15:28] God's laid it all out. He's described how it's to be done. He's said, these are the men who are going to do it. He's gifted them with the ability to accomplish it so that ultimately, it's God who's glorified.

[15:40] Not the supervisors, not the workers under them. The beauty of the tabernacle that would be seen each day was to be a reflection, a reminder that God has done this work.

[15:55] God deserves the glory. I thought of the quote by Hudson Taylor, the missionary to China. He once said, God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.

[16:09] God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply. That's basically what we're seeing here. God's meeting the needs that they can accomplish the purpose He's called them to. And so that also ought to encourage us that God will supply us with what's needed.

[16:26] We've been studying in Sunday school on evangelism and I know how intimidating it can be to share the gospel with someone and we've talked a lot about this in Sunday school but often we imagine, well, what if I don't know what to say?

[16:42] I would say evangelism is God's work. And if we go about it the way God's called us to, are we trusting that God's going to supply and meet those needs? That's one example.

[16:55] There's probably many more we could think of. But I want us to look as well at this concept of beauty that we see throughout this passage. It's interesting but God is concerned with the beauty of the tabernacle.

[17:13] It's not just that everything had to be built a certain way to be practical, to be efficient. I don't know about you guys but sometimes I find efficiency to be beautiful.

[17:23] Things well organized. I like good organization. This is great. We can get things accomplished here. And God, no doubt, loves that kind of organization. We see it all throughout the creation and how He's worked things.

[17:38] But He didn't just make the tabernacle to be practical and efficient. He created it to be beautiful. God's concerned with the beauty of the tabernacle.

[17:51] Now one reason for that is what we've already seen about the tabernacle, that the tabernacle is like heaven. It is a type of heaven. It is a shadow of the reality of what heaven is.

[18:04] It corresponds to heaven. And this tabernacle, and I think, again, that was supernatural enabling.

[18:17] The Spirit enabling them to go about this work and make it the way God desires it to be. Imagine the beauty of this. I kind of think this being God's tabernacle and Him gifting them by the Spirit to pull off the work that He's accomplished and it's a reflection of heaven, could this be the most beautiful thing that human hands have ever put together, have ever made?

[18:47] Or maybe the tabernacle even in a similar type of gifting. And yet, as beautiful as that is, remember, it's a pale shadow of the reality of heaven that it's meant to point us to.

[19:05] It's a shadow and a copy of the true heavenly tabernacle. A place of unending new beauties.

[19:16] Have you ever thought about that? Our God is infinite and we are finite. So as far as I can understand, which isn't very far, remember, because I'm finite. But as far as I can understand, when we are eternally in the presence of God in the new earth, we will never fully comprehend God.

[19:36] We will always be learning more about God. But I think also, if we understand God to be a God of beauty, we won't ever cease being amazed by new beauties. Something fascinating that's just going to strike us.

[19:53] We can't even think about taking it further away from this and saying, in our own life, God is the creator. He's designed this entire world, not just the tabernacle.

[20:07] He's gifted all men, to some extent, to go about their work. Now that's tainted with sin. We can distort, corrupt it in many ways.

[20:19] But as we think about that, I want you to think about beauty. What is beautiful? Think about, in your mind, something that you find to be maybe extremely beautiful.

[20:33] And then consider, yeah, go ahead. Look over at your spouse and tell them it's them. Think of a sunset. Whatever it is that you find to be just beautiful.

[20:47] Maybe the color of ocean water. Have you ever seen certain colors of the ocean? And as we think about that beauty, be reminded, be aware of the fact that God is the source of that beauty.

[21:06] God is the creator of all things. He's gifted us even to know and understand what beauty is. We can even say beautiful things or testimony that they're made by God.

[21:22] Right? As we see beauty, we know there's a God who's ordered these things and calls them to be beautiful. people. And God shares with us His beauty even in the creation that we might delight in it and ultimately that we might delight in Him who is the source, the fountainhead of all beauty.

[21:48] And so we don't stop at the thing itself. We are meant to go on to God. Augustine said this about the human soul that I thought was very profound and appropriate.

[22:04] He said, what is it that can be enraptured by the loveliness of God's creation? I don't know what's happened.

[22:19] It looks like I'm missing some of the quote. Okay. What is it that can be enraptured by the loveliness of God's creation? It is a soul which appreciates beauty.

[22:32] Indeed, God made men souls so that they could appreciate the beauty of His handiwork. So, Augustine's arguing that God made our souls to be able to take in and appreciate that which is beautiful.

[22:52] That we might see the loveliness of God's creation and ultimately that we might see the beauty that is God. Have you ever thought about your soul that way?

[23:04] Why is it that we even have a concept of beauty? Why do we think about things being lovely or beautiful? God's instilled that within us so that we would know the beauty of the Creator, the giver of that, that we would appreciate it.

[23:22] Imagine someone, I was thinking of these workmen who are crafting jewels or maybe working with wood and maybe even if we took it to a younger level. You may remember sometimes kids make pottery and stuff in class.

[23:38] Sometimes they make stuff in Sunday school and they bring it to mom or dad. They may make pottery and they put the work in it. And part of it is they want it to be beautiful for you to enjoy. That you would see it and know that they made that for you.

[23:53] Multiply that by whatever that would be. Trillions. God has made this world beautiful and made us capable of seeing that beauty, appreciating that beauty, delighting in and enjoying that beauty.

[24:10] But God has also made us to enjoy that beauty, to reciprocate or have that resonate in our soul so that we would go to him as the author and source and fountainhead of all beauty.

[24:26] some of you would be familiar probably with this quote but C.S. Lewis I think does great in describing it this way.

[24:36] He said, the bullets or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them. It was not in them. It only came through them.

[24:48] And what came through them was longing. These things, the beauty, the memory of our own past are good images of what we really desire but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers.

[25:09] For they are not the thing itself. They are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have not visited.

[25:25] If you got that, I just love that because what he is saying is the thing itself that we tend to delight in is but a medium by which God imparts his beauty in our souls.

[25:38] He is passing that to us through something in this world. And the tendency is for us to pervert beauty and make it into an idol.

[25:49] to stop there, to think that's what it's all about. I didn't think of things like lust and pornography or a misuse of beauty.

[26:02] It's a perversion of beauty. It's making beauty idolatry and never understanding it for the purity of what it is or pointing us to the God who made it. And so what I want you to see is that the beauty all around us that we tend to delight in, the things that we love, we find to be lovely.

[26:25] When we see those things, when we think about how lovely those things are, we don't stop at those things. I've told you before the example of you walk up to the Grand Canyon and what if you saw the beauty of the Grand Canyon and you took a moment just to stop and bow down and worship it?

[26:42] that's not what it's there for. But when we see the vastness of it, maybe the different levels of the color of the rots, how they change at different levels, and we look at that and we say, our God is amazing.

[27:08] Our God made this that we might delight in it, that we may look to him and know him to be a God of beauty. And then we think, not only is this beautiful and it points us to him, but we realize as well that we live in a fallen world.

[27:28] And what does God's word say? Even the creation groans with pains like childbirth, awaiting its redemption. salvation. And so, ponder for a moment that there's nothing that we're going to see as beautiful as it is in this world apart from God.

[27:46] Nothing in the created world will we see and know that isn't tainted by the fall of man and by sin. sin. And then we realize there will be a new earth.

[28:05] This earth will be redeemed. Paths of fire will be a new creation, but a new earth in which there will be no sin. I just think, I don't know what the Green Canyon is going to look like there.

[28:18] What will we call the old Green Canyon? How will it pale in comparison? And so as we imagine a world and all the beauty in it untainted by sin, and then we think all that is a reflection of God who is beautiful, God who is the creator, how lovely must our God be?

[28:50] I want to just touch on the fact that this passage also speaks of the Sabbath. What's the connection here? Why bring that up now? Well, let me start just pointing out to you there's an inclusio, which is kind of like the same phrase at the beginning and end of a larger paragraph or passage of words, and it kind of forms like a parenthesis around our passage.

[29:14] So if you look at verse 6, the second sentence there, and I have given to all able men ability that they may make all that I have commanded you, and then again in verse 11, and the anointing oil and fragrant incense for the holy place according to all that I have commanded you, they shall do.

[29:38] And so this is still looking at the parts of the beauty, the gifting that they had as they're making all these things, they're still doing it as God commanded them to do. It's to be done in God's way. We could even extend that further and say that God designs and defines His worship.

[29:57] He tells us how it's to be done. And so I think there's this natural transition then as you're building the tabernacle, as you're preparing to worship, know that I've laid before you exactly what everything's to be like, and you're to make it this way.

[30:11] And as you think about that, the subject of worship, understand as well that God has set aside that day for His worship. Maybe we could even say God's just gifted and ordered men to work at a certain job, building His tabernacle.

[30:32] And it would be easy to look at that and say, well this is a holy, sacred calling. God has me doing this for His worship, and we want to do this as soon as possible because why delay God's presence among us?

[30:44] Why delay the worship of our God? And so we're going to work seven days a week, 24-7 we're working on this thing. You know we had the pillar of fire so that's going to help.

[30:55] But we're working 24-7 to build this. Well, I think another reason this is brought up is because, just to remind them, even though you're about to go about this work, don't forget the Sabbath.

[31:09] Remember the Sabbath. Observe it as holy. Or, you might say, breaking the Sabbath would undermine the importance of the tabernacle. You're breaking God's command.

[31:21] You're dishonoring Him to make something to honor Him. So, He's given them a sacred job, but they're not to go about working on it on the Sabbath.

[31:33] It would be sin to build the place of worship on the day of worship. or even the place of rest on the day of rest. Another reason I think this is brought up is that the tabernacle itself is somewhat of a new creation, a type of new creation.

[31:55] Now, I hope you've seen that as we've gone through the book of Exodus. I'll just try a real quick summary again, but the Garden of Eden is where man dwelt with God.

[32:05] God would meet with them there in the garden. Men sinned, and they were kit tied of it. The Garden of Eden was meant to be a place of rest. Even work that was given beforehand was to be enjoyable. The fall brought the thorns and the thistles and the hardship of work.

[32:19] They're cast out. They don't have rest, and they don't have communion with God. And I've said before, what human beings have sought all throughout human history are those two things.

[32:31] That they may rest in the presence of God and have communion with Him. That they may dwell with God. And so as we come to the tabernacle, we've seen some along the way that there are words, even some of the jewels and the minerals being used all reflect back to the Garden of Eden.

[32:48] And so in some ways what God is doing is recreating the Garden of Eden, which probably in some way was a copy of the heavenly temple. And then this is a copy of the heavenly temple.

[33:00] And He's going to dwell there among them and they're to have a day of rest. And as they approach this, to remind them of that creation ordinance of the Sabbath was appropriate.

[33:15] Restoration of God dwelling with men and rest enjoyed was what was going to happen at the tabernacle. And so they're reminded, set aside time to enjoy that rest and to have communion and fellowship with your God.

[33:36] And then finally, it's also a sign. We see verse 17 of our passage. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

[33:55] A little further up it speaks to the fact that it's to remind them of their sanctification, that it's God who sanctifies them. So a sign is just a physical pointer to a spiritual reality.

[34:08] It's pointing us to something that's true. And so one way this happens is it's a sign that they're set apart to God. Of all the nations of the world, we got one that takes the Sabbath and doesn't work and uses that day for a day of worship to God.

[34:28] God's people. And he equates here the idea of keeping the Sabbath with keeping his commands or his covenant is tied to that and the Ten Commandments.

[34:40] And so breaking the Sabbath would be a violation of the covenant. The Sabbath was really a designation that God's people were recipients of this special relationship that they had.

[34:54] God's people were going to be a man. And so he reminds him again here, don't break the Sabbath. And we spoke of this back when we were looking at the Ten Commandments, but we understand today that the early church, including the apostles in the New Testament, celebrated the Lord's day as a Sabbath.

[35:11] It was changed to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. Savior. But I strongly believe the call for us is no different. One thing that sets us apart from the world, one thing that shows that we are a part of God's people is we set aside that day for rest and for worship.

[35:31] So let's take a little bit of time to consider some points of application. I'm not giving an answer here in the first point. I'm just asking questions for you to think about.

[35:44] As we talk about the Sabbath, how is keeping the Sabbath today a sign of your relationship to Jesus Christ? How does it communicate that you are one who has communion with Christ?

[35:58] And then think about as well on the Lord's day, how is it a foretaste of your eternal rest in the dwelling of God or dwelling with God?

[36:10] How are you using the day in a way that reflects that? How might this day be a day of reflecting and getting a taste of what heaven is going to be like?

[36:21] God's word says, call the Sabbath a delight. It's meant to be a joy. How do we see a little bit of heaven in Sundays?

[36:34] Secondly, I touched on this earlier, but just in application, I want to remind you that all gifts that we have, we receive from God. We see this in James 1, 16 through 17.

[36:48] It says, do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

[37:02] And so as we think about that, every good gift we have, I said earlier, all the beauty that we see and enjoy. But all the good gifts we're given are from God.

[37:14] And just like we said with beauty, they ought to be used for his worship, for his glory, and not to be turned around as either a source of idolatry or self-worship.

[37:27] Look how great I am because I can do this or that. I've played golf with Mark quite a few times. I'm pretty convinced that God's given him some giftings that he hasn't bestowed on other people.

[37:44] So think about that. What abilities is God giving to you? Whatever it may be that God's given to you. Are you thankful for those?

[37:56] Are you appreciative of the gifts God's given? How do you express that appreciation to God? I can tell you one way is, one way we ought to be doing that is in terms of our worship.

[38:10] When we come here, our minds should be filled with the loveliness of our God and how deserving he is of worship for all that he's done. And then think about as well the gifts that God's given you.

[38:23] Are you using those for God's glory? Whatever we work at is to be done for the glory of God and as Christians I think we give it our best. Not that we may be praised, but that God may be glorified.

[38:38] If he's the one gifting us in these things, then it's selling at these things. It's glorifying to him. If we don't turn that into an idol. I mentioned golf, I'll say as well, because I usually can't make it through a month without mentioning Lionel Messi, but I've heard other professional soccer players say they think he's an alien from another world.

[39:00] I've wondered sometimes if time moves a little slower for him because he can read things and move so fast before other people can even get there, even professionals. But if we think about that rightly, not that he's from a different planet, but that God has gifted him with the mind and ability to be able to do these things, then even when we watch a soccer game, right Dave?

[39:26] You know about that. Even when we watch the soccer game, we do so understanding that when we see excellence, God deserves the glory. Those are my realms.

[39:39] I said God instilled artistic beauty. Some of you are probably upset that I haven't talked about music, poetry, or paintings. But those are true as well. Wherever we see beauty in those things and excellence in those things, it's a gift from God that God deserves to worship for.

[39:53] And so if God's gifted us, are we using it for God's glory? And are we thankful, appreciative to God for what he's given us? I'm sorry. I think thirdly now in application, some of you may be like me and find yourself with very few gifts.

[40:15] James 1.5 says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. Now we talked about wisdom isn't just spiritual understanding.

[40:28] Wisdom is really the application of spiritual truth to the world around us. But we've seen here that God granted wisdom to them to be able to do their job well. God calls us to ask for it.

[40:40] If we understand God's a source of wisdom, God's a source of the gifting, ask God, seek that from God. And it says, he gives generously to all without reproach. I think of my own sinful heart and knowing that sometimes my children ask me to do something and maybe I do it begrudgingly or maybe I reproach them for asking me to do it.

[41:03] God's not like that. He gives generously. Fourthly, I want you to consider what are some ways in which you sinfully misuse beauty.

[41:18] I mentioned earlier lust, pornography. We talked about idolatry. We can make a car that we find just to be beautiful.

[41:30] We can make it an idol. Something we desire, we've got to have. What about pride? Has God, I can't speak for you guys, but maybe some of you God has given the gift of beauty to.

[41:48] Do we use that as a source of our own pride? Maybe it's even in terms of our craftsmanship or workmanship.

[42:00] We know we do a good job at what we do. And boy, aren't I great. So consider ways that you sinfully misuse beauty.

[42:16] And then I mentioned earlier I got ahead of myself, but all created beauty is tainted by sin. And when we one day are glorified, when Christ returns and we're glorified, every trace of sin will be removed.

[42:34] All the results and consequences of our sin, our evil will be gone from us. And every Christian will be glorious in beauty. There's another C.S.

[42:46] Lewis quote that I didn't look up or find, but I think in that quote, he says something along the lines of, even those people who we may despise now in heaven glorified would be an object of worship if we could see them now.

[43:01] We'd be tempted to worship them because of their beauty. Every Christian will be glorious in beauty. And the creation itself will be remade and be more beautiful than anything our eyes have ever beheld.

[43:15] And I'm not saying that at some point of exaggeration. We've already seen that. It won't be tainted with sin. So everything will be better. The most beautiful thing we enjoy now will be even more beautiful.

[43:30] And then again, ahead of myself, but point six, if the creation can be that beautiful, whatever it is you thought of earlier that you think is the most beautiful thing in the world, if the creation can be that beautiful, how much more beautiful is the creator, how much more lovely is our God?

[43:49] Really, that's what worship and glorifying God is. It's seeing God for who he is, his beauty, his loveliness, his desirableness and worshiping him for that.

[44:05] Worship is really our having our eyes open to his beauty. God's always been there. He's always been beautiful. Before we're saved, we don't see that beauty. We see the reflection of the beauty.

[44:16] We see the beauty in the stuff he's made, but we don't take it to its logical end. But worship, we could even say salvation, is seeing the loveliness of God.

[44:27] Now, there's more to that in terms of trusting Jesus Christ, but that's part of how we see God's beauty.

[44:39] And as we see that, we desire him above all. That's what worship should be. We, I think naturally in all life, we desire that which is of the highest value, the greatest quality.

[44:53] Now, most of the time we have to settle for buying something that's far lower down the scale, but we desire that which is of the greatest quality. We want something that's going to last and be great.

[45:06] And so worship is desiring God above all. That's really what the parables of the kingdom that God gave were, that Jesus gave were about. The treasure hidden in the field. When he found that treasure, he went and sold all that he had that he may have that treasure.

[45:21] Or the pearl of great price. When he saw or found that pearl, he went and sold all the other, the whole pearl collection's gone. Then I could have that one. That's what God's getting at.

[45:37] Everything else we see is beautiful and worth collecting or whatever you want to say. It's worth acknowledging the beauty of. But God is more beautiful. And worship is acknowledging that he's more desirable than all those other things, however beautiful they may be.

[45:57] He is the fullness of all desirable qualities. I thought of that sermon, the expulsive power of a greater affection.

[46:11] How do we fight sin? Well, the way you expel sin, the way you get rid of sin, is by having a greater love. A greater love for God.

[46:21] Seeing God as more desirable than whatever that sinful thing is we want. To know that communion, fellowship, dwelling in his presence, beholding his beauty, that's better than life, than anything else we enjoy.

[46:36] And so for us to pursue lesser joy and pleasure would be, in itself, sinful. Finally, I want to encourage you again about evangelism.

[46:47] I thought about this beauty. And what is evangelism? The sharing of the gospel with people. I thought evangelism is the church's display of the beauty of Christ.

[47:00] We've seen Christ. We know him to be beautiful. And we tell others about him. We want others to enjoy that beauty.

[47:11] To see how lovely he is. We don't want to keep it for ourself. We want them to know it, that they might delight in it too. That they may join us in delighting in God. And so I want to encourage you to share the gospel.

[47:24] But I think as I say that, we must first see God to be lovely. Or if I reverse that, I could say, is one reason we don't do a good job sharing the gospel is because we don't really find God to be all that desirable.

[47:36] Even with our time, there's better uses of our time than talking to people about God. I want to encourage you again.

[47:50] We have a lovely, beautiful God. The source of all beauty. And so, as you go throughout this day, maybe this week, when you see things that are beautiful, take just a moment to consider the God who made those things.

[48:02] And to give him the worship that's due his name. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God of beauty.

[48:18] We know that you could have made this world to be one that was very efficient and very orderly and very dull. That's not what you've done. You've given us things of such beauty that when we behold them, we're moved to tears.

[48:40] Maybe even song. Grabbing other people and saying, look at this. Lord, these are pale reflections of your beauty.

[48:54] Lord, as we think about the tabernacle, Lord, let us in our mind envision how glorious heaven will be.

[49:05] The true tabernacle. What it will be like one day to dwell in your presence without sin. Oh, Lord, cause us to long for that day. And we pray that if any don't know you, Lord, that they would see you for who you are.

[49:24] That they would see how those things that they worship and go after now are pale reflections of your beauty. There's a greater pearl. There's a greater treasure.

[49:37] We pray that they would see it and seek it and find it today. Amen. Amen. Amen.