The last several years we have tried an experiment in grace and have not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with the spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations here.
Women’s Seminar Q&A (GA2021)
The last several years we have tried an experiment in grace and have not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with the spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations here.
A Man and His Church (GA2021 Men’s Seminar)
The last several years we have tried an experiment in grace and have not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with the spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations here.
Further Up #7: Maturity in the Arts
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INTRODUCTION
We have been indoctrinated by our culture in two great lies when it comes to creativity and the arts. The first lie is that there is no standard — beauty is purely in the eye of the beholder. The second lie is the flip side of the first one — you can create anything. But both lies deny God.
THE TEXT
And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; And to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work. And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work (Exodus 35:30–35).
OBJECTIVITY IN BEAUTY
Faithful Christians have largely held their ground on the objectivity of truth, and to some extent the objectivity of goodness, but we have largely sold the farm when it comes to beauty. We see the evidence of this in many discussions of worship, music, dress, jewelry, and it isn’t five minutes before the most staunch defender of the objectivity of truth, comes back with that great relativistic retort: “Who’s to say?” But the Bible teaches that God is to say. This applies to what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful. He is the ultimate standard. “One thing have I desired 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 behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple” (Ps. 27:4). “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined” (50:2). We must begin here or else all the other discussions will devolve into pure subjectivism. We do not need to begin by insisting that we know exactly what is beautiful, what is less beautiful, and what is ugly. Rather, we must begin by insisting that there is a standard, and that the living God is that standard.
SUB-CREATORS
The next step is still not having some kind of exhaustive decoder ring or reference manual where you can look up “dissonance,” “color wheels,” and “pink hair.” No, maturity means giving some thought to what God has said and done to reveal to us what true beauty is. The first great revelation of that beauty is His creation. He created the world with all of its beauty and glory, and this means that all human creativity and artistry is fundamentally an act of discovery: finding what God has already put in the world. As JRR Tolkien put it, we are always “sub-creators” under the great Creator. Or else we are blasphemously competing for the job. As sub-creators, we certainly can discover and invent and create in ways that have not been seen or enjoyed before, but anything truly beautiful is merely discovering something that God already invented, something He already thought of. In other words, creativity and artistic skills are fundamentally a humble enterprise not an arrogant one, submission not rebellion.
THE SPIRIT OF CREATION
Darwinism teaches that beauty is random, accidental, and the result of millions of mutations. And that in turn drives a philosophy of creativity that is antithetical to Christ. This is the genesis of modern art, flinging paint, random musical notes, and dumpster diving fashionistas. All of this is the complete opposite of Christian maturity. Random accidents are not things you practice or study or learn (even though people try). But God’s artistic skill can be taught/learned (Ex. 35:34). This skill is not merely an emotional high or some kind of Zen, it comes from “wisdom, understanding, and knowledge” driven and informed by the Spirit of God — the same Spirit that hovered over the waters at creation (Ex. 35:31, Gen. 1:2).
One way Christians have added to their confusion on these topics is through a sub-biblical understanding of the Holy Spirit. While it is true that sometimes the Spirit works in extraordinary and miraculous ways, that isn’t the way the Spirit usually works. The Spirit was the breath of God that weaved the whole world together (Gen. 1:2). The Spirit groans in us for the redemption of all of creation, the restoration of the natural order (Rom. 8:22-26). The Spirit is all about the restoration of our bodies and souls, reason and senses. The Spirit is not irrational; the Spirit breathed out the Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16).
Closely related to these themes is the notion of fittingness. Just because something is good and beautiful objectively does not mean that it is fitting in any context. The Spirit created the universe in an orderly way, and part of our discovery and submission to His wisdom is the task of understanding what fits best where. “As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion” (Prov. 11:22). “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver” (Prov. 25:11).
CONCLUSION: STRONG MEAT
It ought to be firmly fixed in our hearts and minds the difference between refugees from the world and apostles of the world. We should have all kinds of grace and patience for the former and none for the latter. Refugees from the world will have habits, preferences, and tastes that were formed by their former lives in the world, as we all do. But when we come to Christ, we are crucified with Him (Col. 2:20). Your favorite movies, music, clothes, jewelry, fashion – all of it is crucified with Christ and raise back up in Him. The point is not that God doesn’t want you to enjoy the world, or be beautiful, or make anything lovely. He is the God of all beauty, all glory, and at His right hand is the fullness of joy and pleasures forever more (Ps. 16:11).
Our problem is that our tastes have been badly damaged by the Fall. What we think is beautiful and pleasing and lovely is often badly twisted. As C.S. Lewis once said, “Our desires are not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” So we must trust God and His word, learn from our fathers and forefathers, those who have exercised their senses to discern both good and evil (Heb. 5:14). And at the center of it all must be Christ and His glorious cross. It isn’t what you expected or what you were looking for. But it is so good, so true, and so lovely.
The Future and the Little Flock
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INTRODUCTION
Our attitude toward the future reveals, as few others things do, our actual doctrine of God, our actual theology. It is perilously to have our catechism truths down pat, there on the paper, but then to have the slightest threat or disturbance or turmoil or ominous cloud unsettle everything for us. We can’t sleep, it wrecks our appetite, and so our worries creep into all our conversations. This is a sin, and we must learn how to mortify it.
THE TEXT
“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
This passage from Luke is unique to Luke, but it comes in the middle of some very familiar teaching. Immediately before this, we have a reprise of the Lord’s teaching from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). Consider the ravens. God feeds them. Consider the lilies. God clothes them. So don’t worry about what you are going to eat and drink and wear. And right before that is the parable of the rich man who thought he had it all under control (Luke 12:15-21). The warning is for those who are not rich toward God. A man’s life does not consist of the abundance of things he owns (Luke 12:15). Do not be of a doubtful mind (v. 29). The nations pursue that stuff, and the Father knows what you need (v. 30). Seek first the kingdom, and God will take care of you (v. 31).
Then the Lord says, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (v. 32).
Then right after this verse, He tells us to save up by giving away (v. 33). The best way to hold on to these things is with an open palm Put your treasure where you want your heart to be (v. 34).
TWO KINDS OF WORRY
One kind of worry has to do with your personal fortunes. The world is perceived to be operating normally out there, generating its normal ratios of winners and losers. Your worry has to do with whether you are going to wind up as one of the losers. This is the kind of thing the Lord was addressing directly when He told us not to worry about what we were going to eat, or drink, or wear. These are personal concerns. What if I go bankrupt? The good thing about this is that at least it is obvious that your concern is about yourself. When you are worried in this way, you have multiple Bible verses bouncing off your forehead.
But the other kind of worry disguises itself as “an interest in politics,” or “awareness of geopolitical affairs.” You see a bunch of people who appear to have lost their minds, bent on burning down the country, and a bunch of other people who appear to have lost their spines, who are bent on not interfering with them as they do it.
I want to treat this second kind of worry—the kind that follows the news avidly. But the base coat of sanctification paint for this kind of worry has to be dealing with personal worry correctly—whether it is worry about cancer, or slippery roads, or financial ruin, or how the kids are doing.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6, NKJV).
“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
THE LITTLE FLOCK AND THINGS TO COME
The Lord is aware of how imposing the church looks to the outside world, which is to say, not very. He calls us His “little flock.” But what is He going to do for this little flock? He is going to give the kingdom to us, and He is going to do this because it is His good pleasure.
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:37–39).
“Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 3:21–23).
There are two things to consider in all of this. The first is the protection that God promises His people. We have nothing to worry about from external threats because we are more than conquerors. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. One of the emphases here is the fact that we are protectedagainst all those things that might come after us in order to separate us from the love of God in Christ. We are protected in the event of unsuccessful attack, whether from death, or life, or celestial powers, or anything going on around us, or anything in the future. In fact, the end result of us being able to fight off all these is that we conquer. We are more than conquerors.
But it is not enough that the world is not going to be able to own us. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Fear not, little flock, and remember the Father’s good pleasure. Not only will the world not be able to own us, it will actually be a turnabout case. We own the world. All things are yours, whether the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come.
Yes, secular man wants to gather everything up in his arms and claim all of it. Yes, their hostility toward the church needs very little prompting to be fully manifested. But when they attack the heavens, the only thing they will succeed in doing is dragging deep heaven down upon their heads.
“Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, And hath conceived mischief, And brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, and digged it, And is fallen into the ditch which he made” (Psalm 7:14–15).
And why? Because Christ was crucified. And why? Because He was also buried. And why? Because He rose from the dead. And why? Because He is enthroned at the right hand of the Father, and is busily engaged in giving us kingdom.
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