Open Air - Art Prize 2021 (GR)

God & Art

Good Afternoon Grand Rapids! What a beautiful town we live in, and what beautiful faces I see here today. We come here today to share the truth about thrice holy God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Please come and listen in, or grab a gospel tract from us.

I’m going to talk about Art & Beauty, in God’s kingdom. However before I can talk to you about this there are some crucial things that you need to know and understand that are of eternal value.

God is the ultimate standard for what is good, and what is evil.

Unless we begin our thought process with Jesus Christ at the center, we make ourselves out to be foolish in knowledge. We see in proverbs.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Prov 9:10

In fact without God at the center we cant make sense of anything without being hypocritical. Without God why can we say that murder is actually “wrong”, without God how can you be morally against “abortion” or against “rape”. If everything is just material, matter in motion. If everything is just an act of randomness. Then you actually have no reason to say that any of these things are wrong. Would have to be consistent in living your life this way. But my friends, you are not living that way. When someone wrongs you, you know it, when someone harms you, you know its wrong. But why…?

The bible tells us why:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Romans 1:18-20

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

Romans 2:15

~Be Open for Questions here~

God created the world in 6 days, and rested on the 7th. God made Adam from the dust of the ground, and Eve from Adam’s rib. When he made them they were free to eat of any tree of the garden, except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When the devil tempted Eve to eat of this forbidden fruit and she ate, and likewise tempted Adam, and he ate. Through this sin, all humanity fell into sin. Through Adam we are all born sinners, deserving of God’s wrath and judgment. (Romans 5:12)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

Romans 5:12

And one sin, one single sin of disobedience deserves eternal wrath in Hell for eternity. And the sins you and I commit only deserve greater punishment. And the punishment is justified. No amount of “good works” could ever make up for it.

We Cannot Earn Our Way…!

8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

Ephesians 2:8

We cannot earn our way to heaven. Maybe your a Roman Catholic here today and you believe that your good works help justify you before God. Maybe as a Roman Catholic you believe that you must partially pay penance for your sins. But you cannot truly pay for your own sins against an infinite God, because each sin deserves infinite punishment.

You might believe that if you do more good in this life then bad, then you will be accepted into heaven. You might even think that God “owes it too you”. But this lie could not be further from the truth. we cannot cancel out our sins with enough good works. Take this to heart If a family member of yours was hit by a drunk driver and killed, but this drunk driver happened to be very wealthy, and he said to the judge that he would donate $1,000,000 to a good charity, if he could walk free from murder. Righty we should say “NO WAY the life of your family member is greater then $1,000,000”. Well my friend, likewise, sinning against a Holy God is greater then any good work you could possibly hope to do in order to make up for your sins.

Maybe this is your belief: “I don’t believe in God, so this doesn’t apply to me”. We could merely say that we don’t believe in traffic cameras, but when you get a ticket in the mail showing you running the red light the judge will not care wether you believed in the traffic cameras or not. Because they are real, Because God is real. And Because deep down, you KNOW he is real. For it is written.

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Romans 1:18-20

And again it is written.

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

Psalm 14:1

~Last negative example~

The Good News.

Now it should be clearly understood that truth is objective, and God is the Judge. We know that:

“There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

Romans 3:10,11

How must we do to be saved!

You see from the beginning God planned to send His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ into the world. Fully man and Fully God. He the “2nd Adam” lived a perfect life, Honored God perfectly. Throughout the three years of his public ministry there is documented testimony of His miracles, signs and wonders. Often times the people of the day hated Jesus for healing, or showing mercy, and they sought to kill him We see in John 5:18 & John 7:30:

18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

John 5:18

So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

John 7:30

Eventually His hour did come, but be clear nobody trapped Jesus, or overpowered him. Jesus said:

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

John 10:18

When he was judged by Pontius Pilate, crucified on the cross, Jesus bore the full wrath of God And this is the center of all history! Jesus taking willingly from from the Father the FULL WRATH of God for His chosen people. For the people he predestined from the beginning to save. For all who believe. The sins we deserve to spend eternity paying for God, Himself paid bore the punishment for His people.

He then died, and was buried, and on the third day He rose again! Rose from the Grave! and is seated at the right hand of God the Father.

As it is written,

16 “For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16-17

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be save

Romans 10:9

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Let us look into the final actions in Christs ministry a little closer… Let look for the Gospel as Jesus hangs on the cross:

(speak on anything that stands out and expound on it)

Luke23:32-49

32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”[b] And they cast lots to divide his garments. 35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him,[c] “This is the King of the Jews.”

39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him,[d] saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The Death of Jesus

44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” 48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 49 And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

Grand Rapids, you have heard the Call of the Gospel, Repent and Believe on the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and He will grant you eternal life, please immediately come to one of us for council, for help on what to do next. This is why we are here, as commanded.

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

Mark 16:15

The Good news is free, and in fact CAN’T be bought with money or sweat equity. Turn towards Christ Jesus and you will never be the same!

____________________

We Have talked about the Gospel, we have heard God’s role in establishing Truth, an his role as judge and savior.

God also defines what is beautiful and what is ugly. All good things have a sense of beauty to them.

Ill give you some examples:

You see God has the ability to build in poetry, and stories of Drama and perfect artworks right into History.

God is able to write the entire story of creation, the Fall of man, and the promise of a savior in just 80 verses.

He is able to depict the role of the Church in through the picture of marriage.

He is able to slay the dragon, and get the girl in the end of the book (dragon is the devil, and the girl is the church)

All of these beautiful themes, and pictures can be an encouragement if you seek to do good, as God commands, but may be a stumbling block, if you look to redefine beauty yourself. and Cheapen the beauty of God’s word.

Marriage - Ephesians 5:22-33

The very marriage between a man and woman are the picture of Christ Jesus and His church.

The Beauty In This:

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

This shows actual poetry beautifully wrote, and not just wrote to be imagined, like the poetry we would write. But this poetry was manifested into creation. Being a biblical wife is itself a work of Art, a work of Beauty! and to do this requires extreme creativity. While submitting to Christ the perfect example, the blameless one, is hard enough when we wrestle with our own sins, a woman’s husband will not be that perfect example. Loving him will be self sacrificing. It will be extremely difficult having to respect a man who makes mistakes that effect an entire family, a man who is a sinner needing Christ himself.

But the Beauty is there again,,, You see the husband doesn’t deserve her sacrificial love, he doesn’t deserve submission from his wife, he will never be able to fully earn the position of head over his wife. You might say how is this beautiful!? It seems illogical and counter intuitive! Misogynistic even! But you see… Christ does deserve all of these things, and the wife doesn’t deserve Christ’s headship, Christ’s sacrificial love, or Christ’s faithfulness to always provide without ceasing. He gives it to her anyway. So in this way, a wife is able to practically show Christlike love towards her husband despite his faults and sins.

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. “ (Eph 5:25-30)

The Masterpiece artwork of husbands loving there wives, as

But what happens when we take the beautiful gifts of submission, and headship and we place them elsewhere?

The Gospel Message

The Judgement (Or perfect & poetic justice)

Mankind’s History however real, is also poetic.

The creation story

in Genesis 1-3 is our literal history, yet at the same time is able to summarize creation, life, good & evil, God’s authority, sacrificial love, and long term faithfulness in a mere 60 verses!

Art, Beauty, Creativity. It’s something we are all drawn too, something that when we look at well done art, or listen to a well wrote poetry it invokes an emotion in us.

The word “Beauty” is found in the Bible in over 100 searches

Gen 2:9

And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food

come here toda