Our Awesome God is Beautiful (Psalm 27:4)

Our Awesome God
Is Beautiful
Psalm 27:4

INTRODUCTION:
About a year after Rachel and I moved to Romania, I learned that a friend of mine had recently moved to Moscow, Russia to be a missionary there. I obtained his email address and sent him a picture of my little girl. A day or two later he sent a picture of his little girl, about Jewell’s age, and wrote in his email: “My daughter is prettier than your daughter.” I try to be tactful; sometimes I am sure that I don’t accomplish that goal and I apologize if my words don’t come out kind and graceful. But I think I was tactful at that point because I wrote back and said, “I hope I never meet a dad who doesn’t think that his daughter is the prettiest in the world.”

Keep that statement in mind as I continue… I have the most beautiful grandson in the world. When we went to the Polishing the Pulpit seminar two weeks ago, I tried to show all 2,000 people pictures and videos of my grandson. I think I got around to 1800 of them! I needed about 3 more days!

My daughters are still the prettiest daughters in the world. My son-in-law is the most handsome son-in-law in the world. My wife is the most beautiful woman in the world. My church family is the most beautiful church in the world.

What is your definition of “beauty”?

Here is a picture Rachel and I took when we visited Yellowstone National Park. Isn’t it a beautiful picture? Here’s another picture. Isn’t it beautiful? Here’s another picture that I think most of us would say is a beautiful picture. But why?

I looked up “beautiful” on the Merriam-Webster.com website and it said, “having qualities of beauty.” Well, that’s not very helpful, is it? It also said, “exciting aesthetic pleasure.” Or “generally pleasing.” That’s a little more helpful; a more generic dictionary said, “pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically; of a very high standard; excellent.”

So here are a few words that I want us to keep in mind as we discuss the nature of our God: pleasing; appealing; excellent; delight. When it comes to describing God, I think we should get this very simple idea in mind: God is a Person we would want to be around. We would want to be in His presence. He is beautiful. In His appearance, in His nature, in His character. I like the personality of my surgeon who did my colon operation last October. He’s a person that I would like to just go have coffee with.

Let’s think more about God as a beautiful person…

GOD IS BEAUTIFUL:
In our Bible study last Sunday night, we meditated on Psalm 84, which begins with these words: “How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts” (Psalm 84:1). The Hebrew word translated “lovely” here is used a total of 8 times and in the NASV, it is always translated “beloved” except here. So we could translate this verse: “How beloved are your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts.” Do you love being in God’s presence in worship? That’s the context of Psalm 84 as we studied last Sunday night.

Aren’t there places you love to be? Why was Yellowstone beautiful? Because we love to be in that environment. Last week, sister Janet Meade had her son and daughter in law here in worship. They live in FL and her son has a charter boat business. I told him my preference is at the other end of the spectrum; I much prefer to be in the mountains, in the woods, hiking as opposed to being on the lake or ocean fishing. So that reflects our own individual tests, but when it comes to God all of us will find Him beautiful, lovely. We would all love to be in His presence.

I did not have many friends growing up - I moved around too much. If you have not heard me say this before, our family moved around on average every two years. You can’t have friends like that. My last two years of high school, I did not have any friend who called me up and said, “Hey, let’s hang out this weekend.” It didn’t happen. In fact, my parents had to hang a piece of steak around my neck to even get our dog to hang out with me.

Rachel likes to hang out with me. I’ve told the girls don’t worry about getting me gifts; just hang out with me. There are people, right, that you like to just “hang out” together with?

God is that type of Person. He is beautiful. Because of His character, we will want to be with Him, around Him, in His presence.

Listen to 1 Chronicles 16:29, one of King David’s song leaders said, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him; Worship the Lord in holy array.” Consider that expression “holy array” or “holy clothes.” What the writer is referring to is clothes - especially the clothes in which our heart and soul are dressed - which reflect the holiness and the beauty of our God.

God’s beauty is connected here with His holiness. Because God’s nature is not touched by sin, then there are no imperfections in His nature. Why do we love nature so much? Because of its natural beauty that is untouched by the commercialization of man. In my opinion, the Smoky Mountains and other places have their natural beauty marred by the go-karts and shows and things like that man has created.

There’s nothing like that with God.

Let me draw your attention to the NKJ translation of Psalm 96:9: “Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.” Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Another translation rather than “beauty” has “splendor.” Is it too much to suggest that God sparkles? Look back at Psalm 96:6 - “Splendor and majesty are before Him, strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.”

The word translated “beauty” in this verse is used in the description of the high priests’ clothes (Exodus 28:2, 40). They were to be made “for glory and for beauty.” Why? Because when they came into God’s presence, their clothes should reflect the glorious nature and the beauty of God’s nature. In fact, this word is most often translated as “glory.” In Esther 1:4, the word is translated “majesty” in describing King Ahasureus’ clothing.

How about Psalm 27:4 - “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: 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 meditate in His temple.” This word “beauty” is only used 7 times. In the book of Proverbs (3:17; 15:26; 16:24), it is translated “pleasant.” It will be pleasant to be in God’s presence! Why? Because He’s beautiful.

Let me suggest to you that all the beauty that we see in the world around us, both in the physical world as well as in the people around us, reflect the beauty of God. In Genesis 1:31, you remember that when God created the world and everything in it, He said, “It is very good.” That is, it is very beautiful. It was pleasing, appealing, excellent, and delightful. In Ecclesiastes 3:11, Solomon wrote: “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

God’s beauty is a reflection of His perfection. Again, there is nothing sinful, wrong, bad or imperfect about God. Nothing in His nature has been touched by sin. That’s why God is beautiful. So all beauty comes from God. When you and I create something beautiful, we are only reflecting the nature of our Creator. If you paint, you are painting what God has already created. If you create a sculpture, you are only sculpting what God has already created. If you write poetry, you are only writing what God has already created. All beauty comes from God.

THE BEAUTY OF GOD IS REFLECTED IN JESUS CHRIST:
In 2 Corinthians 4:6, Paul wrote: “For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Since we have already seen that “beauty” when applied to God can be synonymous with “glory,” then we can paraphrase this verse to say that God has “shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the beauty of God in the face of Christ.”

Why would you say that Jesus is “beautiful?” As I mention just seven qualities we love in Jesus, remember that He reflects the nature of God…

#1 - His compassion. Throughout His ministry, Jesus felt for other people and He loved other people, especially those who were suffering. I taught a class on Wednesday night a few months ago - the lessons are on our Youtube page - on “Walking & Loving Like Jesus Walked & Loved.” Those lessons are also available on our Spotify page.

#2 - His service. Jesus left His position of equality with God in heaven so that He could serve His creation. Jesus constantly exemplified and then taught His followers to serve others.

#3 - His love. Jesus treated others with the perfect behavior that the Father wanted Him to do. His love was unconditional and sacrificial. Whatever was best for that person is what Jesus did and what He said. Healing. Feeding. Comforting. Teaching.

#4 - His forgiveness. Again, Jesus both exemplified and taught the power and the need for forgiveness. He was even willing to forgive those who physically tortured Him and crucified Him. He held out hope that they would respond to His offer of forgiveness and about two months after His crucifixion, in Acts 2, there were many of those Jews who did respond.

#5 - His commitment. First, Jesus was committed to honoring the Heavenly Father, the most perfect Being, in all that He did and taught. Second, Jesus was committed to sharing the Father’s love and truth with everyone - from His enemies the Pharisees and Sadducees to the poorest of the poor. He wanted everyone to know the Father, love the Father, and honor the Father. That was His perfect commitment.

#6 - His relationship with God. You and I both would agree that the most beautiful people in the world are those who walk closely with Jesus. Jesus prayed constantly so that He relied on the Father completely and then He lived the way the Father told Him to live. Completely.

#7 - His gentleness. “Meekness” or “gentleness” is defined as “power under control.” That’s Jesus. Throughout His entire life, Jesus could have responded in very negative ways, even destroying anyone and everyone who tried to stand in His way. But He did not. He kept His power under control. Even when His own apostles frustrated Him, He did not lash out with them neither in word or action. He was always gentle.

We know that Jesus was not “handsome” in the way that people tend to describe physical attraction. Isaiah the prophet said of the Messiah, He has no “appearance that we should be attracted to Him” (Isa. 53:2). But Jesus was and is a beautiful person, because He reflects the nature of our Creator.

“In the beginning, the beautiful God created the heavens and the earth.”

OUR RESPONSE TO GOD’S BEAUTY:
We should praise God for His beauty.
We should honor God for His beauty.
We should stand in awe of God for His beauty.
We should also enjoy God’s beauty.
We should anticipate God’s beauty in heaven.

Take home message: God is beautiful. He is delightful, pleasing, excellent, and adorable. Live for Him so you can one day live with Him.