This is a message I gave at Epiphany Fellowship on August 7th, 2009 in Philadelphia, PA. The topic was Beauty. The attached manuscript is the full manuscript. It is 43 pages long and contains far more information than I was able to give in a 40 minute message. It includes an appendix where every form of every word in the Greek and Hebrew translated as “Beauty” or “Beautiful” in the English Standard Version of the Bible is ordered by frequency and includes the literal meanings and lexical range of each word. Here’s the outline:
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Eternity in Our Heart: The God of Beauty. the Beauty of God
1. Intro: the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen
2. The Text: Ecclesiastes 3:11-15
9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.
3. What is Beauty?
4. What is Beautiful?
- A. The Triune God is Beautiful
- - God the Father is Beautiful
- - God the Holy Spirit is Beautiful
- - God the Son is Beautiful
- B. God’s Creation is Beautiful
- C. Humans are Beautiful
- D. Humans’ Creations are Beautiful
- E. History is Beautiful
5. How do we respond to Beauty? We Contemplate & Enjoy
- A. Contemplate
- B. Enjoy: How?
- - Praise
- - Participate
- - Procalim
- - Produce
6. Conclusion: The Gospel is Beautiful
