Latest / Finding God at Work / Episode 7: Artist

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Episode 7: Artist · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  Before we get started today, I just want
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  to give you a heads up because I
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  haven't mentioned it before.
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  There is a study and reflection guide to
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  go with every single episode of Finding God
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  at Work on our website.
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  So if you just go to MissionCentral.Church
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  and then click podcast, you can find whatever
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  episode you're looking for, and there's a one
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  or two page PDF there that kind of
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  walks you through the quotes that I include,
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  additional questions for reflection, and some study notes.
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  So if that's helpful for you, just wanted
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  to make sure you knew that resource was
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  around.
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  Now we can get started.
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  In our current series, Imagining Work, we're asking
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  the question, what story about work am I
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  living in?
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  And in this part of the series, we're
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  looking at key images that can help us
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  live inside the story that God is telling
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  about work on the pages of the Bible.
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  And I'm really excited about today's image, which
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  is artist.
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  What does it mean for us to be
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  artists in our work and to encounter Jesus
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  as an artist in his work?
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  So I actually want to start with a
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  little known passage in the book of Exodus.
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  It's not the kind of passage that shows
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  up in children's storybook bibles or that there's
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  little coloring sheets for it at Sunday school,
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  although maybe it should be because it's so
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  key and so important for the way we
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  think about our work.
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  This is Exodus chapter 31, and the context
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  is God has given Moses all of the
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  instructions he needs about the design of the
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  tabernacle, the place where people would meet the
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  presence of God and worship, and of the
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  Ark of the Covenant within that tabernacle, the
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  special place of God's presence.
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  And then God says this.
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  Then the Lord said to Moses, See, I
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  have chosen Bezalel, son of Uri, the son
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  of her, of the tribe of Judah, and
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  I have filled him with the Spirit of
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  God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all
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  kinds of crafts, to make artistic designs for
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  work in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut
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  and set stones, to work in wood, and
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  to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.
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  Moreover, I have appointed Oholi, son of Ahashamak,
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  of the tribe of Dan, to help him.
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  Also, I have given skill to all the
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  craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you.
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  Now, this is a really momentous moment.
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  That's redundant.
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  This is a really important moment, a key
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  moment, a momentous occasion, because God is saying
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  that he's going to fill someone with his
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  spirit.
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  And this is actually the first time in
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  the entire Torah when God announces that he
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  will fill someone with his spirit.
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  And he's filling someone with his spirit for
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  a specific purpose.
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  And what's that purpose?
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  It's to do the work of art.
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  He's filling two artists, two craftsmen and their
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  team of craftsmen, Bezalel and Oholiab, to build
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  the Ark of the Covenant, to make it
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  beautiful, to work in metal, to work in
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  wood, and to do everything necessary for the
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  other parts of the tabernacle as well.
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  So why does God do this?
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  Why is it that this is the moment
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  when he announces he's going to fill someone
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  with his spirit out of all the other
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  moments that we might think of, like the
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  parting of the Red Sea or something more
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  dramatic?
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  Why is it this artistic moment that God
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  chooses?
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  Well, one sort of mundane reason is that
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  artistic work is hard to actually make all
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  of the detailed elements of the tabernacle and
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  of the Ark and the related things is
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  going to take really hard work.
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  And God is supplying the power for that
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  hard work by giving his spirit.
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  So that's one thing.
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  But there were other hard things that God
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  had asked people to do, and he didn't
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  especially announce that he was going to fill
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  them with his spirit for those things.
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  We can think of lots of examples like
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  that.
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  But the other thing is that the tabernacle
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  and the Ark of the Covenant, especially, were
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  the place of God's presence.
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  These were the most holy things that would
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  ever have existed up to this point in
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  human history.
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  They were set apart for the presence of
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  God.
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  And so these craftsmen, even before these items
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  are used in worship, even when they're just
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  being created, are also set apart for the
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  work of creating them by being filled with
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  God's spirit.
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  Okay, so what does that mean for us
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  now?
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  Well, I first want to give a brief
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  word to those who are literal artists.
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  So if you're a dancer or a singer
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  or a writer or a songwriter, or if
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  you work with clay or hands-on sculpture
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  of some kind, or if you're a choreographer
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  or an architect, if you're any kind of
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  creative worker in that traditional sense, listen up.
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  This is for you.
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  When we think about the work of art,
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  there is a special dignity and importance to
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  art in the kingdom of God.
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  We see that in this moment when the
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  Holy Spirit is poured out on craftsmen and
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  artists to prepare the tabernacle and the ark.
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  At the same time, that is not limited
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  to the context of worship or the context
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  of formal ministry.
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  We might think, oh yeah, so like if
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  I'm writing a worship song, then that's kind
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  of like what Bezalal was doing because he
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  was preparing something for worship.
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  But art, even in a secular context, can
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  be ministry.
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  And that's because, just like Bezalal was set
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  apart by receiving the Holy Spirit of God,
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  if you are in Christ, you are filled
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  with the Holy Spirit of God.
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  You are part of God's temple, his presence,
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  by being part of the church and incorporated
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  into Christ.
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  You bring the Holy Presence of God with
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  you in your body into whatever work you
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  do, even if it's a secular art project.
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  So I think of my friend Adam.
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  He works on the TV show Spidey and
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  His Amazing Friends.
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  This is not a Christian show.
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  It's not about worship.
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  It has some nice little lessons about teamwork,
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  but you know that's as close as it
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  gets to a kind of spiritual message.
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  And it's enjoyed by toddlers who watch Disney
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  Plus and who like Spider-Man and his
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  amazing friends.
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  But my friend Adam, when he does his
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  animation work for that, he's filled with the
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  Spirit of God.
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  And he's bringing the presence of God with
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  him in his character and the way he
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  interacts with his co-workers and in the
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  way he does his art for that project.
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  And so he is ministering that reality of
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  God's holiness through that art, even in a
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  hidden way that shows up in that television
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  show.
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  And so whatever your artistic context is, that
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  can be true for you too.
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  You are set apart because you're filled with
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  the Spirit of God.
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  Okay, so that's for those who are in
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  creative work fields.
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  But what about the rest of us?
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  Maybe you don't do artistic work.
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  Maybe you're a plumber or a food banker
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  or a math teacher and maybe you're one
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  of those people who might even say, oh,
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  I'm not that creative.
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  Well, I've got news for you too.
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  Okay, so first part of my news is
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  that you are creative, right?
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  When anybody says, oh, I'm not that creative.
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  I think what they're saying is, I'm not
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  creative in a traditional sense, right?
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  Like, I don't paint or do pottery or
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  dance or things like that.
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  But even if you don't do those things,
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  you're still creative.
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  Creativity is all about bringing things together in
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  a new way.
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  So just an example from plumbing.
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  Let's say you're trying to fix a pipe
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  and you have to be really careful not
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  to damage, you know, the wall or the
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  casing around the pipe and it's hard to
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  get to.
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  And so you combine a couple tools.
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  Maybe you grab like a mirror that you
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  don't normally need to use and a special
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  wrench and you're problem-solving by bringing the
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  mirror and the wrench together.
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  Well, that's creativity.
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  Even though it's not musical or, you know,
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  painting or something like that, that's creative plumbing.
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  That's still creative work.
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  That matters.
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  And that can be true in any field.
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  You're always in some way bringing new things
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  together.
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  So your work is creative.
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  But here's the other thing and we got
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  to talk about beauty.
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  One of the reasons we appreciate the traditional
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  arts is that they can make beauty accessible.
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  But there's also a beauty in a job
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  well done regardless of what that job is.
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  And in our last episode, I mentioned Timothy
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  Keller's book Every Good Endeavor.
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  In that same book, he has this beautiful
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  phrase.
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  He calls it the Ministry of Competence.
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  That when you do your job well, when
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  you're competent at it, it doesn't matter what
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  your job is.
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  That's ministry.
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  Because you're filled with the Spirit of God,
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  just like Bezalel was, just like a holy
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  ab was, and you are doing that work
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  well.
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  And that brings a little bit of God's
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  beauty and goodness into the world, even if
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  that work isn't a traditionally creative task.
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  Another way to say this same thing is
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  that you are an artist, even if you're
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  not in an artistic field.
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  You are an artist of X.
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  So there's another Christian leader I really respect
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  named Leighton Ford.
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  He was part of the Billy Graham Evangelistic
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  Association for a long time.
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  And then for the past several decades, he's
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  led a ministry helping train and coach leaders
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  at the heart level.
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  And he likes to say that he's a
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  friend on the journey and an artist of
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  the soul.
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  I just love that.
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  Because he's working with people, right?
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  So he's like, well, I'm an artist, but
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  I'm an artist of the soul.
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  I'm helping people understand how what's inside them
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  is affecting their work and their leadership.
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  Well, you might be an artist of the
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  soul if you work with people, but you
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  also might be an artist of pipes, or
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  an artist of parallelograms, right?
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  Or an artist of paperwork.
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  You're an artist of something, even if your
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  work isn't particularly artistic in a traditional sense.
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  And that means that your work has special
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  dignity, right?
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  It doesn't matter what kind of work it
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  is.
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  If you do it well, it has the
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  dignity of being an expression of the power
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  of the Spirit of God within you that
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  ministers the reality of God's goodness in the
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  world.
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  That's amazing.
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  That's wonderful.
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  That's something to keep in the back of
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  your mind and your heart as you go
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  to work each day.
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  But now let's turn our eyes toward Jesus.
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  You might ask, was Jesus an artist?
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  And we do have that one passage of
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  him scribbling in the sand, but we don't
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  really know what he scribbled.
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  He wasn't an artist in a traditional sense.
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  He might actually be more in this second
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  category.
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  Although this is just too good to pass
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  by, there was a scholar named Charles Fox
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  Bernie, who in 1925 published a book called
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  The Poetry of Our Lord.
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  And it's a little bit nerdy, but you
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  might know the New Testament was written in
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  Greek, but the sayings of Jesus when he
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  first said them would have been in the
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  language of Aramaic.
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  So even the gospel writers and others were
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  translating from those verbal accounts in Aramaic into
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  Greek, which was the lingua franca of the
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  time.
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  So what Charles Fox Bernie did is he
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  thought, well, why don't we go backwards?
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  Why don't we take the Greek sayings, translate
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  them into ancient Aramaic, and see what they
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  sound like?
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  And what he found is a lot of
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  Jesus' teachings and sayings rhymed, and they had
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  rhythm.
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  They had meter.
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  Even the Lord's Prayer rhymes.
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  And so Bernie argues that Jesus was a
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  poet.
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  And I love that, that Jesus in his
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  teaching found a way to do it with
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  beauty, just that extra touch of elegance, of
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  form, of something that matters.
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  But in a deeper way, besides Jesus as
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  a literal poetry, Jesus is also the poet
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  of our souls.
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  And I just want to turn to one
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  key verse that you may already know.
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  As we're thinking about the Spirit of God
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  in dwelling people, Jesus is the one who
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  gave us that spirit in the first place.
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  And this is John chapter 20, verses 21
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  and 22.
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  When Jesus is resurrected from the dead and
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  he appears to his disciples, he said, peace
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  be with you, as the Father has sent
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  me, I am sending you.
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  And with that, he breathed on them and
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  said, receive the Holy Spirit.
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  It's Jesus' breath, his life, his resurrection life
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  that he gives to us, that fills us
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  with the Spirit of God.
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  And that's what makes it so that our
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  work that we do every day can be
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  ministry, because we're carrying the presence of God
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  with us into the work that we do.
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  Jesus is the poet of our souls by
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  his spirit.
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  Lord Jesus, we want to meet you in
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  that way.
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  We want you to breathe on us, to
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  fill us with your Holy Spirit, so that
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  we can do our work well, so that
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  we can engage in the ministry of competence,
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  so that we can see that our work
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  is beautiful work in your world.
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  Let us do our work with you as
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  you do your work in us.
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  Amen.
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  Thanks for listening.
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• 13:23
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