Exposing Beauty: The Talk
Friday, 09 April, 2004
(This is for Deb, Kathleen and everyone else who asked. Please remember that this talk was primarily aimed at people who aren't Christians and isn't an in-depth treatment of the topic of beauty. Also, because it's a talk and therefore meant to be spoken aloud, it may be a little hard to read on screen.)
True Beauty?
Welcome to Exposing Beauty! Exposing Beauty. Beauty Exposed. I wonder what kinds of expectations you have come here with this evening. Perhaps you're expecting a damning exposé of the fashion industry or the media. Perhaps you're expecting me to talk about how the concept of beauty is merely a tool to keep us women under control. Perhaps you're thinking, “I know exactly what she's going to say; she'll be talking about how beauty is on the inside and not the outside. We're all beautiful people.” Or perhaps you've come here with some questions of your own—questions that you're hoping I'll answer. Questions such as, “What is beauty, anyway?”, “What makes us beautiful?” or even, “Am I beautiful? ”
I can't guarantee that my talk will meet all your expectations. But I can guarantee that one of the things that we'll be doing this evening is exposing beauty for what it truly is: pimples, warts, cellulite and all. We'll be having a look at true beauty—what it is and what it means for us. Especially us as women.
So what, then is true beauty?
We're constantly faced with so many competing images of what is beautiful, aren't we. Beauty is in the magazines in the faces of immaculate models. Beauty is on TV—soapies, sitcoms and Sale of the Century. You can see it on billboards, in bus shelters, in books. What is considered beautiful has been groomed and styled by the media. By the world. Sometimes it seems like, if you're not worrying about your weight, obsessing about your skin or considering a change in hair style, you feel like you ought to be—simply because everyone else is doing it!
The problem is, beauty has gained currency. Beauty has value attached to it—it's worth something. We learn this very early on in life. As little girls, many of us would have grown up with fairy tales about beautiful princesses who marry handsome princes, or maidens majestically transformed by dresses of silver or moonlight. Later, when we start school, we learn that it is the pretty girls who are the most popular, given the most attention. It is the pretty girls who get elected school captain, head prefect or prom queen. It is the pretty girls who get asked out by the cute guys. And when we leave school or Uni, it's much the same; beautiful women get married, get promoted or get paid more. Beauty is a currency: beauty is power, beauty is influence and, ultimately, beauty is success.
But is this true beauty? I know we're not all so superficial to think that what makes someone beautiful is all about their physical appearance. Sometimes the most ordinary or plain-looking girls appear gorgeous simply because they're kind, they're generous, they're friendly or they're gentle. Beauty is just as much about what's inside as what is out. Beauty includes that which we cannot see.
But is this true beauty?
Beauty is good
In my mind, there is only one way in which you can find out what true beauty is. It's by going to the one who created it. It's by going to the one who created everything: the God of the Bible.
The passage that was read for us earlier is from Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Genesis contains a poetic account of creation. If you read through the whole thing—and I highly recommend that you do some time—you'll notice that, at the end of each “day”, the text reads, “And God saw that it [that is, what he had created] was good.” God saw that it was good!
This is where we get our first insight into what beauty is all about. “Good”, you see, means “pleasing to God”. It is agreeable to him. It satisfies him. And, because it is pleasing, it is beautiful. So, the day was beautiful, the night was beautiful; the sky, the land, the sea and everything in them, is beautiful.
We can see this beauty all around us—particularly here in Wollongong. Think of sunrises over Northbeach. Think of the view from Mount Keira. Think of our wonderful campus with its rolling lawns, streams, ducks and rabbits.
But God didn't just make nature beautiful. The God who made sunrises and mountains also made beautiful men and women. However, unlike the rest of creation, God made us in his own image. We bear his likeness. We look like him. Every single one of us. Did you know that people like Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler and Keira Knightley all owe their beauty to God? They, like us, bear his likeness—his image.
But to God, however, beauty is not just all about the physical trappings. It's also about what's inside. It's about relationship between God and man. It's about a relationship of love. Out of love, man obeys God. Out of love, God takes care of man. God gives man the earth; man is to give God his allegiance. Only then can man and God dwell in harmony. Only then can man dwell in harmony with other men. And women.
Bad is ugly
Imagine, for a moment, that the world had stayed this way—the way the Bible describes it. Imagine living in a world where everything is “good”—everything is beautiful—everything is pleasing to God. Imagine living in a world where we dwell harmoniously with God … and with each other. You know, in the garden of Eden, the man and the woman were naked and they felt no shame. If things were still like that now, we too could be naked and feel no shame! How good would that be! We wouldn't have to bother with clothes. We wouldn't have to worry about what to wear. We could totally dispense with that thing called fashion which, according to Oscar Wilde, is merely “a form of ugliness so unbearable that we are compelled to alter it every six months. ” It would be great!
Wouldn't it?
I'm guessing that, if you're like me, you're having a bit of trouble imagining this. I'm guessing that, if you're like me, it's the nakedness bit that gets you. Everything else sounds pretty grand, doesn't it? But being naked in front of other people … See, there's a problem here. Why can't we be naked in front of other people? Why do we blush at the thought of exposing ourselves? In short, why has the “good” of the beauty of creation become, well, “bad”?
We're now up to the third point on the outline— “Bad is Ugly”. Why has the “good” become “bad”? The answer is found a little later in the Genesis story. The first man and the first woman—Adam and Eve—lived in the garden of Eden in right relationship with God. It's a relationship of love. But it's a relationship where man and woman must obey God's rules.
God says to them, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. ” (Genesis 2:16-17). God lays down the rule and, sadly, it isn't too long before the first man and the first woman break it.
It is at this point that ugliness comes into the world.
But why? What does breaking one of God's rules have to do with ugliness?
Everything, it seems.
Firstly, remember what God says: “ [I]n the day you eat of [the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] you shall surely die. ” The pedantic ones among us will now want to point out to me that Adam and Eve didn't die. In fact Adam goes on to live for 930 years which is an awfully long time!
So what did God mean? He means that they will start to die. They start to die slowly. They go on to die for hundreds of years. They die just like we die. We are slowly dying right now, did you know that? All of us—here, in this room—are slowly dying. As time passes, we are getting older, flabbier, wrinklier, spottier, saggier and baggier. We are all dying! Death, you see, is why physical beauty is so impossible to maintain. We can do it for a little while—we can go to the gym, eat healthy food, get facials, endure Extreme Makeovers—but we will still be dying away. Dying is not something you can stop.
Because humans broke God's rule, beauty is perishable. Beauty is temporary. Though we might look good now, we cannot remain young and gorgeous forever. We die.
Secondly, just as our physical beauty becomes impossible to maintain, our internal beauty becomes equally as impossible to maintain. Adam and Eve broke God's rules and humans have gone on to do so throughout the rest of history. Our relationship with God has been broken. We can't live with him in the garden the way we used to.
In addition, our relationships with each other suffer from that same brokenness. We can no longer be naked with each other. We, like Adam and Eve, are now ashamed. We struggle to cover ourselves with fig leaves—with makeup—with nail polish —with nice clothes. Just as we now hide from God, we also hide from each other because we are ashamed of the way we look. We are ashamed of our dying bodies with their bulges and bumps. We are ashamed of our figures. We wouldn't dare go to the beach in a bikini.
Or we are ashamed of the beauty that God has given us. It attracts unwanted attention. It makes us feel uncomfortable and weird. Sometimes it's society that tells us that we ought to be ashamed. Sometimes it's culture and other religions that tells us we ought to be ashamed. Woman must be covered at all times. Her beauty must be hidden because her beauty is shameful.
We compare ourselves with our sisters. We wish we were more like them—with curlier hair, smaller noses, thinner waists or longer legs. We compete with each other, raising the stakes to see who can attract the most attention, gain the most power, curry the most influence.
We learn to judge each other on the basis of appearance. We fail to see beauty in those the world considers unbeautiful. I have heard that there are girls who will not talk to other girls unless they're wearing the right clothes, sporting the right accessories.
In short, we have become ugly. Not just on the outside but on the inside as well. We who were once “good” and pleasing to God, have now become “bad” and displeasing to God. We who bear the image of God have marred that image. We've become like a broken mirror.
Now what? God is over there and we are over here. We cannot dwell with him any more than he can dwell with us. This is why he kicked us out of the garden in the first place.
But he is the source of all beauty. He is beautiful because he is good. And we have taken that beauty and marred it with our own ugliness. We have become “bad”. We have become displeasing to him. He is eternal and changeless; we are temporary and are dying. It's an ugly situation.
The beauty of God
But God is beautiful. Let me speak to you about the beauty of God. For God, in his beauty, does not leave us alone in our ugliness. He does not leave us in our shame. God's beauty is seen in his character. As well as being a God of justice and fairness, God is also a God of love and mercy. This is why he does not abandon us to our fate. Instead, he personally steps in to do something about our ugliness.
And so, thousands of years after Adam and Eve died, decayed and turned to dust, the beautiful God comes to earth and is born as a human. Like us. The beautiful God becomes the man that we know as Jesus. And, just as God dwelt in the garden with Adam and Eve, so Jesus dwelled on earth among us.
Just as God is beautiful, so Jesus is beautiful. I don't mean that he had luxurious blonde hair, stunning blue eyes and a body to die for. We're told very little about Jesus' physical appearance. But the Bible tells us a lot about his character and his actions. For example, have a look at the passage printed on your cards. This passage comes from a book called 1 Peter, written by a man who knew Jesus intimately.
Have a look at the first bit:
He [that is, Jesus] committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:22-23)
Jesus had none of our ugliness: he “committed no sin”, no rebellion. Jesus had none of our ugliness: he spoke no deceit. Jesus had none of our ugliness: when he was reviled—that means scorned, mocked and spat upon—he did not revile—scorn, mock or spit—in return. Jesus had none of our ugliness: he entrusted himself to him who “judges justly”. That is, he submitted himself to God. He obeyed the one who sent him into the world. Jesus had none of our ugliness: he enjoyed right relationship with God and right relationships with people. Jesus was beautiful. Jesus was “good”. Jesus was pleasing to God.
The beautiful God became ugly … so we could become beautiful again
But Jesus became “ugly”—that is, displeasing to God. He became displeasing for our sakes. Take a look at the second part of the passage:
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)
Jesus took our sin upon himself. He took our “badness”—our ugliness, our competitiveness, our brokenness, our rebellion—and bore it all in his body. He bore it in his body on the tree, the tree meaning the cross. He became ugly for us. The one who was pleasing to God, became displeasing to God for our sakes. The beautiful God became ugly … so we could become beautiful again.
But why? Have a look at the verse again. Why? So that “we might die to sin and live to righteousness”. God wants us to die to sin. God wants us to put to death the “bad” that so displeases him. God wants us to stop living in ugly ways. God wants us to be beautiful.
And so we are to “live to righteousness”. “Righteousness” simply means good character or sinlessness. We can be made beautiful by the beautiful God. We can be clothed in true beauty, clothed in righteousness. Specifically, Jesus' righteousness—Jesus' sinlessness- Jesus' beauty. So that, when God looks at us, he no longer sees our ugliness. Instead, he sees Jesus beauty.
This is what it means when it says at the end of the verse, “By his wounds you have been healed. ” Our ugliness has been swallowed up by beauty. Our “bad” has been replaced with “good”. We who were displeasing can now become pleasing to God.
True beauty
So, what is true beauty? True beauty is about pleasing God. How can we please God? We need to be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. We need to trust the beautiful God who became ugly so we could become beautiful again. We need to listen to what he says. We need to obey him.
Because, one day there will come a time when all the ugliness, death and decay in the world will disappear. There will come a time when we all have to stand before God, and then our ugliness and shame will truly be exposed. If, on that day, you and I are not clothed in Jesus' righteousness—Jesus' beauty—God will not be pleased. Could you bear that? Will you be ashamed?
I realise that not all of you currently enjoy right relationship with God. Not all of you are free from death and decay. Not all of you are clothed in the beauty of Jesus.
If you are one of these people, I would like you to consider for a moment what is stopping you. What is stopping you from coming back to God? What is stopping you from being clothed in Jesus' beauty?
Is it that you find it hard to believe that God is beautiful? Is it that you don't see yourself the way he sees you—ugly, decaying and dead? Is it that you just can't believe that the beautiful God became ugly so you could become beautiful again?
Whatever it is, I want to encourage you to keep on thinking about what I've said tonight. Talk it over with the friend that invited you. Or, if you didn't come with a friend, talk it over with me—I'd love to chat with you about it. Perhaps consider going to one of the talks next week to learn more about this beautiful God. Or open up the Bible and read for yourself what it has to say. But please don't leave it. It matters.
Perhaps nothing is stopping you. Perhaps you know deep down inside how ugly you are and how much you displease God. Perhaps what you're really longing for is loving relationship with God. Perhaps you're thinking, “I want this righteousness; how do I get it? ”
If this is you, then I have good news. To gain Jesus' righteousness is actually very simple. But, at the same time, it is also very hard. It involves apologising to God. It involves saying sorry for the ugliness in your life that displeases him. It involves praising him for his son Jesus who took your ugliness upon himself. It involves acknowledging your desire to be clothed in his beauty. And it involves saying to him that you don't want to live that way anymore. Instead, you want to start living a life that pleases him.
But perhaps you are someone who is already clothed in Jesus' beauty. Perhaps you're already enjoying right relationship with God. Perhaps you're looking forward to the day when you will see God face to face and dwell with him forever. If this is you, make sure you keep beauty in perspective. Physical beauty is perishable and temporary. Jesus' beauty is imperishable and eternal. Don't spend your whole life pursuing physical perfection. Focus on the imperishable and clad yourself in that. Remember, Jesus has taken away our shame. We needn't feel embarrassed about our bodies. So be content in the way you look for God made you. You bear his image. You are clothed in his beauty.
I'm going to finish now by praying and thanking God. Would you please bow your heads with me.
Loving heavenly Father, we thank you that you are beautiful. We thank you that you created beauty and that beauty is good. Thank you that you became ugly so we could become beautiful again. Please help us to understand true beauty and what it really means. Amen.
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Wow. I hadn’t thought that topic could be made evangelistic, but you did it. The whole thing is really internally consistent and flowing. Well done!
just popped in
Thanks for posting that!
You’re welcome.
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Amen sister.