I Samuel 15:34-16:13; Mark 4:26-34; II Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17
GOOD NEWS: God knows who we truly are because he looks inside our hearts and not on our outward appearance.
MESSAGE: Grow in your relationship with God, through his son, Jesus Christ, and you will become a more beautiful person inside and out.
She sang, “I Dreamed a Dream,” and a frizzy-haired 47-year-old Scottish woman, named Susan Boyle, knocked the world off its axis. With over 11m hits on YouTube, this plain-faced, , bushy-eye-browed woman is living proof that the old adage is true, you cannot judge a book by its cover.
For the three judges and millions of witnesses, the heavenly sound that came out of Susan's mouth could only have come from the heart and soul of an angel. No one on either side of the Atlantic Ocean would ever have imagined the beautiful voice tucked away inside this odd-mannered woman. Today, she is living proof of “Fronti nulla fides,” which translates, “never have faith in the front” (Juvenal, Satires II, 8). And what we have learned about Susan since that night is that regardless of the strength and beauty of her voice, she is just as vulnerable to exhaustion, mood swings and fear as the rest of us.
The Good News for us is that God looks upon our hearts and not on our outward appearances when he considers who we really are. God never judges us by our packaging. God never keeps faith in the front we present to the world. No amount of beauty or brawn can hide our true hearts from God. We may be able to fool others about who we are, but we will never fool the Lord.
So, instead of trying to be perfect on the outside, why not explore how to be beautiful on the inside? Each scripture today can speak in its own way to this idea. The more we allow God to grow in our hearts, the more we walk by faith and not by sight, the more beautiful we will become on the inside; and a beautiful person on the inside radiates beauty on the outside.
Among many truths, one message today's scriptures reveal is this one: As we grow in our relationship with God, through faith in his son, Jesus Christ, we will become more beautiful, inside and out.
The anointing of the young and ruddy shepherd boy, David, as future King of Israel, demonstrates not only that God knows what is in our hearts, but also that God chooses us for the strength of our inner beauty and not for the attractiveness of our outer appearances.
Of the eight sons of Jesse, David was the least likely candidate to be king. Even Samuel the prophet, who was sent to do the anointing, was dumbfounded as son after handsome son was rejected by God. Samuel's problem was that he used human standards to judge who should be king.
The prophet is admonished by God for his supposition: “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look upon the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart” (16:7).
(1)
In I Samuel 17, David's heart is proved when he faces the giant Philistine, Goliath, with only a slingshot, five smooth stones and a heart beating with the unwavering belief that there is a living God in Israel. David's relationship with the living God empowered him to defeat the Philistines on his own. No king's armor or warrior's bravery were needed. Time after time, David showed courage and steadfast love for the Lord.
We also know that there were times when temptation overruled his heart, and David grieved God with his sin. Still, the scripture says that God loved David...David was a man after God's own heart (I Samuel 13:13-14).
We might think that God loved David so much because he was courageous and confident and strong...but those are human ways of judging others. No, God loved David because of his truthful and trusting heart. When David was confronted with his sin, he was broken by it. He fell on his face and asked the Lord's forgiveness. True repentance makes us beautiful in the sight of the Lord. In Psalm 51, David writes,
(6) Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
(17) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
What else makes us beautiful in the sight of the Lord? Let's look at the parable of the Mustard Seed.
In a world that confuses size with power and price, the parable of the mustard seed (“the smallest of all seeds”--at least at that time) presents a contradiction. The mustard tree grows very large, so large birds can make their nests in its branches. How can something so large come from a seed so small? And why does the mustard seed have anything to do with having a beautiful heart?
I see this parable as an experiment in encouragement. It is a parable about trust. William Barclay wrote, “Never be daunted by small beginnings” (Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, p 110). This parable once again shows us that human criteria do not apply in the kingdom of God; God looks at the heart of the matter.
In this story, Jesus is teaching that size or relative power at the beginning of the journey does not indicate the final result. “God's mysterious power as shown by the seed's growth cycle can be compared to how the gospel works in the hearts of believers” (Life Application Bible Commentary; Mark, p 115).
No matter how small we deem the seed of faith in our hearts, God can and will make it grow, if we are but willing to build the right relationship. The right relationship is with God's son, Jesus Christ. Understanding God's truth is linked to one's relationship with Jesus. If we keep Jesus at a distance, we can only observe his love from a distance. If we get close to Jesus, we understand his love from within. Jesus' love within us makes us beautiful, inside and out.
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When I read Paul's words in his letter to the Corinthians, I am captured by the beauty of his joy. He embodies the beauty and love that comes from deep relationship with Jesus Christ. He is a walking witness to the incredible change that God can effect when the Lord lives in our hearts—Paul was transformed from persecutor to peacemaker, all from a close encounter with the risen Lord on a dusty road, traveling to Damascus.
From Paul we learn that one who walks by sight sees only the visible...and what is visible is temporary. The one who walks by faith will see beyond the visible to what is invisible, permanent and eternal (Preaching Through the Christian YearB, p 309).
What are we talking about here? We are talking about looking at the world the way God looks upon the world, by examining the hearts of his people. We are talking about the Christian's dual existence: the one we live in a mortal body on earth and the one we live in Christ, through the eyes of faith and a heart filled with love.
Walking by faith and not by sight is the culmination of believing that what is visible to the mortal mind is transient and what is invisible is eternal. “The life of faith by definition transcends bodily existence as it draws its sustaining power from the risen Lord whom we know but cannot see, except with the eyes of faith” (PTTCYB, p 310). A life walked in faith makes us beautiful, inside and out.
We have examined at least three qualities that when allowed and encouraged to grow within our hearts make us beautiful, inside and out. We tend to think that we are stuck with the heart we are born with, that if it is selfish and weak from the start it will be selfish and weak at the end. If our hearts are trepidatious and vulnerable through most of our lives, we think we are too late to make an exchange for courage and strength.
This is how mortals think; it is not how God looks on us. God looks beyond the visible, beyond appearances, and sees the eternal good, the inextinguishable light that can shine from our hearts.
God gives all the growth, all the beauty the world has ever heard or seen, whether it is an angelic voice from a woman named Susan or the new eyes of faith from a man named Paul, who was blinded by the beautiful light of Jesus Christ.
And what have we learned about being beautiful? We have learned that God looks inside our hearts to judge us and not upon our outward appearances; we have learned that we are to trust in small beginnings, for in God's hands they shall bring inspirational results; and we have learned that to walk by faith and not by sight reveals the promised hope that lies beyond this world; the invisible eternal, heaven's home, the kingdom of God.
David was small, young and ruddy looking, yet God could see the light in his heart and that light shone on his face, in his eyes, throughout his life.
Mustard trees were considered a nuisance, yet they demonstrate the promise that large, heavenly benefits can come from small, earthly beginnings.
Faith gives us vision beyond the visible to the invisible, beyond what is temporary to what is eternal.
The ways of God are loving and beautiful; Jesus came to earth to teach us about God, and how to be loving and beautiful, too.
Go ahead and dream the dream; the more we allow God to grow in our hearts through developing a deepening relationship with Jesus Christ, the more beautiful we become, inside and out. Amen.
June 14, 2009
First Parish Federated Church, South Berwick, ME
The Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
