Instruments of Worship

What Does God Think About the Arts? | Ep. 13

• Casey Rinkenberger • Episode 13

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Have you ever wondered what God thinks about the arts?  Today, we are going to get a glimpse into God's heart for the arts through looking at the creation of the Tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-11).  This is important to know because the devil has distorted the arts in many ways, but God is in the business of redemption.  Will you be faithful to the Lord as an artist in a very god-less field?  I know you will leave encouraged by today's episode!


Much of today's episode was inspired by the sermon, "Art For God's Sake," by Dr. Philip Ryken.  I would encourage you to listen to it.  You may also enjoy Dr. Ryken's book, "Art For God's Sake: A Call to Recover the Arts." 


Discussion Questions -- Try reflecting on your own or with a group:)

  • What are some of your favorite things that God has created?  Thank Him for those things! 
  • What do you think God believes about the arts? 
  • What was God’s original intention for the arts?
  • How have you seen the devil steal, kill, and destroy the arts?  
  • God doesn't just have goodness, truth, and beauty in Him... He IS goodness, truth, and beauty.  How have you seen or experienced this? 
  • Is it possible for goodness, truth, and beauty to all exist in art?  Do you think this is important? Why? 
  • What did you learn about God through this podcast? 
  • Can you think of a time you were encouraged by art that was for God’s sake? 
  • Are there any Christian artists that you look up to who create excellent art for the glory of God?  
  • Do you think there are any stigmas about Christian artists or Christian art? What are they?  Why do people believe them? 
  • How can you stand up for Jesus in the arts?  How can you be a light in the arts which are right now very dark? 



To help engage our hearts in greater worship to Him, check out these songs that relate to this episode! 

So Will I (100 Billion X)
All Things Bright and Beautiful
For the Beauty of the Earth
The Goodness of God 


Thanks so much for listening! Make sure to check back every Monday for a new episode!

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SPEAKER_00:

Hi friends, my name is Casey Rinkenberger and I am so excited to welcome you to the Instruments of Worship podcast. This is a podcast dedicated to encouraging and equipping classical musicians to lift high the name of Jesus with their instruments, but also their lives. Today we are going to talk about a very interesting topic, which is what are God's thoughts about the arts? What is a biblical theology of the arts? First off, we know that the devil seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. And I think one of the most visible places we can see this is what he's done to the world of the arts. It's so sad. Much of the evil of Satan can so clearly be seen in the movies, TV shows, Broadway shows, fashion, music, dance, music videos, concerts, magazine, artistic renderings, paintings, pictures, sculptures that flood our culture today. What God intended for good, Satan has turned for evil. But we can't We can't give up on the arts because the Lord is able to redeem them and he has a good plan for them. But it takes faithful artists to be willing to go against the culture, go against the grain, and stand up for the Lord, to promote what God loves, which is goodness, truth, and beauty. Today we are going to talk about God's original design for the arts, which can be seen through the creation of the tabernacle. But we will also discuss Satan's destruction of it and how we can play a part in the Lord redeeming the arts for God's glory. So welcome to episode 13 of the Instruments of Worship podcast. So I thought it was fitting to start today by just looking at the very, very beginning of creation. The first time we are introduced to God in the Bible is right off the bat. In Genesis 1.1, first chapter, first book, it says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So the first thing we see God doing is actually creating. We see him creating literal light. He separated light from darkness. He created the sky and also land. Some of those clouds that you see on pretty sunsets are just it's all from the hand of God. All the vegetation we like to eat or even just look at. He created strawberries and hibiscus plants and their beautiful flowers. The rolling waves of the sea and the snowy mountains and pristine beaches and crystal clear water. He created the sun, the moon, the planets, and all the stars, the galaxies, and even all the other massive, indescribable aspects of space in the universe that we still have yet to know. He created all the birds, like my favorite, the peacock, or even the eagle and the blue jay and the little birds around your house that sing and wake us up in the morning. He created everything in the sea, like the picturesque, beautiful coral, the seahorse, which I love, pufferfish, the starkly colored blue tang and clownfish, and even the creepy fish that are in the depths and the ever fascinating narwhal and the massive whales. It's just never ending. Did you know I found out this week that still 80% of the ocean still hasn't been explored? It is that vast. And we are only one planet in the midst of a huge, huge, huge galaxy. And in the midst of an even greater space, a greater universe, he created land animals like the cute little puppies that bring us so much joy. And the beautiful zebra and even the odd looking giraffe and hedgehogs and pigs and horse and koalas, you name it, whatever your favorite animal is. I don't know, but these are just some that came to mind for me. And then he made humans in his image, male and female, man and woman who he instilled with his own traits like intellect, emotions, imagination, compassion, talents, and abilities, creativity, and so much more. The beauty and the vastness of what God has created literally has no end. And we get to see it and be a part of it every day. I just want to remind you today how creative the Lord is. You can see it all around you in nature, but also in your friendships and literally every aspect of life. You can see the beauty of what God has created. So. This is our God. Philip Graham Reichen in his book, Art for God's Sake, which I'll be quoting a lot of today, says, If the opening chapters of Genesis portray God as a creative artist, then it only stands to reason that the people he made in his image will also be artists. Art is an imaginative activity. In the act of creating, we reflect the mind of our maker. So God is a creator. We see that very clearly every day. And we know that straight from the first chapter, first book and first verse of the Bible. He's creative and we are made in his image. We are given those same traits. So we also get to be creative. Maybe some of us, he calls to be creative in the world of the arts. And maybe sometimes we like to consume the arts. God gifted us with the arts to enjoy. But you also did, we've talked about this before, to draw people to himself, to greater engage our hearts in love and worship for him, to glorify him. The arts, music, you name it, have an innate way of They're so closely connected to our hearts. And so God uses those things to greater engage our hearts in love for him. However, when the fall into sin in Genesis 3 happens, it affects everything. And that includes the arts. Like I said earlier, much of the evil of Satan can be seen in the arts, which is so, so sad. And it floods our culture today. Satan took the opportunity to destroy the arts and ran with it. Why? Because like we just said, God intended for the arts to have a unique ability and power to engage people's hearts in love and worship to him. But if Satan could twist that truth, deceive people to engage people's hearts toward works of the flesh, some described in Galatians 5, 19 through 21. That would be an absolute goldmine for him. So that list in Galatians says, Now the works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, bits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So these works of the flesh, this isn't even an all encompassing list, but it gives us an idea of some of these things that the devil would like to promote through the arts now. And I can't speak for you, but I would say that I've seen this list easily found in the arts, not just for our day, but throughout time. These things have been promoted through the arts. This is a list of things that the Lord hates that. are not good for us, that are not glorifying to the Lord and that Satan would love for us to pursue because he is everything in opposition to the Lord. So whatever the Lord loves, he's going to hate. Whatever the Lord hates, Satan's going to love. Satan knows there's no satisfaction found in them, but he would like to trick us to think that there is. And if it takes us away from God, that's his goal. So he uses the arts as a mean of making very dark, very bad, very destructive sin look super cool super good and very attractive most of all but this falls right in line with satan's character don't you think satan through and through as a deceiver and a liar and we see that from the very beginning when satan craftily deceives eve john adams eight forty four b describes satan as he was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks according to his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies john ten ten describes him as a thief who has come to steal kill and destroy He is the ultimate deceiver who seeks to take the truth and trade it for a lie. God intended for the arts to be good, true, and beautiful. But Satan has schemed all along to distort them so that they don't point us to God, rather that they point us to the world, ourselves, sin, evil, and death, whether spiritual or physical. So Satan is using the arts to deceive people. Romans 1.25 says about sinful humanity, And that's just what Satan wants. Continuing on in that verse, it says, So that just explains what we see Satan doing in the arts, making very, very bad things look very, very good. He's exchanging the truth of God for a lie, deceiving people, pulling them away from God so that they worship God. this world, they worship themselves, whatever it is, rather than God, the creator. But at the end, it says, God, the creator who is forever praised. Amen. And God will forever be praised. He is the only one worthy of praise. And the truth is that God wins through God's awesome power. Satan will easily and swiftly be thrown into the lake of sulfur at the end of all things as described in Revelation 20. We know that for sure. But the truth of the matter is, is that until that day, Satan will always use the arts as one of his greatest weapons to pull people away from the law Philip Graham Reichen again says, So he talks in there how the arts are fallen and it perverts the original purpose. I think a lot of believers fully understand the fall of the arts. Things that are so against what the Lord loves just advertise themselves all over the world today. So it makes a lot of Christians very turned off and very uncomfy with the arts in general. They'd rather just pull away and not deal with it at all. But like I've said, God created the arts with a purpose. So all hope is not lost. We We can't give up on the arts because they have such an important role when it comes to shaping culture. Reichen says, what's happening in the artistic community tends to be what will happen in the culture at large later on down the road. Art is very influential, much more than people realize. So Christians can't back away from the arts. They have to learn to engage with them and to stand up for Jesus within them. Because if Christians abandon the artistic community, the church loses a very significant opportunity to speak the gospel into the culture, to infiltrate the culture with biblical worldview, with things that God loves, not the things that God hates and the things that are for people's good, not for their harm. Sin, pride, selfishness, none of those things will lead to fulfillment for people. And so we cannot back away from the arts. We have to learn to engage with them in a way that shows God off. So let's talk about God's good design for the arts so that we can pursue what he intended for them, not what they've unfortunately become. This next portion is going to be largely based on the sermon by Philip Graham Reichen, Art for God's Sake is what it's called. So we are going to look at Exodus 31, 1 through 11, where we see the tabernacle being built. If you don't know, the tabernacle was kind of like a portable sanctuary or church where God would come to dwell with the Israelites while they were wandering in the wilderness. They could worship and make sacrifices there. So I'm going to read Exodus 31, 1 through 11. now the lord spoke to moses saying see i have called by name bezalel the son of I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones, for setting, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship. And behold, I myself have appointed with him Aholiab, the son of Ahesamach, of the tribe of Daniel. And in the hearts of all who are skilled, I have put skill, that they may make all that I have commanded you. The tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat upon it, and all the furniture of the tent. The table also, and its utensils, and the pure gold lampstands with all its utensils, and the altar of incense. The altar of burnt offerings also with its utensils, and the laver in its stand. the woven garments as well, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons with which to carry on their priesthood, the anointing oil also, and the fragrant incense for the holy place. They are to make them according to all that I have commanded you. Okay, so the first principle we can pull from this is that God called Bezalel and Aholiab to be artists in charge of the building of the tabernacle, and he gave them the Holy Spirit to accomplish this. As an artist, you probably have felt this before that many times people see being in the arts as just an extracurricular or a waste of time and money or like an almost illegitimate career just because it's not necessary but god very clearly does call and equip some christians to be artists to work within the arts he gives them a good and proper urge to create he also gives them special innate abilities and talents to do this we see that in verses one through three when it says lord spoke to Moses saying I have called by name Bezalel and I have filled him with the spirit of God and wisdom and understanding and knowledge and in all kinds of craftsmanship and then later on in verse 6 when he calls Aholiab he says and behold I myself have appointed with him Aholiab And in the hearts of all who are skillful, I have put skill that they may make all that I have commanded you. So we see God calling and equipping these peoples for this role. God could have very easily built a tabernacle himself and it would have been perfect. But he chooses men and equips them with every artistic skill. Ryken believes that by doing this, God is putting his blessing on the arts and the artists. God created the arts. He loves the arts. And he may very well have called you or is calling you to be an artist. I was encouraged by this quote from Philip. The one thing an artist should be careful to never do is abandon the calling of artist. God's gifts are not to be hidden. They are meant to be used. His calling is not to be denied. It's to be followed. So if you are an artist, don't be embarrassed or grow weary. Pursue where God is leading with joy and purpose and know that he will provide wherever he guides you. The next point that he makes is that God loves all kinds of art. This can be seen because of the whole vast wide variety of art mediums used in the tabernacle. Obviously, we see the phrase all types of craftsmanship used in verse 3 and verse 5. He talks about working in silver and gold and in bronze and cutting stones and carving wood. We see furniture in the tent, which would be more woodworking and building ornate things and the woven garments. So we see sewing and almost like all these fragrances, like people to work with that. And I also wanted to bring up this example, just being a musician. In 1 Chronicles 25, we see King David has 288 skilled musicians used for the temple services. So I think that we see through these examples that God has a tendency to bless all kinds of craftsmanship. So whether you decorate cakes or make candles or make movies or write music, play music, sew, draw, take pictures, act, write, design buildings or landscapings or living rooms, anything, God is for it. And I don't know about you, but I am so encouraged by that. We know that the arts have been tainted by sin, but it is encouraging to know that the Lord is for you being an artist. He is not against that. This is a good calling, and I really think he's going to use it. So God is for all these types of art, but he does have a standard for art. So the next point that Ryken makes is that God maintains high standards for goodness, truth, and beauty within art. Why? Because he is the perfect incarnation of goodness, truth and beauty. It's who he is. These aspects in our art can point people to him and really glorify him for who he is, which is good, true and beautiful. So first, goodness. This is both a moral and an artistic standard in art. So first, the moral standard. Of course, God would never desire us to make something that violates the Ten Commandments. So nothing that encourages immorality or being an object of religious worship like idolatry, something like that. So nothing that goes against scripture. But the artistic standard side of this is that he also wants us to make good, excellent art. Clearly, as we read God's instructions for the tabernacle, His desire is not for it to be executed poorly or without care and dedication. I love this quote from Reichen. He says, God's careful instructions show he's not a perfectionist, rather he's perfect. His perfection sets the standard for what we do in his name. Wow, I'm not sure that there's any art that can ever be perfect. And of course, that's not God's goal. And it shouldn't be ours either. But God is absolutely worthy of our very, very best. If our art is an offering to him, he is worth more than just our scraps. He's worthy of all our effort, time, dedication, and attention to detail that we are able to pour into our art. Again, perfection is not the goal, and that can so easily become an idol in the arts. But because God is the only one true, perfect, holy God, our desire should be to honor him with excellence in the art that we create. It's a way of lifting him high. The next aspect would be truth. Our art should be genuine and true, not a lie to deceive people. Our art can communicate truth about God, but it can also portray things as they really are. The main thing is just that it's just not a lie. It's not deceiving people. The next thing would be beauty. God is a lover of beauty, and we can obviously see that in all of the universe, maybe in some of the things I described earlier, things that you've thought about since then. The way that God has artistically just created this whole world. He's imagined all these beautiful things and he made it come to be. Clearly, he is a lover of beauty. In the tabernacle, Ryken says, there was beauty in the color of the fabrics, the sparkle of the gems, the shapes of the objects, and the symmetry of its proportions. In every sense, God wanted it to be beautiful, to exalt who he is. I know this is true in music, but I assume it's true in other art forms. Beauty used to be a much higher priority than it is now, but throughout time, it has become less of a priority. Obviously, avant-garde composers were not too concerned about it. And some people might argue that if you only show art that is good, true and beautiful, it really isn't real. It's not raw. And some may say that to be true and to be real, you can't be beautiful and you can't have all three aspects. Reichen talks about how modern and postmodern art tells the truth, but at the expense of beauty, and maybe we could say the same about avant-garde music or composers. It only tells the truth of ugliness and alienation, and it leaves out the beauty of creation and redemption. But maybe on the other hand, Christian art has the opposite problem. It tries to just show beauty without showing the truth about sin, which means that it's false. It's idyllic. And it's trying to show that it's unaffected by the world. And that's not the world that God sent his son to save. So these are two extremes, but I think that there's a way to express the truth of hard things, but not without also the beauty and the hope that remains because of the gospel. I know this may feel like a lot of nitty gritty, and it may not always be perfectly clear in the nuance, but I think it's at least worth considering and thinking about how we might seek after goodness, truth, and beauty in what we create that would point towards these attributes most perfectly found in Christ our Lord. So what is God's standard of art? I believe that it is art that is not bad, false, and ugly, but art that incarnates the good, true, and the beautiful. We as Christian artists can make good art that is true in its beauty. Without them knowing, our audience may be attracted to God because these properties are perfectly incarnated in God. If they see them in our art, whether they know it or not, they're enjoying attributes of who God really is. He is a good, true, beautiful God. And art that is bad, false, and ugly does not show him off. The last point that Ryken makes is that art is for the glory of God. This was the art in the tabernacle. Everything was for the praise of his glory. The mercy seat, the lamp stands, even all the fancy materials and decorations. And we've talked about this idea a lot before, mainly because it's so easy in the world of music or the arts for these things to become idols, to create art for art's sake or to create art for self's sake. Art is such a wonderful gift that those who love it sometimes forget to look beyond it and praise its giver. Now, maybe we don't externally worship a golden calf like the Israelites did, but sometimes we can worship our craft ourselves instead of God. But it's all about our heart. So this is just another little reminder to promote God's glory. Don't compete with it. Ryken makes another interesting point that I really like, that this doesn't mean that all our art has to be evangelistic. He gives this example of someone whose job it is to make cars. He doesn't have to make cars with John 3, 16 written on the side for it to be a car that glorifies the Lord. No, a car maker glorifies God by just making a good car with a worshipful heart. In all that we create, it doesn't always have to be evangelistic or really in your face about Jesus. We can make classical music. We can create artistic sculptures. We can take beautiful pictures and they don't all have to be of a Bible or based on a Bible verse or something. We can do that just in all that we create. May it be for the Lord out of love for him. So today we've talked about how the devil seeks to steal, kill and destroy. And he's certainly done that with the arts. It's so sad. The Lord intended them for such good. And he's just really had a heyday with the arts. You just think of all in today's world that is so explicit and promoting just all the things that God hates. And that can be so deceiving and so hard in people's hearts. Take them away from the goodness, truth and beauty of the Lord. It's really something to grieve. This is horrendous what the devil has done to the arts. But today, hopefully you've also found hope in just getting to see the Lord's love and desire for the arts through the example of the tabernacle. I know that I'm encouraged by that as an artist. I believe that the arts are not all gone. They are certainly in a desperate state, but I believe that there's tons of hope for them. And it won't be us Christian artists who redeem the arts. It will absolutely be the Lord. But he does desire faithful artists who are willing to stand up for him and be the the light in a very, very dark field. where it's not popular to be a Christian. It's not popular necessarily to promote goodness, truth, and beauty and to glorify the Lord with your art. People around us probably tell a very, very different story. But I just want to remind you that God has placed you where you are as an artist with a purpose. It's not an accident. And I just get excited thinking about how vast the world of the arts is and how inspiring and just vibrant they are. They're unlike any other part of society. They are so unique and special, and I think there is so much potential in them for such great worship. Maybe God wanted you to hear this today to give you hope and a desire to be faithful to him in your art field, not just follow the world's pressures and persuasions. None of us will be perfect at this, that is for sure, but through the enabling of the Holy Spirit, may we be diligent with what the Lord has given us, where he has placed us for his greater glory, no matter what that might look like. So I pray that the Lord would be well pleased with our faithful service to him in the world of the arts. So I just want to thank you so much for spending part of your day with me today. Make sure to check out the description for more worship songs that I hope will greater engage your hearts in worship and give you greater insight into some of the things we talked about today. Also in the description, look for discussion questions that you can reflect on on your own or with a group. And if you think you might know someone who might be encouraged by this podcast, please feel free to share it with them and maybe ask them what they think. Make sure to download, follow, and subscribe wherever you are listening. And I just hope that you have a great rest of your month. Monday.