No Beauty That We
Should Desire Him
Isaiah 53:1-3
1 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Truly, very few would believe the report of the prophets
concerning their Messiah.
To whom would God reveal His salvation and glory?
In God’s eyes, He was like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a
root in a dry and barren ground.
But in our eyes, He had no attractive appeal or charisma at all,
nothing to make us desire Him. We despised Him and rejected Him. He
was a Man of sorrows, acquainted with griefs. We turned our backs on
Him and looked the other way when He passed by. We didn’t even
bother or care that He was despised.
This was how the prophets described Jesus, the Son of God and the
Saviour of all mankind.
However, Jesus was not despised and rejected due to any personal
defects or flaws. In Matthew 3:17, God the Father declared, “This is
My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Jesus never sinned and never told a lie. He never answered back when
insulted. When He suffered, He did not threaten to get even; He left
everything in the hands of God Who always judges fairly.
1 Peter 2:22-23
22 “Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;
23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He
suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who
judges righteously;
So why is there no form or comeliness, no beauty that we should
desire Him at His finest hours? Why is He despised and rejected by men?
The fault is not in Jesus Himself but in us! It is about how we view
things through our human eyes and worldly perspectives! Jesus is not
attractive and desirable to the worldly-minded. In God's eyes, Jesus
is wonderful, beautiful and glorious but in the eyes of the world,
Jesus is not!
1 Corinthians 1:21-25
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom
did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the
message preached to save those who believe.
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a
stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men.
When our hearts and minds are set on the things in the world, how
can we discover true beauty in Jesus? Materialism, sensualism,
humanism, self-gratification, vainglory and other worldly things
often blind our eyes that we are not able to worship the true Jesus
according to the Bible.
Imagine these people:
- A wounded and bruised Jesus carrying the cross up to Calvary
- A faithful Moses tending sheep at the backside of the desert
- An elderly apostle Paul writing epistles behind prison doors
- A successful, powerful and eloquent preacher on the pulpit
- A super rich and well-known entrepreneur and businessman
Which of the above will we desire to follow and become?
James 2:1-7
1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory, with partiality.
2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with
gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in
a poor man in filthy clothes,
3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say
to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to
the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my
footstool,”
4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges
with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this
world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised
to those who love Him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you
and drag you into the courts?
7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
How can we say that we belong to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord
of glory, if we show favoritism to rich people but look down on poor
people?
If a man comes into our church dressed in expensive clothes and with
valuable gold rings on his fingers, and at the same moment another
man comes in who is poor and dressed in shabby clothes, what will we
do?
Will we give special privileges and favor to the rich man and give
him the best seat in the house but look down at the poor man and ask
him to stand at the back or sit down on the floor? Will we judge
people by their wealth and outward appearance? Will our hearts be
misguided by wrong motives and secret agendas?
God has chosen poor people to be rich in faith. The Kingdom of
Heaven is theirs too, for this is the gift that God has promised to
all those who love Him. Yet, of the two strangers, we often despise
the poor man. Don’t we realize that it is usually the rich men who
oppress us and drag us into court? And also, they are often the very
ones who will jeer at our Lord Jesus Christ, shaming and mocking His
holy name.
Our measurements are often wrong when we use the wrong yardsticks!
We have used the worldly standards to measure and value everything
in life!
The main reason why some churches have grown so rapidly is not
necessarily the result of a true spiritual revival. It may be due to
loosely adjusting and accommodating to worldly values and ways.
Some pastors now preach socially acceptable messages that focus upon
meeting the wishes, wants, destinies and dreams of their
congregations without any submission to the Lordship of Christ. They
cleverly and skillfully tailor their sermons to avoid offending any newcomers or visitors from
other churches.
As a result, many Christians only want Jesus to save them but are
not interested to come under the Lordship of Christ! To them, Jesus
is only a personal Savior who loves them no matter what they do or
sin rather than the Lord of all who desires to guide and guard them
through the journey of life.
Many have accepted and adopted ungodly ways and standards such as
premarital sex, cohabitation, adultery, gambling, drugs and other
vices.
Worldly songs and ungodly music are played and incorporated into their church services
or events. Going out clubbing, having sensual and sexy dancing,
drinking and getting drunk have become acceptable norms in the
lifestyles of some Christians. Many are living more as pagans than
true believers in Christ!
Some churches do not preach and teach the Word of God. They are
adjusted and skewed towards the world. They esteem and honor
worldly values more than godly values!
Entertainment have replaced Biblical discipleship. To create a wonderful
experience and electrifying encounter is one of the chief goals and
objectives of the main church program. The pulpit has become a
large-scale musical theatre and performing arts centre, fitted with
ultra-modern and futuristic audio, video and sophisticated
multi-media and lighting systems to enhance and heighten an
exceptional and enjoyable experience of dramatic speeches,
spectacular dances and sensational songs.
Some pastors even have
makeup artists to lay foundations and brush cosmetic color tones on their faces, apply eye shadows, put on lipsticks and also help them
to dress up to look like movie stars or pop idols. It is now all
about showmanship - how to be excel in skills at
theatrical presentation, performance and
entertaining others. To come to church and have an enjoyable time.
Matthew 5:14-16
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is
set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a
lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they
may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
The Church is called to be the light of the world to impact the
people around us. God desires that our light will shine before men,
that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.
But we have allowed darkness to creep into our churches.
Today, the world is impacting the Church more than the Church is
impacting the world.
It is now time to repent and return to the Lord.
Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God.
James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this:
to
visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself
unspotted from the world.
1 John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is
of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who
does the will of God abides forever.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law.
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
John 3:30
He must increase, but I must decrease.
When we do so, we will begin to see and desire the true beauty of Christ!
Written on: 10 October 2017