Beautiful Way | Lesson 1, Part 2

Greetings MOL Family!

Welcome back, and thank you for joining us for part 2 of our introductory lesson on the Beautiful Way! 

The beautiful life of Jesus is to be revealed in His people. I would like us to think of some of the ways in which that beauty is to be revealed. I am going to give you ten points now, and you may number them if you wish.

The first is beautiful characters.

In the book Education, we read:

“It is right to love beauty and to desire it; but God desires us to love and to seek first the highest beauty — that which is imperishable … that beauty of character which in His sight is of ‘great price’.” – Education, pg. 249

Is it right to love beauty? Yes, and not only to admire it, but to desire it. You know, everybody longs to be accepted. Children, there is something in a little child; he appreciates being noticed, doesn’t he? Of course, the devil takes advantage of that and gets people into all sorts of trouble. We will notice some of that as we go ahead from lesson to lesson. But my point is this, friends, it is right to love beauty and to desire it. And when I think of all the efforts that the world is making to be beautiful, poor souls, and what they come up with, it is pitiful, isn’t it? But the basic desire to love beauty and to desire it, is all right. It is the perversion of it, the misapplication of it, that brings these monstrosities. But it is right to love beauty and to desire it. But we need to start where Jesus tells us to start and that is inside – beauty of character. Oh, I want that. What do you say?

Now, if we have that beauty of character, then it is to shine out in the countenance, and that is number two –

beautiful countenances

Someone has said that the eyes are the windows of the soul. And isn’t it nice to have clear, beautiful windows for the light of love to shine through? Yes. Do we often need to wash windows? It is nice to keep our windows clear, isn’t it; so we can see the beauty? Ah, friends, God desires that these faces of ours shall be the windows through which the beautiful light of love shines out from the inner heart.

That brings us to some things about health, doesn’t it? Because to have the faces that God wants us to have, we need a bloodstream that feeds those tissues with health-giving, life-giving elements. Health and the beautiful way belong together.

Here in Prophets and Kings, we have a wonderful picture of Daniel and his three friends as they walk through the courts of Babylon. Among all those that were there at the great court of the great king, it says the Hebrew youth were without a peer. Now, let’s look at this:

In physical strength and beauty, in mental vigor and literary attainment, they stood unrivaled. The erect form, the firm, elastic step, the fair countenance, the undimmed senses, the untainted breath – all were so many certificates of good habits, insignia of the nobility with which nature honors those who are obedient to her laws. – Prophets and Kings, pg. 485

Were they beautiful? Yes. Handsome young men. And all Babylon recognized it, my friends. Is anything like that going to happen again? Oh, yes:

Many a lad of today, growing up as did Daniel in his Judean home, studying God’s word and His works, and learning the lessons of faithful service, will yet stand in legislative assemblies, in halls of justice, or in royal courts, as a witness for the King of kings. – Education, pg. 262

Yes, there are Daniels and Esthers in training right now. Oh, I hope some of them are going through this study right now, what do you say?

But now dear ones, when God’s witnesses come in before the courts of this world, how will they come? Hobbling in? Bent over? Barely able to drag one foot after the other? Ah, I think God is going to have some witnesses like those Hebrews back there, unrivaled in their appearance. But do you think it will be because they have just had a treatment in the beauty parlor? Do you think that they will dazzle the world because they have so faithfully copied the whims of Hollywood? Why, nothing of the kind, my friends. God’s beautiful way is the way of natural beauty. Nothing artificial, nothing put on about it. We will be studying more of that. And that leads me to the next point…

beautiful clothing, beautiful garments

Put down in your notes Exodus 28:2. God told Moses to make garments for Aaron his brother, “for glory and for beauty” (Exodus 28:2). And in Messages to Young People, this fact is set forth as an example to us:

The dress of Christ’s followers should be symbolic. – Messages to Young People, pg. 358

His clothes, his garments, were made for glory and for beauty. And God wants His children to wear beautiful garments, appropriate, of course. We are not going to wear our Sabbath clothes out to hoe corn in the morning, or to wash the dishes. But neither will we wear the overalls to church, on the Sabbath. Now watch:

For Christ’s sake, whose witnesses we are, we should seek to make the best of our appearance. – Messages to Young People, pg. 358

That includes our faces, our clothes, and everything. Now, some of us may not have very much to start with in the way of physical beauty, folks. God knows all about that. But I have some good news for you. If we will add, He will multiply. We may be broken down with disease. We may be decrepit through long years of transgression. But I repeat, if we will add, God will multiply. Oh, the wonderful gospel of restoration, my friends. God is restoring in humanity the image of His Son. We are to cooperate with Him to develop these beautiful characters, these beautiful countenances. And along with it, dear friends, we want these beautiful garments, beautiful clothing.

And now number four,

beautiful homes

Put down in your notes, Ministry of Healing, page 370:

God loves the beautiful. He has clothed the earth and the heavens with beauty, and with a Father’s joy He watches the delight of His children in the things that He has made. He desires us to surround our homes with the beauty of natural things. – Ministry of Healing, pg. 370

Isn’t that nice? The beauty of natural things. But now, when we go in the home of one of God’s children, should it be beautiful inside? Oh, not that we have to have gold and silver and precious stones in our dwellings. We will have those when we get over yonder. The dwelling may be simple and plain. In fact, it should be!

Purity, plainness, and simplicity should mark the dwellings and apparel of the children of God today, we are told. But, oh, there is something about taste, and more important than taste, cleanliness, neatness, order. Beautiful homes because we are living the beautiful life, walking the beautiful way.

And when our guests come to the table, when our children come to the table, beautiful tables. And again, I say, not the extravagance that goes with the world. We may not have any silverware that came from Tiffany’s. No. But even though the utensils cost little, they can be neatly arranged, right? And there is something that a good cook can do in taking food and preparing it in such a way that it looks nice and tastes good as well as being good for us. Is that right? Is all this a part of the beautiful way? Indeed it is. We will study that more.

Then, beautiful manners. In our intercourse with one another, courtesy, politeness; beautiful music to listen to; beautiful worship.

O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. – Psalm 96:9

When we come to Sabbath School and church, when we come to vespers, and when we gather around the family altar, our worship is to be beautiful. We are to make it as near like the angel’s worship as possible.

And then beautiful literature. We can select the best. We don’t have to go to the gutter.

And last, beautiful witnessing, witnessing for Jesus, telling others of His way. The most effective method of soul winning that we can use is presenting to others the joy, the beauty of life with Jesus.

Now, there is a closing point which, if I left out, would make this beautiful study incomplete and unbalanced and misleading. Will you turn to the 53rd chapter of Isaiah? This is a strange note to introduce in this study, but it must be introduced. It belongs here, and it is vital that we understand it. This is speaking of Jesus when He came here to this world. And although His was the most beautiful life that was ever lived here, this text says that His own people, found in Him:

No beauty that we should desire him. – Isaiah 53:2

You see that in the last line of the text? In the life of Jesus, no beauty? No beauty. His own people took Him and nailed Him to a cross. They saw in Him nothing desirable. And yet we have been studying in this lesson that He is the chiefest among ten thousand, the One altogether lovely. How does it come, my friends?

Oh, the unconverted heart cannot see the beauty of the kingdom of Heaven. So therefore (and get the point clear), never think, my dear friends, that we will be able to dress up Jesus in a way that all the multitudes will accept Him. Never think that we will be able to take God’s beautiful program of education, health reform, dress reform, and all the other beautiful reforms –and they are beautiful– never let us think that we can present them in such a way that the millions will embrace them with alacrity. Oh, no. The more beautiful the life of Heaven is lived, the more it arouses the wrath of the dragon.

But does that mean then that we can be careless about it all? No, no! On the contrary. That very fact should stimulate us to study and to pray and practice that we may present in their most attractive way these beautiful principles.

And that is the purpose of this class –

that we may learn the beauty of God’s way

&

the beautiful way of presenting the beautiful way.

Oh, that God may lead us into this experience.

Have you been blessed by the studies thus far? If so, please share with us, what stands out to you?

Invite two of your beautiful friends to join us, as we learn about God’s beautiful order and balance. 

-Continue on to the next study-

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* This study has been adapted from classes taken by Elder W.D. Frazee.