"Naked And Not Ashamed"
Text: Genesis 2:18-25
10-3-2021
In the name of Him who covers us in His holy righteousness, dear friends in Christ. As you listened to the Old Testament reading for today, were you uncomfortable? Oh, I’m sure you’ve heard sermons on this text before, especially at a wedding. It’s a beautiful story of how God created Eve out of a rib from Adam and then united them in holy matrimony. That’s obviously not what I was referring to. Rather, the uncomfortable topic that I’m talking about is one that I doubt many if any of you have ever heard a sermon on. You see, in the old lectionary system this reading ended at verse 24. But now in the new system we have that ever-popular verse 25 included, “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” Adam and Eve might not have been ashamed, but we certainly blush when it comes to thinking about their nakedness… or ours for that matter!
“Pastor, surely you’re not thinking about preaching on being naked, are you?” Yes, I am! {And don’t call me Shirley! J} Actually, I had toyed with the idea of tweaking you with an eye-catching sermon title. Something like, “Let’s Get Naked.” Wouldn’t that look great on the church sign? Now lest you think I’ve lost my marbles or that I’m being irreverent, I can assure you that neither is true. You’re uncomfortable with this subject because you’re thinking only in terms of the nudity of their bodies. And your Christian conscience is telling you that it’s not right to be thinking thoughts like that in Church of all places! Good for you. But this verse is actually focused on the spiritual nakedness of Adam and Eve which was reflected in their bodily nakedness. Let’s work through that and you’ll see what I mean.
Why were Adam and Eve running around naked in the first place? Was it because the Garden of Eden was located in a tropical climate so that clothes were optional? No. The simple answer it that God had created them perfect. Not just with perfect bodies, but also perfect, sinless souls. They literally had nothing to hide. When they looked at one another it wasn’t through sinful eyes. There were no lustful or selfish thoughts running through their brains. Unlike today, they weren’t obsessed with sex. Everything about them, both inside and out was perfect and holy. So they truly could be “naked and not ashamed.” But on a much higher level, this was true because in their sinless state they were focused on God and not themselves. Since they were sinless, they not only had perfect union with each other, but also with God. Their souls as well as their bodies were exposed before their Maker and they had nothing to be ashamed of. It was a beautiful and unhindered existence.
Now in case you’re not convinced that the nakedness of that first couple really was all about their sinlessness all you need do is look at what happens in the very next chapter of Genesis. You know how this sad episode played out. Satan tempts Eve to disobey God. He urges her to eat some of the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And do you remember what the devil promises her will happen? “When you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." As always, the devil is dealing in half-truths. Once Adam and Eve sinned by eating that fruit their eyes were indeed opened. Their eyes were opened to not only see good—which is all they ever knew before—but now they could also see evil. What the devil didn’t tell Eve was that this discernable evil would be in them! Along with that evil would come the decay of sin which leads to death, both physical and spiritual.
Do you remember what happens next? Genesis 3:7 says, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” Before they fell into sin, they were naked and not ashamed. After, they were ashamed, because it reflected the nakedness of their sin. With their eyes wide open the ugliness of their newly acquired sin was laid bare. It made them uncomfortable. So, they tried to cover up their naked bodies. Prior to the Fall when they were perfect and pure, their nakedness was “decent exposure.” Now, with sin in the picture, their nudity was “indecent exposure.”
It’s rather pathetic to visualize Adam & Eve sewing together fig leaves to cover their shame. Come on! You know what’s going to happen to those leaves in a day or two. They’ll dry up, crumble, and blow away, exposing their nakedness all over again. But even more pathetic was the idea or hope that clothing could cover up their shame of sin. Thankfully, though, God who is ever merciful, had a plan to fix that. Before He kicked Adam & Eve out of the Garden, the Lord covered their nakedness with something more permanent. God made clothes for them out of animal skins. I don’t want you to miss something important there. An innocent animal had to die in order for the nakedness of Adam & Eve to be properly covered. Their feeble attempts to cover themselves were ridiculously inadequate. Instead, God provided a cover for their nakedness.
All this is a perfect picture of sin and salvation, except it’s a reverse reflection. From the moment of conception, we inherited the original sin of Adam. Because of that, we haven’t got a clue as to what sinless goodness is. We are born into this world knowing nothing but evil in our hearts. And our ugly, naked sinfulness is on full display for all the world to see. God has graciously allowed the feeling of shame to accompany our sins. That shame makes us uncomfortable which is a good thing. Because it stirs within us a desire to cover that shame. Unfortunately, our sinful world is all too good at suggesting pathetic “leaves” for us to sew together to cover our naked sins. We sew up a cute little outfit of good works thinking that will cover up our ugly sins. We sew together excuses in an effort to cover our spiritual nakedness. When that fails, we shrug our shoulders and say “So what?” Then, we prance around like a nudist acting as though our exposed sins are natural and good. And we make a pact with each other: “I won’t pull off your fig leaf if you promise to not tug at mine.” For example, we don’t dare call living together without marriage a sin for fear that someone will expose our sexual sins. We think we can cover up the mean and hateful things we say and do by coming to a church service now and then, acting all pious. Our gossiping is wrapped in the lie that we’re just “sharing information.” Or we steal from our employer through laziness while justifying it by saying we’re not being paid a fair wage.
But just as the leafy clothes of Adam & Eve were destined to crumble, exposing their nakedness, so do our excuses. Only God can provide a proper covering for our sins. However, He must first open our eyes. Through the gift of faith God reveals to us the true ugliness of our sins and their deadly consequences. He shows us the depths of our utter depravity. He lays bare the hopelessness of ever trying to cover up our sins. Sadly, this is the very reason why some folks avoid the Church like the plague. Deep down they’re afraid to come here and let God expose their sinfulness. They don’t want to intensify the guilt and shame of their nakedness of sin. So, they stay away.
What they miss out on, though, is the complete covering of our naked shame with the Gospel of forgiveness. As long as a person keeps trying to cover their sins with their own pitiful efforts, God cannot clothe them in the perfect robe of Christ’s righteousness. You thought I was joking before when I said that the title of this sermon ought to be “Let’s Get Naked!” But seriously, that is what God invites you to do: to get spiritually naked. Why do you think He calls you to confess your sins? God is calling you to drop all your crumbling, flimsy excuses and stand before Him spiritually naked, totally exposing your sins to His perfect Law. Thankfully, God doesn’t just leave us there in our indecent exposure of sin. Due to the atoning death of Jesus on the cross, all those shameful, hidden sins have been removed. Just as an innocent animal had to die in order for God to properly cover Adam & Eve, the innocent Lamb of God, Christ Jesus, died in order to provide a permanent and acceptable covering for our souls. Now when God looks at us, He no longer sees our naked sinfulness. Rather, He sees the perfection of His Son. By faith in Jesus, we can stand in the presence of God, naked and unashamed because our Savior took all our shame to the cross and removed it from us.
We live in a world that is consumed with trying to cover up or deny their naked sinfulness. But we have the Good News to share that God has a solution for the shame we experience due to our sin. I certainly wouldn’t advise any of you to go out and invite people to “Come to church and get naked.” Their untrained ears might not understand. Rather, how about if we all simply tell the good news that Jesus died to take away our sins and now, He clothes us in His own, perfect righteousness so that we can stand before God, unashamed and acceptable in His presence. Amen!
Soli Deo Gloria!