Sermon: Naked Before the Mirror
George J. Saylor
February 3, 2008
Few months ago now, Robin calls me to come see a show on TV. I walk in and see that she has on the W channel- "Television for women who hate men or want to learn how to hate men. " I said I’d take more joy from watching paint dry! But then she says the show’s called “How to Look Good Naked.” So out of respect for my wife and in order that I might understand better the unique and wonderful ways in which God created women, I figured it was my duty, nay, my obligation, to thoughtfully observe the show.
Within another 30 seconds I was profoundly disappointed and thought the title very misleading. They were discussing the merits of an empire waist and control top stockings. But like a car wreck, I was compelled to watch. What actually emerged, and though I’m endorsing the show- it is a bit risqué- was actually very moving. A woman who was in truth very normal and attractive, had a horribly low self esteem. She didn’t see herself in the right way. She was unnecessarily harsh and critical. And over the course of the show, this flamboyantly gay man actually talked her out of any radical cosmetic surgery, continued to flatter her, taught her some simple things about dressing and posture. By the end of the show this woman felt great about herself- better than she had in who knows how long.
Well, that’s not what we are talking about this month. I don’t have the time or patience or skill to give anyone a makeover. But that show got Robin and I thinking. Why do we fear being naked? Why are we obsessed with the nakedness of others? Why do women watch a show like that one? Why do women compare themselves to other women? Why are men more and more dealing with body image issues, working out for hours to become like Spartan men of muscle and virility? Why do men drool over naked women, diving deeper into pornography? Why do they chase after that illusive image they think will satisfy their sexual desires? A growing addiction to pornography is tearing apart the lives of both men and women, wrecking marriages, ruining careers, stealing childhoods, taking lives. Why do we want to look good naked? And more, what would it mean to really look good naked before ourselves, others, and God? What are the real standards of beauty? What really makes us look good?
Our obsession and fascination of our own and others nakedness begins with the fact that we are born naked. I know, you thought it was just you and your kids. In fact the bible says, on two occasions, "Naked I came from my mothers womb and naked I will depart." Job 1:21. The truth is tha underneath it all, all the clothes, all the make-up, all the masks that we wear, we’re just a bunch of naked people. And to understand ourselves, we must get in touch with the reality of our nakedness. So not surprisingly, this is where the bible starts. It starts stripped down, naked and exposed. The bible actually begins with a story of some people who looked good naked.
Genesis 2:15-25 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman,'
for she was taken out of man."For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
To understand where this series is going we have to get one thing straight- we were created to be naked! We were made to be naked and not ashamed of ourselves. Adam and Eve were standing naked in front of each other, naked before God, naked for the entire world to see, and it felt completely normal, completely right. All they had ever known was their birthday suits, and they were pretty happy with them. Adam seemed particularly happy with the declaration- “WOO-man!”
Being naked is literally how they were supposed to live. Naked and not objectified. Naked and not abused or mistreated in any way. Naked and completely protected, completely comfortable, completely safe and secure. Adam and Eve were in a naked state of harmony and relationship with themselves, with each other, with God, with the Garden itself.
But as the story unfolds Adam and Eve are deceived. They disobey God, sin enters the world, and the very moment this happens, the very moment it says, their eyes were opened in a way they hadn’t been and they realized for the first time that they were naked. They had no idea they were even naked or what nakedness meant up until this point. They looked at themselves with different eyes. They looked at each other differently. Something had radically changed for the worse and they knew it immediately. The story goes on say that they heard God and they hid. And when God called out, they said they were naked, they were ashamed, and they were afraid.
And nothing would be the same ever again. Because now the overwhelming feeling that the man and the woman experienced and felt was shame in looking upon their nakedness, and fear when God came close. And the rest of human history has been a story guided by our shame and fear, and in turn, our desire to run, to hide and to cover up. The rest of human history has been dealing with the sin that has come into our world and into our lives. The rest of human history and our lives is this internal feeling of disconnect- we were made to be naked, but we know we can’t live that way anymore.
Here’s the deal- the core problem with our lives is not that underneath it all we are naked, it’s that underneath it all we are naked, and we know it. The problem isn’t nakedness- it’s how we see nakedness. It’s that we see nakedness.
In this series we want to see nakedness in a new light. We want to get naked before ourselves, and see ourselves for who we really are. We want to get naked before God, and see how He views us. We want to get naked before each other, without the façade. We want to get naked before the world, so they can know who we are and whom we serve. The Christian life, the life of following Jesus Christ, is this journey where we come through the sin of this fallen world, we put our faith in Jesus Christ, and then, and as we stand in Him, in Jesus, we can stand naked, naked and not ashamed, of ourselves or of others, and unafraid of God. We stand in Jesus Christ and everything is put to right again. We stand in Jesus and like Billy Crystal used to say on SNL, "Darling, you look MARVELOUS!"
So today we start by taking a look in the mirror. When we start looking in the mirror, there’s a lot of things about ourselves that we are drawn to, things that we like. Nice hair, a pretty face, great legs, whatever. But then upon inspection we all seem to have those, shall we say, problem areas. When you really look in the mirror, you start to obsess and start noticing all those things you don’t like, like the hair that was supposed to grow on my face but decided to crop up all over my back. For may of us, looking the the mirror is very difficult, very uncomfortable. We don't like the image we see.
So the first thing we want to do, the best thing we can do as we look into the mirror, is to see ourselves as God sees us. And the first and most important thing to recognize as we look in the mirror is that what is being reflected is the very image of God. In Genesis 1, we read that
“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”While theologians have pondered for centuries what it means to be made in the image of God, let me share with you three things we know for sure- We are uniquely created; we have a unique role to fulfill; and we enjoy a unique relationship with God.
First, you are uniquely created. You, men and women, boys and girls, no matter how you look at yourself in the mirror, whether it be with undue harshness and criticism, or an unrealistic and over inflated ego, there is something truly amazing about you, truly wonderful about you, truly unique in all of creation- you have been created in the very image and likeness of God. This sets you apart and above all of creation. Men and women alone are made in the image of God- everything else is just a reflection of the creativity of God- from the universe to ecosystems to plants and animals to insects and everything else, they reflect the infinite and amazing creativity of our amazing God. But you are image bearers! You have the unique capacity to be the icons of God.
What does that mean? Icons are works of art that are created for the express purpose of reflecting the greatness and glory of God. It is something that was created to point past itself, and on to God. It is made to focus our attention and worship onto God. And so you were made in the image of God, an icon that reflects his glory, and points past yourself and onto God.
Being uniquely created in the image of God affirms many things about us and our God. We have been created physically, so there is something physical about the God, which we saw most clearly in Jesus Christ. We are spiritual creatures, and so the bible tells us that God is spirit and we worship Him in spirit and truth. We have intelligence, at least some humans do, so there is an amazing intellect in our God. We have emotions, and so we see the emotion and passion of our God throughout the bible. We are moral creatures, and while our moral compasses are often skewed, we still seem to have the guiding sense of right and wrong, good and bad, holiness and evil, that comes from outside ourselves. In all of these ways, and in may more, we can finally say that uniquely we are created as the image bearers in God creation.
But let’s be clear that there’s a difference between being created in the image of God, and being God. We are the creatures, God is the creator. Very few would argue that we are gods. Some would argue that we will become gods. It will suffice to say now that this belief is found nowhere in the bible. The final image of humanity that is portrayed in the bible is that we will have resurrected bodies, we will be free from disease and death, we will be immortal beings even now as we have immortal souls, but that we continue to worship and glorify not ourselves, but God.
Second, we have a unique role to fulfill. Ultimately, our design and purpose as image-bearers it is not really a proposition to be understood, but a role to be embraced. We are called to be the stewards of the creation. A unique role to guard, to develop, to keep the creation on behalf of the creator. A steward is someone who has been given authority and responsibility. It doesn’t come from themselves, it is bestowed on them. They ultimately answer to the owner, to the king, on how they managed what was theirs to steward. And so our role as steward is bestowed upon us and likewise we give account for what we do. This is not just another sermon, but a whole series, so I’m not even getting into. It will have to suffice to say that part of our core identity and calling as image bearers is to rightly steward our God’s creation- to put a modern label on it- we have no other option but to be green.
And this role of steward by its very definition leads to our third point, we were made to be in a unique relationship with God. To know God, to be known by God, dearly loved children, a chosen people, set apart. Perhaps the greatest reflection of the image of God that we see in ourselves is our capacity and desire for relationships. This is one of the unique features of the bible and the Christian faith- the revelation of God as a relational being. This relational, triune being of God becomes clearer and clearer as scripture progresses. In the life of Jesus, we read time and again of this relationship- the Father so loved the world that he sent his Son; the Son Jesus came to us to be our friend, our guide, our redeemer, our savior, and so much more. The Father, and the Son, send the Holy Spirit to bring us into spiritual life and relationship with Jesus and the Father. We are invited to come into this being of communion- we worship the Father, through the Son, depending on the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
This is how we were created as image bearers, what we're meant to do as image bearers, ans who we are and relational image bearer. And that’s sort of the catch-22 of being an image bearer. You see, ultimately the bible tells us that we are not our own. We were created as image bearers in a unique way to fulfill a unique role and to enjoy a unique relationship with God. Therefore, our lives are not meant just for our own pleasures and pursuits, but for the pleasure of God, and to pursue his kingdom and his righteousness in the world. And if we are outside of a relationship with God, it’s as if we lose sight of who we made to be, for whom we were made to love and worship.
St. Augustine, perhaps the greatest theologian to ever live, wrote in his masterpiece simply called “Confessions”:
GREAT are you, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is your power, and of your wisdom there is no end. And man, being a part of your creation, desires to praise you… You move us to delight in praising you; for you have formed us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in you.
Have you felt that restlessness? Are you feeling that restlessness? Are you ready to find your rest in God, your rest in the one who made, the one whom you reflect, the one who draws you back into relationship to himself through the saving grace of Jesus Christ? Are you ready to look in the mirror and see yourself the way God sees you? I hope so, because it’s beautiful…
You know what I love about babies? Among other things, is their love of looking in mirrors. Give a baby a mirror and they are totally self-absorbed. They really think they are about the best thing ever. And in a great way we see that they simply delight in looking upon themselves. And you know, despite the sin and flaws and flecks and blemishes, God still looks at us and is simply delighted, simply enamored. Ultimately we can say of ourselves as we look in the mirror what God says of us*. I made you, I know you, I love you, you are my child, you are beautiful to me.
Friends, as you look in the mirror this week, remember this- you are made in the image of God, and God likes what he sees. In fact he loves what he sees. And next week we are going to go deeper into that reflection as we stand naked before our God.
* Someof my favorite passages of God's love for us:
Psalm 139:13-16,
“For you (God) created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of the came to be!”
The prophet Isaiah, speaking for God, says, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” 43:1
In Jeremiah God say, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” 31:3
Zephaniah 3:17 tells us, “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
Jesus, time and again speaks of his love for us, his friendship with us, and ultimately, his death on a cross to save us.
Peter, one of the followers of Jesus, tells us, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9
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