Who Told You, You Were Naked?
CHRIST CULTURE: RESTORING GOD’S IMAGE- screens
Week 2 — “Who Told You that you were naked?”
Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Gen 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Bara – Created God has the authority to define what He created.
Tselem—image.
Demuth—likeness.
Humanity was created to represent God and resemble God.
We were created to reflect God’s character.
We were created to relate to God and to one another in ways consistent with God’s character.
And we were created to represent God’s rule, purposes, and character in the earth.
The image was distorted.
It was not destroyed.
- DISTORTION BEGAN WITH A VOICE
Genesis 3:1 says:
“Now the serpent was craftier than any living creature of the field which the LORD God had made. And the serpent said to the woman, ‘Can it really be that God has said…?’”
He doesn’t even begin with, “Eat the fruit.”
He starts with a question.
“Did God really say?”
The first battlefield in Genesis 3 is in Eve’s mind.
Can God really be trusted?
And if I question the Word of God long enough, eventually I will begin living independently of God.
Here’s the principle:
Behavior follows belief.
Actions follow assumptions.
Life follows theology.
- THE ENEMY DISTORTED GOD’S GENEROSITY
Now notice what God actually said.
Genesis 2:16 says:
“From any tree of the garden you may freely eat…”
The enemy changed Eve’s perception.
- THE LIE BENEATH THE LIE
Then the serpent takes it further.
Genesis 3:5 says:
“…your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…”
They were already created in God’s likeness.
They were tempted to achieve independently what God had already given them relationally.
They already had identity.
They already had dignity.
They already had relationship with God.
They already had purpose.
They already had authority.
They already had access to God.
They were already image-bearers.
Underneath the temptation was this lie:
God is holding something back from you. Or God has forgotten to give you what you need. Or God is punishing you because of your family, or decisions, or ethnicity, or build….
“I will define myself.”
But that’s why bara matters.
God created me.
And because God created me:
Only the voice that created me has the authority to define me.
Sin separates identity from the Creator and tells the creature:
“Define yourself.”
Christ Culture says:
“No. I receive my identity from the One who created me.”
- DECEPTION CHANGES PERCEPTION
Then Genesis 3:6 says:
“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was delightful to look at…”
Wait.
Eve’s perception changed.
Deception changes perception before it changes behavior.
A voice shapes a belief.
Belief influences desire.
Desire begins shaping identity.
Luk 22:3 Then Satan entered Judas, the one called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve [disciples].
Identity influences behavior.
Repeated behavior creates patterns.
Patterns affect relationships.
And relationship patterns can become generational inheritances.
What we refuse to confront in one generation can become an inheritance in the next.
That’s Christ Culture.
- WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU WERE NAKED?
Then they eat.
Genesis 3:7 says:
“Then the eyes of the two of them were opened…”
Genesis 3:11:
“Who told you that you were naked?”
Who told you?
God could have started with:
“What did you do?”
But He asks:
“Who told you?”
In other words:
Adam, where did this perception come from?
What changed was what nakedness meant to him.
And I believe God still asks that question.
Who told you?
Who told you?
Some of us are living under sentences God never spoke.
But the sentence stayed.
Only the voice that created you has the authority to define you.
THEN SHAME ENTERED THE STORY
Genesis 2:25 says:
“And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed…”
Then Genesis 3:7 says:
“…they knew that they were naked…”
Sin didn’t just change what they did. Sin changed what they saw.
They now saw themselves differently.
There’s a difference between guilt and shame.
Guilt says:
“I did something wrong.”
Shame says:
“Something is wrong with me.”
The image remains.
- WHY ARE YOU HIDING BEHIND THINGS
And when Adam and Eve experience shame, what do they do?
Genesis 3:7 says:
Fig leaves can cover you. They cannot heal you.
God wants to make you whole.
- AND GOD CAME LOOKING
Genesis 3:9:
“But the LORD God called to Adam, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”
Adam, where are you? HE’S STILL ASKING THAT QUESTION
Where are you spiritually?
Where are you emotionally?
Where are you relationally?
Where are you in relationship to Me?
Where are you in relationship to the man and woman I created you to be?
Where are you?
God came looking
They moved away. God moved toward them.
They hid. God called.
They broke relationship. God initiated conversation.
Before Adam asks for God God is looking for Adam.
The Gospel is the story of the God who comes looking.
Rom 5:18 So then as through one trespass [Adam’s sin] there resulted condemnation for all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
Rom 5:19 For just as through one man’s disobedience [his failure to hear, his carelessness] the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of the one Man the many will be made righteous and acceptable to God and brought into right standing with Him.
Genesis 1:26–27: Humanity is created in the image of God.
Colossians 1:15: Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
Romans 8:29: Believers are being conformed to the image of His Son.