A World Without Shame

A World Without Shame (e)
Jim Davis
A man picked up a hitchhiker who in the course of conversation said, "I am trying to find myself." The man who picked the hitchhiker up told him that he knew exactly where he was; you are sitting next to me. He smiled rather warily but then they talked more seriously. He really meant that he was trying to find significance and meaning in his life. We need to be told or reminded that man’s meaning is found in his relationship to God, and nowhere is it better explained than in the Garden of Eden. The really important things—what we really need to know about our world and ourselves are given here in the first few chapters of Genesis.
Man’s home in Eden
While living in California I often visited and hiked in the Sequoia National Park. There are trees there that are the oldest living things on earth. The giant Sequoias date back a thousand years before Christ was born. It is breath taking to stand before a living thing that almost dwarfs time. You wonder what those trees could tell you if they could speak. When you stand before the giant Sequoias they have the scars of time. They have scars where they have survived forest fires and storms. The bark on those trees is fire resistant but they bare the scars of time. I have often thought it sure would be nice to live in Sequoia National Park. It would be a breath taking home.
Living among the Sequoias would be nothing compared to living in Eden. Today it would be hard for us to dream up a place as wonderful as Eden. Eden had the freshness of creation. The most beautiful and bountiful paradise man could ever imagine. Imagine standing before the God of time and eternity in a world that bares no scars of time.
Although God’s earth was a perfect creation, Eden was different. It overflowed with an abundance of beauty and fruit. The word "Eden" means a place of delight, of pleasure, of bliss. Eden means paradise. The real beauty of this garden was that it was man’s home. From the beginning man knew the difference between Eden and the rest of the land outside. God had given him a place that far exceeded the rest of the earth. God did not put man in a palace of silver and gold, nor a house made of ivory, but in the most beautiful and artful place of all: nature—a Garden planted, furnished and adorned by God Himself.
Jesus said, "See how the lilies of the field grow. . .Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these" (Matthew 6:28-29 NIV). Solomon’s beautiful temple with his throne of ivory overlaid with gold was nothing. Eden was more beautiful than the ordinary lilies of the field. Notice that God made trees pleasant to sight and good for food. It was furnished to provide both Adam’s need and pleasure.
Every species of vegetation, fruit, berry, and nut was there—everything to satisfy the taste and nourishment of man. Every tree, bush, shrub, flower, and plant imaginable was in Eden! Each with its on height and width, leaf and bark, color and fragrance. The aesthetic beauty is unimaginable.
Imagine in the midst of all this beauty, God bringing all the animals to Adam for him to study and name. As Adam researches their nature to give them an appropriate name, it dawns on him that every living animal has a companion just like itself—except him. He saw and felt his need for a companion. When God created woman, Adam knew how desperately he needed a companion who was just like himself, a companion with his very own nature.
Even though it was a perfect world, God said that it is not good that man is alone. God took a rib from Adam and created woman. God presented the woman to man. Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." The phrase "this is now" some say is an explanation of delight. Some commentators suggest that it meant, "wow, look at that!"
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it...’" (Genesis 1:27-28 NIV) .
Liberty in Eden
The first two chapters of Genesis show that God granted man and woman a unique status and a unique responsibility. Rocks were made to roll and rivers to flow but they were slaves to gravity. Flowers would bloom and trees would grow because of in-built genetic codes. Lions would roam and seagulls would fly in accordance with divinely implanted instincts, but man and woman while subject to gravity and genetics and instincts were given the uniquely enriching and challenging capability of choice.
Pavlov showed with his dogs and Skinner demonstrated with pigeons that animal behavior can be modified by "reinforcers" and "punishments" in much the same way that human behavior can be conditioned.
When taken to its extreme, however, the thought of modifying human behavior through controls leads to the questions "Who controls whom?" and "Who decides what is best?" and "How do we avoid such control being used in an unethical and immoral way?" and "Whose standards of morality are adopted?" We have no knowledge that dogs and pigeons ponder such problems, but we know that humans do and it is in this area of morality that man’s uniqueness shines through.
A keen sense of morality is surprisingly evident in all people. Even the most immoral persons have their own ideas to what is right for them, and amoral people—people who do not believe in morality—have been known to complain loud and long if they feel that they are not being treated fairly!
This moral sensitivity should not be regarded as a late development in man because Genesis states that "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:9) was introduced right from the beginning and man’s ability to respond to it was there as soon as anything was there.
Man has looked for ages for a way to prolong life. Ponce de Leon was looking for the fountain of youth. NBC news had a news brief about the key to eternal life. It was basically about research that had been conducted that showed that rabbits, monkeys, and rats that had reduced calorie intake live twice as long as those that were overfed. Those overfed had more disease and died much faster. The conclusion was that the key to life is to eat a more balanced diet -- eat fewer calories.
But in the midst of this garden planted by God there were no fountain of youth or diet book, but rather the tree of life. He had breathed into man the breath of life. He had given man the tree of life. God merely placed there the liberty to make a choice between life and death.
"And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2: 9 KJV) .
No moral shame in Eden
To me the most descriptive thing about life in Eden was, "The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame" (Genesis 2:25).
They had nothing about which to be ashamed. Eden was a world without shame. They belonged to one another: their bodies belonged to the other, together they belonged to God, and there was no guilt, or shame—nothing whatsoever to hide from each other. They had nothing to hide from God. Shame carries with it the idea of fear. This was a world without fear because it had no shame.
It wasn’t a world without shame because of ignorance. You go to the jungles of Africa, South America, and Asia where the natives are running around nude out of ignorance. This man and woman had knowledge of each other’s bodies. God had already told them to be fruitful and multiply. They knew about the birds and the bees. They knew about the matters of life and death. They knew the facts of life.
It wasn’t like a nudist colony where men work to tear down all their inhibitions. That world was not like T-back restaurants, or T-back hot-dog stands, or topless bars or nude beaches where people have no shame.
It was a world without shame—not a world that didn’t know how to blush. Jeremiah was speaking of Israel in their rebellion against God. Jeremiah asked, "Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush." (Jeremiah 6:15 KJV). Ezra had a much different attitude. Ezra said, ". . . O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens" (Ezra 9:6 KJV).
"Without shame" carries with it the idea of openness before one another and God. Imagine standing before God naked in a garden without shame as you walk and talk with God.
Moses writes, "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day..." (Genesis 3:8). Can you imagine taking an evening walk with God nude. Today we don’t want to face the cameras without make-up.
Our world can hardly imagine the beauty this world of Genesis had to offer. Expressing sexuality in a world of purity. No gender gap. No sexuality transmitted diseases. There was no Adam and Steve, just Adam and Eve. No shame of the way God had made them. Such purity and innocence—of which we can only dream.
A fork in the road in Eden
Several artists were asked to illustrate their concepts of temptation. When their paintings were unveiled, some of them depicted man’s attempt to achieve fame and fortune at any cost, while others pictured mankind’s struggle against the alluring desires of the flesh. The prize-winning canvas, however, was quite different. It portrayed a pastoral scene in which a man was walking along a quiet country lane among inviting shade trees and lovely wild flowers. In the distance the way divided into two roads, the one leading to the right, the other to the left. The artist was seeking to convey the thought that sin’s allurements are extremely subtle at first—just an innocent looking fork in the road! In the prize- winning picture the road that veers to the left seems almost as inviting as the one that keeps to the right. But if the traveler would choose to take it, he would soon become mired in the mud of sin that would soil his life and ruin his life.
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 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. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden" (Gen 3:6-8 NIV).
The most powerful thing on earth God placed in our first parents hands. The power of choice. There was no power outside them that had control of this power. No one had the power to overrule man’s power of choice. God had created him free, the choice was his and his alone; no one had the power to overrule his choice.
Our lives today are the products of all the choices we have made.
The other night my wife and I went to see the movie Dead Man Walking. It was about a man on death row. When he was headed toward the place of execution, the guard called out, "Dead man walking." Those living in sin today are dead men walking. It didn’t take long for Adam and Eve’s deadness to show up in the fracturing of the beautiful relationship that they enjoyed with the world, with one another, and with God.
"The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden . . ." (Genesis 3:23-25).
If I lived in Eden, what would I do?
The most remarkable things about this story are the utterly passive and docile roles, which Adam plays. It appears that Adam was with Eve when she was tempted and yet never spoke up. The woman had at least attempted to answer the serpent; she had given some indication of considering the issues. But all we hear about Adam is, "She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3:6). We have difficulty understanding?
I have thought "If I were Adam, I would choose life over death. If only Adam had not sinned?" Have you ever thought that today you have a choice between life and death. Every time you sin you choose death over life. We sanitize sin so it doesn’t sound so bad. But that little three-letter word -- is the difference between death and life. Every time you sin, you stand where Adam stood.
Two stories. Front page. Side-by-side. The first story was about a 13-year-old boy whose biggest worry was how to spell some tough words. He had just won the regional spelling bee and was headed for the national championship.
The second story was about a 13-year-old boy who had to worry about tough lawyers and criminal indictments. He had just been arrested for murder and was headed for prison. Two boys. Two vastly different stories. We wonder why.
If there had been a Garden of Eden Times in the days of Adam and Eve, the front page would have carried a story of two boys—not just from the same city, but from the same family. One son turned out great; the other turned out to be a murderer. Same parents. Same opportunity. Opposite results. Why? They each had different attitudes toward sin. This led them to make different choices.
You begin to see the dire consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin in the life of their children. You can only wonder what our first parents thought as they stood over the grave of Abel.
God told Cain when he offered an unacceptable sacrifice, just before he killed Abel, " . . . If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it" (Genesis 4:6-7).
As a Christian you can have it all today.
Through Christ you can have it all today. Peter says that God’s " . . . divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. . ." (2 Peter 1:3). Paul said, "For all things are yours . . . all are yours. And you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (1 Cor 3:21-23). Jesus Christ came to give us life abundantly (John 10:10). Jesus said, " . . . I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this" (John 11:25-26)?
When John saw a vision of heaven he wrote, "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations" (Rev 22:1-2 NIV).
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’" (Rev 21:1-4).
God asks three questions of Adam and Eve in Eden after they sinned.
Where are you?
When God came to visit Adam in the garden, God called to the man, "Where are you?" Adam said, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." (Gen 3:9-11 NIV)?
This morning I would like to ask you, "Where are you?" Are you afraid and ashamed? Are you hiding from God?
"Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:13 KJV)
"Who told you that you were naked?"
Has anyone told you that without Christ you stand naked before God?
But it is not without shame.
Isaiah preached stripped naked to God’s people for three years. He stood as a vivid visual illustration of Israel’s condition. Isaiah said to those who were in rebellion to God, "Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one" (Isaiah 47:3 NIV).
In ancient times when one king won a battle over another king, there would be a triumphant procession back to the victor's homeland. The captives were stripped naked and made to march in the triumphant procession. This is what sin does to us, if we fail to master it. Sin strips us of our dignity.
"I am against you," declares the LORD Almighty. "I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame" (Nahum 3:5 NIV).
"Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
Every time we choose sin we have chosen to eat the forbidden fruit. Every time we sin we stand where Adam stood. The consequences are the same. We die! "The soul that sins, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:21).
God Will Cover Your Nakedness
"The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the LORD God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.'"
Today God wishes to cover your shame in the blood of Christ. Today you can put on Christ to cover your nakedness.
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Gal 3:26 NIV).
In Ezekiel’s day God was pleading with his people who were choosing death, God said, "Say to them, As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel" (Ezekiel 33:11 NIV)? "Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel" ( Ezekiel 18:31 NIV)?
Today you can choose to live with Christ or die without him. Jesus came to set us free from sin’s enslavement. Jesus said, "If you continue in my word . . .you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).
Arise be baptized and wash away your sin with the blood of Christ (Acts 22:16).
Today you have the same choice that Adam and Eve had. Today you can have it all. In the first four chapters of Genesis we find significance and meaning? Why would you choose death?