The Gospel According to Once Upon a Time
#4 – Strutting Through Life in Your Birthday Suit
Hebrews 4:12-13 and Revelation 3:17-18 and Isaiah 61:10 (NLT)
By John Gill ~ July 28, 2024
I woke up one Sunday morning, only to realize that my alarm had not gone off! I didn't have time to shower or eat, only to jump out of bed, grab my sermon notes, hop in the car, and race down to the church. The choir was already singing the call to worship when I ran down the aisle and up on the platform. With great relief at having managed to get there in time, I turned to face the congregation...Children began to point and giggle. Adults had a shocked look on their faces and began to whisper with one another. I realized something must be wrong, so I looked down, and to my horror, noticed that in my hurry I had forgotten to get dressed! There I stood before God and everybody, naked as a jay bird! And right about then, I jolted up in bed, my heart pounding, and sweat beading on my forehead! “Thank you, Jesus... It was only a dream!”
Early in my ministry, from time to time, I would have variations of that same nightmare. In my conversations with other pastors, it seems that most of us have had that dream. Perhaps you also have had a similar dream in your professional life. There is something about nakedness that makes us more than a little uncomfortable. “Nakedness.” Now, there is a topic you don't hear much about in church! Yet, when you take time to study “nakedness” in the Bible, you discover that God's word refers to “naked” or “nakedness” over 100 times, and in a variety of different ways:
Often, “nakedness” is seen in a negative light: For instance, when Noah and his family resettled after the flood, Noah got so drunk that he fell asleep naked, and his sons had to come in and cover up his disgrace. Or, in Hosea, where God condemns the faithlessness of Israel, and says that he will “strip her and expose her shame and nakedness.” Or, when it comes to the crucifixion of Jesus, most artists depicting this horrific event on canvas have chosen to drape strategically-located strips of cloth across the genitals of Jesus, even though we know that the Romans deliberately stripped all those condemned to death on the cross so that their nakedness might expose their “shame.”
In other places, “nakedness” is approved of: Remember the story of creation? Before sin came into the picture, the Bible says that Adam and Eve were “naked, and not ashamed.” And certainly, in that beautiful love poem, Song of Solomon in our Bible, nakedness between a husband and wife is celebrated and blessed. In chapter 8, verse 10, the woman says, “I was a virgin, like a wall; now my breasts are like towers. When my lover looks at me, he is delighted with what he sees.” In chapter 5, she says of her lover, “My lover is dark and dazzling, better than ten thousand others! … His body is like bright ivory, glowing with lapis lazuli… he is desirable in every way.” Yes, in the right context, nakedness is holy and blessed.
At other places in the scriptures, God uses nakedness to make a point. You may recall that the prophet Isaiah was called by God to walk naked among the people of Israel for three years to prophesy about the shame that they would experience at the hands of foreign powers. And in the Book of Revelation, the heavenly Christ says that we should seek to cover our nakedness with the garments he can provide: “You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked… So I advise you to buy… white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness...”
Yes, nakedness is basic to the human experience because when we are naked, whether the experience is positive or negative, we are vulnerable, more so than at any other time. Few things in life conjure up such strong emotions and reactions than the experience of being naked.
I believe that this is the appeal of the story we will be reflecting on this morning. As you may know, this is the fourth sermon in a series in which we are looking at the stories of our childhood to discover within them biblical or eternal truths. Today, I'd like for us to think about Hans Christian Andersen's classic story, “The Emperor's New Clothes.” I'm sure all of us are familiar with the story, but it may have been some time since you read it, so here it is in a nutshell.
Once Upon a Time… there was an emperor who loved clothes. He spent much of his fortune having the finest tailors in the land make the most elaborate clothes for his wardrobe. One day, some con artists who had heard about the King's clothing fetish, came to the palace and tried to pass themselves off as tailors. They claimed that they were able to make cloth that was unbelievably fine, fit only for a king.
What's more, the cloth was magical. Only the wisest people in the land could see the cloth. Those who were stupid would not be able to see it at all.
The king knew he just had to have a suit of clothes made out of this fabulous fabric! So he gave the men a great deal of money to purchase supplies, and off to work went the tailors. The men set up a loom and began to pretend to weave, but nothing was on the loom.
As the weeks passed, the entire Kingdom was abuzz about the magic cloth and couldn't wait to see it. The emperor was also beginning to get impatient. So he sent his most trusted advisor to check on the progress. When the advisor arrived at the workshop, the so-called tailors held up their imaginary cloth and began to brag about the fine texture and the lovely pattern. Of course, the king's advisor could not see anything at all, but, not wanting to appear stupid, he agreed that the cloth was exquisite, and reported that to the emperor. Later, the king sent another adviser and, because he wanted to appear wise, he also bragged to the king about the cloth.
Well, one day the fraudulent tailors sent word that the cloth was ready, and the king went to be measured for his new clothes. When he went into the workshop he strained his eyes to see the fabric that wasn't there. His advisors had been able to see it, why couldn't he? So the emperor also pretended to see the fabric.
Finally, the day came when the suit of clothes was finished. The king carefully put on the imaginary clothes, turned to his advisors, and asked how he looked. “Marvelous! Outstanding! There has never been a suit of clothes like that!”
Proudly, the king called everyone in the kingdom to attend a great parade where he would show off his new finery. People lined the street, eager to see the fabulous clothes made out of the magical cloth. When the emperor came strutting down the street, his subjects, not wanting to seem stupid, all called out their congratulations and compliments.
Now, in the crowd that day there was a little boy, sitting on his father's shoulder. The little boy had heard all the compliments about the king's new clothes. And, with the honesty and frankness of youth, he cried out, “The emperor isn't wearing any clothes - he is naked!”
And, once the truth was out in the open, everyone realized their foolishness - even the emperor himself.
The story is entertaining, even funny. We laugh at the foolishness of the emperor, strutting down the street in his birthday suit. But, like so many of these children's stories, there is a sober lesson to be learned here. I believe this little innocent story is a powerful parable that exposes the spiritual condition of many people today - maybe even some in this room.
There are lots of people today who are just as naked - and just as foolish as that king was. Maybe we have enough sense not to parade down Granada Blvd. in the buff, but many people think nothing of walking through life spiritually naked and vulnerable to eternal death. And, when the voice of truth calls out and exposes their condition, they will discover just how foolish they have been.
One of the most fascinating characters in the Bible was the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, the very one I mentioned a moment ago who spent three years walking naked among the people of God to demonstrate the shame of God's people. But later on in the book of Isaiah, that same prophet rejoices at the new spiritual clothing that covers his shame and nakedness: “I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness.”
This little story says to me that we must take a good look at ourselves and see whether we are “clothed in salvation and draped in a robe of righteousness,” or if, in reality, we are standing before God and the world- naked.
You know, in God's eyes, physical nakedness is of little consequence. But spiritual nakedness is the difference between eternal life and death.
There are at least three types of people who are spiritually naked, who are unable to see that their eternal destiny is in jeopardy:
First, there are many people in our world today who are spiritually naked, know it, and are proud of it! These are people who live according to the world, who go through life with little or no thought to their spiritual nakedness, and seem to have no concern about their eternal destiny. They almost flaunt their spiritual nakedness in the face of God, and ridicule and reject the robe of righteousness that God offers in Jesus Christ.
Probably there are none of these folks in our church this morning, yet these are exactly those that Jesus commands us to evangelize - to help them see their nakedness, and their need for being clothed in salvation. Jesus said he came “to seek and to save the lost” and so must we, if we are to be his church. [By the way, this is our motivation for establishing a dinner church worship option to reach those in our community with the gospel of Christ in fresh and new ways.]
There are others who are spiritually naked, and know it, but they try to fake it before the world. Now, chances are we may have a few fakers in church today, because they can be found in every congregation.
Like the emperor, they know they are naked before God, but they think that if they try hard enough, and go around with a religious strut, they can fake it. As the late Bishop of the Florida conference, Cornelius Henderson, so colorfully put it in one of his sermons years ago: “You can carry a Bible under each arm, and still be dead.”
The truth is that you may be able to fool people, but you cannot fool God. As it is said in our first lesson from Hebrews: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”
God knows whether you are clothed with salvation or not, because, if you have that robe of righteousness, he is the one who gave it to you! You cannot fake spiritual clothing - you either have it, or you don't.
It's tragic when people know they are spiritually naked and either flaunt it, or fake it. But I believe the most pathetic people are those who have convinced themselves that they are clothed with salvation but who, in reality, are actually spiritually naked. What a tragedy it will be when the day comes for them to stand before Jesus and hear the voice of truth: “He's not wearing the robe of righteousness! She’s spiritually naked!”
Bishop Ricardo Pereira of the Methodist Church of Cuba was the guest of the Florida conference on a number of occasions. One time when I heard him preach, he told a story that spoke about the peril we face if we are spiritually naked:
It seems that there was a very brilliant and learned man who was rather arrogant about his intellect. As he travelled through the countryside, he wanted to cross a large body of water. The only way to get across was to hire a simple uneducated fisherman to take him in his little boat.
On the way across, the intellectual man asked the humble fisherman, “Tell me, do you know anything about mathematics?” “No sir, I'm only a simple fisherman. I don't know anything about mathematics.” The passenger replied, “Man, if you don't know mathematics, you've lost 10% of your life!”
“Well, what about physics, certainly you must know physics!” “I'm sorry, I'm afraid not." “Well, there goes another 10% of your life!”
The pompous passenger went on to ask the fisherman about literature, and biology, and other subjects, and each time, took away another 10% until the poor fisherman realized that his life had been reduced to 0%.
About that time, the boat sprang a leak and began to take on water very quickly. The fisherman realized that the boat was about to sink. So the fisherman asked the brilliant scholar, “Sir, do you know how to swim?” The scholar, panicking, answered, “No, I don't!” “Too bad” the fisherman replied, “because you're about to lose 100% of your life!”
That arrogant man knew a lot about many things (he was “robed” with many academic hoods). But he didn't know the one thing that could have saved his life!
You and I can fool ourselves into thinking that: what we know about God; how expert we may be in the Bible; how good we may be in caring for others; how much volunteer work we do; or the number of committees we serve on… We may fool ourselves into thinking that, somehow, all those good things have been “woven together" to make a wonderful garment to hide our nakedness. But one day comes the voice of truth, and our foolishness is exposed.
You see, it isn't what we do, or what we know that clothes us with salvation; it's who we know! Do we know the one who gives out the robe of righteousness - the only one who can cover us with the clothes of salvation?
Many years ago at another of our annual conferences, a different guest Bishop was invited to preach: Bishop Meadors of Mississippi. He told of a little girl who was to fly to visit her grandmother by herself. The flight attendant got her on the plane early and placed her in a nice window seat. Soon a well-dressed man sat next to her and began to read his book. Then another man, who was apparently a businessman, took the aisle seat. The little girl seemed quite nervous, but after the plane took off and reached cruising altitude, she relaxed.
After a while, she tapped the arm of the man sitting next to her and asked, “Mr. did you eat breakfast this morning?” The man looked up and said, “Yes, I did, thank you.” “Did you brush your teeth?" He replied, “Yes, of course.”
A few minutes went by, and then she tapped him again. “Mr. do you know Jesus?” The man smiled, “Yes, yes I do. I am a pastor, and I do know Jesus.” Well, that made the little girl happy.
After a moment, she noticed the other man in their row. She leaned over to her new friend and whispered, “Ask him.” The pastor looked a little hesitant. “Oh, I can't do that; I don't know him.”
“Yes you can, ask him!” The pastor tried to explain, “You don't understand, it would be rude...” “Ask him!” So, the pastor leaned over to his neighbor and said, “Excuse me, sir, the little girl wants to know… if you… ate breakfast this morning?" As the stranger gave an affirmative answer, the girl glared at the pastor. “And… she wants to know if you brush your teeth.” With that, the girl elbowed the preacher in the ribs and said, “Ask him!”
Finally, the pastor said, “What the girl really wants to know is if you know Jesus.” The man said, “No – but maybe I should…” He began to tell of how it seemed his life was falling-apart, and that he was desperate to try just about anything. Before that plane landed, the pastor and his little friend led that man to Jesus Christ.
You see, when that businessman got on the plane, he was spiritually naked. He may not have been aware of it, but he was naked, nonetheless. But, by the time he got off, God had clothed him with salvation and given him the robe of righteousness. He was naked no longer.
This morning, I feel that little girl's elbow prodding me.. “Ask them!” And so, I will: Friend, do you know Jesus? Do you know that you have been “clothed with salvation and given the robe of righteousness?” Or are you just “strutting through life in your birthday suit…” spiritually naked, and lost?
If so, that can change this morning. During communion as we are moving around the sanctuary, you're invited to go to the prayer area in the back of the sanctuary where one of our pastors will greet you and pray with you, that you can ask God to cover your nakedness. Then you, like Isaiah, can proclaim, “I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness.”
© 2024 by John B. Gill, III