Fashion Crime

[00:00:00] Speaker A: I have a question for you guys. [00:00:02] Speaker B: Ooh. [00:00:02] Speaker A: Have you ever committed a fashion crime? [00:00:06] Speaker B: So my fashion crime would be I had to Google what was in fashion because I don't know. My idea in life is to always wear, like, the vanilla level, and so I'm never really trendy. But then my hopes in that is I'm never really out of style either. I'm just this boring vanilla middle. [00:00:26] Speaker C: Now, come on, be nice to yourself. You are classic. [00:00:29] Speaker A: I've never thought she's. [00:00:31] Speaker B: Ladies are so nice either. [00:00:32] Speaker C: Me either. [00:00:33] Speaker A: Solid strategy, though. [00:00:35] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. [00:00:36] Speaker C: So that is your. That's your fashion. That's my fashion. [00:00:39] Speaker B: Commit them all of the time. [00:00:41] Speaker C: I mean, I'll be honest. If I were to, like, actually think about all of the fashion crimes, I would probably need therapy after this because I think that my strategy is to just, like, just move on. [00:00:52] Speaker B: Block it out. [00:00:53] Speaker C: Block it out. Yeah. I mean, I can think of probably a dozen times I used to wear scrubs for my job, and I can think of probably a dozen times that getting dressed at 4am I wore my scrubs inside out. So, you know, wearing things inside out, backwards, whatever. But if I were to, like, pinpoint a fashion crime that I'm like, oh, my goodness, like, how did my mom let me out of the house looking like this? [00:01:15] Speaker A: You brought a photo. [00:01:16] Speaker C: I did. [00:01:16] Speaker A: I hope you guys are watching, not just listening. [00:01:19] Speaker C: I have some evidence. I have not seen this. You know, the tuck is, like, really in the shirt tuck. You know, I've seen you, like, rock the shirt tuck, where it's like, one sure half of the. Of it tucked in and whatnot. You rock the tuck. Thank you. I'm just. Thank you. I, however, did not rock the T very cutely when I was. So for those who are listening, I'll just describe this soccer picture for you. I think I was probably about eight or nine. Um, and my uniform. My soccer uniform for this team picture is tucked so far into my high. [00:01:56] Speaker A: They're really high. [00:01:58] Speaker B: They were not gonna fall down. [00:01:59] Speaker C: They were not gonna fall down 6. [00:02:01] Speaker B: Inches before they left. [00:02:02] Speaker C: Let me just say there was no way of having any kind of. What did we talk about last time? Wardrobe malfunction. No wardrobe malfunctions here, friends. My. My booty was nicely tucked into these shorts, and you can't even read our Arvada soccer words because my shirt is so far tucked into my shorts. So, mom, if you were listening to this, why did you not. Were you not there on picture day? I'm just wondering. [00:02:29] Speaker A: She was probably, like, she looks so nice. [00:02:32] Speaker C: She, she. [00:02:32] Speaker A: Yeah, you're right. [00:02:34] Speaker C: You're right. Yeah. So there's my fashion crime. I hope I do a better tuck now. I do actually have the tuck right going right now. [00:02:40] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:02:42] Speaker C: They're a little high waisted, but hopefully appropriately. [00:02:46] Speaker B: How about you, Ally? [00:02:47] Speaker A: Okay, so this is an embarrassing story too. When I was in maybe sixth or seventh grade, I used to have this T shirt that said number one brat across the front of it. And I don't know, that was in style. [00:03:02] Speaker B: I do remember that. [00:03:03] Speaker C: Like the sassy sayings. [00:03:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess. I don't know why I thought that was cool to wear, but I thought it was so cool that I wore it on picture day. [00:03:10] Speaker C: Oh. So where was your mom on picture day? [00:03:12] Speaker A: I don't know. Seriously, where was she? She's probably going to hear them. [00:03:18] Speaker C: So. [00:03:18] Speaker A: Okay. But not only did it say number one brat, I had like a jacket on the day of pictures and the side of the jacket covered up the tee. So it said number one bra in school pictures? [00:03:33] Speaker B: Yes. So this was like in the yearbook? [00:03:35] Speaker A: Yes. [00:03:36] Speaker B: Oh, and you said that is an age where you would be more confident. [00:03:39] Speaker A: It's like in the yearbook and everything. And I think I remember asking my mom for retakes and she's like, nope. She thought it was so funny and she's still laughed. Laughs when I bring it up for. [00:03:51] Speaker B: A podcast how many years later? So you know, yeah, sure. [00:03:54] Speaker C: Oh yeah. Okay. I would really like to see evidence of this, so if we can get it around, we'll post it to our social media. Okay. Can I act now here? Now? I want to know like listeners. I would like to know what their fashion see evidence. I want to see the receipt. [00:04:12] Speaker A: I'll share if you guys do. [00:04:14] Speaker C: Yeah, that sounds like a good deal. Welcome to the Gospel Threads podcast where we uncover gospel themes woven through all of scripture and explore what they mean for our lives today. [00:04:41] Speaker A: Welcome to the Gospel Threads podcast. I'm Allie. [00:04:43] Speaker B: I'm Stephanie. [00:04:44] Speaker C: And I'm Cheyenne. [00:04:45] Speaker A: So what do we mean when we say gospel? Do you want to start, Cheyenne? [00:04:50] Speaker C: Sure. I actually got to have this conversation at the grocery store just a couple weeks ago. A woman saw my sweatshirt that I was wearing and it said the gospel changes everything. And she asked me, does the gospel is the gospel about empowerment? And it took me a second to register what she was asking or why she was asking that. Because she was checking me out and I was at the grocery store. I think. Yes, she was. [00:05:14] Speaker B: Just to clarify, she was checking out. [00:05:16] Speaker C: My groceries and So I thought there was something wrong with my card or something like that when she said she had a question for me. But no, she was just asking, like, what the gospel is. And so as soon as my heart, like, stopped fluttering for a second of like, wait, is she really asking me about the gospel? I was like, oh, well, actually the gospel just means that word means good news. And it's actually specifically the good news about Jesus. And in this situation, she asked me about empowerment. And so I was like, I mean, Jesus, he does empower us. He gives us power over sin's penalty, its presence. And it's per. What are the three P's? Do you guys remember that? The prep. It's presence, it's purpose, and it's our presence, power, presence, penalty. It's penalty in our lives. And so, yes, it does. It does. He does empower us. [00:06:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:06:06] Speaker C: So you can frame the gospel, though, in lots of different ways, Stephanie, though, I think. Do you. How would you add to that? Or I think, I mean, frame it differently. [00:06:18] Speaker B: Yeah, Gospel, like you were saying, means good news. And so when I'm talking to my kids or other people, it's, well, gospel means good news, but to understand the good news, you have to understand the bad news first. [00:06:27] Speaker A: Yes. [00:06:27] Speaker B: And the bad news is actually what we're going to get into a lot today talking about. But, you know, in a quick package, it's. It's that we are all sinners. We've all sinned against the Lord, and when we sin, there is the wage or the penalty of death upon that. And so the bad news is that if you are a sinner, which we all are, we are all going to hell without God. But the good news is that Jesus came to earth as a human to live the life that we couldn't live of perfect obedience, and then to die and take the penalty that our sin deserves. And so then he rose from the dead and is now in heaven, preparing a place for all of those who place their. Their trust and faith in Jesus so we can spend eternity with them. And so framing it like, there's. There's the good news, but you have to understand the bad news, I feel like is a really helpful way when you're talking to people that, that, that can come about, too. [00:07:14] Speaker C: I love that. I love, like, bringing in the. Having to introduce the bad news. And actually that goes, like, really well with our clothing theme because here we were talking about fashion crimes, and I just. Can I get nerdy free for a second, you guys? I was like, googling. I'm like, what is the definition of fashion crime? And do you know what it said that I was like, this goes so perfectly. No, it said wearing dressing inappropriately against the way that it was designed, against the way that something was designed, or wearing it inappropriately. So, for example, like, wearing white to a wedding, I think that we would all be like, oh, yeah, that would be a fashion crime. And so, like, this idea of, like, the crime being that you're. You're doing something that it was not designed for, that it was not intended for, which, like, leads right into sin. And what we want to focus on today is particularly our design, how we were. How we were clothed. And it says, as it says in Genesis 2 and 3. So, Stephanie, do you want to, like, tell us about the first places that we see this idea of clothing then in Genesis 2 and 3? [00:08:28] Speaker B: Yeah. I couldn't believe it. With us studying this, it starts right off the bat, like you were saying in Genesis 1 and 2. And it's in there a lot if you have eyes and you're looking for it. So right off the bat, in Genesis 1, verse 27, it talks about God creating humans in his image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female. He created them. So right away, there's kind of this. You're in this image which is supposed to kind of represent. Like, think about clothing, right? Like, when you wear clothes, you are creating or projecting a certain image. And so as humans, we were designed not to project our image, but to glorify God in how we are. And. Well, at that point, not how they dress, because they were actually naked. [00:09:08] Speaker C: True. [00:09:09] Speaker B: But so, yeah, so you're creating in God's image. And then it does highlight, actually in Genesis 2 that in. It emphasizes Adam and Eve were naked. So here they are clothed in God's image, but yet not clothed bodily. They were. They were naked. [00:09:24] Speaker C: But I almost. I actually love that. Cause it's almost like they didn't. They didn't need clothes. They were already. They were exhibiting God's glory with their bodies and their souls just as they were. They didn't need to be covered up. [00:09:39] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's really cool thinking about, like, being made in somebody's image. That's not something that we're gonna, like, throw around or talk about a ton. [00:09:46] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:09:47] Speaker B: Um, and I found it helpful almost, to think of it like a mirror. Um, so, like, our job is to project God to the world. And so that's what we're created in his image. We're supposed to show the world Almost like a mirror that's reflecting God to the world. And so I thought in my study, and I felt like that was really helpful to think about it in that way, because you don't hear it that often. [00:10:06] Speaker C: No, and that's perfect, too. I think even in, like, Genesis, if you go just a little bit farther in Genesis, it talks about Adam and how Adam had Seth. Seth was like his. I don't know how many kids they had. I guess. I don't know. I was gonna say his third born, but it probably wasn't his third born. But it describes Seth as being in the likeness of Adam. And so it's this kind of. This idea, too, of how our kids, our biological children, also reflect us. Like that mirror that you're saying and being clothed. [00:10:36] Speaker B: So, yeah, so everything starts out great. I mean, who doesn't want to be clothed in God's image? Like, that would be amazing. Being naked. There'd be no laundry. Like, as a mom, I really appreciate that aspect. [00:10:47] Speaker C: So then we start with good news, actually. That then leads into the bad news. [00:10:52] Speaker B: Bad news. Yeah. So the next time we see clothing is actually in Genesis 3, which is where that chapter is, where we would say the fall happens. So Adam and Eve sin against God. They eat fruit that God had told them not to eat. And it says their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked. Right? They were filled with guilt. They were filled with shame. And it's so interesting, because what they did when they realized that is it says they went and created linen cloth, or not linen cloths, loincloths. They basically made clothes out of fig leaves for them. And so I just found it so interesting that their first reaction that they had when they felt that shame was to cover themselves up with something they could do to make their own clothing. Because they felt that this was not right. They felt shame, they felt guilt, and they wanted to hide that. [00:11:39] Speaker C: I almost. I almost think it's like they've realized that they were imposters. Like, here in their bodies and in their souls. They were designed in the image of God, and suddenly they, like, look down and they realize, like. Like, I have. I have trespassed against my Creator, and now I am. I'm a fake, and I'm an imposter. And so they're trying to cover up those. Cover that up and to hide. [00:12:04] Speaker A: I was thinking about the connection of that between their sin and the fact that they realized that they were naked. [00:12:11] Speaker C: Like, to me, interesting. [00:12:12] Speaker A: It's like that doesn't really go together. That. That was the thing that they realized after they sinned. And I'd love to hear your thoughts on that, too. But I really liked how the NLT Version has it in verse. I'm sorry, chapter three, verse seven. It says it this way. At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. And it just. It made me think of, have you ever just been doing something that maybe you thought was right and then you realized it was wrong, and all of a sudden you're like, oh, no. Oh, no, I have to fix this. I have to, like, go back. It made me think of, like, unloading a dishwasher that's dirty but not realizing it. [00:13:01] Speaker C: Have you ever seen. [00:13:03] Speaker A: You have to go back and find everything and put it back in. And it's just that feeling, that sinking feeling of like, oh, no, I did something wrong. But what do you think about that connection? [00:13:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's really interesting because this almost. It's an outward sign of an inward reality. Right. So they. They just sinned against their creator, which is a really bad thing. We should not do that. It was right for them to feel that guilt, that scared I'm sure they felt, because they wanted to hide. Then later. And so what was happening on the inside was this relationship they had with God was fractured, and they knew that it couldn't be put back together. And so they were trying to do things on their own to try to make it right again. And so this inward reality of that broken relationship, I think, in a way, is manifested in this outward reality of, oh, my goodness, I'm naked. I need to cover this up. I need to do things to try to make this better, to feel comfortable with who I am. Which doesn't actually work for us or for them in the story either. [00:14:03] Speaker A: Yeah, we actually. I had a conversation just like this yesterday with one of my kids. They have been having a really hard time lately with just being kind and lashing out when they're upset. And I was telling this child, like, you can't treat your siblings this way. You just can't do that. And they just kept saying, I can't help it. I can't help it. And my heart just broke because I completely understand. I have a temper. I have a hard time controlling my emotions when they're up and they're down. And so I just. I took a moment, and then I looked at this child, and I just said, you know what? None of us can. None of us can do this on Our own. This is hard for me, too. We can't. We can't be good on our own. And that's why we need Jesus and we need his provision for us. And it just brought me back to the garden of Adam and Eve trying to fix their problem on their own, and they can't. And that's where we have God step in and fix their problem for them. So do you want to tell us about that? What happens next after they cover themselves with leaves? [00:15:12] Speaker B: So after they've covered themselves with leaves, they're hiding, right? And then it says that God is walking in the garden in the cool day, and he calls out to them, adam and Eve, where are you? And they're hiding. And so then he engages in this conversation with them and is talking to them and saying, because you ate this fruit, there are consequences for both of you as well as Satan, who was part of the tempting, the disobedient. And I think it's so beautiful to think about if you were Adam and Eve and you were standing there and you're like, fig cleat, fig leave clothes. And you're talking to the Creator who you just sinned against. Like, I can only imagine how scared they were. Like, I would be terrified. I know how scared I am when I have wronged somebody and have to go to them and apologize for maybe something I've said. And that is like a very minor thing compared to, you know, sitting directly. [00:15:59] Speaker C: Against God, your creator God. [00:16:01] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And so after he has this conversation with them of these are the consequences. He is so gracious, he's so merciful. Because then he clothes them. So he wants them, I think, to feel the weight of their sin, to feel the. The fractured relationship. But then he doesn't leave it that way because it talks about. Then God himself goes and he gets an animal and he kills the animal, and he clothes Adam and Eve with the animal skins, right? Which is so much more sturdy than like, the fig leaves. Like the fig leaves, I would imagine. Like, they would have to, like, make again and again because leaves will. They're gonna get brittle. But this animal skin clothe that he makes them is going to be more permanent. Right. But also, like, if you think about it, he had to kill an animal, which also involves blood. And so this, in a beautiful way that God does so often in scripture, is really foreshadowing about somebody else that's going to come and who, through their blood, is actually going to erase the sin and fix the relationship that they just damaged. [00:17:01] Speaker C: I love that foreshadowing and I. Okay, but before we get to that good news, I just want just a couple more things that get from reading this one. Is that, like, when we sin, like you are describing stuff, we often feel this need to, like, cover up or to hide or to ignore it. And yet, like, God is asking them this question and like, do you think that they. That God didn't know the answer to his question when he says, where are you? Like, no, God knows, right? [00:17:27] Speaker B: He knows everything. [00:17:28] Speaker C: It's like when, like when your kids hide under a blanket and you say, where are you? It's like, I know where you are. I know you're under the blanket. Like, he's. But he's saying it because he's inviting them. Like, are you. Are you going to come to me? Are you going to trust that I still love you, that I. You are still precious to me? And I. You need my help to fix this. And so I think just like a takeaway for us, too, is to accept that invitation that God says the same thing to us when we stand up. All right, where are you. Are you going to come out and just tell me this? And what that allows us to do is to have this restored relationship. It still needs to be fixed. But we are invited then to let him help, help us fix it. Like you were describing, Ellie, with your. Your kid too, of. We can't do it on our own. The fig tree, the fig leaves aren't enough. And we need to just be willing to accept the help with it and realize our powerlessness and see God's invitation not as us coming to a stern God who's going to, you know, whip us, take us out back. That's not how God. That's not how God is. He invites us to come to him because he's a loving father who has a great plan, which then segues us into the good news, the next good news. [00:18:42] Speaker B: Yeah, so I think. So talking about the Old Testament, I think seeing the clothing in the Old Testament, when I was preparing this, actually, I did a keynote for one of our conferences on this, and I fast forwarded to the New Testament and I thought about Jesus on the cross. And the Bible doesn't tell us that Jesus was naked on the cross. But if you think like, and you read, historically, the criminals were crucified naked because they wanted it to be as painful and as humiliating as they possibly could. And so to think about, Adam and Eve were naked and God clothed them. Then he comes down to earth and he dies naked on the cross for our sins. And, you know, reading that story, there's actually so much with clothing, with that, right? Like, he died naked. They gambled away his clothes while he was on the cross. But then once he's died, he's wrapped in burial cloths and he is placed in a grave. And so often at Easter, we say the tomb is empty, and it. It's empty of Jesus's body. But actually, if you read In John, verse 20, there's actually something in there, and it's clothes. It's the burial cloth that he was in. And I don't think that's an accident. [00:19:52] Speaker C: No, I love that. [00:19:53] Speaker B: Yeah. It's so cool. And it's like, okay, so Adam and Eve, they were naked, they were clothed. Jesus was always the one that that was pointing to, right? It was his blood that the animals shed that it always pointed towards Jesus. But then at the end, it's like the burial cloths were almost like a bookend to say, I promised this so long ago, and here I am, I fulfilled my promise, it's finished. And here's. There's. There's clothes that I made for you at the beginning, and here's clothes at the end after I've resurrected, just to prove that it's done, it's completed, it's finished. [00:20:24] Speaker C: So we have garden clothes and then we have grave clothes that so perfectly represent, like, our sin that he just, like, neatly. Right, he neatly folded that. [00:20:34] Speaker B: Yeah, it's really interesting. [00:20:36] Speaker C: Like, it's done and it's finished and it stays there. And that's another, like, that's another thing for us to remember is that that sin, it stayed in the grave, that it didn't come with him, that he took care of that. And he left it there because it's finished. And he says that on the cross. He says it is finished. The wrath of God is satisfied. And so such a beautiful, like, way that clothing is traced there. Can I back up just a smidge on Jesus? And another thing with clothing is just in Philippians 3, it talks about how Jesus emptied himself of his glory as God and instead was. Was. Came in the likeness of humankind. And so in order to be that perfect sacrifice for us on the, on the cross, he needed to be clothed in what we are wearing in. In human skin. Right? And so the sacrifice that he made was only. It only could apply to us if he was made of the same stuff as us, if he was himself human. And so he. I love. Okay, this, the song Come Behold the wondrous mystery. [00:21:44] Speaker B: Yes. [00:21:44] Speaker C: It's a beautiful Song and it actually says, robed in frail humanity. And it describes exactly what you were just saying about the substitution that took place and the sacrifice that Christ made so that those grave clothes could be left in the grave. That's beautiful. Okay, so how does all of this change how you read Scripture? [00:22:06] Speaker A: Oh, I'll start on that. Okay. So when we see this story of God clothing Adam and Eve, I think we learn two really important things about Him. First, before he closed them, he tells them the punishment for their sin. Right? This is going to happen. You're going to have things like pain and childbirth, and you're gonna have to work the land now to get food, and you're gonna have all of these struggles in this life. And this is like the punishment for sin. Plus, not only that, but now we all have to face the reality of, like, of hell. Like, we deserve eternal death away from God now. And so when we. When he says that, we see his justice and his judgment against sin. And that's really important because our God is not a loving God if he doesn't have judgment against sin. I think it was your husband, I think it was Pastor John, who I heard say that he compared it to, like, a parent and a child. And he said that if you love your child, then you hate the things that are going to hurt your child, and you're going to want to punish those things or get rid of those things. And so that's how God is with our sin. Sin hurts us, and it hurts our relationship with Him. So he doesn't like it, he hates it, and he wants to punish it, and that's loving of him. But then we also see him before he sends them out of the garden, which is part of their punishment, they have to leave this perfect Eden and go into the world first. He clothes them in clothes that are going to last. And we see this mercy that he has, too. And so his mercy and his judgment, they go hand in hand. It's two sides to the same coin. And. And we see them working together all the time throughout the rest of the Bible. So whenever we see his judgment throughout the Bible, judging people for their sin, look closely, because we're also going to see his mercy too, in the way that he provides for his people when they don't deserve it and when we don't deserve it. When I think of him clothing Adam and Eve, I think of protection. He is giving them those clothes to protect them, because now they're gonna have to worry about temperature changes and like poison ivy and like all the Things out there. Like, they need something on their bodies to protect their bodies from, like, the physical world around them now. And he does that for us, too, in so many ways. He's always looking out for us and protecting us. Sometimes we can't even see it. And he's just. He's always there being so kind to us. [00:24:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. For me, it really made me zero in and look specifically when I'm coming across different passages that talk about clothing and in the Bible to think about, like, what is trying to be communicated to me as a reader through that clothing. And so it's so interesting because, like, I know we're talking about Genesis today, but, like, if you think about even, like, the prophets, there's some, like, really odd stuff with the prophets. Like, prophet Isaiah actually was told to go preach naked, which I would not recommend. That's not something we're going to be doing. [00:25:15] Speaker A: Fashion crime. [00:25:16] Speaker C: Can I. Can I say something about that? So my son. This is my son. His name is Isaiah. And I have not told him that yet because I'm a little afraid of how he's going to. [00:25:26] Speaker A: He might be inspired. [00:25:27] Speaker C: Yes. [00:25:30] Speaker B: But I think it's so interesting. So, like, initially you hear that and you're like, what? Why? And I think it's so interesting because God is constantly using clothing to teach us a deeper reality. And so, like, with Isaiah being told to preach naked, he's actually using cloth to express this, like, deeper reality that we are in a helpless state without God. Just like Adam and Eve were naked and not. Well, I guess they had their fig leaves, but that wasn't gonna last. But like, you were just saying God in his mercy is gonna clothe them. And so it's this constant reminder to me, too, that, like, God will provide. Don't try to provide on my own. Like, God's gonna provide for me. And so I just think it's so interesting. So keep an eye out for the mercy and the judgment. And then also, like, the clothing, I think, has been huge. [00:26:14] Speaker C: To ask. [00:26:15] Speaker B: Ask, what is this trying to teach me through this clothing or the lack. [00:26:19] Speaker C: That's what I was gonna say was. Or the nakedness. Or the nakedness, too. Yeah. Yeah. I think that one of the ways that it has really changed the way that I read Scripture, too, is just remembering that what's true of Jesus is true of us. And that doesn't mean that we're. It does. That does not mean real quick that we are holy or that we are God. But what is true of Jesus that he is Righteous is now true of us. It doesn't mean that we are sinless yet, but it means that God looks at us and we are clothed in Christ. He sees us as righteous because our sin has been taken care of. That whole power penalty, presence of sin has been taken care of in part now and in the future, permanently, forever, for eternity in heaven someday. And so this is actually just spend. It's. It's actually a. This is a big word doctrine. This is called the doctrine of union with Christ. And it just is that whole thing of what's true of Christ is true of us. And so we can live in so much freedom and joy because of that. Can I. Can I also. I guess I keep asking you guys for permission. I need to stop asking for permission. I'm just gonna say it. [00:27:34] Speaker A: Don't ask, just do it. [00:27:35] Speaker C: I'm just gonna do it. So this conversation that we've been having so far has been hopefully pretty approachable, but we've actually been talking about three different doctrine today. Do you guys realize that sounds intimidating? [00:27:48] Speaker A: I know. [00:27:49] Speaker C: Doesn't it sound like, so intimidating? So we have talked about in just like normal person. I mean, I feel pretty normal, relatively normal person. [00:27:56] Speaker B: Just don't ask my husband. [00:27:57] Speaker C: Yeah. The doctrine of sin, the doctrine of salvation, and the doctrine of union with Christ. And so for anyone, anyone who's listening and they hear the word theology and they're like, ugh, like, you know, that's. [00:28:09] Speaker B: For somebody else, not for me. [00:28:11] Speaker C: That sounds too academic. It's actually this simple, as these things that we're talking about are. It is theology. It's what do we, what do we believe about sin? What does that mean for what we believe about salvation? And what does our salvation look like when it comes to our union with Christ? There we go. [00:28:31] Speaker A: We're theologians. [00:28:32] Speaker C: We're theologians. Yeah. [00:28:33] Speaker B: Which I think. Okay, so I'm going to ask a step further then. So we've talked about, like, what it is in the Bible and how we're reading it and what that should maybe perk up and have us pay attention to. But how is this conversation or what we talked about today, like, how does this change how we're going to live the rest of our day or our everyday lives? Like, because we can't just leave it in our head. [00:28:52] Speaker C: You're right. [00:28:52] Speaker B: Which is so hard because I love the academic knowledge. I love it to stay in my head. But it's so important for it to go from our head to our hearts through our hands. And so how does what we're Talking about today really going to change how we live. [00:29:04] Speaker C: Great question. So it can't be just about information, right? [00:29:07] Speaker A: Yeah, but which is important. [00:29:09] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:29:09] Speaker A: Which I, I will admit I'm really bad at that part. It takes me a minute to get there to the application. I feel like some people are really good at finding how they need to apply this to their lives. And that's something that I am not as good at. But I will say that I am a very forgetful person and I need a lot of reminders. And so this reminds me that I cannot do it on my own. I reach for the fig leaves day after day when Jesus has something so much better for me. And I need that reminder that it's not just like a one and done type thing. Like, I have Jesus, I'm good to go now and I'm gonna go live a great, like sin free life. No, it's an everyday battle where I need to pray to the Holy Spirit and ask him to clothe me in his charact heuristics and to help me through my day. Especially with parenting, especially with those tough relationships. I need his help every single day. And so that's what this reminds me of. [00:30:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so often I look at Adam and Eve and I want to think to myself, I'm better. I would have done differently. I would have, you know, I would have done that better. But my reaction is the same that they had. And sometimes it's hiding, right? Like they tried to run away from God. And then other times it's trying to like make my own fig leaf clothes. And so to kind of ask myself, like, okay, when you sin? My default reaction is the exact same thing that Adam and Eve had. I mean, they were trying to hide from God, or I'm trying to fix it and do it myself. And that's not what we're called, to do that. When I said I'm supposed to recognize that sin and not feel like condemnation, like there's no hope for me. But as a Christian, I get to be convicted of that skin sin. And then rather than hiding, I get to actually bring it to God and say, God, I know that I sinned. Can you please forgive me? And I know Jesus on the cross died for that sin. And really just to preach the gospel to myself every time I've sinned, because so often we're still sinning, we're still battling that. And so often I want to try to make it better myself, which doesn't really usually go that well. It usually makes a bigger problem. [00:31:16] Speaker C: I Feel like there's a common thread then here for all of us of just, oh, trying. Trying to overcome our sin on our own. And I think part of it is because we, we don't even like to, like, bring our sin to light. Like, we want to just kind of keep it tucked away and think it's something manageable, right? Yeah. And the world doesn't even like the. The word sin. So I was speaking a month or so ago at a church, and when I started talking about sin, I actually had two women get up and they like, they had to walk towards the front to leave, but they, they did. They walked all the way to the front to leave. And I just was so saddened because it was the bad news that was prefacing the good news. And the good news is that, like, we can talk about our sin, we can seek help with our sin, we can confess to one another because he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin. And so it's not that sin isn't a big deal. It is. We serve a holy God. And so we do need to take sin seriously and to realize the weight of it. But there's so much good news ahead that is just what God has done with it so that we don't have to be held back by our sin and we don't have to be carrying this heavy load of trying to overcome it on our own. And I think men and women in different ways try to do that on their own is to either just try to forget about it and be like, I'm just gonna move on and I'm gonna, you know, or to handle it themselves without seeking help and, and confessing to one another, like in community, having people in your life, in my life who I confess my sin to, I think it's so important and it's actually so freeing to experience the grace of another person who's in skin, you know, in a. In a day and age of like, AI, who can, you know, help you with all these different kinds of things. Like, we need our people who are clothed in skin to confess sin to and to experience their grace and love for us as a representation of the grace and love that God has for us too. [00:33:26] Speaker B: I think that's so interesting you said that because I'm just as you're talking, I'm replaying, like, my deepest relationships are the ones where I've had to make a decision, do I hide my sin or do we talk about my sin? And you're a person that I know is also a sinner, that's not going to condemn me, but it's going to, like, bring me back to the Lord. And so my deepest friendships and then my marriage with my husband, like, those are the relationships that I can feel really secure in because we've gone there. Like, I've talked to them about my sin, and they don't just leave me. Like, there's actually this Christian community that, like, God has designed for us to have with each other. That when you talk about the really hard, the really ugly, the things that we're trying to fight, it's those relationships that God has used in my life, I know, to just bring me so. [00:34:08] Speaker C: Much encouragement, too, which is like a message of, right. Go to something like, find your people that you can confess your sin to, but also be a person that someone can confess their sin to. I was so struck because recently I had a conversation with a friend and she said that. That when she was living in Texas at the church that they were at there, it was like, you kind of led with your story. Like, everybody knew everybody's story because they just were like, their. Their sin story was kind of one of the things that they led with. And it was something that was so freeing to them because they were like, yeah, like, that's in my past. That's what God has. It's a testimony of what God has done for them. And that is so hard. [00:34:48] Speaker A: How many people just got really uncomfortable listening. [00:34:50] Speaker C: I know, I know, right? [00:34:52] Speaker A: It does sound really. [00:34:53] Speaker C: Reverend Refreshing. Yeah. [00:34:55] Speaker A: I think that one of Satan's tricks is to make us think that we can't talk about our sin. He wants us to feel isolated in our sin and to think that we're the only ones with this problem, to hide in our sin, to cover it up. That's what he wants us to do. He doesn't want us to be open with each other because he knows how freeing that is. Yeah. [00:35:13] Speaker B: Which I think ties back again to what we were talking about earlier of like, Adam and Eve felt that way. They were trying to hide, but God pursued them. [00:35:19] Speaker C: And it's in contrast, Satan is called the accuser. He's the one that wants us to keep our sin hidden and to condemn us with our sin. He is the one that's condemning and just realizing that spiritual warfare. And like you were saying before, Ali of like, that's exactly what Satan wants us to do, is to keep it, keep it quiet, keep it private, when the greatest joy and freedom can be experienced by just confessing it. Stephanie, do you have homework for our people? Yes. [00:35:49] Speaker B: And thank you. To everybody who tagged us in the passages last week, that is so fun to see. But this week I just want you, it's just one thing. I want you to pray and think about one way that you're trying to be like Adam and Eve, either trying to run and hide from God or trying to make your own fig leaf clothes. And so if you just can think, pray about that and then take it a step further and have that Christian community like we were talking about, talk about it with your husband or a really close female friend and just take that step of faith and say that, you know, we're gonna share our ugly so that way we can have this really close relationship together and ultimately point each other towards Christ when we need it too. [00:36:28] Speaker A: Love that. [00:36:29] Speaker B: Before we end our time with you, I just wanna read a passage of scripture like we did last time. And this passage comes from Matthew 6, verse 28 and 30, and it says, and why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow was thrown in the oven, will he not much more clothe you.