On January 10, 2021, the second Sunday of the new year, a sermon was given in Shanghai on the topic of the "basic necessities of life" for Christians.
Pastor Shen Dong of Fitch Memorial Church took clothing as the main concern of the sermon that day as people's basic necessities also includes food, housing, and transportation.
He said that important to everyone, basic necessities of life were not the whole of our life, but the basic needs of our life.
Most of one's life is spent in it, but from the perspective of the Christian faith, each of these has multiple meanings, the pastor added.
Quoting the words of Galatians 3:27, Pastor Shen said, the meaning of clothing is not only the cloth usually worn by the believer but also refers to the inner life of the believer
“To explore the origin of clothes and why people wear clothes, you have to go back to the beginning of mankind, that is, the garden of Eden created by God,” the pastor shared.
He stated that at the beginning of the creation, God made man naked, and the husband and wife were not ashamed. But from Genesis 3, the man committed a sin, generating a sense of shame to cover himself. Because of sin, the weather became cold, so he had to weave clothes to keep warm. Because of sin, the man was afraid to see God's face and had to hide himself. After the sin, he had three changes: shame, covering, and hiding. And then the man used fig leaves to weave clothes and wear himself.
The pastor mentioned, “This passage is often called a prophecy, which indicates the eternal covering of Jesus' blood.” The clothes woven from fig leaves are worn out easily. Similarly, the clothes people wear today would also wear out one day. There was no way to complete what people make despite that people always wanted to make up for their sins through their own efforts. However, it did not help, only the blood of Jesus Christ can cover the sins.
Reverend Shen continued, "For everyone, clothes are also a symbol of a person, this is especially true from the perspective of the inner life of believers. In addition to the daily clothes in the world of faith, we also wear the clothes given by God - Jesus Christ. This dress is not just what we call an invisible sign, but a life commensurate with the grace of the call."
The pastor added that those who believe and are baptized wear the clothes God gave them. They symbolize the changes in a person's identity and status, according to Colossians 3:9-10. This also changes your status from servant to son of God.
He said, “But today, many people don't want to take off their old clothes and just want to put on new ones, and this is not good... Old clothes will not just refer to our bad habits, they may also refer to our hobbies.”
The pastor gave a personal testimony of getting rid of a hobby. Shen used to be so crazy about playing chess that he would study chess with books or play chess self versus self. Regarding it as his hobby, he thought that it did not affect others or harm society. However, he gradually found that this hobby had occupied him too much time after becoming a Christian. The hobby had influenced his relationship with God because he spent most of his time playing chess, eventually, he gave it up.
The pastor encouraged the congregation, “God has given us new clothes today. Don't wear one inside and another outside, it would be good to take off your old clothes and be crucified with Christ .”
- Translated by Joy Zhang
