The Truth About Dressing to Worship

this is a production of world video Bible School to God be the glory you would it surprise you if I told you that I'm dressed for worship what about now do you think that it even matters do you think that it matters to God that's what we want to talk about today dressing ourselves appropriately presenting ourselves appropriately as we come together on the first day of the week to worship the God of the universe you probably wouldn't be surprised if someone said to you that reverence and modern-day religion isn't what it used to be casual is certainly the way of the day in our country when the denominational preacher Rick Warren wrote his popular book The Purpose Driven Life he went out and surveyed the community to find out what they wanted in a church and one of the things that he determined from these surveys is that people did not like to dress up they prefer casual informal meetings and so he built his church around the things that he learned now unfortunately some congregations of the Lord's church have studied his book and have followed his principles but you know he was right that people don't seem to like to dress up they find dressing down to be very appealing in fact there seems to be almost an infatuation with being able to wear jeans to church there's a website that I found while surfing the internet and you can go to this website and look at different churches in different states and they will answer the question can I wear jeans to church the reason for this lesson is that we're very troubled about the emphasis on the casual and on personal comfort to the neglect of being concerned about what God really wants I want to begin this lesson in Psalm 89 and verse 7 the Bible says God is greatly to be feared in the Assembly of the Saints and to be held in reverence by all those around him the word feared is from the Hebrew word our Roth's definition number one is to tremble dread fear oppress prevail break be terrified cause to tremble another one of the definition says to regard or treat with all regard or treat as a full God is to be feared we are to tremble we are to regard him with awe but then the text says that he is to be held in reverence now this is from the Hebrew word Yahweh it means to fear revere be afraid another one of the definition says to fear reverence honor or respect in the Assembly of the Saints we should have a trembling a fear and awe as we come into the presence of God it makes me think about Exodus chapter 3 and verse 5 as Moses approaches the burning bush God stops him and says take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground that is you're going to have to behave differently you're going to have to dress differently as you come into the presence of God it also makes me think about Exodus chapter 19 as the children of Israel had come up out of the land of Egypt verse number 9 the Lord said unto Moses behold I come to you in the thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with you and believe for ever now listen to verse 10 then the Lord said to Moses go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their clothes and let them be ready for the third day for on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people but you see before the Lord came down in the sight of the people they were to be sanctified and wash their clothes something special had to take place you see this was an ordinary behavior God was going to come into their presence I also think about Revelation chapter 4 and verse 10 where the Bible speaks about the twenty-four elders falling down before the throne of the Lord and casting their crowns before him and saying you are worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and power French when I read in the Bible about people coming into the presence of God and the respect and the honor expressed to him I think that we've fallen down on the job many times we have not treated God as something special as someone special one who is to be feared and one who brings aw but we've treated him as ordinary God is greatly to be feared in the Assembly of the Saints and to be held in reverence by all those around him in this lesson we're going to talk about the subject of reverence particularly as it relates to our clothing how we dress when we come to worship I want to make four points as we go through this material number one I want to talk about our clothing as it communicates something to God and our clothing does communicate something to God number two I want us to address the point that our clothing communicate something to others number three our clothing communicate something to us and then finally I want to talk about some objections that are made to dressing up for worship point number one let's consider the fact that our clothing communicates something to God friends our clothing matters to God if our clothing did not matter to God then why did God tell Moses to take his shoes off if clothing does not matter to God then why did God tell Moses before I come into the presence of the people have them wash their clothes and suppose this suppose one of the children of Israel had said I'm not going to do it I'm not going to wash my clothes my clothes are more comfortable after I've been wearing them for a few days and besides that washing them would be inconvenient friends if one of the Israelites had done that I want to suggest to you that he would have communicated to God that he was not worthy he would have communicated that his own comfort and convenience was more important to him than God and we have to be careful that we don't communicate that today in Exodus chapter 39 and Leviticus chapter 16 we have a description of the priests garments and tremendous effort went into preparing the high priest before he went into the presence of God I would ask this why did God give such minut details if clothing really doesn't matter you know there's also a very interesting passage in 1st chronicles 15 this is after the Ark of the Covenant had been taken by the Philistines and the children of Israel had gone to bring it home again but you remember what happened you know the story of oz' he touched the ark and and so the ark gets left at the house of obed-edom for three months and so finally David tries again to get the Ark of the Covenant now listen to the text this is first Chronicles 1525 so David the elders of Israel and the captains over thousands went to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from the house of obed-edom with joy and so it was when God helped the Levites who bore the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord that they offered seven Bulls and seven Rams now listen to verse 27 David was clothed with a robe of fine linen now friends why is that verse there why is the Lord telling us what David was wearing well apparently this was special clothing this was something out of the ordinary David had clothed himself in a special way because of what they were doing they were going to retrieve the Ark of God and the Ark is frequently spoken of in the Bible as God dwelling between the cherubim and they were going into the presence of God now was there a verse that stated that when you go to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant that you have to dress in a special way no I'm not aware of a verse like that now there was special clothing that the priests were to wear when engaging in worship but I can only surmise that David dressed this way because of the principle of reverence he was going to get the Ark of God he would not dare do it without showing proper respect and I want to suggest to you that David dressing this way supports the point that we're making and that is the clothing that we wear communicate something to God and David wanted to be as reverent and as respectful as he possibly could be now somebody might argue well all of these passages are from the Old Testament we live under the New Testament you need to show me something from the New Testament that says that God cares about how we dress when we worship in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 there is a fascinating discussion there that relates to women wearing veils now the corinthian men were taught to worship with their heads uncovered that is not wearing a veil the corinthian women were taught to wear veils when they worshiped because to do otherwise would be to violate local and current customs in corinth now we'll discuss the reasons why in a minute but for now let's simply acknowledge that God cared about how they clothed themselves in worship it communicated something that mattered to him now many people today argue that God does not care how we clothe ourselves and worship it's it's only the heart that matters what if someone in Corinth had argued that what if someone said to the Apostle Paul Paul we don't want to hear about this veil stuff you know it's only the heart that matters God doesn't care about what we wear or we don't wear in worship what might Paul have said to that person and you know what's particularly interesting is that there is no passage of Scripture there there was nothing previously written that demanded women in Corinth to wear a veil the thing that made it mandatory was local custom for a woman in Corinth to to not wear her veil was rebellious it was to reject her subordination to the man now what does that tell us it tells us that God expects us to examine local customs and to conduct ourselves in a manner that exalts him now does that apply to the way we dress yeah of course it does he told the people in Corinth that he cares about the way they dress in worship because it has implications about them and about their hearts now does this principle still apply today of course it does now in our society wearing a veil or not wearing a veil in worship doesn't communicate anything but the way we dress still does communicate it communicates reverence or a lack of it our clothing communicates something to God okay point number two not only does our clothing communicate something to God but our clothing communicates something to other people in the book of Esther when the decree was made that the Jews were going to be killed Mordecai changed his clothes and Esther chapter four and verse 1 says that he put on sackcloth and ashes now why did he do that well because he was grieving and when Esther heard about it she sent him a change of clothing you see his clothing communicated something to other people now I want to go back and consider 1st Corinthians 11 again God knew that what we wear or or don't wear communicate something to others if a man in Corinth were to wear a veil that communicated something inappropriate to other people if a woman in Corinth were not to wear a veil that communicated something negative a lack of respect rebellion even now with that knowledge the Apostle Paul said dress so as to communicate the proper message for the women that meant wear a veil now what's particularly interesting is is there there weren't any passages that specifically said that they had to wear a veil neither was there a universal requirement for the church that said women had to wear a veil in fact 1st Corinthians 11 16 says but if anyone seems to be contentious we have no such custom nor do the Churches of God then why were they required to dress that way friends it's because of what it communicated in that society the way we dress communicate something to other people and God expects us to be conscious of that so what about in our society does the way that we dress in our society communicate anything now we know that it does you know when we go to a wedding or a funeral we want to communicate respect and so we will wear a shirt or a tie maybe even maybe even a coat if we're going to meet with a dignitary or a governor we will put on a suit why because we understand that the way that we dress communicates something to other people we understand that you know if I showed up to meet the President of the United States and tennis shoes and a t-shirt I understand that that would communicate something insulting and it's appropriate that we recognize this because I learned from first Corinthians 11 that God expects Christians to be aware of the society around us and the customs around us and to behave accordingly you know if I lived in a society where wearing a red shirt communicated disdain I certainly would not wear a red shirt to worship well that's not the custom in the world today certainly not where I live well what is the custom today now we're talking about dressing reverently and we've already observed that God expects us to communicate right things by the way we dress how would one dress in our society so as to communicate reverence I guess the only way we're going to know the answer to that question is by considering Society there's a man by the name of John T Malloy he's the author of the book Dress for Success and while writing his book he did some very interesting experiments and one of these experiments he walked around the Port Authority bus terminal and Grand Central Station in New York City and what he did was stop people and he would say to them that he was terribly embarrassed but he had left his wallet at home and he needed 75 cents to get home and he did this for two hours during rush hour during the first hour he wore a suit but no time for the second hour he wore the same suit but he added a necktie in the first hour he made seven dollars and 23 cents but in the second hour with his tie on he made $26 and one man even gave him some extra money to buy a newspaper now why did he make nearly four times as much when he put his tie on well this is what he said he said the tie is a symbol of respectability and responsibility it communicates there's our word it communicates to other people who you are or reinforces or detracts from their conception of who you should be now after conducting literally thousands of studies and experiments over a period of years mr. Malloy concludes that what a person wears is directly related to the success that he will have in life now he's writing from a business perspective but the point is our clothes do say something about us one man wrote this he said they are our clothes they openly reveal your attitudes toward yourself self-esteem toward others relationships toward work its importance and toward your god reverence or lack of reverence toward him immodest clothing is a dead giveaway of a person with loose morals he said what you wear indicates the importance you attached to that which you are doing now here's another article again it relates to the secular world but once again it makes the point that what we wear communicate something to other people now this article is from the Cincinnati Enquirer it's entitled got a job interview then ditch the flip flops Joseph Rosenfeld an image consultant based in San Jose California said this he said there's something that's definitely happening with the younger generation now there's a lot of accept me now accept me for who and what I am and give me whatever I want right now Jennifer loyalists said we've had applicants come in with bare midriffs or flip-flops this does not give us the impression that they respect the work that we do and the article goes on to say grads should never delude themselves into thinking that grades Trump attitude once you learn the company's dress code she says dress one step above it now French this is very interesting to me because here are people in the secular world who are saying that this very casual dress communicates something to them about a lack of respect and it's very interesting that they interpret this as you accept me as I am as that type of an attitude and it's fascinating that they mentioned specifically flip-flops as a part of this disrespectful attitude and these are people in the world you know as I've traveled around to different congregations when I go into a worship service the way that people are dressed immediately communicate something to me about their attitudes it says something to me about their elders in the congregation where I grew up whenever we would travel we had a dress code and it was more than just stating that our clothing had to be modest but it said that the boys had to wear nice shirts and slacks and the girls had to wear skirts or dresses and frequently when we were out in public maybe we'd gone to a youth rally and on our way home we would stop to eat and people would see us and they would go to the youth director and they would compliment him for our clothing you see it sent a message to people about our youth group and it was a good message you know the bible sustains the fact that what goes on on the outside reveals what is on the inside proverbs 4:23 says keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life now what does that mean it means that the things that go on on the outside are a revelation of the inside of the heart Matthew 12 35 says a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things now again what goes on on the outside communicate something about the inside first Timothy 2:10 says that women are to dress like women who are professing godliness that is if in your heart you desire to be godly then dressed like it you know my dress my clothing might say I respect my clothing might say I don't care my clothing might say I'm lazy my clothing might say I'm rebellious my clothing might say a host of other things but my clothing communicates something and incidentally this is the reason that I discourage Christians from wearing nose rings and body art not because there's a verse in the Bible that specifically says not to do this but because these things communicate something to other people and they communicate a message that the world generally interprets as something that I really don't want as a Christian number three let us consider that not only does our clothing communicate something to God not only does our clothing communicate something to others but our clothing communicates something to us now you might think this is a very strange point but you know the way that I dress does affect me it affects my mindset again jaunty Malloy found that offices that adopted dress codes experience more punctuality productivity and initiative from employees now why is that I think it's because the way that we dress affects our mindsets somebody was telling me a while back about some offices that used to have casual Fridays but they had stopped doing that and the reason this person says it was very interesting they said that when they had what they referred to as sloppy day that people's work was also sloppy and so I got to wondering if that was accurate and so I did a search on the internet and I found an article at career no house.com it was entitled casual Fridays on the way out I want you to listen to this excerpt it's talking about casual Fridays it says casual dress led to careless dress and carefree attitudes such negligence is not a good business practice and did not go unnoticed or without consequences as a result a growing number of companies are revamping their dress codes entirely the pendulum is swinging back to more formal and traditional workplace attire dress down day is being replaced with dress up day and formal Friday is replacing casual Friday I find it absolutely fascinating that the secular world has discovered that casual dress led to carefree attitudes now what's the point of all of this the point is the way we dress affects us and so if the way that I dress matters to God and the way that I dress communicate something to others and it affects me and my mindset then certainly when I come to worship I should want to dress in a way that reflects a heart of reverence the secular world has determined that flip-flops that's not it and you know the truth is we really know what communicates respect sometimes people argue that they don't but we know what communicates respect because we do it when we go to funerals and we do it when we go to weddings we know number four I want to talk about some objections that are sometimes made to dressing up for worship services we're well aware that sometimes people object to getting dressed up to worship God and so I want to very briefly look at some of these objections here's one number one sometimes people will say it's just too hot sometimes men object to wearing a shirt and a tie because they'll say it's it's too hot you know this really seems like a strange objection these days because most church buildings in our country anyway are very comfortably air-conditioned in fact we're high worship we usually have people complaining that it's too cold and even have blankets to cover themselves during the service even in the dead of summer number two sometimes people will say well we can't dress up because some people can't afford it you know the truth is in our country I think it would be rare to find a person who truly cannot afford to buy respectful clothing you know with the existence of Mart's and Goodwill stores clothing that communicates respect can be purchased very affordably and it's interesting to me how how it is that oftentimes the people who complain about the cost of a dress shirt seem to be able to afford brand-name blue jeans and if someone truly were so poor that they could not afford it and the church could not for whatever reason helped them then they do the best they can and the Lord would be well pleased with that well someone might even say this you know James chapter 2 teaches against dressing up for worship this is what James chapter 2 actually says for if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and fine apparel and there should also come in a poor man and filthy clothes and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and you say to him you sit here in a good place and you say to the poor man you stand there or sit here at my footstool have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts you see James chapter two is not teaching against addressing reverently it's teaching against showing partiality toward rich people or or toward anyone you know a poor man can dress reverently but we have a tendency to favor the man and the name-brand designer suit over the man wearing a suit that he bought at Goodwill and that is sinful that is the mindset that's being condemned by James you know I suppose a poor man could have on a suit that's reverent and and a rich man could have on blue jeans and a t-shirt and we might still violate this principle of James chapter 2 just because we know he's rich you see this is not really about clothing it's about partiality okay objection number three somebody says but you know dressing reverently is uncomfortable I certainly don't deny that but you know giving to God involves sacrifice it's not about my personal comfort if you read Exodus chapter 39 and you read the description of the priests garments that sounds extremely uncomfortable to me but that didn't change the fact that God expected them to wear it you see their comfort was not the primary consideration in Malachi chapter one the people of Israel had gotten to the point that they counted their service to God a burden it was inconvenient it was uncomfortable they didn't want to do it in fact they used the term weariness it was a weariness to them but God did not excuse them on the basis of their discomfort or their displeasure in fact he was disgusted by their attitude in Amos chapter 6 the people were consumed with their own comfort and they had no interest in the service of God and the description of this people is not a pretty one objection number four sometimes people will say clothes don't really matter it's what's in the heart that counts friends what if the priest had said to the Lord God closed don't matter it's what's in the heart that counts don't you know that or what if the people at the base of Mount Sinai had said we're not going to wash our clothes Lord clothes don't matter as long as our hearts are right or what if Moses had said I'm not going to take my shoes off it's what's in the heart that counts you know we've already observed that our clothes are a reflection of our hearts you know occasionally someone wants to go to First Samuel chapter 16 and verse 7 where the Bible says for man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart and they'll say see that passage teaches that it doesn't matter what you wear as long as your heart is right but the point of that passage if you look at the context it has nothing to do with how we dress that passage has to do with physical characteristics over which we have no control that would include things like height and skin colour etc the Lord is not concerned with how tall or short I am or whether I'm black or white he's concerned about my heart but that doesn't relate to the clothes that I wear objection number 5 sometimes people will say well the Bible doesn't say that I have to wear dress clothes there's no passage in the Bible that says that you know when I hear people say this sort of thing it makes me think of the count of the ten lepers and Luke 17 Jesus had healed all 10 of them and only one came back and Jesus condemned the other nine for not coming back now my question is this when did Jesus command them to return and give thanks you go back and search the text because it's not there then the question is then why did he condemned them if there was no direct command to come back why did he condemn them for not coming back and the reason is their failure to come back and say thank you was actually a reflection of their hearts you know he shouldn't have had to tell them to come back if their hearts had been right they would have done it now where is the passage that says I have to dress reverently when I come to worship God well it's the same principle now I know the Bible doesn't say that you have to wear a dress shirt or you have to wear slacks or even a tie but in our society that's what's considered respectable for a man and if we were going to attend a wedding or a funeral that's what we would wear for a woman it would be a dress or a skirt or nowadays even dress slacks and so we do that because we understand that it communicates respect objection number six sometimes people will say well people can't dress up for worship because sometimes they come straight from work well that's true and we're glad that those people are attending and doing the best that they can do and it's better that they show up at worship and their mechanic's uniform or their military camouflage than to not be here at all and we appreciate those people whose heart is such that they will come to worship even when they haven't had time to go home and change this is not the type of person we're talking about in this lesson you know a person like that is to be admired well objection number seven sometimes people will say well Sunday nights they're different I would ask the question why why do we dress differently on Sunday nights than we do on Sunday mornings it's just an extension of the urged a worship Sunday morning and Sunday night they're not different objection number eight sometimes people will say I'm just not going to do it I would ask why not why would a person just defiantly refuse to dress up to worship the Lord I really don't have an answer for this one because I don't really understand it am I just so stubborn that I refuse am i too prideful I don't know the answer to this one Prince when we come together on the Lord's Day to worship we are coming before the God of the universe do I really want to come before him dress like this when I know that I can do better he's the one who in a word spoke me into existence he's the one who sent the ultimate sacrifice for my soul and he's the one who holds my eternity in his hands in light of these things there's no sacrifice too large for me to give if I would go so far as to present my body as a living sacrifice Romans 12:1 then wearing a dress shirt and slacks and perhaps even a tie as certainly not too much to ask we began with Psalm 89 and I want to end with the same chapter for who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord God is greatly to be feared in the Assembly of the Saints and to be held in reverence by all those around him you

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Keywords: WVBS, World Video Bible School, Dressing to Worship, Dressing for Worship, Reverence, Casual Dress, The Truth About, Respect, Attitude, Worship, The Truth About Worship, Christian Attitude, Reverent Worship

Id: y4_cP7VniJ4

Length: 33min 46sec (2026 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 14 2013