Featured Proper Sunday Dress

I remember back in seminary days when one of my classmates insisted that he would wear a clerical collar so that the world would recognize him as a man of the cloth. This passage came to mind then as it does now.

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
John 13:35 NAS77

A rotten heart in a $700 suit is still rotten. A heart that belongs to Jesus is just as precious in burlap and threadbare cotton.

 

I love visiting solid evangelical black churches. When we were missionaries we had a few that supported us. One of the finest compliments I ever got was being told that I preach like a black preacher.:laugh:

 

Some people don't need clothes to draw attention. Uh, wait a minute, that didn't come out quite right.

But the point I am trying to make is that clothes aren't the problem. Pride, the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh are. If we walk in the Spirit, the manner of dress need not be a distraction.

 

Pride I have often wondered what if John came out of the wilderness in to a church today how would he be treated.

 

In many churches, without a suit coat and tie or the proper Bible version he likely would get kicked out.

 

We'd call 911 and report a crazy man with bug parts stuck in his beard. We'd record the whole thing on our cellphones and post it on youtube. He would cry out, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 3:2 NAS) We would laugh at him, point at his ragged clothes and mock him.

 

The scripture say's in 1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. Adam and Eve before the fall were naked but after the fall God put clothes on them. You say clothes are not the problem, i say clothes can be a problem. A person can walk in the Spirit all he wants to but we still have to contend with the natural desires of the flesh. How does temptation come to the believer ? Answer: Lust of the eyes, Lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Each inividual person may have different weaknesses, should i wear some garment that might cause someone to lust ? Paul said, Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, i will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest i make my brother to offend. Romans 14:13-15 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way. I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing is unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth anything unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.

 

Clothes, the style of and the lack of isn't the problem. That poor girl in India was dressed quite modestly yet the beasts (I dare not use the term 'men') who raped her still lusted for her.

 

I thought we were discussing what people wear at church not what the world does.

 

News for you- we are all in the world, and the world is in the church. The Bible recognizes that fact. "Spiritual" and "secular" are separate only in our minds.

 

I guess people can come up with different points of views to suit their own life styles but the bottom line is, it is scripture that should guide.

 

I'll agree, the world is in the church, usually you can tell them by what they say, how they act and what they wear, or the lack of what they wear. I don't think a christian should lower their standards for the worlds sake.

 

Nope. No word games, and no kidding...swing and a miss. Nice stump'n there in bold, but that doesn't put me in my place.

I was being honest and I said a whole lot more than the bit that clearly offended you. I inferred from your words that you look at a women in pants and are enticed, therefore pants on a women in church is ungodly.
If that's true, you're victim to the principals that are so aptly stated in James 1, start with verse 13.

I have my weaknesses and failings too but I don't expect the world around me to mold or conform itself into an image that I've constructed within my own mind to be "Godly".

And you missed the point entirely that for every man there is a different set of circumstances that define enticing. Food works as analogy too, I am never-ever-never enticed to eat broccoli, no matter how hungry I am. Again, I defer to James chapter 1.

Blaming another for your own weaknesses is a fallacy. It denies personal accountability.

 

I guess this is the sentence that you assume i was speaking of myself. As you can see i used the word men therefore making it a statement in general. Also i try to make it a practice not to be offended by peoples insults our lifted up in pride by peoples praise. I too don't expect the world around me to conform to anything. By world i am referring to the lost. I also don't think myself more Godly than anyone because of what i wear, but i do believe this, whatever is on the inside will manifest itself to the outside, whether it be worldliness or humbleness and that can be in word or character.

 

I agree!

So we need to stop doing what the world does and do what God does- stop looking at the outward appearance and look at the heart. Looking on the outward appearance is what the world does. Dressing to impress is what the world does. Requiring others to meet a man-made standard is what the world does.

If we stopped doing all those things there wouldn't be reason for us Christians to have this silly discussion. :smilewinkgrin:

 

I would refer to 1 Tim 2:9-10 and also to a comment on this subject by John Gill. with shamefacedness and sobriety:
these are the two general rules by which dress is to be regulated; it is right and proper, when it is consistent with chastity, when it is not immodest and impudent, and more like the attire of an harlot than of a woman professing godliness; and when it is moderate as well as modest, and suitable to a person's age and station, and is not beyond the circumstances of life in which they are. There is no religion or irreligion in dress, provided pride and luxury are guarded against, and modesty and moderation preserved.

 

Who's playing with word games now?

That's part of it and I didn't assume, I inferred, huge difference. Your quote still states that women shouldn't wear pants specifically and otherwise, clothing that entices men. There's no absolute constant to measure enticement, if clothing is the means by which you judge.

About what I marked in bold. Read the last half of Romans 7, finish with Romans 8. We're all in the same boat. Feel free to judge others by their outward "manifestations" all you want, but beware the backlash.

I wear T-shirts and work pants to church, feel free to make an assessment of my character based one that. If and while you do, I'll concern myself with what God sees in me. I doubt he's all that worried about what's covering the dust I'm formed of.

 

My mother use to say when i was growing up, water is free and soap is cheap, no one needs to go dirty. When someone chooses to wear a certain type clothing it set's the pattern for others. Let's say one lady in the church starts wearing pants for whatever reason, another younger woman with a curved figure says, if she can wear pants i will too. So she puts her skin hugging pants on and comes to Gods worship service. Do you think that just because a man is saved he is not a man? Why put temptation in front of anyone. God may be looking on her heart but some man is probably looking at her body. One thing i've noticed about people that won't change their views on anything, they always play the love card or the your judging me card. Tell a wicked person if God don't save them they will go to hell, he will at once say, you have no right to judge me or your not showing Gods love toward me.