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Because wearing clothes is an everyday experience, how you think about the clothes you wear is a biblically and culturally relevant issue, especially in light of our call to spread the fame of God in a fallen world.
To glorify God means to spread His fame throughout the world by making His name great in your sphere of influence. Whether you eat, drink, or wear clothes, you are called to do all of those things for God’s glory. Paul said it this way:
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
You should have a “magnification of the Lord” focus, which is an all-encompassing command that even brings your clothing choices under the rubric of spreading God’s fame. David talked about it this way:
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together (Psalm 34:3)!
You are like a modern-day John the Baptist, the guy who stood in the wilderness pointing people to Christ (John 3:28, 30). You could say his job description is yours too. The life you live is an ongoing process of learning how to decrease while intentionally increasing the person of Christ so others can hear the message of the gospel.
When thinking about the clothes you wear, the most appropriate place to begin is in your heart, specifically with your motivations. All solid self-reflective questions about your clothing choices should center on your motives for your clothing choices.
Are you aware of how your motives influence what you wear?
Maybe you can ask the question in reverse:
Christians are missionaries. If you are a Christian, you are an alien living on foreign soil for the purpose of convincing earthlings to worship your King. The practical way you live your life matters as much as the message you communicate.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation (1 Peter 2:11-12).
You are influencing your culture for Christ, or your culture is affecting you. Your clothing choices are one practical way you can discern if you are influencing or they are influencing you. Your clothes are messages that either work in tandem with the message of the gospel or work in conjunction with the ways of the world. Clothes are not neutral garments hanging on the Christian missionary.
The tension about our clothes creates modesty wars within the Christian community. I suppose there are several factions in this war. For this chapter, I have separated the camps into two general groups–the conservatives and the non-conservatives.
My conservative friends clearly see the dangers of dressing sensually. They are not blind. Calling them legalistic while entirely dismissing their perspectives is myopic and immature. Legalists are like the rest of us in that they have problems too, but when it comes to clothing choices, they are typically more clear-headed than the less conservative Christian community.
The conservative Christian community knows that sex sells, and they are soberly aware of how so many of their brothers and sisters in Christ are promoting the sensual agenda of our culture. I agree with them.
As a counselor, I’ve had the opportunity of seeing their complaint in a clearer way than most Christians. Sensual thinking and attire are nearly always associated with adultery, porn, and many other marital problems, including divorce.
What our conservative friends are observing in our culture is a serious matter that is not arguable. Adultery, porn, and divorce are not isolated behavioral events that have no relation to a person’s heart motivations or lifestyle choices.
Nobody falls into adultery. No one makes an out-of-the-blue decision to live a lifestyle of porn. There is always a long trail that leads to these patterns, and the trailhead is always in the sensual person’s heart. With every “sensual” family problem I have dealt with, there were sensual patterns of the heart that were in place long before anyone knew about the person’s sinful lifestyle.
My conservative friends are correct in their observations. If they do err, it is an overreactive response to their observations, which is an important distinction. You may not agree with how a more conservative person dresses, but it would be short-sighted to say what they are observing in the culture is wrong.
Because some conservatives over-correct their clothing choices, they end up drawing attention away from sensuality while drawing attention to their counter-cultural attire. Though their intentions may be good, their clothing ends up distracting the culture from the gospel message.
It is possible to draw attention to yourself by dressing in such a way that you become a hindrance to the gospel. Jesus was a relevant guy who knew how to relate to His culture. He did not dress counter-culturally, and He did not dress immodestly.
Jesus was not ostentatious or showy, and He did not dress in such a conservative fashion that His clothes were more of a talking point than His gospel. When someone spent time with Jesus, they said, “No one ever spoke like this man,” rather than, “No one ever dressed like this man.” (See John 7:46.)
There was nothing about Christ’s appearance that distracted His audience from His message. He fit into His culture. He was not in the conservative or the liberal camp. He was outside both camps (Hebrews 13:13).
There were times when people could not find Christ in a crowd because He looked like the crowd (Matthew 26:48). He did not dress like a conservative or liberal dresser. People were more aware of His character and His message than His clothing choices.
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious (1 Peter 3:3-4).
There are two groups of Christian people who miss the point on the modesty issue. Christians in each group have their ditch they like to hunker into while tossing grenades at the other side:
When you wear culottes to the beach or dresses on a ski slope, you are not making God’s name great. That is analogous to the Corinthians speaking in tongues in a church meeting without an interpreter. It was confusing to the non-Christian community of Paul’s day.
If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds (1 Corinthians 14:23)?
Out-of-date or counter-culture clothing choices do not, by in large, point unregenerate people to Christ. The cross of Christ is foolish enough (1 Corinthians 1:18). We don’t need to place hurdles in front of the cross that confuses, distract, or hinder our unregenerate friends from thinking about Christ.
Non-relevant attire becomes a cultural anomaly that may garner a few looks, but the quizzical onlooker typically dismisses the conservative person or marginalizes them through mocking or devaluation. Either way, it’s the clothes that gain the attention more than the magnification of Christ.
Mocking conservative clothing choices is what happened to me before I became a Christian. I thought being a Christian meant I had to ride a bicycle and wear black slacks and shoes, with a white shirt and black tie. I also figured I had to have a badge on my white shirt that said, “Elder Rick.”
I did not know Mormons weren’t Christians, but what I did know is that I did not want to be like them, not for theological reasons, but because of their weird clothing choices. Their anti-culture dress standards made no sense to me. Their message got lost in their apparel.
But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak (1 Corinthians 8:9).
Guard your heart so that your freedom in Christ is not a stumbling block to your weaker brothers and sisters in Christ who sincerely believe they are right on this issue of modesty. (See 1 Corinthians 8.)
Too many of my non-conservative friends have also overreacted. Their overreaction is what I call “the grace mistake.” They have become overly focused on the legalism they came out of, which tempts some of them to react by going too far into a non- (or sub-) Christian liberality.
They misunderstand biblical freedom as they react to what they disdain. By distancing themselves from their conservative past, they yoke themselves to their culture.
If a trap has caught you, I appeal to you to care for your conservative brothers and sisters. Love them. And while you’re doing so, make sure you are not distracting your unregenerate friends from the point and purpose of the gospel. They need to know Christ more than your coolness.
Christianity is not supposed to be hip. The message of the cross is as anti-cultural as it can be. Christianity is a death march. It’s a call to die to yourself.
You should have a counter-cultural heart condition, which should drive all your choices. Paul and Peter were clear on how our calling to Christ should be counter-intuitive to cultural norms.
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake (Philippians 1:29),
For to this, you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps (1 Peter 1:21).
As you live out coolness for the cause of Christ, make sure you model something that is far superior to your cultural relevance and hipness. Our world needs to see the hope we have in Christ.
Joseph was the sexiest slave in Egypt. He had no church, no Bible, no friends, no church clothes, and no help. But God was with him, and it was obvious to all (Genesis 39:2).
In one of the most isolated times of his life, he did not look Christian, but everyone knew God was with him. How about you? How does your life communicate that God is with you? Do your clothes get in the way of the message of Christ?
The Savior was a root out of the dry ground, and there was no beauty that we should desire Him (Isaiah 53). Rather than getting a makeover, He stayed the course, went to His death, and even today, He is turning the world upside down.
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing (Matthew 6:25)?
Is the main thing (gospel) the main thing in your life? Spreading God’s fame is more important than what we wrap around our bodies. Do not err by your legalism or your liberality. Guard your heart, love your God, serve your neighbor, and send an unobstructed message to your world.
I exhort you to dress in such a way that does not capture the gaze of any person. It matters not if you’re male or female. Our Christian duty is to point people to Christ.
If your conservative clothing distracts from the message of Christ, consider changing your clothing. If your culturally relevant clothing distracts from the message of Christ, consider changing your clothing.
Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.
In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).