"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." (Romans 12:1)
On any given church day you will notice something a little unsettling, that the majority of parishioners are dressed casually. Whatever happened to putting on your 'Sunday best'? Many churches today prescribe to the “come as you are” approach to dressing for church service, but in some churches dressing for church is getting too sloppy. When you look at some churches today, you will see people dressed in their Sunday worst. They saunter into the church in flip-flop sandals, tennis shoes, and T-shirts. It seems that no one dresses up for church anymore.
Church leaders have expressed concern about declining dress standards for church service for years, while others say God only cares about what’s in someone’s heart. Is it really sufficient to argue that when we come to worship all that matters is the heart? I Samuel 16:7 does read, "People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Because worship is a matter of the heart, which is often reflected in our appearance, we cannot entirely conclude God doesn't care about what is worn to church.
Many Christians today view going to church as no big deal because they have lost their sense of awe before God. Yet some of these same people who say it doesn’t matter how you dress for church would change their tune if they were invited to the White House to meet with the president, they wouldn’t show up wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Shouldn’t people have that same reverential attitude when they show up at church to meet God? After all, doesn’t your dress reveal the importance you attach to an occasion?
That sentiment, however, is seen as hopelessly old school in many popular mega-churches. Church worship services have morphed into casual worship services. Many of the popular mega church pastors are middle-aged men who stand on the platform each service dressed in jeans, untucked shirts, and backed by a Christian rock band. They’ve perfected a “seeker-friendly” approach to church that gets rid of the old formal worship style with its dress codes.
But there’s a danger in making people too comfortable in their clothes for worship services. Some churches have embraced a business-oriented “the customer is always right” approach to worship that places individual comfort at the center of church service. Many people judge the value of the worship service based on personal satisfaction. If they get to wear flip-flops to Wal-Mart, then I get to wear flip-flops to church. If I get to wear a T-shirt to work, I get to wear a T-shirt in church. They’re being told that come as you are means that God wants you to be comfortable.”
The Bible teaches us that that’s not true. People had to prepare themselves internally and externally for worship. In the Old Testament, Jewish people didn’t just “come as they were” to the temple. They had to undergo purification rituals and bathe in pools before they could enter the temple. Both the Old and New Testaments suggest that people should not approach God in a casual manner. Psalms 24 urges the faithful to “ascend the hill of the Lord …with clean hands and pure hearts.” When Jesus taught in the synagogues, he also observed the rules and decorum of being in God’s house.
We're not calling for a rigid dress code. Churches should meet people where they are, and make even the poorest person feel welcome. Preparation for worship should give less thought to people and more thought to the divine. There should be some sort of approach to God that will include certain steps to honor God as our Lord and not our buddy. Dressing up for church really makes a difference. It puts us in a different mindset. It actually sets church day apart from every other day.
There are those who say God cares more about the person’s soul than their style. Clothes just weren’t important to Jesus or the early church, they claim. These people say that the early church was anti-hierarchical and adopted a “come as you are” approach to worship, welcoming outcasts and the disenfranchised who often couldn’t dress in fine clothes. These people refer to Mark 12:38, where Jesus mocks the fine clothes worn by the Pharisees. Others quote James 2:2-4, where James criticizes early Christians for discriminating against poor people visiting the church in dirty clothes and favoring the man “wearing a gold ring and fine clothes.
They say that adopting a dress code would not only be suicidal for Christians who have to contend with casual secularism, but it would also be antithetical to what Christianity sees increasingly as its abiding mission, to reach those who are marginalized and ‘don’t fit in.
Granted, times change and so does fashion. There are no rules from Scripture about the way to dress for church. Still, there are biblical principles for worship acceptable to God that points us in the right direction. Worship is essentially the offering up of ourselves to God as a sacrificial offering. This is the meaning of Paul's instructions when he writes, "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1). In other words, New Testament worship in contrast to Old Testament practice requires we not only bring our best offering to the Temple but that we bring ourselves, our entire selves in a hallowed manner, for now, we are the Temple of God (I Corinthians 3:16,17). This means we should come before God in reverence, presenting our best to Him, bringing our best gift, coming with our best attitude, and making our best appearance.
God commands us to worship "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24), this requires our noblest demonstration of reverence to Him. Every church service ought to communicate to others that worship is an important event. We should avoid the nonchalant attitude that says this event is entirely routine; that it merits nothing special from us; that our only consideration in what we choose to wear is what is easiest and most convenient. Such a self-centered attitude is corrosive to a true spirit of worship. Instead, the goal in our choice of clothing should be to express to God and those around us that this event matters, that we view it as a holy occasion, one which deserves our highest regard. The clothes we wear for church tell us a lot about our hearts that God already knows, but maybe we don't.
What does the way we dress for worship say about our relationship with God? Does it demonstrate we believe that He is holy and worthy of our deepest love, adoration, and respect? It seems that our worship may be too laid back, too casual, too informal, yes, even indifferent.
Some people, however, remain convinced that casual church worship services are getting too sloppy. I truly believe that the casualness of church attire has gone too far. Going to church should be about respect and honoring God.
By our clothing we can display many things; the condition of our heart is one of them. When we bow before the Lord and venerate His name in public worship, He deserves our loftiest expressions from within and without. There’s growing casualness everywhere. I don’t know if it can get much worse, I just pray that it doesn't.
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