Legalism As It Pertains To...Clothing

Think about this for a second...church services in ancient days, at least within some areas of the world, were toga parties. They were parties because it was church, which is worship, which should be exciting, right? You know, even now, with some modification in what is worn underneath, a number of cultures still have similar looks. At the very least, anyone outside the Western culture most often dresses completely differently than we do.

So why, or better how, can people justify this mistaken concept that you must dress a certain way to attend church or church functions? I just don't get it. I don't know how many times I've seen this happen. In the mid-nineties, I was attending a church that, as it turned out, felt very strongly about what people wore. In advance of a cookout at the church one summer evening, the pastor announced Sunday morning that everyone should dress appropriately and that shorts were absolutely not allowed.

Summertime...temps in the upper 80s and 90s...long pants. Ummm, no. This was the first thing the pastor had said which gave me insight into how he believed, that his rules, man's rules, were more important than God's rules. Oh, you can say you want someone to dress a certain way, and you may very well have a conviction about it, but that conviction needs to stay with you or else you are putting yourself above God. How can I say this? Well, is this rule you created God-made or man-made? It's as simple as that.

OK, look, this is a common issue for everyone in the church. We've all been guilty of legalism in one form or another, putting our own convictions on others because we believe we are right. All I'm saying is that regardless of whether or not you feel you're right, if it's not specifically stated in the Bible, you've got no ground to stand on. And yes, I do realize anyone can make the statement that the Bible doesn't cover everything, so we have to interpret things the best we can to find the ways we should live. I get that, but people, issues of clothing have nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with salvation. In fact, very little of what we argue about amongst ourselves when it comes to the church has to do with salvation and living according to the rules God has provided. Very little.

I will say that most of us feel you should at least dress modestly, and the reasons for that certainly make some sense. I mean, the girl with the great body in the miniskirt and halter top doesn't help ANY of the men nearby focus on the service. It's not intentional; it's just how we're made. And that's not an excuse, either. We are seriously made this way. It's very, very hard not to notice certain things. So yeah, it'd be great if everyone recognized the need to dress at little more covered up for church, but by the same token, when do we start to look inward instead of creating some rule to take care of what we can't handle?

Isn't that what most of these man-made rules are for? When you get right down to the dirt, don't you make rules for yourself to help you focus the way you need to on God? Doesn't the way you choose to go about worship, about music, about prayer or any other aspect of your spiritual life become dictated by your own rules about how to do it best for you? When I go to church, I like to be comfortable. I wear jeans and a polo or long sleeve shirt of some type, any type, when it's cold. My level of comfort has a lot to do with how well I feel I can focus on worship and on the message.

But that's just me. My wife is comfortable wearing pants and a nice blouse or sweater, though she'll rarely wear jeans and she'd never wear shorts. I would, but she won't, and that's her conviction. My mom has always felt that, to her, it was important to wear a dress or a skirt to church. In fact, unless this has changed recently, she will wear this all day Sunday, even. It's something she feels works for her, a personal conviction that helps her truly worship her King. Me? Any time I walk in the house the shoes come off and the shorts go on, summer or winter, weekday or weekend. I don't carry that same conviction my mom does, but even as strongly as she feels about this for herself, she knows it is her personal sense of how to do things and not something everyone else is responsible to also do.

When you look at someone in church, do you judge them for how they are dressed? If you find yourself doing it, next time look inward and pray, unselfishly and openly, about your attitude. God wants you to focus on Him, not the clothing around you. And the next time you worry too much about how others are dressed, consider for a second how you'd feel if you walked into a service in a different culture. In that instance, you might be the one who looked out of place. Would you want them to accept you or deny you a chance to worship?

Legalism...stinks, doesn't it?