It has been so interesting in my life time to watch the changing of habits and culture on the issue of dress in the Church. I grew up in a Church where all them men wore suits and ties and the kids were dresses in the “church clothes.” We were also not allowed to wear shorts at Church or Church functions, period. That made for some really hot outings in Houston, TX. I have always been one to test the status quo, and dress was no different for me. The suit and tie thing was easy to get rid of for me because, Jesus didn’t wear a suit and tie. I have heard pastors make some pretty big stretches as they try and pull scripture about the priestly robes from the Old Testament and apply them to our life today in order to justify the necessity of dressing up for Church.
Now that being said, God does give the command of dressing modestly. The interesting thing about modesty is that the word means “of good behavior.” When you dress you should dress in such a way that people will not think that you are of bad behavior. I tend the think that this is a very cultural thing. I would imagine since the first set of leaf clothing that man has been making a statement with his cloths. For example if you see a man walking down the street in suit you would naturally assume that he is some type of business man and possibly even upper class (Unless of course the suit is purple, and that tells a whole different story). To dress modestly is not simply just to cover up, but rather not to suggest any bad behavior. For example you don’t want to wear something that seductive. This would suggest to people that you engage in that type of activity which is sinful to the Lord. When people look at you, you want them to understand that you have no intention of rebelling against the God you love and who love you. There should be no hint of wrong doing.
The second thing that must be considered is the culture and tradition in which you life. For example, I live in a place where there are real live Cowboys. But, traditionally you take your hat off when you come inside. To leave your hat on inside or in the Church is to show disrespect to the building and or organization that you just entered. Traditionally here in America and I believe around the world, we dress for the occasion. Traditionally it is not OK to wear shorts to Church and it is not OK to wear a suit to the pool. There is a certain dress that is acceptable by everyone. When I was growing up and we would take a youth trip to Astroworld in jeans, we looked ridiculous because in that kind of heat it is not acceptable to wear jeans. To be normal would have been to wear shorts. Now, not to wear provocative shorts. “Daisy Dukes” are not acceptable, especially on me!
The danger comes when people begin to equate a style of clothing with godliness. Spiritually is never determined by a style of clothing. Clothing can be a revealer of intent, but it doesn’t determine godliness. When I person wears cloths that are not appropriate for the occasion, they know it. What we have done in the Church is to demand a certain style of clothing to worship God or to attend a Worship service. That style has traditionally been a middle to upper class style of clothing. This was done on purpose for the intent of excluding the lower class from coming to the service. That way church people could blame their prejudice tendencies on the clothes instead of on the people. But, the result of exclusion in still the same. I have a motto that I have lived by for all of my ministry. I am a common man with a common message preaching to common people. We have removed the prejudice element of dress in our Church so as not to exclude anyone that would desire to worship with us. In doing so we have not removed the two main elements of dress. You should always dress modestly, and you should dress to fit the occasion.
