Robes of White - God's Dress Code

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
==Man's Dress Code==
I have heard most of my life that I have to dress up in my "Sunday best" to worship God.  Men wore their suits and ties.  Women wore their most beautiful dresses and many these extraordinary hats you could land a starship on, each more ostentatious than the other.  We could not serve on the table or lead prayers or singing if we didn't at least have slacks and a polo shirt and forget about preaching the Sunday morning sermon if we didn't have a suit and tie. 
Of course, Sunday evening was not so extravagant.  Men in suits that morning would wear slacks and a nice shirt, sometimes with ties, sometimes without...unless you were the preacher.  Wednesday night was dress down time.  Some even wore jeans rather than slacks. *gasp*  You still couldn't wear a T-shirt to lead anything, but tennis shoes were okay, but only on Wednesday.
Today this practice is alive and strong...and just as Pharisaical as it has always been.
==Typical Arguments For Dressing Up==
===A. We have to bring God our best.===
Proponents of dressing up argue that failure to dress in our best means we are disrespecting God.  Just as Abel brought his best to God in Genesis 4, we should also bring our best before God when we come before His throne to worship Him.
===B. They did it in the Old Testament.===
When the "bring our best" argument begins to falter, invariably proponents will begin to appeal to the Old Testament.
: 1.  "Moses took his shoes off at the burning bush.  God therefore cares what we wear when we come before Him."
: 2.  "The priests had to wear specific clothing, very ornate clothing in fact, therefore God cares what we wear when we come to worship Him."
===C.  Appeal to human authority===
When appeals to emotion and the Old Testament don't work, proponents of dressing up appeal to human authority for their practice.  I saw one video where the preacher spent a large portion of his "lesson" quoting the book some business man wrote on the effects of dressing up for work.  He went on and on about the statistics concerning those who went in for interviews and were dressed up or not, or the productivity of those who dress up versus those who don't.  The statistics were certainly predictible.
===D.  When all else fails...===
When all these arguments fail, these folks take to much more aggressive tactics to enforce their belief on others.  They begin to badger, then threaten, and certainly prohibit enemies of their tradition from serving during the worship assembly.  Some even go so far as to disfellowship the trouble maker. 
This may seem extreme, and this is not the case in all congregations, but these are all real experiences I personally have been subjected to.  Some have more mild responses to the poor and dressed-down.
==Answering the Arguments==
The arguments brought by the proponents of dressing up are woefully inadequate for the job they employ them to do.  The responses to these arguments are so basic as to almost be ludicrous to have to make them.
====A.  We have to bring God our best.====
I agree 100%.  We must always bring God our best.  However, we must always bring God our best of what He has commanded us to bring.  We bring God our best possible worship.
Our worship is not time or location or how we dress.  Worship is action.  Worship is song and prayer, study of the Word and partaking of the Lord's Supper and the giving of the contribution as we have prospered.  See my article on the definition and identification of worship.  Those who argue this point simply don't understand what worship is.
Nowhere in the New Testament does God command a dress code for our worship in the sense of dressing up.  There are some things that do matter.  We can't dress lewd.  We can't wear things that promote evil.  However there is no command anywhere to wear our "Sunday best".  Arguing that we should wear our "Sunday best" in order to respect God and give Him our best is like arguing that a Jew during pre-cross times should bring his best pig to offer as sacrifice.
Finally, the argument is inconsistent: 
#If we must dress up for worship in our best, then we have to wear the same suit/dress every Sunday because that's our best one.  Any other suit/dress is not our best and anything not our best would disrespect God!
#If we must dress up for worship in our best on Sunday morning, why is dressing in our best on Sunday evening and Wednesday evening or even off-night devotionals at someone's home when we are worshipping God not required?
#If we must dress up for worship in our best -- because failure to dress up during worship is disrespecting God -- then when you say a prayer at meals or in the morning and evening to start and end your day, or when you spend some time in personal Bible study or singing to God, you have to dress up.  Failure to do so means you are disrespecting God during that worship.
===B.  Appealing to the Old Testament===
This one should be a no-brainer for many in the churches of Christ, especially the preachers.  It is disappointing at best that they even make this argument.
#All appeals to the Old Testament for our practices today are not only ignorant, they are sinful!  We are not under the Old Testament (Hebrews; Gal. 3:24-25; Col. 2:14; Eph. 2:15; etc.) If they want to appeal to the OT for justification in one thing, they must keep the whole law of Moses (James 2:10).  Those who appeal to the Old Testament have fallen from Grace (Gal. 5:4).  In imposing their will and basing this action and imposition on the Old Testament, these Pharisees bind all those ordinances that were contrary to us, against us, our enemy.
#Moses took his shoes off - this isn't an argument for dressing up, its an argument for dressing down.
#The priests dressed up - physical Israel was a physical nation ensconsed in physical rituals.  The priests also made physical sacrifices, burned physical incense, and did a number of other physical things.  They did these things as types to help us better understand the spiritual antitypes under Christ.  To argue from the Jewish priesthood is to argue for a return to the types and shadows of the spiritual reality of the kingdom of Christ.
#Appealing to the Old Testament for one practice in worship validates other appeaels to the Old Testament for other practices of worship, namely the use of mechanical instruments.
===C. Appealing to Human Authority===
This appeal is even more absurd than an appeal to the Old Testament.  At least the Old Testament was from God!  It always amazes me when humans appeal to other humans to justify some spiritual practice because that worked out so well throughout the Bible.  The response to this is simple and direct, their worship is vain because they teach for doctrine the commandments of men (Matt. 15:9) and their tree will be rooted up (Matt 15:13).
===D.  Unchristian Attitude and Action as a Defense===
It's already a horrible habit among many of the congregations to disfellowship first and ask questions never.  Add to that the almost angry disdain they have for those who don't dress up and you have a complete lack of the spiritual fruits found in Gal. 5.  When they prevent capable men from serving because those men don't match up to their man-made tradition, they sin against those men specifically and do grevious harm to the congregation.  Beware these scribes which desire to walk in three-piece suits, and love getting attention in the grocery store, and the best seats in the auditorium, and in the fellowship meals.
Those who demand our "Sunday best" give lip service to accomodating the poor who can't afford these ostentatious outer trappings, but then in their arrogance offer to provide some cast off that is not their best to become the Sunday best of those who don't have it.  They give no thought about how their actions make the poor person feel, that they make the poor person feel as if they cannot bring to God worship that is good enough on their own.  How many of the poor, the meek, the salt of the earth have these Pharisees turned away from the kingdom by their arrogance and addiction to things physical?
If Christ came today these men would seek for a man in soft raiment (Matt. 11:8) and would be sorely disappointed.  How many would reject the Messiah as His people did in the first century?  How many would subject Him to open shame and crucify the Lord anew (Heb. 6:6) today?
==What the Bible Actually Says==
In addition to the quote at the beginning of this article from James 2:1-9, the Bible does have a couple of things to say about our physical dress and how we should treat others who are dressed differently.
*In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; (1 Tim. 2:9)
*Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: (1 Peter 3:1-5).
*Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; (Luke 20:46)
Modesty is not about showing skin, its about dressing down.  In these passages the command is NOT to dress in "costly array" (translate "your Sunday best"), not to adorn oneself with physical things of worth.  A modest dress is similar in type to a modest income or a modest home.  Modest is the opposite of costly and ostentatious.
==Robes of White - God's Dress Code==
The Bible saavy Pharisee will by now be turning to Matthew 22:11 to make their case finally from the New Testament (which is the only argument they should have ever tried to make).  In this parable concerning the kingdom, a man holds a wedding feast and invites a bunch of friends who don't come.  Then he has his servants go and invite a bunch of strangers who do come, except one of them apparently didn't get the memo about wearing their "Sunday best" and gets thrown out of the feast.
The problem is that this parable is not about what we wear on our physical bodies.  It's about the inner man.  The Jews were the friends invited first to the feast.  They rejected the invitation.  Then the Gentiles were invited, but those who do not prepare for the wedding feast by converting to Christ and being clothed in the rainment of purity, washed in the blood of Christ, are also rejected.
God does have a dress code.  He speaks of it in the New Testament.  God's dresscode is as follows:
*modest apparel
*shamefacedness
*sobriety
*chaste behavior
*meekness
*obedience
What God wants us to wear are the robes of white (Rev. 7:9), the spiritual righteousness of those who've had their robes washed in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14).  That is the ONLY dress God requires of men today.  This dress code is not just for worship, but 24/7/365.25.
Then of course there is the following added accouterments:
: 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Eph. 6:13-17).
Anything else is adding to God's Word which is expressly condemned.
In Truth and Love.
Category:Thematic