Dressing For Success

You may have noticed the past couple Sundays I've worn jeans while preaching...

Amongst some of our more traditional members, that's controversial. In fact, one of our ladies (whom I sincerely love, appreciate, and sympathize with) gave me a hard time for doing so. She made her comments to me after the service in front of two first time guests, who both happened to be wearing jeans... Awkward!

I wanted to ask her... Would you believe the reason why I'm wearing jeans is theologically driven by the incarnation of Christ?

I then wanted to respond with these words... When Jesus being fully God, became fully man, he dressed like the current culture of His time. He dressed like the culture he was currently trying to reach. In fact, the Bible never gives any physical description of Christ. The closest thing we get to a description is in Isaiah 53:2b, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.” All this tells us is that Jesus’ appearance was just like any other man's – He was ordinary-looking. Isaiah was prophesying that the coming suffering Servant would arise in lowly conditions and wear none of the usual emblems of royalty, making His true identity visible only to the discerning eye of faith.

So if Jesus was ordinary looking in his appearance, is it OK for me to be ordinary looking in my appearance on Sunday mornings when I preach? And if the majority of our unchurched guests are coming in jeans, wouldn't it make sense that I would meet them in jeans?

On Sunday mornings, we are a family expecting guests. We want our guests to feel comfortable and relaxed so that they can hear Jesus' invitation to become part of His family without any distractions. Think about it this way... What if you invited someone to come over to your home and be your guest, and when they arrived in jeans you answered the door wearing dress slacks, a dress shirt, and a tie? Do you think your guests might feel a bit uncomfortable and distracted?

And if Jesus, being God, became ordinary in his appearance like us, shouldn't we in the same way become ordinary in our appearance like those we are seeking to save in order that they might become like Him. We must remember the purpose of why the church exists. We share our purpose with Jesus, and part of that purpose is stated in Luke 19:10... "Jesus came to seek and save the lost".

We are a family expecting guests...

And we want our guests to be physically comfortable and undistracted...

So let's dress for success with our guests in mind... with purpose, sensitivity, and modesty.

Furthermore, God makes it clear in 1 Samuel 16:7b... "The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." So we must be mindful not to confuse cultural Christianity with biblical Christianity. God wants us to have His heart... the heart of Jesus.