|
For ye are
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God’s. I Corinthians 6:20.
Vincent Alsop
observed, “That the present generation is lamentably intoxicated
with novelties and as sadly degenerated from the gravity of former
ages, can neither be denied, nor concealed, nor defended nor, I
fear, reformed … even ‘the daughters of Zion’ have caught the
epidemical infection.” Likewise, and epidemic of immodesty infects
our churches today. The principles by which most swimwear fails the
modesty test should be applied to everything we wear. We need to
realize that some “coverings” don’t really cover: tight
clothing brings out the “body underneath” in the same way swimwear
does. While we must not be ashamed of the body itself as if it were
an evil thing, we must properly cover it to preserve chastity
of mind and spirit, especially in the corporate worship of our holy
God. Above all, we men must learn how to govern our hearts and eyes
as well as to teach our wives and children the proper principles of
modesty. Although women are vulnerable to wearing lavish or sensual
apparel, their fathers and husbands are ultimately responsible for
what the women in their homes wear. Christian men and women
need to study this matter and fervently pray about it, for we truly
need a return to a Biblical modesty.
Why do we
dress the way we do? John Bunyan, more than a century ago, put the
question this way: “Why are they for going with their … naked
shoulders, and paps hanging out like a cow’s bag? Why are they for
painting their faces, for stretching out their neck, and for putting
of themselves unto all the formalities which proud fancy leads them
to? Is it because they would they would honor God? Because they
would adorn the gospel? Because they would beautify religion, and
make sinners to fall in love with their own salvation? No, no, it
is rather to please their lusts … I believe also that Satan has
drawn more into the sin of uncleanness by the spangling show of fine
clothes, than he could possibly have drawn unto it without them. I
wonder what it was that of old was called the attire of a harlot:
certainly it could not be more bewitching and tempting that are the
garments of may professors this day.”
The same could be said today, dear reader. Examine your own
heart. Why do you dress the way you do?
The cry of the
Feminists is “It’s my body, and I’ll do what I want.” The cry of
the modern Evangelical is “It’s my liberty, and I’ll do what I
want.” Nevertheless, they are both wrong: the declaration of the
Scripture is this: “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and
ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” I
Corinthians 6:19-20. You are not your own, if you are a
Christian. Your whole body – body and soul – is the purchased
property of Jesus Christ; and the price paid for your body
was the breaking of His: “This is my body, which is broken
for you.” I Corinthians 11:24; Matthew 26:26. You body belongs to
Him! He redeemed it with His precious blood on the cross of
Calvary. We must consider how we adorn His blood-bought
property.
No doubt, some
will cry at this point, “Aaah! But this is legalism!” It is
not legalism to urge God’s children to cover themselves,
because modesty is the command of Scripture. The desire of
the regenerate heart is to honor the Lord Jesus and to do whatever
brings Him glory by keeping His commandments. “He that hath my
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me … He that
loveth me not keepeth not my sayings.” John 14:21, 24. The glory
of God and love for Christ should be the primary motives for
everything we say, do, and think, which includes what we wear. It
is never legalism to call God’s children to obey Him according to
His Word!
Pray and
meditate on the very eternal purpose of Almighty God: “For whom he
did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his Son.” Romans 8:29. This earth, this whole universe
exists for one reason alone: the God of grace intended to save His
people from their sins and make them like His holy Son, Jesus
Christ. He poured our His blood on the Cross of Calvary to pay the
debt for the sins of His people. By faith in Him alone, their sins
are pardoned for all eternity. Christ saves them, cleanses them,
and makes them like Himself. And what is He like? “Holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” Hebrews 7:26.
So then, how
shall we properly govern ourselves with regard to this difficult
issue? Let’s consider these principles: 1) The glory of God must be
our primary aim – “glorify God in your body” I Corinthians
6:20; “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Colossians
3:17. 2) Love for Christ must be our motive: “We love Him
because He first loved us.” I John 4:19. 3) Remembering that we
are the temple of the Holy Spirit and that we are not our own must
be our corrective. “Your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you … and ye are not your own.” I
Corinthians 6:19. 4) Love for others, the preservation of purity in
them and us, and the desire not to provoke them to lust will be our
resulting aim. “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor:
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:10.
May the God of
mercy grant us repentance where we have sinned in this matter. Be
honest with yourselves and your God, dear reader. Have you ever
really given this issue serious consideration? Have any of your
brothers or sisters fervently asked the Lord how a holy child of God
ought to dress? If not, I urge you to do so with all my heart.
Repent of whatever worldliness you find in your hearts. Repent if
you dress for the gazes of men and not for the glory of God.
Today many are
again valiantly holding forth the Gospel of God’s sovereign grace;
they are plainly declaring in may quarters the glorious truth of
salvation by faith alone through Christ alone. These wonderful,
transforming truths should produce a holy, humble, and modest
people, distinguishable from this lost and dying world. Hence, my
fervent prayer is that we ardently love Jesus Christ and one
another, that we strive together for the unity of the faith, and
that we lead lives that magnify the saving grace of our blessed
Redeemer. May we live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present world – Titus 2:11-14; and may we never deny these precious
truths that we love by clinging to the forms and fashions of this
present evil world and its sinful nakedness. Let us glorify the
love of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us return to Christian modesty.
|
