Should we dress up nice for church?
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Asked July 01 2013
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Anonymous (via GotQuestions)
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Peggy Spurlock
It is not merely about dressing up, it is about purposely getting ready to worship God with both our body and mind. It is more important to be modest and cover yourself, than to "dress up".
Colin Wong
Supporter
It is not how you dress for church but rather whether your dressing reflects your true attitude toward God. Let's take a few examples. If you go to church dressed in shorts, slippers and t-shirt because you have an indifferent attitude and you could not care less the time you spend in worship, prayer and fellowship, then yes, your dressing is a true reflection of your attitude towards God. But if you live in the Arizona desert, its a blazing 100 degrees in summer, your church is an old cabin with no air conditioning, you're shouting your heart out in worship, and serving the Lord with humility and fearfulness, then no. It does not matter, because God sees your heart more than He sees what you wear. Some would say you should dress your best when you meet people you want to impress i.e. at work, or to meet the President. They ask, why would you do any less for God? This is not practical because we should be "meeting" God all the time: when we wake up in the morning, when we give thanks for our food, when we are troubled and seek Him in prayer, when we do our quiet time and personal worship; the list goes on. Meeting God is not just in church (the building) but everyday, everywhere and as best as we can, all the time. Unlike the Israelites of the Old Testament, we no longer meet God at the temple. The Holy Spirit (God) now resides in each and everyone of us. He sees us at our best, and our worse, and He loves us just the same. Perhaps its best to keep this simple. If you dress up for church and you believe this is a true reflection of your heart and your attitude towards God, then by all means, keep doing it. God will honor you for it. If you believe dressing up is just an exercise in impression management (for other people), then don't. So long as your attitude and heart does not also "dress down". That means going to church on time, volunteering to help others, put stuff away when the meeting is over etc. All these "small little things" matter just as much if not more. Whatever choice you make, God cares more about your heart than how you dress. Do not be like the Pharisees, whitewashed tombs on the outside, but dead bones on the inside (Matthew 23:27-28).
S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
It is good for us to ponder why we wear what we do. Genesis 35:1-3 may shed some light on the subject. "Then God said to Jacob, 'Go up to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to honor Me. ...
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William Sowels
I believe that it's not what we look like, but how we act. I'm 6 foot 260 lbs. I do have tattoos and told a lot that I look like a biker. One Sunday I was a greeter in my Church. This young couple came in and I greeted them and showed them around our Church with pride. A couple of weeks went by and the young couple came back. I guess he had talked to my preacher, because on the following wednesday, (prayer meeting) my preacher asked the young man to tell the Church what he had said earlier. The young man told the story about how he found our Church. It ended by telling us that it was me that made him feel welcomed and that he wouldn't be judged here because of his tattoos. I attend Church in jeans and buttoned up shirts. Sometimes our Church T-shirt. I agree with Gareth, sometimes people might want to come into a Church and they may not be able to afford suits and ties, and then not feel comfortable. It would be sad to loose another believer or future believer because of our clothes. Just my thoughts.
Gareth Wilgar-Farr
Our Lord God is omnipresent and we are able to meet with him wherever we are. We will be in various states of dress when we do so. Personally I don't believe it nessarry to get swanked up going to church. Getting dressed up is more about fitting in with others who are all dressed up. I really don't believe our Saviour is disconcerted by me wearing jeans and a t-shirt. If church were more casual in its appearance, maybe the lost might more easily find there way in. I certainly dont mean any watering down of the Gospel, simply a more inviting ambiance.
Jim New
If we are true Believers then God's Holy Spirit lives in us not in any building- so our God is always looking at our hearts not what we wear although God is very clear that we are to dress moderately when we are out and about. My take is that many people are out to impress others with what they wear to Church or wherever and that all comes back to pride and God hates pride.
Emo Tenorio
Good question in my humble view dress in what you are comfort in please use common sense here ( no tank tops, short shorts etc. ). Some of our brothers and sisters are the workers who labor unseen for the service. They are the ones who fix things as they fail, provide care for the children and elderly often unsung behind the show. Their free labor of love is to God and His people that they may receive His Word in some comfort. Over the years I've been asked why don't you dress better wear a suit etc. (insert smile and chuckle here)... My God and pastors know the answer, fixing an air conditioning unit that goes south or repairing a plugged toilet or two in a suit, is but one more unneeded burden. If a drug addict or other lost soul should enter greeting that person not caring if I get dirty gives that precious soul, just maybe not the added burden of being an outcast for a moment. We arrive hours before to clean, prepare, turn on air/heat and stay after everyone leaves to eat. Churches have these unsung people or they must pay strangers to fill the gap, just an opinion from the trenches.... warrior on.
Selre Oyinloye
1 Timothy 1:8-10 speaks of our appearance in the house of God. I think the key word is "moderation". I've heard a brother testify that for long he had desired to join the work force of the church he attended but was unable to because the pastor of the church lay so much emphasis on dressing and he was jobless and unable to afford a suit of a good pair of shoes. Good news is that God blessed him some months later and he could more than afford a pair each. On the day he testified he had all the price tags still on the cloths! See what we do to people! To me I'd say look smart, clean and be comfortable.
Vincent Mercado
Supporter
When one is meeting the "Master and Creator of the Universe", oh he has to dress up nicely.
Victor Ruiz
I think we should dress as best as we possibly can but God is more interested in the condition of our hearts. We must go to worship with clean and pure hearts in the presence of a Pure and Holy God.
Mike Ferrin
If the President called you up and said he was coming over, would you get fixed up? If so, why? Wouldn't the creator of the universe warrant more consideration? Being under grace doesn't mean anything goes and nothing matters and we can live like slobs. Another point is , how you dress influences you're attitude. Even the world understands this, that's why they talk about 'dressing for success' (they know how you dress influences your mindset.
Shanna Duck
When Peter was out fishing in his "work-clothes" (he had an under-robe tucked up and perhaps was bare-chested; I've heard different explanations) with the other disciples and saw Christ, he immediately put on his long outer-robe out of respect. On the other hand, Jesus nowhere asked any poor person to "dress up" to come to him. People simply didn't have that many clothes and the lepers were probably wearing the only stinking rags that they possessed. That didn't matter to Jesus. Although He came from the glory of Heaven, He was much more tolerant of dirt, sweat, and general bad smells than we are today. After all, He himself was probably trained as a carpenter and he knew that people who work get dirty. If we love the Lord and if we have appropriate attire, then out of respect we'll wear clothing that honors Him: modest according to our locale, neat, clean and nothing that would distract anyone else from worship. We certainly don't want to look dirty or smell bad, because this would cast aspersion on the name of Christ, nor do we want to be ostentatious. If our clothing is too grungy (and we have better) or if it's too showy or provocative, then this says something about our heart-attitude: disrespect, carelessness, pride, idolatry, or seductiveness. What's hard is that often those of us who've been raised in conservative churches tend to dress more traditionally and/or modestly. A farmer coming in straight from the hayfield wouldn't cause anyone's eyebrow to raise in my church, but a woman wearing a very short mini-skirt with a tight, low-cut top and tall boots would not be considered appropriate. Any person who is truly a Christian will try not to judge younger Christians or unbelievers based on their attire, but young Christians also have the duty to try to conform with their community's standards of modesty and respectfulness in worship.
Dorcas Sitali
i think that when going to Church one should dress nice for the Lord and not for any other reason and if for the Lord then issues of inappropriate dressing like showy clothes, minis and anything that makes people to stumble are dealt with. There is a parable of the wedding feast in Mathew 22:1 and in vs 11 going down the king came in and saw a fellow who wasn't dressed in a wedding gown after being questioned he froze and was taken out by the guards... one can learn about dressing from this scripture and also from ester that yeah we need to look good before the Lord, all emanating from a clean and pure heart. For out of it comes the issues of life prov 4:23. look nice, good, be moderate.
Heather Willcockson
For years, I dressed up because I had to. This was not something I believed I had to do, but it was something that was imposed on me in the time when I was growing up. Finally, when I was about seventeen or so, l got to where I started to think for myself, and I started to wonder what the point was. I would read my bible and consistently see how The Lord accepts a person as they are, and I realized that what I was made to do didn't really match the person I was at that time. So I started wearing whatever I wanted to wear to church that day. So, for several years, I wore whatever I wanted (which was usually jeans and some kind of nice shirt). At that time, when I would be asked why I was dressed that way when I was one of the ones leading worship every week, I always answered them by saying that God calls us to come as we are, and that I felt like it was pretentious of me at that time to dress up and look like something that wasn't really me and didn't reflect who I was before God or anyone else. At that time, I was going to a church that was trying to make clear to people everyone is accepted and it doesn't matter what you look like, so I thought how better to prove the point than to dress comfortably and go onstage anyway. Now, I dress nicely because I'm at a different phase of life than I was in that time, and I think that I'm at a point now where the way I dress is a true reflection of the attitude I have. I still believe wholeheartedly that you should come as you are, but I'm proof that that can change over time.
June Canomay
Christians, we should know that our God is not a respecter of persons. Act 10:35 “But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)” God accepted whoever you are as long as you fear Him and that you work with righteousness. God does not look on our outward appearance but He is looking to our heart. 1Samuel 16:7 “ But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looked on the outward appearance, but the LORD looked on the heart”. Most of us we’re looking usually on the outward appearance and some of us become partial in dealing with our fellow Christian and this leads us to judge others with evil thoughts. Knowing in the scripture that it is a sin if we’re showing partiality. Jas 2:1-9 “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 which ye are called? If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.” Now a days we see some Christian wearing clothes that not conform with sound doctrine.Specially Christian women. Women should be in modest apparel when it comes to dress,with shamefacedness and sobriety not with broided hair or any costly arrays. 1Timothy 2:9-10” In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. “In our country here in Asia, many women profess that they were Christian but don’t have discipline in their dress or in their appearance as christian.As you would observe you would see some women wearing almost you can see what they should not expose just like their breast,navel and some other sensitive parts and also not content they would have a mark or tattoo on their to be notice by everyone.This I would blame some of the church authority that they don’t preach plainly what’s written in the scripture. They don’t discipline their flocks.Many women would react when you gently admonish about their dress but the truth from the scripture must not be hinder.Cause you see women should profess their godliness according to their works and one of this is their discipline on how they would look as Christian.And most of all it should not be an outward adorning but of the hidden man that which is not corruptible with ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.In deciding what to wear we should consider that in everything that we should do it heartily as to the Lord Colossians 3:23. Col 3:23-24 “ And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”We should not be a stumbling block to anyone causing them to sin. Mathew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Rome 14:21 “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.”God bless!
Helen Bevan
God has open arms for every human being. Dress the way you want to as long as you are respecting God. If you are walking by from a night on the town and you look indecent but you happen to hear and see good things at a local church come in but respect God. That goes for smokers, alcoholics, or people who wear t-shirts and thongs. There is no discrimination in a church that has unconditional love. That's what made me become a Christian. I met people who loved me for me, even though I now dress respectively, for the people who come in to church and don't I only see there heart not their material possessions.
Hairy Animals
1 Peter 3:3 Romans 12:2 1 Timothy 2:9-10 Luke 12:23 says, "The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment." Luke 12:22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Just like life is more than clothes, the way you dress up for worship is more than clothes. Of course, you should always dress modestly, not only during worship, but also throughout the week 1 Timothy 2:9, 1 Peter 3:3, 1 Timothy 2:10. Don't get so caught up with dressing "nicely" that you don't get the main thing. Clothing isn't that terribly important. It is the heart that counts. Christian women should always be a good example to the world.
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