Beforehand
There have been countless times in which I've heard somebody question why we do certain things in church. And you know what the funny thing is? A good number of times, people tend to go to family, friends, or even tradition for their answers. Everywhere except the most important place, which is the Word. And if you look at the Word, you'll see that a lot of our church practices today are not even rooted in Scripture, but rather in human tradition. And I realized that after discovering these truths, they needed to be shared. So, that's what my next few blog posts are going to cover.
What this is: After reading a book and doing some research, I'm just sharing the reality that some of our Christian practices don't actually come from Scripture, but rather human tradition. I'm inviting you to be willing to have the curtain pulled back on the contemporary church and have it's traditional assumptions challenged. If you're willing, read on.
What this isn't: If you are going to read these blog posts and use the truths that are in them as an invitation to rebel against your church, stop. If you're thinking like that, you've completely missed the point. Either leave your church quietly or be at peace with it. There is a huge gap between rebellion and standing up for what is true.
Also: I'd like to state that whenever I mention Church (with a capital C) I'm referring to how it is in the New Testament. The living, breathing, Christ-centered, every-member functioning body of Christ. And when I mention church (lowercase c) I'm referring to the contemporary church which is the religious system (such as the building) and not a particular group of people.
Pt 1: Wearing Your Sunday Best
Now I'm sure that a number of us growing up were forced to wear decent clothing to Sunday morning church services. I was one of them. And I never exactly fancied the idea. A lot of people say that we should dress up out of respect for Christ. But define dressing up. Is a tie enough? Or do you need a suit as well? Can nice jeans count? Slacks? Shirt tucked in or out? I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.
So you guys might be thinking to yourselves, "What's the big deal about dressing up for
church? It really doesn't sound like a big deal." Sure, dressing up by itself isn't. But, it's what dressing up for
church represents that is.
Like many other church practices today, dressing up for church is the outcome of Christians being influenced by the culture surrounding them. Frank Viola says 'to think that God cares one whit if you wear dressy threads on Sunday to "meet Him" is a violation of the New Covenant. We have access to God's presence at all times and in all circumstances. Does He really expect His people to dress up for a beauty pageant on Sunday morning?'
What one person considers dressing up may not be consistent with what
other people think. Very quickly you start down a road that can lead to
legalism and pride. However, Jesus was constantly around all kinds of
sinners of his day. Not just the affluent and wealthy. The Pharisees
were the religious of the day who were impressively dressed, but Jesus
had some of the harshest words for them.
When we wear our Sunday best, it brings up an illusion that we are somehow "good" because we are dressing up for the Lord. The early Church was quite the opposite. The first-century Christians did not "dress up" to attend meetings. They didn't dress to publicly display their social class either. They actually made solid efforts to show their absolute contempt for social class differences. In the Church, all racial and social discrimination should be no longer present. The early Christians knew that they were a new people on this planet and for this, James rebuked believers who were treating the rich saints better than poor saints. He boldly rebuked the rich for dressing better than the poor. Yet, still many Christians are under the delusion that it's disrespectful to dress in informal clothing when attending a Sunday morning service.
I could go into the history of how this trend of wearing nice clothes came to be but that would be a novel, not a blog post.
Overall, to say that the Lord expects His people to dress well when they gather is basically adding to the Scriptures and is nothing more than a human tradition.
However, if you really feel that dressing up for church gatherings is a positive thing and you can do it unto the Lord with pure motives, then go right ahead. But remember, you must be careful not to judge or look down upon those who do not dress up for gatherings.
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