Posted on 08/19/2003 7:56:34 PM PDT by RaceBannon
It is precisely this kind of thing which keeps people away from church. You are going to worship, are you not? That has nothing to do with what other people are wearing.
If people are being disrespectful toward God, God knows it and he'll deal with that as he sees fit.
In my experience, the more persnickety a minister is about clothing, the more likely he is to be a pompous blowhard who is in love with the sound of his own voice.
-ccm
The author, IMO, is saying that a fear of the Lord is being lost into a permanent casualness. While we're adopted in as children of God, reverence wasn't meant to go out the window. We're talking about the primary purpose of our being -- to worship the Almighty God, Maker of heaven and earth! Amen.
The symptom is the clothes....but not to draw a judgement on any individual (who may not have enough money for a suit, who is new to the Faith, who is homeless, who is etc...). Do you all understand the difference between recognizing a heart attitude symptom vs judging individuals for what they wear to church?
A book I recommend is: "How to Worship Jesus Christ" by Joseph S. Carroll (foreword by John F. MacArthur Jr). It's excellent, and isn't long. I loved it so much I gave away about 80 of them, then taught a Bible study with it.
No, the way we live should show that we honor the Lord!
I did the "Sunday Best" thing growing up and all it did was turn church into a fashion show, which in turn became a way to judge peoples' means (i.e., how much money they had), which in turn led to treating rich people with more respect than poor people, which is conduct that displeases God.
And how is this verse about dress?
God looks on the heart. The right fear and reverence of God is not shown in dressing up in worldly finery, but in worshipping (literally, "drawing near to Him [in our hearts] and bowing down") Him in spirit (that is, spiritually, or in our hearts) and truth (that is, in fact, or in how we live.)
For a history of the "Sunday Best" clothes tradition, see Frank Viola's book "Pagan Christianity."
This is how I grew up, too.
But as I grew up in the Lord, I realized this whole idea not only was incorrect, it does terrible damage to the witness of believers to the world.
God is not in a church building, he is in us, his people.
Those searching for Him, and even those not searching, are hindered when they pick up the idea that you have to go to a certain place and wear certain clothes and sing certain songs before you can figure out who God is and what his plans are.
All that proves is that they are not social morons and that they care about what people think of them. Oops.
Doesn't say a darn thing about what they think in their hearts about GWB, and dressing up for "church" doesn't say a darn thing about whether individuals fear and reverence God in their hearts, which is what matters to Him.
In my experience, the more persnickety a minister is about clothing, the more likely he is to be a pompous blowhard who is in love with the sound of his own voice.
Bears repeating again and again.
As for music, well based on what I’ve heard at my church, we should all be exclusively singing 19th century hymns, just like the disciples did </roll eyes>
Clean, modest, and relatively somber is what's appropriate for church, regardless of income level. It is as inappropriate to show up in shorts and flip-flops as it is to decide that the congregation really needs to see all your diamond jewelry. Both are not-so-great attitudes to bring to church, IMO. The latter says "worldliness is important", the former says "nothing is important".
Here are some suggestions as you prepare for the worship service: 1. Remember that when the organ begins playing the prelude, God's people are to be silent. There is to be a "holy hush" as believers prepare their hearts to meet a holy God. Refrain from talking and chatting with your pew neighbor so that your mind will be centered on the Lord rather than on self and others. 2. The moments may be used for silent prayer—remembering yourself and your own heart attitude, the Pastor, the choir and the other worshippers. 3. The moments may be used for prayerful meditation—you could think upon a verse of Scripture or you could meditate upon what you learned from the Pastor's last message. 4. Remember the words from Psalm 46:10--"BE STILL, and know that I am God: I WILL BE EXALTED among the heathen, I WILL BE EXALTED in the earth."
The way my church does it (I'm the chief musician and bottle blower there... OK, just kidding about the bottle, so don't blow yer cork) is we have a "silent meditation" after the opening announcements, which in turn follow the prelude. This is the quiet playing of a hymn, maybe 30 seconds. Everybody hushes for this and then we go into the opening hymns.
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