Modest Apparel: For the Glory of God

Many believers today stand against cultural norms in apparel not for the purpose of looking different or strange but for the purpose of honoring and glorifying God.

I am grateful for preachers, like my own, who continue to plant themselves firmly against the world in areas in which others are not willing to “go that far.”  I appreciate those who have continued to take a stand against women wearing men’s apparel, as mentioned in my previous post.  I likewise appreciate the freedom which comes from seeking to glorify God in both our bodies and our spirits, "which are God's" (I Cor. 6:19-20).  One way Christian women can glorify God is by dressing modestly, which includes times spent swimming in the company of the opposite gender. 

  

In a world that is anti-God and anti-Bible, we do well to consider the history of clothing in our culture and to investigate, in a Berean-like manner, the mind of God on the subject of modesty in apparel.

I'm thankful for a dad who willingly studied the Scriptures for himself in these areas and did not fail to teach such truths to his children.  When I was about five years old, I learned for the first time the freedom of obedience in this area of biblical modesty.

As I heard the Scriptures presented, I embraced these truths for myself.  Covering one’s body with modest apparel never seemed a stretch to me, for such teaching was clearly that of Scripture (I Tim. 2:9).  Later, when I got into high school, I began to fight a little bit on the exact standard of where that modesty was (which I’ll describe in a later post) but this issue of covering one’s body, even when swimming in mixed company, made sense to me.

While many today assert that grace teaches we can dress as we please, God's Word explains what grace actually teaches--that we are to deny worldly lusts.  I would contend that such strong desires include our own desire to fit into the world in areas such as apparel (Titus 2:12).  Grace liberates us to behold freedom in Christ--not rules or bondage.  Such freedom has its root in obedience to His Spirit and results from looking into God's Word and habitually living it out.  Second Corinthians 3:16-18 illustrates this beautifully—

“Nevertheless when [their heart] shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

This freeing Spirit transforms us into the image of our redemption-loving Lord!  As sinners sunken in despair, we can be both lifted from the miry clay and transformed into the likeness of our Redeemer! Indeed, we who were bought with a price—the precious blood of Christ—ought take seriously our obligation to “glorify God in our bodies and our spirits, which are God’s.”

One woman blogger ridicules IFB women, who--she says--cover “nearly every square inch of flesh.”  She asserts this practice illustrates that these women are ashamed of their bodies--that they're not free.

The Bible, however, describes shame as being first illustrated in a Garden where a man and woman broke fellowship with the God of the Universe after having sinned.  When they recognized the sin, they covered their naked bodies the best they knew how—in fig leaves, probably similar to the kind of covering one would observe on today’s beaches. 

But God covered their nakedness with modest coats of skin.  The blood sacrifice of an animal illustrated that Christ’s blood is needed for forgiveness.  God's covering showed not only the divine standard of covering but also pictured salvation—when one’s sins have been covered, he is clothed in the righteousness of Christ. 

So, clothing and covering illustrate the Gospel.

That’s why this issue of modesty, or covering, matters.

At its heart is not a bunch of outward standards but a picture of the cross.

We can’t forget this.

As believers, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, housing the third person of the Trinity!  As such dwelling places of God Himself, our bodies are to be covered in “shamefacedness and sobriety” (I Tim. 2:9).  This is a choice of obedience we can make each day.

Dressing in modest apparel is a New Testament commandment and would rule out a great deal of wardrobe choices offered in popular culture.   Adherence to this principle would likewise rule out wearing traditional swimming suits at the beach.  The biblical standard of modesty ought be followed, whether one is in the water or out of it.

So how do I respond when I hear of other believers engaging in the practice of mixed swimming?

I don’t look down at them. 

I just wonder if they understand that it is a noble thing for women to obey God’s command to “dress in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety” (I Tim. 2:9)—even in such places where the culture dresses differently.  Believing women are princesses of the great I AM and are “all glorious within” (Psalm 45:13).

As such, the King’s daughters care about the inside.  They want to please God in their spirit—which isn’t a self-indulgent spirit but one that reflects the mind of Christ.  They look to find God’s mind at the heart of the issue and then willingly, joyfully obey--allowing their presupposition to be, “Let God be true and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).

The princess of the great I AM looks to the God of the Universe on culturally uncool issues like apparel and takes her cue, not from the unsaved culture about her, but from His Word, for her lifestyle is grounded upon obedience to God’s Word.  She views modesty as an issue to be determined from God’s definition--not her own and not culture’s.

I appreciate those who study this issue in-depth and have produced mammoth volumes describing nuances of words.  But, having been raised in a Bible-preaching IFB church, where standards of modesty were embraced and mixed swimming was preached against—I must say, I get it.  And I don’t ever remember rejecting the truth of this area.  I wanted to cover my body, because I saw it is as a good thing reflecting God's standard.  Later, I began to see that it pictures the Gospel.  

In a day of compromise and rejection of biblical standards of apparel, those who stand against the world’s way when swimming in mixed company are considered “old-fashioned,” out of date, and far from relevant, I contend that believing women ought to accept and embrace the biblical definition of covering and modesty in apparel.

Many IFB women joyfully wear modest apparel when swimming.  We don’t feel restricted to cover our bodies.  In fact, we are grateful to dress in a way that honors God.

Not to earn favor. 

 

But to obey.

You see, obedience in each area of life, even in what we wear, is about our relationship with God.  It's not about about adherence to some outward rules of man.  It’s about loving God and wanting to please Him Who gave His all for us--even in areas that are culturally uncool.

And that’s ok.

Because it’s not about us anyway.

It’s about our Savior...

His Gospel.

And His glory.

Free Indeed

There is a great deal of negative speech abroad on the Internet.  The kind of thing that calls Independent, Fundamental Baptist (IFB) homes and churches part of a cult, insinuating that confrontational preaching in fundamental churches is verbal abuse.  These blogs and articles are frequently written by disgruntled individuals who believe they have finally found freedom after having been inundated with cult-like dogmas most of their lives.  From my own observation, it seems a great number of these "finally freed" individuals are women.  And so, as a woman happily serving in an IFB church, I would like to answer a few charges against the criticism.  Such entries may be extended over time, but I hope to satisfactorily and Scripturally deal with some of these allegations. 

One woman claims to have had to put on a face for years in her IFB church, staying under the radar, just obeying the rules, but inwardly chafing the entire time.  She felt coerced into tithing and, when she was first able to try on a pair of jeans and walk around another town far from her own, she felt free.  Just taking a walk through the city brought her immense exhilaration. 

She asserts that true freedom in the greatest sense is found outside IFB churches.  

But she and others preach a message that I don’t embrace—based both upon God’s Word and my own experience.

  

The problems with this woman's analysis are many. I speak, firstly, from experience. Having been born and raised in an IFB home myself, I felt great freedom to be me—in the context of the Word of God.  When I went out to do farm chores at 5:30 in the morning, I inhaled fresh air and cherished the freedom to consider ideas for myself.  I would feed the animals and, in the winter months, as I glanced up at the stars, would frequently spend moments marveling that the same God who formed Abraham and promised by Himself to send a Savior into the world was yet that same God who saw us, who loved the fledgling congregation in my town, who knew every problem and understood every need, who offered Himself freely to me each day in His Word.  

  

I remember, as a 1^st grader, stopping and pondering eternity—the immensity and never-ending nature of that forever place where everyone would live somewhere.  It seemed a circle to me and held me in its grasp.  To think that the God who inhabits eternity would love me, would give Himself for me, would call me to Himself to worship Him!  What privilege!

My parents were true servants, and I loved the freedom I had to work with them repairing the old farmhouse we moved into.  I was just a young girl at the time but I clearly remember waking up one morning and asking my dad, “Can I wear slacks today?”   

To which he replied, “Yes.”   

We were on the journey to abandon trousers from the girls' wardrobes of our home, but I wanted to make sure it was ok before I went outside wearing them.  I knew Dad wanted me to dress like a lady.  And that was ok.  But I still liked my slacks.

Then there was the time in 1^st grade when all the other girls in my PE class at school were wearing jeans and I, trying to be more lady-like, wore a dress over my slacks.  My teacher had me tuck in my dress so that I could do the exercises.  But in that environment, I began to feel odd about not wearing jeans and a t-shirt to PE, so I would wear them—by this time my parents had said the girls in our family were going to stop wearing slacks as an outer garment—under a long coat, so that if my sister were out for recess, she would not be able to see me with them on. 

Then one day, as we sat at dinner, I confessed.  I had been wearing slacks to P.E., I told my parents.  But from now on I would wear culottes to PE or just keep the slacks on under my dress.  In my heart, I determined that I would wear slacks in the regular way when I got to be 18.  Then I would have my own way.  Until then, I would want to wear them in my heart even if I outwardly conformed to the rules.

But I didn’t reckon with one thing that day as a seven-year-old.  The Holy Spirit of God began to work on my spirit.  He began to show me that “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry" (I Sam. 15:23).  Even more, He opened my eyes to other truths of His Word.  In sixth grade, I read the Bible through for myself and in 7^th grade, I had firm conviction concerning my apparel.  I believed that it was a sin for a woman to dress in men’s apparel.  While many argued that “Well, they all wore robes” in biblical times, so “It’s ok if women wear slacks today,” God had convinced my own spirit that to “wear that which pertains to a man” (Deut. 22:5) would be to wear what has been traditionally male apparel in our Western culture—slacks, whether or not they were in the men’s or women’s section of the store. 

While I have had to continually consider the Scriptures related to this issue—God often commands us to “Remember” in His Word—I have, by God’s grace, held to this position since I was 12 years old.  Held to it not because I was forced into it, but because the God of Heaven writes His laws in the hearts of His children. I held firmly to it—not looking down on others for wearing trousers, for I had been there at one time—but understanding that, as for me and my conscience, my relationship with God—I would obey His Word.  And that is what it is for me. It’s not some sort of freedom to indulge in something other than what God has convinced me from His Word.  This is the kind of God I serve.  He longs for people who are emptied of self so that He might fill their hearts with His Word.  And, Oh--how I need His filling every day to make me echo the words of the song writer, "None of self and all of Thee!"

Isaiah 66:2 is one of my favorite verses—“For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.”  The freedom-preaching bloggers frequently fail to exposit Scripture.  When I look into the Word, I see the Word leading and guiding my every decision.  I see that it is incredibly called what many might view as an oxymoron—a “law of liberty”--and not only that, a perfect law of liberty!

 “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed" (James 1:25). Certainly, the freedom God offers in His word is found in a law.  And that law is perfect.  It is the law of liberty, for God has always wanted us to be free—in Christ.   

The psalmist knew this God.  And he wrote:   

“I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? 

I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.   

I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.  A froward heart shall depart from me: 

I will not know a wicked person.  Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.   

Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.   

He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.” (Psalm 101:2-7).

One lady writes of the freedom she has now to do what she wants after suffering near PTSD symptoms after leaving her IFB congregation.  But God’s perfect law is the law of liberty.  And Psalm 101 tells us that this law results in a lifestyle that does not embrace anything that opposes God.  No wicked thing.  No slanderers even.  

The discomfort these bloggers feel from confrontational preaching is so frequently applied to a man of God who is merely teaching the Word of God.  It saddens my heart that these bloggers fail to discern the voice of God’s Holy Spirit. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel—these prophets were refused because the people discarded the messenger and failed to understand the truth of God’s Word.  And yet, through these sometimes awkward preachers, God delivers truth throughout His Word.

No preacher of God is perfect.  But my own preacher—my father in an IFB congregation— loves God and His Word.  Truth matters to him.  A lot.  After listening to his sermons, I am so often encouraged to take God at His Word, to spend more of my week reading and pondering the Bible, to spend more time of my day with Jesus in prayer.  Those kinds of messages help to drive me to the Sovereign God of the Universe, the eternal God who loved me with an everlasting love. 

Taken in Spain, in 2004

My parents gave me a lot of freedom.  I could drive at 16.  I traveled overseas to several European countries, often by myself, before I was married.  I loved exploring new places.  But when I saw new things and explored new countries, I couldn’t help but see souls.  All around me, people were dying and going to hell.  Every person was a soul created in the image of God.  It filled my heart with a desire for missions—to see missionaries raised up to go all over the globe.  This is a beautiful world, a complex world, but it is a fallen world.  And, as such, it demands that people reach it with the Gospel, for that is God’s heart cry.  Jesus Himself, the Word, came to “seek and to save that which is lost" (Luke 19:10).

Sometimes I’ve struggled with the balance between a fervor for souls, as we see in the Apostle Paul, and moments in which we are to enjoy all things God gives us –something Paul writes to Timothy while he himself was suffering the deprivations of hunger, being bound in the Mamertime Prison in Rome.  But that doesn’t mean I’m not free.  It means I’m experiencing the tension of a Christian in the world but not of it.  My home is not here but in heaven.  As Abraham, I am merely a sojourner here.

Another photo, taken in Spain, 2004

I love to travel, having been to about twenty different countries.  Opportunities such as these have allowed me to explore the world and have given me freedom to write and to reflect.   

But at salvation, I was given the most important freedom--the freedom found in Christ.  It is this freedom which I greatly cherish.  In fact, I find that one of the most fulfilling things I can do in a day is to share with others the Gospel, for at salvation, Christ gives us a heart to see others redeemed.

Please be ware of false teachers in the form of “freedom-preaching” bloggers who assert that IFB churches offer no freedom.  When Jesus Christ redeems you, He makes you free indeed.  He offers a completely different perspective on life, found in the perfect law of liberty, His Word.  Tithing, for example, is a joy, for life is not about pleasing ourselves, not about following our own way but about letting the God Who has redeemed us shape us through His Word that we may please and glorify Him.

Truly, great freedom exists in Christ. 

In the words of John 8:36, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed"!