Church Dress Code

Colossians 3:12-13                  Church Dress Code
1/4/14              D. Marion Clark

Introduction

One of the many things I like about my wife is that she simplifies my life. Each day, when I go to my closet, I find the set of clothes that I will be wearing that day. Isn’t that great? I know that I will wear clothes that match and that are appropriate for the occasion scheduled. All I need to do is put the clothes on. We are beginning a five-part series through Colossians 3:12-17 that is about wearing the right clothes.

Text

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

In the passage before this one, the Apostle Pl spoke about putting away behavior and traits that had been part of the old self before Christ. He wants them to go into their closets, pull out all of the old clothes, and toss them in the trash. These are clothing articles like anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, and lying. They are to put off the old self wardrobe and put on the new self (new man) wardrobe. Now that they are in Christ, they have a new image to portray – the image of their creator. They need now to wear clothes befitting of who they are in Christ.

Who are they? They are “God’s chosen ones.” This is covenant language. As the nation Israel was chosen to be the covenant nation of God, so now anyone who is in Christ – no matter their race, ethnic heritage, or social status – they belong to the covenant people of God.

Now, as God’s chosen covenant people, they are “holy” and “beloved.” The point is not that the Colossian believers have achieved holiness and are of themselves lovable, but that in Christ – in becoming God’s chosen covenant people – they are set apart for holy purposes and receive the same status of Christ, namely, to be beloved children of God. Again, now that they have received such status, they are to put on clothing that reflects that status. What is that clothing?

For one thing, they are to put on compassionate hearts. They are to feel compassion, feel mercy and pity. They do not help someone in need out of guilt or out of obedience; rather they help because of truly caring for the individual(s).

They are to put on kindness. Like “hearts of compassion” the emphasis is on disposition. The kind person is a warm person, a generous person. He or she sincerely wants good for others and wants to help.

They are to put on humility. This is the same term used in Philippians 2:3: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” It is an attitude from which we are able to put the needs of others before ourselves.

Then there is meekness. This term can be a little difficult to get a handle on. Another translation is gentleness. Have you ever been in the presence of a celebrity or dignitary or some other status which you highly respected, and who treated you with sincere interest and respect? Not putting on a practiced show of respect but that which is real? “Why, you would have thought that I was somebody important!” That person possesses meekness or gentleness.

And then patience, also translated long-suffering. The following verse explains what is involved in patience: bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. Patience presupposes suffering of some form. It may be painful suffering or merely being inconvenienced; however great the degree, unpleasant circumstances are involved. In this case the circumstance has to do with relating to others in the church. Another epistle gives examples: “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).

Be patient with everyone. Bear with their faults and frailties. And even in the case where someone has offended you so that you have a very real complaint – be forgiving. You have got to do this for a very simple, poignant reason. “The Lord has forgiven you.”

Lessons

Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience – these traits form the church dress code. Let’s consider now the implications of such dress regulations.

It is who we are (what we wear) that distinguishes the church.

I titled the sermon “Church Dress Code” as opposed to “Christian Dress Code” to signify that the context of the passage is about how Christians within a church body are to relate to one another. We should show such traits outside the church. Jesus taught that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves and that everyone is our neighbor (Luke 10:25ff). But he also taught his disciples that it would be by their love for one another that they would be known as his disciples (cf. John 13:35).

How does this relate to the church? We tend to treat church as a service provider like the YMCA for our individual spiritual journey. We come to the worship service for how it helps us worship and relate to God. We choose other classes and activities according to how well they meet our personal needs and interests.

But such an attitude does not fit with the two primary images in the New Testament for the church. They are family and body. In Christ we are adopted into God’s family – God is our Father and Christ our brother. And so believers refer to one another as brother and sister. In the Apostle Paul’s writings, his favorite image is that of the body. Here are two examples of his use of body.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit…

But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 24-27).

And he gave the Aps, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love (Ephesians 4:11-16).

This teaching about the church being the body of Christ is not mere imagery. There is a true union with one another as we are truly united in the body of Christ. We don’t choose the join the church of Jesus Christ. The mere fact that we have been born again in Christ makes us members of his church just as the birth of a child makes him a member of his biological family. There is no choosing to do. The choice given us is the local church with which to live out this union.

And so Paul does not write to individuals in this and most letters. He writes to church bodies. His presupposition is that any follower of Christ will be united in a church body, not selecting what he will and will not be a part of, but a fully connected, fully active member of a body of believers, which itself is the body of Christ.

That is why, when he talks about maturing and growing in the faith, he means all the believers together in one body building each other up in the faith. As he says in the Ephesians passage: we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Together – working together and everyone doing their part – causes us to grow as we should in Christ. And how do we work together? By possessing the attitudes of “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving each other.” Take away those attitudes, and it all falls apart no matter how well equipped members are; no matter how wonderful the church’s vision statement and five-year plans are; no matter how well organized the church structure is.

There is value in setting goals and clarifying a church’s mission in its particular location. Having said that, it is not vision but obedience to the revelation already given about what the church is to be like that determines the health of a church. And time and again the teaching is about the importance of having the fruit of the Spirit, as Paul labels these attitudes in his letter to the churches of Galatia.

So, for example, when Paul writes to the church in Philippi, he expresses his desire to see the people laboring side by side for the gospel. But, then, how are they to be able to labor side by side? That is when he teaches the importance of humility and of showing love and sympathy toward one another.

The bottom line is this: What distinguishes the church of Jesus Christ – organization? activities? services? We already noted that Jesus gave the answer: by our love for one another. So then, the world has the right to look at us and judge whether or not our claim to belong to Christ is real and whether to be united to him actually makes a difference.

How then can a church attain to such a high standard? The very nature of the gospel assures that every church will possess the same fundamental flaw. It will be made up of sinners. For the gospel does not call sinners to change into perfect persons before being united to the body of Christ. Nor does the gospel sanctify all believers perfectly, so that they quickly and easily shed both their sins and the impact that their sins have had on them. The gospel sets them on the right path, but we all have a long way to go before we master holiness and love. Meanwhile, what can we do to improve the way we relate to one another in the church?

We can work at understanding three things: the frailties of one another, our own frailties, and how God the Father and Christ display these same fruit and attitudes toward us. Our misstep comes when we over-rate ourselves and others, and under-rate God the Father and Christ.

Have you ever heard a remark made about another member in the church that goes something like this – a Christian would not (name the sin)? A Christian would not gossip; a Christian would not lose his temper. Really? After more than thirty years as a pastor, there is not much I haven’t seen a Christian do or hear a Christian confess. Indeed, one of the most common remarks a church member will say to me when coming for counsel is, “I didn’t know that I could commit such a sin.” And he or she questions their own salvation as a result.

Let us remember our theology. Christ died for us precisely because of being sinners. Yes, we are now counted righteous, but we are counted so because of his righteousness being credited to us, not because the Holy Spirit has completed his work of sanctifying us. We are still beset by sin. We are capable of anything especially when we believe we have reached a state where we cannot commit a particular sin.

That is why we must always be examining ourselves in the light of Scripture. That is why, when we come to our passage like this one, we must take the time to examine ourselves and our church in light of what it says. And if we pass the test easily, then we need to go back over the test again.

And so, if we understand that our brother or sister struggles with the same sins, and with the same frailties as ourselves; if understand that our brother or sister have the same fears as we; and if we will admit to ourselves that we really do have our share of faults, then it is possible that we will develop the sympathy to be compassionate. It is possible that if we know how much we need and crave kindness that we will desire to show kindness.

It is all the more possible if we fully understand what God the Father and Christ the Son have shown us. They are without sin. It is God’s law that we have broken; it is Christ whom we crucified. But God sent his Son, and the Son gave his life because they had compassion on us, because they were kind. And they, though infinitely greater and more worthy than we, treated us with meekness and still treat us with patience. Their forgiveness covers multitudes of sin. If they did not possess such attitudes toward us, we would be lost.

It always goes back to this, whenever we are confronted with God’s commands – remember what the gospel is about. It is about God’s unconditional love for us, God’s unconditional compassion for us, God’s unconditional patience with us, God’s unconditional forgiveness of us. It is never about what we have earned from God; never about what God owes us.

Let us then be like our heavenly Father who shows mercy to us. Let us be like our heavenly Brother who is sympathetic toward us all the more because he understands the frailty of our flesh. Let us determine that we will strive to be a church that is distinguished for the compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and forgiveness that we show to one another in our Lord Jesus Christ.