For many Sunday morning means getting dressed up in “church clothes” so that one can give God proper honor. Does God really expect us to dress in our best when we assemble on Sunday mornings? Is it really giving Him our best? If so, where is it that God stated this? I’ve never heard any Scriptural proof of this concept, just the generic “giving God your best” without a logical explanation of such a statement.
Years ago the concept of wearing your best to church was foreign and thought to be out of place. In the early 1800’s there was some who were upset by the trend of churchgoers wearing their nicer clothes to assemblies instead of clothes that were simple and humble. I’m curious as to when the concept changed and nicer clothes became what was expected.
Ironically, if we were to look at the real meaning of giving God the best (from the sacrifices of the Old Testament when they were to give the best of their flocks), we might not have any nice clothes to wear on Sunday mornings. Instead of wearing our best clothes to assemblies we would take our best clothes and give them to the poor to honor God. Are we ready to give God our best?
There are a couple of concepts from Scripture that address how we dress, one especially about assemblies. First, one is the need for modesty.
1 Tim 2:9-10 I also want women to dress modestly , with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. NIV
Even though women are the primary subject, this is a concept that applies to all. God does expect us to dress modestly, not only in assemblies, but also every place else as well.
The only place I’ve seen that specifically addresses dress during assemblies is in James.
James 2:1-4
2:1 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
NIV
Instead of nice clothes being held out as the expected wear, James tells us it is wrong to treat someone better who is wearing nicer clothes. Have we fallen into that trap by expecting nice clothes to be worn and looking down on those who don’t measure up?
Maybe we should just drop the concept of church clothes completely and just talk about clothes.
I’ve heard debate on this topic before; I’m not sure why, but I never really listened to it. I agree the typical response is “to give our best to God.”
For some, I think it’s a way of publicly expressing how seriously one takes his/her Sunday worship with God. Many take the effort to dress up for work every morning, perhaps they feel they should do the same if not more for Sunday morning.
Whatever the reason for dressing up, I whole-heartedly affirm your point regarding the James passage. How nicely one dresses is certainly not an indicator of the strength of one’s relationship with God. And even if it were, who are any of us to judge another on where he/she is in his/her walk with Him?
Although dressing nicely may be “my” way of showing respect, that doesn’t necessarily make it “your” way; so why should I expect it to be? It’s quite a trap!
I find I do have to be careful in my comments. It’s not my intention to say it’s wrong for someone to dress up for assemblies, but it is wrong to require everyone to do the same. It may be that I’ve heard some argue aggressively for dressing up, so it becomes easy to “push” back with the same vigor.