I. The testimony of modesty in an ungodly world
A. In contrast to the immorality of much of the Roman world in which the church began, the early Christians were distinguished by their high standards of morality and modesty
B. Writing in 125 AD (less than 100 years after the church was founded by Jesus), Aristides writing when the Roman Emperor Hadrian visited Athens about the Christians: “Wherefore they do not commit adultery nor fornication, nor bear false witness, nor embezzle what is held in pledge, nor covet what is not theirs. They honour father and mother, and show kindness to those near to them; and whenever they are judges, they judge uprightly. …and their women, O King, are pure as virgins, and their daughters are modest; and their men keep themselves from every unlawful union and from all uncleanness, in the hope of a recompense to come in the other world.“
C. We live in an ungodly world saturated with sensuality and sexual immorality but, like our ancient brethren, stand out in our high standards of morality and modesty.
II. Intro and welcome: Preached often here and glad to be back again.
III. The media and fashion industry have affected our attitudes towards modesty
A. The constant barrage of sensual images from the media has trained the modern eye to seek more and more visual stimulation.
- Passing by the newsstand in a grocery or book store, one is bombarded with images of women and men wearing little clothing striking sensual poses.
- Magazines for exercise, car and truck enthusiasts, guns, or other non-fashion interests often have models in revealing clothing and yearly swimsuit issues.
- When he was younger, our son had a subscription to Popular Mechanics but we would get the issue first so we could cut out the sexual ads in the back of the magazine.
- Television shows, movies, and commercials feature actors and actresses in bathing suits, lingerie, and other tight and revealing clothing.
- I was eating supper with friends and the restaurant had the Super Bowl on and we were shocked at what little we saw of the halftime performance of lewd dancing in lingerie in front of an audience of millions. I was more shocked by some Christians praising this shameful performance on Facebook.
- Even news websites often feature stories with pictures of women dressed provocatively because they know they can get interest and traffic.
B. The fashion industry has responded by providing clothing that is revealing and provocative to allow men and women to display their bodies in ways that draw attention to the flesh instead of the person inside.
- Mary Quant, the designer of the mini-skirt, said that she designed the mini-skirt for sex. She said, ” Miniclothes are symbolic of those girls who want to seduce a man.”
- Designers generally design for sexual appeal.
- Article Fashionably Sexy (SIFY Entertainment web site): “Fashion is completely related to sex,” says designer, Rocky S. “Everything you do is for love and sex, and people wear fashionable clothes especially for attraction and attention. Hence, clothes have gotten more raunchy, with the louder, the better!”
- Adds model Fleur Xavier: “This relationship can be positive if designers use it in a manner that’s flattering to the woman —’cause as we all know, a lower neckline always grabs more attention.”
- ““The relationship between sex and fashion is really about feeding ones vanity and grabbing attention,” says fashion photographer, Subi Samuel. “Not only advertising but even fashion editorials are increasingly using sex appeal in pictures.” (IBID)
- This is the testimony of those who design clothes for a living: this is their philosophy.
C. Society is saturated with sensual and sexualized images it seems on every side.
IV. Not surprisingly, Christians are struggling with wearing clothes that are modest
A. It is a consensus among many Christians that we have lost the war against immodest dress
B. A friend and I were discussing our love-hate relationship with Facebook because sometimes we see too much of our brothers and sisters in Christ—too much flesh that is.
C. When we live in the world, we are to be lights and examples of godliness, yet the clothing of some brothers and sisters in Christ do not reflect a distinction from the sensuality of the world.
D. David Hartsell, in a lesson at the FC Alabama Winter Camp 2011, pointed out some reasons people dress immodestly:
- Ignorant and untaught
- Want to fit in
- Want to be bold and turn heads
- Careless – Don’t stop and think
- Don’t know how they really look
- To this I would add that they might think they are modest but don’t realize that bending over, sitting down, or other activities reveal the skin they were trying to cover.
E. Tragically, it has become a problem in many of the Lord’s Assemblies!
- In our church buildings Christian men sometimes have to guard their eyes from seeing the breasts of their sisters in Christ and too much visual access to what should be covered.
- I have heard from numerous men over the years that have had to struggle when serving the Lord’s Supper because standing while women are sitting wearing loose blouses or skirts or dresses that became shorter when they sat have drawn their mind from the cross of Jesus.
F. I don’t do many weddings but only do weddings for Christian friends.
- After attending some weddings of Christians, I created a policy I never thought I’d have to make and the bride and groom must agree to keep it or find someone else.
- Policy: “I will not do a wedding in which the bride or the bridesmaids are showing cleavage, showing much of their back, or wear high split dresses. Future brides, if I may be blunt, your body belongs to you and your husband (1 Corinthians 7:4) and should not be shared with me, in whole or part–visually or otherwise, and especially not on your wedding day.”
G. Considering the biological fact that men are more visually stimulated, young ladies must pay special attention to how they dress so that the lack of clothing, revealing nature of clothing depending on the angle of sight or position of the body, or tightness of the fabric does not reveal what should be hidden.
- A woman dressed in revealing clothing blaming lust on “dirty minds” is naive and perhaps arrogant.
- Often men have to force themselves not to look at what is being revealed because the woman did not exercise prudence in her choice of attire.
- Our eyes are naturally drawn to look and through exercise of will we must look elsewhere.
- Don’t blame the fish for being caught when you put the bait on the hook.
- In discussion between young men and women in various situations, young men have begged young women to help them in this battle by dressing in ways that do not put them into difficult situations.
- Men must realize that they also can dress (or be inadequately dressed) in ways that arouse lust.
H. We need to return to the field of battle and fight for modesty in our families and churches
V. What is modesty?
A. This is the great question that each person must answer
B. First we might answer, what is nakedness?
- Garden of Eden.
- Before sin, Adam and Eve were naked and knew no shame, Genesis 2:25.
- Immodesty was introduced with sin, Genesis 3:6-7
- Soon followed the first observation on modest and immodest clothing.
Adam and Eve made clothes out of fig leaves, Genesis 3:21.
They had clothes but hid themselves from God because they still considered themselves naked.
One can wear clothes-insufficient clothes-and be considered naked by God and oneself.
God made them sufficient clothing, Genesis 3:21.
- Insufficient clothing was considered “naked”
- Priestly garments
- Exodus 28:42 – Wear tunics and breaches to “cover their nakedness”
- They were considered covered when they were covered from their hips to their thighs
- Isaiah 20:4 – Shame of Israel going with buttocks uncovered
- Some clothing reveals the buttocks in certain sitting positions, such as low rider jeans
- Since low rider jeans have become popular I have been mooned more times than I can count.
- Bathing suits fail to meet the test of covering nakedness by all these standards
- What are some descriptions of immodest dress?
- Proverbs 7:10 – “the dress of a prostitute”: notice, it is said without commentary because the reader understands that there is clothing that is associated with seduction.
C. Modest Dress: 1 Timothy 2:9-10 – our dress, men and women, should profess godliness
- Terminology
- Modesty
Webster: ” Unassuming, restrained, decent, not excessive”
Vine’s: ” Orderly, well arranged, decent”
- Propriety
KJ: Shamefacedness
Thayer: ” A sense of shame, is prominently objective in its reference, having regard to others.”
Vine’s: ” A sense of shame, modest. That modesty which is rooted in character.”
- Moderation
KJ: Sobriety
Young’s: ” Prudence, moderation”
Webster on prudence: ” Cautious or circumspect in determining an action or line of conduct. Careful of the consequences.”
Webster on moderation: ” To restrain from excess of any kind, to reduce in intensity (rage, passion, desire, joy).
- Exegesis
- One concern Paul discusses is over-dressing
Some are dressing in a gaudy or excessive way in order to bring attention to themselves for what they are wearing instead of who they are inside.
That is certainly an issue, but too little clothing, that produces the same effect would also be addressed by his admonition.
- Women (and men) should be more concerned with who they are on the inside than how they appear on the outside.
Women and men should have some concern about their appearance but we must not give undue and inordinate attention to it.
1 Peter 3:1-5 – The beauty of the woman is inwardly focused
- Modesty is the goal, moderation is the key.
VI. Guard the souls of your brethren even if you must sacrifice something you think is ok to wear
A. We must exercise self-control to avoid situations or behaviors that promote ungodly thoughts
- Matthew 5:27-50
- The person lusting has to answer for his own sin.
- We must be diligent to keep our thoughts pure.
- Sometimes we must take ourselves out of conditions that would arouse lust.
Change channels
Not watch provocative movies or read magazines with lustful pictures.
Avoid places where most people will be dressing immodestly.
Jesus used the comparison of removing your eye! He understood how important it is for us to control ourselves.
- No one (man or woman) is immune.
- Job 31:1 – Job made a covenant, or agreement, with his eyes not to focus on young women to lust
- However, when a person dresses provocatively, they sin as well.
B. We must remember our responsibility to protect the souls of others
- Luke 17:1-2; Woe to us if we are the offence that causes someone to stumble.
- It takes self-control to direct one’s eyes in a proper way but it also takes self-control to dress in a way that does not lead a normal person to lust.
- 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 – Sacrificing rights to save others
- 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 – Don’t let your rights destroy your brother
- Romans 14:13 – Do not cause your brother to stumble
VII. Men and women need to study and know what modesty is and dress in a way that glorifies God
A. In an article that Michael Hyatt wrote on modesty, he outlined four guidelines that he shared with his daughters that made a lot of sense (though I would eliminate “probably”):
- If you have trouble getting into it or out of it, it is probably not modest.
- If you have to be careful when you sit down or bend over, it is probably not modest.
- If people look at any part of your body before looking at your face, it is probably not modest.
- If you can see your most private body parts or an outline of those parts under the fabric, it is probably not modest.
B. I would add another good principle, if you would not want someone to touch it, don’t show it.
C. Be consistent: being in a sporting event, at a beach, or attending a formal occasion does not make immodest clothing approved.
- Some will wear short dresses or plunging necklines in formal dresses, at weddings, or other occasions as if the event makes the display of flesh acceptable.
- I will never understand how a woman can wear a bikini and a man wear only a bathing suit on the beach but will not answer the door in underwear that probably covers more skin.
- Women’s tennis (and men’s too) is becoming an occasion to display more flesh.
- Wearing very short pants in sporting events or very tight clothes is no less provocative.
- Revealing skin as part of a marching band show is not acceptable because “it’s just band.”
- Several years ago there was a story of a man who filmed cheerleaders at football games at close angles and sold tapes for $70 each.
- The article is “That Suddenly Uncomfortable Cheerleading Uniform” (on Godly Youth)
- “One family sat down with their cheerleader daughter, and an intrepid reporter, with a copy of the $70 videotape. ” You can feel the discomfort in the room and see it on their faces because for the first time they’re seeing their child through the eyes of someone else,” reports Ana Garcia. Lecherous Entrepreneur has trained his trusty lens ” on their mouths, breasts and crotches, freezing shots under their skirts, during kicks and splits.”
- “But there is a short-circuit in everybody’s indignation. Lecherous Entrepreneur did not manipulate the video to make it appear these girls were doing things they were not. He did not digitally place their pure heads upon the borrowed bodies of Vegas Showgirls. These young girls performed every suggestive motion and exposed every inch of flesh caught on tape. Mom says, ” I don’t want that out on the Internet. This is really upsetting to me.” Granted the video brings the viewer up close and more personal with her daughter than a spectator would ordinarily get at the football stadium, but, again, the sights that sicken her are on display every Friday night for any pervert with binoculars or a front row seat.”
D. Remember 1 Timothy 2:9-10 – it begins with an attitude of godliness within that is reflected in an appearance that is orderly, reflects a sense of shame, descent, and cautious.
- Draw attention to the important person you are inside, not what biology gave you outside.
- Remember: You will get the attention you attract. Godly people will be attracted to modesty.