Scripture

1 Tim 2:9-10 "Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided-hair and gold or pearls or costly garments; but rather by means of good works, as befits women making a claim to godliness."

1 Peter 3:3-4 "And let not your adornment be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God."

James 2:1-9 "My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord-Jesus-Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.  For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, 'You sit here in a good place,' and you say to the poor man, 'You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,' have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?  Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?  But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?  Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?  If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing well.  But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

October 11, 2007

Hi Pastor Kruse:

I was discussing modesty and how tradition or customs plays a part in it. A friend had told me that those who believe women should be in only dresses believe so because of modesty verses and those that disagree don't believe that they are Biblically immodest.

I was thinking it has more to do with pants being mens clothing. If a man puts on a dress everyone agrees that would be cross-dressing... But not if a woman wears pants... All male clothes are incorrectly considered gender neutral by many now.

What do you think?

Love,

Jane

__________

October 10, 2007

Dear Jane

I was raised in California in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley, a desert, that was hot in the summer time and never got below 55 degrees during the day in Winter. However, when I went to Bible college in the Mid West where it can get down as low as 20 degrees below zero I felt sorry for my sisters walking across the campus in dresses where the wind blew up their dresses and practically froze them to death. I felt they needed to change the dress code and allow women to wear pants if for no other reason than to stay warm.

Obviously men should not wear dresses but I am a practical person as I was sharing in my last letter to you. To me modesty is not showing too much cleavage and avoiding mini skirts and string bathing suits. When I was at Oral Roberts University Playboy had rated the campus as having the most beautiful women in the country as far as Universities were concerned. I did not realize how true that was until I had a course that used a textbook written and published from Oklahoma University. It had many pictures of students on the campus in it. They did not have a dress code there and the girls in the pictures were not dressed up or kept. Suddenly I realized why the girls at ORU were so beautiful in comparison, it was the dress code. Only God knows the torture we men went through during the year in trying to keep our minds on our studies, LOL! Again to me modesty is not whether a woman wears a dress or pants but rather how much she is showing or flaunting.

When I was young in the Lord Dr. Ford Philpot (died 1992), a former Evangelist, came to our church and preached in the pulpit. He was from Kentucky and told the story about doing some visitation in the back woods. He tells how he came up to this one house where a woman was sitting on her porch, fat, unkempt, hairy legs and had snuff hanging out of her nose. As he walked up she said to him "Are you going to preach to them Jezebels?" Ford then said to the audience in response "Now lets be honest. Who would you rather kiss?" The whole church of course burst into laughter. When Paul and Peter said to be modest, I believe they were simply saying "Don't use church to flaunt your wears at the expense of your less well to do sisters." In other words, don't use church to have a fashion show, use church to worship God and fellowship with your brothers and sisters without the intent of intimidating your less fortunate brothers and sisters. Don’t seek to draw attention to yourself, seek to draw attention to Jesus and glorify Him. To me that is what it means to be modest.

A woman came to ORU and preached in the chapel whose name alludes me now, but she told the story of buying a suit for a boy who wouldn't go to church because he was intimidated by his poverty. She thought she was doing him a favor and I realized her heart was in the right place, but I also thought what message was she delivering to this young man? Churches cater to the upper middle class because that is where the money is and they are offended if you do not wear a certain class of close and you are ignored and treated with disdain. Is that what the church and the Gospel is all about? What message was she trying to communicate to that young boy? James in James Chapter two condemned this as partiality and said it was sin. Again this is one of the reasons I will not wear a suit in the pulpit and never make dress an issue of acceptance or being spiritual. In this case modesty would be again not coming to church with expensive clothing to intimidate my less fortunate brethren and make them feel unwelcome. That is not love, that is not of God.

Is there something wrong with owning suits and nice dresses? Absolutely not, it is just that when coming to church it should be to worship the Lord and to fellowship with one another in love, it is not for the purpose of having a fashion show.

Once when sharing the Gospel on a college campus I was talking to a young man who had long hair. He told me that the Pastor of the very church I attended as a young person had told him if he did not cut his long hair he could not be saved. I told him "Well I guess Jesus won't be in heaven either because he has long hair." God forgive that Pastor for making an absolute out of something which is not an absolute in the Bible. While I have never had long hair (longer than normal) any man with long hair is welcome in my church. It has nothing to do with the Gospel or being saved. We are save by faith through the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, not by whether we have long or short hair. Geesh!!!

Oh! by the way, I said I did not own a suit. I forgot, I bought one when I got married. It was the only time my wife would ever get married and I wanted her marriage ceremony to be the way she wanted it. So I went out and spent a couple of hundreds dollars on a suit to make it just the way she wanted it. What was my motivation? Love for my wife. This was her time and mine and It was going to be just the way she wanted it, so I proudly wore a suit as we walked up to the alter and looked my best to make her look good also.

Again, to me modesty is doing what I do in love, not to intimidate someone else or make someone else feel uncomfortable in my presence. When people come to church I do not want them to be focused on me or someone else in the congregation but Jesus, so leave the fashion show at home or for where it is appropriate and come to church to love and serve God and build up one another in Christ. However, again, I would never turn someone away if they wore a suit or expensive fine looking dresses, just expressing my view on the subject. People in suits and nice dresses are saved by faith through the death and shed blood of Jesus on the cross for their sins also, not by what they wear.

Your Friend in Jesus,

Dale P. Kruse
Pastor-Evangelist