Title: THE DRESS CODE OF CHRISTIAN LIVING
Focus: Believers in Christ must take seriously the dress code of Christian living.
Function: To encourage the congregation to live a conversion life, characterized by God’s love, purity, and wisdom.
Text: Ephesians 5:1-21
INTRODUCTION
When military recruits arrive at boot camp, they are stripped from all their clothes. All signs of civilian life—shorts, baggy pants, the latest fashion, earrings, long hair, beards, sneakers—all of these are removed. Then all the recruits receive their military outfit, with instructions as to how and when to wear it and care for it.
Once you enter the military, your dress code changes. And you must live by the army’s dress code.
Dress codes communicate a message; they also shape identity. When your neighbor goes to work and puts on her police uniform, your neighbor conveys authority and represents the law. When she talks with you over the backyard fence, you see her as your neighbor; but when she stops you with her patrol car’s blinking lights and hands you a ticket for speeding, you see her in a different light. She is a police officer. Dress codes matter. Clothes, indeed, make the man or woman!
When I put on my clergy shirt with its white tab, I am not following the latest church fashion. I am simply conveying the message that I have a liturgical function as a worship pastor. I am very conscious that worship is not about me, or about you, but all about the triune God whom we worship and adore.
The clothes we wear, and the dress codes we follow, shape identity and communicate messages. So it is also with the dress code of Christian living.
You see, when you are baptized, you are part of a new community, a new society, the people of God. And our baptism calls us to put off the old clothes of sin and put on the new clothes of Christ or Christ-like living. The Christian life is a conversion life. And the conversion life comes with a dress code of Christian living, which is characterized by God’s love, purity and wisdom.
So my message is simple: If we claim to be Christians, or if we want to be identified as believers in Christ, we must abide by the dress code of Christian living.
Have you ever heard of a “peripatetic” preacher? No, I did not say “pathetic” but “peripatetic.” I have a colleague and friend in Canada, who preaches dynamite sermons while walking back and forth on the platform. I tend to stick close to the pulpit, but he likes to be peripatetic.
In a conversation with a friend, you may talk about your “daily walk with the Lord.” You are speaking then peripatetically. And most people know what you are trying to say. You are referring to your daily life in relation to your faith in the Lord Jesus. You are talking about Christian living.
Now in the Scripture reading for tonight, the word “peripatetic” is a keyword. The N.I.V. translates it as “live a life.”
For example, in verses 1 and 2 we read: “…as dearly loved children…live a life of love.” In verse 8 we read: “Live as children of light….” And in verse 15 we read: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise.” Each of these verses makes use of the same verb that conveys the meaning of “walking” or “living.” And that same verb frames the entire Scripture passage.
You see, throughout this passage, the apostle Paul calls us to live by the dress code of Christ-like living. And Paul frames the call to Christian living by three major characteristics of God: God is love; God is light or pure; and God is all-wise.
Listen again to the text: (vs. 1,2) “Be imitators of God…as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Here we learn that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ must imitate God. God is love; God has expressed his love toward us in Jesus Christ. Now as image bearers of God, and as people saved by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we now must live a life of self-sacrificial love. Love is one of the characteristics of God that makes up the dress code of Christian living.
Listen again to the text: (vs. 8) “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Light of the world. His followers must reflect his light or purity or holiness in this dark world. Therefore we must live pure lives. So then, purity or holiness or “light, is another characteristic of God that makes up the dress code of Christian living.
Here is another characteristic of God: (vs. 15) “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” The Bible reveals God as being “all-wise,” or as the “God of Wisdom.” All of us who belong to God through faith in the Lord Jesus must now imitate God in his wisdom as we do our daily living.
We must imitate God in his love, in his purity, and in his wisdom. These are the three characteristics that make up the dress code of Christian living.
Though there are many atheists and agnostics in America, millions of citizens in our country tend to refer to themselves as “Christians.” However, many of them are Christians in name, but not necessarily in daily conduct. That is, they do not have a distinctive dress code by which they communicate to the world that they belong to Jesus. In fact, many of them are convinced that their faith has nothing to do with their behavior. For them it’s one thing to have a set of beliefs. But those beliefs have nothing to do with their behavior or daily walk in life, so they argue.
But the Scriptures don’t let us off the hook of Christian living. In fact, throughout this passage the apostle Paul gives us four reasons why we must take seriously the dress code of Christian living. (cf. John Stott, pp. 195-209)
REASONS FOR LIVING BY THE DRESS CODE
The first reason comes to us in verses 5-7. There Paul speaks about the Judgment of God. Listen: (vs.5,6) “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.”
Here Paul stirs up the fear of God—a reverence for God and all his characteristics. Do not take God’s love for granted. Do not live as fools who have no knowledge of God. Do not live sexually impure lives; and do not go after material things as you would go after God. For greediness is a form of idol worship. How people live matters. And yes, how we—Christians—live—matters even more. For unbelievers do not know better. But all who believe in Christ Jesus have been made alive in Christ. We should know better, because God has been opening our eyes through his Word and Spirit given to us.
To be sure, Christians do not need to fear God’s Judgment Day. For “there is now no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Yet, that does not mean that we live as we please. It means that we consider the coming of God’s judgment as an incentive to live pure lives, showing gratitude for God’s love toward us in Christ Jesus. The coming of God’s judgment moves us to live by the dress code of Christian living.
The second reason to live by the dress code of God’s love, purity and wisdom, is the Fruit of Light. In verses 8-14 Paul plays with the rich biblical themes of light and darkness. “Darkness” represents ignorance, error, and evil; and “light” represents righteousness—all that is good, and right and true. (John Stott)
Listen: (vs. 9) (Live as children of light) “(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth). (vs. 11) “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” It comes down to this: When we live by the dress code of Christian living we practice what we believe. We put our faith into action. We bear fruit. We walk our talk. And it is by our fruit that others discern or see that we belong to God. Producing the fruit of light means that we live by a different drummer—our allegiance is to Christ and his kingdom. When a police officer breaks the law, she undermines or diminishes the very law she is called to uphold. When Christians ignore the dress code of Christian living, we diminish the light that God—through us--wishes to shine into our world.
The third incentive for Christian living centers on the Nature of Wisdom. (John Stott)
Wise people know that time is short; therefore they make the most of their time. Wise people seek the will of God; therefore they have their antenna of prayer always turned toward heaven, and they search the Scriptures for pathways of wisdom and discernment. Fools ignore God’s will and ways; but Christians imitate God; we seek God’s will and wisdom.
So listen again to these words that move us to embrace the dress code of Christian living: (vs. 15-17) “Be very careful, then how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Clearly, divine wisdom is the source from which Christians drink. In doing so, we learn to walk in the ways of the Lord Jesus.
The apostle Paul mentions one more, final reason for Christ-like living: Spirit-filled living. Consider:
No one can become a Christian unless the Spirit of God makes that person alive. Rebirth or regeneration is necessary for a sinner to turn saint, for a rebel to turn a servant, for a prisoner of the powers of darkness to become a free person in Christ Jesus.
Also, no one can walk with the Lord and reflect the life and love of God without the Holy Spirit. Therefore, God has given us the Holy Spirit. His coming into our lives is signed and sealed into our baptism. Thus Paul can say to the church in Ephesus (1:13) “Having believed, you were marked in (Christ) with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit….”
Now, in chapter 5, Paul mentions the drive of the Holy Spirit as an incentive for abiding by the dress code of Christian living. Listen: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” It is possible to resist the movements of the Spirit within us; it is possible to grieve the Spirit of Christ by our actions or inactions. Therefore, Paul calls us to remove any resistance to the Spirit of Christ at work in us, by opening up—as it were, the tap waters of the Spirit—“be filled, let the Spirit of Christ have his way with you and in you.”
And here’s how: (vs. 19-21)
“speaking to one another with psalm, hymns and spiritual songs” (Christian fellowship and encouragement); “singing and making music with all your heart to the Lord”(Christian worship); “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Christian gratitude); and “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Christian humility/mutual submission) (cf. John Stott).
Folks, believers in Christ must take seriously the dress code of Christian living.
Abide by it. And discover the joy and the blessing of its fit, and its comfort-giving style.
Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and always shall be: world without end. Amen!