In the time that we have together tonight, I want to conclude our series on discernment in dress by having us think about our attitudes and actions as it pertains to the assembling of ourselves together to worship the infinite, holy, triune God. 1 Timothy chapter three, verses 14 and 15. Paul says, under the divine influence of the Holy Spirit, writing to Timothy, these things ride I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Now in the immediate context of this pastoral exhortation spoken from Paul to Timothy, it is needful that we understand that Paul has just finished instructing Timothy concerning the biblical qualifications of office bearers among the church. In verses one through seven of 1 Timothy 3, the apostle Paul wants Timothy to understand that those who would pastor the flock of God and preach the word of God among the local church must meet certain God-ordained qualifications. Likewise, in verses eight through 13 of 1 Timothy 3, the apostle Paul wants Timothy to understand that those who serve as deacons in the church, along with their wives, must meet certain God-ordained qualifications. In the immediate context of 1 Timothy 3, verses 14 and 15, we must understand that Paul is warning Timothy against sins that would hinder someone from serving as a pastor or deacon, while at the same time encouraging Timothy to be a godly example in leading the Ephesian church so that godliness might permeate through the whole of the church, from the pulpit to the pew. Paul is pressing Timothy of the importance of godliness among the church leaders because the truth of the matter is pastors and deacons are not only to tell other people how to live, they are through their examples expected to show other people how to live. This is the more is caught than taught certainty of ministry. Pastors are not merely to step behind the pulpit and preach the word for an hour on Sunday and then go hide in a back office. Pastors are to help others know what is right and appropriate through their godly example as they are among the sheep outside of the pulpit. This is the immediate context of 1 Timothy 3, 14 and 15. The immediate context is for Timothy to recognize the importance of office bearers and their wives behaving themselves in a godly, appropriate, exemplary way. Paul says, but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou personally should behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. Now, zooming out from this one verse and considering what Paul says to Timothy in the whole context of his letter, I think I can fairly justify the fact that what is said in verse 15 can be applied to the entirety of Paul's letter to Timothy. So as we trace the letter from chapter one to chapter six, in the consideration of what Paul says about the purity of the gospel in chapter one, the ordinances of worship in chapter two, the qualifications of leaders in chapter three, the specific ministerial duties of pastors in chapter four, and how to shepherd different kinds of people in the church in chapters five and six, I think it is safe to say that what Paul is telling Timothy in this one verse has a fitting application to the entirety of Timothy's ministry among the local church. What is written and sent to Timothy in this letter has been given to encourage Timothy and the church that he pastors to worship God in the way that He pleases, to worship God as He desires, to worship God so that the church might be a bright testimony for Christ in the world. This is the second application of 1 Timothy 3, verse 15. Paul is writing this letter to help Timothy understand how Christ's church should function. Paul is writing this letter to help Timothy understand what it means, practically speaking, to worship God in a way that is decent and in order. Paul is writing this letter to help Timothy know how best to shepherd others as it relates to worshiping God in spirit and in truth. Paul is writing this letter to help Timothy encourage other Christians to behave themselves rightly, both among and outside of the gatherings of the church. Why? So that God will be glorified in all. So that the church might be a witness for Christ in the world. not only in a personal sense, but also in a collective sense. Paul says, but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, and the pillar and ground of truth. Now, isn't it interesting that nowhere in the Bible and nowhere in this letter does Paul say, you know what, Timothy, in regards to God's house, in regards to worship, anything goes. Do whatever you wanna do. Lead the church, Timothy, through your own desires. Whatever will make people most comfortable, that's what you should follow. No, in fact, we have just the opposite being emphasized in verse 15. Paul says, Timothy, you have been trusted of God to be an overseer of his church, not your church. You've been called to be a shepherd, not of your people, but of Christ's people. Timothy, this is serious business. This is not something to treat lightly. I'm writing this letter to you so that you will understand how God wants you to shepherd His sheep. I'm writing this letter to you so that you will properly help others to know something of the seriousness and the somberness of worshiping the Eternal One. Timothy, there is a proper behavior that God expects of you and others when you enter into the place of worship. Timothy, there are certain attitudes and actions that you ought to teach about and emphasize as you lead and feed God's people. So Timothy, there is no excuse for not knowing. In this letter, There are truths and principles that will help you to know how God is to be worshiped and served in His house. Timothy, you are not the owner and operator of the church. You are simply the steward and the servant of the church. So here are the guidelines. Abide by them and encourage others to abide by them. This is the pastoral charge of 1 Timothy 3, verse 15. To put it in Marine Corps language, this is four-star General Paul telling Captain Timothy what his orders are. His orders are to follow the orders of the heavenly commander-in-chief as they've been given to him through Paul. His orders are to carry out God's instructions, not to create his own instructions. Timothy is to do what God orders in a humble and respectful way as he serves the commander-in-chief. Again, the text says, but if I tarry long, that you, Timothy, might know how to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of truth. Timothy, pay attention to the letter. Put these principles into practice. These are divine instructions sent from God himself. Now having emphasized the biblical need to uphold the proper and God-fearing conduct in the context of the local church in a general sense, in the sixth and final sermon on the topic of clothing, I want us to specifically think about our clothing choices as it relates to the assembling of ourselves together in the public place of worship. In this sermon, I want to challenge the prevailing mindset of casualness that is being loudly shouted in our ears by most professing Christians today by pointing out several biblical inconsistencies with their attacks toward dressing thoughtfully, respectfully, modestly, and gracefully in our gathering on the Lord's day. Now, because of time, I will not re-preach or review all that we have covered thus far in the series, but I do wanna begin by clarifying and emphasizing three foundational truths as it relates to the topic of clothing. These are biblical truths that I have mentioned in past sermons that I want to etch on your heart once again. Clarification number one, as most of you know, My focus in preaching this series on discernment in clothing has been primarily directed at those who call themselves Christians. The primary focus of preaching in discernment is for believers, not unbelievers. While the truths of scripture speak to all men and women in general, the specific application of my sermon has been to zero in on those in the church, not those among the world. Now why? And here's the answer. It's the duty of pastors to shepherd sheep among the flock rather than attack goats in the world. God does not expect the lost world to live by Christian principles, but he does expect Christians to live like Christians. God has not called those outside of Christ to be a witness for Christ. He has called those in Christ to be a witness for Christ. Jesus did not say that unbelievers are expected to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Jesus said that his disciples are expected to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. So that being said, it has been my desire through this series on clothing to cause Christian people to think about how Paul's exhortation in Romans 12, one and two relates to them. It has been my desire to awaken Christians to the biblical reality that we must do everything we can to avoid becoming conformed to the image of this godly world so that we might live holy, separated lives unto Christ. This is clarification number one. My focus in preaching has been purposely directed toward Christian people. Clarification number two, it is true that God's word does not give us minute details as it relates to our clothing choices. While there are many specific truths and principles that serve as guidelines for dressing in accordance to our gender, dressing modestly, dressing appropriately and presentably, there are not minor details that spell out what is acceptable to God in a generational or cultural sense. There is nothing in the Bible that says in the 1600s this will be appropriate and in the 2000s this will be appropriate. There's nothing in the Bible that says in Europe this is appropriate and in South America this is acceptable dress. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's nothing in the canon of scripture that I know of that says it is required of men to wear a suit and a tie when they come to church, and it is required of women to wear a dress down to their ankles only made of cotton when they come to church. I find nothing in my Bible that says this kind of fashion is godly and that kind of fashion is ungodly. This standard is appropriate inside the church and this standard is appropriate outside of the church. We've already covered this in my other sermons, but I think I need to emphasize it again for proper clarification. We cannot and must not force our opinions, our likings, our traditions, our cultural norms into the truth of scripture. We cannot make scripture say what it does not say. So that being said, we must humbly, all of us, accept the fact that God's word does not give us the minute details about our clothing choices. Clarification number three. Lest I am taken out of context and charged with being a legalistic pharisaical preacher, let me emphatically emphasize once again to all that are listening that God makes it crystal clear in his word that he is more concerned with the state of our hearts than the clothes that we put on our bodies. This is the truth that Jesus emphasizes in John 4, verse 24. To the Samaritan woman who was focused on the father's worshiping in a certain place, Jesus says to her, God is a spirit, and they that would worship God must worship him in spirit, from the inner man, from the heart, and in truth, according to God's written word. Psalm 51, verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Isaiah 57, verse 15, for thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite one. The prophet Joel, remember, called on others to rend their hearts and not just their garments. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for trying to impress others with their long religious robes and their long elaborate prayers being prayed on the corner of the streets while their hearts were far from God. Jesus likewise reminds us that the first and great commandment given in the Bible is to love God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength. The commandment is not to love God with all of our shirts, jeans, suits, dresses, and shoes. So that being said, I hope and I pray that you recognize That is my frequent pastoral aim and practice to direct the truths of God's word at the inward heart of man more than the outward habits of man because that's the focus of God's word. Now this is not to say that God doesn't care about our outward attitudes and our outward actions. He obviously does. God's word talks about stealing. God's Word talks about fornicating, committing adultery, killing, those are outward actions. God cares about those things. But this is to say that the primary focus of our worship ought to be our heart adoring God as He is more than how we appear to other people and how they appear to us. The purpose of coming to church is not to show off our latest threads. The purpose of coming to church is to worship God, to hear from his word so that we might know him, fear him, love him, serve him, honor him, and glorify him. The goal of worship is not to judge others by their outward appearance. The goal of worship is to get our own hearts right with God so that we personally might be doers of God's word and not hearers only. And that's the balance of scripture. That's where both sides must meet. Those who like preaching on holiness and clothing standards, and those who don't like preaching on holiness and dress standards. Christianity is not focused merely on the inward communing with God, but also on the outward living for God. The inward will go outward. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but this means Now you cannot use the God knows my heart justification for sinful living. If your heart is right with God, your attitude and actions toward others will be right with God. If your heart is right with God, you will not live like the world lives. If your heart is right with God, you will not talk like the world talks. If your heart is right with God, you will not value what the world values. If your heart is right with God, it will be seen and known through your humble obedience to live for God fully. So let me say it again. God cares more about your heart than your clothes. And by the way, does anyone preach otherwise? I can't recall a sermon where the preacher the whole time says, God cares more about your clothes than your heart. Anyways. Three clarifications as it relates to the subject of clothing in general and the subject of clothing as it relates to the public worship of God. Now having emphasized these biblical truths that are typically widely known, widely accepted, widely celebrated in, among the broader influence of Christendom in the remaining of our time, I want to share with you eight rational and genuine concerns that I have with the popular prevailing attitude that strongly kicks against and even mocks the concept of dressing up for church. Now, it used to be a common understanding among Christians that in our coming to worship the king of kings, that we should not be casual and sloppy about how we present ourselves in the house of worship. But sadly, the recent fad is to give God whatever, whatever we want, whatever we think is best. Well, I, along with several other Christians, have some genuine concerns with such an attitude. Concern number one, I'm concerned that Christians have become experts at cherry picking standards of separation and holiness. Christians have become experts at picking and choosing what they like to follow and following that. Let me prove my point by challenging your thinking this way. What would you think if you went to church and witnessed a pastor preaching a sermon while he was smoking a cigarette? What would you think if you went to church and witnessed a pastor smoking marijuana? What would you think if you went to church and witnessed long-standing church members unashamedly drinking a beer during the church service? What would you think if the baptistry was filled with root beer rather than with water? Would you not be abhorred? Would you not be troubled? Would you not be bothered? Would you not be alarmed? pastors smoking cigarettes, church members, longstanding church members drinking beers during the sermon, and the baptistry filled with root beer rather than water. Okay, now, let me ask you. Please give me chapter and verse or a Bible story where you can back up your feelings of concern over such things. The Bible doesn't say a pastor cannot smoke a cigarette while he preaches. It's nowhere in the pastoral epistles. Paul didn't cover that one. In fact, the Bible doesn't say anything about cigarettes. The Bible doesn't say anything about the baptistry, water, and how that water should be. It doesn't say that we can't use root beer rather than water. The Bible doesn't say that congregants in the local church cannot come to church drinking whatever they want to while the service is going on. So what's the big deal? Let's go back to the argument. God knows our heart, right? If I stand up here and pull out a Marlboro, God knows my heart. Let's not get legalistic about things. If we will be honest, you and I know that such things fall under the category of sanctified common sense. It's common sense that pastors don't smoke cigarettes during their preaching. or cigarettes at all for that matter. It's inappropriate to sip a beer while we're striving to drink of the living waters of God's word. It lacks proper dignity and respect for God to fill the baptistry with root beer. Yet, I find it strange that we will laugh and shake our head at these things while quickly dismissing truths about the appropriateness of our clothing choices in our coming to the house of God. We say out of one side of our mouth that rock and roll music in church is not suitable for worshiping the Lord. We say out of the one side of our mouth that playing ACDC in worship is not honoring in the local church. But on the other side, the pastor is judgmental if he calls men and women to cover their body parts in the public place of worship as if that's not worldly. What I am saying is we need to strive to apply biblical principles to the whole of our lives, not just a portion of our life. We need to strive to think about standards of holiness, separation, and appropriateness in every part of our public worship, not just in some parts of our public worship. Again, we're experts at cherry picking. We'll choose to believe this, but not that. We'll choose to obey that, but not that. Concern number two. Over recent years, there has been a strong push for dressing down for worship. This cannot be denied. Over the last several decades, pastors, church members, and attenders who know something about the appropriateness and dressing for important occasions have become more and more casual in their dress. In fact, I would say that there has become a spirit of glorying in casualness. And I place more blame on the pastors than the church members and attenders. This picture speaks a thousand words. How the world's leaders dress to talk about their God, namely football and sports, and how church leaders dress to talk about their God. Casual, skinny jeans, ripped jeans, looking cool, looking hip. Pastors are encouraging their churches at Christmas time to wear the ugliest clothes that they can wear to church. We're gonna have an ugly sweater contest. We're gonna give you prizes for looking the most foolish. That's exactly what I'm talking about. What are we encouraging God's people to do? I showed you this one before, Super Mario Sunday. The pastors and the assistant pastors are dressed up like characters from Mario Brothers. They even have now dress down Sundays, as if churches don't dress down. How low can you go? They're already dressed down. What is dress down Sunday? And look, these are my church clothes. Again, it's not so much the clothes, it's the attitude. It's the casualness. And now we have on Facebook this cool new fad where at church, somebody with a video camera will interview people at the door and say, what are you wearing to church today? Well, I've got on my polo shirt, I've got on my jeans, I've got on my Nike shoes, and then goes somebody else, well, what are you wearing to church? Well, I've got this skirt and I've got this blouse as if it's about us. And then the young people are tempted to get something new next Sunday because they might be interviewed, they might be on Facebook. So it all becomes a fashion show. They're the ones charging us with being legalistic, and they're the ones doing what God's word says not to do. Don't focus on the clothes, that's what they're doing. Newsflash, Jesus didn't try to be cool and hip to impress others. So why are pastors? Now, you can be against dressing up for church all you want, but why the strong push for dressing down for worship? I don't get that. Concern number three, whether directly or indirectly, we are being encouraged to believe that God is okay to worship him in our own way. And there is never a moment where God is not worthy of, watch this, extreme worship. Come on somebody, extreme. extravagant worship can we just take about 30 seconds and give our great god extreme praise and extreme worship in your own way just lift up your eyes and lift your hands and lift your voices and let the great i am know that that you see him high and lift it up and now listen carefully come on give it to him in your own way in your own way if you're watching online in your own way just worship him Don't know if you can hear that, but the preacher said, worship God extravagantly in your own way. And he kept saying that phrase over and over and over. Come on, in your own way. Worship God in your own way, how you want to, in your own way. Worship God how you want to, in your own way. About five, six times he said that one phrase. Do you know what happened to Nadab and Abihu when they worshiped God in their own way? But this is the spirit of our day. We're offering strange fire to God. This is the push of Gen Z. God is happy with anything and everything you offer to him. However you want to worship him is just fine. And such an attitude has trickled down to our approaching God on Sundays. The emphasis among most churches is, as you know, here it is, come as you are. Come as you are. Let me decipher that code for you. Let me break that down. That means worship how you want. I mean, come on. How else do we come to church? Dressed up like an alien? We come as we are, yeah? What is this? It's a sounding spiritual board of you can come as you are and leave as you are. Nobody will judge you. That's what that is, that's what that means. The phrase usually means worship God as you want. Concern number four. I'm concerned that the worship of God has become less important to Christians than other earthly occasions. such as job interviews, going on a date at an expensive restaurant, going to a funeral, going to a wedding, or going to a symphony at the Hollywood Bowl. My concern and curious question is, why should the worship of God in church be less important than a job interview? Why should the worship of God in church be less important than a date? less important than going to a dead person's funeral, and less important than attending a wedding. Why should our standard of dress be less than courtroom procedures? Look up the dress standards of the local courtroom sometime. There is an expected dress. There is an expected standard. So my question is, why are we content with giving God less? Is that somewhere in the Bible? Is there a story that encourages us to dress up for earthly occasions and dressing down for worship? Again, you want to give scripture. I'm asking, what's your biblical justification for giving God less? And to be clear, my concern is not so much with the clothing, but the thoughtless and casual attitude that's often portrayed with those who mock people for dressing up modestly and appropriately. If you get only one thing from this lesson tonight, my attack is not the clothes themselves, but the attitude that comes from the ones kicking against these things. That's my biggest problem. Concern number five. I find it very interesting that lowering the standards of church in one area is typically united with lowering the standards in another area. Go back and listen to my sermon on fun church. When God is not feared as he ought to be in all the areas of the church, The casualness of Bible doctrine and the casualness of worship permeates the whole of the church. This is a whole package deal. Where there is casualness in dress, there is usually casualness in doctrine. Casualness in how the church is operated. Casualness in how the church worships. Where there is casualness in worship, there will many times be worldly music. Where there is worldly music, there is usually an acceptance of bringing lattes in the auditorium. And usually when there's an acceptance of bringing lattes in the auditorium, there's usually a coffee shop nearby. And where there are lattes and coffee shops, many times women are leading the church over the men. And then pretty soon you have petting zoos, dunk tanks, car shows, church services being canceled here and there, and clowns taking over the church. I'm being serious. If you start justifying one thing, you have to start justifying the other thing. If you start playing chapter and verse with one part of the church, you have to play chapter and verse with all parts of the church. And this is my genuine concern. My genuine concern is that we are losing the element of who we are serving and the element of serving Him with reverence and godly fear. Our God is a consuming fire. Our God is infinitely holy. Our God is the King Supreme. Death and life are in His hands. So how do we justify entering into His presence publicly in His church? Again, catch it, I'm not giving standards of clothing. How do we justify coming into church in a flippant, careless way? More than a church, a life-changing experience, casual, real, relevant, great coffee, family-oriented, awesome praise and worship. It's not just church, it's fun. It's a Chuck E. Cheese for your kids. So dress appropriately because they will be going through the tubes and the ball pits. Concern number six. Lost people are becoming increasingly more interested in false religions and false cults because it appears that they are more serious than Christian churches. Now you can charge Catholicism, Orthodox churches, and other cults with preaching a false gospel all you want, but the world is looking for answers to their serious questions, and they see so-called Christian pastors and churches operating in a careless and flippant manner, and then in seeing that, they turn away and look for something more serious and reverent. On the one side we have a Catholic church, on the other side we have an evangelical, quote, Christian church. And this pastor says, it's Joy Sunday in the season of Advent. We'll be singing Christmas carols of joy. My sermon will focus on joy as we look at the gospel stories of Christmas with a little help from 2003 movie, Elf. And for a bit of myrrh, wear your ugliest Christmas sweater to worship. I don't know if Elf's an appropriate movie to recommend by a pastor. I don't think so. I don't think all the words are nice. On the one side, you have a Mormon church. On the other side, you have a, quote, Christian church. The leader has a shirt that says, I love Olive Garden. Well, guess what? So do I. But who cares? Why do I care that you love Olive Garden? My focus is on God. Now you're just bringing it down to earth, you see? Why wear that? You know he wants the attention of people. Now he may not purposely be trying to get people to focus on him than God, but he is, you see the importance of, I love Olive Garden, so let's focus our hearts and minds on breadsticks and salad and whatever you like to order. I mean, silliness. It's just silly, it's dumb. That pastor should be kicked out. I'm serious. Concern number seven. No, I didn't finish my last point. Listen, the lost world is looking for true hope. They have real issues. They're suicidal, they're addicted to drugs, they have marital problems. And they want to know something about who this God is that we're speaking about. And they want to know how it can be well with their soul when they die. And more times than not, in the average, quote, Christian church, the pastor is telling goofy stories, and he looks like he just got back from the skate park rather than dwelling in the presence of God. Lost people sometimes come to church and they see people dressed down comfortably, sipping on a Starbucks, and you can judge the world about judging our appearance if you want, but there's something to be said about their observation of us. There's something to be said, not just with our clothes, but with our attitudes and our behavior in the house of God. There's something to be said. And why would we want to push people away from the true message of the gospel when we don't have to, when it's relatively easy to fix that problem among Christians? Concern number seven. Concern number seven. Most Christians have no issue dutifully dressing in accordance to their jobs. but they will fuss about dressing appropriately for church. This is a comical one. Just reason it out with me for a moment. Those in the Marine Corps, help me out. Those in the Marine Corps have a certain standard of dress to abide by on base, yes? And through the performance of their daily duties, yes? It's not anything goes, right? You can't just show up to work with shorts and flip flops and whatever, right? A doctor or nurse, help me out, nurses, who works at the hospital has to wear a certain uniform that covers the body, right? A nurse or a doctor can't show up with spaghetti straps or short shorts. Firefighters have a specific uniform while they are on duty. Firefighters cannot fight fires with skinny jeans and a tank top. And same goes with teachers, veterinarians, lawyers, police officers, those who work in a factory and those who even work at Stater Brothers. When standards of dress are expected in the world, in the workplace, they are typically abided by with no complaints, no constant kickbacks. But for some reason, when the pastor gives just biblical principles regarding personal modesty, church appropriateness, there's often a fuss. This is interesting to me. It's a serious point to consider. Even secular workplaces expect shirts to be tucked in, dresses to be certain lengths. Know this, know that. Most Christians abide by it. But sometimes in regards to worship, some people go lower and lower, less and less, tighter and tighter. Just think about it, think about it. Concern number eight, our focus in church has become seriously skewed. And these girls are holding up signs saying, we're here to have fun. We're here to make friends. That's the purpose of the church. The other says, you're looking fantastic today. Is that a new haircut? Wow. What's the focus of the church in most churches today? It's fun and entertainment. Let's go outside, let's watch a movie. Here they're watching Disney, The Incredibles. Super Bowl Sunday, let's have a Super Bowl party at the church. We'll cancel the evening service. We'll go into the auditorium and we will live stream the football game. We're gonna have a tailgate party and let's have bounce houses and great food for everyone. The focus has become self focus rather than God focus. The church has become viewed as a social club, a religious elks club, a spiritual boys and girls club, a senior center, a place of potlucks and parties. Over the years, we have adopted the wrong idea that the church must cater their worship to pleasing lost people. We've come to believe that we must make sure to do everything we can to make those who do not know Christ comfortable in church. That's not Bible truth. The church is a called out assembly of baptized believers. The primary purpose of the church is to worship God. The purpose of the church's gathering is to know God's will through God's word so that the church, the believers, might be doers of God's word, not hearers only. When did we start to believe that the primary focus of the church is to make unbelievers comfortable with a God that they are running from? Now this is not to say that we close our doors to lost people. This is not to say that we make unbelievers unwelcomed. But this is to say that the church is primarily for Christian people. This focus has been almost entirely lost. So it's no wonder that the standards of the church are lowered. This is Israel. The mixed multitude are murmuring about the strictness of Christianity and its affecting the Christians. So the church becomes more and more like a secular business or a rock concert rather than a place of holy worship. Do you see that? Lost people have come into the church because Christians have surveyed the community. This has really happened. They go door to door. What do you want in a church? What do you want in church? Oh, you want this? Okay, we can do that. You want this? Okay, we can do that. You want this? And they give lost people what they want in a church rather than going to the word. the principles of God to say, God, what do you want emphasized in the church? So the church becomes filled with lost people who claim to know God, and there is a remnant. There are true Christians mingled among that, and then they just have to put up with all this. That's exactly where we are today. The focus in church has been lost. And by the way, the remnant in such churches are starving to death. They really truly want to be fed. They truly want to find a church that will preach to them pure doctrine, that will preach about the reverence of God, but they're few and far between. Every time we go on a trip across country, every time we break away, it takes me at least an hour to weed through the churches in the area to see which church am I gonna visit. Not that one. Not that one. Not that one. I'm gonna skim the YouTubes, not that one. You say you're looking for perfection? You're looking for sinlessness? No, I'm just looking for people who are normal. People who are not rocking out. People who aren't jumping around on the pews. That's what I'm looking for. People not wearing shirts that say I love Olive Garden. That's what I'm looking for. I just want pure, simple worship. Preach to me the word. Shoot it to me straight. That's what I'm looking for. It's hard to find. Hard to find. Now as I conclude, let me leave you with three final thoughts. There's something about getting ready for church that prepares your heart and puts you in the correct disposition for worshiping God. There is an element within that. Exodus chapter 19, God tells Israel through Moses, prepare yourselves to meet with me. And in that, he even encourages Israel to wash their clothes. You can say that's Old Testament all you want, but the principle's there. And the principle is tied in Ecclesiastes chapter five. When thou goest into the house of God, be more ready to hear. Be ready to worship God. The principle is be careful of how you approach God. Don't approach him casually or irreverently. When you get ready to go on a date and you take time to do your hair and to do your makeup, or to dress up nicely and put cologne on and take a shower and put deodorant on, it prepares your heart, it prepares your mind for the important occasion, yes? when you go to a wedding, when you're getting married yourself, that that process of preparing is an anticipation of something important that's going to happen. You can call me extreme if you want, but I see a principle in God's word about preparing to meet with God. So practically speaking, maybe you need to cut out things on Saturday nights. Get your heart and mind set on worshiping God the next day, rather than rushing on Saturday morning. Oh no, where are the kids' clothes? Where are their shoes? We gotta iron, where's the iron? Where's the ironing board? Do it Saturday night. You wake up fresh Sunday morning, and you're preparing to meet with God. We looked at it in Sunday school, there is a principle. about preparing our hearts, hungering after truth, and God feeding us according to that attitude. Number two to think about. Is there anything in the Bible that encourages others to dress down? Is there anything in the Bible that encourages casual worship, flippancy, carelessness? Is there anything in the Bible that talks about giving God whatever, giving God our leftovers, Is there anything in the Bible that talks about treating the church like a concert? Anything in the pastoral epistles, any truths, any principles? Anything that says we can worship God in our own way? Anything at all? Again, I'm kicking against the attitude of, well, you're pharisaical because you want to dress up for worship, okay. I can take that. I'm a man. I'm not going to cry over. I'm not going to lose sleep. But you need to take the other challenge. What's your biblical justification? Where's the verse, the truth that just says, pick something out of the laundry basket. If it doesn't smell bad, put it on. That's appropriate. And again, it's not the clothes. It's the attitude. It's a lack of seriousness, lack of maturity. Number three, in regards to Paul teaching on head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11, do you think that maybe, maybe the church had visitors come into the congregation and become uncomfortable with the church's high standards? There were expectations in the local church. Read 1 Corinthians 11. To wear a head covering was a sign of submission to leadership. To abandon the head covering was a sign of rebellion to authority. And Paul, through his letter, presses the church with submitting to proper authorities and living according to their God-given genders. So what is that? See it for what it is. Paul is preaching on principles of dress. Paul is essentially saying what you wear is telling a story about your heart. There were feminists in the congregation. I'm not gonna wear this head covering, because I'm the head of the home, and I want everyone to know it. Ah, what's in your heart? No, we don't have that same custom. We don't have that same practice. But do you think maybe outside visitors come in feeling uncomfortable with head coverings, not knowing what to do? Do you think maybe others charge them with being too strict, legalistic, pharisaical, having a dress code? Oh, that church in Corinth, they have a strict dress code. We can't go there, we're not welcome. No, Christians are supposed to show the world what proper authority looks like. I'm not proposing that we bring back head coverings. I can see it now. Went to church, the pastor said we should wear head coverings. Go and Google review, pastor wants to wear it, bring back, no. I'm not proposing that we go back to head coverings. But I am saying there was and is still today in the context of the local church an understood appropriateness that fits with the occasion of worship.