What Clothes Are You Wearing?

Church family,
We put on clothes every day. And why do we do this? Because the occasions of life simply require it. The circumstances of our lives determine the Outfit-Of-the-Day for us. Marines wear MARPAT uniforms to maintain regulations for dress and appearance in their units. Medical personnel wear scrubs, or they wear business attire underneath their white coats. Athletes wear loose-fitting jerseys that allow for the movements of the sport they play. When we’re at home, we generally wear something a bit more comfortable to lounge in or to wear while we’re getting tasks done around the house. When we sleep, we all wear some form of pajamas. So what’s the point? If the occasions of our lives require that we wear certain articles of clothing, then the occasions of our life in Christ also require that we wear certain types of “spiritual clothing”.

This concept is nothing new for us. Ephesians 6:12-17 is a profound treatise on the Armor of God that every believer should be wearing. The Outfit-Of-the-Day in that Ephesians passage is the uniform of a warrior. The focus is on defense (breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet, etc.) and offense (sword). We wear the uniform because we are in a battle every day; and built into this spiritual armor is an outward focus of what threats and dangers array themselves against us as believers.

But there’s another set of clothes that we are to wear as believers, and the focus of these clothes is inward. These are the clothes of a family member of the body of Christ, and the focus is how we relate to one another in the context of living life together as a family now that we have been redeemed into the family of God. As I was reading in Colossians last month, I came across this intriguing passage where the Apostle Paul says to “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Col. 3:12-14). The literal word here is to dress ourselves (ἐνδύω ĕnduō) in these qualities.

These are the qualities of the heart; of the inner person. And we aren’t automatically “wearing” them just because we’ve been saved and are now in Christ. If we are automatically wearing these clothes once we get saved, then we would never have this command to put them on! But we are given this command to encourage us to walk in obedience to the “new life in which we’ve been called” (Eph. 4:1; 1 Tim. 6:12). Jesus has broken the power of sin over our lives through salvation so that now we are free to put on the clothing that followers of Christ ought to wear.

And so as we enter into a new year, we want to consider what qualities Christ would have us put on and even what qualities we are to put off and walk no longer in them. The clothing of compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience is for our unity as the body of Christ. For our community. For our one-anothering. For our peace and enjoyment as members together of Jesus Himself.
 
See you this Sunday, in the Outfit-Of-the-Day: Kyle