Free to be Modest

Series: Modesty: Does God Really Care What I Wear?

Leslie Basham: True freedom doesn't necessarily come from doing whatever we want. Here's Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: The women who've adopted the world's philosophy of fashion and clothing are not free. You'll never be truly free until you're free to do what God wants you to do regardless of what anything or anyone else dictates to you.

Leslie Basham: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss. It's Friday, May 27th. We've been talking all this week about modesty. How do we choose clothing that's appropriate? But before we tackle the merits of specific pieces of clothing, we need to answer some deeper, fundamental questions. Here's Nancy to tell us what they are.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: I am so thankful that we have a God who cares about every detail of our lives. He's a God who's personally involved in the details of our lives.

In fact, He cares about what we eat; He cares about what we wear. It all matters to Him.

Now, that can be encouraging or it can be a little disheartening because maybe we want to be free at times to do our own thing when it comes to what we eat or what we wear.

So, as we're building our lives, we need to build our lives on a right foundation. Whatever foundation you lay for your life is going to radically affect every area of your life.

Before we get into some of the specifics of what's right to wear, what's wrong to wear, what looks modest, what looks immodest, we need to lay a foundation. I'll tell you the starting place for all of us has to be answering this question: "Why do I live"?

What is my purpose in life? You know the answer: to glorify God. "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

That's a foundational principle in life and we should come to the place where we say, "My purpose in life is to please God rather than to please others."

Listen gals, we've got a lot of teenagers here today, your ultimate purpose in life is not to please your parents. Now it's important that you please your parents.

Married women, your ultimate goal in life is not to please your husband, though it's important that you please your husband.

We have to come to the place where we recognize that our ultimate purpose, our supreme primary purpose for living is to make God happy.

So that affects everything about our lives, including this matter of clothing. It affects our motives. Why am I wearing this? Why do I like this outfit? Why do I like this look? Is it because I want to fit in? Is it because I want to be accepted; I want to be cool; I want to be popular?

You see, if I determine to live my life for the glory of God--that will affect why I wear what I wear. It will make me think about what I wear, not just go to the store and pick up whatever is the current style.

It will make us think about what we do and why. Then as we build on that foundation of seeking to glorify God, there are three foundational principles.

The first is the principle of ownership. The principle of ownership. This means that my body does not belong to me. It's not mine.

Now in the last thirty years in particular in our country we've had a huge emphasis on a woman's right to her own body. It's your body, you do what you want to with it.

Some girls have taken that philosophy to the extreme and have abused their bodies with eating disorders, with substance abuse, with drugs and alcohol. It's my body; I can wreck it. I can trash it. You know, how sad to think how cheaply some girls consider their bodies.

But to recognize the principle of ownership is to recognize that my body is not my own. It's not mine; it doesn't belong to me.

We read about this matter of ownership in 1 Corinthians chapter 6:19 where the Scripture says: "Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God. You are not your own for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

Girls, how would you feel if a friend or one of your sisters took one of your prized possessions from your bedroom, something that belonged to you? She was just going to borrow it, but then she took it and trashed it or gave it away to someone else.

Would that make you happy? You know what, it doesn't make God happy when you and I take these bodies He's given us and we trash them or we give them to somebody that they don't belong to.

An immodestly dressed woman is giving away something that doesn't belong to her. This principle of ownership means that, are you ready for this, that you and I are not free to dress in any way we please.

We're accountable to God. He owns us and if you're not a child of God that's a principle that you're not going to like, in fact, you won't like any of these principles if you don't belong to the Lord.

But if you are a child of God, you will find great comfort and security in the fact that you do belong to God, that your body is His. It means that you can trust that God will take good care of His property. It also means that you have a responsibility to take care of it.

Now, there's a second foundational principle. The first is the principle of ownership. My body is not my own.

The second is the principle of Lordship. Jesus is Lord over all. Ownership, then Lordship. Romans 14:9 tells us: "For this very reason Christ died and returned to life so that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living."

You know what it means when we say that Jesus is Lord. It means that God has the right to regulate every area of our lives, including what we wear.

So I want to ask you, "Who runs your life? Who's your Lord?" Most of us would say, "Jesus is my Lord." But when it comes down to what you wear, who's your Lord?

Are you governed by fashion? Are you governed by the culture? Are you governed by your friends' opinions or are you governed by Christ and His Word? Who is your Lord? You see, you and I are not to be enslaved to anything or anyone other than Jesus--to have any Lord other than Him is to be a slave.

The women who have adopted the world's philosophy of fashion and clothing are not free. You'll never be truly free until you're free to do what God wants you to do regardless of what anything or anyone else dictates to you.

So we have the principle of ownership, the principle of Lordship and then thirdly, the principle of citizenship. That means I belong to a different kingdom. If you go to an international airport, you're likely to see people walking around in all kinds of different outfits.

You'll see some maybe dressed in the sari. What country do they wear saris in? India, with the Hindu religion. I've been in Pakistan and what they wear there is this very loose, baggy kind of silky trouser with a very long tunic over it. It's called a Salwar Kameez and when you see that outfit, you say, "There's a woman that's probably from Pakistan."

People wear what reflects the national dress of their country. Well, the fact is that you and I do not belong to this world--we live in a different kingdom--that has two implications at least for our lives. The fact is that we belong to a different kingdom, not to this world if we are children of God. First, it means that we are not to be conformed to this world.

You read this thought in the Old Testament where God said over and over again to his people, for example, in Leviticus 18:3: "You shall not do as they did in the land of Egypt where you lived."

"And you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. For I am the Lord your God."

Then when we come to the New Testament, we hear the apostle Paul saying: "Don't let this world cause you to be conformed to it. You don't fit in this world. You're not a part of this world, you're not to be conformed to it.

Now another implication of this principle of citizenship is that we're not to love the world. 1 John 2:15 tells us: "Don't love the world or the things in the world. In fact, if you love the world the love of the Father is not in you." What's he talking about? He's talking about having a heart for this world and its system and its way of thinking. He's talking about gravitating to the way this world thinks.

John goes on to say: "For all that is in this world is not from the Father and the world is passing away along with its desires but whoever does the will of God abides forever" [1 John 2:17]].

Listen, if you dress and live and think and act like the citizen of another kingdom, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, you'll find that you're well suited for all of eternity. You'll be ready to go to eternity.

Now there are some in this group who are already committed to modesty. Sometimes you feel like you're really weird. Can I say to you, "That's okay." You know why? Because you don't belong to this kingdom. You're not going to be here long anyway. You dress for an eternal kingdom, the kingdom of God.

Could I ask, based on these foundational principles of ownership and Lordship and citizenship, "Are you willing to make whatever changes may be necessary in any area of your life, including your clothing, in order to live out those principles, to live under the ownership of God, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven?"

Leslie Basham: Nancy Leigh DeMoss will be right back. If you're ready to acknowledge God's ownership in your life and are ready to make some changes, we encourage you to get a copy of the booklet Becoming a Woman of Discretion. It will help you grapple with some of the tough issues in life, including modesty. But the important thing is that it will help you approach issues from the inside out.

It comes as part of what we're calling the Modesty Packet. It includes another booklet from Nancy called The Look. Both booklets come in a tote bag that features the words of Colossians 3:12: "Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness and longsuffering."

To order call 1-800-569-5959 or visit our website at ReviveOurHearts.com. We'd like to hear what's hit home for you during this series. On Monday we'll take a look at how our clothing affects the men around us. We hope you can be here. Nancy's back to lead us in prayer.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Oh Father, I just want to thank You for the incredible privilege that it is to be owned by You and to live life under Your Lordship. Sometimes it means going against the grain, going against the culture, against everything that's going on around us. But Lord, this is a great way to live. It's a blessing. It's good because You've been such a provider and loving leader and Lord and a wonderful owner.

Oh Lord, I love Your kingdom. I'm learning to love what it means to live as a citizen of Your kingdom. I pray that everything about my life, everything about our lives, would reflect what it means to be citizens of the kingdom of God and to live lives to the glory of God. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss is a ministry outreach of Life Action Ministries.

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