Dress for Dinner

February 24, 1991

Introduction

There is one recurring nightmare that is common to many people in one form or another. I confess that I have had this nightmare in several different forms. Maybe you know the story: you are scheduled to appear in public- perhaps make a speech or presentation- and at the last minute you aren't properly dressed. Perhaps you are in your underwear or worse. At any rate real panic sets in when you think of how you are going to face the expectations of the people when you know that you are unprepared.

I. TWO INSTANCES IN SCRIPTURE OF THIS "RECURRING NIGHTMARE"

1. The man and woman in the Garden. (Genesis 3)

   The idea of clothing as covering goes back a long, long way. Eve said to Adam, "I think the Lord Himself is coming to dinner, and I don't have a thing to wear!" There in Genesis Chapter Three the man and the woman in the Garden had a command performance when they suddenly discovered they weren't properly dressed. A lot of sermons have been preached about fig leaves and coats of skins provided by a gracious God. But from the first book of the Bible to the last, it seems to be important what we are wearing when.

   After they had disobeyed God's clear commandment Adam and Eve seemed to know they were naked, and they were ashamed of their nakedness. Here was loss of innocence; here was the beginning of genuine guilt. The result for Adam and Eve was a loss of the joy and peace of the beautiful Garden, and exile from God's Presence.

2. The dinner guest at the wedding feast (text passage.)

   Something of this same theme is carried in a parable or story that Jesus told. He told it as a parable of what the kingdom of heaven is like.

   In this story a king is giving a wedding party for his son. When his first invited guests don't show up, the king practically shanghais a host of people come to the great celebration. They are urged, cajoled, commanded to come— to a banquet, a feast— the high point in the social calendar of a lifetime, perhaps.

   But when the king walks through the banquet hall and sees a poor fellow there experiencing a real-life episode of the recurring nightmare, he has him put in handcuffs and shackles and sends him off to the deepest, darkest, dankest dungeon in the realm.

   Somehow, in our modern mind-set it hardly seems fair. We don't know just how to take it. Then, as if to make the application even more difficult Jesus tacks on the proverb:

   For many are called, but few are chosen.

WHAT CAN THESE TWO STORIES ABOUT 'CLOTHES' HAVE TO SAY TO US?

II. CLOTHING AS A RESPONSE TO LIFE

1. Have you ever thought about THE MEANING OF CLOTHES?

   Actually, dress is one way in which we respond to reality. How many times have you said, "I'll listen to the weather person today to see what I should wear"? A reasonable approach to clothes, certainly.

   But warmth or protection from the elements are only one reason, and perhaps not even the most basic or primary reason we wear clothes. Perhaps you haven't thought much about it, but we wear clothes because of modesty; we wear clothes as ornaments or fashion statements; there are occasions when the wearing of clothing expresses meaningful symbolism; think of a long white gown of lace with a sheer veil; think of a khaki uniform with four stars on each shoulder; think of a shirt with black and white stripes (which way do the stripes run?); you see, we wear clothes for much more reasons than simply protection from the elements.

2. Consciously or unconsciously, the way we dress makes a statement. We try to learn to interpret; to look beyond superficialities. We try to know the woman or the man and we say, "How he or she dresses doesn't really matter."

   I recall when holiness people wore uniforms, sure as can be. I remember when sermons told people— and mostly women— how to and not to dress. (Thank the Lord, those days are past.)

   But like it or not we process appearance into what we think of people.

3. In the scriptures, clothing often symbolizes or represents the way we respond to life! Clothing ultimately becomes our character! Our spiritual clothing is how we protect ourselves from the spiritual realities; how we deal with our failures; how we act and react in our relationships.

   Listen to these words (in Isaiah 59) describing Messiah at least in part in terms of what He is wearing, or 'puts on:'

   Now the Lord saw that there was no justice and He saw that there was no man . . .then His own arm brought salvation to Him and His righteousness upheld Him; And He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle (etc.)

   We ourselves are commanded to "put on the whole armor of God" and to clothe ourselves in Christ garments of grace, garments of glory. And in the message of Jesus to the church at Laodocia he says:

   I advise you to buy from Me . . . white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed . . (etc.)

   To be found undressed, or dressed improperly is not just embarrassing in this spiritual sense, it means coming up short in character. It means being incomplete in personal preparation for our relationship with God Himself!

III. WHAT IS BEING CLOTHED PROPERLY IN CONTEXT OF REVELATION 16:15

[Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and they see his shame. Revelation 16:15]

1. It means being clothed in righteousness. The great hymn says in part that we may be "Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne." When we are saved we are justified ("Just-as-if-I'd"-never-sinned!) We are then clothed in Christ's righteousness. HIS perfect life is IMPUTED to our account!
2. But these garments may be soiled. Jesus warns the church at Sardis. Evidently the many have soiled their garments. What does this mean?

   Their works have not been completed; they have not followed through. Like the wedding guest without the wedding garment, they have not taken seriously the need for further preparation.

   What does it mean to keep the garments of the spirit unsoiled?

3. A degree of alertness is required. (Text) Stay awake! Keeping one's garments unsoiled means exercising the cleansing grace of God. It doesn't mean perfection in the sense of performance. It does imply utter seriousness about watching for the will of God; of watching for the wiles of the enemy as well.

   The blessing (beatitude) is for those who stay awake and for those who keep their garments. It is NOT necessary to be embarrassed when the king comes! We CAN be clothed in the righteousness of God's grace!

CONCLUSION

There are TWO garments mentioned in the passage directed to Sardis: There is the garment of GRACE which we may keep unsoiled; this is the imputed righteousness that is sanctification begun, and sanctification through and through, and sanctification up-to-date. But there is another garment: the promise is that they who have not soiled their garments SHALL WALK WITH ME (with Jesus!) IN WHITE! The final clothes we shall wear will be like the glistening robes that Jesus Himself wears! When we shall see Him, we shall be like Him! Paul fairly sings to the Corinthians,

For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! I Corinthians 15

We have all be called to dinner! We are all invited! But Jesus said, Many are called, BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN! There is still time for us to GET dressed and to STAY DRESSED for this greatest of all invitations!

78(EH) When He Shall Come

Scripture

And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars, says this:

I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of God. Remember therefore what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. If you therefore will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with me in white; for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Revelation 3: 1 - 6

Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings . . . And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Genesis 3: 7, 21

Then (the king) said to his slaves, The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. God therefore to the main highway, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast. And those slaves went out into the streets, and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw there a man not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. Matthew 22: 8 - 14

Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and they see his shame. Revelation 16:15