1. Modesty Have you dressed for the pleasure of someone else?
Girls in strange bride’s maid dresses – you didn’t pick it – you just wore it.
Men who would be happy in sweatpants – but who clean up for a special occasion.
Kids in matching outfits for family pictures…
We’ve all done it in some capacity. Today we are going to study the topic of Modesty and we are going to look at it from the perspective of DRESSING TO PLEASE OUR KING – Jesus.
Today we have a very detail oriented sermon, and it may take a few extra minutes – but I will do my very best to respect your time and I think you’ll be glad to be equipped with these verses.
You might ask: So what is it about Modesty that God likes so much in the first place?

2. Dressing To Please The King
God Loves Modesty Because It Draws Attention To The Enduring Character of the Heart, Not the Temporary Flesh. (1 Peter 3:4, 1 Timothy 2:9-10)
God Loves Modesty Because It Honors His Plan For Marriage & Protects His Children From Sins of Lusts. (Proverbs 7:10, Job 31:1)
God Loves Modesty Because It Presents His Children Without Shame. (Revelation 3:18)
God wants to DIRECT our attention toward HIM and towards the things that HONOR HIM..
So God has commanded that we dress modestly in order to keep the attention on WHAT HE TREASURES AND VALUES….
SHAME: I am fully aware this is a metaphor – but the metaphor only functions because the underlying truth. NAKEDNESS IS SHAMEFUL. Adam and Eve realized it immediately when they were in the Garden and although some try to deny it - we still realize it today.

3. Immodesty Can Take Many Forms
Boasting of Wealth: Extravagant Clothing That Draws Attention To Personal Financial Success.
Disorderliness: Clothing Arranged To Draw Attention To A Wild or Rebellious Personality.
Disruptive: Overly Formal In A Casual Setting or Overly Casual In A Formal Setting Draws Attention As Prideful or Disrespectful.
Nakedness: Too Little Clothing Draws Attention To The Lust of the Eyes.
1 Peter 3 1 Timothy 2
BOASTING: If I am just “showing off” then that is wrong.
DISORDER: This is the employee who refuses to tuck in their shirt as a silent protest against the employer, the person who is told they have to wear a tie – so they get the most hideous and offensive tie they can find – etc… The student who has a school uniform who is constantly altering it in some rebellious way to get extra attention. *Some changes are creative and we should appreciate those – but when there is a heart of rebellion that is a big problem – it is immodest.
DISRUPTIVE: This is the SNOB who shows up in a $500 outfit and just can’t bring themselves to participate is some casual activity. Or it is the self-absorbed person who refuses to put on something nice to attend a wedding, funeral, or other dignified event.
NAKEDNESS: Sometimes we use the word modesty as a synonym for nakedness, but as we’ve seen nakedness is really only ONE form of immodesty. Of course this is a problem because it draws attention to what should be reserved for our spouse.
All of these are forms of immodesty – someone asks – so why do we spend so much time talking about the fourth one? Well – because that is the one that people violate so frequently! Sometimes you just have to spend extra time addressing where the biggest problems are.

4. An Almost Correct Approach:
Basic Idea: By Dressing Similarly To Those You Will Be Around, You Will Not Stand Out. Therefore, You Will Be “Modest.”
We Must ADD That This Principle Does Not Allow Christians To Conform To The Sins of Others For The Sake of Blending In.
Ex. 1: Endorsing Evil • Ex. 2: Revealing Clothing
Point: There Are Occasions Where Christians Should Stand Out From The Crowd As Different. We Must Look To The Bible For Our Limits & Our Best Options.
If everyone else is wearing a tuxedo – you do too. If everyone else is wearing blue jeans – you do too. If everyone else is dressed somberly while mourning – you do too. Etc…
This really is ALMOST correct – in many situations it is a great rule of thumb. In fact – if this has been your general approach to modesty in the past…then thank you for being thoughtful about this…I just want to take this basic idea and go deeper with you today so you can factor some complimentary ideas into your decisions about modesty.
The problem comes, when in the effort to blend in and not draw extra attention to ourselves, we end up dressing in a way that is wrong for Christians.
Give a few relevant examples: if we were having a Bible study with gang members – we might try to fit in by wearing casual clothes – but we won’t go so far as to actually wear clothes that support drug use or drunkeness or violence. *We have limits.
Secondly, Revealing Clothing: If invitied to a “Red Carpet” event – we would not wear a revealing dress, just because a bunch of movie stars are wearing them too. If in a country with nude beaches, we would not go nude just because others are too. We have LIMITS on HOW SIMILAR we will dress to others… Now the REAL WORK COMES - - what should those limits be? How do we apply those limits in our family?

5. What Limits Does The Bible Give About Nakedness?
Uncovering The Upper Leg Is Considered Nakedness & Shameful. (Isaiah 47:2, 20:3)
To Be Safe, God Requested Shorts That Reached “From The Loins To The Thighs.” (Ex 28:42-43)
“…he puts on that which is called Machanase, which means somewhat that is fast tied. It is a girdle, composed of fine twined linen, and is put about the privy parts, the feet being inserted into them in the nature of breeches, but above half of it is cut off, and it ends at the thighs, and is there tied fast.” Josephus Antiquities, Book 3, Ch. 7, 1st Paragraph
TO BE SAFE…Loins to Thighs. I tried to think of what objections people might raise.
>First possible objection is: How do we know he’s describing vertical length and not horizontal length. What if God was basically just saying “cover your waist section?” Answer – I don’t know Hebrews but there are plenty of smart people who do – and every single commentary I checked understood this as a command about LENGTH not width. Not only does the original language read as describing length – but there is another clue we can easily recognize in English. You see the old word “Breeches” in this passage. This word denotes the idea of pant legs. So don’t get stuck with that kind of doubt.
Second possible objection: How do we know the ENTIRE thigh is to be covered? That one is much easier to answer. The same way we know the entire “loins” are to be covered. The whole point of the verse is to describe what body parts these breeches are supposed to keep private (conceal).
AND please – don’t forget. This is just their underwear. They were going to have a full length tunic that would reach down to their ankles ON TOP of these shorts.
Is it really too much to ask for us to at least wear clothing that covers what their underwear would cover!
Dictionary.com for thigh: the part of the lower limb in humans between the hip and the knee.

6. What Limits Does The Bible Give About Nakedness?
Uncovering The Upper Leg Is Considered Nakedness & Shameful. (Isaiah 47:2, 20:3)
To Be Safe, God Requested Shorts That Reached “From The Loins To The Thighs.” (Ex 28:42-43)
How Is The Word “Thigh” Being Used In The OT?
Inner Leg (Gen 24:2) Hip Joint (Gen 32:5)
Begins At The Loins (Gen 46:26)
Side of Leg Where Sword Is Carried (Ex 32:27)
1 Cubit Long Dagger Concealed Here (Judges 3:16)
Portion of Leg Above Knee Hit In Anger (Jer. 31:19)
If we wanted to respect this example or even if we wanted to see just how much we could get away with – we would ask the same question: How much of the leg is considered the THIGH in the Bible?
So looking at all of these verses what do we learn? We learn that when the Bible says “thigh” it is talking about the ENTIRE portion of our leg beginning at the loins and extending to the knees. Every part of our upper leg (inside, outside, and hip – approx 18”) – this is the THIGH.
Cubit – When we study Noah and the Ark – everyone wants to know what a cubit is. Suddenly when we study modestly, people are far less interested .
SONG of SOLOMON 7:1 – Why make such a big deal…two fold…did you notice in Ex. 28 – that the punishment was DEATH? God was serious about this. Also notice in Song of Solomon – this is an area of the body that visually stimulates guys.
Dictionary.com for thigh: the part of the lower limb in humans between the hip and the knee.
Conclusions: We can see in scripture that God describes our bodies in quite a bit of detail. He uses words that relate specifically to our: loins, buttocks, hip joints, thighs and knees. We do not find verses that indicate the knee joint is to be covered for the sake of modesty, but we find many verses that indicate all of these other parts above the knee are covered.
The tunic comes to the knee. The priests breeches cover the loins and the thighs. Thus if we wear shorts that come from our waist to the bottom of our thighs (aka the top of the knee) we are doing very well. We are covering all that God deemed necessary to cover in order to avoid exposing our “nakedness” and our “shame.”

7. Applying These Limits How Is The Word “Thigh” Being Used In The OT?
To Be Covered (Isaiah 47:2, Ex 28:42-43)
Inner Leg (Gen 24:2) Hip Joint (Gen 32:5)
Begins At The Loins (Gen 46:26)
Side of Leg Where Sword Is Carried (Ex 32:27)
1 Cubit Long Dagger Concealed Here (Judges 3:16)
Portion of Leg Above Knee Hit In Anger (Jer. 31:19)
Only Covering The Loins (Such As A Speedo or Women’s Swimsuit Bottom) Is Not Enough.
Shorts or Skirts That Cover The ‘Upper Thigh’ But Not The ‘Lower Thigh’ Are Too Short.
ONLY LOINS: Not enough. When someone wears that little – they are exposing their nakedness and it is shameful. I shouldn’t do it, and you shouldn’t do it, and they shouldn’t do it. No matter how many other people might be. We should not.
How could we possibly IGNORE what God has bluntly stated is shameful and naked.
TOO SHORT - - Here’s the issue. We move – we stretch – we are active. If when the fabric is “fully extended” it covers the full thigh - then only a small amount of the leg might show as we are moving about. Just a few inches here or there. But when someone buys a dress or shorts that are already 4 or 5 inches above the knee – and then that person begins moving about – then suddenly a lot of thigh is showing that SHOULD be covered.
WHAT DO I RECOMMEND? I recommend that you go home and if your shorts or skirts don’t cover your full thigh, then you stop wearing them in front of anyone other than your spouse immediately. In fact, have you ever gotten rid of clothes because they remind you of something awful. Girls – you broke up with a guy because he cheated on you and you realized what a loser he was – and suddenly that shirt that he always told you was his favorite…you just didn’t want to wear it anymore. It just didn’t feel right wearing that one – so you got rid of it.
*That’s the way I hope you feel about about shorts and skirts that are too short – you just look at them differently now – because now you know…really, MY KING left me way too much information about what is right for me to pretend that these are ok. And it doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing or saying – because I’ve been reading about what pleases MY KING, and I love him WAAAAY more than any piece of clothing.
Just get some that DO cover your full thigh. **I’ll say it again – that was the bear minimum in the Bible – why should our standards be any different?

8. The Rest of The World Gets It…
Greeters Dress Code At A Community Mega-Church:
“Because dress is so subjective, the only way to clarify this is with details: FOR THE LADIES
No shoulders, please! No tank tops or spaghetti straps.
No cleavage. No hint of cleavage. Seriously. I know the trend is shirts/dresses that allow just a little peak. Remember the view from above. What will someone who is taller than you see?
No skirts above the ankle…just kidding. How short is too short? What do others see when you bend over or sit down? Choose wisely. I can’t imagine anything much above the knee that would be appropriate.
Brothers and Sisters – if even a super seeker friendly, liberal leaning, ‘we accept almost anything’ kind of church still knows that basic modesty calls for no cleavage and skirts or dresses that come very close to the knee – I am confident we can do this too.
I’m confident because we don’t have to just imitate this mega church – we can look into the BIBLE and see that covering from shoulder to knee has been the acceptable clothing practices from the very beginning even into the days of Jesus.
THERE ARE BETTER OPTIONS! I don’t want to just be upsetting you this morning - Let me help you by telling you what to look for…

9. God Gives Us A Great Option To Guide Our Choices…
The Option Worn By Adam & Eve (Gen 3:21)
The Option Worn By Old Testament Priests
The Option Worn By Jesus & His Disciples
Luke 9:3, John 19:23
The Tunic Covered The Body from the Shoulders to the Knees and Is Repeatedly Approved.
Let’s AIM To Be A Close As We Can To THIS EXAMPLE, Instead of So Close To The World So That We Can HONOR OUR KING.
“A long shirt like garment coming down to the knees”

10. Modesty
If you want to repent of dishonoring God in sin or if you want to commit your life to the KINGSHIP of CHRIST by becoming a Christian today…come forward now while we stand and sing.