I Want to Be Holy (Part II)

Start with Prayer---

1 Peter 1:15-16—But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, BE YE HOLY; FOR I AM HOLY.

This phrase all manner of conversation means: all manner of life, conduct, behavior...LIFESTYLE.  How we live!  Every part of our life is to be holy.

Starting from there let’s pin point all the areas of our life...

Think of all the areas of your life and how you live.  Lets name these areas...

Home/room— 

School—

Work— 

Dress/clothing/our body— 

Behavior/actions/attitude— 

Speech— 

Entertainment/Activities— 

Finances— 

Friends/relationships/dating— 

Hygiene/Health— 

Okay, so the bible says that we are to be HOLY (pure, clean, modest) in ALL these areas

Before we take a look at the areas where we live, like home, school or work.  Let’s look at ourselves and how we live.  Are we Holy?  Last week when I asked “what is the first thing that comes to mind when I say the word HOLY”, you said “dress or outward appearance” and we briefly spoke about that.  This week let’s go into greater detail about that because this is there area in which we have the most questions or concerns. 

Let’s see what the bible says about our appearance and how a lady should dress and or not dress and how see should appear to others.  Yes, the bible does talk about clothing and modesty because apparently God cares about how is people dress.

Deut. 22:5—The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

Deut. 22:11—Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woolen and linen together. 

This goes along with purity...purity in the fabric was important.

And only men (the priests specifically) wore breeches...meaning—underwear, drawers, trousers...a priestly undergarment of linen

Okay so we know for this verse that a lady should wear ladies clothing and not men’s. 

1 Timothy 2:9-10

Shamefacedness—a sense of shame or honour, modesty, bashfulness, reverence, regard for others, respectmodest— well arranged, seemly, 

apparel—a lowering or letting down; a garment let down, dress, attire

1 Peter 3:1-5—this touches on hair, dress and attitude

Titus 2:3-5 

Now in today’s world, accessories are a part of clothing.  A lady likes to look good and feel good about herself.  Today, many woman (most women) wear things like make-up, jewelry and other accessories to adorn themselves.  

Why do you think God does not want his ladies to wear make-up or jewelry?  For one, we already read it, “whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting of the hair and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel” (1 Peter 3)

We are supposed to be plain, pure, unadorned. Does that mean we can’t dress nice?  No, it simply means that we should not be drawing attention to ourselves through our clothes, hair styles or other things.   Woman use make-up to make themselves appear differently than what is natural, perhaps “prettier”, more attractive to opposite sex.  God doesn’t want his ladies to be unnatural or appear to be anything other than what he made them.  

We have two very good examples of ladies in the bible that display a particular look and attitude.  One God hated and the other God loved.

There’s Jezebel...God hated her!  She was not modest, was overpowering, vocal, Controlling and worshiped Baal.  The bible says that Jezebel painted her face to intrigue Jehu (one of God’s men).  She did this to try to appear as a “nice lady” but her motives were deceitful.  .  God did not like it (2 Kings 9). She also wore gold and jewels.  God did not like it.  She was not shamefaced but was disrespectful, overbearing, outspoken and a murderer.  God does NOT want his ladies to be like that.  

Queen Esther on the other hand was the epitome of modesty and holiness.  She didn’t require anything special like the other ladies were wearing, and the king chose her because of her purity, honesty and naturality.  She didn’t put on airs and he liked that about her.  He knew that she was going to be honest, moral, respectful and decent simply because she was not trying to fool him into believing she was something that she wasn’t.  

Let’s answer a few questions about modesty...

How tight or loose should our clothes be? (Not too tight but not too loose either)

Are there certain colors we can’t wear? (No, although wearing all black all the time makes a statement to the world that you are a witch or devil worshiper.)

Are there certain styles we shouldn’t wear? (Yes, anything provocative, things that display sin or worldliness)

What about accessories, are there things we shouldn’t use to accessorize our clothes?  (Yes, we should not put jewelry on our clothing or in our hair)

In today’s world the ladies are adorning themselves with jewels and make-up in an attempt to be prettier or more attractive to the opposite sex.  God says that ladies don’t need that stuff to be beautiful.  He made us beautiful already.  He says that a meek and quiet spirit is what is attractive and that’s what he wants his ladies to have.  We don’t need the make-up, baubles and accessories of this world to be pretty.  We are to be pure, honest, modest and holy.