CONTENDING FOR MODESTY & HOLINESS We are living in a time of moral confusion and our generation’s immorality is reflected in many of today’s styles. Today’s fashion industry has little regards for modesty and its products often projects look that are inappropriate for someone who wants to mirror Christ. The marvelous grace of God in our hearts compels us to reflect His holiness in the part of our being that other people see. When a person becomes a Christian, his experience changes every facet of his life- not just the inward person but the outward person as well. A BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE The Bible instructs us to wear modest clothing that is, clothing with godly appearance. Of course, our outward appearance cannot substitute for inward holiness. Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after they sinned, but God found their efforts inadequate. By making clothing of animals skins for them, He confirmed that they indeed needed modest clothing, but He also revealed that the holiness in appearance must be associated with God’s provision for our sins. Only by the death of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, do we obtain the righteousness of God that we seek to reflect outwardly. God instructed Israel’s high priest to wear holy garments, “for he represented a holy God” (Exodus 28:2). God also ordered the priests to wear clothing that covered their nakedness and forbad elevated altars upon which priests would walk and thereby expose their nakedness (Exodus 20:26; 28:42). Deuteronomy 22:5 enunciates the moral principle of a clear distinction between male and female in outward appearance: one sex must not wear styles of clothing associated with the other. It states, “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.” Proverbs 7:10 speaks of a woman with “the attire of an harlot.” Clearly, certain garments are associated with sin and are not suitable for godly people to wear. The principle that God wants His people to reflect His holiness applies to the New Testament Church (Peter 1:15-16). We are called to be living epistles read of all people, declaring to the world God’s holy nature and His abiding presence (II Corinthians 3:3). Our outward appearance is one way in which we are unspoken witness of the transforming power of Christ. I Timothy 2:9 admonishes “that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamedfacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, gold, or pearls, or costly array .” I Peter 3:3 gives similar instructions. I Corinthians 11: 16 teaches that a woman should have a long hair, for it is her glory, and that a man should not have a long hair. A person’s hair serves as an important visible symbol of his or her submission to God’s plan of authority and as a distinguishing mark between the sexes. Revelation 16:15 uses clothing as a symbol to instruct the church to stay close to God: “Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. ” Clearly, God puts emphasis on the outward appearance of a person. To an extent, clothing reflects the condition of the heart, and it sends a message to others about a person’s values. A RESPONSE TO GOD’S GRACE Advocating modesty of dress and outward dedication does not mean advocation salvation by works. Wearing godly dress is not a meritorious work to earn salvation rather it is a response to the saving grace of God. The blood of Jesus is our only righteousness. Our salvation comes from God, never from our good works. To think that we could earn His marvelous grace by adhering to dress codes would be a terrible mistake. But to accept the grace of God and then be indifferent to Christ’s commandment for the holy living would discredit His mercy. If the church preaches Christ and His saving grace without teaching biblical guidelines to live by, it leaves people open to confusion and failure. Deliberate and continous disobedience to God Word will lead to the loss of saving faith. Who can view the Cross without wanting to comform to Christ? Who would want to continue his or her old sinful patterns of living when Jesus Christ died to bring deliverance from those sins? When people comprehend His holiness, they desire to become holy. While it is true that the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sins, it is also true that genuine love for Him restrains a person from presuming upon His marvelous grace. In our success-oriented society no one considers it odd if a company requires its employees to comform to a dress code. Why then should a church that teaches neatness and modesty for the purpose of honoring the holiness of God be considered narrow, restrictive, or legalistic? If we are to honor God in our hearts, it is consistent to honor Him with an outward dedication. I John 2:15 intructs us, “Love not the world”: surely then, we would be foolish to mirror wordly values in our appearance. THE PROTECTION OF MODESTY Adhering to a modest godly standard of dress and conduct offers protection from the surge of immorality that plagues our generation. Clothes and appearance transmit nonverbal signals. Christians who verbalize godliness but at the same time nonverbally declare sensuality and ungodliness destroy the effectiveness of their gospel witness. The primary purpose of many fashion designs is to exalt the ego, attract undue attention to the flesh, stir desires, and ignite passion in others, thereby appealing to the lust of flesh, the lust of eyes, and the pride of life, which the Bible condemns (I John2:16). If we are honor to the holiness of God, we must not dress in such styles and with such motives. We must not naively ignore the complex causes of immorality and marital infidelity, but neither should we ignore the influence that sensual dress has on adultery and fornication. If a man looks with lust upon a woman he commits adultery in his heart (Matthew 5:28). If a woman provokes a lustful look by her appearance is she not partly responsible for the man’s sin? If people would dress in ways that do not provoke lust, the moral fiber of our society would be strengthened. The danger of overemphasizing any discipline in the Christian life is that some people allow the discipline to become a legalistic code. Some people who harbor unholy attitudes such as hatred, bitterness, envy, and strife falsely think they are spiritual because they wear modest clothes. Such distortions are hypocritical and wrong. But we cannot dismiss the need for modesty in dress because some distort it. The biblical alternative to legalism is not permissiveness or license but self discipline motivated by grace, faith, love, the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit. (See John 14:15; I Corinthians 9:14-27; II Timothy 2:24-27; John 2:3) For the sake of our children, we must teach them to respect the holiness of God in all areas of life. Allowing or encouraging preteens and teenagers to dress in many of today’s fashion is invitation to social and spiritual problems. A dress code will not automatically remedy the decaying moral fiber among youth, but it does remind them of God’s commandments. We must begin somewhere to teach children and youth moral responsibilty, and standards of modesty in dress offer us this opportunity. When we honor God and His Word in our hearts and in our outward appearance, He places an umbrella of protection over our families. While moral decay sweeps modern society and many modern churches, we are able to remain relatively untouched. The world may scoff at our modesty, but we dare not lay down our cloak of protection and our obedience to the Word of God.(shared by Brother Peterson Abu)

message by-Brother Peterson Abu. Topic- NAKEDNESS IN BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE.(part 2) .....SATAN VICTORY THROUGHT NAKEDNESS..... Apostle Paul who knew the devices of the Devil therefore commanded every christian to abstain from every apperances of Evil(1 Thess. 5;22).Apostle Paul knew the effectiveness of what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears,the eyes and ears play a great role in the heart of every christian,therefore satan has defiled many christian through what they see and watch with their eyes and hear with their ears..to the eyes one major thing that usually defile the heart of many fervent and forceful christian brothers is the naked parts of sisters maybe in the world or in the church that they saw and also to sisters, but majorly it affect males compare to females,and when such brothers or sisters in the church see the nakedness of opposite sex the eyes through the brain send message to the heart, and thereafter if such person fail to resist the thought and started enjoying it leads to lust and from lust to sin(firnication,masturbation,adultary) and from that to death(james 1:14-16)..friend imagine just because of your careless dressing and clothing you have directly or indirectly send someone to eternal hell,simply because you fail to cover you laps,chest,back,armhole etc you have killed a soul,are you not wicked than the devil everyone knows that he is the devil,you sister and brother in the church,choir,usher department,prayer group,pastoral department you better repent because if you cause any new covert to sin and die spiritual,physically or eternally then be ready to tie a mill stone at your neck and cast yourself into the sea... We are going to consider some of the warriors that fell because of nakedness they saw. (1)ISREALITES (Number 24:14,25:1,31:16,Rev 2:14) Unfortunately the doctrine of balaam has now been accepted by so many congregation that some pastor will say let they come with nakedness they will later change and do to their acceptance many giant christian in the church has been gun down by this same nakedness exposing member or new comers..friend will you take hot coal and put in your bosom and not be burnt?..let us pastors and church leaders becareful... The doctrine of balaam is the doctrine of seduction throught bodily nakedness exposion and wheresover such doctrine is welcome there must be fornicators,masturbators and adulteres in such church,offering unholy service to a holy God even in the pew and pulpit..i pray God will help us. The isreatlite escape the curse of balaam because God was with them but they were capture by the nakedness of the midianite women in accordance to balaam counsel,they were seduce by the strange women and you need to know that seduction becomes effective wnen the seducer expose his or her nakedness to the opposite sex. (2)THE GREAT SAMSON (Judges 16:1) Well in this aspect the woman is not to be blame but samson rather,but we are dealing on nakedness...the woman was an halot and in those days halots are easily known because of the way they cloth themself,their garments are indecent and it exposes some part of their nakedness in other to attract others to them,the wise man solomon identified it as an ATTIRE OF AN HALOT (proverb 7:10),but today most christians and even church leaders identify it as a modenlistic and new fashion cloths,i pray God will open our eyes. Samson saw with his eyes the halot with the halotry cloth on her and samson lust after her, and when lust conceive it leads to sin from sin to samsom death...samson overcame a physical lion but he could not overcome the spiritual like lion called the devil...satan caught him with an halot who dress as an halot. (3)DAVID,A MAN AFTER GOD'S HEART.(2 Samuel 11) David,an anointed king,called by God,chosen by God and qualified by God fell at the sight of nakedness,he saw nakedness of a woman and he could not conqure the flesh..David he conqure great goliath could not conqure the goliath of his flesh...david saw nakedness and lust ,and from lust to sins(ADULTERY AND MURDER) and from sin to the death of His son. Nakedness overcame the isrealite who defeated nations,samson who was terror to nation and David who killed great goliath.....friend will you allow your nakedness to cause others who are lovers of God to fall into sin?..why not think about it...(part 3 to be continue)

Brother Peterson Abu's blog: message by-Brother Peterson Abu. Topic-- NAKEDNESS...

Brother Peterson Abu's blog: message by-Brother Peterson Abu. Topic-- NAKEDNESS...

message by-Brother Peterson Abu. Topic-- NAKEDNESS IN BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE. Tex--Genesis 3:7,21 when we go back into the bible,the word "nakedness" was used literally and also spiritually,but we are going to the literal or bodily aspect of it or the parts of human that are categorise as NAKEDNESS. After the fall of man,there in the garden something happened to them (Adam and Eve) that has never happened to them befor,but we are going to discover how they reacted at their first sight of it. According to genesis 2:25,the bible there tells us that they were both naked and not ashame,but in genesis 3:7-10,something happened,first,after the introduction of sin to them by the devil they got to discover that they were naked,now there is something to understand here that Adam and Eve were immediately nakedness concious that they even sewed fig leaves for themselves to cover up their nakedness,but because they still found themselves naked though their self made cloth(fig leaves) was still on them,they went forward to hid themselves from God among the trees.to be literally speaking Adam and Eve did not want their bodily nakedness to be discover by the animals in the garden,God the creator and even angels,but today the contrary is the case in the world and even in the church where God and His angels usually visite at the cool hour of the service just to have fellowship with man. God who created them and knows that since man has now known the difference between good and bad,that is there is now a holy Spirit and an evil spirit that will now be speaking to him as an opposition forces through the imagination of their heart(genesis 6:3,5-6),therefore God gave them a purposeful standard by replacing their canal and bodily exposing cloths that made them to still see themselves naked and God clothed them with a godly cloths,godly because it came from God. god who knew the effectiveness of nakedness therefore gave them a standard and pattern of clothing for them and generation. WHAT THEM IS NAKEDNESS? nakedness is the sensitive partsof human body that looks attractive to opposite sex. Also according to pastor Joshua Osuwaju(head pastor of TIME AT HAND MINISTRY)...Nakedness is any part of the body that suggest evil thought to an opposite sex. Satan who new the effect of nakedness therefore has sent thousand to hell fire,he(satan) now use various method to advertise nakedness--using bill box,magazins,internet,television etc how great a christian has become captive to satan and sin by seeing nakedness both in the world,internent and the church. The worship of Satan goes with nakedness exposion just as the children of isreal that went naked during their worship of the golden calf- THEY GOT NAKED AND STARTED CARESSING- (Exodus 32:1-6,25),but to the worshiping of God,God gave a standard that nakedness should never be expose wether in the pew or pulpit (Exodus 20:24-26,Revelation 3:17-18)..the worship of God require the beauty of holiness (both inwardly and outwardly) that after a man has cleans himself from the filthiness of the spirit (inward) and flesh(outward) he should perfect holiness both in life,conduct,conversation and clothing in the fear of God(2 corithians 7:1)..satan who knows the standard of God concerning clothing or nakedness covering therefore has diluted the word of God with "it does not matter,modernism,christianity is of the heart therefore your outward apperance does not matter etc" in some cities,countries and even churches that call the name of God.when you see the congregation of satan such as night clubs and parties,idol festival and othere where the name of God is blasphem you will see the doctrine of satan on nakedness exposion that some are almost naked...that is why as a christian you must cover you nakedness because when you fail to do so you will later face hell fire with nakedness.....(part 2 ,to be continue)