Series: Vanishing Virtues
Sermon: Modesty
June 3, 2007
NBBC
Intro
A virtue is a moral standard which a society holds as something worthy to aspire towards. As such a society will bring subtle and not so subtle influence and pressure to see that virtues are adhered to. As a virtue becomes embraced and absorbed within society it becomes stronger and is taken for granted as though it is normative, that everyone should see the logic and reasonableness of the virtue. But virtues do change with time. Old virtues are questioned, new virtues are introduced. We are presently in the midst of a huge cultural shift which is calling into question all kinds of virtues and introducing new ones.
Take tolerance for example. Tolerance within Canadian society has become a huge virtue. It is taught in public schools and urged by politicians. To be called intolerant is an insult of the highest order. Yet, tolerance has not always been a virtue, or at least not of the magnitude it now is. It has emerged over the last few decades and now if someone were to question tolerance as a virtue, they would be looked upon with disdain. “How can you even question tolerance?” It has become part of the social norm.
Virtues are shaped and informed by ones beliefs. Where beliefs change so do the virtues that that society esteems. Historically, Canada by and large was shaped by Judeo/Christian beliefs. But these beliefs no longer inform much of the Canadian social landscape. And as beliefs are changing so too are the virtues that society upholds. Those moral standards that were once praised and valued are now questioned, or ridiculed or disdained.
In a 1948 song called Baby It’s Cold Outside, a man is trying to entice a woman to stay over night. The song is a conversation between the man and the woman. The song starts by the woman saying, “I really can’t stay.” And the man counters “Baby its cold outside.” Back and forth the conversation goes with the woman offering reasons why she can’t stay and the man trying to get her to change her mind. Among the list of reasons why she says she can’t stay: my mother will start to worry, my father will be pacing the floor, the neighbours might think something, my sister will be suspicious, my brother will be there at the door, there will be plenty of talk tomorrow and plenty implied. There were norms enforced by society regarding moral virtues. Do I really need to compare this song with some of the lyrics to songs today?
While we may be blind to the shift that is taking place in society other cultures who observe us are not. In the Middle East they have coined a word “Westoxification” to express all that they fear and abhor about western culture which they characterize as naked women on the streets, rampant individualism, and entertainment on the lines of “Bay Watch” This change which is taking place in Canadian society, that is devaluing certain virtues creates an opportunity for the church to display the beauty and wisdom of those values which are the fruit of our beliefs.
You see, we belong to a new society; the Bible calls it the Kingdom of God. And as a society we have virtues that we hold as ethically attractive. When Canadian society was influence by the Christian belief system there were many virtues that were shared. But as Canadian society shifts and questions those values shaped by Christian belief, we will find our virtues increasingly becoming maligned by others and since they are despised in this way we will find ourselves the objects of pressure to abandon them. Of course this is something we cannot do.
So over the next few weeks we want to look at some of these vanishing virtues. Of course there are many that could have been chosen but we have only chosen four to look at. So by way of introduction have a look at this (Show modesty video from BluefishTV.com http://www.bluefishtv.com/ProductDetails.aspx?cid=1005&id=1516&f=s1m&cc=&csc=&ldr=&s=modesty)
Interestingly the word “modesty” does not appear that often in Scripture but when it does appear it can be the translation of one two main Greek words. One has to do with the attitude and the other has to do with dress. We find both uses in a passage in 1 Timothy 2:9 for those wishing to follow along in their Bibles, I will read it its context starting in verse 8 and going to verse 10, 1 Timothy 2:8 – 10. (READ TEXT)
In the NIV it translates these words as modesty and decency, in the NASB it translates them as proper dress and modesty, in the Jerusalem Bible it says women should be dressed quietly and modestly. I think most of us can appreciate the subtlety of the differences between these two words. We may speak of someone who is proficient at something, who downplays compliments as just being modest. That is the attitude of modesty that is referred to. But we may also describe someone who is wearing clothes that are not glitzy and showy and we’ll say they are dressed modestly.
And so as we think of the virtue we are really talking about an inward disposition of modesty that is modelled in life and in particular, but not exclusively, ones way of dressing. But what does it mean to be modest? You see while all those who are striving to reflect the beliefs of the kingdom embrace modesty as a virtue, it is culturally interpreted. That’s why the virtue of modesty can not be spelled out as a set of rules that must be adhered to. Let me show you what I mean.
This past Wednesday I was driving my car, and if you remember it was quite hot out, and as I was heading home through a family neighbourhood close to two schools I saw a female riding a bike with no top and just a very short pair of white pants. And even though it was in a family neighbourhood I don’t think anyone was alarmed by this. Now technically, she was wearing a helmet and the bike she was one was more of a tricycle and the shorts were like diapers. But she was still topless. But the rules of modesty change with age don’t they? But not only a person’s age, one’s culture can also dictate modesty. Modesty for a Christian in the Middle-East is much different than that of one living in Europe. And the virtue of modesty espoused by Christians in the Victorian era is different than that of today.
Friends, this is why modesty can’t be boiled down to a list of rules and regulations about dress.
So if modesty is influenced by context, how can we be sure that we are being modest? What does it mean to be modest if it isn’t simply a set of rules we follow? I would guess that many of us would just assume that modesty has to do with not showing too much skin. But what’s interesting about the Timothy text is that it didn’t have anything to do with showing to much of ones body. It had to do with dressing to ornate.
Immodesty is a form of pride. To be immodest is to call attention to ones self, be it by boasting of what you can do, or showing off in front of others, or calling attention to ones self by the way you dress. To be modest is to guard yourself from calling unnecessary attention towards yourself or your attributes. So it would not be immodest to get on a stage and act in such a way that everyone watches because that is the necessary role of an actor. Similarly getting up in a room and calling everyone’s attention to make an announcement is also necessary. But where it is unnecessary it becomes immodest.
That is why modest people will play down their abilities so as not to draw attention to themselves. Modest women will attempt to keep covered when they bend over, to guard against unnecessary attention. That is why a bathing suit on a beach may be modest but the same thing in a mall would not; because in the mall it calls attention. A set of clothes on one person may be modest on another it may not, because each person’s physique is different and what clothes call unnecessary attention on one person may not call attention with another. Can you see how this value has become eroded? Most of commercials that advertise beauty products or clothes are sold as things which enhance, products that get attention, that accentuate and entice others to look.
You see I think part of the problem with our understanding of modesty is that we have left it somewhere back in time. We have believed those accusations of culture that has falsely interpreted modesty and then dismissed it as out of date. Some have even disdained modesty as body hate.
So why does the Bible hold up modesty as a virtue that is integral to Christian faith? Why should we wrestle with how we come across and if we are drawing unnecessary attention to our self? I would like suggest three lines of thought regarding this.
Now before I go on I want to be clear that although we have been primarily looking at a passage that deals with women, the virtue itself is for the whole Christian community. Some men who have multiple body-piercings are simply being immodest in our present culture. Perhaps if they were among the tribes of Papua New Guinea they wouldn’t be but in Canada such adornment calls attention to ones self. As a virtue modesty is for all of us who are striving to live faithfully in God’s kingdom and here’s why.
Modesty reflects our inner security
In verse 10 Paul says that women should cloth themselves with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. Immodesty is an exaltation of appearances, it is displaying one’s self; be it a displayed skill or physical attribute, it is primarily an outward show. Christianity is meant to be a life of overflow, in which the inward beauty of God’s spirit at work within a person becomes reflected outwardly. Modesty reflects your inner security.
The philosophical underpinnings of immodesty is completely opposite of this inside out reflection. It is a belief that if I dress in a manner that attracts attention, that people think “man, she is beautiful”, than somehow this will penetrate my inner world so that I begin to believe and feel that I am beautiful. If I speak boldly about my skills, if I flaunt it because I’ve got it, then people will treat me as valuable, I will be sought after and admired, and if I hear others admiration of what I do I may begin to believe that I am an admirable person. It is framed by an outside in orientation.
Now, most people who have dismissed modesty would argue just the opposite. They would argue it is because I am secure that I argue for modesty and it is because they are confident that they can draw attention to these attributes. And we are not at liberty to judge the heart of others on such matters, but I can say it has been my observation that those who are most immodest are often deeply insecure. Often hiding their true person behind those things they front. It is almost as if they are saying look at my body, but don’t look at me.
You see our value and worth as a person does not come from other’s estimation regarding us. It comes from the God who made us, sought us and redeemed us. A person who is in the presence of God, worshipping as Paul says, grows in their self-awareness because part of God’s revelation to us as people, was His revelation of our true value.
When a culture rejects the God who determines a person’s value than the virtue of modesty is absolutely lost. There is void, an empty spot within ones heart, that longs for significance and value. If it is not filled by the security that comes from God’s estimation of us, then we will seek to fill it by another measure. Modesty is no virtue where God is not known and furthermore those who find their value in God are not understood by those who do not.
Modesty enhances our witness
In 2 Corinthians 3:2 Paul writes “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” Paul is arguing that our lives become the tabloid upon which the headline of the Gospel is written. We are not simply to tell the Gospel we are meant to live it. Our lives then become an embodiment of the Gospel itself. The message we send by our dress and demeanor ought to reflect that Gospel. Immodesty does not do this. It undermines our witness but modesty enhances our witness.
Kim Alexis was one of the first American supermodels in the 1980s. She was on over 500 magazine covers, including Vogue and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Then on January 21, 1990, she became a follower of Christ. Now she counsels women to avoid some of her mistakes.
She says, "Many women are playing with fire in the way they dress. Dressing like a floozy tells the world, ’Look at me, want me, lust after me. I’m easy and you can have me.’ Displaying intimate parts of the body is a form of advertising for sex."
"Dressing modestly tells the world, ’I respect myself and I insist on being treated with respect." Alexis says, "It is possible to be stylish and attractive without wearing something that is too short, low-cut, or see-through."
In the prophecy that predicted the ministry and death of Jesus from Isaiah 53 it says, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” In the example of Jesus he was often guarding Himself from unnecessary attention. His example was one of modest humility and it is His life and example that we should be seeking to communicate to others through our own example.
Modesty undermines Satan’s effectiveness
Finally, to behave immodestly is to entice others towards sin. It provokes envy, it lures towards lust, and it keeps others from encountering God, by turning their minds towards earthly values. In essence we can become a tool in the hand of Satan. Listen to what it says in 2 Peter 2:18, “For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.” This is a verse talking about people who are deliberately trying to deceive people and one of the ways they do this is by immodest behaviour, boastful words and appealing to lustful desires. Immodesty on our part may thwart the work of God in the hearts of others. But modesty undermines Satan’s effectiveness in this area.
Part of the struggle for us as a community is that we live in the world. And while we may understand our worth and value as God has defined us, it is in the community of Christ, that we are able to embody God’s affirmation to one another when we gather together. Remember values are moral standards which a society holds as praise worthy. Just as with children adults will end up reinforcing that which they give attention to, it is important that we reinforce modesty as a community by affirming it in our words, in our attitudes and in our dress.
Furthermore, since modesty has contextual considerations, one of the things we need to do as a community is reflect back to one another what is acceptable. You see it’s possible to be ignorant of the fact that our actions or dress is calling unnecessary attention to ourselves in ways that suggest immodesty. That is why it is important for fathers to tell their daughters if their dressing is appropriate. You see one spring after a long winter with thick clothing they’ll notice they have developed and they’ll want others to know it to. But they won’t have a clue as to what effect their dressing will have upon others who view them. Why would they? Father’s you need to explain to your daughters what goes on in the minds of boys who view them. A community, that loves its members and corporately desires to please God and live out the values of the Kingdom, will caringly discuss with one another these blind spots.
We are living in changing times and cherished virtues which are the fruit of Christian believe are beginning to fade. As the society of God, we are meant to champion those virtues which display the beauty of our faith. Modesty is that kind of virtue.
