January 2, 2004 Isaiah 61:10-11
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.
The Art of Robe Wearing
Dear Friends in Christ,
At Christmastime it is a tradition that the dad of the family will receive either a sweater or a tie, which he then wears the following Sunday with pride, unless the sweater is pink cashmere or something strange. It was funny to see my daughter and niece get some little dress up clothes for their Christmas presents. They put on these pink little Barbie dresses, purple boas, lipstick, clip on earrings and high heels, and they went strutting around the house like they were the most precious little beauty queens you ever did see. Not to mention we let them eat it up. When they came by, we said, “oh, look at the precious little princesses! Aren’t you just gorgeous!” Then they’d bat their eyelashes and go running on to the next room.
Unless you are a nudist belonging to the Garden of Eden club, most of us - especially the women - enjoy our clothing. Not only does it keep us warm, but there’s something about it that gives you some confidence - makes you eager to go out - and helps you to take pride in yourself. That is, unless you’re like me and are bound to spill some coffee or something the minute you put it on. Before I get into the meat of this text, I beg you to indulge me in the art of clothes wearing for a few moments - it will take me a little longer than usual - in order to set up the whole importance of this text. But bear with me, I promise I’ll get to the main point as soon as possible.
I. The art of common clothes
There is a certain art to buying clothes and also Biblical principles involved in clothes buying. First of all, you need money - because new clothing isn’t cheap. Caution needs to be taken lest you spend a majority of your money on your clothes while you ignore your Lord and the needy. A friend of mine told his wife that after she had her baby he’d buy her a whole new wardrobe, and encouraged her to throw out all of her old stuff. She then asked him, “how much money are you planning on giving me for this.” He said, “I don’t know, two hundred dollars?” She laughed pretty hard at that one. New clothing isn’t cheap. I know one young gal who told me she bought one pair of jeans for ninety dollars! For that price I would expect them to fly!
Second of all, when you buy clothes you want them to be in style. This is a tricky thing, because style depends on who your company is. If you live in western Kansas, buying in style clothes would mean buying boot cut Wranglers with a t-shirt and baseball cap. But in New York, it might mean wearing a turtle neck sweater with corduroy pants or something - I have no idea - but I know it would be different. The trick to buying clothing is finding something that your peers think is in fashion. This is not my cup of tea. Most of my clothes are over ten years old at least, and it was with great regret that I finally gave up my leather skinny ties.
Thirdly, another key to clothing is how it fits your body. My wife’s friend received a real nice sweater for Christmas, but when she put it on it just didn’t quite fit right. How many of you men have had your wives ask you the dreaded question, “does this dress make me look fat?” The truth is that fat makes you look fat. But there are some clothes that seem to expose your weak spots more than others - to hide the extra five pounds with a little looser fit here and a little tighter fit there. When you are buying clothing you do need to be careful that it doesn’t expose those parts that you don’t want exposed.
Fourthly, as Christians, we need to be cautious in being overly vain with the clothing we wear. Even if it is in style, it doesn’t mean it should be worn. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:9 I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety. Several years ago, young men thought it was fashionable to walk around with their underwear sticking out and their pants half down. Personally I thought that it seemed to suggest that those young men were overly eagerly to show people their private parts. It seems that women today seem to think that everyone needs to see the size of their mammary glands and the shape of their legs without any room for the imagination. As if men weren’t perverted enough, they wonder why they only date them for their bodies, when their bodies are hanging out all over the place. God wants modesty. This is difficult to apply without being legalistic. But the general principle is that if you “got it”, it doesn’t mean you need to flaunt it for the whole world to see. Such dress only leads to arrogance and pride - so that you end up trusting and relying on your beauty for your self esteem. The only problem is that when you get old and grey and your skin starts to drop and your body starts to shrink, you aren’t left with much but past memories.
Fifthly, a key to clothing is knowing what to wear and when. There is certain clothing that is just not appropriate for different people and different places. If somehow you mistook your church suit for your swimming suit, it would be quite an embarrassment indeed. In the opposite manner, if you wore a dress suit to the beach, other people would regard you as a strange person indeed - a little over dressed for the occasion. You need winter clothes in winter, and shorts and lighter clothing in summer. It all depends on who you are and where you are.
Sixthly, you want clothing that is comfortable. This may be open to debate, but comfort is very important to me. I personally can’t stand wearing a tie, and I only wear one on Sundays or worship Sundays. When I was in high school I bought some wool pants that were very fashionable, but VERY uncomfortable. I only wore them when I felt I really wanted to look decent, but I hated every minute of it.
II. The art of Robe wearing
So how do we dress in a “Christian manner?” When I talk about Christian clothing, most people probably think about popular Christian clothing that is sold in Christian stores today - shirts that have popular slogans and quips that catch the eye and proclaim Christ. Others think that true Christian clothing involves wearing robes or collars or dresses down to the knees. That’s not the kind of clothing Isaiah is talking about in today’s text. This kind of clothing has nothing to do with how much of your body it covers. It has nothing to do with style - what other people think of it - they can’t even see it. It has nothing to do with the shape of your body - how big or small you are - it is a one size fits all type of clothing. It has nothing to do with what season it is - it needs to be suitable for every season. It has nothing to do with money. As a matter of fact, you can’t buy it.
That’s a good thing isn’t it? All of this clothing that we so concern our self with has some major limitations. It costs money. It grows old. It’s beauty depends on the eye of the beholder, and needs a nice frame and right match to really look “good.” It changes with the season and needs to continually be changed. Most importantly, it does no good for us spiritually. Paul made mention of the limitation of this “clothing” in his letter to the Corinthians. He compared it to living in a weak and temporary tent. 2 Corinthians 5 says that we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling. Living in his sinful flesh made Paul feel naked and weak - like he was living in a tent. Most people don’t like walking around naked, because they - like Adam and Eve - realize how sinful they are. How much more is that the case for when we stand before God on Judgment Day. Hebrews 4:13 says, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” If we are to stand before a HOLY God on Judgment Day - we need some clothing that will cover our hearts and souls, minds, mouths and entire lives from the eyes of GOD. We need something better than a hundred and ten dollar pair of shoes.
Believe it or not, God provided the clothing to do this. Isaiah said, I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of SALVATION and arrayed me in a robe of RIGHTEOUSNESS, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Surely these are spiritual terms. Never in the history of the world have clothing or robes provided physical victory over enemies. Salvation and righteousness are talking about the survival of the soul at the Final Judgment in front of a Holy God.
How would God provide this righteousness? For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. The LORD would make it grow like soil causes seed to grow. Any gardener knows that when you put the right seed in the right soil with the correct amount of light and water, it will grow. It takes skill to know how to do this. Some people are more apt to knowing how to do this than others. This kind of growth is harder than any tree or plant - it is the growth of righteousness - only God could make such a thing grow before ALL NATIONS. God caused righteousness to grow by putting the right SEED - that of Abraham and David in the person of Jesus Christ - at the right place - Bethlehem - and the right time and with the right parents. Even though this little Seed had many enemies trying to chop Him off, it “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” (Lk 2:52) As Jesus grew this little twig became a mighty oak or righteousness - living under the laws that He created and dying under the death that we deserved - becoming the eternal source of salvation. In Jesus God had not only planted but also provided a HUGE GARMENT to cover the whole world in.
But the garment does no good if it remains in the closet or if you don’t think it fits. Isaiah was able to personally rejoice because he believed the garment was for HIM. Notice how these verbs in Isaiah are PASSIVE verbs. He rejoices that GOD HAS CLOTHED ME with garments of salvation and ARRAYED ME in a robe of righteousness. When my kids get up in the morning they like to run around naked for a while before we can get their clothes on. They think it’s fun. If you come over in the morning you might see a streaker. It’s funny for a little bit, but after about five minutes we round them up and put their clothes on them, so that they don’t get cold. In the same, way, God didn’t allow us to run around naked. In His mercy He didn’t want our sins to be exposed, so He clothed us. How? Paul said that he wished to, “be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” Paul stated that this garment of Christ becomes ours through faith. In his letter to the Galatians he also connected this to baptism. Galatians 3:26-27 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. When God brings you to faith in Jesus, it’s as if you’ve been covered in a huge robe of Jesus’ blood and holiness.
The wonderful thing about this clothing of Christ is that it is so much different from any other clothing we have. First of all, it’s free. It cost Jesus His life - but it doesn’t cost you a dime. Second of all, it is a one size fits all. Whether you are small or big, white or black, old or young, the clothing of Christ is made for you. Whether you have sinned much or little, the blood of God is big enough to cover all of them a million times over. Third of all, it never wears old. It always looks beautiful in God’s sight - it is NEVER out of style. You never need to change it. Just continue to believe in Christ from start to finish. Isn’t this wonderful clothing? Imagine that I had a huge scar on my chest - you wouldn’t know it - because I’m wearing my robe. In the same way, that’s what this spiritual Robe does for us - covers all our sins. This word for robe is literally a meil - meaning the flowing outer garment that completes the attire of the rich, the noble, the princes, prophets and priests. It signified who they were and gave credence to their status. Like the cloak of Elijah to Elisha - the Robe of Righteousness is our status. Without Christ we are nothing.
If we truly comprehended the beauty of this text I believe we would all die of pure joy. How often do we as Christians constantly look at our sinful blemishes? We kick ourselves because of our thoughts. We feel shamed and embarrassed over sins we’ve committed years ago. We wonder whether we’ll really get to heaven when we see the way we treat our spouses and children and co-workers. We don’t love them as ourselves. We aren’t as generous as we could be. We aren’t as caring as we should be. So we look at ourselves and say, “how could God every save me - with all of my sins? How could He - the holy God - accept me in heaven?” Our problem is that we are looking in the WRONG PLACE. The Robe of righteousness doesn’t direct us to what WE do - to our righteousness. It says to us, “stop looking at yourself, and start looking at Christ! Your righteousness has nothing to do with what YOU have done - it has everything to do with what CHRIST has done. You are not saved because of your beauty. You are saved because of Jesus’ beauty. Through faith in Jesus the robe of righteousness completely covers you - from head to toe! There will be no sin exposed. They’ve all been covered! That’s why I called it a ROBE - not a top hat or a tie of righteousness - but a ROBE. ”
Doesn’t this change the way we approach our God and the world around us then? Isaiah said, I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. More important than any sweaters or ties or princess dresses we received for Christmas, we received an even greater robe through the birth of Christ. When we know that we have this robe of righteousness - the art of Robe wearing makes us unashamed to face the world. It makes us ready to face 2005. Instead of basing our actions on what the world thinks of us physically, we base our confidence on what God thinks of us spiritually. It frees us from the opinion of the world and the limitations of our sinful bodies. It frees us to truly serve without shame or fear of failure. How else can we respond but to delight greatly in having such a wonderfully generous Bridegroom? Isn’t it like the little child who loves to show off his or her new princess clothes, or as Isaiah compares it to the bride in her beautiful jewels or the bride groom with his special hat on? You’ve got the Robe of Righteousness in the Seed of Christ. Rejoice in the art of Wearing it. Amen.
