As many of you are no doubt aware “The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,” hold their annual awards celebration “The Oscars.” I must freely admit that I don't see this as a momentous event, but there is a strange question that strikes my attention when asked of the celebrities walking the red carpet - "Who are you wearing?"
Who? I question...“Surely you mean what are you wearing?” But, no, they want to know who. Very odd! The answers are always exotic. Never having heard of these Who’s, I am much more intrigued that in the minds of the interviewers, the designers of the gowns the stars are wearing are apparently more important than the gowns themselves.
Now you know how it is with preachers – they can’t even watch a fashion show without seeing a sermon! A fashion fan sees a tux, the preacher sees a text! And I must admit it happens to me. I hear the question, “Who are you wearing?” and my mind clicks on to something Paul wrote, “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” (Gal. 3: 26, 27). That’s WHO the well dressed believer wears!
Wouldn’t it be fun to ask the people in church, “Who are you wearing?” However startling they may find the question, surely the biblical answer is, “I have been clothed with Christ.” Now, of course, such an answer does demand some explanation. Paul was writing to those who, whether Jews or Gentiles, male or female, slave or freemen, had through faith trusted Christ as their Savior and Lord, and gladly identified with Him. With the result, according to Paul, “they have been clothed with Christ! In this context “being clothed with Christ” is an accomplished fact for the believer. It had happened. But it is important to note that in another context Paul encouraged the Roman believers to “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:14). It had happened but it needed to be acted upon.
The stars who spend considerable amounts of money in consultations and fittings, on finally receiving the finished gown, must of course “put it on.” So it is with the believer who on being identified with the crucified, risen Lord on profession of faith must then take steps to ensure that the signs of His presence, His design, and the unique transforming touch of His grace are clearly in evidence. What would this look like? Paul’s answer: a “new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Not to do so would be similar to a celebrity arriving on the red carpet in an old T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers professing loudly, “I’m wearing Armani!” But if by God’s grace we begin to clothe ourselves with “true righteousness and holiness” the question will come – “Who are you wearing?”
Now of course there are times and places when T-shirts and jeans are perfectly appropriate. And the wise know how to dress for the occasion! Paul knew it too. He insisted that the believers should “clothe (them)selves with the Lord Jesus Christ” precisely because of the occasion. “The hour has come for you,” he wrote, “to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over, the day is almost here” (Rom. 13: 11-12). Beats the red carpet! So let’s dress for it!
