CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN!

For most of my life the statement “Clothes make the man” carried a certain ring of authority. Men in the public eye dressed the part. Pastors, by and large, wore suits and ties in the pulpit on Sunday because clothes made a statement about the man, who he was, and what he did.

It all began to change in the 80’s, both in and out of the church. I remember the first time I saw John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Movement, preach at a large pastors’ conference dressed in chinos and a polo shirt…it was shocking and irreverent (or so it seemed at the time)! At about the same time, the movie “Wall Street” came out and the evil corporate raider Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas) made famous the statement, “Greed is good!” Gekko was the best-dressed bad guy I had ever seen in his $1500 Armani suits. They were immaculate and I was envious. So much for the statement “clothes make the man."

Twenty years later, the whole clothing thing has turned upside down. Rap artists now wear the Armani suits and pastors tend to look like they shop at the local thrift store. Half the pastors in America no longer wear a suit and tie in the pulpit. “We relate better to our people,” is the common statement given in defense of a tee shirt and jeans Sunday-go-to-meetin’ attire. Hmmm…I have to think more about this and the place of the Holy Spirit in making messages relevant to people’s hearts and lives. I’ll get back to you on that one.

In ancient days clothing was considered an extension of the person, who he was and what he stood for. When the writer of Psalm 93 penned the words, “The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength,” he was not trying to describe top-of-the-line designer clothing sold in the finest men’s shops of the cosmos. The writer was describing the character and nature of the Lord our God. He is majestic, He is strength. It would be a tragic mistake for us to diminish the import of the Psalmist’s words with the same casual regard we have culturally adopted for current clothing standards.

Psalm 93 is a powerful Word for the unsettled days we live in.

First the Psalmist describes God as majestic and strong.
” The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The LORD is clothed,
He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.” (Psalm 93:1 NKJV)

Then the writer describes the eternal qualities of God and His reign. “Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting” (93:2). This comes across a little awkward in the English translation. What the translators were trying to say is that God is eternal, that His kingdom is without beginning and without end; God’s kingdom is established in eternity where there is no time.


In verses 3 and 4 the writer describes the order that God established out of the chaos that existed on the earth. The Lord’s reign on earth was begun at creation, when out of the chaos he established order.
"The LORD on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea." (93:4)

This is an awesome truth for us to lay hold of. Often our fears find their genesis in our concern that things are getting out of control and could possibly bring us to an undesired (read that painful) conclusion. The fact is we may arrive at a conclusion that is different from what we wanted and didn’t anticipate, but the Lord still reigns! He is the God that establishes order out of chaos!

Our God, clothed in majesty and girded with strength, is still bringing order out of chaos—just when it seems that hell is gaining the upper hand in the earth. “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). To heal is to remove the disorder, the disease, and establish God’s order, which is to make whole and wholesome! God brings order to disorderly lives; God brings order to chaotic situations; God brings order to His people when the chaos of hell is in full array. Our God is clothed in majesty and armed with strength!

Clothes do not make a man, but God is not a man and He is clothed with majesty and girded with strength! The Lord reigns!