Clothes 3

So maybe the “Parable of the Wedding Banquet” is a portion of scripture that indicates that we need to watch what we wear in the presence of God.

Matt. 22:1-14
1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4"Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'
5"But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11"But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.
13"Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
14"For many are invited, but few are chosen."

This is a very rich parable with much that could be studied (i.e. who are those who were invited but refused to come; who were the servants who were mistreated and killed). But focusing on clothes, is this saying that if we aren’t clothed appropriately before God we will be rejected and thrown out of his presence? Yes! However, this parable is of the coming judgment. We are the second group of people that were invited (good or bad). But the “clothes” we must wear to be welcome in His presence are not physical. The only thing that will make us acceptable before God is being clothed in the righteousness of Jesus that became available with his victory over sin and death. We shouldn’t be so worried with having on a nice suit of clothes but we need to be very concerned with whether we are clothed in righteousness, which is free and available to all. With that covering us, we will be welcome to stay and enjoy the wedding banquet.