And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.” - Galatians 3:27
You thought it was funny when I talked about Trekkies wearing uniforms in my last post? Let’s talk about the clothes God wants YOU to wear for just a minute…
It’s a uniform called grace…And grace is about one of the most misunderstood and misapplied uniforms anybody ever tried to put on.
Most people think their grace uniform is made out of endless amounts of elastic. There’s a real trend today for clothes that used to be stiff and ridged are now being made out of things that have more elasticity to them. Jeans used to be this really ridged, denim material where you’d put them through the wash and then put them on afterward and they would be so stiff that you could barely sit down without them restricting you in some really uncomfortable ways – anybody remember jeans like that?
These days, the most expensive jeans – the most expensive dress shirts, the most expensive pants – all of them are made out of material that stretches and wicks your sweat away from your body. It moves with you, and curves with you, and glides with you, and it covers all of the things you want covered. Personally, I’m a big fan of stretchy clothes. I put them on and I’m comfortable just as I am – I can move how I want and it moves with me. I can wear it anywhere and be comfortable and look good doing it. I will gladly wear that kind of uniform.
Most people think this is how grace is. They think that grace is something that meets me where I am and it bends around me. So when I am applying God’s grace to my brokenness, I think that the fact that God’s grace is sufficient for me means that that it covers all of me and it moves with me, however I am, wherever I want it to go, whatever I’m doing – I can do whatever I want when I’m in the uniform of grace because it’s primary purpose… is my comfort. That’s how most people think of grace, the new clothes Paul is talking about here. It stretches over whatever I want so I can be comfortable just as I am.
I have other clothes in my closet other than stretchy clothes. I have a few shirts that were tailor made for my body – and I bought them a number of years ago. It’s the coolest thing – you use an app on your phone. It takes pictures of your body, and then through the magic of A.I., it actually designs shirts and pants to fit you. It’s the most incredible thing. I used to put on these shirts, and I’d actually make an audible noise like, “Oooo… that’s how a shirt is supposed to fit.”
These shirts still bend with me. They still curve with me. But the do it in all the right ways and all the right places because they’re form-fit, you know what I’m sayin? They just feel good to wear. Everytime I’ve worn those shirts – to work, church, school – every time – I get complements about them. “Hey, man, that’s a nice shirt. You’re looking good today! Where can I get a shirt like that??” I had a 7th grader notice what I was wearing the other day. He told me – “Mr. Hinrichs… the FIT is DRIPPIN’!” I said, “The what is whatting?” He said, “…the outFIT is DRIPPIN’!” He was telling me I was looking good! I said, “Yeah it is! I drip a LOT! All I DO is drip!” It feels good to wear clothes that fit right!
And my best clothes? They fit because they’re tailor made – they fit me right, you know? Or… they did until I gained 60 pounds. Because then, I’d go to put on the shirts that were tailor made for me, and suddenly the material that used to cover all of me wasn’t covering all of me anymore. I was stretching the shirts out in ways they weren’t meant to be stretched. I was pulling on them to make them comfortable, but no matter what I did, the shirts just didn’t want to go where I wanted them to go – they wouldn’t comfortably cover what I wanted them to cover.
In that scenario, what changed? Me, or the shirt? It’s me, right? The shirt hasn’t changed. The problem is that the shirt was made in the image of a healthier me that I used to conform to. When I got unhealthy, it’s almost like there was too much of me… and not enough… of the shirt. So in order to fit it – I had a choice – I could do one of two things: I could get healthier and better fit into the image the shirt was made in. Or… I could wear a bigger hoodie.
When it comes to wearing the uniform of grace, Paul put the choice this way elsewhere in the Bible – He said, “Shall we sin, that grace may abound?” Should we buy stretchier clothes to accommodate our unhealth? Or should we work a little more to conform to the image tailor made for us of what we look like at our best?
Because that’s who Jesus is – He is the image of God you were created in. And in His love, God said, “All people are my people! There is no distinction between who’s in the club or who’s out of the club! But that doesn’t mean that my clothes are one-size fits all! It means that I will cover you in grace while you work out your salvation. I will cover you with inclusion and acceptance and love in the community of the church while we work together on becoming the healthiest version of yourself. It means that I will walk with you, and teach you, and bless you, and provide for you, and cover you, while we work together on conforming your life to the image of my son that was tailor made for you –
The fact that I love my people doesn’t mean they have a license to do whatever they want! It means they have the right to step into a relationship with me – to step into their identity as sons and daughters. It means they have the power to fight the darkness inside them. It means they have the means to get from where they are to where they need to be – because in this club, my grace meets everyone where they are, but it’s not going to leave them where they are. I love you too much to tell you you’re fine when you’re not. I love you too much to tell you you’re healthy when you’re not. I love you too much to tell you that how you are doesn’t matter when it does.
Jesus said, “I didn’t come to abolish the law, I came to fulfill it.” I came to show you what the form is and what the image looks like. So, in grace and in love, and with a lot of patience with each other, we’re gonna put some movement on this thing. If I didn’t love them, I wouldn’t have made the shirt in the image they need to conform to in the first place. Why bother showing them the image if the form doesn’t matter?!
That means two things – first, nobody has the right to judge anyone, and the church needs to get off it’s high horse and quit judging, condemning, and excluding everyone when it’s own grace-uniform is bulging at the seams! And second, it means you need to quit judging, condemning, and excluding yourself because you think the uniform of grace isn’t going to fit you!
If I see enough people acting like a bunch of judgmental, exclusionary snobs while wearing a Star Trek uniform, guess what I’m going to assume about Trekkies? They’re judgmental, exclusionary snobs! It’s no different in church! If the people in the church judge, condemn, and exclude me, I’m going to assume that the uniform of grace was never meant for me in the first place – because I’ll never fit into that. I’ll never be healthy enough to wear the grace uniform. I’ll never be good enough. What I did was too much. Where I’ve been is too far gone. I can’t fit into it. And based on what I’ve seen from the church, I don’t really wanna try!
Paul says: ANYBODY can wear the uniform of grace… God made one for everybody… That’s the beauty of the church. That’s the beauty of God loving His people!
But here’s the other part of it – you have to give up the right to not just judging other people – you have to give up the right to judging YOURSELF! You no longer have the right to say I don’t belong – when Jesus said you do. You no longer have the right to say I’m not good enough, when Jesus died for you. To Him, you were worth that sacrifice.
Paul says, here’s how grace uniforms work: You have to want to wear it. You have to want to get well. You have to want to get healthy. You have to admit that the way you think about yourself is jacked up. You have to acknowledge that the way you’re living isn’t working. You have to notice that the way you’re doing relationships isn’t healthy. You have to want to conform to the image of His Son and not try and make His Son conform to the image of your unhealth.
So God says, “HEY CHURCH!” You don’t get the right to say who the uniform is for and who it isn’t. I’ve got grace for EVERYBODY! And PEOPLE! INDIVIDUALS! You don’t get the right to tell me what it should look like as it pertains to you when I’m the one who designed it – I’m the captain of this starship! I’m the leader of this club – and because of that – I not only get to say who’s in and who’s out – I get to show you a form and an image of what you could look like at your healthiest, and I want you to fit into that uniform a little more each day.
So the question isn’t will you join the club or not, Leutenant Commander. It’s not does God love you and are you one of His people? You are! The question is: Will you allow yourself to be loved… and will you lean into the grace, and the healing, and the wholeness, and the identity that comes with? Will you put on the grace uniform that an heir of Abraham ought to wear? What would that look like on you as you love people? As you invite them to church? As you relate to people that are hard to relate to? AND… what would it look like in your own thinking about yourself?
Where is the uniform stretching and pulling on you? Where is it a little tight? What needs to get healthier? What is God speaking to you about that?
God loves His people. It’s not about who’s in and who’s out of the club – this is about how you’re going to live long and prosper.