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“Parking-Lot Modesty”
Categories: M. W. Bassford, Meditations.jpg)
1 Timothy 2:9-10 is the most prominent modesty text in the Bible. On its face, it is concerned with displays of wealth in clothing. Back in the day, Greco-Roman women used fancy hairstyles, gold, and pearls to show off money and status. Paul told them that they ought to be showing off Christ instead.
Today, the cultural context has changed. Some people still wear lots of jewelry, but to us, it’s a lower-class affectation rather than an upper-class one. Tony the used-car salesman with his rings and his bling does not impress us as having Made It.
For that matter, the messaging of haute couture is lost on most of us. I guess wearing Manolo Blahniks matters to some, but I couldn’t tell a pair of high-dollar shoes from a hole in the ground. I shop at Walmart, and they don’t sell those there.
However, you know what possession does immediately communicate wealth and status to every American? A high-dollar car. I may not know beans about designer fashion, but I sure know what the luxury auto makers are! Thanks to the commercials they run during college-football games, I also know that if I bought one, the car payment would be about the same as my mortgage payment.
Admittedly, cars aren’t clothing, so they’re outside the explicit terms of 1 Timothy 2. Of course, the revealing clothing that is the primary subject of our modesty discussions today isn’t about money, so it’s outside the explicit terms of the text too. I believe it’s valid to make the latter application, but isn’t the former application at least equally valid? It does warn the same kinds of people that Paul originally warned.
Nonetheless, we hear a lot more in the brotherhood about cleavage than about cars. Reasons for this may vary. However, a cynical outsider certainly would observe that cleavage sermons are aimed at young women with little stature in the church or influence over the preacher. By contrast, car sermons would target wealthier brethren who tend to have stature and influence both.
It's probably about time to talk car ownership, then. We ought to ask ourselves not only whether we are dressing modestly but also whether we are driving modestly. Note that modesty analyses are not concerned with motive. Paul does not ask why a woman has an elaborate hairstyle, gold, and pearls. He merely tells her she needs to put them aside. Nor, for that matter, do we give a pass to the young thing in the flirty top because she has acted in innocence. Let us not shy away from applying the same standard to ourselves!
I’m not going provide a list of immodest makes, models, or—God forbid!—trimlines. That’s not my place, any more than it’s my place to tell the sisters what clothing goes too far.
Instead, I want everybody to ask the same kinds of questions. Does my car allow others to see Jesus in me, or are they going to get stuck looking at the car? If somebody comes rattling up to the church building in a Buick from the Carter administration, and they see my car in the parking lot, are they going to assume that my church is not for people like them? Most simply, did I drop a lot of money on my car because I wanted to impress people?
These are unfamiliar questions. They may be painful ones. However, in a world that offers us every opportunity for self-idolatry, they are questions we must ask.
