40 “For Aaron's sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps. You shall make them for glory and beauty. Reminds me of another verse, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. This can be hard when I'm my own boss. Accountability for performance at work is obviously very low but... there is clearly a right thing to do even when nobody is looking.

Amen to that. I can appreciate though that this was important to them at the time. Visually representing their separation from the world and their past.

Couple other comments here because its an interesting discussion. 1. Authenticity - The more importance you put on dress, the more you start to verging on that line of "keeping up appearances". The Israelites are one of the most ridiculous people in history, God really went all out for them and they were still rejecting him always and to this day even. We are no different, but the image we project with our appearance is often designed to put up an image that we aren't that broken person. Our clothes are an outward expression of how we want people to perceive us in our culture. Whether its wearing something trendy, traditional, casual or put together, in control of our weight, in control of our lives, in control of our finances etc. So like BJ mentioned, overdressing can give the impression that you are putting forward an image that you are not broken, that your life is put together, that you are responsible, that you have made wise decisions in your life, etc. When we know that God doesn't really love you any more for that... so to bring that image to a time of communal worship can appear both two faced and/or condescending. 2. Focus - When I have to dress up for a wedding, I'd dress for the type of wedding. My brother's wedding in Hawaii it was shorts and a baggy button up. For my best friend's wedding it was suit and tie. These decisions should be made so as to not distract from the people who deserve the attention that day. In this regard, I think certain churches can have a dress culture. If that culture is suit and tie, and the pastor wearing flip flops draws attention away from God and on to him then thats bad. However, if the flip flops fit into the culture of the church then maybe its better that way. So in summary my opinion is as follows. When you go to church dress as close to normal as you can both what you normally wear and what others normally wear at your church (catholic and orthodox churches might be on to something here having the leaders wear uniforms). If you want to dress up to worship, it should be when you are by yourself. If respecting God is truly your goal, you'd do that during your personal worship. That might be a litmus test. If you dress up only for church and not during your personal worship times, its probably for other people and not for God. Or I could be crazy.