Early in my faith I was in the balcony of a large church. I was watching the group of people moving about below me as they looked for a good spot to sit in the pews below.
I noticed one woman waving her hand to another and I could read her lips as she said; “I love your hat.”
I said; “Really” to myself… soon after I stopped going to this church. It has since fallen on rough times and is now small compared to its heyday.
In Matthew 6: 31-32 Christ states we are not to do as the gentiles do seeking after clothes that look fancy as well as what to drink or eat. As long as we place God first our material needs will be met by Him, does that mean they have to be extravagant? No, for what it took to get them can be used to please God in some form rather than your own personal ego. Yet many churches say nothing about this lavishness.
As a result those without the money to dress up are left out of the Glory of God. So they turn their back upon God seeing these wonton people singing in all their splendor and self-glory.
This is not the way of the Lord people. This is the way of the world and is not an example of God but of humans seeking after their own selfish desires and glorification.