Did Jesus Require My Hair Short?

My junior year of high school was spent at a very conservative Christian school. Along with the normal school rules came a very strict dress code. Girls wore ankle-length skirts and had to keep their hair long. Boys wore khakis and tucked-in button-up shirts. Our hair couldn't touch our ears or our collars.
 
These weren't just rules on paper. After chapel, teachers stood at the exits inspecting everyone's uniforms and hair. If your hair touched your ears or collar, you had until the next morning to get it cut or you'd receive a demerit.
The rules didn't stop there. Even on the middle school retreat, the boys swam in pants, and the girls swam in ankle-length skirts.
 
It wasn't just about clothing either. Rock and rap music were considered completely ungodly, whether the lyrics were Christian or not. That was a problem for me because my entire identity revolved around punk rock and emo music. If the school found out I listened to Christian punk music, it was grounds for automatic expulsion.
 
Looking back, what strikes me isn't the dress code or the music policy. It's how easy it is for people to add rules on top of what God actually requires. Somehow, we have a tendency to confuse our preferences with God's commands.
The early church faced that very temptation.
 
This Sunday we'll look at one of the most important moments in the book of Acts. A group of sincere Jewish Christians began telling Gentile believers that faith in Jesus wasn't enough, they also needed to follow the Jewish law if they truly wanted to belong to God's family.
 
Thankfully, Paul, Barnabas, Peter, and James understood what was at stake. The freedom we enjoy in Christ today was defended at this first church council in Jerusalem.
 
I hope you'll join us this Sunday as we discover why Jesus is enough, why we must never add to the gospel, and how grace frees us to love one another.