Transcription
[Music] Well, the Lord be with you.
>> Also with you.
>> I I'm curious as we just read the scripture reading for this morning, um, how many maybe got their attention? um uh because that is a passage that you probably don't see read or preached on very often. And you know, I I know that as I come up here with in fear and trembling of the Lord and before God's people, um, preaching his word, I see and understand that there's the potential as I tackle this topic this morning that, uh, maybe even half the congregation might be upset with me as I try to um, unpack the word this morning.
But what I do love about our church is that we value biblical depth and we preach the word without compromise. And so sadly and though I love many brothers and sisters in other churches, I do find that the reason this passage shocks some of us or kind of seems to be different than any other week than we when we read a scripture is because so many times the church will preach to tickle the ears. They will preach what is convenient um what is popular and what culture a lot of times will say and not necessarily that they would compromise all of the essentials of the faith but sometimes they would try to just be scripture and cultural adjacent if that makes sense sometimes and and I think that it's important that we understand that the Christian faith is countercultural and that we don't judge or discern truth based on what the culture in the day or of the day says. And so I do want us to look at scripture this morning as we would with every other passage as that we would see what is Paul intending to say in context and how does this apply to the church today.
And so if you do have a Bible and I I hope you or someone around you does and I know that with some of the Wi-Fi uh issues hopefully you've gotten that that funny password this morning if you have a Bible app and are needing to get there uh via technology. But we are going to be in 1 Corinthians this morning, chapter 11. And I do want to invite you to be there. We're going to be looking at verses 2-1 16. And this has been ongoing in our series. And so don't think that this is just a passage that I just at random chose. This is continuing our series as we've been looking at the Apostle Paul writing to a church in the city of Corenth. And for those who have been here through the series, you know that this church has a variety of issues that the culture of the city has been infiltrating the church. And so they are looking to the pagans. They're looking to the world to inform their faith rather than being salt, being light, being identified in Christ and his gospel message and then impacting the world. And so because of that, we see that there's been so many different issues in this church. There's been lawsuits going on with brothers suing other brothers in the same local congregation. We have there's sexual immorality that's rampant. They're they're boasting in the fact that they have a man who is sleeping with his father's wife, most likely his stepmother. We have um people that are that are f or forming factions and political parties within the church saying I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos. I'm of Cphus and saying that I'm more valuable because I follow this teacher. And so we just see all of these different issues within the church because they're allowing culture once again to inform their Christianity.
And so since chapter 8 though, what we've seen is that now that he's been addressing some of these issues that he knows of, he now starts to answer some of their questions. And so for several weeks in chapters 8 to 10, what we've been doing is is looking at one specific cultural question. And that was, how are Christians to relate to culture when it comes to meat sacrificed to idols? And so some Christians were thinking that it was it was morally permissible because we are free in Christ to partake of meat because Christ has said all things are clean to us. But then there are others that were saying, well, no, because some of them have been sacrificed to idols that if you were to partake, then you might be embracing sin. You might be actually practicing idolatry maybe involuntarily. And so there's this debate and question going on in the church. And what Paul explains through those chapters is that we really do have freedom in Christ. that we really truly have rights. Liberty in Christ and food is clean to Christians. But he also then gives a very important qualifier to these rights and these liberties. And he says that when we have liberty in Christ, we always limit our liberty for the sake of love. Meaning if you have a brother or a sister who will stumble over what you are doing or if they have a weak conscience, then you are to refrain. You are to lovingly limit your liberty for other people. So if you are eating with someone and it's going to cause a brother or symbol uh a brother or sister to stumble, then you refrain from that act. And so we have been informed to follow in the example of Christ who came where we were. He met us where we were at. He willingly became a slave for us. So he used his rights, his freedom to become a slave and a servant for all. And so we as we follow Christ, being made free in Christ, are also now called to serve others in love. And so we have freedom, we have rights, but we use them to better other people.
And so last week, if you remember, as we finished chapter 10, he kind of gives us this summary of what he's been talking about really, I think, for the entire book. And I even kind of uh summarized it as the the one sentence for what it means to follow Jesus. And hopefully you guys remember this. It is that we are to glorify God and do good to others. That's the summary of the Christian faith. That's the summary of what Paul has been saying is that everything that we do ultimately should be to seek the glory that is the praise, the honor, the fame of God and to do ultimate eternal good for our neighbors. That's our brothers and sisters in Christ and to a pagan lost world. And so therefore, what he's been showing us is that the great commission should inform everything we do because the great commission is to go and make disciples of the nations. That is to make people come to salvation, right? We want them to to to experience what they were created and redeemed for. But then also the the way you make a disciple is that they are baptized in one name, the name of the father, son, and the holy spirit. And so we are making God famous throughout the world. That's what the great commission is. And that is our purpose. That is our mission as the church to glorify God and to do good to others.
Well, now as we shift to chapter 11, still think about this topic about rights in your mind and freedoms in your mind because what you'll notice is that we're going to see that though it takes a different form, we're going to see that the Corinthians were starting to abuse another freedom in Christ that though that they were genuinely free in Christ and that now in Christ that we are all one. That is we are equal, right? We all have the same redemptive blessings and benefits in Christ, men and women. we see that they were abusing this and they were starting to let it shape and they were starting to in um to blur the lines of gender distinctions in the corporate assembly. So, if you can kind of think of where we've been at in chapters 8 to 10 as the the focus being on the life of the church in the world. Now, think of chapter 11 moving forward as the life of the church in the church. because you're going to see that not only do we look at this discussion of head coverings this morning, but then we're going to move forward and we're going to look at at um communion in the church. We're going to look at um at at other topics that um that that the church is wrestling. Spiritual gifts is another big one that they will address in here. So you we start to see that it's the issues within the church specific now. Not just how we relate to the world, but how the church relates to the church. And so the question is, how can we glorify God by honoring his design in the church? That is the question for us this morning.
And so as we just look then to verses 2 and three to start off, I think what we are called by Paul to do is we are called to embrace God's order of authority. I want to read for us this again in verses 2 and three. Says, "Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." So Paul initially is wanting to commend them, right? Before he gives more of a another hard discussion, another hard conver have another hard conversation with the Corinthians, he is recognizing that they've actually kept a lot of his traditions. that is the the teachings of the apostles most likely um the gospel that they really did have a an authentic gospel message that they that they believed in the teachings of the prophets of the law and so they they believe Jesus is who he said he was and so they had many good things going for them however he then quickly goes into the discussion now on but there's an issue in the church and he wants to specifically point them to the fact that God has established an order within creation. And I I know many of us probably can kind of agree with that or many of us probably have Yeah, of course. Yeah, God has created order. God is an orderly God. But he also creates with intention when it comes to us. And sometimes I think we kind of miss that. Not only does he have an order for the cosmos? Does he has does he have an order for the gravitational pull, the speed of light, he also has an an intention and a per a purpose for you as a human being made in the image of God. Whether you are male or or female, God had intention and forethought for why he made you the way he did and where he placed you in in time in history. He considered these things and he has a purpose and God is establishing an order within creation and the order he gives here if you notice is he's specifically looking at men and women. So you can read this and it almost kind of seems a little confusing because he goes to the woman and says who the head is there and he goes to uh the man and who the head is there and then it goes back to Christ and who the head is there. But generally what he's doing is this and I kind of put this in your bulletin as kind of just a helpful guide. You've probably seen something like that before is that you have God at the top, then you have Christ, then you have the man, and then you have the woman. That's what he's saying there basically in order is that you have God, you have Christ, you have man, you have woman. So, so God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of woman. Now, it is important that I note that the words here for man and woman in the text in the Greek, um, they very well could very easily be translated as husband and wife. And so, I think that it's not meant to be a harsh distinction between the two categories of what we're discussing here. So, just keep that in mind as I as I kind of work through this is that it it's kind of a both and because many husbands and wives would be going to church together. And so as he's talking about gender distinction, he's also going to be relating this to how husbands and wives are to interact and relate and display their worship in a corporate assembly. But the word here specifically head is used symbolically as having authority over another. So whenever it's saying that God is the head of Christ or Christ is the head of man or man is the head of woman, he's saying that there is an order of authority within the church and within the home. And what he's saying here basically then is that for worship there is an order when it comes to male headship. He's saying male headship applies to the church assembly and how husbands and wives are meant to relate to one another.
Now, as I go into this, I know there's probably already starting to be some questions and like qualifiers. And it's so important that as we talk about male headship and specifically why Paul is talking about this and and how they're worshiping within the church with with these head coverings is it's so important that we understand that men and women are equal in value, worth and dignity. Remember that you have to keep this this as a a fundamental essential before we can start talking about authority in order as we look to in this passage. Just think about Genesis chapter 2 for a moment. Verse 18, it says, "And the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him." It's so important that you see that that that man was alone in the garden. God said it was not good. So, he creates the woman. He creates Eve. And it says the way he describes Eve is a helper comparable to him. This is not someone that is not made in the image of God. This is not someone who is lesser than him in value, worth or dignity. Rather, the woman is meant to be comparable to the man. They were both equal. They are both made in the image of God. And they are to work together. They are to help co-abor together. And in fact, I think it's so powerful to think about the the the description of how Eve is formed. She is taken from the side of Adam. It's interesting that it's not because God could do anything. God can create her without even being attached to Adam. But he wanted them to not only be of the same flesh. He wanted them to be both made in the image of God. But he could have also done like from the front, the back, the top or the bottom. So imagine if he wanted Eve maybe to be subordinate, he could have done below the feet. Like he took some of the flesh from the bottom of his soul or something like that. But he didn't do that. He actually did it the side. And side as we know has to do with you know mutual respect equal status in a lot of ways. And so when we think about the creation order we see that what Paul is talking about here is not that that women are inferior when it comes to to value worth or dignity but what it is saying is that there is responsibilities there are roles and there are distinctions between the genders.
And so one just practical way to think about this is to look at the rest of the this order rank because we sometimes quibble about the man and woman, right? But I think the more question one that we should have as Christians when it comes to our theology is you have God then you have Christ. Like for us who believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man, you want to ask that question first, not the man and woman question, right? We want to know, well wait, if God is true or if Jesus is truly God, then why is he under the father? Well, once again, because we're seeing here that this is not about their essence, their equality, and their nature. What it's talking about is their roles, their order of authority, and their order of role. Because we know that the persons of the trinity, the father, son, and holy spirit, they are equal in essence. The father is not better than the son. The son is not better than the spirit. They are equal. They are fully and truly God, but they have distinct roles in redemptive history as we see. So I just want to read for you just two passages. In Matthew 28:19 it says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit." So here we see unity in the name. They have the same and that word name doesn't mean like we're looking for a name like Jason. It's this is the same authority, the same status, nature, essence. They have one name and then we see three persons, father, son, and holy spirit. And so we see clearly that there is equality within the Godhead. But then we also see in John 14:28 where Jesus says, "My father is greater than I." And now what we see here is what Paul is talking about here with with headship or with with order of authority is he's saying Jesus when he became incarnate, when Jesus the God man became flesh, he took on the role of a servant. Going back right what we've been talking about, right? He had freedom. He had liberty. He is the king of kings. But he willingly became a servant in role in rank. He humbled himself and submitted to the will of the father. And so everything Jesus did, everything he spoke on the earth was in submission to the father's authority, his guidance, and his leadership. And so I think we clearly see as a a formulation of the trinity, he's informing how we can see a a an equality in essence and a distinction in in role here. And so what he's saying is that just as Christ humbled himself before the father and did his will, so to the man is to humble himself, which this is another important part that we have to make sure we're not missing. The man must humble himself and submit to the will of Christ. And that's why also it makes it easier for the woman then to do the same is because the man must truly be submitting and following Christ's headship, his lordship.
And one final just analogy maybe to hopefully cement this in your mind of seeing how we can see equality in essence and distinction in role is some of you probably work for a company or maybe you have a boss. Maybe you maybe you are the boss and you'll notice that there's a distinction between an employer and an employee, right? But they're both equally human. We wouldn't say that you have more rights as a human because you're the boss and you have less rights as as an employee and so like we can take advantage of you. we can do things that are illegal to certain. No, we would say that they're equal as humans, but in when it comes to the company, the the boss is going to have more authority. He's going to have more say so. He could fire you potentially. So, what we see likewise is that there is an order that God has established in creation. And we as the church have to hear once again, this is not Zach saying this. This is Paul saying this is we have to embrace this order if we want to understand the principles of God's creation.
So now that's kind of the the heady theological side of it. But now how does this flow into practice? And this is the issue, right? So what we find here is that we have once we embrace the principle of that God has established an order of authority, we then are to express honor and worship. And you'll kind of find this in in verses 4 to 7, in verse 10, and verses 13 to 16 is how he kind of shows us now how do we express this? Because one thing I think we also sometimes as Christians we we miss out and we maybe even forget is that God cares about both the heart and the expression of our worship. That is it's not just your intention with worship. It's also your application in worship. So many times you've probably heard this. Well, as long as your heart's right, as long as you just love Jesus, as long as you, you know, you just you just you meant well. But what Paul is saying here, it's not just have a heart for God, just have good intentions. He also says we need to have right application. We have to express our worship in the way that God defines it. Do you understand that there are times in Israel's history where they would make sacrifices, but they weren't doing it with the right um either the right heart posture or maybe even they weren't even doing it as they were commanded by the law. And God wouldn't respect either one of their worship. Right? So, if you come with a an ungrateful heart, he doesn't accept your worship. He says that they're an abomination. He says, "They disgust me." But also, there's times where like someone touches the ark of the tabernacle um or the the ark of the covenant and they die because they weren't a Levite and they weren't supposed to touch it. And so, what we see here is that it's not just intention, but it's also application. It's it's it's the heart and expression. And that we even see Paul say this in Romans 10:2 where he says, "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." He's talking about the Israelites who missed out on the Messiah. They had zeal for God. They really cared about his law. They cared about the things of God, but they were missing out on its application. You have to submit to Christ. He is the fulfillment of the law in the prophets. And so it's so important that we keep both of these things principles as we think about worship is that we must come to God with true sincere hearts and we must actually worship him in the way that he has asked us to worship. And so he gives us specific roles. And what I would say is as we think about what we just preached and saw last week is that we are to do all things to the glory of God that includes our worship gathering. And so we glorify God by honoring his design as men and women. We honor God. We glorify God by honoring his design for men and women.
And so in verse 7, what you see is it says, "For a man indeed ought not to cover his head since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man." I think that this is such a beautiful passage. It sometimes can be misunderstood. What it's saying is that God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him. I used that quote last time. That is when we are giving God glory. That is the greatest form of God receiving glory and praise. Is that when his image bearsers when men they worship God. The greatest glory that given to God is when we are satisfied when we are praising and glorifying him. And then the greatest thing that's ever come from man is woman. Meaning this is another way that God is receiving glory and praise. And so the greatest thing that we could ever do is give God praise. And the greatest thing that's ever come from a man is woman. Another image bearer that glorifies God. And so once again, this is not meant to be um belittling of either gender. What this is both basically saying is that man and woman are both glorifying God in a way that is um that is glorifying and honoring and is a thing that we should embrace within our our worship. And so I say this because once again the issue now that we find in the Corinthian church is that they thought that their freedom in Christ meant ignoring this design. They were basically embracing what they saw in the culture. And so here's how it gets very practical. What was going on? Well, there were men and women going into the assembly and men were wearing coverings like hoods or or cloth or a garment over their heads when they would pray and prophesy within the service. And the women who normally were wearing them started taking them off. And Paul says that this is actually in rebellion to God's established order of authority because these head coverings, they were representative of that that order that was going on that the headship that God had ordained. And so it's probably I I don't know this for a fact, but they probably are thinking something along the lines of Galatians 3:28. It says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." I don't know that they were saying that specifically. I know that some of the slogans in in the church, they were saying, "All things are lawful for me." So it could be that that could be a similar mantra of things that they're probably thinking about. Well, wait, men and women are all equal. We're all one in Christ now. is neither male nor female and so I can wear whatever I want in church. It doesn't matter what people think or see because as long as my heart's right, as long as I want to worship Jesus, it doesn't matter. And what he's saying is that's not the case because when you walk in those doors and you as a man are wearing a head covering like the pagans, which many of the pagans would go to their temples, the men would be wearing coverings. He says, "No, you are the glory of God. You do not cover. You do not cover your head." And so we have some men whether they were doing it to follow with the pagan culture or they just thought it was stylish of the day I don't know but he says that men are not to wear coverings when they are praying or prophesying in corporate worship. And he says likewise women are not to uncover their heads because as they are the glory of men and once again thinking about husbands and wives women that are married should not be doing this because in the culture of the day what did it represent? It meant that you were sexually available. So imagine if your wife comes into worship and she comes in and as soon as she gets there she takes it off with all these other men around. What it could potentially convey to the church that not only is she not recognizing her husband as the head of the home and he has the authority and she respects and submits to him but also she's saying I might be potentially sexually available. And so what we see here is that he's saying it's it's worse that if a woman would do that, she should basically just cut off her hair. You know, cut it all off is basically what he's saying here is if you're going to take that off, you might as well just cut it all off because basically you're taking the place of a man. You're trying to take his authority, his role in worship. And he's saying that this is wrong. And so as we see here, he's showing us that through these coverings, they are they are giving a specific message. he they're showing and saying something about themselves as people that whether or not they are going to respect and submit to God's order or if they're going to do things their own way, abusing once again their freedom in Christ.
And so this is hopefully helpful for us to think about this as we want to honor God in worship is we have to understand that some roles in the church are reserved for men and some are reserved for women. And I think of 1 Timothy 2 12-14. It says,"I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression." So now Paul writing to Timothy about pastoral epistles. How do you govern a church? He's saying that a woman does not have certain roles or responsibilities when it comes to the church. And that would be in this text specifically to have authority thinking once again headship or to teach. So you can't teach or have authority over a man within a governing body of the church. So a corporate assembly. And so Paul is saying that we have to respect these gender distinctions. And that is just one clear example that women are not called to preach or teach to the corporate assembly. And I by by the way, I know I'm saying this right now and there's some people that are thinking, well, I know a lot of churches that do that. And once again, if they have Christ, they're still truly brothers and sisters, but I do think that they are out of order. I think that they are disregarding what Paul is teaching here. And so, once again, you like the church of Corinth, they were a genuine church. These are real believers. But that doesn't mean that they don't have issues with their theology or their practice and expression within worship.
I do want to just make a very clear caveat though because when we say that that women can't preach or teach or exercise authority in the church, there is something that you see in Paul's letter here that they can do. They can pray and prophesy. Do you see that? It doesn't say women wear your head covering and don't do anything. It says while praying and prophesying. Meaning women are encouraged to be ministers within the church. They are called to do things within the church. And so we have women who praise and lead worship. We have women that read the scripture reading. We have prayer team members. We have connect team members. We have women that will lead children's ministry, lead women's ministry. We have women that are called to the great commission just like men are called to the great commission. So don't hear me saying women, you can't do anything in the church. No, you are called to be a woman who serves Jesus Christ. Men, you are called to be men who serve Jesus Christ, but you are not the same thing. You are not the same. Men are not women and women are not men. I know that that seems to be basic and foundational, but in our culture and in our churches, sometimes we miss this. We do want to say that men and women should be interchangeable in all aspects of ministry and life, and that's not the case. There is a a role. There is there is an order.
And so I think when we look to this passage and some of you are asking, "Oh, wait. So should I be wear head coverings?" Carrie joke jokingly asked whenever I sent her the scripture and she every time it's always funny when I see a scripture and ask someone if they'll read it the next you know service or whatever because they don't know what they're about to look into and then they start studying it. They're like he's going to preach that really you know and but she she asked me before she's like should I wear a scarf? um and and so if you're asking that question well wait he is saying that women need to wear head coverings. So maybe you're asking that question. So do we need to do that as women? And my first challenge to any woman that is really resistant to that possibility is this. Let's just say what if God is saying women need to wear head coverings today, would you? And if you're going to say no to that, first off, there's a heart problem there. Because if God in the Bible says, I need to hop on one leg every time I walk into the church, I'm going to do it. Not because it's what Zach likes. It's because I'm going to submit to the word of God. Right? So once again, I'm not saying that that's what it's saying, but if that is what it would were to say, we should say yes and amen, not, well, I'm not going to do that if that's what the Bible teaches. I'm going to go to a different church, a different denomination. Do what God's word says. Right? Can we not say amen to that? Do what God's word says.
But here's the thing. I don't think that the the application for the church today is that women must wear head coverings when they are in the assembly. And I think one of the reasons as I've already mentioned in verse 10, it describes the head coverings as a symbol of authority. Symbol means representation, right? It it's signifying something. And so I think what happens is that this is a cultural expression of a timeless truth. I think that in their day wearing a covering or not wearing a covering is showing an expression of God's timeless truth that the principle that that there is male headship that God has an order that is universal. That does not change. God has a certain system. We are never going to be above Christ. We are never going to say we we are now the the authority over Jesus. That's never going to happen. There is an order for redemptive history that God has established. But he does say, "But the expression is a symbol." And so what he's saying is that in that day and age, wearing a head covering, not wearing head covering, it's it's going to say something. But in our world today, if a woman were to wear a head covering, not wear a head covering, none of us are really thinking it really signifies anything. But there are, by the way, today, and I I would say it would apply in certain cultures. Some some cultures today would say if a woman is not wearing a head covering that it would kind of signify what we see in the ancient world. I would say then this application would apply to them. So what I'm saying is that that what Paul is talking about is that there's a timeless principle of order and authority here but the expression can be determined by culture. Hopefully that makes sense. So the principle that is timeless is that men should look and act like men. Women should look and act like women. That's what I think the principle is for for us in the church.
In verses 13 to 15, it says, "Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering." So, so what we see here is that he's saying that in even in the creative order, women generally are able to grow longer hair, right? He's not saying that women have to always have a very specific, you know, I don't even know what the length me measurements. Maybe women know what's considered long and the length of hair, but you know, a certain number of inches. He's not giving a a legalistic system there. He's just saying generally in creation, we just know by by nature that men typically grow less hair on their head and women typically grow longer hair. And he says just in even the creative order, it's showing that they're they should look different. And so that's the application once again for us is that don't ever go into church or or in your relationships and blur gender or or confuse gender. Someone should never look from your backside and and wonder, are you a man or a a woman? You shouldn't be growing your hair to make yourself look more feminine if you're a man. And you shouldn't be trying to look more masculine if if you're a woman. You need to once again embrace how God made you. Embrace the the natural things. And then once again, this will flow through culture because culture will shape this a little bit. But I do think that first off, this really applies to LGBTQ plus issues. I think that this is is spot on dealing with some of these cultural issues of the day. Men must look and act like men. Women must look and act like women. There are two genders here very clearly in the passage. But once again, there are some nuancing here. Pink and blue. I actually see a couple men are wearing pink today. I see some I see a woman wearing blue back there. Sometimes in culture, especially a while back. Pink and blue would have given you kind of a more of a a man or or woman. And we even do this in the hospital still today, right? Baby boys, what color do they get? Blue. What do baby girls get? They get pink. But you know, back in the day, pink was actually the masculine color. That was what most men wore like way way back. Like in the ancient world, pink would have been a masculine color. Blue was more gentle and meant to be more of the feminine color. Even makeup. Makeup was actually very prominent in Egypt. And the men were primarily the ones for status that would wear would wear like eyeliner or a form of that. Now, I'm not encouraging people wear makeup, but what I'm showing is that there are certain things that that are cultural that signify something else. And so, we do have to understand that there though there is a spectrum, right? It's not necessarily a sin if you are a man and wear a pink or, you know, I'm wearing yellow, wear a yellow shirt. And it's not, you know, sinful if a woman were to wear, you know, a more dark or bold shirt or of some sort. But that doesn't deny the parameters and principle. That's what I'm trying to get at is that there can be a spectrum on cultural things, but that doesn't deny the actual principle itself. This is known as the the fallacy of the beard if you've ever heard of that before. So maybe you've never heard of it, but basically the fallacy of the beard is this is that if I were to start shaving my beard, we all can see that I have a beard. Maybe not. Might not be the best beard you've ever seen, but you see I have a beard. Well, what happens if I start plucking or shaving certain parts of the beard? When does it stop being a beard? We might have disagreements of where it officially stopped, when is it no longer a beard, when is it stubble, or when is it officially completely gone. We don't have a hard and fast rule of this is the black and white where the beard stops. But we all know what a beard is. We all know when you don't have a beard, right? We can see people do not have beards in the congregation today. That's the fallacy of the beard. If you were just to say, we we can't know what a beard is. Beards don't exist because you can't tell me where it starts and stops. That's a fallacy. Same thing when it comes to our culture and how we express being men and women. Sometimes there might be like can you wear this, can you not wear that? How long? How short? There's nuancing and and and cultural debate around that, but you cannot deny the principle still. And so hopefully that that makes sense. I know I'm trying to give a lot of framing, but but but I think it's so important that we do see what Paul is saying here that this is a little technical, but keep the main things the main things. God's order of authority has been established. That's the principle. And the practice is that we express honor in worship by taking this reality and personalizing it. That we actually live and embrace being a man if you're a man. We love and rejoice in being women if we are women. And so the principle and that's what verse 16 says is a universal for all the churches. He then says this is being practiced throughout all of the churches. This isn't just unique for Corenth. He's saying that this is what the church should do. We should respect culture. We should relinquish rights at times, but we always keep God's order to inform how we express and honor God.
So that leads to the final thing that I want to share this morning, which is that not only do we think about the principle and the practice, but I also just want to make it really practical for a second and just how we to think about men and women is I want us to celebrate the interdependence of men and women. I want to read verses eight and n verse 11 and 12. It says, "For a man is not from woman, but woman from man, nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man in the Lord. For as a woman came from man, even so man also come through woman, but all things are from God." I love that. What he's showing us once again is he balances this so perfectly well of of once that once constantly, you know, respecting and honoring men and women while also keeping the order of God established. And what he's showing us here is that God designs men and women to be complimentary and interdependent. We need men and women in the church. We need men and women in the home. And we need them to be as God has created and designed them to be because we depend on one another. It's so powerful that he kind of makes this connection. So ma or woman came from man, right? Eve came from Adam, but now we know how it works. Every man is going to be born of a woman. And so what he's showing us is that we need each other for life. Men and women compliment. We make life better, but we're also interdependent. We can't exist without the other. And so he is showing us and and calling us, I think, to celebrate the design that God has given us. We are celebrating that we depend on one another both in the church, but also in in in the universe. We depend on one another. So gender distinctions, hopefully as we as the saints are hearing this and reading God's word, we don't see gender distinctions as burdens, but blessings. You know, John 8:32 says that the truth shall make you free. I think that the truth of God's word will make you live a free, vibrant life. You will experience the abundant life of God when you submit to his will, plan, and purpose. And I think this includes when it comes to our own genders, when it comes to our own roles in in the family, and in the church.
And the final thing that I want to share on this, and this will lead us into our time of communion, is that when we think about men and women loving and giving themselves selflessly together, when we think about that in the the ultimate form, we see it in the marriage. When husbands and wives love and respect one another, and whenever they are living in their God-given calling, we see that marriage reflects Christ and his church. Marriage is a mystery that points to the gospel. And so I want to read Ephesians chapter 5:es 22-32. It says, "Wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might preser present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes cherishes it just as the Lord does to the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ and the church. So when you see husbands and wives doing what they're called to be, husbands being husbands, wives being wives, it actually says that you are seeing the gospel in real life. You see a husband lay down his life for his bride. That is Jesus is that we we see Jesus giving himself for us. When we see a wife loving and respecting and submitting to her husband, we see how Christ submitted himself to the will of the father. So what we see is when we see husbands and wives being God glorifying, we see and hear the gospel. That's another reason why we we need to live in our calling, our roles, is because we want people to see God. We want people to see Jesus. We want people to see and hear the gospel. And one of the best testimonies when you have a God, a a a a a holy marriage. And so as we come to kind of bringing this all home, the main takeaway this morning, I really hope you hear this, is not to wear a veil. The main takeaway is to live and worship in a way that reflects God's design and your place in his kingdom.