Please See Rule Number Two

This passage is another that deals with a situation in the Corinthian church that is directly tied to the culture they were in and was was going on there.

Paul has been addressing an issue of Christians involved in pagan worship services. He now turns to an issue in Christian worship services.

read 2-16

Our worship times should be focussed on God and in line with his will.

pray

Paul starts with a commendation in verse 2…

start in v3

Don’t be a distraction in worship

Paul’s point is that these Corinthians are doing things during their worship times, showing up wearing things, that are distracting people from focussing on God. And that that is in fact bad!

I had a professor in seminary who was from North Carolina. He was a big UNC basketball fan. I went to seminary in Louisville, KY. Kentucky prides themselves on their basketball… I remember Dr. Temple telling a class one time that he was going to speak at an event somewhere in Kentucky, possibly near Lexington, and he was going to wear a UNC t-shirt but his wife wouldn’t let him because it would have been a distraction.

The first year that I was in Dyersburg I preached the Sunday morning after the Third Saturday in October. Mike called me after the game ended and said, “Congratulations. You can not say anything about the game or wear anything Alabama tomorrow morning.”

As we look at this situation, we have to remember that it’s not these actions themselves that are the problem, but what they communicated in the culture.

John 10:30 ESV

I and the Father are one.”

For this to make sense, we need to understand the Trinity…

For men, the head coverings likely had to do with aspects of pagan worship.

For women, it was about modesty and letting people know they were married and showing respect to their husbands.

start in v 7

Worship in line with God’s design

These Corinthians were getting away from God’s design. Specifically, in the area of the roles of husbands and wives.

Think about a puzzle with me for a second. Every piece of a puzzle is different. Each piece is needed, each has it’s own role in the puzzle. No piece is more important than another, but they’re all equal. If you take one away then the puzzle can’t be completed. If you try to switch where two pieces go then the puzzle won’t look right.

It’s the same way with God’s design, in gender or anything else.

Husbands and wives have different roles, but not different value. We must appreciate God’s good design.

Genesis 2:18 ESV

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

To me, it sounds like the man didn’t know what was going on… So God gave him woman to keep him from dying right away.

Genesis 1:27 ESV

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Both in God’s image.

This is a truth that our world needs right now with all the gender confusion and ideology and sexual revolution and all the mess. We need God’s design! We need his truth! That is freedom, not the stuff the world is selling!

John 8:32 ESV

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

We need to not just be on board with God’s design, but love it! Trust it! Believe it is good! With the roles for husbands and wives and with everything else. And we need to understand the negative effects it can have when we don’t.

When we exchange the truth for a lie, God’s design for something different, it messes things up! Sin messes things up. That’s what sin is at its core, rebelling against God’s good design.

But there is an answer for the problem sin creates…