Sermon Tone Analysis

“The easiest act of obedience for a Christian is gathering with the church for worship on Sunday.

It only requires that you get up, get dressed, and get there.

Yet, amazingly, many Christians today will not do the easiest thing—and wonder why they struggle with the difficult things.” - Hershael York

I realize I’m in a bit of a different situation than most; it’s not always easy to get out of bed, get dressed, and get to church for me either, but I do have the luxury of this being my job, so at least my job doesn’t interfere with my ability to get to church.

And my family knows this and understands this, so it’s not much of a problem getting them to church.

And we have a few rules in place to keep activities from infringing on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.

And still it’s difficult; I realize this.

I never fault anyone for missing worship.

It’s not like a guilt trip has been ever successful motivation anyhow.

I believe the gathered assembly of God’s people who belong to Him by faith in Jesus Christ is the single most important and significant hour of the week.

But it’s not without its issues.

I know what it’s like to get up, get dressed, get to church only to ask, “I got up for this?

I got out of bed and dressed for that?”

I’ve been there; I’ve heard some really terrible, boring sermons (heck, I’ve preached my share), and I’ve seen some truly unbiblical and horrible spectacles during what should be an hour focused on God.

There are worship issues present in every part of Christ’s Church and there will be until He returns and sets things at rights.

When we assemble for worship, there are all sorts of issues that creep up and complicate the gathering.

There have been issues in worship, myriad and varied, for as long as the church has gathered.

The church here in Corinth has all kinds of issues (can I get an ‘amen’?).

And Paul has addressed several of them; most recently the church’s relationship to unbelievers and all the issues that creep up in the life of the church as it relates to the world.

And now, Paul shifts his focus and addresses the life of the church in the church.

In 1 Corinthians 11-14, Paul addresses a number of different issues in the life of the church: head coverings, the Lord’s Supper, spiritual gifts, prophecy and tongues, and orderly worship.

I hope you’re ready to think and read about issues in the church, because, well, here we are.

We’ll be discussing worship issues from now until Easter when we get to 1 Corinthians 15: Paul’s teaching on the Resurrection of Christ!).

So, if you have your Bible (and I hope you do) please turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11.

If you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word, out of reverence for Him:

May God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

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As you stood and listened/followed along as I read, it’s very likely you were a bit uncomfortable, squirmy even.

You might have been wishing you stayed home and didn’t get out bed for this one.

And I can’t blame you.

This is some awkward stuff.

It’s a little hard to understand and it’s a bit removed from our context.

There is significant cultural distance and difference between us and the Corinthian church.

Some things that were common to them seem strange to us.

And, you can imagine, what seems normal to us would be completely foreign to them.

This is why we search for the principles at work here.

The application of Biblical principles looks different in various cultures, but the principles stand.

Please understand, this text is not simply addressed to women.

There is actually a balance between women and men in the passage, with only one verse (v.

10) that doesn’t have a parallel addressed to men.

The problem with passages like these is that some dismiss Paul’s words and intention altogether.

If you’ve interacted with anyone from different faith traditions or various denominations, you’ve probably heard them remark that the Bible (and Paul, in particular) is sexist.

“Paul is a misogynist.

He hates women.

He’s a lousy sexist.

We don’t pay any attention to what Paul says about women or their place in the church.”

And you can see the difference their dismissal of Pauline theology makes in the operation of their assembly.

One option is dismissing what Paul says altogether, but it’s not a good option.

Another option is strict adherence to the letter of Paul’s words, missing the principle and the spirit of his words.

Can you think of any group of believers where women have their heads covered all the time?

Sure you can!

We see them all over Rich Hill—the Old Order Mennonites and the Bethany Mennonites, to name a few.

Several years ago, I met a Mennonite family in Lyndon, Kansas and we became friends.

Bruce and Mary Files owned a wonderful little bakery/sandwich shop.

I was such a frequent customer I almost had a sandwich named after me.

Paper-thin sliced turkey and smoked cheddar cheese with cranberry horseradish mayo on sourdough bread.

Man, oh, man was it good!

Bruce and Mary and I would visit a lot about theology and beliefs, we’d discuss the Bible together over sandwiches, and pray with and for one another.

Mary spoke about her head covering and how she wore it because 1 Corinthians 11 instructs woman to do so.

She said if she woke up in the middle of the night and was compelled to pray, instead of getting out of bed to put her head covering on, she’d just pull the blankets over her head and then she could pray.

That’s some strict adherence.

The two most common options with this text are: outright dismissal and strict adherence.

But I, with many others, believe there is a better way to understand and apply this passage.

>Let’s consider the background:

The issue at hand is attire in Christian worship.

Some men were apparently wearing head covering and/or growing their hair out in a way that reflected the attire worn by pagans in idolatrous worship.

It was an attempt to fit into the idolatrous culture.

This scandalized the church.

Remember: if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably idol worship.

Some women were ignoring the common cultural practice of wearing their hair up and/or wearing a covering of some sort on their head during worship.

In the freedom of worship, they allowed their hair to hang down on their shoulders.

This implied they were available.

It was an attempt to move past cultural norms.

This scandalized the culture.

>Understand: The Church was a progressive cultural institution

The freedom afforded to members of the congregation in worship was scandalous in that culture.

Women—women!—were encouraged to pray and prophesy.

Verse 5 assumes this.

This was much, much different than Jewish synagogue worship where women weren’t considered full members and were even required to sit behind a veil.

In the Christian church, women were to be full congregational participants in the worship service.

This was unheard of.

In Judaism, women had a very minor place; they weren’t even counted in the number required for a synagogue (it took ten men to make a synagogue).

Christianity gave women a new and significant place, and their head-covering is a mark of their new authority.

The differences arising from creation remain; Paul isn’t trying to get rid of them.

But he is clear that Christian women have some authority.

Christianity recognizes the full equality and interdependence of the sexes.

Both were made in the image of God:

Likewise, Paul calls on the Corinthians to recognize this interdependence:

This understanding of interdependence and equality would have been scandalous in Paul’s day, virtually unheard of anywhere outside the Christian Church.

The Church was a challenge to a society in which women were understood to be less than.

The Corinthians, as we’ve read, had incredible freedoms, including freedom in worship.

Christians today enjoy the same freedom as they worship God in a diverse, unified community.

Christians approach God together without regard to age, ethnicity, class, or gender.

But Paul is still going to argue for an order of worship.

Trinitarian Order

Whatever Paul means by “the head of the woman is man” or “the head of a wife is her husband” it can’t be understood negatively.

It’s not meant to denigrate, downplay, or threaten the woman’s stance as equal because Christ also has a head.

The Son joyfully chooses to submit Himself to the Father.

The beauty of this passage is that Paul roots it all in the Trinitarian order.

He is saying that in the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are equal in being and essence, but they willingly choose to fulfill different functions and roles for the purpose of communicating communal love.

In other words, looking at Jesus and recognizing his willingness to subordinate Himself to the will of the Father in the Trinitarian relationship is a sign of humility and strength, not weakness.