Distinct - 1 Corinthians 11:1-16
Messy Church - 1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsGod made men and women to be distinct from one another, and he calls the church to be distinct from the world.
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Tonight we are continuing our time in our series through 1 Corinthians called Messy Church. Being a part of the church can be a messy experience. And when things in the church get messy people express how they wish the modern church was more like the NT church. Such thinking can be a bit misinformed, because the early churches were just as messy if not more messy than church can be today! And as we continue to go through this letter to the Corinthian church, we have seen and will continue to see messiness of the church clearly demonstrated time and time again.
Already we have seen just how divided the Corinthians were from one another.
We heard about how the Corinthians put up with some of the grossest kinds of sexual immorality.
Even as of late, we saw how the church participated in pagan worship and some Christians were even being led towards idolatry.
And today Paul shirts to the fourth problem that is taking place in the church… That problem is disorder in their worship gatherings. We will hear that there are a smaller problems that are making their worship gatherings quite a mess…
We will hear about the abuses surrounding communion
There will be misused gifts that are practiced to put some in more prominent positions than others
And this week, we are going to see that the men and the women in the church are not leading and serving in the ways that God created them. Let’s hear how Paul puts it.
2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6 For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
Let’s pray.
The way you and I dress, is a way that we express ourselves. It’s a wonderful thing, because each of us are individuals who all have unique interests, experiences, and expressions. We are all so different and the diversity among those in the church is a beautiful thing! In fact, if we were to all be the same, life would be incredibly boring wouldn’t it… But the diversity in the way we dress is an expression of the diversity that exists in the church!
Now I am a rather boring dresser. A t-shirt and jeans is what I wear on a typical day. But how I dress says a lot about who I am! I dress for comfort, and I wear what I think is practical.
You can know a lot about a person just by the way they dress…
If a person is dresses sporty, you can likely guess that they are athletic into exercise.
For those who are into the arts, like music or drawing can easily be identified by what they wear.
Even those who are fans of a particular sporting team can be clearly seen when they wear the colors of their team.
The way we dress says a lot about who we are. But the way we dress doesn’t just express our interests. The way we dress also says a lot about who God made us to be.
Think about what the most fundamental part in picking out clothes is. We don’t buy clothes just because of how it expresses ourselves… we pick out clothes, because it fits us well. If you are a guy, are going to be picking your clothing from the men’s section, and if you are a girl, you likely get most of your clothes from the women’s section.
The way we dress reflects the way God made us.
Listen to how Paul put it;
2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
Paul uses an analogy of a head in relation to the rest of a body.
Let’s just note what is obvious about a head in relationship to a body
Is the head more important than your heart, or your lungs, or so many other vital organs in your body? Of course not
So while the head is not more important than the body, the head is responsible for the functions of the rest of the body.
Do you see that there are distinct relationships expressed in v3?
3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
What is the relationship of a man and a woman to one another?
Well the head of a woman is her husband…v3 This means that God has given the husband the particular role of leading his wife well. But in no way does this mean that the husband is more important than the wife. It means that the husband has a unique responsibility in the family as a head has to the rest of the body. Meaning that he is to lead them and direct them well.
But also notice that the woman is not the head of the man. The role of the head in relation to the husband and wife is not reversible. Just because a man is the head of the wife, doesn’t mean the woman therefore can be the head of the husband as well
But Paul also shows us that the head of every man is Christ. This means that every man is to be subject to Jesus’ Christ as the one who is to lead and guide the rest of the body.
This is the underlying principle that Paul is laying out.
1. God made man and woman distinct from one another in order to complement each other.
1. God made man and woman distinct from one another in order to complement each other.
Ever since the rise of feminism, the distinct roles of a man and a woman have been blurred to the point in which men and woman are hardly distinct from one another. We often believe that if a man can do it, a woman should be able to do it as well… But such an idea does not come from God. God’s Word shows us clearly that men and women are not one and the same.
Just as an apple is not an orange, so too a man is not a woman and a woman is not a man… But to be clear, this has nothing to do with inherent value or superiority. Men and women are equal in dignity, value and worth, but we are distinct in the function.
But the Corinthians were ignoring the way God made them, for the women were taking a role leadership in the church, and the men were passively letting the women lead.
Listen to how Paul puts it;
4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.
First off, are the girls all supposed to cover their head in church because of this passage? No, I don’t think so, although discussing this fully a longer conversation that what we have time for. But what Paul is describing was the cultural norms for those in the Corinthian church that signified their distinct roles as men and women. Women in Roman culture covered their heads as a symbol of submission to their husbands.
This might seem strange to us today, but still wear an article of clothing that has a significant meaning today. When a woman is engaged to be married, she gets an engagement ring. And when the two get married, they both wear wedding rings. While our rings don’t have the same meaning as a woman covering her head, we can understand in a way how clothing can express something significant in a particular culture.
Just as we have rings that signify that we are married, so too women who were married would cover their heads.
So women in Paul’s culture would have covered their heads, because it was a symbol of their submission to their husbands. And husbands were to leave their heads uncovered as a symbol that represented that they were the leaders of their homes.
And so, when the Corinthians gathered to pray and prophesy, the men are told to keep their head uncovered, and the women are told to keep their head covered, because this was to represent the roles that God gave each of them. But this is not what was going on in the church.
6 For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.
Paul said, that those women who left their heads uncovered should just go ahead and shave their heads… While we might not understand the meaning of this, it’s helpful to understand what this signified in the Corinthian’s culture. A woman’s shaved head would have been a symbol of disgrace for women in that culture. And the reason for this shame was because the pagan prostitutes in the temple would shave their heads as a symbol of their dedication to the false gods… Paul is saying, that the women who don’t submit to the headship of their husbands are acting like those in the world.
And on the other side of this we see the men are told to keep their heads uncovered as this was a symbol of their leadership in their families. It seems as though the men in the church were covering their heads. The men covering there heads would have likely been a practice that for those in the Roman culture when they worshiped the pagan gods, for men would pull their togas over their head to show that they were not worthy to come into the presence of the gods… But Paul says that the worship of the Christians should look different from the worship of those in the world!
Why?
2. God calls his church to be set apart from the world.
2. God calls his church to be set apart from the world.
We see that men and women are to be set apart from one another… we aren’t the same.... My wife Sarah, is different from me. And I am different from her. And even though we might dress similar today, in jeans and a t-shirt… the point that is important for us to recognize is our functions in the family are vastly different.
But if you don’t like this idea; the idea that a man and a woman don’t have the same function in the family or in the church, it might be because the world has a stronger influence on you than God’s Word… and here lies a greater problem. It is so easy for us to be conformed to the pattern of this world. Every one of us is being molded and shaped by something… Here in the PNW, you all dress way different than my the students at my last church. This is because you are shaped by your culture.
Whether you realize it or not, you are being shaped by something. And you will either be shaped by the sinful patterns of the world, or you will be shaped by Christ and his word.
Paul tells the women to cover their heads, because they are supposed to look different than the pagan prostitutes who shave their heads…
And Paul tells the men to uncover their heads, because they are not to look like the pagans who cover their heads to worship their gods
While the cultural context of Scripture might be largely missed on most modern readers, the principle still applies… God calls us to be holy and set apart from the rest of the world. And we will only be set apart from the world if we cling to God’s Word.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Does a husband leading his family and a wife submitting seem old-fashioned to you? It might be because you are more conformed to the patterns of this world than you are to God’s word. And if this idea seems old, well that’s because it is. For this was God’s design from the beginning of creation.
8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
This is a direct allusion from Genesis 2…
God made Eve from the rib of Adam… but Adam didn’t come from Eve, rather God formed man from the dust of the ground.
And Adam was not created to help Eve, rather Adam was created to partner with God in keeping the earth.
But Eve was created for Adam… to help Adam, as Adam served the Lord....
Do you see these relationships lined out from Genesis?
But do you remember what happened in Genesis 3?
Adam and Eve reversed roles
Adam covered his head so to speak, and eve began leading as if she were the head…
Eve was the one who was taking leadership in talking with the serpent and eating the fruit… And Adam, who should have been the head was found only listening to the serpent as Eve was deceived
Men are not supposed to give us there God given role of leadership, and women must not take that leadership away from men…
So Paul says;
10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
While we can’t be sure what all this verse means, Paul’s point is that women are to remember they have a different and unique role in the church and the family from men. But in case we are tempted to think like this is a evil thing, or if we think that this somehow means women have less value than men… read v 11-12
11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.
In the Lord, means, God made a plan…
And in God’s plan he made it so that men would not try to live apart from women, nor women of men.
We need each other. From the beginning, God said it is not good for man to be alone, because Adam needed a wife… men and women complement each other… Women, need men, and men need women. Seriously, if the church was just filled with men, we would be a mess.
and most importantly we all need God, for we came from him.
This whole idea of differing roles and functions between men and women is one that most modern people hate.
It doesn’t matter who you are, even if you are a man, we as humans hate to be brought under authority. This is how sin came into the world, for we all rebelled against the headship of God who gave us instructions on how we were to live.
Though Eve was to be led by Adam, we do well to remember that Adam was under God’s authority. But Adam and Eve wanted to be in the place of God, and so they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In a desire to have great power, Adam and Eve sinned against God who was the head of all… We have always been a people who do not want to be under the authority of God.
But this is not the way we are to live. Instead, we are told by Paul
1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
3. The church is called to imitate Christ.
3. The church is called to imitate Christ.
These are hard words for us to think about…
being holy and set apart… being different from the world
Part of this meaning, we submit to the way God’s design in marriage.
These are not popular ideas… but following Jesus was never meant to be popular.
But we are commanded to be holy, as God is holy
But lest we think that authority is evil and wrong, look again at v 3
3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
Do you notice that God is the head of Christ?
Remember, Jesus is one with the Father and is equal in deity.
Jesus isn’t any less in value to the Father
He isn’t less important than any other person in the Trinity
But Paul writes that the head of Christ is God.
In this, we remember that Jesus is the one who voluntarily submitted to the will of the Father, by going to the cross to die for our sins.
Though Christ was in authority over all, he did’t leverage his position over his people, but instead he used his authority like this;
44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
And so how should a husband, who is the head lead his wife?
23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
The husband is the head of his wife like Christ is the head of his church
So what does this mean, and how do we emulate Christ?
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.
For the girls, though you are not married yet, it is important that you learn the way of Christ. Who didn’t insist on his own way, but instead he laid his life down because he submitted himself to the perfect will of his Father.
Emulate Jesus like this ladies…
Guys, you do the same, you are to imitate Christ. Most of you aren’t married yet, so you are not the head of any wife… but being the head of your family one day means that you are to lay your life down for their good, and in doing so you emulate Christ
This is the way Christ has instructed us to live. And even now we get to rejoice, because of Christ’s submission to God the Father, we too have life in him.