Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Corinthians 11:1-16 Order, Authority, and Accountability

Good morning church, open your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 11 vs. 1

Lets pray!

Father we ask that you would receive our worship this morning by our very gathering together.

We want to hear from you, and learn from you.

Help us to do just that.

That we would hear and not react, and that we would trust and obey.

In Jesus name we pray, amen.

I didn’t go back and listen to the recording, but I’m guessing that the first time that I taught through this passage I probably opened with an extended greeting, followed by a 10 minute prayer, maybe a baby dedication, which left just enough time for a quick read through down to verse 17 so we could complete the chapter in unity and the sharing of communion.

I think there are some things in this passage, in light of our context, that are worth digging into.

If you remember, we actually closed our service last week with reading verse 1 of chapter 11

And we tied that into the chapter before as a list of 4 things we can use as a gauge concerning our Christian conduct/or exercising our liberties.

Each one lined up with a verse.

The first was Can I give thanks to God for this?

Does this make God look or, does this bring God glory?

Is it offensive?

And then Am I following Jesus in doing this?

It was a great way to wrap up three chapters concerning Christian liberty, but it also creates a pivot point to a transition in our letter and sets the model for this church as Paul deals with some issues in chapters 11-14 concerning order in the church.

Remember, the heart and attitude in this church was one of selfish freedom.

As they grew in knowledge, this led to almost an idolization of their rights.

I have the liberty to do this or that, with no regard to how it might affect a young Christian or one with a weaker conscious.

Concerning Christian conduct, their heart was more on the side of can I still be a Christian and do this or that, or what harm will it do to me, rather than what good with this do for me?

Will this strengthen me in Christ.

Paul tried to deal with it back in chapter 10 vs. 23

1 cor 10:23

Is this liberty that I am allowed to do, good for me?

Will it strengthen and build me up and will it strengthen my brothers and sisters in Christ?

Now Paul starts dealing with another topic, but he begins with some praise for them.

Paul apparently responding to either their letter to him, or a report that he had received.

Good job church and thank you for remembering me in your prayers and keeping to the teachings and ordinances that I taught you...

Now many people try to explain this away, or minimize the meaning by defining head here simply as source or origin, but there is more to it than that alone, and it includes with it a sense of order, authority, and with that authority, accountability.

This passage does not teach, and your pastor does not believe, that the Scriptures present women in any way as being inferior to men.

Jesus is not inferior to the Father, there is One God, in three persons, equal in Person, different in function.

In John chapter 10 Jesus says...

But in the incarnation, Jesus, God the Son, took on human flesh, so that He could become the Savior of Mankind,... the birth of Christ is what we are getting ready to celebrate at the end of this month in Christmas.

Completely equal in person, yet different in position and authority.

In Philippians we read...

Every tongue will confess.

Some voluntarily and some not, but all will.

We are given an opportunity to do it now in this lifetime, on this side of judgement.

Our verse says...

Christ is the head of every man, not just those that yield to Him.

It goes against our sinful nature to want to submit to Christ...And it says, in regard to order and authority, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God…so for you ladies, you have to chose how you will respond to this.

Will it be like willful man resisting Christ, or in voluntary obedience, like Christ is to God....if you remember the prayer of Jesus in the Garden, He says....

The head of Christ is God, so Jesus submitted His will to the Father’s....verse 4...

Notice a couple of things in this passage.

First, we did not have people standing at the front door this morning handing out head coverings to the ladies along with your bulletins.

But if the men here this morning accompanied me on a trip to Jerusalem to visit the Western wall, we would be required to cover our heads.

The head coverings here I think have some significant cultural relevance that they simply don’t have with us today.

In this Grecco-Roman culture, head coverings did mean something for the women.

The wearing of a veil or covering of the head, meant that the woman was not available, similar to what a wedding band might convey in our culture.

History shows that the prostitutes from the temple of Aphrodite wore their hair short and did not wear a head coverings, and this was one of the ways they could be identified.

This has been refuted in recent years by some.

Regardless of that, Numbers 5 tells us that in the Jewish culture, for a woman to have her head uncovered was a mark of adultery, in the Greek culture at least, it was a mark of a prostitute among other things, none of them good.

Regardless, it was a way for the women of the church to show they were different from the women of the world.

In the Corinthian church, where people were exercising their liberties without regard to others.

The woman had knowledge in Jesus, there was neither Jew nor Greek, nor male nor female,... so, I’m not going to wear the stupid head covering and I don’t care what anyone thinks.

And Paul says, for the sake of order and not dishonoring your head, wear it anyway.

The argument becomes that In this culture they meant something, in the day and age that we live in they don’t mean a thing, other than maybe that you like big frilly hats, or perhaps that you have a tradition to wear an Easter bonnet.

So it’s not relevant and we’ll see that the reasons that he gives aren’t really culturally dependent.

Oddly enough, culturally, it does sometimes mean something for men to wear a head covering right?

It sometimes means they are getting a little thin on top and they are trying to cover that up.

They might say it’s to show support for their favorite team or advertising for their business, but we know what’s really going on.

Something for all of you to note here in this passage, in verse 4, again in the context of corporate worship, the man does not have his head covered while praying and prophesying,…verse 5

1 Corinthians 11:5 (NKJV)

5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head....

My point is that the Prophecy from Joel chapter 2 that says...I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, was alive and well in the church in Corinth.

It was not that the women couldn’t pray or prophecy in the church service, they just weren’t to do it without the head covering demonstrating that they were under the authority of the male leadership in the church who was submitted to Christ.

This also puts the burden on us when we get to chapter 14 of this book, where Paul famously says women are to remain silent in the church, he obviously is not restricting them from praying or prophesying, so we will have to investigate that when we get there, so we understand what he was talking about.... Verse 7...

Adam was not created for Eve, but Eve for Adam.

It was Adam’s job to lead and it was her job to come along side him providing the help needed, that together they would accomplish the mission…lets look again at what we are told in the creation story.

I f you remember the creation account in Genesis.

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth.

He said let there be light, and said it was good, He separated the land from the sea, and saw that it was good.

He created man, and said it’s not good.

It’s not good for him to be alone, that guy’s going to need some serious help, someone comparable to him, not a servant.

Someone to help him where he is lacking.

I think that starts with man’s relationship with God.

In Isaiah we are told that we were created for the glory of God, Genesis says that we, men and women are made in the image of God.

We need each other to fully reflect the glory of God.

Clearly this whole idea of what I am talking about today is terribly offensive to the whole spirit of our modern age.

For the man,... the woman being created for the man, means to serve and to help the man.

Gentlemen, the reason this has become so offensive is because of us.

The vision and agenda for the home is supposed to be the responsibility of the man.

Let me say something to the ladies, and I’m asking you to try to hear me on some things.

First this is the Word of God.

It is instruction from the same God that loves you so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for the rightful penalty of your sins, so that you could be in Heaven with Him forever.

He loves you and is absolutely for you in every way.

The Holy Spirit that inspired the Scriptures is in you and advocates for you.

As a man, I won’t say that I fully understand how maybe this makes you feel.

For even if I try to relate it back to verse three to show that we all are under authority, that we all have a Head, that at times our flesh wants to rebel against, it is a different thing to have that authority be perfect, the God-man, Jesus…very different than it is to have it be a human man.

We can all relate to some degree if you’ve ever had a boss that lacked vision, or failed to lead.

Or had someone placed in authority over you that you rivaled in intelligence, men that means that was dumber than you.

So I can see you saying or thinking, Pastor Brian I have a hard time with this, or I’m having difficulty in understanding and accepting what this says.

Or even thinking, you know what?

If that is the way it is supposed to be, I’m not sure I can do that.

I have so much to offer and I can’t be fulfilled having that kind of order, or having my husband having authority or headship over me.

Then first, if your single and this is your struggle, consider not getting married.

God has order, authority, and accountability in place for a reason.