Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: 1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Theme: Order in worship — the role of gender in worship

Date: 01/09/2022 Title: 1_Corinthinas_19 ID: NT07-11

“We’ve got to go through it!”

Those words conclude each stanza of Michael Rosen’s classic children’s book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

The book consists of a family “going on a bear hunt” but constantly running into obstacles.

Here’s the first stanza ...

We're going on a bear hunt.

We're going to catch a big one.

What a beautiful day!

We're not scared.

Uh-uh!

Grass!

Long wavy grass.

We can't go over it.

We can't go under it.

Oh no!

We've got to go through it!

Swishy swashy!

Swishy swashy!

Swishy swashy!

There are other obstacles — a river, mud, a forest, and a snowstorm before they finally get to a cave where the bear lives.

Whatever they are facing, the children learn that they can’t simply avoid the problem.

They’ve got to “go through it.”

That’s how I feel about this text — I’d just as soon skip to the text on the Lord’s Supper and hope that after a six-week hiatus from 1 Corinthians you just wouldn’t notice that I’d gone over 1 Corinthians 11:2-16!

When tempted to skip certain passages, we must remind ourselves that we’re dealing with God’s Word.

All Scripture is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Tim.

3:16) — even the parts we find uncomfortable or confusing, or even offensive.

We shouldn’t ignore or find a hermeneutical escape route from difficult passages, but instead humbly seek their true meaning and then joyfully submit to them.

Now all that sounds pious enough, but what do we do when we read a text like 1 Corinthians 11:1–16?

Do all the women in the Church need to don head coverings next Sunday?

Do we need to make sure that every man’s hair is sufficiently short?

(Acknowledging that some men need not be concerned?)

We can’t go over this text.

We can’t go under this text.

We can’t ignore this text.

So what do we do?

We’ve got to go thorough it.

I can’t promise to make this passage easy, but I can help us go through it.

I. THE ENCOURAGEMENT

“Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.” (1 Corinthians 11:2, ESV)

1. this is the easy part of the passage

a. the Apostle offers a word of praise to the membership of the Church at Corinth

A. I COMMEND YOU

1. no other verse in this letter offers words of praise for the Corinthian congregation

a. Paul does give thanks for the grace God has extended to them in 1 Cor.

1:4-9

b. but he then immediately launches into a reprimand for the factionalism in the church

2. no matter how dysfunctional a congregation might be, there is almost always something to praise them for

a. no church is perfect — the perfect church simply does not exist

1) the moment you think you find one ... PLEASE DO NOT JOIN IT because it will immediately become an imperfect church!

ILLUS.

Charles Spurgeon, 19th century Baptist pastor in London, told his congregation one morning, “If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all; and the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it.

Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us.”

2) I love our church (that is you, the people)

a) like Paul in his opening remarks to the Philippian church, “I thank God for you all, and for the fellowship and our labor together in the gospel for the sake of Christ our Savior”

b) my constant prayer is that we would have hearts knit together so tightly, that no distraction or worldly pursuit could restrain or hinder us from loving and serving one another

c) Perfect…No!

Dearest place on earth…I hope so!

b. the church at Corinth was certainly the most troubled congregation that Paul deals with, but here he takes a moment to encourage them

1) every believer and every congregation needs to hear a word of commendation from time-to-time

3. 1st, Paul commends them for remembering him in all things

a. many believers in Corinth have fond memories of Paul

1) he planted the church ... he evangelized its first converts ... he discipled them, and nurtured them, and loved them, and ministered to them

b. in response these Christians pray for Paul, and some might even be supporting him financially

4. 2nd, Paul commends them for guarding the traditions just as I delivered them to you

a. the basic problem in the Corinthian church was not about doctrine, but about morals; not about theology, but about lifestyle

b. they remembered and believed the cardinal truths about God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, but they were not living Godly lives

c. Paul here praises them for their strengths before he again begins to correct their weaknesses

II.

THE EXHORTATION

1 Corinthians 11:3-7

1. for modern Americans this is one of the most controversial texts in the New Testament

a. at the least many see it as patriarchal — supporting male dominance over women in every section of society

b. at the worst many see it as misogynistic — supporting a sexist attitude against women

c. the text begs the question: Is the Apostle advocating a woman’s second-class, inferior status in marriage and the life of the church?

1) is Paul telling women to “sit down and shut up?”

2) this is one of several passages … that have raised the ire of many women, particularly in the ‘Women’s Liberation’ movement

ILLUS.

In 1968, the National Organization for Women called for a “National Unveiling” by Catholic women to protest their denomination’s tradition of requiring women to cover their heads in church.

The “Easter Bonnet Rebellion” took place the following Easter.

The National Organization for Women asked church women across the nation to send them their Sunday hats and veils to be publically burned to protest second-class status of women in the church.

d. how do we interpret this battleground passage?

1) do we take it literally?

if so do we require women to wear hats and veils to church and ask our men to get crew cuts?

2) do we ignore it altogether as culturally antiquated and irrelevant?

if so, what other portions of Scripture can we ignore?

3) do we find the meaning in the text and apply it to the church today?

a) this, IMHO, seems

2. context for this passage is everything (actually, that’s true for every verse in the Bible)

a. as the Apostle arrives at chapter eleven there is a topic change

1) Paul has spent several chapters dealing with Christian liberty, and the Corinthian believer’s misunderstanding and abuse of Christian liberty

2) now he is going to spend several chapters dealing with Christian worship, and the Corinthians believer’s misunderstanding and abuse of Christian worship

3) Paul will begin on the foundational level which involves the role of men and women in the worship of the church

A. GENDER ROLES IN WORSHIP CANNOT BE IGNORED

1. Paul is absolutely insistent or order within the Church

a. in chapter 14, while still dealing with the topic of worship, the Apostle tells the church, “But all things should be done decently and in order.”

(1 Corinthians 14:40, ESV)

b. part of that order entails men looking like men and taking the spiritual lead in worship, and women looking like women and being under male authority in worship

2. you cannot read this passage and not conclude that Paul is advocating that the church maintain the clear cultural markers that distinguish male and female — in this case by their respective hairstyles

a. from time immemorial God has made a distinction between man and woman