Amen. Amen. That is the Gospel. Let's hear now from God's Holy Word. 1 Corinthians 11. I will read v. 2-16. Our focus is going to be on v. 4-16 of this passage from God's Word. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 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. Everyone who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 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. 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 her hair short or shave her head, let her cover her head. 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. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor is man of woman. For as woman was made from man, so now man is born of woman, and all things are from God. Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God." Let's pray. Father, as we come to you this morning, seeking to know your will for our lives, we come to a tricky passage for us. We want to know your will. We want to follow after you. We want to honor you with our lives. And so we ask that you would grant us clarity by your Holy Spirit, that you would grant us insight, understanding, wisdom, discernment, and obedience. And we ask these things, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Someone's car alarm. It's coming from this direction. It's always something. Technology. That is a good reminder though for me to silence my phone. There we go. Sean Troutman. It's always the elders. Our passage today is one that could easily be misunderstood and sort of either woodenly applied or wholly rejected as being bizarre and out of touch with our modern age. And this is something that critics of the Bible have done with major portions of the Bible. I'll give you a couple of examples. In 2008, A.J. Jacobs wrote a humorous book. called The Year of Living Biblically, one man's humble quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible. And he presents it as a genuine spiritual journey in which he decides to take every biblical commandment very literally. He did not wear fabrics of mixed fibers. He did not trim the edge of his beard. He played a 10-string harp. And the resulting book basically was a mockery of people who take the Bible seriously by saying, you see, people say they live according to the Bible, but no one really does. Because if you really did, you would be doing all of these things, and how ridiculous would that be? Four years later, Rachel Held Evans followed up Jacob's bestseller with her own bestselling book, A Year of Biblical Womanhood. And the subtitle was, How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband Master. And hers was basically the same approach. It is to say, you can't really live according to the Bible because I tried it and it's ridiculous. And that's really the point of these books, is that they are seeking to ridicule the idea of living according to the Bible. by taking it to an extreme, doing it for a year, supposedly, and then saying, you see how silly this is. No one really does this or would do this. So therefore, you don't have to take the Bible all that seriously. Now, there's two major categorical errors that these books make when they talk about living biblically. The one is an error in the distinction between the old covenant practices that were prescribed to Israel and the new covenant practices that are prescribed for the church. So, there are things in the Old Testament that belong to the Mosaic law that have to do with diet. and dress and cleanliness codes and civil laws that were a temporary provision for the people of God to prepare them for the coming of Christ and which God said is fulfilled in Christ in such a way that we don't keep them in that literal way anymore. So, there's a whole category of things that are no longer binding on God's people because of the way they've been fulfilled in Christ. But the second is, there's also a difference between the practices that are prescribed in scripture, and the theological and moral truths that underlie those practices, and then how those would be best applied in our culture today. So we don't live in ancient Corinth, if you haven't noticed. None of you are wearing togas, right? You don't have sandals on your feet. You didn't walk to get here, right? We live in a different cultural context. And so part of what we need to do is take what is in the Bible, understand why it's there, and then think through the process of how it applies to our lives. So, we do believe that we should live biblically. Westminster Confession, section six of chapter one, says this, the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture, unto which nothing at any time is to be added. So we do believe in living biblically. We believe that everything you need to know for what you should believe about God and how you should live as a Christian is either expressly set down in Scripture or can be deduced from the principles that are in Scripture. We believe that that is the guidance for God's people. But section six, chapter one goes on to say this, nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the word, and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God and government of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the word, which are always to be observed. So the Confession says we need two things in order to rightly interpret and apply the Bible. First of all, we need the Holy Spirit. So we need pray, and we need to ask the Spirit's guidance in understanding these things. And the second thing we need is what some people call sanctified common sense, okay? Christian prudence that operates according to the Word of God. So we're meeting here, right? And there are biblical principles about submission to governing authorities. There are biblical principles about stewardship of the body and caring for the health of your neighbor. And so we're following the mandates of masking and distancing for all those biblical principles. But there's nothing in the Bible about it, right? There's nothing specifically in the Bible about it, but we apply biblical principles using wisdom and prudence as best we can. We're meeting indoors. We're meeting in a building that is not specifically a church building. We're sitting in chairs. You have a bulletin in front of you. I'm wearing a suit, like this didn't exist in the Bible days. This thing, I don't know who invented it or why, but it's actually a napkin originally so you could wipe your mouth. But we dress the way we dress because there are principles of worshiping indignity and to honor God and to give God reverence. And so we try to apply those things according to sanctified common sense, according to biblical reason. So we need to pray and we need to use our sanctified common sense. Part of that process that helps us is trying to get at the original point of a passage of the Bible. Not just what it says, but why it was written, what the point was that was being made. And we call this sometimes in biblical studies, we call it getting at the aim of a passage, A-I-M, the author's intended meaning. What did Paul mean when he wrote this to the Corinthians? Why write it? What was he getting at? Right? And sometimes in my reading, one of the best ways to sort of challenge myself to get out of my own skin as it were and get into what it was that Paul was saying is to focus on the things that are in the passage that make the least amount of sense to us. That sort of hit us like, What is that? Why is that there? Because sometimes if we investigate that, if we really think about that, we can start to put some things together. And to me, when I look at this passage, the two things that really stand out as being, that seems to come out of nowhere, right? Is first, a statement that Paul makes about the importance of a woman having her head covered. In verse 5, he says, every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. And I read that and I think, I'm not following you, Paul, at all. I don't understand how not having your head covered is the same as having your head shaved. You said, since it is, and I said, I don't understand, right? And the second one, very famously, comes at the end of verse 10. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. Period, next thought. Thanks for the explanation, Paul. Really appreciate you really laying that out there. What does that even mean, right? So sometimes if we can look at these sort of strange, unexpected things, we can use them as clues to figure out what Paul is really getting at. So let's look again at verses four through 10. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head uncovered dishonors his head. 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. 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. 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. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels." There's been a lot of ink spilled over exactly what this head covering is that Paul is referring to. In the Greek, it's actually a compound word that literally means down the head. A woman ought to have a down the head and a man ought not to have a down the head. That doesn't really help. So we have to figure out, what is he getting at? Now, some people have said, well, he's talking about having long hair, right? Long hair goes down the head. That's actually what my seminary professor on Ax and Paul, who is the academic dean of RTS and a great Bible scholar, that's what he taught. He taught us it was having long hair. You have hair that goes down the head, right? But, why is it that if you don't have hair that goes down your head, it would be the same as if you cut off all your hair, and it would be so shameful? And why is it that he says, a woman has been given hair for a covering, right? In verse 15, he says, a woman's been given her hair for a covering, But then he's not talking about just the fact that having hair as such a covering is sufficient for down the head. So, it's got to mean something more than just the hair. It seems like he's getting at more than that. Some people have said it means that a woman should wear her hair up on her head. to cover her head. So you may be familiar with traditional churches where women with long hair would always put their hair up. In very traditional Scottish Presbyterian churches, by the way, women not only wear their hair up, but then they put a hat on on top of their head. So they're doing the double duty of going to put all my hair up in a bun, then I'm going to put the hat on top of the head. Because they're trying to be careful. I'm not, they're trying to be faithful to the word of God. But I don't think that's really what he's talking about either. It does seem that he has in mind some sort of shawl or covering, like a scarf that would have been around a woman's shoulders that could then be put on her head so that it comes down her head and then it could be taken off. And he does specifically talk about putting it on when a woman prays or prophesies. which I think would have been times, if I understand it right, when during a prayer gathering of the church, or during a worship service of the church, when a woman would have had all eyes on her, or would have had attention drawn to her, and before she does that, she puts the little prayer shawl over her head. That seems to be what he's getting at. Now, why? Why is that important? I think we can get to that by studying a little bit of the cultural context, by understanding what Corinth was like. And Corinth was a port city. that was renowned throughout the Roman Empire for prostitution and sexual immorality. It was also a city that would have been full of sailors on leave. Okay? Because the Isthmus of Corinth, we went over this at the beginning of the book, but the Isthmus of Corinth was about a 10-mile long piece of land, and they would roll the ships across the land on rollers Right? To get them from one sea to the other sea, and it was much shorter and safer than sailing all the way around the southern part of Greece, which has a lot of islands with rocky coasts. Well, the sailors were free during this time. So, sailors on shore leave in a city full of prostitutes renowned for sexual immorality. You can put one and two and three together, right? It was actually dangerous for women to go out onto the streets of Corinth unless they were careful. And one of the things that women needed to do, if you were married in particular, is to have your head covered. and maybe even your hair up and your head covered, depending on which source you read, because having the head uncovered, particularly if your hair is down and your head is uncovered, was a signal that you were available. Okay? And you wouldn't do that if you were a married woman. In fact, in courts, and I'm not saying this is right. I'm not saying this is right. I'm just saying it's what happened. Okay? The difference between what was and what ought to have been. Okay? In courts, if a man was brought up on charges of assaulting a woman, and he could prove that she had her head uncovered and her hair down, he would be let free. because she was basically asking for it. She was advertising. And I'm not saying that's right, but I'm saying that's what happened. So, that gives you a little bit of context to understand what was communicated by having your head uncovered and your hair down. Now, is that what's communicated today when a woman has her head uncovered and her hair down? No! Like, not at all. And the connection to having your head shaved, if a woman will not cover her head, she might as well have her head shaved. What does that mean? Well, a woman would have had her head shaved if she had been found guilty of adultery. And so what he's saying is, if you're going to be the center of attention with your head uncovered and your hair down, You are sending a cultural signal that you are interested in and available for an adulterous relationship. And so you might as well cut off all your hair and shave your head because it's shameful. Right? Now we have to ask ourselves, if it was that shameful, why would any women in Corinth do it? Why would they be in church doing this if it was that culturally shameful? Well, there's a simple explanation And then there's a little bit more complicated explanation. The simple explanation is this. Women only put their hair up like that and covered it with the covering when they went out in public. There were different rules for when you were at home with your family and when you were out in public. And the early churches, the churches in Corinth, were all house churches. They were all what's called domus ecclesia, house churches. And so they were in someone's private home. And the Christian church called each other brother and sister and thought of each other as the family and household of God. And so it would not be so much of a stretch for women to think, well, I'm just at home with my family. So why would I need to put my head up and cover my hair? And Paul says, mm. You're missing it. You belong with your husband. You belong to your husband. Your husband belongs to you. That is part of the way God has put together the marriage covenant relationship, and that really does need to be communicated in how you're carrying on. But I do think it may have been specifically, this is a little bit uncertain, but it may have been specifically to the time when a woman would stand up in the midst of the assembly to offer a prayer, or would stand up in the midst of the assembly to offer a word of prophecy. Then she would cover her head because everyone would be looking at her. By the way, prophecy is a gift that belonged to the early church during the time period when the church had not yet received all of scripture. You got to remember that when 1 Corinthians was being written and sent to the church, they only had a handful of the books of the New Testament. Maybe only three. And so, the scripture was still being given. And so, the church was still being given prophecy directly from God as a way of revealing his will to the church because they didn't have a New Testament. Imagine how you would function as a Christian if you didn't have a New Testament, right? So, prophecy was a provisional thing, gift given to the church during that early age. A woman to have a sign of authority on her head is also to say that when she stands up to prophesy, she is not doing so as one who has authority to teach, but she's doing one just as one who is a mouthpiece for God, who's going to has a spiritual gift and is going to speak the words of God as a prophetess. And then prayer, I think the most sort of common, modern parallel to this is the church prayer meeting. Like, we gather together sometimes during the Sunday school hour. Remember when we had a Sunday school hour way back when? But sometimes we would gather during the Sunday school hour and we would pray together as a church. We'd say, we're going to dedicate this Sunday school hour as a time to pray for the church. And we'd have a time of prayer. And we had some wonderful times of prayer. And the men and the women both pray. Right? And so it may have been in that context or something like that context. So it was kind of like one parallel to say is that, you know, it would kind of be like someone getting up to speak in front of the church and they're wearing their pajamas. Like. Why are you doing that? That's kind of strange. Everyone's looking at you and you're not dressed the way that you would be dressed to go out in public. It's not really a great parallel, but I was stretching for something. What's behind this? What's the truth that's behind this practice? The truth that's behind this practice is twofold. One is for women to be modest. And the other is to show that she belongs to her husband and her husband belongs to her. That she is one with her husband. She's not independent. Right? And I think that's a way that it strikes at our culture. Because our culture tells us that even when you get married, You remain independent. You can think for yourself. You need to take care of yourself. You need to make sure you have some me time. You need to go and spend some time by yourself. You remain an independent person. I'm not discounting the value of some of those things at some time, but I think our culture takes it too far. I remember very clearly being at the University of Maryland And I took a class on sociology of marriage and the family, which I thought would be a helpful class, since I knew that God was calling me to be a pastor one day, so I thought, okay, sociology of marriage and the family, this will be helpful. It was less than helpful. But... One of the things that we looked at was supposedly a Navajo wedding blessing that the professor said he had seen read at a wedding that he had been to recently. Would we want to look at it? By the way, anytime you see something online that's like, this is a Navajo blessing or Navajo prayer, please don't take that seriously. It's just something somebody made up like five years ago and decided to put the word Navajo on it and send it out there to the world. That's almost always what those things are. This was one where it's like, You are planted as a tree, and your spouse is planted as a tree, and while you have come to enjoy one another's shade, you remain two separate strong trees. Not to become one flesh. Not the old unity candle where you light the flame and then you extinguish the two, or the unity sand where you pour in. But it's, you were planted as two trees, and you've come to enjoy one another's shade, but you remain two independent, strong trees. Do you know what was even more surprising to me than that Navajo wedding blessing? Was that in a class of 23 or 24 people, I was the only one who thought it was wrong. Everyone else thought it was beautiful. And I said, I thought marriage was two becoming one. And people looked at me like I was insane. So this idea of independence, of I've got to maintain my independence, is, I think, part of what Paul is speaking against. And that may be part of what some of the women had in mind because of the way that Paul talks about a symbol of authority on her head and a woman is not independent of man. It may have been that some of the women thought, well, I'm a prophetess. I speak with authority to the church. I'm independent. I don't need to be with my husband or under my husband's authority or headship. And so Paul is then saying, no, that's not how it is. But then to balance it out, because you can easily, we all know, you can easily then go in a direction of chauvinism and say, oh yeah, woman, you better sit down, listen to your husband. You can easily go in that chauvinistic direction. And the Bible is against both. a sort of radical feminism that would say that we don't need each other and we're independent of each other. But it's also against chauvinism that is abusive and oppressive to women. The Bible stands very clearly against both of those extremes that come from sin and not from God's creation. So Paul clarifies. He says, for man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord, Woman is not independent of man, nor man of a woman, for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman, and all things are from God. Because you can easily imagine some chauvinistic man saying, that's right. I wasn't made for you. You were made for me. And you came from man. That's right. And so Paul says, OK, slow your roll, OK? Let's back up here a minute. Remember, you came into this world through a woman. So, just keep that in mind too. Not a single man in the world has come into the world but through a woman. So, we are dependent on each other. There's a mutual dependency. And again, I'm reminded of this language I shared last week from Matthew Henry's commentary on Genesis 2 when woman was made from man. The woman was made out of a rib, out of the side of Adam, not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved." Equal, protected, loved. The other wonderful insight I remember from that sociology of marriage and the family class, by the way, is that all relationships are a power struggle. All relationships are a power struggle. And that in any relationship, the person who has the more power, the greater power, is the person who shows less interest in the relationship. Isn't that so helpful? No, it's not really helpful. I told you it wasn't a helpful class. That's what the world teaches, that it's all about who has the power, who can get the upper hand. If I don't need you, then I can get the upper hand. But that is not marriage as God created it. Marriage as God created it says that we belong to each other. We are one flesh. In our wedding vows, we give ourselves to each other, and we are no longer our own. Paul went through this in chapter 7 on marriage. He said, look, a woman's body doesn't belong to herself, it belongs to her husband. And a husband's body doesn't belong to himself, it belongs to his wife. We belong to each other, a mutual interdependency. And above all that, all things are from God. God has created us, God sustains us, Christ has purchased us, and Christ has given us to each other. And that ought to be reflected in the way that we worship. So if it's not about specifically wearing a head covering or not wearing a head covering, what are some ways that we, in our cultural context, might violate this, might offend this guideline? Well, let me give you a couple of examples that thankfully I have not seen in this church, but unfortunately I have seen in other churches. Part of what we need to do as husband and wife is be together in worship, We should sit together, we should worship together, we should support one another in worship. With our children, we should be helping each other in worship. But in some churches, families don't sit together. Husbands and wives show up and they sit with their buddies. They sit with their friends. They don't sit with their spouse. I don't think that's appropriate. Also, what's even worse is that I've been in some churches where after the worship service is over, the husbands and wives split up from each other. Now, that's not so bad in itself, but the men get together to gripe about their wives and the women get together to gripe about their husbands. That's not right, that's wrong. And then there are also sometimes, and this is uncomfortable to say, but I think it's true, in some churches it seems like sometimes women are dressing for church in order to make themselves look as attractive as possible. And some women can even be inappropriately flirtatious with men, and men can have inappropriate wandering eyes, and that is wrong too. We are to be faithful to our spouse while we were gathered for worship. Now, I also think that beyond the issue of head coverings and shame and possible adulterous signals that are being sent, I think it's inescapable that Paul is also emphasizing here that there are creational differences between men and women in general, and that these should be obvious and clear. Verses 13 to 15. Judge for yourselves, is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is a disgrace for him? But if a woman has long hair, it is her glory, for her hair is given to her for a covering. Just like with head coverings, I think there is a cultural application of the truth, and then there is the truth. So, in the ancient Roman world, men had their hair cut short. Don't believe these pictures that you see of Jesus with the long, flowing locks. That was almost certainly not the case. He probably had short hair, cut short, and he probably had a beard that was way bushier than is shown in most of our pictures. All pictures of Jesus are distortions because we don't know what he looked like, and that's why I don't like them. He probably had short hair and a big, bushy beard. Just saying. But that was, in the Roman world, it was considered essential that men keep their hair cut short, and it was considered scandalous. You were considered to be feminine if you had your hair long. Now, we don't really have that same standard today, but there are still distinctions between men and women, and we know that there's a push in our culture today to get rid of those distinctions. But this is a distinction not only made in creation at the beginning. In Genesis 1, God created them male and female. In his image, he created them male and female. But Jesus himself affirmed that. When he was asked about divorce, he said, yes, Moses told you that you could issue a certificate of divorce. But that's not how it was from the beginning. From the beginning, God created them male and female. and they were to be one flesh. Therefore, what God has brought together, let no man separate." That's what Jesus said. Jesus said, he affirmed, we are made male and female. And so I do think in the way that we dress, in the way that we carry ourselves, it ought to be obvious that a man is a man and a woman is a woman. And it's weird that we live in a time when that's controversial. For me to say that, some people say, oh, you're being hateful. I'm not. I'm just stating what God has created, what Jesus affirmed, and what we should affirm as well. Now, I want to be careful is what I'm not saying. Because just as there's chauvinism, so there is also, within every culture, there are harsh stereotypical displays of what masculinity and femininity look like. And I'm not talking about these stereotypical displays of what's sometimes called toxic masculinity or machismo, like men have to pretend that they love hunting and sports and red meat. you know, walk around like this, you know. And women have to be all soft-spoken and meek and passive. That is cultural stereotyping that has got nothing to do with the way that God created us. God created us male and female, but he created us with a diversity. Some people like sports, some people don't. Some people like cooking, some people don't. Some people like, you know, Whatever. That is not what we're talking about. What we're talking about is an authentic, robust, healthy, diverse, individualized men and women living as men and women. Not the shallow, foolish, cultural stereotypes. But when we are in worship, gathered together, it should be apparent that husband and wife are husband and wife. and that they belong to each other, they sit together, they worship together, they support each other, they love each other, and that men are men and women are women. That should be obvious because of the angels. Right? Okay, let's pray. I'm not going to get out of it that easy, am I? Why in the world does he say, because of the angels? Well, it's actually really important. And when I got it, and I think I got it, I'm gonna say I think I got it, but when I got it, I was actually pretty inspired by what I found in the Bible. So we have to go to the Bible for our answer to this question of what does he mean by because of the angels? The first proposal, there's basically three possible explanations that have been proposed. The first, is that Paul's actually not talking about angels at all, but just messengers. And that's because the word angeloi, that's used for angels, is really just the Greek word for messengers, because that's what angels are. Angels are heavenly messengers, and so they are angeloi, they're messengers sent from God. And so this proposal says, Paul's not talking about angels at all. He's talking about messengers who come from other churches to observe your worship, and they're gonna be scandalized, and they're gonna go spread word about how terrible Corinth is. The ground for that would be that Paul first became shocked at some of the practices in Corinth because of messengers that were sent to him from Chloe's household. So that's not entirely unplausible, but it doesn't, I don't think it really makes sense, because because of the messengers, period, move on, doesn't really help any more than because the angels, it doesn't make a lot of sense in and of itself. And so I think it is about angels. So the second proposal, and this is a serious proposal, is that Paul is telling women to be modest by covering their heads so that the angels who observe their worship won't lust after them. They're getting this from Genesis where it says the sons of God went into the daughters of men and they take that sons of God as being angels. Look, that's just weird, okay? It's not right, let's move on. You get into the whole idea of angels lusting after people, it takes you down some roads that are just not helpful at all. So we're gonna discard that one as being nonsense. The third one, and I think that this is where part of what the second proposal gets right is the idea that Paul has in mind that we are not alone when we worship, that our worship is being observed by angels. that they actually, they don't exactly join in our worship, but they observe our worship. There are two passages in the Bible that talk about angels and their relationship to the church that I think are helpful for understanding what Paul says here. The first one is in Ephesians chapter 3, verses 8 through 11. Ephesians 3, 8 through 11 says this, To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord." So God has an eternal plan and purpose. He has a plan of salvation for the world. The world fell when Adam and Eve fell and rebelled against God. The world was put under God's curse, but God has a plan to redeem and to restore all things. Ephesians 1 talks about how his plan is to restore all things, uniting them under Christ. And the way he's doing that is through the church. And through the church, he's actually showing to the angels. They're the heavenly authorities and powers. They're the ones who are being shown what God is doing to bring about redemption through the church. And then we go to 1 Peter, and we hear this in 1 Peter 1. Concerning this salvation, the gospel, The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel, the good news to you. by the Holy Spirit from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Things into which angels long to look. First Peter tells us angels, they're not only being shown the plan of God for the redemption of all creation through the church, but they long to look into the things of the gospel. Because it's not a gospel for them. There are two categories of angels. The unfallen angels and the fallen angels. The unfallen angels have never disobeyed God. They obey God with immediate and perfect obedience. The fallen angels rebelled against God and they're under condemnation and they will be in the lake of fire forever. That's it. There are unfallen and there are fallen. With people, we have a completely different story. All of humanity fell into sin and rebellion, and then God was pleased to redeem. God was pleased to restore. God was pleased to reconcile, even through the death of his Son, through the blood of the cross. Angels long to look into those things. And God is displaying to them how it is that through the church, he is not only redeeming and reconciling people, but he's redeeming and reconciling all of creation to himself. And part of that redemption and that restoration is that the gospel is putting right the things that sin put wrong. The gospel is putting right the things that sin put wrong. What is one of the central, most important, most core, and most foundational things that sin put wrong? Marriage. Sin has destroyed and corrupted marriage so that marriages are full of abuse, neglect, disharmony, divorce, The gospel, through the power of God, to not only forgive our sins, but to redeem our lives, restores the goodness of what God intended for marriage. To be a picture of his love for his people. husbands love their wives, wives submit to their husbands, husbands protect and cherish and love their wives as their equals, and wives willingly and graciously submit to the leadership of their husbands as those whom they love and trust. And they give themselves to each other in a beautiful picture of God's love for his people. Christ gave himself for his people, and we as his people give ourselves to him. So, one of the most important times is when we, as husbands and wives, gather together for worship as the gathered church. The angels are supposed to see God's purposes and plans for redeeming his creation, for making right what sin has made wrong. They're supposed to see the gospel that we treasure and that we rejoice and that we proclaim being displayed in our lives. And if we treat each other with disdain or rejection, the angels don't get the right story. They get a bad witness. And that's a reminder to us of something very important about our worship. And that is that our worship is witness. Our worship, when we gather together every Sunday morning, is witness. When you get up, and you go out the door of your house, and you get your kids together, and you make sure they're wearing clothes, and maybe even that the clothes match, some days that's too much to ask for, and you come to church and you worship, the world is thinking, why are they, Sunday is the day you sleep in, You stay in your pajamas, you watch football, you veg out in front of the tube all day long. What are they doing getting up and going to worship? It's a witness to our neighbors of who our God is and what we value, what we treasure. It's a witness to one another. Paul says that we should sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to one another. It's one of the important reasons why we need to gather for worship, is because we can sing the gospel to each other, like when we sang before the throne of God above. When we sang, Be Still My Soul, we were singing the gospel to each other. We were witnessing to each other. And it's even a witness to the angels. that they can look into the things of the gospel, that they can have displayed before them the redemptive purposes of God. That's pretty awesome. That makes our worship something much more meaningful than we would have ever guessed. And so let's worship God in spirit and in truth, in modesty and humility, but with joy and praise because of the angels. and the world and one another. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your gospel, for the truth of our salvation in Jesus. We thank you that our sins are forgiven, that our shame is covered, that our glorious head, the Lord Jesus Christ, has taken us under his wing and has provided for us protection and blessing and covering and love. Help us to model that in our marriages and help us to celebrate that in our worship. To your glory, we ask in Jesus' name. Let's receive the Lord's blessing. Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.