we have the Lord's Table at our church on the first Sunday night of the month. And so that would typically be tonight, but we're not set up for that because of where we are in our study, we're so close to the Lord's Table passage that I thought it would be good for us to go ahead and to wait until next Sunday night, and then we'll get into that text at that point. And so 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 15, which is not where we're at, but 1 Corinthians chapter 11. So does anybody need the handout tonight? Everyone got it? All right, does anybody need a pen? Make sure everybody's set. Okay, 2 Peter chapter 3, Peter said this, and I've referenced this before, but he said, "'Even as your beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction. God has been gracious to me in my life in that I'm not somebody that has just come to an understanding of the scripture. God allowed me to be born into a Christian home, a pastor's home. And so it was my privilege to be in church every time the doors were open, literally. Unless I was sick in bed, I was at church. And I praise God for that. And so I was always around Christian ministry and the Bible and that sort of thing. I received a Christian education. I got to go to Christian school, I got homeschooled. I was in public school for one semester, half a year. And other than that, I got the privilege of going to a Christian school. I went to university, Bible college. I studied pastoral studies. I got to go to seminary after that and study pastoral studies as well. And I served under two pastors, one in Michigan, one in New York City. And it's been my privilege to pastor Southside Free Baptist Church for 15 years. All that to say, I've not arrived in my spiritual understanding or knowledge or anything like that. Maybe somebody better than I, smarter than me, gifted with the same opportunities that I've had would feel really well qualified to preach to you Paul's epistles. But I approached him a little bit with fear and trembling and recognized that there are, what Peter said, some things in them that are hard and difficult to be understood, yet spirit guided words that Paul didn't just write, but the Spirit of God speak through him. And so, but they are things that are hard to be understood at times, and we do well not to rest them to our own destruction. So we want to know the mind of God as we come to the word of God. So we want to prayerfully consider his word. And so if I was to title our study tonight, I'd entitle it Submission to Authority. You need to be submitted to God-ordained home and church authority, whatever authorities that God's put in our life. In this case, speaking about spiritual authorities, we need to submit to them. Imagine that you invited our family over to your house, and we had no clue where you lived. And I called you on the way there. I was terribly lost, and I said, you know, could you help me, please? I can't find it. And let's pretend it's before the days of GPS. You know, GPSs have solved a lot of struggle in our lives. And so, please, I need help. Okay, we'll send a guide, okay? And they send somebody, you send somebody to come to help me. And that person pulls up, as I'm by the roadside, they pull up, and for whatever reason, I say to that person, I am not gonna follow you, okay? I just won't. I'm just gonna be stubborn about it. I refuse. Should I then call you and say, why aren't you helping me? Why don't you send me somebody to help me find my way to your house? You'd say, look, I sent you somebody. Why didn't you follow them? They were there. Why did you rebel against their leadership as I was trying to help you to find my house? And so we can complain to God about lack of guidance in our life, but if we refuse to follow the God-ordained authority that God's given to us, then we're not following the guide that we should be following, and then it's understandable why we can't find our way in that area, in that arena, if that makes sense. Okay, so are you willing to put yourself under the leadership that God's given to you? We all have different leadership that God's put us under, and are we ready to just get behind them and rightly support them in the leadership role that God has entrusted to them? And so let's pray and ask God to help us as we come to His Word tonight. Father, I'm grateful for the Word of God, and it is true. There are some things that are difficult to be understood, things that we don't want to rest to our destruction, but it's our desire tonight to let the Spirit of God speak to us and to help us in our walk with You. And so I ask, Lord, as the Scripture is set out and as we just go through it in our study, I pray that the Spirit of God would speak to us. Lord, that we see that there's important truth all through the Bible because maybe in our personal devotions we might come to a passage like this and go, that's tough, I'm not sure what it means, and so I'll just continue on. or like tonight, the value of a verse-by-verse study through the Word of God is that we have to look at it and consider it. And so we pray tonight that the Spirit of God would help us to grow in our walk with you. I pray, Lord, that you give us a good appetite for the Bible and ears to hear. Bless the kids tonight in the class with Mrs. Schwart. We pray, Father, your blessing upon them, that they would be tenderhearted to the teaching. And Lord God, would you give me grace tonight as I speak? I can't speak without your enablement. and I covet your blessing and covet your help that I preach biblically, practically, lovingly, and powerfully the truth of your word. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen. Okay, and so true spiritual leadership ought to be followed. Followed is the first blank that we've got tonight in the handout. And who'd like to read that phrase for us? Looking, looking, everyone's writing for some reason. All right, Tommy. Okay, so Paul can say follow me because he's following who? Okay, so he's walking after Jesus, so he can turn around with authority and say, walk behind me because I'm following Jesus. If Paul ever turned away from following Jesus, what would he say to us? Don't follow me, because I'm not following Christ. How do I know that? Because he said that. He said that in Galatians 1 verse 8, he said, but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed, let him be damned. And so even if I, the great apostle Paul, and he wouldn't say that of himself, Sit up, and I said, you know, it's by works and faith. Then Paul said of himself, if it's me, let me be damned, okay? So he's saying very clearly, don't follow me in that position of disobedience. So if I'm following Christ, turn around, follow me. If I'm not following Christ, do not follow me. And so for us in leadership, if we're gonna lead correctly, we've gotta be following Jesus Christ or we can't lead correctly. And so, we have to be able to do that. And so, Luke 642, Jesus said, Now, everybody here has some measure of leadership that God's given to us. In the family, the leadership begins with dad. Dad leads mom, and dad leads the kids, and they're submissive to his leadership. In the church, we've got leadership as well. And let me say this, the mom has leadership over the children. Even the children have leadership in the home, as far as if they're an older child, or outside the home, as a Christian young person, they can lead for Christ and be that example that they need to be. Then in the church, if we have leadership, at all, whatever that is, to whatever degree we have opportunity to serve God, then there are others that look up to us and see that leadership. So to be effective, we've got to be right with the Lord. Ask God, God, help me to be walking with you so that as I lead, I'm rightly representing Christ to others that are following me. So Paul was, and Paul did, and so Paul could say, follow me because I'm following Christ, and would to God that we could all say that, follow me, I'm following Christ, and we want to be doing that. Second, Paul rejoiced that the church recognized his spiritual leadership. His is the blank. And verse 2, who'd like to read that? 1 Corinthians 11. Well, you don't want to wear Brother Wood's out. All right, Nelson. Okay, so it is a leadership lesson, and some people wonder, you know, verse one, shouldn't that have gone back with the end of chapter 10? You know, wouldn't it be better to have connected it there? Because it would make sense, but I believe in the context, because Paul is saying, follow me, I'm following Christ, that's gonna go right along with what he's gonna go into, and of course it would, because it transitions between these thoughts, but I believe it's important to keep it here. And so he wasn't just going to ram this leadership lesson down the throats of his subordinates and say, you know, about this lesson to them. He's going to praise them and say, you know, I'm thankful that I can say, you follow, you know, and you remember me. So you remember my life. what I do, and you remember what I taught, and so I praise God for that. I rejoice in that. And so they kept the ordinances. What that is, it's Bible tradition, not church tradition. So it's not something that the church does that's not taught in the Bible. It's something that the Bible taught that the church follows and the church does because it's in the Bible. And Paul diligently taught that. Praise God that often we can look at those that are under us and we can say, praise God, I'm just thankful for your followership of my leadership, that you're behind me, supporting me. And in the areas that we take a stand, that you take a stand. I praise God for that. That's a great thing. And so when we can do that. And so a husband praising a godly wife, a savior that can praise the man, and parents that can praise their kids for their followership of their leadership. And then third, Paul reminded them of the God-ordained leadership structure of humanity. Humanity is a blank. And do I have any other volunteers tonight to read scripture for us? Okay, Allison, thank you. Okay, so Paul's using the word head in ways that we also use the word head. So we would say they're the head of an organization. Okay, so we understand that to mean the leadership of that organization, the head teacher. Well, we understand she's a person at the school that's over all the other teachers. You know, we'd say maybe the term principal or something like that. And so they're the leader. for those who are under their headship. So whoever falls under that, that's their head, in the same sense of what Paul's saying. So Paul didn't go all the way through the family, the chain of authority. He didn't go to the children. He speaks to that, though, in the book of Ephesians, in chapter 6, in verse 1, he said, children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Okay, so we understand Paul does deal with children, but in this context he's dealing with these two things because of the principle that, the main principle that he's going to deal with later in the text. And so he's dealing with the husband and the wife in the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ over that. And so the man is subject to his head. His head is Jesus Christ. The woman is subject to her head. Her head is the man, Christ is subject to his head. His head is God, God the Father. You know, I do always the things that please him, you know? And so the man's, Christ is subject to God perfectly. The man's head, Christ, is perfect, but man's submission is not. True? Right, because we're human, and so it's not perfect. There's gonna be times that we fail to follow Christ as we should. Okay, so that's true. The woman's head, man, is perfect or imperfect? Imperfect, and so is her submission, correct? because of the sin nature. Okay? So, I mean, we've got these dynamics here. Christ doesn't. Christ is perfectly following God and we're to follow Christ as men and then, and by the way, I believe it's broader than just the family unit because he doesn't necessarily put it strictly into the family unit. Even in terminology, he doesn't say, the head of the woman is her husband, or the head of the wife is her husband, okay? So, it is in the context of the family unit, and there is other text where Paul says, the submission they speak about, be submitted to your own husband, okay, so that's clear. but that there is leadership structure that God has given that falls outside of just specifically the home. You think about church leadership or things like that as well. But he's dealing with these two rungs, man and woman, and so when should we disobey our head? Obviously Christ, never. But if there's a head, let's say government. is that's an authority that God's put over us. If they tell us to violate God's word, then who do we obey? God, okay, so we get that. You ought to obey God rather than men, is what the apostles said, you know, in Acts chapter five, they're commanded not to preach or teach in Jesus' name, and they said, whether it be right in the sight of the Lord, to hearken unto you, more than unto God, judge ye, but as for us, all right, we're gonna please God. And so, there is that time where if somebody commands us to do something contrary to the word of God, Then we go, wait a second, you might be an authority, but I've got a higher authority. So if a lower authority contradicts a higher authority, you obey the higher authority or the right authority, the one that's right with God. So about our text, let me say this, Paul is not being unkind to the weaker sex as we continue down through this. There's plenty of people that would say, oh, you know, this passage, 1 Corinthians 11, they would call that the modern word that they've come up with that means that if you believe in leadership, biblical leadership, that you are not right because you have done this towards somebody else, which is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that we have leadership that is God-ordained, that we have a responsibility to follow, and so we need to be clear that we think biblically as Christians and not in the context of our society. Okay, and so fourth, Paul highlights how our attire should be representative of our position. So what we wear, and in this case, letter A, in a church, a man should not pray with a head covering. With is a blank there. And so verse four, who would like to read that one for us? All right, Tommy. Okay, so when I was in Israel, there were two times at the Western Wall and going down to see the tomb of David that I had to wear a kippah, which I kinda like it, because I've got this bald spot up here and it kinda keeps your head warm, you know? And so that head covering, Okay, but I'll tell you this about that. That's not biblical if you're going to worship God. It's actually, I mean, right here in the text of the Word of God, it says that it's not right for a man to have his head covered in that way. Okay, it's disrespectful to God. You know, some of us are old enough to remember our manners about head coverings for men. And so, a man's hat should be removed when entering into a building, you know, just as a sign of respect, men would do that. When worshiping God in church, that it's not appropriate for men, you know, we kind of feel uncomfortable if somebody just, all our men came in, they've got hats on. You know, we say, wait a second, we're in church, take your hat off here in church. Speaking to a lady, again, as a sign of respect, take the hat off. And so, to wear a hat in church as a man is understood to be disrespectful to who? God in our head, okay, specifically Jesus Christ. And so when praying, men remove their hats. And so we see that all the time, don't we? If there's a prayer, if you're at a stadium and people understand, you'll just see men taking their hats off. And again, this is something that maybe isn't as common in our society as it used to be, but it used to be very common. And so why do we feel that way? Because God's word taught us that it's not right to wear a hat when you're worshiping God. here in the scripture, in corporate worship. In church, secondly, a woman was not to pray without a head covering. And we're gonna get, I'm not gonna get ahead of myself in the way that I'm presenting it, and so we're gonna get there, all right? And so, verse five, who'd like to read it? Okay, Brother Woods. with a head-uncovered display. Okay, so it was disrespectful for a woman to pray or to prophesy. Now, prophesy in the Bible, when you read it, prophecy, sometimes it's preaching, sometimes it's foretelling. And this word right here is foretelling. And so they still had the gifts back then, and there were women that prophesied. We know that in the book of Acts, we read about one of the preachers, his daughters had the gift of prophecy. As a Baptist church, we believe that the sign gifts have ceased, gifts of tongues, gifts of healing, gifts of prophecy, that we've got all that we need right here. They didn't have the New Testament, we do. And that whether they be tongues, they shall cease, is what the scripture says later on in our study as we come to chapter 13, okay? When we get to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. And so it was disrespectful to pray or prophesy with her head uncovered, okay? And so she may, the Bible says here, she may as well shave her head. It was that disrespectful that she did. It's as if she's shaven, okay? And we're going to explain some of these ideas in the context of what's going on here in just a second. So, Paul had a solution. It's pretty radical, his solution. And so, he suggests that you should enlist an un-beautician, okay, if there is such a thing, and have them come and just have a barbershop there at church. So, verse 6. Who would like to read that for us? Oh, do you not have it? I didn't give it to you in your notes. Okay, let me read it. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn, but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered, okay? Shorn was to cut her glorious hair very short, shaven is to shave it off completely. And so why was it so shameful in Paul's day for a woman to come into church and if her head's not covered, it's like she's got her hair cut off, it's like her head's shaven, and here's what they say about that in Paul's day. In the time of the Apostle Paul, women with short hair were typically slaves, prostitutes, or adulteresses. For a respectable woman in Greco-Roman society, having short or shaved hair was a mark of shame and disgrace. And so Paul said, in the same way, having your head uncovered, it's like that. In their culture, it was looked upon like that. And so it was a disgrace, and it's gonna speak specifically about who it was a disgrace to coming up. And so, if a Christian woman was contentious about that, she refused to cover her hair, well, let me just say, who is it disrespectful to? It's God, but who's directly above her? her husband, okay? So it's disrespectful to her head. It didn't look good because she's not submitted to her head if her hair is not covered, okay? So it's dishonorable because of that. And really, if you study this passage, it's about subordination. It's about putting yourself under authority. And so, our subordination under our head glorifies our head. And so, letter A, man is the image and glory, glory is the blank, of God. And who'd like to read that scripture for us, verse 7? All right, Mack? Okay, and before we go further in that thought from the scripture, I want to point out, God's gender, biblically, is male. And so we've got people today, you know, about Mother Earth and so on, and worshiping, you know, and they think it doesn't matter, the gender of God, but the Bible's very clear about the masculinity of God. So God created who in his own image, when he, his original creation, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he them, or I'm sorry, in the image of God created he him, male and female created them, okay? So we're all created in the image of God, but specifically, there is an identity that we have as male that reflects God as well. So, to Paul's point, man is positionally directly under the headship of Jesus, and so masculinity, when submitted to Christ, brings great glory to who? Jesus Christ. So as a man, if I am humbly walking under my head, Jesus Christ, that brings great glory to Christ. And so it would have been femininity for a man to cover his head, right? That would be feminine, not masculine. A man shouldn't cover his head. And so that would disrespect his head. And so in our day, There aren't a lot of men that glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by their submission to Him. But by God's grace, we need to say, well, I'm going to be different. I'm going to submit myself to Jesus Christ. In our day, there's not a lot of ladies that rightly submit to the leadership that God's put into their life. It's a great thing when somebody can look at a woman and say, but that is a woman that is submissive to the headship that God's given to her. Because woman is the glory of the man. Man is the blank. Woman is the glory of the man. And so that's what the text says, and so we almost don't need to read it, because right there, as we've stated it, but the woman is the glory of the man. So women, in their family, are the glory of who? Their husbands. So that reflects well, a godly wife reflects well on her husband. There's a great, there's a good preacher that passed away, I think this past year, John MacArthur, I think he just passed away maybe a couple months ago. My dad went to school with John MacArthur, and dad went to Biola, and without sharing his whole story, he ended up graduating from Maranatha, a different Bible college. But John MacArthur was there, and dad was friends with him, and dad came back to the campus, and there was a young lady that was with my dad, and they were at some function or something, and John kind of said to my dad, hey, you know, I'd like to meet that girl. And so dad said, all right, come on, John. And as he brings him over, he said, John, I'd like to introduce you to my wife, Pat, okay? He'd gotten married that summer. He thought maybe it was his sister or something like that. All right, beautiful girl. And that was my dad's first wife. But that reflected well upon who? My dad, you know, got a beautiful lady that's his wife, and so it's a blessing. And how many understand that outside beauty isn't everything? In fact, biblically, it's not really anything. The Bible says, favor is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Abigail, was she married to a good husband? In the Bible, David, yes, but before that, Nabal? Nabal was a fool, but when we studied the life of Abigail, when we saw her, we came through the life of David and got to Abigail, we went, wow, quality. This lady is beautiful. We don't even see her. The Bible speaks about her being beautiful, but we see the beauty of her spirit because she doesn't say, my husband's a jerk and this and that. She defends her husband. She speaks correctly about her husband, but she honors him. And she waits till he's not drunk to confront him and say about the situation that was there. So praise God for women like that, that are really a crown to their husbands, make their husbands look good. Not just outward adornment, but adorned inwardly. And so Christ-like submission really glorifies the head. As a man, I'm rightly submitted to Christ, that glorifies Christ. A woman, rightly submitted to her husband in the context of the family, that brings great glory to Christ. To her husband, and then to Christ. God's creation established our position. Sixth thing here. Adam and Eve are the first marriage. If I ask tonight, are we God, the answer is, No, we're not God. But do you understand there are people that live as if they are God? And so we have humanism, we've got feminism, we've got idolatry, and they all say we make the rules, right? What I say goes. It's as if I'm God is the way that they do that. So since I'm not God, shouldn't I submit myself to God? Yes. So who then am I to argue with God who gave me life and gave me his mercy? See, God's the one that set up male, female, children, authorities, government, church, and so on. God's the one that gave that. David was king, a great man of God, but he was willing to take any position in God's economy. And so, Psalm 84 verse 10, he said, for a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. David said, hey, I'm king. Before I go over to ungodliness, I would be the lowest position. I'd rather be that. And he was willing to take whatever position God gave him. Now, we live in a day where humankind are in mass rebellion against God. Transgenderism, I don't want my what? Gender. Okay, we understand God created it. I refuse to accept that I'm a male. I refuse to accept that I'm a female, okay? It's gender rebellion. Feminism. I want to rule over men. It's not equality, it's about superiority if you look at it and you're honest about it. And so I want my gender to be in leadership. Humanism. I don't want God to rule over me, right? And so what comes from that? Sexual perversion, destruction of the family, breakdown of society. Why? Because God's positions have been cast off because of rebellion. But God is God, and what He's done in our lives is good and is blessed if we submit. And when we studied the book of Genesis, we spoke about and this kind of rabbitry a little bit, but we spoke about how the curse, men try to get out of the curse by rebelling against the curse instead of submitting to the curse. So for instance, God's curse against man is that work is going to be what? Difficult. And so there's a lot of men that don't what? Work. They just live off the government, okay? And so I can rebel against the curse. Oh, I'm not gonna work. And then I'm gonna get away from the curse. And the other is difficulty in childbearing. You remember that? How do people escape that? Abortion. I'm not gonna get married. I'm not gonna have children. You know, and so on. So we can rebel against God's, you know, positions, we can rebel against the curse, but submitting to the curse and trusting in God's grace, I can work hard, God, okay, I'm gonna work hard, I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna discipline myself, God help me, and then we can succeed. I'm gonna be a godly wife, I'm gonna bear children, watch the home as the Bible speaks about, and that is gonna be blessed if I do that with submission to God in God's economy. And so God is God. And so God's original creation was one male human being and female was made from him. And so male is the blank. And who'd like to read verse eight that segment for us? Okay, Nelson. Okay, so God first made Adam from dust, and then you remember God put Adam to sleep, and he made an incision, he took a rib, he closed it back up, and he made Eve from the rib that he took from Adam. God made man out of the dust of the ground. It's nothing for God to make Eve from a rib that he took out of Adam. Matthew Henry, a commentator, made a great statement about this. The woman was made 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 to his heart to be loved. Well put, okay? Very graciously put. So God's creation, though, started with male leadership, and from man, he made a woman. My dad, I've said many times, my dad said when God brought Eve to Adam, he named her by saying, whoa, man, you know? And that was woman. And so, but God made Adam first, then he made Eve, and so the leadership was with Adam. God created female as a help meat for the male. And so help is the blank. Verse 9. Oh, that phrase for us. Mac, you got it? Yeah, under letter B. Okay, so, you know this story, God had Adam name all the animals, and how intelligent he must have been. You know, all these names that were given, I mean, I don't know how many animals were back then, so many have gone extinct, you know, I mean, so there's tremendous amount of animals and tremendous amount of information in the animals, so then I'm sure they would go into different species, you know, coming down and so on. And so, he's naming them all, and he's looking, and it's been said, he looked at a giraffe and goes, nope. Hippopotamus, nope. Elephant, no. And he's going, where is she? He doesn't know she's a she. He doesn't know what he's looking for. And so the Bible says, there was not found in help meet for him. And so God met his need by providing his wife and he brought her to the man and Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall man leave his father and his mother shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. And so God ordained the family unit, male, female, and a man leaves his mom and dad, takes a wife, there's a new family unit. And our family, or our society rather, is quick to put that away, aren't they? the family unit, and divorce, ungodliness, multiple partners, no marriage, and they say, I'm gonna put off adulting, right? Or they say, I'm gonna put off having children, you know? And that's their idea. A Christian ought to embrace God's position, which was be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, and as the Bible says in Psalm 127, lo, children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. So praise God for the family union and how he put that together. But the woman came from the man. And so some considerations about subordination here, number seven. Others are observing our submission to God's ordained position. Others are observing it. And so verse 10, who'd like to read that for us? Okay, Allison. Okay, so in the context, again, the head covering showed submission to her husband and it glorified him. But what does because of the angels mean? What's that about? And so in the Bible, there are times where the Bible speaks clearly about the fact that angels are watching or observing and aware of what's taking place. So for instance, at the birth of Jesus, who announced it? angels, right? And so they come. Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. He's already been born over there. We're letting you know about it. At the resurrection of Jesus, who announced it, The angels, he's not here, for he's risen as he said, you know, as they come into that place at the grave. When someone gets saved, who notices? Well, we do, but there's somebody else observing. The Bible says in Luke 15 verse 10, likewise I say unto you, there's joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. And so they're observing. And we don't know too much about them. We might not get into too much of that. We do study the angels in the Bible. It's called angelology. You know, just get an understanding of Lucifer and the righteous angels and so on, Gabriel and Michael. But they're observing and they're aware. Even the accuser of the brethren. Who is he? He's a fallen angel, okay? And so there's an observation that's taking place. So when a woman submits to the authority that God's given to her, who sees it? The angels do, they're aware of that. And so, that seems to be what Paul is speaking about. Letter B, we need to remember that our position is not inferior or superior. Position is a blank. And so man is not superior because he's the head. Woman is not inferior because she's submitted to the man and has male leadership. That would be like saying this, you know, John Sweeney is superior to me. Why? Because he's a first minister, okay? Or Keir Starmer is superior to me because he's the prime minister. Look, I understand in authority they are above us, that we have a responsibility to submit to their leadership. But there could be somebody that's superior to Keir Starmer. There could be somebody that's superior to John Swinney. It may not be me, but there's somebody. So it doesn't mean superiority or inferiority. It just means leadership. They have a position that is God given. And so Paul dispels the myth about inferiority. If I submit, then I'm inferior. He does that by speaking about, first of all, in the Lord. The body of Christ functions with men and women. There is equality in Christ in that sense. And so look at verse 11. Do you have it? Okay. And so, nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. So in Christ, praise God, in the body of Christ, there's great positions for women, there's great positions for men, and there's tremendous things happening at our church that are by men and by women, and praise God. And so in the Lord, there's equality. All things of God, in the next verse, shows creation functions with men and women. And so verse 12, who wants to read that one for us? Oh, let's have somebody else, Mac, you've read a couple. Okay, Charlotte. Okay, so Eve came from who? Adam. Everybody says, has come from woman. Okay, so, but I mean, the first female came from male. And so they're together. All things of God, meaning they're all created, they're all designed by God. And so if a man is truly submissive to Christ, he will not lord it over his wife, but will lovingly lead her. If a woman is truly submissive to her husband, she won't resist his God-given leadership role. They're both important, but there are positions that God has given that are vital that we hold to. And so, now, maybe kind of to answer some of the questions that might be in your mind as we continue forward here. There were clearly some societal norms that were being ignored by some. Norms is the blank. Okay, so we're gonna go back to the head covering issue and also gender identity issues that are in this text. So there was something unseemly about women praying without a head covering. So in Paul's day, it was clearly not right. And so verse 13, who'd like to read that for us, that phrase? Okay, Tommy. Okay, let me just say this as well. Do we have meat offered to idols at, you know, we go down to the high street here and we have to be really careful. Now I understand if we wanna get into Islam and how they're slaughtering their meat and all that stuff. Okay, we could get into that. But generally speaking, we don't have what was happening in Paul's day when it comes to the idolatrous meat. And should I buy that or should I not? But did we find application of the truth that was presented Yes, it was valuable, the study that we had about, should I eat meat or not eat meat? Okay? And so, in a similar way, if somebody comes into church, nobody tonight is shocked that our women don't have their heads covered as they come into church. But in Paul's day, was it the same? Answer? No, it was not the same, okay? There is something back then that is not here now that was shocking in Paul's day. How do I know that? Because Paul says this, judge in what? Okay, you be the judge, and if they're gonna judge it, they're gonna come to the same conclusion. Paul wouldn't say this unless Paul understood that you get it, okay? As I'm saying this, you understand there is a problem about a woman coming into a church and not having her head covered, okay? So Paul is being clear that they were taking a liberty, because we've studied this idea of liberty. I'm saved, I'm a Christian, I know it's nothing, hair's nothing, covering's nothing. but there was a societal norm that they're violating that made it look bad as a poor testimony and reflecting poorly on the head that they had. And so we know as a church, if we do something that's appalling, churches ought to be aware when they have rock music up on their stage and they have dark lights and it looks like the world, they ought to stop, look and listen, look around and judge yourselves if this is right. and modesty, judge yourselves if this is right. So there are times where the church has to step back and look at it and go, oh, you know what, I can see it, I get it. And that's what Paul is having them step back and look at and say, there's a problem here, okay? So it's not appropriate, it's not right, so they need to do something about it because it was dishonoring the leadership that they had. And so, Secondly, letter B, there was a contradiction of gender norms if a man had feminine hairstyling. Gender norms. Verse 14 and 15. And we'll go just maybe a few minutes long. I don't know if we're gonna get done in the next five minutes. But I had to pack it in tonight, because it's all one thought. So who'd like to read that for us? We're almost done. All right, Nelson. Okay, so have you ever considered that hair length has to do with gender identity? Interesting to think about. And so generally speaking, around the world, women have what length hair? Long. Generally speaking, around the world, men have what? Short hair. That's natural because God's made it that way. And so our world are big on something called unisex. so that gender neutral clothing, so that we blend the genders. Why? Because we reject God, we reject the idea that there's male and female, we reject gender positions, and so we're just gonna blend everything together. And so they want toilets to be no longer male and female, they want clothes to be no longer male and female, they want it all to be the same. Why? because they're rejecting God. Okay, we need to be honest about that as a church and say that is why our world is doing this. They're casting off God and they're casting off his truth. And so even the world knows that gender is represented by dress. Agree or disagree? Don't say out loud. Because look at your paper. Do you see an emblem? How do you know which one's male or female? And I hope I didn't make anybody, yeah. Do you see it though? That's how we identify what toilet you could use. How? By dress. Interesting. That society recognizes, would you be uncomfortable if I, you know, you wouldn't be uncomfortable if I had a skirt, or a skirt, a kilt on today. But if I had a skirt on today, is that going to make anybody uncomfortable? What if I was gone for six months, or we're gonna be gone for three, but let's say it was six, and Pastor came back and I had hair down to the middle of my back? Gonna be okay with that? Are you gonna go, Pastor, I just, you know, I know we're not legalists here, but I just think, what's wrong, Pastor? So I'm trying to point out, laugh about it a little bit, that there are gender norms and there are gender contradictions. And as believers, we need to step back from that and say, okay, God made me a gender, I need to represent my gender and I need to pray about it and be wise about it because our world is trying to get rid of gender identity, okay? And so we ought to take it very seriously and consider what we do, is that shameful or not, so that I can honor God. So we need to pray about it. And so this instruction was to be taken charitably, and not legalistically, charitably is the last blank. So who'd like to read the final scripture for us? Brother Woods. Okay, so did Paul just waste his time? Did he waste the scripture, the Holy Spirit? Give him information that is not practical or helpful or applicable or truthful or something that we should really consider? Answer, no. So he's not saying that this is an important truth. He's saying we don't require this. we're not gonna say, you know, if a man comes into our church and he's got longer hair, we're not gonna become the hair police where we decide what's the length that is too long that, you know, but does that mean that it's okay for a man to have long hair in the sense of is it shameful for a man to have long hair? Answer? Yes, because that's what the Bible says. And so Paul's saying, we're not gonna legislate this. We're not gonna become legalistic about it. Somebody wants to argue about it, we're not gonna argue about it. But here it is. I'm gonna set it forward that there is a submission principle, a gender identity principle, that it's important for us to recognize the position that God has called us to and do our very best in it. And so questions for us as we conclude tonight. How does what you do show your submission to your God-given head? So the leadership that God has entrusted to us, how does our submission to that, does it honor them and reflect well upon them and bring glory to them? And then judging ourselves, are we doing what's acceptable? See, we can justify a lot of things. They were justifying the fact that women at that day and that time, they knew they should have a head covering. For whatever reason, they're casting it aside, but it doesn't look good and it's disrespectful and it's hindering the ministry, but it was happening. And so the thing is, in our lives, we can have things that come into our life and we need to step back and go, you know what, judge myself, judging myself. That's not okay, that needs to change. That music, that dress, that activity, that whatever, I need to change that so that I can honor God. And then, are we rightly representing our God-given gender in a world where there's an identity crisis? We know today, and I was gonna say this, transgender women, or yes, or lesbians, what length hair? Typically, or many often. Sorry, short. Yeah, sorry, it was kind of a confusing thing. Transgender women, meaning, how do I mean that? Because I never know how to say that. A woman that's trying to be a man, does she have long hair? No, okay, because she knows a man should have short hair. A lesbian, and that's sad. I hate even to use the terminology. You could say a sodomite, but short hair or long, typically. short. Do you understand what I'm saying? So they are very much proactive in that. And so it is right for us to look and say, well, I'm going to be gender affirming, okay? I'm going to present myself masculinely as a man, femininely as a woman, and that it's important and that it's biblical. And then do you value God's goodness by embracing the position which he has given to you in life? Whatever gender we are or opportunities that God gives us in leadership and whatnot, is there a contentment in that and a submission in that to put ourselves under God? And so, have I answered all your questions? Probably not. Do I fully understand this passage? Probably not. And it's not an easy text, and you could check that by just reading commentaries, and realizing good men are on both sides, or different sides, maybe view it a little bit differently, but I believe the Spirit of God has helped us tonight as we come through, and that what we've considered is practical, it's helpful, it's biblical, and that we would do well to just pray over it and say, okay, God, how can that help me in my walk with you? All right, let's pray. Father, thank you for the Word of God tonight, and it's 6 o'clock on a Sunday night, but we've engaged our brains to study some difficult scripture. And Father, I just ask that the Spirit of God would, in the quietness of our heart, help us to consider, are we following our head? As a man, Christ. As a woman, husband, if married. male leadership, if not? And Father, children, are they following their parents? All of us, are we following the government? And so on. Father, they're our heads that you've given to us. And so, help us not to reject that or fight against that because that is not going to help us get where we need to go. And so, I pray, Lord, help us just to submit and may we benefit, may we learn from the Word of