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are going to just touch on the
text today, for sake of time and for sake of clarity, the
passage that we're going to deal with today in our series is probably
one of the most difficult passages in the book of 1 Corinthians.
So, it just so happened to fall out on this schedule, on this
day, at this time, and God orchestrated it in His sovereignty for us
to have a special James 5 prayer time and to have a missionary
guest, which was outside of our normal operation, meaning that
we've cut into what would be a regular exposition of this
passage. So what we're going to do is
I'm just going to introduce it, deal with the first two verses
in the passage, well actually the first three verses in the
passage. And then next week, we will work through verses 4
to 16. I had a contingency plan, and this is it. Originally, I
would have liked to have gotten through chapter 11, verses 1
to 16 today, but we're actually just going to deal with the first
three verses. We are going to read the whole thing and introduce
the content and the topic for you. And like I said, this is
one of the most challenging passages in the book because it leaves
us with some interpretational issues that we really just need
to discuss. And I'm going to tell you up
front, even studying this passage over and over again for years
and hours in preparation for this, I don't have all the answers.
I'm going to give you what I would consider to be the best exegetical
answers available, and I will give you my opinion, and I will
say my opinion differs from others that come to this text. I will
give you good reasons for why I think my opinion is the right
one, or else I wouldn't be giving it to you today. However, this
is a challenging passage of scripture that we're gonna deal with. But
the good news is that God and his word is spiritually understood. God gave us his word through
the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and God wants his word to be
clear, he wants it to be understood, and he wants us to apply it.
So knowing that our good God gave us his word for clarity
and understanding and application, we can pray and ask God to help
us to see it clearly, understand it well, and apply it to our
lives. And I believe God will answer
that prayer request. So even though this is a challenging
passage, I know that we will walk away with some understanding
in this passage, and I will do my best to give you the big picture. So, We have titled this message,
Worship Responsibly. This is a part three of this
series, Worship, and ultimately, though, we're dipping into a
totally new section of the book. Chapters eight through chapter
11-1 really dealt with the main issue of the problem of idolatry
as it affected Corinthian worship. Now, as we move into chapter
11 through chapter 14, we're going to stay on the topic of
worship, but we're going to deal with other issues related to
worship. In fact, we're going to deal
with the issues of public worship. In chapters 12 to 14, we're going
to see a subset of worship with spiritual gifting. Praying and
prophesying are bookends of this section. In fact, we see the
idea of praying and prophesying here in chapter 11. We're gonna
see it end the section in chapter 14. And then, so what we find
then, as we open up chapter 11, we know verse one went with the
preceding section. But it's a beautiful dovetail
into verses two and three, which give us the foundation of responsible
public worship. And that's all we're gonna discuss
today. We're gonna talk about the foundation of responsible
public worship. And as we look at verses two
and three, we're gonna help understand the big picture of verses four
to 16, which is worshiping responsibly in public, and specifically this
truth. Principled worship reflects its
object. So I want you to remember that
idea as we work through this whole section. What I mean by
that is worship based on principles or timeless truths must reflect
the object of what we're worshiping. So, with that being said, let's
just briefly do a little mental exercise. In chapters 1-4, Paul
specifically dealt with the disunity and lack of harmonious living
inside the church because the Corinthians were espousing man's
worldly wisdom. They were applying the wisdom
of the world to the operation of the church and God excoriates
them. He chastens them in chapters
one to four and basically says, look, man's wisdom is foolishness
to God. God's wisdom is the gospel of
Jesus Christ. And we must operate our lives
based on the truths of the gospel. And when we are operating our
lives on the truths of the gospel, we find incredible gospel actions
that bring unity, harmony, love, deference, and that's how he
walks through the first four chapters. Then in chapters five
through eight, he's dealing with similar issues of disunity, but
he's gonna deal with specific topics in the process. Then he's
introducing what would be intimately individual worship that is affected
by our heart idols. And then he gets into this section,
which he's gonna communicate public worship. So that's kind
of where we've been. Now, our scripture reading this
morning from Colossians 1, verses 9-18, actually is a perfect way
to start this section. Because in Colossians, our scripture
reading today, If you look back at verse 18, where we ended,
it gives us a principle that we need to espouse to help us
understand the rest of this text. So you're welcome to turn back
there to Colossians 1, verse 18, if you'd like. I'm just going
to read it after Paul makes this incredible argument. of the preeminence
of Jesus Christ, how Christ is first and must be first, he makes
this bold statement, and he, that is Jesus, is the head of
the body, the church. You ready? We're going to do
our exercise. Who is the church? We are. Who is the church? We are. What is the church's mission?
We glorify God, how? How do we accomplish that mission?
By being disciples, making disciples. So here he says that he, Jesus,
is the head of the body, which is the church, that's us. And
then he goes back to why Jesus is the head of the body or the
church, us, because he is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead. The idea of firstborn is not
the idea that he was somehow created and born first, as he's
a little demigod, as is false doctrine that is taught by Mormons.
No, this idea means he gets the rights and preeminence of the
firstborn. The idea that he is preeminent,
the firstborn from the dead, then links that firstborn right
as the second Adam who lived a sinless and perfect life, bypassing
the seminal transference of the sin nature through the Holy Spirit
coming upon Mary and God conceiving Jesus in Mary's womb supernaturally. He was born like Adam was originally
created without sin. Jesus was born without a sin
nature. Therefore, just like the first
Adam, he was confronted with a choice. Would he obey God the
Father or would he disobey the Father and sin? And thankfully,
we know that Jesus lived a sinless life. The author of Hebrews says
that he was tempted in all points like as we yet without sin. Paul put it this way, because
he endured the suffering of the cross, God has highly exalted
him, Jesus, and given him the name, which is above every name,
to the glory of God the Father. I skipped down a couple of phrases.
And so here he says in the text that because Jesus is the firstborn
from the dead, what gives him the ability to do that? Because
he was the first, he was the second Adam. He didn't sin, whereas
Adam failed, he succeeded. And because he didn't sin, when
he suffered on the cross, he cried out, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. He cried out, my God, my God,
why have you forsaken me? Because God poured out on Jesus
all of his wrath for all sin, for all sinners, for all time. And the perfect triune God in
mystery, who'd always been in perfect fellowship and harmony
from eternity past to that moment in time, God the Father turned
his back on God the Son. Because Paul would tell the Corinthians,
he, Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us. For a specific purpose,
so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Jesus. So Jesus, the second Adam, succeeded
where the first failed. And how do we know he succeeded?
Because he didn't stay dead. Because death is the result of
sin, and death is eternal separation from God. But because Jesus did
not sin, had no sin, and there was no deceit or guile in his
mouth, because he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised
for our iniquities, and he satisfied the wrath of God because it pleased
the Father to crush him in our place, Jesus, once for all sacrifice,
meant that nothing could keep Him dead. And He rose in power
and authority over death and hell, and He has given us the
victory. And so he is the firstborn of
the dead, which means there will be others to follow. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. That means when
I breathe my last, this frail body, hopefully it'll be a whole
lot older than it is now, but this frail body will eventually
be resurrected to new life with a new body and a new hope and
eternal deliverance. He is the firstborn from the
dead. that in all things, what does that result in? What is
the result of Jesus's preeminent power and authority as the head
of the body, who is the beginning and the end, the firstborn over
creation? What is the result of all this?
The result of all this is so that Jesus Christ has first place. Now you say, Pastor, what in
the world? How does this have anything to do with 1 Corinthians
chapter 10, or chapter 11? Well, that's a great question.
How about let's look at chapter 10. Remember what we said the
theme of responsible worship was. Remember the promise that
we saw in verse 13, no temptation is overtaking you except such
as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow
you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with temptation
will also make the way to escape, you may be able to bear it. What
was the emphasis in our defeating idolatry is that we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one, who's been
given to us. He replaced us on the cross. He died in our place, was buried,
and he rose again the third day so that we now have victory over
our daily sin. When we are tempted, we can go
to the Spirit of God, who indwells us in the name of the Son of
God, And we no longer have to say yes to sin, but we can say
yes to Jesus. So, what does that mean? That
means as the chapter ends, in chapter 10, verse 31, it means,
therefore, whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do, we
do all to the what? All to the what? So our lives,
even the mundane eating and drinking, are for this purpose of bringing
God glory as followers of Jesus. Because we have been ransomed,
reconciled, we have been brought nigh, we've been given peace
from the Prince of Peace, we have been adopted into the family,
been made children of the heavenlies, have an inheritance above, all
because of the living hope that we have in the precious blood
of Jesus Christ. So the text tells us, and the
follow-up to this text in chapter 11, as we walk into this final
expose, and what does it mean to be responsible in our worship,
worship responsibly, accountably to God, that all of our worship
and everything we do gathered together in Jesus' name should
be done for His glory. That's what it means. Why? Because
Jesus is the head of the body, the church. And who is the church?
So the whole point of chapter 11 and this discussion, which
is an admittedly difficult chapter, is hinging on this reality. Jesus Christ is the head of the
body. He ought to get first place. He gets all the glory. and he expects us as his paid
for, purchased, bought, loved, redeemed, inherited, adopted
children in his family as a part of his body, he ought to get
glory in everything we eat, drink, and whatever we do. Which means
when we gather as a church to worship, Jesus Christ ought to
get glory. So that leads me to this idea
that principled worship reflects its object. In other words, the
principles that we draw out from the text about our togetherness
worship will reflect the object of our worship. If we're worshiping
ourselves or our preferences or our culture or our desires,
then our worship will reflect that object. It will lead to
strife and disunity and disharmony. And here, Paul is going to deal
with an issue that, quite frankly, I'm just going to be blunt before
I get to the whole text here. There is no modern illustration
in our American culture that really underscores or connects
why Paul said what he said about the women and head coverings. And I'm going to explain all
that more next week, really, because I'm introducing it this
week. Okay, so come back for part two of part three. Part
three B, all right? However, as we understand and
we look at the text, we're going to find this morning that Paul
is setting up the reality that we must choose God's glory and
other's good when we worship together because we aren't called
to worship for ourselves. Paul has been building this really
strong case that the community of God's people, the body of
believers that we call the church, and who is the church? So we,
when we gather together, we gather for one singular purpose, to
worship and glorify God. Not for ourselves. Not for showiness,
not for attention, not for physical or spiritual manipulation amongst
the body. No, we are gathered together
to worship God for His glory. So, let's look at the text. I'll
read the whole thing. We aren't getting through it.
I'm going to give you like two principles and then we're going
to have to call it quits. Remember, chapter 11 verse 1 goes with
chapter 10, but it is a nice segue to verse 2 when Paul says,
imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. Doesn't that leave us
with, what's the last word of verse 1? What's the last word
of verse 1? What's the last word of verse
1? So what is chapter 11 verse 2 about? Christ. What is our worship about? Christ,
whether we eat or drink, what should we do? Do all to the glory
of God. It was Jesus Christ, okay? Do
you see the theme that's going on here? Now, look at verse two. Now, I praise you, brothers,
that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just
as I delivered them to you. But I want you to know that the
head of every man is Christ, and the head of woman is man,
and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying,
having his head covered, dishonors his head. But every woman who
prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, dishonors her
head. For that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.
For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn or shaved. But if it is shameful for a woman
to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. For a man indeed
ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory
of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man is not from woman,
but woman from man, nor was man created for the woman, but woman
for the man. For this reason, the woman ought
to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels.
Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman nor woman
independent of man in the Lord. For as woman came from man, even
so man also comes through woman, but all things are from God.
Judge among yourselves, is it proper for a woman to pray to
God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach
you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But
if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair
is given to her for a covering. But if anyone seems to be contentious,
we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God. May the
Lord add a blessing. to the reading of His Word this
morning. And remember, God's Word is meant to be clear, understood,
and applied. So we need to help clarify it
and understand it and apply it. Now, with that being said, let's
go back to verses two and three. I will satisfy some of the itch,
some of these questions that you have. I know, I will, because
you're all sitting there like, wow, that left me way more confused
than when you read it, Pastor Ryan. I will satisfy the itch
a bit, but I'm not going to preach next week's message. So let's
take a look, though, at the foundation of its response. The foundation
of responsible public worship is found in verses two and three.
and that is bringing this reality of spiritual headship. So let me just say a couple of
things that are English words that might be uncommon for us.
Have you ever heard the word decorum? Decorum in its Webster's
Dictionary means this, behavior in keeping with good taste or
propriety. Even the definition sounds stuffy,
doesn't it? It's like some British guy wrote
that, right? Behavior in keeping with good
taste or propriety, right? I mean, you could just see him
like flicking his little pinky out as he says it, right? The
next word though, etiquette. Have anybody heard the word etiquette
before? Okay. Etiquette. So etiquette, as Webster
defines it, this obviously is more of an American word, because
listen to the definition. The customary code of polite
behavior in society or among members of a particular profession
or group. Right? Doesn't that just sound
American? You know? Yeah, I did. I Texas-ized it. Yeah. The customary code of polite
behavior in society or among members of a particular profession
or group. Okay? Etiquette, code of conduct. Today we host a chaplain in the
United States Air Force Reserves. And there, I noticed in the lovely
picture of two weeks ago on Friday night, he was wearing a head
covering. He was wearing a hat. That is
required by military code. When he is outdoors, he must
wear his hat. If he is caught without his hat
outdoors, unless it was shot off his head in military combat,
He can be reprimanded. Somebody could walk up to him
and reprimand him for not having his lid on his head in outdoors. Am I right, Pastor James? Because
that is military code of conduct. It is proper for an officer representing
the U.S. Air Force or any military in
general to be lidded outdoors. Don't ask me why. I have no idea
why. I really don't. Maybe it's because
it has their rank insignia on it, which I don't think they
do that anymore. Why is it, James? If the officers does, yeah, the
officer has rank. Yeah, I don't know why. Somebody thought it
would be a great idea to have a hat on in the outdoors. No clue why. I'm sure somebody
knows why. You could ask Siri or Google.
Cortana might know as well. I'm sure there's a good reason.
But the point is, yeah, that's a Microsoft thing. The point
is this, etiquette, decorum. All of these things we understand
inside our social network or our social areas of behavior,
right? Okay, don't admit this. Don't
admit it. How many of you have ever had
to go to court for any reason? Don't admit it. Usually, yeah,
okay, I have too. I was told when you go to court
to represent yourself, dress up. look clean and neat, look
the judge in the eyes, make sure that you are holding and carrying
yourself well and be penitent, okay? Especially if you were,
you know, most likely if you're before a judge and you're the
defendant, there's something going on there, right? So we
understand that. We understand there's an etiquette
and a decorum involved in our society. Well, Paul is actually
laying out an etiquette when it comes to worshiping Christ. And he's establishing that etiquette
based on clear principles from Scripture. Now, Paul is also
picking an issue that is foreign to us. It is an issue that, from
American culture and society, it just seems like strange. It really does. And he's picking
that issue because it was a cultural issue in Corinth. It was a cultural
issue because of Judaism versus paganism versus the new way,
Christianity, followers of Christ. When the gospel enters into a
culture, the gospel shatters the culture. The gospel reaches
the culture for Jesus. And it takes everybody from every
culture. They come to faith in Christ.
They bring all of their preferences, their decorum and their etiquette
into one group of people. And if they're not careful, their
preferences can destroy the unity and the harmony that we're supposed
to jealously guard that is supposed to be provided by the Holy Spirit
in the person and work of Jesus. You get that? How does verse
one end? What's the last word of verse
one? Christ. What does 1031 say we're to do?
All to the glory of God. Christ is the head of the body,
the church. Who is the church? So when we
gather together, Christ should have preeminence and there is
a decorum and there's an etiquette that God lays out in His Word.
that affects culture and brings our culture together. Now, Christians
over the years have tried to make that look like a certain
thing on the outside, and that's exactly what's going on in this
text. Now, a very, very, very, very
important application that we're gonna get to next week, but I
wanna mention today is this. Look at verse 16. How does this
text end? How does this section end? If
anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do
the churches of God." Why? Because what are the fruits of
the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering
patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, and self-control. What are the works of the flesh?
Strife. James puts it this way in James
chapter 4 verse 1. Where do wars and rumors of wars
come from among you? Don't they come from your lusts
within that war against your souls? Contention and strife
comes from our flesh, not from the Spirit of God. And so there
ought not to be any contention. There should be no practice in
the decorum or the etiquette of worshiping God's church, God's
church gathering together of worshiping Jesus Christ, God
the Father in the name of Jesus. When we gather together, if there's
contention or strife about a particular practice, we ought to set that
aside. and decide, I will not do that
practice. I will not allow that practice
because it's bringing strife. And it is antithetical. It is
opposite of what God is asking for. God brings unity. Satan
brings disunity. Jesus brings truth. Satan brings
lies. Jesus is our advocate. Satan is our accuser. Do you see the difference? There's
a clear contrast in scripture. So when we work through this
text, we're going to find there are some really confusing things
here. And there are some people that have had some hearty opinions
on this and have been dogmatic about it. And I'm not going to
dogmatize, but I am going to give you my position, and I think
I'm leaning in a little bit so you can kind of know where I'm
coming from. So let me just make a couple
more comments. I'll give you some two kernels of truth, and
I'll leave it with that, okay? A couple more comments. First
of all, what does he say? Now, I praise you, brothers,
that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just
as I delivered them to you. First of all, this word praise
or this idea of praise is thrown commentators for a loop. Paul
has not done this. He only does it here. And everybody's
like, why? Are you being passive-aggressive,
Paul? Because you praised them, and then you say that wonderful
contrasting conjunction. Right? I mean, how many of you
have ever been in a job scenario where the boss calls you in and
you sit down and they say, hey, man, I want to let you know you've
been doing great at X, but, and you immediately know, oh, here's
the reason for this conversation. There's something I messed up.
And that's kind of the feel that you get here. So there's been
questions, why does he praise them and then tell them there's
some negative stuff that's going on? Well, first of all, I think
that Paul is actually pleased with the process of growth in
the church of Corinth. He's pleased with the things
that he's seen them do. I mean, this was a absolutely
pagan society that received Christ and had been transformed. We
read in 2 Corinthians, remember, in 1 Corinthians 5, he addresses
gross, or chapter 4, gross immorality among them. Like, immorality
that was just being accepted that wasn't even accepted in
the pagan society that they lived in. And Paul addresses it, and
we find out later, they listened to him, they dealt with it, and
then they restored the guy who had been in sin, and now he was
part of their, he had been forgiven, had forsaken his sin, and was
back to fellowship and the membership. So he is praising them for accepting
the truth that he had delivered. But here's the hangup. Some people
use this idea of the traditions that he'd given him to think,
well, it's the Bible, that's sufficient, but we also need
church tradition. And when you add tradition, you
also need someone like the church, church big C, or big church father,
you tracking with me? Like the big hat guy, who's got
to tell us how to interpret scripture. So we have scripture plus church
plus tradition, and that's not what Paul's saying. So this idea
of tradition does not mean extra-biblical traditions. These would be traditions
or truths that accord with Scripture. These are truths that accord
with Scripture. You say, well, Pastor Ryan, how do you know
that? Because Paul, the same author, also wrote the book of
Galatians and the book of Colossians, two books that clearly say you
have the gospel plus nothing. You have Scripture plus nothing.
He also wrote to Timothy, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, proof for correction,
instruction and righteousness. You also have the epistles of
Peter, where Peter says that holy men of God spoke as they
were born by the Holy Spirit, that that scripture is a more
sure word of prophecy than eyewitness accounts, Peter says. Okay. Scripture is where we go to for
our faith and practice. So these traditions are truths
that accord with Scripture. Okay? So I think, going back
to why is Paul praising them, I think basically he's praising
them so that he can correct them. It's kind of a soft reprimand
while thanking them for keeping his instructions in certain areas. So what is the principle I see
here in verse 2? That it is commendable to follow
your spiritual head in public worship. The principle is this,
God has made Christ the head of the church and as good big
B Baptists, well not really big B Baptists, little B Baptists,
good Baptists, we believe there are two offices in the church.
The office of elder. which three Greek words, five
English words, one office, okay? The office of elder, pastor,
teacher, pastor-teacher, elder, however you, whatever words you
like to use. We call it pastor at our church. But the office
of pastor is the singular office that was gifted to the church
to feed the flock of God, to protect them from dangers within
and without, false teachers and false teaching, right? to officiate
church functions and to observe the ordinances. And we find that
clearly beginning, the kernel of that happening in Acts, from
Acts chapter two all the way through early church history
and into the epistles. So who is the elder or the founder
of this church? It's Paul. What did he just say
in verse one? Imitate me as I imitate. Imitate me as I imitate. Okay,
so it's commendable as we look at the context, Paul is laying
out the principle of headship. And he starts by saying Christ
is the head of the church. But as the head of the little
head of the church, the founding pastor of the church, it's commendable
for you to follow me as I follow Christ. It's commendable to follow
your spiritual head in public worship. Spiritual leaders must
not elevate themselves to seek to build their own empire, but
rather to elevate Jesus Christ. Okay? So respectable, here's
the principle, respectable spiritual leaders also seek to pass on
biblical truth based on their honest study. Paul, who was a
master of Old Testament law, Philippians gives us his testimony.
He's a Pharisee of Pharisees. He's a Benjamite. He sat at the
seat of Gamaliel. This guy was a very brilliant
man. He was on the pace to be on the
Sanhedrin himself. So he, as a respectable spiritual
leader, he seeks to pass on biblical truths that were based on his
honest study. And he left those biblical truths
that were in accord with Scripture with this church. And when we
talk about etiquette for the church, when we gather together,
it's important for the church to understand and to follow its
spiritual head or heads in worship. In our case, we have a plurality
of pastors. So Pastor Stephen and I work together. We have
a preaching calendar that's completed the entire year, and we know
what every passage is we're gonna be in for the whole year. We
gather together, we talk about our worship services, we plan
the hymnody, we plan the scripture reading. We lead you spiritually
on Sunday. And Paul is essentially saying,
look, that's proper and correct. Because the head of every man
is Christ, the head of the woman is man, the head of Christ is
God, and the context of all this is within the church. And that's
the context of worship. That's the context Paul is building
here. There's a principle of headship. Now that's Christianese.
Have you ever used the word headship outside of the church? I can't
really think of an instance where you would. It is Christianese. What I mean by that is it is
a word that we Christians have created and adopted to mean something. And so I'm going to explain what
headship is next week in great detail. So you're gonna need
to Paul Harvey it, come back and hear the rest of the story.
But there's a last principle here that we see in verse three
when he says, but I want you to know the head of every man
is Christ, the head of the woman is man, the head of Christ is
God. Just make a quick comment about this. It's very likely
in this translation that man and woman could also be translated
husband, wife. Okay? And some translations do
that, depending on what translation you have. And I think that I'm
going to make application next week that will qualify for both. Okay? Because the headship principle,
this passage has been used to abuse women, and we want to make
sure that we clarify that that's not what this passage is teaching. Okay? So I want to make sure
when you hear the word headship, you don't bristle. because you've
seen headship as a Christian word being used for an excuse
to abuse women physically, emotionally, or spiritually. That is sin and
wrong. I don't know how I can be any
clearer than that. So the text does not teach that. Church leaders
then should seek to lead the church in proper decorum or proper
etiquette. I mentioned this already, but
there's a proper etiquette for concerts. How many of you have
ever been to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier? We actually
have a member across from Baptist Church, one of the founding members,
buried in the massive grave there in Arlington Cemetery. And I
have not yet been there to see his grave, but I can't wait to
go see his grave and honor his grave. David Goodman, dear friend
of mine, he's been with the Lord for a bit. Korean War veteran,
Purple Star recipient, silver, or excuse me, Purple Heart, Silver
Star recipient for bravery in the Chinese incursion in North
Korea early in that war. He was a Marine. It probably
would still tell you when you get to heaven, he is a Marine.
You know how Marines are, right? But when you go to the Tomb of
the Unknown Soldier, there's decorum. There's etiquette in
there. You better not mess with one
of those guards on duty. Do not interrupt their cadence
or step. Do not mock them or you will
face the wrath of the rest of the team member that's standing
guard to remove you from their presence. There is a decorum.
And so Paul is going to deal with this idea of etiquette in
the church. He speaks to this throughout
the text by using different words. He uses the word dishonor in
verse 4, 5, and 14. He talks about shameful in verse
6, or proper in verse 13, and glory in verse 15. All of these
reflect something about decorum in public worship, or etiquette.
Although this culture was a more honor-shame culture than ours
is today, there's still some major principles that we need
to apply. And so, I'm gonna show you this just to give you kind
of a heads up. Next week, I will literally walk through verse
four and five, and I'm gonna tell you all of the exciting
tidbits of information in verses four and five that made your
head turn as we read it. We're gonna talk about what does
it mean, a man being made in the image of God and a woman
not being in the image of God in verse seven. Is that what
he's really talking about? Short answer, no, but we'll talk
about it next week. Verse 10, we cover our head because
of angels? What? I mean, Paul says it, so
okay, we're going to deal with that next week. What about verses
11-12? This interdependence is an issue.
And then verses 13-16, the natural hair idea. What are we doing
with that? What does it mean, long hair?
Did Samson have long hair? Yeah, Samson had really long
hair. Was it shameful for Samson? No, he had a Nazirite vowel.
Okay, so we're going to have to deal with some of these things.
Alright? So, there's three things we're going to talk about next
week. And here they are. Number one, we're to glorify God by
honoring His headship in proper worship. That's what verses 1
to 10 are going to teach us. Alright? That's where I'm going
next week. I'm tipping my hat. Number two, that's weird. I don't know why
that is doing that. So I'm going to leave that up
and I'll just tell you what number two is. I'll fix that next week.
We're going to glorify God by honoring His headship through
created interdependence. That's what verses 11 and 12
teach. created interdependence, and you're gonna see what I believe
is a complementarian view of male and female created as equal,
serving God together as joint heirs together of the grace of
Christ, but having different but complementary roles. based
on creation, and we're gonna see that. And then the final
point is, again, it's being goofy, so I won't, oh, no, it's not
being goofy. Okay, here we go. Third one is this, glorify God
by honoring his headship through God's natural created order,
so I'm gonna deal with the hair thing. What does that mean? And we'll deal with that next
week. But here is the major principle. Remember, worship is all about
Christ, who is the head of the church. He is preeminent. He
gets the glory. So we must choose God's glory
and others good because we aren't called to worship for ourselves. That is the main principle for
today. And it's the main principle we're going to lead into next
week as we finish the message. And I will actually explain all
this weirdness that seems to be weird to us in the text. Okay,
let's pray. Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you
for the opportunity we've had. to have a special James 5 prayer
service over Kiko and Alexis and the family. Thank you for
the opportunity we have ourselves to confess our faults one to
another and be healed and restored. Thank you so much for the proper
etiquette that is involved in scripture, knowing that Christ
has preeminence in all things, that we can keep him preeminent
in all things, that it is proper for the spiritual leaders in
the church to focus on Christ and not self, to promote Christ
and not their own agenda, and Lord, to teach things that are
in keeping with the truths of scripture. And I pray that you'd
help us as we understand this principle of headship to dig
deeply in the text next week. Pray for Pastor James and for
the wonderful team of Living Hope, that you'd give them grace
and strength as they reach Reno for Jesus. Bless our fellowship
as we leave, the lunches to follow, and the small groups tonight.
And we pray these things in Jesus' name. In God's people said? Amen. All right.
Worship Responsibly Pt 3
Series 1 Corinthians
| Sermon ID | 518252224458028 |
| Duration | 41:42 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 |
| Language | English |
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