So let's go ahead and open our Bibles, open God's Word to 1 Corinthians 11. It is our habit here at Crossroads to work through books of the Bible progressively. Some people call that expository preaching. A better word might be lectio continua, like we read the scripture from front to back, that's how we do it. which comes with all sorts of wonderful benefits, and that is that we get to know every corner of God's Word, including passages that probably, sometimes we would like to skip over, or avoid, or work around. But the inclination in our hearts to work around God's Word is a bad one, right? That's an inclination I have in my own heart. Like, I'd rather not listen to that right there, or have to try to understand that. And so, in order to fight and combat that, one of the ways we do that is we just keep going. we take God's Word as He has given it to us as good. So, let's go ahead and read this morning 1 Corinthians 11. I'm gonna read verses 1 through 16. The Apostle Paul writes, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. 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, and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 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. Nevertheless, in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman, for as woman was made from man, so man is now 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 go ahead and pray. God, your word is good. So we ask that you would speak to us today as we sing, speak, O Lord, as we come to you to receive the food of your holy word. Test our thoughts and our attitudes God, we often need that. So God, please humble us today as we all come under your word. Help us to hear it, not just as a theological exercise or as some sort of cultural argument we may have, but God, to hear it as your word to us for our good and for your glory. that as we live lives conformed to your word and your law and your grace, we would know the joys of knowing you. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. So as we've been working through 1 Corinthians, there are two big themes that keep bubbling to the surface. The first is that Jesus changes everything. It's one we've said over and over and over. The second theme is that as Christians, we are to live in the world, but we are not to be of the world. Following Christ makes us different, and that is God's design. And so, as I think about why it is that that keeps coming up in 1 Corinthians, I wonder if maybe it's that God, in a way, is trying to confront in us the limits that we like to put on those themes. I mean, isn't it true? Sometimes we don't want Jesus to change everything. I don't want him in every corner of my life. There's some things I want to keep for myself. And sometimes it just, it would be easier to be like the world around us. We want to be of the world, not like in a bad and rebellious sense, but maybe sometimes just for convenience sake. which is why we should thank God when he confronts us. Because the joy of following Jesus far outweighs any temporary pleasures in this world. And so what we're really after in obedience to God, in God changing everything about us and not being of the world, is a better life, a good life, leading to eternal life. And so don't be afraid if God calls us to difficult things. If Jesus presses on something and says, we need to change this, and you go, I'm not sure I want to change, because actually he's not calling you to misery, he's calling you to joy. He's calling you to something good. And all that to say, I think perhaps you understand that 1 Corinthians 11, 2 through 16 is a difficult call. Not just at the surface level, but at a much deeper level, God has spoken about gender. He's spoken about gender roles. He's even spoken about our clothing, even as specific as our hair. Now, in a way, we understand that God's instruction and teaching on gender is gonna confront the world around us in major ways, so much so that I'm gonna even save a lot of that for another sermon. But perhaps it also confronts us. I wonder how much the world around us has influenced us as Christians when we think about gender, maybe more than we'd like to admit. And so all that to say, these things really do matter to God. And so they should matter to us. And when things matter to God that confront us or confront the world around us, we should take the advice of James and be slow to speak and quick to listen to God's Word. So that's my goal today. I can't be slow to speak because that's my job to speak right now, but my hope is to speak in a way that just lays God's Word open for you. I will not answer all your questions. I'll try to refrain from even giving my opinions. simply to say this is what God has said. It's really what we try to do when we sit under God's Word. There's only one command in this whole text, and it's in verse 13. Judge for yourselves. So there it is. I will lay God's Word before you, and now you have a responsibility. Judge for yourselves. I may not convince you of my conclusions, But what I do want is that you would go to God's Word, be a diligent student, ask God to lead you to what is true and right. Because honestly, the surface-level instruction here is very straightforward. There's a very plain reading of this passage, and it goes like this. Wives should cover their heads in worship, and men shouldn't. It's really not a complicated passage, just it's pretty straightforward. I'm gonna refer to that generally as head coverings. So when you hear head coverings, oftentimes that's, I think in my mind, that's talking about what the woman should do, but the instruction is equal to the men, right? So it's that men shouldn't cover their heads and wives should. Now that probably raises lots of questions for you because it's very clear that we don't do that. except for the guys usually do. For some reason, that kind of exists still in culture, that it's polite to take off your hat when you pray. But I think we should ask, like, why is it, what happened here? Why is it that we don't practice this? That's a really good question. It's a hard question to answer. So let me just, before we dive in, there's basically two ways to understand what Paul's instruction is teaching here. It's two interpretations. There's lots of little subsets, but there's basic two paths. Either head coverings are a Christian tradition from God that we ought to still practice, or head coverings were a cultural practice that the Corinthians had that Paul is instructing on but is not essential for us today. It's kind of two basic, either, I think like this, either it's tradition, and remember tradition is a good thing, we talked about that from verse two a couple weeks ago. Tradition is either good Christian biblical tradition or it's cultural, traditional or cultural. So I'm just gonna put my cards on the table in case you don't know. I think the head coverings are for today. Like I take the traditional interpretation. You probably understand that because my wife wears a head covering every week, has for years. I just think that's the most plain way to read the passage. And as much as I've tried to get around it, I keep coming back and going, I think this is what God says. But I say that just on the front end because I don't like to be sneaky. And I want you to understand, it is not my goal to persuade you to agree with me. That's a fool's errand. And you don't want to agree with me on everything, I promise you that. And in our church, we really put an emphasis on majoring on the majors and minoring on the minors. And this is a minor. It is not a major doctrine of the faith over which we would divide. Verse 16 bears a lot of weight, right? If anyone wants to be contentious, that's not our practice. We don't do that. So you are certainly welcome to disagree with me. And I promise you, I won't hold that against you at all. My goal today, as I've already said, is just to lay God's Word before you and call you to judge for yourselves, because that's what God calls you to do. I want you guys to be students of God's Word, not just blind followers of your pastor. Follow Christ. And if I follow Christ, follow me as I follow Christ, as Paul would say. So to just get through God's Word, I'm gonna break this into three basic headings, creation, redemption, and expression. Again, verse two, Paul says, I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I deliver them to you. And I told you a couple of weeks ago, this is marking the beginning of a new section. From chapter 11 through the end of chapter 14, Paul's instructing us on the traditions of the church. and how Christians ought to worship. He doesn't say everything about worship, but he does dive deep into a couple of important matters. And so clearly this issue of head coverings is one for worship. Notice in verses 4 and 5, and again in 13, head coverings are for prayer and prophecy. And we don't need to dive into the depths of those, but prayer and prophecy are just the basic essentials of Christian worship. Think of prophecy as speaking about God to one another, and prayer as speaking to God together. That's what we do. We talk to God, we talk about God to each other. Prayer and prophecy. So just big general headings. That's the basic elements of Christian worship. So when a church gathers for worship, this is the narrow application that Paul's giving in this whole section, and so when head coverings pop up, we know that he's talking about what happens when the church gathers, and I'll help you see why that is. When the church gathers, men should uncover their heads, and wives should cover. So Paul's goal, you'll notice in verse 3, is not correction. He does correct them. If you look down to verse 17, When he shifts gears, talking about the Lord's Supper, in the following instructions, I do not commend you. In other words, you are not obeying. You're not doing well. But apparently from verses 2 through 16, this is something that Paul's commending them. You've done this. And so he says in verse 3, I want you to understand. So the Corinthians were practicing the head coverings. Paul's explaining to them why. He's not correcting them. He's offering clarity. Maybe they were doing this blindly. A friend of mine suggested to me when we were talking about this, or when I was listening to a sermon of a friend of mine, and he said, you know, when we do things without reasons, that's what we call legalism. We just do things just because we're supposed to do them. And that is not following God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Rather, we ought to know why it is that we do what we do. And this is exactly what Paul's doing. He's laying out for them why. Why is it, since the Corinthians are practicing head coverings, why are they doing this? And so he starts with a really big picture truth in verse 3. I want you to understand, he says, that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. So basically, the reason for head coverings is because there's a design of headship. It's a really clever play on words. God has designed that men, husbands, are the head of their wives, just as Christ is the head of the church, and God the Father is head over all things. Now, because this issue of headship I think is so sticky and needs a lot of clarification, I'm gonna bump that out. We're gonna talk about headship and gender roles in a week or two, so if you thought this sermon was a lot of fun, just wait until we get into those matters. But this is God's Word, so we're gonna dive in deep and fearlessly. But just let's keep it really simple. As Christians, Christ is the head of our household. He's our authority, He's our Lord, He's our Savior. Like, we look to Him for our provision and protection. And if you're like me, even today, I just, I felt like all I could do today, this morning when I woke up, not just, a little bit after I woke up, is I just needed Christ. I just, if I have nothing else to cling to right now, I can cling to Christ. Right, that's what he means when he's our head. And in God's creation, he has given men the responsibility to be the head of their household, to lead their wives and children, ultimately to honor Christ our head. And then of course he says this is reflective of who God is. God the Father is head over God the Son. So because of this order that God has made, therefore, verse four, Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. So you got something over on your physical head is dishonoring to Christ who is your spiritual head. And, verse 5, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head or her husband, 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 or shave her head, let her cover her head. So when men cover our heads, it's somehow dishonoring to Christ. When women uncover their heads, it's somehow dishonoring to Christ. We should say, well, how is that? That seems pretty minor to us. How could what you put on your physical head somehow honor or dishonor God? It's a good question, that's what Paul answers the rest of this passage. He makes his point first in verse 7. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is, since, there's your reason, he is the image and glory of God. But woman is the glory of man. He's taking us back to creation. This is an echo of Genesis chapters 1 and 2. So if you have a bookmark in your Bible, stick it in 1 Corinthians. Stick something in 1 Corinthians so you can get back there quickly. You go all the way back to the first page of the Bible. Well, after all that extra stuff that they put in there. Genesis 1. Genesis 1. If you're in a spot in your life where you're saying, I really want to build my Bible knowledge and understand the world through the lens of scripture, You need to spend lots of time in Genesis 1, 2, and 3. Those are so foundational to everything. It's exactly what Paul's doing here. Why do we cover our heads, Paul? Why do we uncover our heads? Paul's saying, let's go back to creation. So Genesis chapters 1 and 2, just starting in Genesis 1, 26. Then God said, let us make man in our image and after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. You are different than animals. It's kind of laughable that we have to say that today, isn't it? Right? You are not an animal. You are made in the image of God. Nothing else in all creation can say that. And though it's a mystery in some ways what that actually means, it means that God made us to know Him and to represent Him. Paul even says that men are the glory of God, which is that God has made us to show how awesome and beautiful and powerful he is. And in the sense of Genesis 1, that is true of men and women. We are made in the image of God. I like to say we are equal in value and purpose. We represent God on the earth. We display him. And Men and women are different. Paul says that men are the glory of God. By that he's not saying that women aren't, but he's saying that the unique creation of man, of a physical male, is to reflect in some way on this earth God's uniqueness in his authority and headship of us. And then he says women are unique in that they are the glory of man. Which means that women, just as a whole gender, reveal the awe and beauty and power of humanity. That'd be a fun little study to go on. How is it that women uniquely show the beauty and power and awe of humanity? That's for another time, but we sit here and go, men are created uniquely to show the glories of God. Women are created uniquely to show the glories of humanity. That's how God made us. So verse 8 of 1 Corinthians 11, we're gonna go back to 1 Corinthians 11, keep something in Genesis, we'll go back there in a minute. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 8, this is Paul's logic, right? For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. So this is Genesis 2. Genesis 1, we get image and glory of God. Genesis 2, we get the distinction between men and women. God made Adam out of the dust of the earth, breathed life into his nostrils, gave him a law, and entrusted him with the Garden of Eden. Adam needs help. This is incomplete. God says it's not good that man should be alone. And so God creates woman out of the rib of the man. Let me read to you from Genesis 2.21. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to man. Then the man said, this is at last, or this at last is bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. So God made us many ways equal in his image. but he also made us just different men and women. I mean, our physical bodies alone testify to this, right? That men and women are different. Physically. But it's not just physical, it's also, if you like big words, metaphysical, that is like beyond physical. God made us different. And that goes down into the roles that we play in humanity. Men are entrusted with authority over their wives, and that highlights God's authority over us. Wives are entrusted with the beauty of humanity, and that highlights the glory of humanity as they submit to their husbands and to God. So, here's the logic. Verse 10 of 1 Corinthians 11. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head. Paul goes back to creation, remember how God made the world, therefore, verse 10, a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head. And that's similarly why a man should not. Because it testifies to God's design for men and women and husbands and wives. So for a man to cover his head is to dishonor God. For a wife to uncover her dishonors both her husband and God. Now, you might say, well, I'm still a little confused as to why the piece of cloth matters. It seems like clothing would be a strange way to highlight God's design, and you actually know that it's not, because you all know that clothing communicates. What you wear says a lot about who you are, or sometimes it says you're trying to say something with what you wear very specifically. I almost never wear a suit. It's really hot, especially when the baby falls asleep on me during songs. But it's so funny because as soon as I walked out of my bedroom this morning, Charlotte says to me, wow, daddy, you look handsome. And even a couple of the guys today made a comment. I think Linda said I look snappy. Oh, well. So I could wear a suit because maybe I'm not really feeling good about myself today and I need a few compliments. If you see a suit, you might know that's what's going on. But really, I just wore this to make a point, right? Is that everybody recognizes that's not normal. That's not how you usually dress, what's going on. Right, because it communicates. So whether you wear a suit or you put a mariner's ball cap on, you've said something about yourself that you want other people to understand. Clothing communicates. We all tell each other something about our favorite colors or about what we think looks nice, about our wealth or about our interests or about our beliefs, maybe what we do for a living. All of that is communicated in what we wear. And so, though clothing may change from culture to culture, clothing always communicates. I know where, in the area where I grew up, there was a certain community that when you would see them at Walmart, you knew exactly who they were and what they believed. And we have it down here, we have, I think, German Baptists down here, and you see them out and about, and their women dress very specifically, and their men dress very, a little bit more generically, but, like, you can spot them and say, that's different. And in just merely what they wore, they have told you the kind of family they belong to, the kind of place they live, and what their religious convictions are. So we all understand how this works. So it shouldn't surprise us that when God has given us something to communicate a truth about him, he might actually call us to put something on or take something off. Clothing communicates, communicates everything about who we are. Remember what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden after they sinned against God? They ran off and made fig leaf underwear, loincloths, which, of course, the problem was that didn't cover their bodies and it didn't cover their sins. So what did God do? He made garments. He actually made coverings for their bodies, symbolizing his forgiveness of their sins. In the clothes of Adam and Eve, God communicated his grace. Clothing matters. And so when we think through our clothing, and not just head coverings, we'll save some of that clothing talk for the gender and role and headship sermon, another exciting point in that sermon. But when we think about our clothing and how it communicates, we ought to think very diligently. And here's an amazing truth, Christians. The only way that our clothing can testify to something good about God, can reflect something good from creation, is when we're redeemed by Jesus Christ. So I'm going to take this jacket off because it's getting really hot, but I've made my point now, so I can do that. I've made my point, so maybe I'm saying something right now, it's just hot in here, that's all. So I think it's not hard to look around and recognize that gender distinction is completely flattened today. And not just flattened, it's distorted. We get uneasy when we talk about things like headship and male authority because we've seen how terribly it's abused. And I think all of that doesn't tell us that we ought to do away with it, it just tells us we're not in Eden anymore. This is not how God made the world to be. Perfect creation of men and women, remember, was naked and unashamed. Even clothing tells us we're not in Eden anymore. And when you think about the implications of that, that means that the image of God in us is actually marred and destroyed. The glory of God that we are to display is muted because of sin. And so ever since Adam and Eve rebelled against God, sin creeps into every corner of our lives, corrupting everything from our hearts to the clothes we wear. And the good news of the gospel is that Jesus breaks the curse of sin and death. Like that's what we really cling to, is that when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead and united us to himself, Jesus in a way brought us back to Eden. Jesus restores in us the image of God. Jesus empowers us to glorify God in all of our lives. We can't do that, no matter how much we put on top of our heads or take off, unless Jesus makes us new. This is why you ought to think about faith in Jesus Christ as following him through death and into resurrection. It's as if when you trust Jesus Christ to save you, He puts the old you to death and He makes you new and places you in the Garden of Eden. The Bible says all of this when it calls us new creations. It calls us from death to life, from darkness to light, adopted into God's family. We dramatize this in baptism. A death to sin, plunging you under the water, pulling you out as a raising to newness of life in Jesus. to be a Christian is to be a dead person. You have died to this world. You've died to the curse. You've died to distortions and corruptions of God's creation. And you are alive. You know God. You are made in His image. You can love Him and enjoy His provisions and protections. You have died to this barren wasteland and been raised again in the Garden of Eden with Christ. So it should give us great joy to follow Christ back to Eden, back to God's design. This is why God would call us in worship, to highlight His design, to celebrate true manhood and womanhood. That's the point that Paul makes in verse 11 of chapter 11, 1 Corinthians. Nevertheless, in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman. For as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman, and all things are from God." Now don't miss that important phrase, in the Lord. Because what he's saying is something changes with Jesus. So head coverings can't just be something you do because that's what you do. It's because Jesus has changed everything. And it's only in and through Jesus that we really actually understand God's design for the world. It's in Christ that men are enabled to lead with sacrificial love and fearless faith. It's only through Christ that women are enabled to express true beauty through both submission and the nurturing of abundant life. That's why we really need to do a deep dive on those things. Because in Christ, we understand that men and women are not just independent individuals who get to float through life however we want. That's how the world wants you to think. In Christ, rather, we are so dependent on each other because that's how God made us. Woman's not independent of man. Man's not independent of woman. Don't start feeling great about yourselves, men, because you don't have to put something on your head or because God gave you in charge. No, you should humble yourselves. You came from the womb of a woman. And all of this is God's design. The most vivid reality or a vivid picture of our dependence on each other is birth. Woman was created from the rib of the man, but we all come from the womb of women. That shouldn't lead us to create a conflict of who's in charge, as often gets so focused on. It should rather lead us to worship God as he made us. And God has remade us in Christ so that we can glorify him in displaying the distinctions between men and women. That's why, again, verse 10, a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. And you go, where did that come from? Because of the angels? That is a really strange phrase, and I admit it is difficult to interpret, but let me just tell you how I think it makes perfectly clear what Paul has in mind. The word angel literally means messengers. This is where the cultural argument comes from. Perhaps these are messages from messengers from the government who are observing Christian gatherings who might be testifying to their practices. So he may be saying here we need to do this so that we can appease local authorities or perhaps other churches are looking as well. But typically in the New Testament, the word angel describes a spiritual being sent from God, like what we usually think of as angels, messengers from God, invisible to us and yet nonetheless real and active. And it's interesting, as we look at what angels are doing, one of the things angels do is they watch us as we worship. Have you thought about that this morning? There are angels in heaven with us, Crossroads Bible Church, observing what we're doing. This is actually explained in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, just a few pages to the right, Ephesians chapter three, verse eight. It's a little wordy, let me read it and I'll kinda simplify it. Paul says, to me, though I am very least of all the saints, the 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 heavenly places. So rulers and authorities in heavenly places is a reference to spiritual beings, specifically angels. And he's saying, what are the angels doing? They're watching the church so that they can learn of the manifold wisdom of God in seeing the riches of Christ. And so when the angels observe among the people of God, people from every tribe and nation, people from all sorts of different backgrounds and all sorts of different lives, when they observe us all one in Christ, they understand the mysteries of God. And so angels watch worship so that they can know God. Amazing call to the church. If we're gonna actually be a worshiping people, we are communicating to angels about who God is. Which helps make sense of 1 Corinthians 11. If angels are watching worship and they see the bare heads of men, and the covered heads of women, wives, they see God's design for humanity revealed. There should be nowhere else in this world where angels can see manhood and womanhood on full display, because it's all distorted everywhere we look, but not in the church. Now, I know that in our day, we make light of what we wear. We like to think that it's not that big of a deal. we say, come as you are. And we really do mean it. Come as you are. Please don't wear a suit very often. I don't want to have to start doing that. I think I told Linda, I said, don't get used to it. I was wearing jeans last week and a polo shirt. Nobody said anything, right? Just come as you are. And why do we do that? Because that's how Christ welcomes us. He welcomed all of us when we were clothed in sin. So we ought to welcome one another no matter what you wear. But We also know from God's Word that Christ clothes us in his love and his righteousness, and that changes us. Like, our souls are liberated from sin and death, and therefore our bodies are also liberated to glorify God in our bodies, as we learn from 1 Corinthians 6. Which means at some level, Jesus changes how we dress. Like, if you want a great little truth to take away kids today, it might be this. How you dress can say something good about God. So when you go to put on your clothes, especially on the Lord's Day, ask yourself, how can I honor God today? It's a great thing for you kids to think about. And of course, as always, not just the kids, right? Not just the kids, all of us. So when we clothe ourselves in a way to honor God, One of the only specifics that God has given us is that men would uncover their heads and wives would cover theirs. I'll answer one little side question because I think it always comes up in my mind. If you're not a married woman, I don't think you're actually obligated to cover your head in any way. just because I think it's a symbol of marriage authority, but that's just a little, that's why I keep saying men and wives, I think men are always called to uncover, wives are called to cover. But let's just keep, I gotta get back on track, because I don't want to get through this text. So follow that argument that we've made from all the way back in verse 7, Down here, why is it that it would dishonor? It dishonors God for a man to cover his head in worship, and it dishonors a husband for a wife to uncover her head in worship because we're made in the image of glory of God. Men are entrusted with headship, so we glorify God when we uncover. Women highlight the authority of their husbands by covering their heads. I don't know, maybe you're still unsettled. So Paul explains a little further in verse 14. 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? Her hair is given her for a covering. God has designed our physical heads to communicate spiritual realities. Like the way he has shaped us. Let's just be honest, long hair is generally unbecoming on a man. There might be some exceptions to that rule, but there are exceptions that prove the rule. And, fellas, I know because I am a male between the ages of 30 and 40, and the ads I get online tell me, most of us lose our hair, or at least part of it. and it doesn't always look good. Maybe that's even why we're tempting to cover it. It's because physically, it's even been pointed out that women's hair has a better molecular structure than men's. Okay, we know that just by looking. And so when men uncover our heads before God, it's really an act of humility to say, I'm standing bare before God, just as his creation. I can't fix it up. I'm not gonna try to dress it up. I'm not gonna try to cover it up. I'm simply going to say, here I am. before God, a sinner saved by grace. On the other hand, God has designed women physically to have more hair and more beautiful hair. It's really true. That's why verse 15 says, it's her glory. It actually says, when it says it's her covering in verse 15, it's a completely different Greek word than all the rest of the passage. It literally means a piece of clothing, like a beautiful garment that you would put on. So God actually gives women hair to display beauty. This is his design. And that's why it's dishonoring for her to shave her head or chop off what God has given her. And in the same way, it's an act of humility to cover. You come before God, not ashamed, but in order to direct any honor that may come to you instead to God. So. Chapter 11, verse 13, judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a wife to pray with her head uncovered? So again, this whole passage is almost all explanation. It's all just information. Paul, there's one command, judge for yourselves. And so the right application of this text is not just for men to take off their hats and women to cover their heads. The right application is to judge. It's to think and to study and apply. I actually think you get this entirely wrong if you just blindly follow. So, how can you go about judging for yourselves? I'm gonna give you four really quick instructions. And the first one means a lot to me. You can disagree in love. I really love all of you. And you now understand my convictions Head covering does continue today, and that is a really minority view. I understand that. And you guys, I have a lot of things that I hold deeply and dearly that you don't have to agree with. And I just don't, I don't want to push anybody away because I have convictions, which I do a lot. And so I'm apologizing if I do that. But I really want you to feel free to disagree with me in love. That's why Paul, I don't know, verse 16, it almost seems out of place, but it's so, so helpful. If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God. I'm committed, I won't fight about this. Not at all. I will never pass out head coverings in the back. I will never check you. I'll never look down on you. I'm not gonna fight about it. And I hope you won't either. We've got bigger fish to fry. Okay, so that's one. Number one, we can disagree in love. Number two, I urge you to listen to the Spirit and the Word. A 45-minute sermon is never enough to fully understand anything from God's Word. You've gotta be a diligent student through daily reading, careful study, diligent observation. And God sends his Spirit to teach us. So I urge you to go deeper into this, and here's how you do it. Start with a Bible and a pen and a notebook. Don't go anywhere else until you feel like you understand what's going on. It's really tempting to run out there and listen to what your favorite Bible teacher has to say, and because we're in the 21st century, I can almost guarantee you they say, this is not for today, it's a cultural matter. So just start with the Bible. Try to think of counter-arguments. Even start with this sermon and think of all the ways you disagree with me and all the questions you have. Write those down. I'll do a Q&A sermon if you want me to, but I'm not planning on it. And then pray. As you do that, pray that the Spirit would show you what's true in God's Word. Okay, so now you've done some rigorous Bible study, how else would you judge for yourselves according to verse 13? Listen to the church. The church is a place for listening how other people are understanding and processing things. We have different perspectives, we see different things. This is probably the place too where you would go and listen to your favorite Bible teachers. But can I encourage you? Listen beyond what you're used to. I mean, most evangelical Christians, including every commentary I have on my shelf, all say that head coverings are a cultural matter. So now go back and listen to what John Calvin said 500 years ago, or Martin Luther, or go ask what our Christian brothers and sisters in India or South America think about this. I'd also encourage you to listen to our church. It was maybe a few years ago when Teresa brought this passage up to me and said, we need to talk about this. She'd been doing her own study and said, I think this is something I'm supposed to do. What do you think? And I said, yeah, I just think there's no other way to read this passage. So all that to say, and I don't usually like to do this, I would volunteer Teresa to you. She is far more well-versed in this than I am. She is a great theological and very practical resource if you have lots of questions. She's thought of them, I promise you that. And if you wanna go online, you can go, there's a great little website called Head Covering Movement. where they probably have answered every question that you could think of. I really tried to focus just on what the text says and not to go off into every little tangent and objection and historical issue or contextual issue or cultural issue. Just say, like, let's just take God's word as it is and go from there. And I think that's a great place to start. So disagree with love. study God's Word, ask the people in the church. Number four, delight in freedom. Delight in freedom. Christ has set us free to love God and neighbor. Christ has set us free from the law that says you must do this for God to be pleased with you. And instead he has called us into his grace. So obedience to God is never meant to be a burden or something that divides us. It's meant to be a joy. And so, if in the freedom of Christ, you say, I think I need to do this, and I understand it's probably less awkward for the guys, because we're kind of culturally used to taking off our hats, but for the ladies, it's a lot, and it might feel awkward and intimidating, like, don't underestimate obedience to God. There are joys to be found there. At the same time, we should all rest, even if you say, I'm never settled on this, and now I feel really awkward, it's okay. Rest in the freedom that comes with Christ. God knows you, God loves you, And because of Christ, we don't have to get everything right. We're people of grace. So, the thrill of the Christian life is being changed by Jesus, even with the hard stuff. The thrill of the Christian life is glorifying God in a world that doesn't. So, while we're here in this world that's not our home, I hope we would honor Christ until we sojourn to be with Him. Let's pray. God, where I am foolish and wrong, would you correct me? But God, would you also draw me and my brothers and sisters only deeper into your word? We can probably never settle on everything, but we can settle on this. You have spoken, your word is good, and we wanna try with all our might to understand it. So God bless my brothers and sisters, as maybe they are now gonna wrestle with things they've never thought about. I pray that you would grant us supernatural unity and love, even when we strongly disagree. And God, I pray that the way we worship, the way we live, even the way we dress, would be pleasing to you and testify to the goodness and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray, amen.