Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / December 11, 2022 | 1 Corinthians - Christian Order

Transcript

December 11, 2022 | 1 Corinthians - Christian Order · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Morning.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Want to welcome you.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you are new, uh if you are just coming uh to see us after um the light show, I want to encourage you that the difficulty of what we're talking about this morning is not normal.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um we are in a passage that is very controversial this morning as we are walking through our series in First Corinthians.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just I just feel like that's important to say, you know, if if this is your first time, it's it's not always like this.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, um this morning we uh we are going through, uh continuing in chapter 11, and one commentator said about our section this morning, this passage is probably the most complex, controversial, and opaque of any text of comparable length in the New Testament, right?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: So um, two things though to keep in mind before we dive in.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the first is that if you were with us last spring when we went through Leviticus, this is not as intense as the skin diseases message, okay?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um but second, right, this is going to be a great exercise in what Paul said to Timothy that all scripture is God-breathed, right?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: It is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be equipped for every good work.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is going to be a great opportunity for us to understand and see that in action.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So here's my hope.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: We can walk through this together, right?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then at the end, we can look and see what are these eternal truths that Paul uh is communicating to us, but really God.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So with that, we'll begin in chapter 11, verse 2.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Paul begins by saying, Now I praise you, because you remember me in everything, and hold fast to the traditions just as I delivered them to you.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul begins here by talking about traditions, right?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: What does he mean?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul has delivered to this group in Greece people who did not know him at all, right?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Did not know anything about really God beforehand.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're not of Jewish heritage.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: He has brought to them a tradition.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about it just a couple weeks ago, right?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: They understand what it meant to be connected spiritually to the generation that was in the wilderness in the desert.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so Paul says, Hey, I brought you these traditions, these teachings about Christ, this doctrine, this gospel message, and you've been faithful to it.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: In a letter that Paul has often used to rebuke them and correct them, here is a genuine compliment that he has given to them.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: That they have been faithful, they have held fast to these traditions.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: But then he says, But I want you to know, and then we have three phrases Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: So let's walk through this.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Christ is over every man.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's the first statement.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Second statement, man is over every woman.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: In this sense, is the head.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then over Christ is God, and in this context, we're talking about God the Father.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is God the Son, Jesus Christ.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: But if, I know, right, we're already in the thick of it.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is fun.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so if this passage was supposed to have the chief purpose of describing some sort of order, what Paul would have done is started at the top and worked his way down.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: He would have said, God the Father, then God the Son, Jesus Christ, then man, then woman.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, if that was his foremost intention, was to present this thing as some sort of order of authority, then he would not have done what he did.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: The head of every man is Christ, is the first statement.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: The head of the woman is the man, the head of Christ is God.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: If the point was to place women at the bottom, then why did Paul put her in the middle?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And furthermore, if we're talking about authority, why does Paul mention God last?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And beyond that, when we look at this, right, why does Paul take Christ and bracket the whole statement with Jesus?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: He begins with Jesus and he ends with Jesus, right?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: He's sort of picked this out-of-order proposition in order to describe something.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so what that tells us, and this is these are like great tools, right, when we're reading the Bible, what that tells us is that Paul has a different intention and mind than just trying to list some sort of order.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so what he's doing, as we go, we'll see this slide quite a bit today, what he's doing is he's saying that every single person has a head, right?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Every single person has a head.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And what he's then going to compare it to is he says, hey, look, we have the relationship, we have God the Father and Jesus Christ, this beautiful relationship that has been described and has been held throughout eternity, and it is one where they are equal with each other.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ has in his freedom submitted himself to God the Father.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yet there's beauty in every aspect of that relationship.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: If we take out the bottom half of that sort of structure, meaning the gender part of it, if any one of us would be asked to describe the relationship between God the Father and Jesus, we'd say it is filled with wonder.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: God looking to his son at the baptism, during the transfiguration, elsewhere, says, This is my son in whom I am well pleased, right?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: He is the glory of God.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we celebrate during Christmas.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Emmanuel.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: We just sang over here in the Mulvaine building.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yet at the same time, what Paul is going to be describing throughout this passage is how this beautiful relationship between God the Father and God the Son, that that is ultimately what is supposed to be reflected in the relationship between men and women in certain contexts.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Here in 1 Corinthians, we're talking about within the church and within the family, specifically the marriage relationship.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so already, there might be some of you who dislike what we're talking about, but my goal is to show you that Paul's intention here is to be saying we take the best example that there could possibly be, and that is what we are supposed to be trying to live out in this the broken relationships that we have.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: We are trying to model the perfect.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, we haven't even gotten to it yet.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing that he's going to be using this passage to describe is he's going to be talking about heads.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a like a literal head that we're speaking of, but then a spiritual head, right?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so beyond this, the other thing that Paul is saying is that each one of these relationships is kind of shining a light up the ladder that they are looking towards their head.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And each one of them serves as a head for the one beneath.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so as we go into the next passage, this is the image that we are carrying forth, right?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Paul has said, hey, from creation eternal, right?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, just from eternity past, even before creation, rather, that there has been a relationship that God the Father and God the Son have had.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is something that we are modeling in our relationships with each other, and there is something about headship that is going to play into the next passage.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so with that, we move on.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And to the next one, where we're going to take all of these things.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: As Paul says in verse 4, every man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonors his head.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since that is one and the same as having her head shaved.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: For if a woman doesn't cover her head, she should have her hair cut off.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off her head or her head shaved, let her head be covered.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't always do this, but this this time it's really relevant.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at a Greek thing real quick here.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is, by the way, we've arrived.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is the controversial part.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is the weird part.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: You've made it.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: But we we have to sort of ask the question though, what are we talking about with head coverings?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the phrase, okay, and this is kata, keephales, econ.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And what we have here is this is a preposition, this is a noun, and this is a verb.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: You said I didn't come for English class.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're right.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: You came for Greek.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what it means.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this preposition liter most often means down.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: This kephalase is head.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then this phrase is this verb, which is sort of in the active tense, which means having.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, along with that, you're going to add in the phrase here that makes some sense of the preposition and the noun, which would be either over or down, or excuse me.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: From.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, you guys are having to deal with a lot of my writing today.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: From.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the literal translation.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Over or from something that we have on our heads that is down.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Down over our heads having.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: So uh different translations are going to bring this differently.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: The New American standard and the Christian standard, that's the one we're using this morning, says with something on his head.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because at first we talk about men who are not supposed to have something on their head.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: So with something on their head.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you could look at the NIV, the ESV, or the King James, and they would say having his head covered.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can understand here the disagreement that is perhaps present when we are trying to make sense of what is down over or from his head having.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: So there are two ways that you take this.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll explain more in the podcast why I'm going to take the view that I'm taking.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: But either one that you propose does not dramatically change the application.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: So the first option is that we're literally talking about a piece of cloth or some sort of garment that was worn on the head.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Literal.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: That we are taking that to be actually a cloth.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: The other option is something that Paul sort of mentions elsewhere in this passage, which is that we're discussing hair.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so then this is entirely a symbolic note.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: But whether it's a cloth or whether it's a piece of hair, this is the situation, right?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Is that the Corinthians were acting dishonorably towards their head through a cultural practice that looked different for men and women.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is important for us to understand, and we have to sort of orient ourselves here, and what I grant you is a very odd text.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: There was a cultural practice that was going on back in the Greco-Roman world, and it still happens in other locations around the world today, where women, where they would wear, if they were married, they would wear a cloth upon their head.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're getting that information from outside the Bible.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not even talking about the verse right now.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: We know this was a practice.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that practice for women carried with it cultural uh messages, right?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh you might imagine, like my wedding ring here, okay, my wedding ring means something even though it is just a piece of silicone, right?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: I can't, I lose my wedding ring, so I have I buy these in bulk.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: So my wedding ring, though, means something more than a$5 piece of silicone, which is that, right, I'm committed, right?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not looking for a relationship, um, I'm not available, all of those kinds of things.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: But just as you've probably seen some sort of movie where some sleazy guy walks into a bar and takes off his ring as he sets down next to a lady, and you're like, man, that guy, like we understand that there is a cultural message behind something like this.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: So now we go back 2,000 years ago and look at this and say, okay, it was that, but much deeper.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And what was often communicated by this cloth on the head that was worn out in public was that the wife was not available, but it beyond that, there was a message of modesty, there was a message of uh respect and virtue that was shown by wearing this cloth.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but that was done out in public.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Just like many of you might take off your wedding rings when you go home, that might not have happened in the homes.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: You'd probably take that off.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: But then Paul comes along and he brings the church in and he says, Hey, we're gonna start worshiping inside all of your homes, and all of a sudden a cultural institution and a Christian institution meet together, and Paul is saying, There are some of you who are in the worship service who are not wearing this head covering, right?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that is communicating this message that is confusing about your gender, because men don't do it and women do, and it is confusing about your modesty.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we can also say that what is going on here, it applies to both men and to women.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: It is just in Corinth, 2,000 years ago, it just so happened that women were the ones who were kind of falling aside of this command.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, that is the importance of head coverings.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think that is the translation of what's going on here.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't actually think it's about hair.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think Paul is making a symbol later on regarding the hair that is naturally on our heads.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, what is going on has to do with modesty and it has to do with gender.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: And those two things, the way that they are acting, are bringing dishonor upon the head, right?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as we keep going forward, though, we have to ask ourselves, how?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: How is it bringing dishonor?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: What is the big deal?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: That still probably hasn't been answered up to this point.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: What is the big deal?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Why is Paul making such a statement out of something that for many of us today we're like, I don't even get the reference.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's keep going.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is why.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: A man should not cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: So too woman is the glory of man.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: For man did not come from woman, but woman came from man.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is why a woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, and man is not independent of woman, for just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things you might have noticed is that in the passage previously, things that they were doing were bringing shame upon that structure that we kind of outlined.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: The way that they were doing things, men and women, they were behaving in a way that was disregarding the structure that Paul established, namely the idea of headship.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately abusing the relationship and working it out between men and women in a way that was not the way that God intended, and that was reflecting upon the relationship between God the Father and God the Son.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So now our language has changed, though.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of being negative, hey, this is bringing dishonor.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now we have things that bring glory.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have things that bring glory to the head and ultimately ultimately bring glory to God.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: So a man should not cover his head because he is the image and glory of God.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: So too, woman is the glory of man.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Notice there that woman is not the image of man.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're going all the way back to Genesis with this language, okay, where man was created, man being Adam was the first one created, was made in the image of God.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: But we see that woman as well, right?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: If she was made in the image of man, then she would have that title associated, but instead she has glory associated with her.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And this adds to our diagram, right?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Where we say, hey, now we were looking up the ladder at headship, but now we're kind of going back down here, and we're saying each one of these relationships brings glory.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Each one.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I mentioned this before, but when the Father looks at his son and he says, This is my son in whom I'm well pleased.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: We know that Jesus Christ brought glory to God the Father.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: He was perfect, he was sinless, he died on the cross, he carried out his father's will.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: It was beautiful, it was sacrificial, it saved the entire world.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's the gospel.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: So he brings glory.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but now we start walking back down.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Only our ability to bring glory to God is often marred and tainted by our brokenness.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says the way that we conduct our relationship, the way that we worship, the way that we live and reflect creation, these things have the opportunity to bring glory ultimately to God.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the intention now.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: So as we go back, we see that woman is the glory of man, man is the glory of Christ, Christ is the glory of God the Father, but that both men and women have been made in the image of God.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: That applies to everybody down here.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: For man did not come from woman, but woman came from man.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to Genesis.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis 2, verse 15.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh sorry, this should be verse this is chapter 2, excuse me.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 15, 20 through 23.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs, and then closed up the place with flesh.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: The man said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now we have sort of another identity that's being present here.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Paul, this is so important.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is taking this cultural practice that was happening in Corinth, the idea of head coverings, and he's saying, Okay, I'm in I'm telling you to do this, to live this certain way, not because I just think it's fun, but because we go all the way back to creation, and there's this dual nature that's being represented in what you're doing.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: He says there's this cultural truth that's being presented and how we are projecting modesty for both men and women, but there is also this eternal truth that is being presented.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: The reason that Paul is listing these things this way is because he says the woman has come out of the man, and therefore, right, she falls into this space where she brings glory.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Women completed the relationship of mankind, and they completed the act of creation.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so, because of that, there is this eternal truth that is being represented in the worship service, in this case, in the house churches in Corinth and Greece 2,000 years ago.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Due to the order of creation, man reflects the glory of God, woman reflects the glory of man, it has nothing to do with value, it has nothing to do with worth, it has everything to do with reflecting the glory of God's creation.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: But this also explains the head coverings.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because in the worship service, man reflects the glory of God.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: You might, uh, should I draw a head that would be we're gonna pass.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're gonna pass.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um but the head of the man, because of what he represents symbolically, not because he's fantastic, okay?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: But because of what creation represents through mankind and through men specifically, he doesn't wear anything that covers his head.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yet, woman, because she reflects man and man.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Mankind, in this case, right, men and women should not be worshipped, right?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: We don't do things that draw attention to ourselves during the worship service because of what her physical head represents symbolically.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: She's supposed to wear something that covers it so that the glory of man is not recognized, yet the glory of God is.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have a QA session after this is done because I get that this is kind of weird.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I hope you see what's happening.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is not a thing about the patriarchy or chauvinism.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: What is happening is that there is this cultural message of modesty and eternal message of God's glory that is presented in chapter 11 here.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Paul is trying to get them to do.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is the message.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And because of this, we have this cultural practice of wearing something on the head.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's why.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: It served dual purposes.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, Paul redeems this cultural thing, which changes over time, and he roots it in the Garden of Eden.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: But as we close out that passage, we also see that Paul gives a great statement of equality.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: In the Lord, however, I'm in verse 11, woman is not independent of man, and man is not independent of woman, for just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: So as we do the last drawing, I promise, on our sketch this morning, we have this beautiful image of a quality.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: That the woman came from man, right?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's the message of creation.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: She was taken out of his rib, right?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: She was made from man.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yet, ever since then, all men have been born from women.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's this connection that's happening here, right?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says they rely on one another for their value and their relationship with each other, and it should be beautiful.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now we have one passage left, and then we'll kind of draw some conclusions from this, okay?
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: So as Paul finishes out, this runs through verse 16.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: He then says, Judge for yourselves.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory, for her hair is given to her as a covering.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: If anyone wants to argue about this, we have no other custom, nor do the churches of God.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: So in Greek, uh there's something called an imperative, right?
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is basically you can have a tense, a mood, and the way that you're speaking, and an imperative is essentially a command.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: There are two commands in this whole passage, all the 15 verses that we covered.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is in uh verse 6 or 7, where Paul says she should cover her head.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: The second one is here in verse 13, where he tells everybody to judge for themselves.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: And based upon everything that we've talked about, right, the reasoning, the meaning behind all of this, the cultural significance, the eternal significance of all of it, how it reflects the order of creation and gender and modesty and all of that, the answer is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered in Corinth 2,000 years ago?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: The answer would be no.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: That would be the rhetorical question.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Does not, and then Paul gives, and again, I'll talk about this more in the podcast because this would be part of the debate about hair versus head covering.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: But regardless, I think Paul now makes an illustration.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: What is Paul saying?
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh for all time, generally speaking, it has been true, again, not every single situation, it has been true that women normally have longer hair than men.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you guys don't have the ability to grow any hair, okay?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so this isn't really something, you know, but what he's saying is that typically, not always, women have longer hair than men.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Men normally have shorter haircuts.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so Paul is saying by nature, and by that he means by culture and convention, and the way that people not understanding creation throughout all time, they have natively, when they go to their barber, chosen an option with which also reflected this eternal reality.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: That the long hair of women has typically represented to Paul, he is saying the cultural convention has represented this statement about gender, modesty, and the glory of God.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we also have to sort of constrain that within this sentiment, which is that we are still talking about a cultural decision, which is head coverings.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have those here.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Or not many of us have this.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know some of you have relatives who might practice this.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think my interpretation is that what we're talking about here is Paul said, there's this thing happening in Corinth, and you should recognize what it represents and how it's tied back to, you know, creation all the way back there, but that there are cultural practices that we keep, there are cultural things that we do, which bring about these two ideas differently today than they did back then.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you just started wearing head coverings, ladies, it probably would not give off the same message, right?
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore, I don't think that it's an application for today that that is something that should happen.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, I do think there are two things that we can take from this passage, right?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I recognize as as we kind of transition here a bit to application, I get that there might be some of you who really dislike what we're talking about.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: The notion of headship, okay, even though I don't think this passage is really even about authority, but about honoring this head and glory and all the beauty of gender and modesty that is present in worship and family and these kinds of things, I get that that doesn't jive with everybody.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you like chocolate chip cookies?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good choice.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um I have had very bad chocolate chip cookies before.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: They've been burnt, they've added too many things to them.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: But there was nothing wrong with the dough.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was when it went into the oven and got overcooked, right?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was terrible.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: If that burnt cookie was the only cookie that I'd ever eaten, I would often not go back to eat a chocolate chip cookie.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: There are some of you who have had a terrible experience with what the relationship between men and women looks like in your life.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: People have taken this notion of headship and they have made it about authority and dominance.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: They have made it about a demanding and controlling kind of respect that I don't think is warranted when we see Paul comparing it to God the Father and God the Son.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so I speak into that moment by saying, I understand, or at least I can appreciate why that is a pain point for you as we're discussing this in general terms, but also that I would encourage you and say that I am at least comforted that when we look to this relationship, if it looks unlike, meaning between men and women, if it looks unlike the relationship between God the Father and God the Son, then the problem is in the execution, not in the game plan.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: That if all is done well and has been and is bringing glory to God, then it feels good to be in that relationship.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: And some of you just have not had the privilege of experiencing that from either side.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I think though, we take these things and we can still find an eternal truth.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is why it's so important that Paul roots it back in the Garden of Eden.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: It is because it's not about Corinth 2,000 years ago, it's about Adam and Eve and the glory of God.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what are basically what's the common denominator?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: What are the things that have been true back then and are still true today?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is that specifically within the context of worship and family, that there is an importance to distinguish between gender and to reflect modesty.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that then we can take those things and we can sort of balloon them out and say that part of this also, these practices, was that the Corinthians would reflect to everybody else who wasn't in their church these same eternal truths.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, upon those two things, I say this.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to gender, there's a lot of pressure in our culture to mix them and to blur the lines between the distinctions between men and women.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really need to give you a lot of examples.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: You can probably imagine what I'm talking about.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that it's a shame, not only because of the harm that it can cause to young children who are walking through that, but also because when we do those things, when we bleed between the lines here, it removes our ability to celebrate and ultimately find glory in the uniqueness of each of our genders, which God has created beautifully to work together.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: When we try and make everything homogeneous and the same, and try and make this one, this one, and this one, this one, when we do those things, it removes our ability to see this glory that God was talking about and to celebrate what he intentionally made.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that God intentionally made men and women.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that there is a pattern for worship that he has created for them, and I believe that it is beautiful when it is done right.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Regarding modesty, right, as we're just nailing all the like really exciting topics here, I also recognize probably if you have a daughter who's a teenager or had one, you walked through this.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: It applies to men and women both, absolutely, but our culture has particularly targeted women and exploited them in a way that is not fair in any manner or appropriate.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so oftentimes they are the ones who are victimized by this the most.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: But it does apply to men and women.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what I would say about that it's not about us.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to modesty, it's not about us.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: There are some people, there are some Christians who love Jesus dearly, yet are still trying to find their identity and having people give them attention because of their bodies.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of debate about the purpose of modesty and how we conduct ourselves.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: And to that I would say, let's listen to 1 Corinthians.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: What we've been talking about for the last couple weeks is that we take our freedom, and even though we might technically be able to do something, we say, I willingly will give up that right for the betterment of the weaker person so that they may thrive and find God.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think that applies to both men and women here, and I think that that is what was going on with the head coverings.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure that as the ladies were putting them on, they across the board were not always overjoyed with the idea of doing that.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: But perhaps grounding it in something more than just fashion or some sort of legalism and pointing back to this ultimate glory was able to root it in something far more beautiful.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, regarding gender, regarding modesty, 2,000 years ago, that was head coverings.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the most complicated passages in the New Testament.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yet we take these things, and this is how I'll finish, that we should practice things as Christians which reinforce the order of creation and modesty so that the watching world is not confused by our intention and may instead focus their attention on the cross instead of us.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's not it's not about us, it's not about drawing attention to ourselves, it's about projecting the image of Jesus Christ to the world.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: And there are multiple ways that we do that, and this is one of them.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you have someone, I know there are people, if you have somebody that you know who wears a head covering, okay, my intention isn't to um harm something that they probably feel deeply and are convicted about.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think that this was a cultural message for Corinth, but I still think there's application today.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what that looks like for you specifically is kind of beyond this message because we have to say, okay, in my life personally, what can I do with the practices and conventions that surround me and the world that I live in?
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: How can I reinforce the beauty of creation and how can I honor God through modesty?
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think that looks different for just about every person.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yet the truth is the same.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, all that being said, um I'm gonna pray here in a moment, and I uh my desire would be that as we reflect on this passage together, um, that we would keep in mind both the positive and the negative, and meaning that the positive is that it should look like Jesus Christ and God the Father.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: That is what it looks like when it is at its best.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: And what it looks like when it's negative, when we fail to do these things, or that relationship doesn't look like that, that when we project the negative to the world around us, we're drawing attention to ourselves and away from the cross.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, I thank you for today.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you are the head of all of us.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: You are the head of Jesus Christ.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: And God, I pray, my foremost prayer, honestly, Lord, is that by the power of your spirit you would make clear what I did not.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: God, the your all of your word is profitable for us.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: We can learn something from every bit of it.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: And God, I pray that we might understand the message that was being given to Corinth.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: God, the importance of reflecting your creation to the world around us and bringing glory to you and not trying to bring glory to ourselves.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: God, even outside of gender and modesty, there are a lot of areas where we try and bring glory to ourselves in this world.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: We draw attention to ourselves, we make it about us, we live a selfish life.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: And God, there could be nothing further from the truth when we compare it to Jesus Christ, who was the ultimate servant, ultimately dying on the cross for our sins.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Father, I thank you that the Son died on the cross for our sins.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: I thank you that he submitted himself to you so that we might be saved.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: And God, my prayer is also that you would help all of us, those of us in married relationships, but Lord, those of us without, to understand what it looks like to have this kind of relationship with you and with each other.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: Father, that you would help us to see the beauty in it, and that if there are any of us who have had or are having a difficult time representing this relationship, Father, that you would convict them and they might understand what it might mean to reflect your beauty to the world around us.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: Father, that you would give grace to men and women in these married relationships who perhaps haven't been able to see this glory before, that they might see it now.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we love you and we thank you.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's in Jesus' name that we pray.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, everybody.