Christ Methodist Church Memphis
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Christ Methodist Church Memphis
Head Coverings and Cultural Relevance | Rev. Paul
In a world shaped by cultural preferences, how do believers honor God’s design, reflect His glory, and build a church culture where His presence dwells? The Apostle Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 11 challenges us to go deeper.
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[0:18] The scripture reading this morning comes from 1 Corinthians 11, this is verses 1-16.
[0:24] Now I commend you, because you remember me in everything, and maintain the traditions even as I deliver them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head short, 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.
[1:24] 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. This is the word of God for the people of God. Let's be to God. Amen. Excuse me. Amen and amen. I greet you this morning in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My name is Paul Lawler. I have the honor of serving as the lead pastor here at Christ Methodist Church. We are delighted that you're here.
[2:17] When I was a sophomore in high school, I thought it was uncool for my parents to pick me up from school, and so I made an agreement with my mom that I would find a ride home with one of my peers right there as I was turning 15 to 16 years old. And so on one rainy Thursday afternoon, I was able to get a ride with my friend Robert Mayo. Now, when Robert agreed to give me a ride home, he also took on another passenger named Ricky Duvall, who lived halfway up Sand Mountain. That's relevant to the story. So as we get in his car, it begins to rain heavily. And we head up Sand Mountain, which is, for those of, well, most of you are not familiar with Guntersville, Alabama, but Sand Mountain, the highway runs directly in front of the high school, right up the mountain. And so we drop Ricky off halfway up the mountain in a group of apartments. And then we begin coming down the mountain. And as we're coming down the mountain, which at its base, it has a runaway truck ramp. It's a very steep incline, runs for miles.
[3:34] I say to Robert, who's driving the vehicle in the pouring rain, because I'm alarmed, because at 16 years old, I think we're going far too fast. Robert, how fast are we going? To which he replies, 72.
[3:51] And I thought that would be enough code language to slow him down. We hit the base of the mountain and got right in front of a traffic light in front of the high school, hit a puddle of water, the car hydroplaned immediately. Some of you have been in serious automobile accidents, and you know that weird place where everything feels like it's in slow motion. Suddenly, my life flashes before me, and the last thing I remember was going to a fetal position. I'm wearing a seatbelt, but going to a fetal position and saying, oh, God. And then I woke up. And when I woke up, I was laying on the roof of the car. We had gone airborne, hit a telephone pole and rolled. And the only way out of the car was through the back window that was about that. There was about that much space and everything else had been crushed. I was laying in the back seat only on the roof. He was laying in the front seat only on the roof, and we both crawled out without injury. There were people standing around weeping because they thought we had perished.
[5:08] Now, church family, I recognize that's a very dramatic story, and when I get to heaven, I'm going to say, God, tell me, did angels interfere
[5:18] in that moment? I don't have that answer. But what I do want to highlight is that it's possible to get to a text like this and choose to fly 72 miles an hour because your eyebrows raise with some of the things that were read this morning out of the Scripture. And I want to submit to you that if we move at 72 hours and don't look at the thread that the Apostle Paul teaches here, that it is at the risk of our malnourishment and underdevelopment as followers of Jesus Christ. So I want to begin by affirming that what was read this morning out of 1 Corinthians has a lot of cultural context.
[6:06] Maybe a good way of diving into this is if you traveled to Italy this morning for worship and you entered a cathedral in which worship is taking place, there are some cultural sensitivities you need to bear in mind. If you wear a dress, women, and your shoulders are uncovered, or your knees are exposed if the dress is short, this would be highly offensive to Italian Christians. If you, on the other hand, traveled into Asia, and if you were female and you're about to lead in prayer, that it is customary to take a scarf and lay it over your head. And that's not rooted in this text. It's rooted in their culture. If you were to travel to Africa this morning and attend a worship service and to say to the Africans, if you were going to stay there for six months, I'm sorry, my culture, we worship about an hour, A little more hour plus sometimes In Africa they would say Honey we're just getting started.
[7:08] But there are cultural sensitivities that the Apostle Paul is appealing to here. And so when he begins talking about men covering their heads, there is a cultural context for this. Because, as I pull from historian Bruce Winter with some of these comments, that in pagan religious ceremonies, which were common in the temples, Roman men did cover their heads, but it was a symbol of their high social status and that their superiority was being reigned over others. They would take head covering or even their toga when they're praying or sacrificing and covering their head, demonstrating that they're socially elite, which is a direct contradiction of the headship of Jesus Christ. They would highlight their social status. And Paul is sharing that men, this is not appropriate in the context of Christian worship. And so instead of men covering their head, which would remind people of what's happening in pagan temples, Paul commands Christian men not to adopt and adapt to such practices because of the inference it sends to people who are worshiping the one true living God.
[8:34] But women, on the other hand, were instructed around covering their heads. Now, why was this the case? Because culturally, covering your head for a woman was an indicator that she's married. The context here is around wives. A thin headscarf or a head covering symbolized a woman's modesty and her chastity and her submission to her husband. This is one way that a woman honored her husband. The other thing happening culturally is that there was a new kind of wife emerging in Roman culture, and that is it was one who was rebelling against the cultural pattern that allowed husbands in the culture to be promiscuous and the wives were expected to be faithful. And one way in which wives would flaunt this cultural pattern was by removing their veils. So a Christian wife would not deliberately remove her veil, especially when praying or prophesying during a time of corporate worship,
[9:46] because this would contentiously identify her with other promiscuous women in the culture. So when praying or prophesying in a church meeting, let's take a pause.
[9:59] Note that when we read the text that both men and women are empowered to pray and prophesy publicly. Do note that.
[10:09] And so the groundwork that we lay based upon Scripture is that God empowers both men and women. But when praying or prophesying in a church meeting, men cover their heads. And excuse me, men do not cover their heads because in covering their heads, it would flaunt their superiority as they would understand it in the pagan temples. That was how those priests rolled in the pagan temples, whereas wives are instructed to keep their heads covered in a way that it honors the relationship with their husband and their faithfulness. So when Paul says that the image or man is made in the image of the glory of God in a way that woman is not, in verse 7, if you've got your Bible open, I invite you to look there, He's not saying that in an absolute sense—hear this, church—he is not saying that in an absolute sense that man alone reflects the image of God. We know that that is not true.
[11:22] Later in this passage, he's going to remind us that men and women are not independent of one another. Husbands and wives are not independent of one another. This is why from the very beginning, Genesis 127, the scripture says, So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female, he created them. And this is so important. We take this for granted in the way Christianity has informed Western culture. It's not this way everywhere. When I'm in India, it's been years since I've been asked this, but I've been asked this before. Pastor Paul, tell me why, why do women in our country carry water on their heads and women in your country are CEOs of companies and corporations?
[12:19] And it's because the Judeo-Christian ethic from the very beginning dignifies both men and women. All people are of sacred worth. Why is it that I'm asked occasionally in Muslim cultures, why do our women walk 10 feet behind, men in a full burqa, and in your country, women are CFOs and leaders at multiple levels? Well, the Judeo-Christian ethic informs us that men and women are empowered by God. All people have sacred worth. When Bill Gates was in Saudi Arabia many years ago, when Saudi Arabia was making plans, because they want to be a technological center, they want to rank in the top 10 in the world.
[13:14] And Bill Gates, after he had given a lecture to a lecture hall full of men, was asked, do you believe we can do it? Do you believe we can become a top 10 center in the world in terms of technological innovation? And Gates responded, no, I do not. I do not believe you will ever accomplish this in the state that you're in now because you are only empowering 50% of your intellectual capital. You're ignoring women. And again, I'm highlighting these things because the scripture actually empowers men and women. Can we thank God for that? Amen.
[13:57] And so we get to this passage in verse 3 where it says the head of every woman is man, and that can sound oppressive on the surface. But you have to remember, church family, what the headship of a man is to look like according to Scripture, because headship in the Scripture is to model the sacrificial love of Jesus. That is, as a husband provides leadership with his wife and with his children, it is to be done so not in a spirit of lording it over someone, but in a spirit of Christ laying down your life, self-sacrifice, giving up your comfort and your privileges and your preferences for the good of your wife, for the good of other people, just as Jesus Christ did. And so when we read that the fullness of the image of God isn't just reflected in men, it's reflected in men and women together.
[15:02] Together, men and women reflect the fullness of the glory of God. Our differences, which the Scripture affirms, should not be viewed as inferior or superior. So when a wife submits to the headship of her husband as he takes on the nature of Jesus Christ, that is voluntary. That is not coerced. Jesus Christ's submission was voluntary. It's a gift to be offered, not a duty to be coerced. And so we recognize that men and women are sacred, Genesis 1.26, in the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them. And headship doesn't mean that men can do whatever they want, absolutely not, because the type of leadership that a man, a Christian man, is to personify is, again, laying down your life, self-sacrifice, honoring others as better than yourself, giving up your privileges, your preferences, for the good of your love for your wife and other people, just like Jesus did.
[16:22] And so for a man to cover his head, to literally hide his head, is to pick up the practices of the elevation of a man in the pagan temples, which was an open, visible sign of superiority. And that is not the spirit of Jesus Christ. So in verse 8, Paul writes, for man was not made from woman, but woman from man. And so it's important that we remember the original creation story in Genesis 2-7, where God created man from the dust, and he created woman from the rib taken from man's side. So in terms of origin, man came first. But then Paul continues because it wasn't just origin. He also deals with purpose. In verse 9, he says, Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. This is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. Now, because the apostle Paul went there, we need to go there for just a minute. What's up with angels? That just feels a little random, right? And then we'll talk about that verse in its whole. Well, scholars tell us there's a little bit we know, and there's a little bit of mystery here. I mean, the Bible does have a lot to say about angels. Hebrews says we entertain angels sometimes when we're unaware.
[17:52] We're aware that earlier in 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds us that Christians are going to judge angels. Personal opinion, I think that's a reference to fallen angels. I don't think—anyway, that's just opinion. The text doesn't say that explicitly. I know in the book of Revelation, when John is witnessing this throne room, he describes it, the throne room of God, where there are thousands of angels. He says there are 10,000 times 10,000 angels, 10,000 times 10,000, that's a million. So just mind-boggling, the glory of God.
[18:36] So we see this text, and we are also aware that the Bible teaches that the church is manifesting the glory of God to the angelic realm, and I believe that that may be what Paul is referencing here, that as things are in proper order in our lives in the church, it brings glory to God, not only to humanity, but to the angelic realm.
[19:01] And so in terms of purpose, this verse tells us man was not made for woman, but woman was made as a fitting helper for man. Now, again, when you read that, context means everything because the apostle Paul is drawing from history here. When Adam, you may remember, was naming the Adams, you learned this at vacation Bible school, he couldn't find anyone like him. So it was not good for man to be alone. God declared, it is not good. Aloneness is not good. And so he needed a fitting helper. So God created woman out of the rib from Adam's side, and the woman was made to correspond with man. And Adam then saw her innocence. Scripture says, I'm paraphrasing, he's in awe of her. How do we say that? Well, look, Genesis 2.23, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman because she's taken out of man. And Adam is saying here that woman, as after she's been taken or created from his rib, she is glorious.
[20:13] Woman, it's the glory of man. That's the context here out of history. And Adam declares, and I want to keep this pure as he looks at her, he just says, glory. Glory. Paul goes on to say, verse 11 through 12, nevertheless, in the Lord, woman is not independent of man nor man of woman, for as woman was made for man, so man is now born of woman, and all things are from God. So obviously we have distinct roles in bringing glory to God, and we recognize that based upon what Paul's sharing here, we're not independent of one another. And he is sharing that this is a part through the church of how the fullness of Jesus Christ is made known,
[21:04] that every marriage is actually a miniature reflection of the glory of God. You say, Paul, why do you say this? Because Paul picks up on this theme many places in Scripture. In Ephesians chapter 5, Paul teaches on marriage between a man and a woman. And he says this, he quotes the Old Testament. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. Now, I want you to note what he says next.
[21:40] This is a profound mystery, but I'm talking about Christ and the church. In other words, when we hear phrases like Jesus is the bridegroom and the church of Jesus Christ is the bride, these are not metaphors to help us understand marriage. Marriage between a man and a woman is a deeper reflection of an eternal truth that's pointing to the faithfulness of Jesus as the bridegroom to his bride, the church, that there will be a day when there is a consummation between the two when Christ comes again. And Paul is sharing that as the Corinthian church exercises a sensitivity to the culture without being governed by the culture to recognize the way God has ordered things brings glory to God. Your life is different because of the glory of Christ dwelling in your union in marriage, in the way you relate to one another.
[22:53] And so Paul, again, sensitivity to culture without being governed by the culture. And this is so important because at Corinth, we have a prime example of how the culture disciples.
[23:09] And what was true for the Corinthians is true for us. That unless you guard your heart, the culture will disciple you. More profoundly than the revelation of God, the culture and all her values will disciple you. Now, let me ask a basic question. Do you know why the Apostle Paul writes this letter? I know you're going, he's correcting the church. I get that. But the reason he knows you can't build Jesus' church on people's preferences. You cannot build Jesus' church on people's preferences. Because what's happening at Corinth and what has been happening is people have been bowing up. Jesus, don't talk to me about laying down my rights so that other people can be reached by the gospel.
[24:12] And so Paul's correcting them. Jesus, don't go talking to me about the definition of marriage because my culture defines it differently. And people are being challenged by this in Corinth. Jesus, don't talk to me about forgiving others when I've been betrayed. And the Corinthians, they're being challenged around this. The Corinthians are being challenged around church discipline, 1 Corinthians 5, when there's a man who's living in a moral lifestyle and the church is enabling it. And so what's happening is Paul is reminding the Corinthians, you cannot build Jesus' church on people's preferences. Jesus' church is built upon the things that he taught, the things that he said, the commands that he gave. And so this is why last week, and by the way, this quotes in tomorrow's word from Pastor Paul again, but this is why we would say discipleship or Christian growth begins in the places where you are not developed, not in the places you enjoy learning about. I'm confident that the Corinthian church, with all of the errors they were dealing with, and all the patterns that were not God-honoring, they were not sitting around having a committee meeting going, I sure hope Paul writes letters that makes us comfortable.
[25:40] And so, Paul, loved ones, why is he doing this? Well, again, he's not only correcting them out of love, but loved ones, it's even deeper than that. The apostle Paul is laboring to build a culture.
[25:59] Some of you in business, you've heard this before, culture eats strategy for breakfast. And you're aware that an unhealthy culture, an unhealthy mindset, will gobble up the strategy of your organization, your company, the objectives that you're trying to obtain. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Jesus has given us directives, strategy, directions, but a culture will eat strategy for breakfast. And so what Paul is seeking to develop, the apostle, is a culture—listen, this is very important—a culture that welcomes God. Let me give you a kingdom principle. Sometimes I realize people remember certain things from sermons, and I remember I got a kick out of the fact a few weeks ago that the only thing people seemed to remember from the sermon was Elwood Shaq. And that's okay. But that's all good. That's a holy place. I get that. But I want to ask you if you'll labor to commit this to memory. Here it is.
[27:16] God comes where he's wanted.
[27:23] God comes where he's wanted. All through Scripture, that's the minimal standard. Jesus Christ said something about hunger. God, I want you. I want you. And that's what Paul is lovingly trying to instruct the Corinthians in. Jesus put it this way. There's a blessing that rests upon a believer that is hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Not my preferences, but the righteousness of God. What is the righteousness of God? Righteousness is acting in accord with divine and more or moral law. Lord, I hunger for you, your righteousness. Listen to this quote from John Piper. If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things and there's no room for the great. God, I hunger for you. You, in all your purity.
[28:36] You may remember in the New Testament, there were places where Jesus couldn't do miracles. You remember that? Remember that Jesus said a prophet has no honor in his own country.
[28:47] And there's a passage in Luke 4 where Jesus is teaching on this thread. And he says to a group of people, he says, you remember in the Old Testament, I'm paraphrasing his words. And he said there were thousands of people who had leprosy. but God only sent Elijah to one person. He sent Elijah to a widow in Zarephath and he healed Naaman. That was a family that if you read the text, you see they had a heart for God, prayers, fasting. I want you, God. And what often can happen, we see it in Scripture, we see it in Corinth, is that God's people can desire the fruit of the kingdom without desiring the king of the kingdom himself. It's happened many times in history.
[29:51] I was only five years old in 1966, But in 1966, things were pretty rough in our country There had been some assassinations There were protests going on Things got worse over the next 36 months And you might remember, some of you who are old enough And some of you are students of history You've probably seen this But do you remember this cover from Time magazine? Is God dead?
[30:23] And that was a low point in our nation. But what's intriguing is that in 60 months, there was a different cover on Time magazine. Could we go to that one? 60 months later, one 1966, this one in 1971. How is it that in a nation that could get so low that one of its prominent magazines can feature a story raising the issue as God dead to 60 months later, something happening in a nation that's so deep and so noteworthy that its leading news magazine publishes and features on the cover the title Jesus Revolution? Well, in 1971, there were a group of young people in Southern California that began to cry out.
[31:22] God, we want you. We want you. And I'm reminded of 2 Chronicles 16, 9, where the Bible says, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth to strongly support a heart that is completely his. is. In other words, think about the nature of God in this. God in his heart saying, who can I support? Who can I strengthen? Who can I bless? Well, the answer to that is that he's ready to support a heart that's completely his. As we close today.
[32:04] I wanted to look at my watch. Pardon me. I want to share with you in light of where the Corinthian church has journeyed and how Paul is seeking to develop
[32:16] them into a culture that desires God himself. I want to give you four characteristics of a church culture that wants God.
[32:26] Here's the first one. A culture that's sensitive and submissive to God. This is what the Corinthians were learning. They were learning to be sensitive to the revelation of God and submit to it. And this is also the characteristic of every godly person in Scripture. All of them adjusted their lives to the will of God, a culture that's sensitive and submissive to God. Secondly, a culture that sees repentance as a gift. It's a gift. All of us have favorite books of the Bible. All of us have favorite parables in all likelihood. My favorite parable in the Bible is the story of the prodigal son. And I love it when the son, after he's lived all kind of riotous living, the Bible says he comes to his senses and his game plan is to go home and to be like one of his father's hired servants. But you know the story that when the young man is coming home, he's repenting.
[33:35] I'm not worthy to be called your son. The father has mercy on him, and the Bible tells us that the father begins running toward him. He sees him in the distance. And this is a picture of the father's love for a brother or sister when you change your mind about something in light of the word of God. That's called repenting. And this young man's journeying home, but the father is charging after him. Now, there are two things happening there. One, he's charging after him because he loves him, but he's also outrunning his servants, and there's a reason why. You see, it was a biblical custom when someone goes off the rails for there to be persons who gather, particularly if they go off the rails with their family, for there to be those that gather around you and they would crack pots in front of you. This is a way of shaming. Shame on you for the reproach you've borrowed on family. Shame on you for what you've done. And see, what's happening is the father's not only running to the son to demonstrate a genuine love for him as he's turning back home to God, but he's also outrunning the servants because he's not going to allow them to shame him.
[34:54] And this is why, loved ones, when we see this picture in Scripture, it is a gift from God to change your mind. It's a gift. This is why the Bible says in Romans 2, Do you not presume on the riches of his kindness and the forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? It's a culture that's sensitive and submissive to God, a culture that sees repentance as a gift from God, that he stands ready to forgive, ready to restore. Third, a culture of desperation. When I say culture of desperation, what I mean by that is Jesus didn't have very kind things to say about being lukewarm. You've read the text in Revelation 3, that apathy is a dangerous disease, particularly in Christianity and Western culture. Hear this quote from A.W. Tozer, complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to his people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us. He waits so long, so very long, in vain. A culture of desperation.
[36:19] And then finally, a culture of adoration, a culture of devotion. Lord, I'm devoted to you. I adore you because you are the Lord, because you forgive my sin, because your kindness works in my life. I love you and I adore you. Do you remember the woman at Jesus' feet who broke open the alabaster jar of perfume as an act of worship? Do you remember the comment that was made? Dude, I'm sorry, that's not in the text, but that's a year's worth of salary. Let's picture, you're at a dinner party. Just picture this. You're at a dinner party and Jesus is there. And a woman walks in, and she bows at his feet, a year's worth of salary. She drops $100K on him. Think about the comments. $100K? That was over the top. Think she's just cooked up in some form of emotionalism. She's not thinking. But what she's doing is adoring. Her affections for Jesus are awakened.
[37:49] When I was a seminary student, one Christmas break, I needed to make some money so we could buy Christmas presents. So I got a temporary job in a plant. It was a plant that boxed Job's tree spikes. They're these fertilizer spikes you put in the ground.
[38:12] And so the shift started at 5.30 a.m. And I would get there at 5.30 a.m. And for eight hours, we would take these Job tree spikes and stir a lot of dust and shift them into boxes. And just standing on a line with people across from you doing this as just all around you. And the woman to the right of me, she was missing half her teeth. The person next to me, shabbily dressed. And these were people of all ages, all races. And there was a young man across from me and he looked at me and he said this. He said, my grandfather worked in this plant and my father worked in this plant, and I am not going to work in this plant. I'm going to get an education. And what he was saying, I hunger to break the cycle that we're in. Church, will you break the cycle?
[39:27] Does anybody here want God?
[39:36] And before you accuse me of asking a patronizing question, I'm asking you the same question Jesus asked. When he stood at a gathering at a religious festival where people were worshiping and making much of God, and he interrupted it, and he asked the question, is anybody here thirsty? And if so, let him come to me and drink. And if you will come to Jesus and drink, rivers of living water will flow from your inmost being. And loved ones, as we seek to develop a culture that welcomes God with the understanding that God comes where he's wanted, your heart is the key to the presence of God in your life. And I remind you again, as I did two and a half years ago, fight for your heart, church.
[40:41] Fight for your heart in prayer. fight for your heart in study of the scripture. Fight for your heart in worship. Fight for your heart in fasting.
[40:58] Fight for your heart against apathy. Fight for your heart.
[41:06] Because at the level of correction that the Corinthians are experiencing from the Apostle Paul, I remind you again, if they can drift like that, so can we. Fight for your heart. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's pray.
[41:33] So God, thank you for giving us your living word, because it is a symptom and a manifestation of your love for us. You're still investing in us. You've invested in us through the shed blood of your Son in whom we have forgiveness of sin and our reconciling with you. We have this gift. But Lord, in your own going work in our lives, we pray, tune our hearts to you as we fight for our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.