1 Corinthians Chapter 11 Verse 1

• That is quite the statement for sure, if you read it a certain way. Paul isn’t trying to draw attention or obedience to himself. His statement isn’t, “imitate me.” It’s “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” And in that there is no intimidation. I would be intimidated if I was the example of holiness, righteousness and goodness. I’d have to find my way and ensure that way is perfect at all times…that burden is extremely hard and that yoke is entirely heavy.

• But Jesus calls to each one us as He called out in Matthew 28:11, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” No matter how much I try or how sincere in heart I am…or you are…we will make mistakes, we will fall short of perfection and we will disappoint and even hurt others. And so did Paul.

• So, it’s not study Paul and imitate Paul. It’s study the Word of God and imitate Christ in Paul. There are things I cannot do well (I can’t think of any right now but I know they exist! HA!). Don’t imitate me in things I struggle at or with, but where I excel, where the glory of the Lord is evident and explicit…imitate me as I also imitate Christ. We demand too much from people sometimes and it truly hurts relationship and your own growth.

• I can see the wonderful in others and I can see the not so wonderful. Paul had both. But what we are to do is learn and glean and grow as we watch and imitate the wonderful..and learn and glean and grow as we love and overlook the offense of other’s imperfections. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:8, “Brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” Verse 1 isn’t so intimidating now is it…not when grace, love and mercy are involved…

1 Corinthians Chapter 11 Verses 2 – 3

• We don’t have the questions that were asked of Paul by the church there in Corinth but we do know that he is answering things that they were asking and this section addresses how Paul had taught them to pray.

• He begins his answer by talking about order and authority. It’s easy to get tangled up in portions of what we just read, especially if you read it with a bias towards self…whether you are a man or a woman. The word head here being the authority and so the husband the authority over the wife, Christ is the authority over the husband, and God the Father is the authority over Christ.

• There are a couple of very important things to understand in order to process that correctly. First, God gives no favor or preference in the Bible to the man over the woman…it’s not about preference, it’s about order. (Order is in everything. The body, the universe, the drive-thru, HA!) In what Paul said, notice he identifies the husband as the head of the wife BUT he also identifies God the Father as the head of Christ. God the Father, God the Son. Let me ask you, which is more powerful? Which is better? Which is higher? Which is more important? God the Father or God the Son?

• They are One. One in power and importance and sovereignty and one in strength…and so know and notice this, especially you husbands…the authority over the man is Christ, even as the authority over the woman is man. If the husband is not under the authority of Christ, then the woman must and should jump at times to fulfill the lead role. I don’t believe that God ever intended a godly woman to be under the authority of an ungodly man. This scripture reads…under the authority of man only as he is under the authority of Jesus Christ.

• Marriage should never be a slavery type of a situation…where the master of the house barks towards his bride that she should quiet down and submit to him. How ungodly and un-Christ like is that? I challenge that interpretation of scripture on the basis of the character of Christ and call you to repentance. Chuck Smith taught this years ago and it has stuck with me ever since. He said, “I am totally opposed to the thought that scripture teaches a wife should think, “Well, he is my husband. I have got to be in submission to him.” Yes, as he is in submission to Christ.”

• This is hard to receive but I will because I want to honor God with my marriage. I want to honor Jesus with how I serve in my home. And the bonus to all of that is my marriage will be what it ought to be. Filled with LOVE! I heard a story once of a husband and wife, been married for some time and many problems…and they were sitting early one day in the home and the wife was sipping coffee and all of a sudden she just said, “I love you!” The husband asked, “Is that you or the coffee talking?” She replied, “It’s me, talking to the coffee!” HA!! I’ve heard my wife wisely counsel folks having marital issues in the past say this to the husband, “It’s easy to submit to your husband if he is submitted to Christ.”

• Now, this next section of verse here deals with two things. The two things are tradition and eastern culture. I’ll show you how evident that is in how Paul lays out his answer. He’s going to address head coverings…something that today has ultra-importance still in eastern cultures…but as we read through this the wording is specific really to the church there in Corinth and I will point that out and show you as we move forward…

1 Corinthians Chapter 11 Verse 4

• Already we have an interesting issue. The Jews today, the men, every one of the orthodox Jews has a head covering…especially when they pray at holy times or sites…so we already see that the instruction Paul is giving is localized to the Corinthians culture…

• That tradition by the way comes from the glowing of Moses when he came down from the presence of the Lord…

1 Corinthians Chapter 11 Verses 5 – 10

• Now there are all sorts of thoughts on what Paul meant by this and truly we and I don’t know…why would the angels care? The two prevailing thoughts are first that the angels rejoice at order as we serve a God of order and when they see order in worship, they rejoice…ok, that’s a stretch. The other prevailing thought is connected to demonic activity that perhaps reaches back to before Noah when the Sons of God took the daughters of men as wife…and so the covering of the head shows a bit of rejection towards the fallen angels…totally a stretch, Paul says here “angels” not “fallen angels” or “demons” and so we really have no clue what Paul is talking about here.

• But…passages such as this remind us that our struggle is bigger than ourselves…and that God has eternal things to teach the universe through us! Look at Ephesians 3:8-13. Also check out 1 Peter 1:12. Finish up over at John 13:7.

1 Corinthians Chapter 11 Verses 11 – 12

• The bottom line is that the true authority is the Lord and if that is the case then there will be no problems. There is equality in the Lord, no one is independent, and without men there are no women and without women, there are no men.

1 Corinthians Chapter 11 Verses 13 – 15

• Chuck Smith used to talk about the hippie movement and how God had called him to reach the youth of the sixties and the seventies and a lot of the men had really long hair. He would go to places and church leaders would question him on this and he said that he came to the realization that God had called him to defend them. Chuck thought that was funny because he was bald, ha!

• We still have this today, you know. Maybe not long hair down to the waist but the waves and the buildings some men, (worshjp leaders and such), have on their heads…HA! But what’s “long?” That is entirely mysterious here. Paul doesn’t say, “Anything over 1 cubit,” or something…and so we have a hint here at localization…that long means long to some and not to others…and people get SO worked up over this when there is no mention of sin here…perhaps shame…but every man that grows their hair long, parts it on the right, parts it on the left, combs over their issues or shaves their head…every man and woman knows that in someone’s eyes, their hair style isn’t going to fit their taste.

• I do look at some of these guys with huge hair or hair down to their waists and say, “Man, that’s a shame…” but when I get up in the morning and see my horseshoe stubble in the mirror I also say, “What a shame!” HA!! So we have here a very doubtful discussion because there is just so much room for subjectivity. Nature? Talk to me about the lion or the long-haired breeds of canines…and on and on we go…and so Paul says in verse 16…

1 Corinthians Chapter 11 Verses 16

• This was definitely a local issue. If anyone can’t even…remember, this isn’t a rule…and no other church cares even enough to talk about it. What is the rule? 1 Cor 10:31!