1 Corinthians 11:1-16, Called to Honor

Theological Proposition/Focus: The call of a Christian is a call to bring honor to God and therefore anything that might be shame upon God should be completely absent from Christian behavior.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: Christians should make sure their actions bring honor to their God.

Introduction:

Setting the Stage:

Today we tackle a very hard passage!

However, just because a passage is difficult or doesn't say things we want to hear does not mean we can ignore the passage. Our commitment here is to preach the entire Word of God and so we will do exactly that. Our commitment is also not to water down the Word of God and not to speak beyond what is written in Scripture. We also must be careful to use the intellect God has given us to understand the context and meaning of Scripture. In other words, what we have before us is a challenging task but that Does not mean we should just ignore it.

Text: 1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Let me summarize my view of this passage before we go any further.

I think the point that Paul is trying to make here is that we must be careful to ensure that in our worship honor is brought to God and not shame.

Really, I think this is the simple straightforward application of the passage. Now there are all sorts of details we need to discuss but the simple application is simple. Make sure that your actions in worship bring honor to our God.

Body

Let me start out by talking about the divine order that God has established.

Because God is not a God of disorder, we should conduct ourselves in a way that honors God's order.

Image: Who is flying the airplane? Positive exchange of flight controls.

I have told you many times that I love to fly but something that I also do is listen to podcasts of accident reports. Not to be morbid, but rather to learn from the mistakes of others. Having a second pilot in an aircraft is a great way to improve safety but only when things are properly ordered. A number of years ago an army Apache helicopter crashed. Upon investigation what was found was that as they were maneuvering close to the ground the combat team on the ground called on the radio and said they were going to give updated target coordinates. As the coordinates came in, the pilot in front flying the helicopter stated to the pilot in the back "you have the controls" and let go of the controls. Simultaneously, the Pilot in the back said "I've got it" 11 seconds later the helicopter impacted terrain. Accident data showed the the pilot in the back never touched the controls. When the politics said "I've got it" perhaps he meant the coordinates, we don't know. What we do know is that a little chaos resulted in a major incident.

We can choose to either honor God's order or dishonor God's order.

Submission is a choice, a choice that we are called to make.

This is an important aspect of reality that has been too often hidden. You have a choice, a choice to follow God's way of doing things or a choice to rebel against God.

The use of "head" through chapter 3 carries the idea two things: subordination and origination.

We must recognize that our call to submission is a call to be subordinate to the one over us and is based in creation itself. Men, God created you in his image, you are called to submit to God bringing glory to none other than God. Women, God created you from man because it was not good for man to be alone. Choose to submit to God's order!

So what does this mean?

"The point is that man shows how magnificent a creature God can create from Himself, while woman shows how magnificent a creature God can make from a man (Gen. 2:21-22)."

Before we go further we need a cultural detour.

Men's head coverings in the Roman Empire.

From what I understand, in pagan temples, men would use their togas to cover their heads while engaging in pagan worship. So, for a man to wear a head covering in a Christian church would actually look to those outside like something that was itself pagan.

Homosexual men would let their hair grow long in order to signify to other men that they were available for homosexual practices.

Prostitution in the Roman Empire

From what I have read there was an interesting phenomenon associated with sexuality in the Roman empire. A married woman was expected to wear some sort of veil to signify that she was reserved exclusively for her husband. On the other extreme, a prostitute would often shave their head to signify to everyone that they were available for a price.

Feminism in the Roman Empire

As the Roman Empire transitioned from the Republic to the Empire, Feminism also began to rise. Women had been treated harshly as property but were gaining power. Factions of feminism began to rise and some women began to boldly exercise their rights.

This is the situation that is going on in the background. Really, there is much in our society that is similar to what the church in Corinth would have experienced. I suspect that a big question on everyone's mind was how to interact with the culture. How much should we let culture come into the church. How can we find balance between the inevitable changes that come with culture and the unchanging nature of God.

What I want you to see today is that we can ask an important question to answer this. Will it bring honor to God?

Because others are watching, we should conduct ourselves in a way that brings honor to God.

Our Christian conduct is often on display for all to see.

When you are out in public your Christian conduct is also on display for all to see. However, for most people, their Christian conduct is not always seen as "representative" of God. Although, maybe this should be the case... In any case, the church assembled has a unique role in displaying God for all to see.

Our Christian conduct is especially displayed in our conduct at church.

Corporate worship and corporate prayer by their nature are public events and opportunities for those within and without the body to evaluate our actions. For example, when we gather together we invite others to join us, we have someone who leads worship. We have corporate prayer, we read the Bible, and have someone teach from the Bible. These events are open for others to see, in fact, we even broadcast these events onto the internet. As a corporate body of believers, we put ourselves out on display.

The world rightfully expects us to accurately represent God.

Our Christian conduct must never bring dishonor to the God we serve.

Here is my main argument from this passage.

People have used the passage to argue that women are in some way inferior to men. That is not what the passage is about. Some people might say that women must wear a head covering in worship. If you feel that conviction then you should certainly follow it, but again. I don't think that is the main point. I think the point of this passage is that we need to make sure that everything we do, especially publicly, brings honor to God and not some other agenda.

You are welcome to an agenda, but your focus must be on God's honor. The women to whom Paul wrote it seems were pushing an agenda. They were going counter-cultural in praying without a head covering. Perhaps what they intended to communicate was their availability, perhaps they wanted to overthrow a culture that oppressed them, and maybe the point was to draw some attention to themselves. In reality, the point here is that an agenda that might detract from God's honor has no place in the church.