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: Scripture Memory 1 Cor. 11:1

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.

Image: The Movie Mulan

A few weeks ago I was watching the animated movie Mulan. The movie struck a nerve because my sister in law is from a village in China and her sister actually had to meet with a matchmaker in the hopes that she would marry into a family that would bring honor to her own family. In our culture we don't have such a strong culture of honor and shame. However, there is some notion of this. Some activities are simply seen as not being honorable while others are. honor is a real thing!

In the story of Mulan, the main character, Mulan, is fighting an incredible battle. On the one hand, she wants to bring her family honor. On the other hand, what her culture says in honorable seems counter to who she is. Today, we are going to tackle a very hard passage. The passage is particularly hard because it involves honor. Now in the movie Mulan is celebrated for her shall I say alternative way of bringing her family honor. I am a huge fan of thinking outside the box. In fact, sometimes I have been accused of thinking so far outside the box that people wonder if I even realize there was a box to start with. However, when it comes to honor, we serve the God of the universe and so we must be careful that our actions never bring dishonor to our Savior.

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.

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.

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.

Image: When my behavior could have impacted my dad.

I was a sort of wild kid, I suppose some of you probably think that the use of the past tense "was" is misleading because I am a little wild even today. However, I was more wild. However, I distinctly remember a point in my childhood where my behavior changed. I was in trouble again and while I don't remember exactly what I had done what I do remember is something my mom told me. In fact, I remember it vividly enough to remember that I was at home in the kitchen and my mom looked at me and said, "your dad loves being a pastor but your behavior as a child might lead your dad to consider stepping down if he cannot even control his own house. Is that what you want to happen?" My behavior changed permanently at that point.

Because God is supreme, we should make prayer a priority.

There is an incredible battle that theologian fight over this text. I don't want to trivialize that battle or the work that theologians are doing to understand the text and its implications for our society. However, I think that in the midst of that battle we can lose sight of a simple fact. The text calls on us to worship and pray.

The expectation is that men are praying.

Men should lead their families.

Notice that the text carries an assumption. Men are participating in worship. In verse 4 we see that there are men prophesying and praying. Ephesians 5:21-33 is a well known "household code" and is a great text.

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[b] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

But embedded into this text is a somewhat tacit assumption. A husband is to be a spiritual person who understands the love Christ has for the Church that he might show that same kind of love to his wife. This is really important. We need men who are willing to step up and lead their families.

Men should lead in a way that brings honor to God.

There is an interesting reality present in the text. There is a command for women but also a command for men. The men are not to do things that would take honor away from their act. At the time this was written, as I understand it, men would often cover their heads with their togas when praying to a pagan God. Paul is saying don't do that, that takes honor away from God.

Does this mean that a man cannot wear a hat when praying? Yes, and no, it depends. I know people don't like that answer but I think that we need to accept an answer that reflects the bigger issue. Does what I am wearing in any way bring dishonor to the God I worship. Secondly, don't let the question itself keep you from the activity that really matters, worship and prayer.

The expectation is that women are praying.

I cannot over emphasize this part of the text enough. Women played an active role in prayer and worship in Corinth. This is an incredible cultural even in this church. Women were very low in the greco-Roman world. Here we see women actively participating. Paul does not tell the women to stop! Instead he simply gives some instructions for how the women can do so without causing other problems. This is huge. Women are supposed to be part of worship!

Does this mean that when we worship a woman must put on a head covering before she leads or prays. I don't think so. Instead, I propose that instead the emphasis should be on ensuring that nothing done detracts from the honor to God. Part of honoring God is honoring God's model for the family and that involves submission. I saw a shirt the other day that said "raising my husband is exhausting." A funny statement and kind of a fun shirt. I would suggest that if you are leading in prayer you probably shouldn't wear that shirt, it pokes a little fun at God's model and church is not the place for that.

What I want you to see is that there are clear applications of the passage for the church today that don't require us to put on a head covering. Now, if your conviction is to cover your head then you had better do it and nobody has the right to ridicule your conviction.

What I really want us to get from this text is that