The Heart of Worship

Well, praise the Lord everybody. How's everybody doing? We feel good. 10:00 a.m. here at the house of God. Ready to be here? Okay. Well, all right. that half of us are ready to be here. I'm ready to be here. I'm excited. I just I've got a confession. I have never taught the 10 a.m. Bible class and the adult Bible class. I've never done that. Okay. So, thank you for being a part of this very first experience. For me, we're going to see how it goes. If I get invited back, it means I did at least halfway right. If I you never see me again. Well, you know what happened. Okay. So on this first time of teaching adult Bible Sunday school class, I I was asked to teach on 1 Corinthians 11 2-16. Many of us will know this.

It's it's popular for being the hair passage that we derive our apostolic distinctive of women having long hair, men having short hair. This is the passage, right? So baptism by fire truly is what is happening this morning. So we're going to walk through this passage and I think the Lord is going to help us and we're going to draw closer to him through it. Amen. anytime we study the word of God together, we get closer to the author of the word. And I'm excited for that to happen. So, I've just got a an easy title for us this morning. It's just going to be called the heart of worship because I think that's what Paul is after here. So, I've got to give us some background on first Corinthians just a little bit to set the lesson up properly.

So, number one, we have to realize that the Corinthian church was a troubled church. They had a lot of things going wrong in their community. They had division. They had immorality. They had pride. that had confusion, you name it. And that problem was likely there. It has been said uh this way. We can learn a lot of what not to do by reading Corinthians. We can learn a lot about what not to do, what does not please the Lord by reading Corinthians. That's just the case of the church that Paul was writing to. And I want to offer just a quick piece of um information on the structure.

If you look at the structure of first Corinthians of the book as a whole, you'll see that the book can be broken up into five major sections or five essays if you'll call them where Paul talks about different topics or themes. The first one is c the cross and unity meaning Christian unity and and how the cross plays into that. The second would be sexual morality and marriage. Paul addresses that topic from 417 to 740. Then he goes into Christian and pagan freedom and responsibility. This was where Paul teaches us there are some things that as Christians we can accept from culture. We can participate in. There are some things where we have to reject culture. We cannot participate in this cultural practice. And then there are some things that we can redeem as Christians.

We can derive something good out of it as we do so led by Jesus. Essay 4, Paul talks about worship or worship that is aligned with God in an appropriate manner. And he talks about the practices and motivations of that worship. This essay is where we talk about the spiritual gifts and the motivation of love and all those things. And then essay five, the very last chapter of 1 Corinthians, he talks about the resurrection. Now, the reason this is important to understand is that our passage that we're studying is the very beginning of essay number four where Paul is talking about how to worship the Lord in a way that pleases him. And he starts off with a very difficult passage, the one that we're going to dive into.

If I could break up 1 Corinthians 11 2-16 um using an outline, this is what it would look like for us this morning. Paul starts off in verse two by giving a commendation or he he says, "Well done on keeping the teaching and tradition I've handed to you." He he commends them and then he starts teaching on this idea of headship. And we're going to unpack what that means, but he talks about a theology of headship. Then he makes an argument from creation and then he ends by talking about worship that is truly aligned with God. Does that all make sense? This is kind of what we're going to go after. We're going to handle it in turn. But before we do that, I just want to read the text together from 11 2-16.

We're going to read it together and I'm going to be using the New American Standard Bible or the NASBY. Now, I know that brother Paul has used this in times past so I felt at liberty to do that. But just to give a little uh bit of information why I chose this, the NASBY is known for being a highly literal translation means it tries to honor the Greek as closely as possible. And so by reading the NASBY this morning, it's going to help us uh make sense of some of the plays on words, some of the way that Paul talks about things. Is that is that okay? We can read the NASBY together. All right. Here's what it says. says, 'Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions just as I handed them down to you. Verse three, he gets into the teaching.

He says, "But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head. For it is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, have her also cut her hair off. However, if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, have her cover her head. For a man should not have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of man. For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man.

For indeed, man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake. Therefore, the woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as the woman originated from the man, so also the man has his birth to the woman, and all things originate from God. Verse 13 says, "Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does even nature itself not teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her as a covering. But if anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor have the churches of God.

And everybody said, "Amen." Talk about a dense passage. Whose head are we talking about? What in the world is going on? What's the symbol of authority? Well, our goal today is to try to understand what Paul is after here and really what the Lord is after here in this passage. And so I I do want to say at the outset any questions you may have, direct those to Pastor Brad. Okay. Starting off in verse two, Paul offers a quick commendation. He says, "I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions just as I handed them down to you." Paul begins by commending the Corinthian church before he goes into a pastoral correction of their practices. And starting in verse three, he gets into the teaching itself of 1 Corinthians 11.

And I'm just going to read these passages again as we unpack them because they're so dense. I want us to have them in our minds. Says in verse three, I want you to understand, you got to know this, that Christ is the head of every man. And the man is the head of a woman. And God is the head of Christ. Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head. For it is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, have her also cut her hair off. However, if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, have her cover her head.

So here Paul launches this passage by talking about this key idea, this theology of headship to support his teaching on order and a Christian worship. Now what in the world is headship? Well, he's he's doing a play on words here. He's saying the head of every man is Christ. And if a if a man prays or prophesies with his head covered, he dishonors his head. So certainly he means the man's physical head. That first meaning, but then he says he dishonors his head. So what does he mean by using the word head? The Greek word is kela. If you want to sound cool at parties, just learn a little Greek, right? You sound really interesting and intelligent. But the word in Greek is kela. Just means head. But the writer Paul can use it in a symbolic or metaphorical sense.

So we have to ask the question what does Paul mean by calling the c by calling Christ the head of every man or the man the head of a woman. What does he mean by that and what does he mean by they dishonor that head that order? Well, there's two primary meanings and Paul actually uses both of these meanings both in first Corinthians and in other letters. The first meaning of the use of the word head is Paul is saying the authority that Christ is the head or the authority of every man and so on and so forth. This is the idea of having headship over somebody or in a hierarchy of relationships, you're the lead or in the context of marriage, the husband is said to be the head of that family unit of the wife.

And Paul even talks about Jesus in this way in Ephesians 1 22 through 23 where he says Christ is the head over the church. Meaning Christ is the authority over the church and we submit to him and we follow him completely. But the second primary meaning that Paul could be using here and in fact does use in other passages of scripture is when he says Christ is the head. He means that Christ is the source or the thing from which everything comes. And he he uh to give an example of this think of the word like headarters, the headarters of a stream. It is the place where everything flows from. And Paul speaks like this of Jesus as well in Colossians 2:19 where he says, "Christ is the head from whom the church grows." Does that distinction make sense? I can play the accordion.

I we could just stop here and just learn the first few verses. That's totally fine. So when he says the head, meaning it's either the authority or it's the source, the thing from which everything flows. And I think that here in First Corinthians, Paul appears to be utilizing both meanings. He's kind of using it in a multifaceted sense as he fleshes out his argument. Certainly at the beginning, he's saying Christ is the head or the authority of every man. That's certainly the primary meaning at the beginning, but as he unpacks his argument, it seems like he plays on also the idea of Christ being the source and man being the source, especially when we talk about creation. Some other contextual notes. Um, depending on what translation you're reading, it may say something like this.

The head of every man is Christ and the head of a wife is her husband. Does anybody have a translation that says that? Yeah, some will say the head of every man is Christ and the head of a woman is man, right? So, it has different ways of saying that. That's because Paul is using a very generic Greek term here to talk about man and woman. So, the Greek word for man is just anair. It can mean man or it can mean husband. It can actually mean either way depending on the context in Greek. For woman, he's using the Greek word gin and it just means woman or it can mean wife depending on the context. Now certainly Paul is is using it in husband and wife terminology at the beginning but I think it has more uh broad application as we continue through.

But let me give a modern example of what I mean by this. Let's imagine that I was teaching a marriage seminar. Can you imagine that? Imagine I was teaching a marriage seminar and so the room is full of married men and women. Does that make sense? Yeah. And I open up with this. Now men listen to me. Now I may have used the generic term for men but who am I addressing? I'm addressing husbands. Right? Does that make sense? And so Paul here based on the context we have got to determine does he mean the generic term man or does he mean husband? Does he mean the generic term woman or does he mean wife? Now again most of the time he is talking about husband and wife. But does that mean that what Paul says here has nothing to do with unmarried men and women?

My answer briefly here at the beginning is no. The principle of God aligned worship applies broadly. This becomes clear as Paul unpacks his argument. But Paul handles the issues that he's going to talk about within the greater argument of God's created order. How God created the world. And where did God's first created order display itself? It displayed itself in the union of Adam and Eve in a marriage. And so that's why Paul starts with marriage because that's where God started to talk about God's creative order and intent for human beings. But here's Paul's point.

Paul is saying because of God's created order, the way he made men and women, the headship principle, men and women should worship, pray and prophesy, should worship in ways that honor that order and mark out the inbuilt distinctions between them. For Paul, this is done by not covering the head for men and covering the head, talking about a veil that the woman will wear, and covering the head for a woman. Now, this fits into the Bible's broader teaching that God intended a distinction between men and women when he created us. And this is found primarily at the beginning of Genesis 1:27, where the scriptures say, "So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them." And you'll notice that Paul plays on this foundational teaching of scripture all throughout his argument. And so he says, "Because this is the way that we were created, we ought to practice certain things. Men, you shouldn't cover your head when you pray and prophesy. Women, you should cover your head with a veil when you pray or prophesy." Um, isn't it shameful if a man covers his head? So, why is it shameful? What's what's going on here? We need some cultural background. In the ancient world, when Paul was writing, a man with a veil on his head or a covered head could have symbolized two primary things.

The first thing it could have symbolized is pagan priestly practices because in the ancient world men some ancient pagan priests would wear a veil over their head as a part of their consecration to a pagan deity. So it could symbolize that and so Paul's attacking that. But primarily the second thing that Paul could be attacking culturally speaking is that epheminite or homosexual men would intentionally wear a feminine veil to blur the gender distinction line to attract male attention. Does that make sense? Men in the ancient world would do this intentionally. They would intentionally try to present themselves as feminine to attract male attention. So Paul says, doesn't isn't it shameful for a man to do that? And it's built on this gender distinction and God's created order, all this stuff.

And likewise, in a similar way, uncovered women could have signified things that Christians should not associate with. An uncovered woman or a woman that did not wear a traditional veil in the ancient world could be aligned with an unfaithful wife because head coverings in that time they were a marital symbol that a married woman would normally wear a veil and cover her hair to signify her faithfulness to her husband could represent that. But at the extreme it could represent an unveiled woman, a woman without propriety at that time. It could represent ancient prostitutes who would not cover their head and and oftentimes would actually shave their head completely.

And so Paul says, "Hey, we we should not be aligning with these pagan practices or these cultural practices that don't keep the distinction between men and women alive." And Paul here where he says, "Hey, if a woman's not going to cover her head, just have her shave her head." You know, that that's a that's a powerful rhetorical rhetorically forceful point that Paul is making. But his point is this. If you're going to align with ungodly behavior, just go all the way. Don't ride the fence. He's being deliberately absurd or extreme to make a point.

certain behaviors in worship in a worshshiping life they blur God's order and they reflect pagan values and that is something Christians should not do Christian worship in summary of this first section Christian worship should reflect God's order not pagan confusion the wearing or not wearing of head coverings and what they symbolized at that day gender distinction were ways by which one could worship and honor God's design Paul then goes to build his argument on creation how God made men and women that starts in Verse 7, we're going to read this together. Paul says, "For a man should not have his head covered since he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of man. For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man.

For indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake. Therefore, the woman should have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is the man independent of woman. For as the woman originated from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman, and all things originate from God. So Paul's argument remains the same, that God aligned worship should honor the inbuilt distinctions found in men and women at creation. He's essentially saying that men and women are built different. I thought I'd get a chuckle or something out of that, but men and women are built different. We're built different.

As much as our culture would try to blur that distinction, men and women are built different. And we were built different by the design of God. And that is a good thing. Paul says, look, even at creation, we learn that we're built different. Man is the image and glory of God. Woman is the glory of man. Man was created first from the dust. Woman was created from man. Man was not created for woman's sake, but woman was created for the sake of the man. So Paul cr grounds his argument in this reality. There are inbuilt differences at creation the way God intended it between male and female and together as male and female we reflect the image and the authority of God. And can the church say amen? Men and women together reflect the image and the authority of God.

And so it is a good thing for men to look like men and women to look like women. Amen. Now, speaking of authority, we've got to take a look at some interesting verses. verses 9 and 10 where it says, "For indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake. Therefore, the woman should have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels." What in the world is going on? Has anybody ever read that? And you're like, "Where'd the angels come from?" Like, what what is happening here? Right? So, the woman should have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. And the reason that's the case is because man wasn't created for the sake of the woman, but the woman was created for the sake of the man. What what does that mean?

This is kind of confusing, right? Well, Paul again is referring back to the Genesis account when men and women were created. Look at how God created us. And that should tell us something about Paul's principles here, right? So, God creates man. Can I get it like this from all the guys? Just a little. Yeah, he did. All right. So, God created man and he told that man, "All right, you need to have dominion over all that I've created. You need to name the animals. You need to rule it. You need to tend the garden. You got to take care of everything. You are meant to be the regent of God's creation. Now, soon after, apparently, men, we were not doing a good job because soon after he says, "Oh, man, it's not good. It's not good that man should be alone.

He can't do this by himself." And so, what happens? God creates woman and places her as a help suitable to the man to help in the ruling of God's good world. So when Paul says man was not created for the sake of the woman, but woman was created for the sake of the man, he's saying woman was created because man needed help ruling God's creation. Does that make sense? Now hold on, ladies. Hold on. Paul's a very balanced man. Let's just be careful before we celebrate. Does that make sense, though? Woman was created for the sake of the man. What's the sake? For ruling and reigning in authority over God's creation. And because that's the case, because this is the role of the woman to be a co-regent with man, the woman should have a symbol of authority on her head.

Now again, Paul's still referencing as a veil, but this is going to become clear as we keep reading. So the woman should have a symbol of authority that reflects her created role as co-regent with man, but also marks her as not man. Does that make sense? So the symbol of authority, it says, yes, she has authority. She's co-regent with man, but she's also not man. And this symbol of authority that Paul's talking about is so crucial. The symbol of authority on a woman's head is so crucial. He says, "Because of the angels." What in the world, Paul, is going on here? What? Why are the angels brought into this? Y'all, I as I studied this passage, I've kind of geeked out as a Bible nerd, so just forgive me as I get excited. I hope you learned something. Okay?

Says, "Because of the angels." So this is a reference I think to the angels who witness and celebrate God's created order. And let's unpack what I mean by that. Even the Bible itself suggests that angels were there at the beginning when God created everything and they celebrated God's creation. Job 38:4-7 and he's the Lord is questioning Job. He says, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" Start at the very beginning. Where were you, Job? Tell me if you if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone? And I love this at the beginning he says when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings that is the angels shouted for joy.

So here Job is talking about at the beginning as God began to create everything the angelic hosts were there and they celebrate God's good world and God's good creation. Now, Jewish tradition built on this passage and many others like it. And they developed the idea that angels were present at creation. Yes, celebrating it. But not only this, they were also tasked with safeguarding God's creative design. If you think about the biblical narrative, when the lines were blurred between men and women in the Old Testament, who showed up to judge those cities? It was angels. Think Sodom and Gomorrah. The Lord was involved surely, but angels would show up to guard God's good created order.

And so, it seems to me that Paul is offering a bit of a uh implicit threat here that if we don't maintain God's order, the way that he would want it, truly worshiping him as he created us, we might be in trouble. Now, Paul mentions this kind of language of angels in other parts of First Corinthians and other portions of his writings. I'll just read to you. 1 Corinthians 4:9, he says, "For I think God has exhibited us, the apostles, last of all as men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to mankind." In other words, angels are looking in on the apostles ministry, watching, looking in and watching over it. He's a little bit more explicit in Ephesians 3 8-10 where he says to me, Paul does, the very least of all saints.

This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is is which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things. Verse 10 says, "So that the reason all this happened, Paul's ministry, Paul's preaching, so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places." that is these heavenly beings, these angelic beings. So Paul here twice in the two examples, he says, "Angels are looking in on God's created world." Yes. But also his spiritual creation, the church, the angels are looking in because they have a vested interest in making sure that God's design is properly upheld in truth.

That's how important this symbol of authority on a woman's head is. Now Paul, again, I told the women not to celebrate too quickly. we're, you know, like, yeah, we got a sign of authority. What do men have balding? You know, I don't know. But Paul works to strike a balance. Now, some believe that the Corinthian church misunderstood some of Paul's earlier teachings where he says, "In Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, we're all the same." And Paul affirms that absolutely, men and women are equal in value before the sight of God. Right? He he teaches that, but he's trying to tell them that is true. But there are still God-given distinctions of how we should worship and how we should look and behave that honor the Lord.

Paul may also need to safeguard his own comments here from further misunderstanding because he has spoke so highly of men's position of being created first. Oh, come on y'all. He speaks so highly of that men were created first. But he also speaks really highly of women that they have this unique symbol of authority on their head, right? Right? And all the women are woo woo, you know, they're excited about that. And so Paul tries to make sure that he strikes balance in verse 11 where he says, "However, even though that's all true in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as the woman originated from the man, so also the man has his birth through woman, and all things originate from God." We all stand level still.

Maybe different male and female, but we all stand level still as coming from God. He's the creator of all things in the Lord. Men and women are in in interdependent. Women come from men, but men are now born of women. All things ultimately come from God, the true source of all things. This might echo that second idea of headship, the source of all things. Paul then turns to his final argument before his closing thought in verse 13. He says, "Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does even nature itself not teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him. But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her as a covering. Paul asks the question, is it proper?

What he means is, does it really reflect God's good created order when we blur the lines between men and women? He revisits this core question of God- aligned worship. And he explains further how men and women ought to distinguish themselves in such a way that honors God's original creative intent. And he begins with an argument from nature. He says, "Does not nature itself teach you this?" Now, nature can be two things. It can mean um meaning biology. So, how could biology or the created order in that sense teach us anything why men should have short hair and women should have long hair? Well, 70 plus% of men are going to experience male pattern baldness. I'm heading that way, y'all. Tresa told me my hair is thinning. My own wife, right? We're heading that way.

And so maybe nature itself teaches us something. Men naturally like we're going to lose our hair. We're going to recede all those things. And women not so much. Maybe if they're having some trouble with their hair, maybe they've got high levels of stress or something is going on. But more normally, men are losing their hair, not women. So it could mean that. But the very nature of things, Paul could also be referring to the way things always have have always been. Meaning Paul's saying, look around at our culture. Like cultures from the beginning till now have always had distinguishing markers between men and women. Does that does that not tell you that there's something ingrained in every human that understands that we're different? So he's making this argument.

He says nature itself teaches us that if men have long hair, it's shameful. Again, Paul, I've already mentioned this, but Paul could be playing on the practice of male prostitutes of the ancient time who would intentionally grow their hair out long to blur gender boundaries and attract male attention. And I just have to say in our modern context, I do find it interesting in the modern transgender movement that if a man decides to transition to be a woman, one of the first things that he does is he grows his hair out. Does that make sense? Anytime a woman wants to transition to be a man, one of the first things she does is she cuts her hair off. Right? These are sort of inbuilt markers for humanity. And that's Paul's point is does not nature itself tell you that this is true.

Now, he also says women with long hair and and we'll get into that word long, but he says her long hair is called her glory. It's the same word used earlier when she is called the glory of man. It possibly echoes that co-regent status, that symbol of authority. And Paul says it's no longer a veil that is the symbol of authority on her head. It is her long hair that Paul says is given to her by God as a natural covering that marks her out as woman and as co-ruler of God's creation and the spiritual creation of the church. Does that make sense? But we have to ask this question. What does Paul mean? What does the Bible mean when he uses the word long hair? And this perhaps get in gets into one of our key apostolic distinctives. And again, all questions should be directed to Pastor Brad.

We have to move quickly because I have got like 12 and a half minutes left. But we've got to do some Greek. Is everybody ready? If this was a class with younger people, I'd have us all stand up and stretch, but I won't make you do that. So, let's get into some Greek. So, the important Greek words, the noun form is com. Sounds like comb. Think about that. Is come and it just means hair or long hair. Just means long hair. Traditionally denotes flowing long hair. However, there is one major biblical background story that plays into this word that helps us understand really what the Bible means by the word long hair. And that is the story found in Numbers 6:5 and Judges 13 where the Bible talks about the Nazerite vow.

Now, the Nazerite was to never to cut their hair during the allotted time of their consecration. When you think of Samson, Samson was supposed to be a perpetual Nazarite, meaning from the womb. He was never to cut his hair. And this word is used in the Nazarite bow. It's actually a special word. It's not used all over the Bible. It's used very um sparingly. One of the major places is here in the Nazarite bow. So that's the the noun form. It says in number 65, all the days of his vow, the Nazarite, the vow of consecration, no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled, which he lives as a Nazarite for the Lord. He shall let the locks of his hair on his head grow long.

Now that gets us into the verb form kan which simply means to wear or grow or to let the hair grow to let the hair grow out. Number 65 again contains this word the Nazarite shall let the hair grow long. Again Samson was the perpetual Nazarite and Paul uses the finite verb form.

He uses the verb form of this exact word twice in 1 Corinthians 11 which for me forges an intentional connection because there are other words there are other ways of talking about this but he uses this very specific word more than that the Hebrew word behind the Greek word that gets translated is the Hebrew word parah which means to let grow unrestrained meaning don't restrain the growth of your hair a contemporary of Paul Josephus he uses the same Greek word when he talks about the Nazarite bow he says Nazarites are to let their hair grow long and they should not touch wine. So my point is over and over and over again the word that Paul uses seems intentional and it implies the practice of women not cutting their hair out of consecration to God.

And in case the objection is raised that the ancient Israelites had no distinction between uncut hair and hair that is only trimmed. I offered the priestly ordinance in Ezekiel 44 where the priests are told also they shall not shave their heads. Okay. Yet they shall not let their locks grow long. Okay? So they shouldn't shave it. They shouldn't grow it out. They shall only trim the hair of their heads. So said plainly, if Paul wanted to make this kind of a distinction between letting the hair grow, trimming the hair, shaving the head, he could have. And even Paul makes a distinction between cutting hair and shaving a head in verse six already. So in summary, Paul's use of a Greek word tied to the Nazarite bow. The Ezekiel 44 passage shown that there can be a distinction.

and the Hebrew all behind it. It's it's clear to me that when Paul used the words that he does, he means to teach that women should have uncut, not just long hair as the symbol of authority in her head. That marks her as, yes, spiritual authority, but also female. And that men should cut their hair in noticeably masculine ways to mark themselves out as properly worshiping and exercising authority in the Lord as male. Everybody take a breath. It's a lot. I do want to make a practical note here. This sort of understanding of the word long hair, meaning uncut hair, I think it works more universally than the traditional understanding of long because what marker could we use consistently to measure what is long? Where does long start?

And there are some even in the world today, there are some ethnic backgrounds that possess a type of hair that does not naturally grow long in any sense that we may consider it to be long. But if the translation, if the scriptural teaching is women having uncut hair, then all can participate. All can participate in this ordinance from the Lord. On that note, I I've got to offer some pastoral comments. This teaching does not condemn those who have had to go through medical procedures that cause hair loss or require the removal of hair. That is not Paul's point. Paul is concerned with those that are intentionally removing the God-given markers of gender distinction. He's not talking about unintentional or unwanted loss of hair. Does that make sense? I want to be clear there.

Secondly, I have to say if this teaching is new to you or perhaps one that you've had questions about or struggled with, your ongoing alignment with the Lord is not in jeopardy today. If you have not kept this teaching up to this point, you you don't have to be in trouble. You can start today. You are not cut off from the blessing of obeying this teaching if you have not in the past. You can follow the Lord today. And so my humble offer, the humble offer of scripture is not one that is meant to condemn. The word of God may convict, but it does so as an invitation into fuller relationship with the Lord.

Paul quickly moves to his final argument in verses in verse 16 and he says, "If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice nor have the churches of God." In other words, what Paul is trying to say is all the apostolic churches of the first century held to this teaching. All the apostolic churches of the first century practiced what Paul had just taught them. Paul ends on a note of apostolic authority to let them know that this was no local rule just for the Corinthians or just for the time, but it was a universal practice of the churches of God. This is how to please the Lord in our worship. And if we wish to call ourselves apostolic today, then we would do well to both understand and observe this teaching in its fullness. Amen.

So if I could offer just some summary statements, summary statements to bring together a rather deep topic be something like this. I've got five summary statements. Number one, God's design and creation should inform how we worship him in our lives. The way God created us is good. It's beautiful. And if we align our lives with it, there is blessing in it. God created men. Yeah, he did. God created women. Yes, he did. And that is that's not a hindrance. That's that is a good and beautiful thing that we ought to honor and display in our lives. Connected to that point. Number two, God-given distinctions between men and women. They are not oppressive. I just have to speak that the God-given distinctions between men and women. They are not oppressive.

They are ways by which we worship the Lord, pleasing and honoring him. It pleases the Lord when we do it his way. They're not oppressive. It leads to blessing. Number three, this sort of teaching that seems kind of strange. it to be honest if if I'm looking at the Bible and I'm like what should we leave in and what should we take out again we don't do that because it's against the Lord doesn't like that but if I'm looking at it I'm like this is one of those teachings Lord that this is really confusing right this is kind of hard to understand but it's so important that the Lord inspired Paul to tell us that the angels themselves are looking in to make sure to make sure that we are lining our lives up with him in this today. What do I mean by line our lives up to be clear?

Number four, uncut hair for women and masculine cut hair for men matters to God because it fits in the grander understanding of gender distinction and the honoring of God's creative intent as we exercise spiritual authority and worship the Lord together. This is how we honor the Lord with our heads. Number five, our obedience to these commands. It reflects our own consecration and our submission to God's design. And God honors those that honor him. Amen. I pray today as as I close, I pray today that I've offered some clarity on the topic or at least inspired some more questions that will lead to clarity. I pray that we have drawn closer to the Lord through it.

And truly, my heart was to help us understand what pleases the Lord, to understand the true heart of worship as we come before him even today. And we can have an attitude of loopholes as as we wrestle with this text. like, well, can I do I really have to do that or can I change some things here? Essentially, what's what's the minimum that I can do to get by? And I don't think we should have that attitude. I I consider that attitude actually to be legalistic. You're looking for the legal loophole. I think rather we should possess this posture. God, I just want to please you fully no matter what it looks like. I just want to please you. And if what I see in this text to be true is true, then Lord, help me to live it out. So I pray that God gives us wisdom as we work to please him in this way.

And I pray that he gives us mercy as we try. Pray the Lord bless you and keep you, make his face shine upon you, be gracious to you, and give you peace. Thank you for being with me in my first time teaching the 10 a.m. Bible class.