Expounds on the creative order established by God, as detailed in 1 Corinthians 11. It asserts that God has ordained distinct roles for men and women, reflecting His own divine order and authority. The passage is presented not as a mere cultural custom but as a divine commandment, emphasizing that men are the image and glory of God, while women are the glory of man, with hair being a natural covering for women. The sermon further explains that this order is reinforced by the creation narrative and the presence of angels, who observe and learn from the church's worship, underscoring the importance of adhering to God's established structure in all aspects of life, particularly within the church.
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Just like Remind the Brethren, there is a business meeting on Thursday night, and I hope a good number of you come out. The special business meeting has been called for this Thursday night. First Corinthians chapter eleven, please. We begin our reading at verse one. We shall read through verse sixteen. First Corinthians eleven. Be ye followers of me, even as I am also of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you.
But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head, for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of God.
but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither is the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have authority or power on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as a woman is of the man, even so is a man also by the woman, but all things of God. Judging yourselves, is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seemed to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. May the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let's pray together. Our Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we bow before thee this morning, we thank you for the word of God. And we want to thank you for creative order, and that you have made known your mind unto the children of men.
We thank you that you're the God of creation. All things were made by thee and for thy pleasure they are and were created. And we learn that the chief and the man is to glorify thee and to enjoy thee forever. We thank you for the privilege that you've given us by virtue of the new birth that we now can bring glory to thee. For you have implanted your spirit within us You have made us partakers of the divine nature, and our joy is to bring glory and honor to thee. And we pray that from our lives this will be true, and that your name will be glorified in us and through us.
Now we ask for those who are not with us today, we only have joy in our hearts and in our expressions when we think of Eric. and Cassie as they were married yesterday and we ask your blessing upon their lives and we look forward to seeing them working here in the assembly. We pray for those who are traveling for Ara and his family and for Mary and all the others. We just commend them to these. We think of those who are laid aside with illness. There seems to be so much of the flu that is traveling and making its circuit. Then we ask you, O God, to undertake for thy people in these areas.
And now as we turn to thee in a special way, we pray for our missionary family. We think of Sarah Murdoch and ask you to abundantly bless her first in her own soul in the study of thy word and then in the proclamation of the word as she tells it to others. And we pray for the Stephens and ask your blessing upon them. We pray for Brother Robert Layton as he anticipates the move to New Jersey and as he labors there for thee. And we think of Nora Patterson in her labors in St.
Croix. And we think of the various activities that go on about us. We pray for the ministry of Precious Child. We pray for the work of W.H.P.E. and all the others that seek to glorify thee and proclaim the gospel to poor sinners. Call thy people to thyself, O God, and in a special way work in our midst today. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Now we want to continue here in First Corinthians eleven, where we left off from this passage last Lord's day. When a person enters the family of God, They enter the only way possible.
The only way possible into the family of God is by the new birth. You cannot get in any other way. There are many that try. Our Lord in John chapter ten says, Any man who climbs up some other way, that same is a thief and a robber. He said, I am the door of the sheep. By me, if any man enter in, He shall be saved. There is no way to have the new birth apart from Jesus Christ and the knowledge of Him. And there is no entrance into the family of God apart from the new birth.
Now when a person is a genuine believer by being born of God, that person is called in Scripture a new creation. Second Corinthians five seventeen says, Therefore, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. God redeemed us, beloved, in order that what was lost through the sinfulness of Adam, it is regained and more in the person of Jesus Christ. So when you go through the first chapter of the Romans, where Adam and his family is contrasted, with Christ and his family you have the expression much more much more much more that belongs to the family of God and it's all because of a relationship with Jesus Christ now this passage in first Corinthians eleven is teaching us creative order creative order the creative order of God in creation God distinguished between the sexes And God wants to see in the
church, in the local expression, that order that he has given to his church carried out. Now, there are those who look rather lightly upon First Corinthians chapter eleven, especially these sixteen verses that we read this morning. But when you examine this whole section of which this is a part, I would remind you what Paul says in chapter fourteen and the fourth last verse, verse thirty-seven, where he says, If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that are right unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
When our Lord commissioned His disciples in Matthew twenty-eight, before He went back to glory, He said, Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them some things that I have declared unto you. No. Teaching them all things that I have declared unto you. And when Paul writes, he says, These are the commandments of God. This is not just some figment of the imagination that came to Paul. This is the commandment of God. Now those of us who have been redeemed by divine grace, saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, God is looking for creative order among His people.
For He brought us back and we are first fruits. We read James chapter one and verse eighteen. of his own will be. God he asked with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruit of his new creation. And we sing this truth, first fruits of thy new creation. Faithful, holy may we be. Now in verse three that we examined last week, we saw creative order expressed where he said, I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ. and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God.
Here you have equality with subordination. Christ is equal with the Father, yet he is subject to the Father. And then in verse four, we have creative order expressed in relation to the man. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. In other words, God doesn't expect a man to cover his head in a meeting. Then in verses five and six, you have creative order expressed in relation to the woman.
In contrast to the man, that word but in verse five is a conjunction of contrast in English grammar, but every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonoreth her head, for that is even all one, as if she were shaven. For if a woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. Now beginning in verse seven, where we begin today, we have the reasons given for this creative order. In verse seven, we are given reasons now. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.
Man is the image and glory of God. Now, the only sense in which the man, in distinction from the woman, is the image and glory of God is. that man represents the authority of God. Man was invested with dominion at creation. In Genesis chapter one and verses twenty six and twenty seven, and I invite you to read that with me. I can quote it. I think I can. But I'd like you to read it with me for I think it's, I want you to see this.
Here we find that the woman is as much in the likeness of God as the man is. You see, they are both mentioned, both Eve and Adam for the likeness of God. Verse twenty-six. And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fall of the air, and over the cattle. And over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him. Male and female created he them.
What you see, dominion, when you get to the next chapter, was vested in Adam because he in particular... was a representative of God. In our text in First Corinthians, we read that the woman is the glory of the man. And just as a man is called upon to be in subjection to Christ, the woman is called upon to be in subjection to the man. She's subordinate to the man. The woman is not designed to reflect the glory of God as a ruler.
that was given to the man. But the woman receives and reveals what there is in the majesty of man. Now you have that, you see, in the end of verse seven. It says the woman is the glory of the man. God created her to be that. For when God looked at all of creation, For every animal there was a male and a female. They were in pairs. There was that which corresponded to him in the opposite sex. But when he looked at the man that he had created, there was no help fit for Adam.
So God says, I will create a help fit for him. That which is consonant with him. And God created the woman. For God said, it is not good for man to be alone. It is not good for man to be alone. And this is one of the reasons why we can thank God when a young man like Eric married. She becomes the completeness in Eric's life. And a wedding is a glorious time. It's a glorious time.
The woman becomes a completeness. She becomes the glory of the man. And God expects this to be seen. Where? In the local testimony. Now what is the natural glory of the woman? The natural glory of the woman is her hair. That's why God says you should cover it. you should cover it in order that man might be seen, for man is the glory of God. God's glory is more important than the natural glory of the woman. That's really what he's saying in the text.
The woman is the glory of the man. Now, when you come to verse eight, He says, the man is not of the woman. Here again, he is stressing creative order why it is the way it is. You see, we are the way we are because God made me this way. I did not choose to be a man. I did not even choose to be born. I did not choose my parents. I did not choose... choose the geographical part of planet Earth where I would make my appearance. All those things were done for me.
In fact, the greatest things that took place in my life, somebody else did them. I didn't. But we are the way we are because God made us. I am a man because I was created a man by God. And if you're here and you're a woman, you were created that way. And you can only function and bring glory to God in the sphere in which you were created. And you want to know something? No one can be better at being a woman than a woman. Ever know that? That's the truth, friend.
One of the things that is disgusting is when you see a woman... who wants to be a man. It's disgusting. And another thing that's disgusting is when you find a man who wants to be a woman. And we have this nonsense in our generation. I was sitting in a restaurant one time when this guy came in and his face was all, he had lipstick on and red cheeks and fingernail polish and all this stuff. And he was sitting over there and he looked at me and he smiled. I wanted a bump. There you laugh, but I want to tell you it's disgusting.
God expects in his church, beloved, he's redeemed us with the cost of his blood, that one of whom he said, this is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. He willingly put him to death, laying upon him our sin, that we might be redeemed. And that we should not be ashamed to show forth the fact that we believe in creative order. I don't care what Dan Rather says on the evening news, nor Peter Jennings, nor anybody else, when it comes to what the Church of God teaches. In fact, I don't care what anybody says.
The Word of God is what God has given us to be our safe rule in all matters. of spiritual walk. It's the word God. In verse eight God says, the man is not of the woman, but the woman is of the man. And therefore you see that the subordination of the woman to the man is here proved by two facts. I want you to notice them. First, the woman was formed out of the man. She derived her origin from him. God took a part out of man to make the woman. She derives her origin from him.
The second thing that this teaches, the second fact, she was created on his account, not he on her account. Adam is already in existence. God said it is not good that man should be alone. I will make a help fit for Adam. And she was created for his account, not Adam for her account. So when we come to this passage, we find that the New Testament authenticates not merely the moral and the religious truths of the Old Testament, but it authenticates the history of the Old Testament.
And the history of the Old Testament gives us a time element. Now they were both created on the sixth day. In the same day that God created Adam, He created the Eve. But on that sixth day, there was a time period between the creation of Adam and the creation of Eve. Now, that brings us to verse ten. Here's another reason why the woman should be covered. The other reason is the importance of angelic ministry. He says in verse ten, For this cause ought the woman to have authority or power on her head because of the angel.
This text here is interesting if you read all the commentators. The apostle had asserted and proved that the woman is subordinate to the man. And he assured us this and he took for granted that the veil or the covering was the conventional symbol of man's authority and her submission to it. Now the apostle does something else. He asserts that the veil or the covering is specially proper in worshiping assemblies. For there they were in the presence, not merely of men, but in the presence of angels.
The Word of God teaches us that God is instructing the angelic host in the church. That it is in the church where the angels learn the manifold wisdom of God. They learn it in the church. Can you imagine that the angels are being instructed this morning? In the church? That's what I read in Ephesians chapter three. You see it. And verse ten. to the intent that now and to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places might be known the manifold wisdom of God. Ephesians three verse ten. Beloved, when we gather together to worship as we do this morning, it's not just gathering together socially and the reading of a few verses from the Bible and praying and singing.
Oh no. We've been called into the fellowship of His Son, and all heaven is interested in what's going on here. And the more we're aware of that, the more we're going to get down the business in worship and in holiness before God. Now Job, chapter thirty-eight, verse seven, declares unto us that when God created the earth and man, the angels were present. for the expression, and the sons of God shouted for joy. And it has reference to creation. That when God created, that the angelic hosts worshipped, they shouted for joy.
Now angels sinned. And when angels sinned, God did not provide salvation for angels. Second Peter, chapter two, verse four says, God spared not the angels that sin. He didn't spare them. Hebrews chapter two tells us that we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip, for the word spoken by angels was steadfast. And every disobedience received a just recompense of reward. How shall we escape? if we neglect so great salvation.
In other words, I remember a good Bible teacher at a conference we had in Harrisburg all thirty years ago, twenty-five years ago. It was before I moved south. On Thanksgiving Day we'd have a conference all day. We'd have two sermons in the morning, three in the afternoon and two at night. And this one dear brother, a few of us young followers got around him and we asked a question about angels. And he answered her, and the question was, do you believe that you have a guardian angel? And he answered, this man had been a missionary, a doctor. He was a medical doctor. He had been a missionary to Persia.
Great preacher. And the question was, do you believe that you have a guardian angel? His answer was, I certainly do, but I don't want to have anything to do with him. I'll never forget that as long as I live, because now he had my attention. Well, if you have a guardian angel, why don't you want to have anything to do with him? He said, remember one thing, young men, and they pointed right at us. He said, angels know nothing but perfect obedience. Every disobedience received a just recompense of reward, and when anybody disobeyed an angel, they were smitten immediately.
Luke chapter one, John the Baptist's father, Zechariah, he argued with the angel Gabriel. He argued. And the angel Gabriel smote him and he was dumb until the day that John the Baptist was born. He smote him. And you remember Moses, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt and there at Mount Sinai, They made a golden calf and they ascribed to that work of their own hands. Deity, these be thy gods, O Israel, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And God and Moses were in conference with each other. And God says, I'm not going up with you. I'll send my angel. Oh no, Michael said, don't send your angel.
If you don't go with us, I'm not going. We have a tendency, friends. because of the long suffering and the love of God to argue with God, but never try arguing with an angel. It won't work. But it's caused ought a woman to have authority on her head because of the angels. Now we're unaware of angelic ministry. Let me give you an illustration. If you read the Journal of John Wesley and I'm getting more concerned that we spend more time with TV than we do with good books.