Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to our reading, 1 Corinthians
chapter 11, and reading for our text, the first verse. Be ye followers of me, even as
I also am of Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse
1. The apostle Paul was a disciple
of the Lord. A disciple is a follower. Those that believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ became followers of him. This is very evident
from when Paul writes to the Thessalonians and he says in
his first epistle to them how that they became followers. Verse 6 in the first chapter
And ye became followers of us. Why? The gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction,
with joy of the Holy Ghost. The Lord then has ordained that
those that are brought to believe in Him, those are disciples that
should follow Him, and that when they follow Him, that they should
do so in such a way as be able to say with the Apostle Paul,
be ye followers of me. What a searching word that is.
Would we say that to those round about us? You be a follower of
me. because I follow Christ. We cannot
see. Christ has ascended up into heaven. God, we cannot see. He is invisible. But the brethren, the believers,
we can see. And we have the Lord speaking
through John in his epistles that if a man love God and say
that he does not and does not love his brother, then he is
a liar. And one of the evidences of passing
from death unto life is that we love the brethren. We see
that they walk according unto the Holy Scriptures, they follow
Christ, and we desire to follow them, to gather with them. When Paul writes to the Ephesians,
he says in the first verse of the fifth chapter, Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also
had loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. Here's a better thing
then, to be a follower of the Lord, to have that evidence of
the Lord saying in John chapter 10, in the type of the good shepherd,
that when he puts forth his sheep, that is his people, he goes before
them. And the sheep, they know his
voice and they follow him. We sung in the hymn just now
of that beautiful word, I am the way, the Lord in John 14
verse 6. I am the way, the truth and the
life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. We are to be
followers of him. The apostle says in Hebrews 12,
let us run the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus,
the children of Israel, when they went through the wilderness,
then the fiery, cloudy pillar went before them. And when the
tabernacle was built, it sat over that tabernacle. When it
moved, they moved. When it stayed, they stayed.
But the Lord led them forth by the right way. And as in Psalm
107, he leads his people forth by the right way. that they might
go to a city of habitation. And if he leads, then it is implied
this, that they follow. And the closer we can follow
with Christ, the better it will be for us, the clearer our evidences
we can think of in a natural way. If we are following someone
and they're far off in the distance, then It is very hard to follow,
to know which way they go, we can easily get lost. But if we're
close to them, then we can see all what they do, imitate and
put our foots in their footsteps. And that is what we would desire
to do. So the Apostle says to this Corinthian
church, be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. He is their example. He has been
the means of the Lord's blessing, conversion of their souls. And so, as the Lord has begun
in that way, He bids them to follow in that way. Well, in
this chapter, there is two main teachings that He sets before
them, and I'll bring it before you. Really by way of introduction,
though maybe rather a lengthy introduction, he deals with the
matter of headship and he deals with the matter of the Lord's
Supper. Both of them are church ordinances. He contrasts that in a couple
of places here. Verse 22, what have ye not houses
to eat and to drink in? or despise thee the Church of
God." And so we clearly know that what he's speaking of here
is regarding the Church of God, not in our private homes, our
houses. Now, he sets forth the headship
and the sign of headship, which is a head covering, which we
follow in our churches. I just want to briefly go through
this passage using the scriptures as the teaching here. Whenever
the apostle speaks to the churches, nearly all his epistles, he always
begins with commending them and really assuring them that they
are the Lord's people and speaking in a way that should encourage
them. Later on in this chapter, he
is going to reprove them. But now in verse two, he praises
the brethren, that ye remember me in all things and keep the
ordinances as I delivered them to you. There are two main ordinances
that Christ has given to the church, and that is believers'
baptism and the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. It is those
two ordinances but also the apostle has set before the churches how
they ought to behave, and especially in the matter of headship. And so we have an order set before
us in verse 3 in this chapter. 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. And so what he is setting
forth, the order in the church, God is the head of Christ, who
is the head of the man, who is the head of the woman. So we
have God, Christ, man, and the woman. That is the teaching,
really, of this whole passage regarding headship, is to maintain
that specific order in the Church of God. Then he speaks of praying
and prophesying or preaching. And these verses here, verses
four and five, they not only speak of those that are actually
in prayer, but those that are joining silently. It is common
for us in the ministry, when we come to prayer, to say, let
us pray. And yet there is only one that
is actually praying audibly. The others are praying along,
the whole congregation. If the prayer is in such a way
that they cannot say amen, Paul, he reproves the Corinthians in
one place because they are speaking in tongues. And he said, if the
people cannot understand what you are saying, what you are
praying, how can they say amen to what is said? And so the idea
in public prayer is that the people are able to say amen to
that which is uttered. Elsewhere in scripture it is
prescribed that the women keep silence in the churches. This
passage is not implying that the women are actually praying
audibly in the Church of God. These verses then show an order
that is to be shown in the church, and we mentioned before the verses
why it is plainly the church and not in houses, but here there
is to be a difference between the man and the woman, and it
is to be in a head covering. If a man covers his literal head,
that is, his head with his hair, literally, while in worship,
he dishonours Christ who is his spiritual head. If a woman worships
with her literal head uncovered, she dishonours the man who is
her spiritual head. That is the teaching these verses
4 and 5. But every woman that prayeth
or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head,
for that is even or one, as if she were shaven. And so then
we have in verse 6, if the woman be not covered, let her also
be shorn. And really the message here is,
cover or be shorn. If a woman will not symbolically
cover her head and her hair that is a glory to her, which is spoken
of in verse 15, then let her shave that hair off. Now we're given in verse seven
a reason for this sign. Verse seven says, for a man indeed
ought not to cover his head For as much he is the image and glory
of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. This shows
why the man should not cover his literal head. He is the image
and glory of God who is his spiritual head. Why the woman's head, literal
head, should be covered, she is the glory of the man, her
spiritual head. And it is that no flesh might
glory in His presence, God's presence. Then we have two further reasons
for the order itself, and it goes right back to the creation. In verse 8, for the man is not
of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man
created for the woman, but the woman for the man. So verses
8 and 9 give two further reasons for this order itself, going
right back to creation. Then we have in verse 10, the
power or ability of the woman that she has to do or not to
do as taught. Verse 10 says, for this cause
ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. The head covering is a visible
sign of a willing obedience and subjection to God's order. It's visible to the angels of
heaven who joy over one sinner that repenteth. It is visible
to them because in the Garden of Eden, The angels, they were
witnesses of what happened there. God gave the commandment to Adam before that Eve was created. The commandment was given to
him not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. And that commandment was passed
from him to Eve. Eve knew it. When Satan came,
Satan did not come to the man, he came to the woman. He did
not come to the one that was in authority. Satan himself despised
and rejected the authority of God, bypassed the man. What would we think if we had
a situation, whether it be in a business, and someone came
and instead of going to the manager, they went to someone underneath
him, Or if there's a going to the Church of God, and instead
of going to the pastor or going to the deacons, it's going to
someone else and bypassing the actual God-given authority. And this is what Satan did. And
Eve didn't reprove him. She didn't say, no, well, this
doesn't belong to me. I have no decision on this. I must consult my husband, or
you go to my husband. No. she usurped her own authority. She took it upon herself to look
at the situation and to act and in doing so then brought her
husband into sin and into the transgression and that he should
fall and she should fall. And so the angels they saw that
and so for the angels then to see in the church The effect
of the grace of God and a willing subjection of the woman to the
order itself and the sign that the order is taught in this passage. The apostle then balances this
in verses 11 and 12, that though there is this distinction made
between the man and the woman, yet they are one in the Lord. Though there is that order, Yet
they are both equally in the Lord, chosen, saved, blessed
with grace and life in Christ Jesus. There's not a difference
there. Then we have from verse 13 through
to 15, a teaching regarding the hair length. Now this is an illustration
from nature. Many mistake this. They don't
see the beginning of this passage that the whole passage is teaching
on headship and a symbol oven, and they muddle up, and then
they will say, well, yes, but the hair, is the head covering?
No. Verses 13 to 15 is an illustration
from nature and is not to be confused with the teaching of
the need for the woman to cover her head. It is an illustration. And many today, they destroy
this illustration by going against what nature teaches. And the
man has long hair and the woman has short hair. So this passage
is a teaching on hair length, that a man should have short
hair and that a woman should have long hair. It's a secondary
teaching in this passage. The woman should not cut off
what God has given her for a natural covering and a glory. You might say, well, how long
is long? Well, if we know the scriptures
and we know the account of the woman that washed the feet of
our Lord with her hair, wiped his feet with the hairs of her
head, it obviously needs to be of a fair length to actually
be able to do that. And of course, we know Those
that are older women, and some through various reasons, are
not able to have hair that long. But there is a distinction that
is to be made, or at least a desire to do so if we're able to do
so. In verse 16, the apostle closes
really anticipating that there should be contention over this
point, and there certainly is. But, he says, if any man seem
to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches
of God. If then there is contention over
these issues raised, these previous verses, even after all the arguments
Illustrations that have been offered, the issues of being
the headship, order, the head covering, the sign of that, of
the natural length of hair for man, for the woman, if there's
contention of those things, and they are contended today, the
apostle is saying neither himself nor the churches have a custom
of doing the opposite. to that that is taught in this
passage. It would appear many would think,
well, these are wasted verses. It belongs to just some custom
of that time. It doesn't relate to today. But it does, and the apostle
relates it right back to creation. And again, the essential thing
is the headship, the authority, That which today in our land,
really in every aspect of life, in the children, in the homes,
in the schools, in government, in churches, there's, and we
wouldn't be surprised at it with the way Satan worked in the fall,
a complete rejection of authority. The Jews, they came to our Lord
Jesus Christ, and they said to him, by what authority Doest
thou these things? They saw the need of authority. And when those came to take him,
they heard him speaking. They said, never man spake like
this man. And the Lord, with authority,
he cast out devils. With authority, he spoke the
word, not as the scribes, but with authority. May we have a
right spirit and be followers of the Apostle Paul, followers
of Christ in this way. The Lord said, He that receiveth
you, receiveth me. He that receiveth me, receiveth
him that sent me. And in another place, He that
despiseth you, despiseth me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth
him that sent me. The whole chain of authority.
is under God. Then we have a second major teaching
in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. And it was an abuse that
the Corinthians were doing. There were those that were using
the Lord's Supper as a meal. The apostle says, you've got
homes to eat in. You have your fill, you eat at
home, you satisfy your hunger at home. You don't abuse the
Church of God. Whereas there may be some that
do not have food at home and they look upon you, instead of
providing for your own and having your food there, you go to the
Church of God and you make use of the Church of God. But he
says this, the Lord's Supper is an ordinance. It is showing
forth the Lord's death till he come. It is the most solemn setting
forth of the sufferings and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not to be abused. It's
not to be just treated as a meal or as a way to be drunken. No. And when we think of the
Old Testament, the types and shadows there, how many would
have offered their sacrifices, maybe just done what Cain did. Cain comes with an offering.
but has no respect unto the prescription that there be the shedding of
blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. Adam and Eve were clothed with
skins. The Lord slew the animals, the
shedding of blood to clothe them. But Cain, now he'll worship,
but it doesn't matter to him if he destroys the time. It doesn't
matter to him if he doesn't bring it in the way that the Lord prescribed. is still worshipped to him. But
the apostle says here, it does matter. If God has made an ordinance,
if God has set forth sacrifices in the Old Testament, we're to
look past those sacrifices to Christ. The children of Israel,
they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and
that rock was Christ. But even as there was many in
those Old Testament times that went through the outwards motions
of worship with no faith in Christ and with no spiritual worship
at all. So there will be those that are
in the outward church of Christ who will join with the Lord's
Supper. Some churches, they require no
profession of faith, no evidence of a changed heart, of being
called by God to sit down or partake at the Lord's Supper.
And so there are many that partake of it and have never seen Christ. It is not for them a spiritual
offering. It is not an offering, but a
setting forth of Christ's offering at Calvary. I may make it very
clear on this. The Lord's Supper is not a fresh
sacrifice. It is showing forth one sacrifice
at Calvary. ye do show forth the Lord's death
till he come. And so the apostle was warning
the Corinthian church in that way. Be true spiritual worshippers. May you really know what you
are doing. Know how you're worshipping.
Know what these ordinances mean. Realise that they are setting
forth what the Lord suffered on Calvary to put away. your
sin. So the Apostle deals with these
matters with the Church. He says, let a man examine himself,
let he search his own heart. Are we truly meeting in the fear
of the Lord and with a desire to worship the Lord and knowing
what these things set forth? Well, he says in our text, be
ye followers of me. even as I also am of Christ. So I want to then just briefly
look at three points, and here's very, very briefly. Firstly,
it is to follow in the word. And secondly, to follow in doctrine. And thirdly, to follow in practice. Firstly, to follow in the word. Our Lord said to those Jews that
believe on Him, in John 8, verse 31, that if ye continue in my
word, then shall ye be my disciples indeed, or my followers indeed. If we are truly to follow Christ,
we're to follow Him in the Scriptures. The Word of God, the Holy Bible,
is the only revelation of God to man of his will and of all
that he'd have us to do in the way of worship, and in our lives,
in our conduct, and what we believe, and all that God has done for
us, and all that shall happen and shall come to pass. There's
many things we might think Well, the word is silent on that. I
wish it could tell us a bit more about this or a bit more about
that, but the Lord in kindness will say to us that these are
written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ and
that in believing ye might have life through his name. When I
was at college and studying in engineering, There were many
times we wanted to go a bit beyond what the instructor was telling
us. And we used to say to him, but what about this? And how
does this work? And what about this subject?
It would lead on. He would say to us, no, I'm only
teaching you what you need to know this year, what shall get
you through your exams and your credits for this year. Just don't
worry about those other things. And really the Lord is very kind
in this way. If the word of God is silent,
the Lord says to his people, don't trouble yourselves in trying
to delve into that, going to man's works and troubling yourselves
over those things. I give you that which is vital
for your soul's need. And you might say, well, how
is it then? There's so, so many chapters
in the word of God. And they're just long lists of
names. You know those long lists of
names. They show that we have not followed
cunningly devised fables. What is set before us here is
the very real history from the beginning of the world to Christ
and beyond. And it involves real men, real
nations, the descendants of Adam, the descendants of Abraham. And
that is why the Old Testament, in a way, is such a foundation
for the revelations of the New Testament. And it is vital for
that, that we be assured when we come to the holy, inspired,
inerrant Word of God that we believe that it is, and we receive
it, every word of it, all the epistles of Paul, all the epistles
of John, all of the Gospels, every book we receive as the
inspired word of God. And we're to follow them. When
Paul says, be ye followers of me, he says, even as I also am
of Christ. We're not to be like some that
will say, oh, you don't have to worry about that. That's just
Paul's teaching. That's just Paul speaking. Well,
is Paul speaking in an inspired way and saying, I am a follower
of Christ. Those things that I set before
you are in Christ's way, following Him. We are to receive all the
Word as inspired Word of God. How many great errors come into
the Church of God because we do not esteem that every Word
of God is pure. The second thing is to follow
in doctrine. The apostle, when he writes to
the Romans, he says to them in chapter 6 and verse 17, he says,
but God be thanked. Why is he thanking them? He says,
know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey,
his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death
or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked that ye were
the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine which was delivered you. the doctrine, the teaching,
the Lord Jesus Christ in his ministry on earth. He taught
them again and again. His whole ministry was a teaching
ministry. He taught them doctrine, the
truths of God. We think of the epistle of John,
the second epistle, and he warns them of those that shall bring
a different doctrine. And he says in verse 9 in the
second epistle of John, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not
in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. And he's very severe in this,
that if any come unto us, that bring not this doctrine, that
we receive him not into your houses, neither bid him God's
speed. For he that biddeth him God's
speed is partaker of his evil deeds. The doctrine of Christ,
that he is the true, eternal Son of God, truly God and truly
man, God made manifest in the flesh, Immanuel God with us. The doctrine of Christ, the true
bodily resurrection and ascension into heaven, and that ye shall
come again at the last day. The vital necessity of having
an interest in Christ, if ye believe not that I am he, ye
shall perish in your sins. There is none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. It is Christ's precious,
sin-atoning blood. alone that atones for sin, that
puts away sin. When I see the blood, the blood,
the blood of the God-man, that precious spotless blood, I will
pass over you. And so it is vital that we have
pure doctrine and compare Scripture with Scripture, not as Satan
tried to do and say to our Lord, it is written, We are not to
walk in a way that is deliberately going into evil, or ways whereby we could be injured
in some way or contract virus in some way or whatever it is
and say, well, we've been praying to God and he will keep us and
he will preserve us. We pray for preserving on the
roads, but it doesn't mean to say that we drive on the wrong
side of the road or don't take heed to the road rules made by
man. And so we would not go along
the path of Satan. Satan will always twist and turn
the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be ye followers of me
even as I also am of Christ. A follower then of doctrine. Then in the third place is the
following in practice. The Apostle was certainly speaking
in this chapter of practice. The head covering and the Lord's
Supper. Implied in this is baptism, the
ordinances. Those that have believed in the
Lord Jesus Christ, they were commanded, go ye into all the
world, preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and
is baptised shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And so we find with Philip and
the eunuch that when he believed, He desired to be baptised, to
follow the Lord. Our Lord, John, was a Baptist. Our Lord was a Baptist. His dear
disciples are Baptists. They believe and they are baptised
because they believe. It is believers' baptism. And
so we are to follow the Lord in that way. And by taking up
our cross, following Him in separation, Come ye out from among them,
touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and ye
shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. We are to be as strangers and
pilgrims in the earth that are seeking a heavenly country. We are not to have that friendship
with the world in the sense that we make this world our rest and
our home disregard the blessed prospect of an eternal inheritance
in heaven, that we should choose rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God, like Moses did, than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. Our Lord is in heaven, he ascended
up into heaven, and for the people of God they are clearly set forth
as to follow him not just to some place on this earth. You
know, many people, they'll make pilgrimages, they'll follow,
and they'll go to places on this earth. There are many people,
and yes, I don't want to put it in a mean way, but those that
have accounts or social accounts, they have followers. And people,
they hang upon their every word and everything that they do.
they seek to follow because children are not to be following earthly
things like that. They're to be following the Lord,
hanging upon His every word, hanging upon what He does in
providence, in grace, watching His hand and realising that He
is in heaven and desire that we might get there too. Our Lord
says in John 17, Father I will, that they whom thou hast given
me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. We are to follow him and to be
found with him at last where he is. So dear friends, may we
be true disciples, true followers, followers in the word, followers
in doctrine, and followers in practice. And may the Lord bless
us with being able to say to others, Be ye followers of me,
even as I also am of Christ. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.