I appreciate you being here.
Talking about chapter 11. It's hard to believe we're already
to chapter 11 here in 1 Corinthians. We're getting on with it. But
we're going to deal with the first 16 verses tonight. And Paul, when he was dealing with
the Corinthian church, he dealt with much that was wrong. Oh,
lots of things that was wrong. And here in chapter 10, he had
been dealing with eating an idol's temples and eating things offered
to sacrifices to idols. And then he became one who, without
compromise of the truth, sought to please all men, not seeking
what would profit him. He says there in verse 33, Even
as I please all men, or all in all things, not seeking mine
own profit, what's best for me? What's the easiest way for me?
but seeking the profit of many that they may be saved. And he didn't do it with compromise. He never compromised the truth.
He was a man who never did. So whenever he talks about here,
he became all things. You know, Christ sought not to
please himself. He put our reproaches upon himself.
And so that's what Paul said. I'm not seeking what's the easiest
way for me. I'm not seeking what's best for
me. I'm not seeking my own glory, my own profit. I want others
to profit from my ministry. Others to profit from my word.
Others to profit from what I have to say. And that's what he says
in verse 1 of chapter 11. Be ye followers. And that's for
sure right along with what he was saying. Be ye followers of
me as I also am followers of Christ. And also, that's what
he's saying, as I do in Christ, you do. But the title of my message
this evening is, Who is the Head? Who is the Head? Because we're
going to see much said about the Head. But who is the Head? And the Apostle is dealing with
two things in this chapter. First of all, public worship.
How we are in public worship. And secondly, the Lord's Table.
And then when he dealt with all these things, and then he says
there in verse 1, Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. And what he's saying, follow
my teachings, follow my example, take my advice and follow it,
only as I follow Christ, only as I follow the words of Christ,
and only as I follow the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and
live according to his words. And that's what he said oftentimes,
he'll say, and yet I, but not the Lord said, and yet the Lord
commanded, yet not I, and I just give you what I think, what I
advise. And so he says, when I follow
Christ, you follow me. And I know this for all believers,
Christ's word is our rule of faith. This is what we believe. We don't believe anything else
besides this. We don't have no rules of faith. We don't have
no articles of faith. If you ask me what an article
of faith is, I'd say Isaiah 53 would be awful good,
the whole Word, but all the Scriptures, what Christ had to say. And so,
you know, He's our rule of faith. We believe what He says. And,
you know, He Himself is our faith. He Himself is the one we believe.
We know that what He did is because what was accomplished by Him
was because of who it was that accomplished it. And not only
is He our rule of faith, but He's our rule of practice. Here's
what we, we don't have no set rules of practice and we shouldn't
have no set rules of practice because we have the scriptures
to tell us how we're to practice our lives, how we're to govern
our lives, how we're to govern our lives in our home, on our
jobs, in our families, in the church. with one another, among
our relationship to one another, it tells us about how we're to...
And I'll tell you something else about the scriptures. It always
tells us how we're to treat other people, never how other people
treat us. How we're supposed to treat other
people. Regardless of how anybody treats us, it always tells us
how we ought to treat them. It don't say, well, you should
treat me this way. No, no. Always tells us, love them that
hate you in spiteful use. Pray for them. Love your enemies. And so that's what he's talking
about. It tells us how we're supposed to treat people, not
how they're supposed to treat us. Now, look what he's starting. Now, he's going to start a new
subject now, and he says, Now, now, I praise you, brethren,
that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I've
delivered them to you. And now he says, I praise you,
brethren. He starts off, you're talking about a wise man, used
to God, wise master built. Here he is, he's going to fix
it and rebuke them for some things that they were doing, but he
starts out by saying, but I praise you, brethren. There is some
things you are doing right. I praise you, brethren, for your
remembrance of me in all things. You remember me. You remember
my teaching. You remember the things that
I've taught you. You've kept the ordinances that
I've delivered unto you. You kept the traditions. You
kept the words. You kept the Subjects that I
praised, I preached unto you, and instructions as I delivered
unto you. And I wasn't with you, but you remembered me, and you
kept what I taught you. You kept it. And that's why I
said, I praise you. And you can always praise people
for that. Always find reasons to praise what God's done for
somebody and remembering them. And then he goes on to say, but
I would have you know. I need you to know some things.
I want you to know some things. And here's the first thing he
wants you to know, and he talks about my subject tonight is who
is the head. And when we deal with this subject,
you'll understand why the world is in the shape it's in, the
church is in the sorry condition it's in, and everything because
they have took God's order and just turned it upside down, disregarded
it, rebelled against it, refused to follow it. And that's why
I say, who is the head? Now, Paul said, I'd have you
to know. You need to know this. that the head of every man is
Christ. And there's two meanings here,
two things I'd say about this. First of all, Christ is the head
of every man that's born in this world. God gave him power over
all flesh. Ain't that what it said in John
17 and 2? Oh, power over all flesh. To
this end, Christ both died and revived again that he might be
Lord. Both of the dead, those that are dead in their sins,
and those that are alive, quickened by Him. Christ is Lord over them.
This idea of making His Lord, whether you ever acknowledge
that or not, and the fact is that one of these days, He's
going to bring a man down, and everyone will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And so He's
ahead over every man. And in the world, but here he's
also talking about he's head over head over every man, every
member of his body, the church. He's head over us. We're his
body. He's head over the church, which
is his body. A body can't function without
a head. And we're the body of Christ, and Christ is our head.
And then look what he says here next. He said, and the head of
the woman is the man. And that means that that means
that somebody is over, we're under subjection to Christ, and
he says the woman here, the head of every man is Christ, and the
head of the woman is the man. Now I want you to see something
in Genesis 3.16. And this is how far we've gone in this world when folks refuse
to do things God's way. Genesis 3.16, and this is what
God said to the woman, because after she was deceived by the
serpent, He said, unto the woman, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth
children, and thy desire, you look at it in the margin, subject to thy husband. Thy desire
shall be to thy husband, subject to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee." Now, I've had people ask me, I've had four
different people a couple of different times ask me, when
they want me to marry them, when we come to that part about, you
know, that they, will you obey him, and they say, would you
take that part out? No, no, I ain't going to take that part out.
No. Why, you know why they want that
part out? Because they don't want to do what God said. We
don't want to do what God said. Now look back over here again,
it says the head of man is Christ. Now look over here in 1 Corinthians
14, 34 with me just a moment. And we cannot beat God's order.
We just can't do it. Look in verse 34. Let your women keep silence in
the churches. In the churches. And now we got
women preachers, they're debating over women deacons, women preachers. Let your women keep silence in
the churches, for it's not permitted unto them to speak, but they
are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And he
went back to Genesis 3.16, that's the law he's talking about, the
word of God. And also he said, if they will learn anything,
let them ask their husbands at home, if there's any business
going on in the church, If there's any misunderstanding going on,
things go on that they don't need, that the men take care
of, let them ask their husbands at home. If they got any understanding
of scriptures, let them ask their husbands. For it's a shame for
women to speak in the church. Now look over in Ephesians 5
with me, just a moment. Just look there. Ephesians 5,
22. Christ is the head of His body,
the Church. We live by Him. And then he says
in verse 22, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. I wonder
why he says your own husbands. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church. And
he's the Savior of the body. And therefore, as the church
is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands.
In everything. In everything. In everything. Now back over in our text. Christ
is the head of every man, and you need to know these things.
Evidently, that's out of order there. And the head of the woman
is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Now this is something,
you know, we know that Christ is God himself. He's equal with
God. He's eternal as God. And yet
he says here that God is the head of Christ. Now what does
that mean? It's talking about Christ here
as a mediator. He's talking about Christ here
as Jehovah's servant. It's talking about He, the Son
of Man, who came into this world to do His will and subjected
Himself to God. Subjected Himself to the will
of God, the Word of God, and submitted to God as Jehovah's
righteous servant. And so, in Christ, we know this. We know there's neither male
nor female. in nature and in position in the church as far
as our relationship in Christ, but as to office on this earth,
as to us leadership and authority in the church and in the home,
the woman is under subjection to the rule of man according
to this blessed book. Is that not right? Let me show
you another verse of scripture, 1 Timothy 2. And I've often said this, if
you take women out of Pentecostalism, free willism, then that's the
closing of churches down. Isn't that right? But here, 1 Timothy 2.11, let
the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer
not a woman to teach, nor usurp authority over the man, but to
be in silence." So when it comes to the Church, to the whole of
leadership and offices, the woman is under subjection to man, or
her husband and to man. Now look here in verse 4. It's
going to deal with some other things going on about this public
worship. That's the first thing that's
got to be established. Who is the head? Who is the head? And then, every man praying or
prophesying, have his head covered, dishonors his head. But every
woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, dishonors
her head, for that is even 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.
Now I want you to understand first and foremost that these
and the following verses are to be interpreted in light of
the custom of the country that these people lived in. They still
do what they did in those countries there. They still dress the same
way. And so what they're talking about is the veil and the covering,
and what their custom was in those days and in this particular
area. In those eastern countries, it
was either a shame To have your head covered if you was a man?
It was a shame if you had your head uncovered as a woman. It
was a shame if you was uncovered or not veiled as a woman, it
showed that you was not under subjection. And if you was a
man and you covered yourself, it showed that you wasn't under
subjection to Christ, who is the head, and you had another
head besides Christ that you worship. You see, a woman never
appeared in public without a covering on her head, a veil over her
face. It's always, and that's the way it is today over there.
Same thing, so it's in the same custom. And if she did, if she
ever come out with a Not a veil over her head or a veil over
her face. If she ever come out and did
that, and she did it, it was an act of rebellion against authority. It was a demand for equality
and socially with men. I want to be equal to a man.
I want to act like a man. I want to dress like a man. I
want to be like a man. I want to be equal with him. And so
it was an embarrassment. It was an act of rebellion. And
for a man to pray, it says, for a man to pray, or prophesied
a priest with his head covered, indicated that he recognized
some human head uncovered, with his head covered, indicated that
he recognized some human head or authority other than Christ. And so he dishonored Christ,
who is the only head of men. And I'll tell you, some of you
all remember Charlie Payne. He was on an airplane with a
Jew one time, and they got to talking. And he was reading his
Bible, and because he had a Jewish Bible and reading Hebrew from
left to right, they got to talking. And they started asking him why
he wore a hat all the time and why they wore the amniocus. And
you know what he said? He said, God is so holy that
we have to have our heads covered so God won't look on us. Now,
see, they're bypassing Christ. They dishonor Christ because
they don't believe Christ. They don't believe Christ. And
for a woman in Corinth to take off her covering, and this is
what it says there in verse 6, for the woman be not covered.
If a woman in Corinth took off her covering in prayer or in
worship, what she was doing was indicating that she did not recognize
or agree with her part in the fall. Let her be shorn. And you know when they shaved
a woman's head, it was for punishment. And it says, let her be shorn
or cause you to shame for it, for it was a shame for a woman
to have her head shamed. It's to sell soul the same shame
for her to come into public worship without her head covered and
to uncover it. And now remember, that's the
way it was in the Eastern countries. And this, for her to do that,
this would dishonor her husband and would be shameful as if she
had her head shamed. And I'll tell you, you know,
there's lots of folks that, every man do what he feels like about
it. There's a lot of people that
when they come to services, they put something over their head. They lay something, a veil over
their head or something like that when they come in a service.
Now, my personal feeling about that is it's not taught right
here in this verse of Scripture. And if you're going to follow
this all the time, every time you go out in public, You'd put
that veil over your head. You wouldn't just wear it in
a worship service. You'd wear it all the time. Because every
time you go out in public, you want everybody to know that you're
under subjection to your head, which is your husband. That you're
under rule to him. So you'd have to wear that veil
all the time. Isn't that what it says? Would
you not agree with that? You don't have to if you don't
want to, but I think that's right. Look here in verse 7. For a man
he indeed ought not to cover his head, and here is the reason,
forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God. But the woman
is the glory of man. For the man is not of the woman,
but the woman is of the man. Now, you know, the sexes should
never attempt to change places. Don't let a man act like a woman
and don't let a man take the place of a woman. God's order
is never wrong. The man should keep the position
God gave him. The woman should keep the position
God has chosen for her. You see? And look what it says
over here in Deuteronomy 22 with me. Just a moment. Deuteronomy 22. See, woman, she was made out
of man. She wasn't made for man. She was made to be the glory
of man. In Deuteronomy 22.5, it says
this, the woman, talking about dress now, the woman shall not
wear that which pertaineth unto a man. Now, men in those days,
you know, so you've got to put it in its context. You've got
to put it the way it was. Men in those days, the men wore
shorter skirts than the women did. And sometimes they would pull
them up and put a girl around them if they had long ones. And
a woman's garment was a long garment with a veil over her
head and a veil over her face. A man didn't wear a veil over
his head, he didn't wear a veil over his face. But he says this,
then a woman shall not wear that which pertains unto a man, because
she men would wear shorter skirts. That's why he says when you don't
have the altar, you don't ascend up to an altar. Lest your nakedness
be uncovered. Me and one of those shorter skirts,
and when I walk up through there to go to an altar, their nakedness
would be uncovered. That's why the altar was always
here, down. Then he went on to say this.
For all and neither shall a man put on a woman's garment. Dingle
man, he ought to put a bell over his head. And in these eastern
countries, now they do. Watch what he says. For all that
do so are an abomination to the Lord their God. So back over
again. What does it say? But he is the
image and glory of God. You see, God made the man first.
And when he made him, he made him and created him out of the
dust of the earth. He made him the image and glory
of God. He was created in righteousness and through holiness. And in
the new birth, we're created in righteousness and through
holiness. That's the image of God. And when God made him, he
said, let him have dominion over all things. He represented God's
dominion on the earth when he was in paradise. And the woman
was made for his help needs, to be subjected to him. And then
look what it says. The woman is the glory of the
man. She's the glory of her husband.
And she is his representative. She's a reflection of her husband,
either for glory or for shame. Is that not right? She's either
for his glory or for his shame. And I'll tell you that, and I
hope it's not this way, but you look with me in Proverbs 12.
I hope it's not this way. But I'm afraid it is for an awful
lot of people. A woman was made for man's helpmeet
to be in subjection. She sees the glory of her husband.
She's his representative. She's a reflection of her husband,
either for glory or for shame. He said in Proverbs 12 and verse
4, a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, but she that
maketh a shame is as a rottenness in his bones. Shames, makes a shame, lives
a shameful life, treats him in a shameful way, takes care of
her home in a shameful way. And then, beloved, he said in
verse 9, back over in our text, neither was the man created for
the woman, but the woman for the man. God
didn't create man for a woman. And he created her to be ruled
by the man, and to be ruled by her for her benefit. God didn't
make a man to be ruled by a woman for her benefit. A woman was
made for man's use, for his health and comfort, and naturally subject
to him. And again, we've got to look
in Genesis. I want you to see all this. Paul has given us what
the Scripture says. In Genesis 2.18, And here's what happened. Man wasn't created for woman,
to be ruled by her and not for her benefit. Woman was made for
man's benefit, for his use, for his help, for his comfort. Verse
18, the Lord God said, It is not good for the man that the
man should be alone. I'll make him help me for him.
I'll make someone before him. I'll make someone to help him.
And then look what it did down in verse 21. And the Lord caused a deep sleep
to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs,
and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the
Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought
her unto the man. Made that woman out of his side. Like the church that's from the
side of Christ, took her and brought her to the man and said,
here she is. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bone, flesh
of my flesh, she shall be called woman because she was taken out
of man. So you see, beloved, that's why
we're wives, is created for the glory of man. And then back over
in our text, watch what it says here. For this cause," in verse 10,
for this cause, because the woman was created for the man, for
the woman is for the glory of the man. Man is created for the image
and glory of God. For this cause ought the woman
to have power on her head. And you look in the margin, it
said that is a covering in sign that she is under the power of
her husband. If you've got that in your margin,
that's what's in my margin. For this calls off the woman
to have power, or authority, showing her subjection on her
head because of the angels. Now, I think there's two things
here about the angels. First of all, he's talking about
the angels, that they were under subjection to their head, Christ,
and delighted in it, rejoiced in it. And they were for the
glory of Christ, as the woman is. And secondly, it also means
about the angels that are present in the services who are sent
among us to the heirs of salvation. There's always angels that are
sent to be ministers to them that are heirs of salvation.
And every one of us, and this is scripture, and we showed you
this before, that every one of us has an angel given to us. There are angels who always behold
their Father in heaven. There's angels that sit to minister
us to be, shall be heirs of salvation. And so that's what you're talking
about. You're in the presence of angels, so show yourself under
subjection. And then look what else it says
in verse 11. Nevertheless, nevertheless, neither is the
man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in
the Lord. Now what's he talking about here?
Man is not without a woman. Man becomes, after a woman is
born, after a woman was created, man from then on is born of a
woman. After Eve was made, every child they had came through Eve. Man is not without a woman, born
of a woman. But, and the woman is not without
the man. Men and women need each other.
That's why the Scriptures, we really need each other. As woman
was first formed out of man, ever since then, man has been
born of a woman, he's been nourished by a woman, he's been comforted
by a woman, he's been raised by a woman, he has a mother,
and it's in the Lord that we need one another. He's talking
to five believers here. Let me show you over in 1 Peter
3, just a moment. Look at this with me. I think
this will be a blessing to you. It's a blessing to me. We need
each other. I don't want to be. That's why
God said it's not good for man to be alone. So what did He do?
He gave us a woman. Then He gave us mothers. And women and men, they need
one another. They comfort one another. They
nourish one another. They take care of one another.
And look what it says here in verse 5 of 1 Peter chapter 3.
After this manner, In the old time, the holy women also who
trusted in God, who believed in God, who trusted in God, adorned
themselves being in subjection under their
own husbands. That means they wore that veil,
they wore that covering, they wanted them to be prophets. She
let everybody know they were, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham,
calling him Lord. Whose daughters you are, As long
as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement. Don't be
afraid. Don't be afraid to be under subjection.
Don't be afraid to obey the Lord. Likewise, you husbands, listen
there, dwell with them according to knowledge, according to the
knowledge of the scriptures, according to the knowledge that
God give us about the order. And dwell with them according
to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel.
She's not as strong as you. You have to provide for her.
That's why Christ is the Savior of the body. Provide for her. Provide her a home. Take care
of her. She can't do and bear the burdens
that you can bear. Now, I love this, as being heirs
together of the grace of life. Heirs together of the grace of
life. We have this in common. We belong
to Christ. We're heirs of grace in Christ.
And listen, oh, and you dwell with them that your prayers be
not hindered. Oh my, you mistreat your wife,
don't treat your wife right. God said your prayers should
be hindered. You don't dwell with them according to knowledge.
And then back over in our text, what it says here, for as the woman is of the man,
Even so is the man also by the woman, that all things of God,
all these things, all these orders are of God. Then he says here
in verse 13, Judge in yourselves. You judge. You make this judgment. Is it comely that a woman pray
unto God uncovered? Is it comely that a woman pray
unto God uncovered? Is it right? Is it a comely thing? Is it a good thing to do for
a woman to pray with her head uncovered? You all going to shave
your heads and come to God? And doeth not even nature itself
teach you, even nature teaches you this, that if a man has long
hair, it's a shame unto him if he has the hair like a woman
does. And back in those days, women had, I mean, they had hair. I remember an old lady down in
North Carolina, Granny Roshan was her name. And every night,
boys, they'd turn her hair up like this here, and they'd drag
the ground, and she'd brush it, and brush it, and brush it, and
brush it. And then they took a couple of people and put it
back over her head. And that's the way people with their hair
back. And oh, and then that's what
he says, don't make your tits so mad that it doesn't... But
if a woman have long hair, it's a glory to her. Now listen to
it. For her hair is giving her for
a covering, for a veil. So you never go to God uncovered.
Never. And just like a man, he's not
going to cover his head when he goes to God. And how many
of y'all, when you pray, if you have a hat on, do you take it
off? Look what he said here. Oh, nature teaches us the difference
in men and women. Her hair is a natural sign of
her character, of her glory. But for a man to dress and act
or wear his hair as a woman, that's against nature. And we're
certainly in a time that everything's against nature. Oh, this world's
upside down in these things. It's awful. People ain't going
to pay attention to this business. And oh, may God help us not to
break these rules of natural distinction between the men and
the women, between the order that God gave us. And then he
goes on to say this, and I'm through, in verse 16. But if
any man seemed to be contentious, they want to argue about this.
They want to contend about this, debate about this, argue about
it, dispute about it. Let him know that we don't have
no such custom. We believe what we've taught,
and neither do the churches of God. Let him know that the apostles
and the churches hold this position that I just gave to you. Now,
if he wants to be contentious about that and go against God's
order, we don't have that custom. This is the position we hold. Don't argue with it. Don't debate
with it. And that's why, you know, when somebody comes to
you and wants to be married, but I want you to change the marriage vows.
You're being contentious. I ain't going to do that. I ain't
got that custom. I don't have that position. What's your position on marriage?
One man, one woman. Will you take this man to be
your lawfully wedded husband? I do. Do you take him to To obey Him and
whatever else from His rule over you and provide for you and all
that? Yes, I do. I've only changed one marriage
vow one time, and I tell you that was because a woman owned
everything and a man she was marrying didn't have nothing.
And she says, you know, please don't say I'm going to endow
me with all this world of goods, because he ain't got no world
of goods. She had all the world of goods.
You know, he ain't giving me nothing. He's getting everything.
He ain't getting nothing. That's the only time I ever changed
my marriage, pal. But this is serious business.
I don't need to make light of it. This is really serious business.
Head. Who is the head? Who is the head? You can tell real quick how people
act who their head is, can't you? You can. Our Father, our gracious God,
in the blessed, glorious name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
We bow our hearts in your holy presence. Father, we need you. Oh Lord, we want to walk according
to your word. We want to obey it. We want to
keep the order. We don't want to have confusion
in our midst. We don't want to have contention
and debate and argument over who's the head. We know that
Christ is head over us. We know that Our wives know that
we're head over them, make no decisions without us. And we
know, Lord Jesus, that God is head over you and you is on this
earth and you is under subjection to him to do his will. And Father,
help us to always bring glory and honor to you. Forgive me
of all my foolishness and attitude and awful nature. God, I need
you so, and this congregation of believers needs you. Meet
the needs of this people that's gathered here tonight to have
many needs. Many needs, many hearts, many homes. And Lord,
only you know, and you can meet them. We thank you for the day,
in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.