Alright, let's take our Bibles
now and turn to 1 Corinthians 11. We're going to be looking
at verses 3-12. And I hope I don't dig too big
a hole for myself. What this is teaching is the
distinction of the sexes. Now the Bible says, if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature. Just hold your place there in
1 Corinthians. Old things are passed away, and behold, all
things are become new. Old ideas is what he's talking
about. Old concepts. Things that you
thought you knew all your life but didn't know. Old theology,
old doctrine, and even the basic principles that have been taught
us by this world. Paul warns us about trying to
reason and interpret the Word of God based on these things.
Beware, he said, lest any man spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit after the tradition of men and after the rudiments. That word means rudimentary or
basic principles of the world and not after Christ. Believers
are men and women who are enabled of God to receive enlightenment
They've been enlightened. They spent their whole lives
in darkness. They spent their whole lives
in ignorance. And God has enabled them, made
them meet to be partakers of their inheritance with the saints
in life. And He's enabled them to obey
what they've received and walk in submission to God. And this
is why Paul is teaching us on these various subjects, things
which most people think they already know. So my subject this
morning is the distinction of the sexes. Now let me start here.
Spiritually, there is no distinction. Spiritually, there is no distinction. In Galatians 3, verse 26, It said, for ye are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you who have been
baptized in Christ have put on Christ. There, that is, in Christ
Jesus, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond
nor free. Now listen, there is neither
male nor female. For you are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if you be Christ, then are
you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Spiritually,
there is no distinction. We are all one in Christ Jesus. And spiritually, she is as much
an heir as any man. She is loved and made provision
for as much as any man. And if my understanding is correct,
there'd be no distinction at all in glory. No distinction. The Pharisees, attempting to
discredit our Lord as a teacher, asked Him a question about this
man's wife. Under the law of Moses, if a
brother died, his brother who survived him was to take his
wife and raise up seed under his name, raise up children.
And so they asked him this question. She married one brother and he
died. The other brother married her and he died. And another
brother married her and he died. Now whose wife is she going to
be in glory? Whose wife is she going to be?
And our Lord said, you do err not knowing the Scriptures nor
the power of God. For in the resurrection there
were neither Mary nor are they given in Mary. but are as the
angels of God in heaven. There will be no distinction
of the sexes in glory. We are all one in Christ Jesus. There is no distinction spiritually.
And actually, in the spiritual realm, the church is always referred
to as feminine. Did you know that? She is the
bride of Christ. Over and over and over. The whole
book of the Song of Solomon She treats the church as the bride
of Christ. She's called the bride of Christ.
She's spoken of as travailing in childbirth. She's described
as His beloved in the Song of Solomon. But in this world, and
as we serve Him in His kingdom, there is a distinction of the
sexes, and it's important to both male and female to learn
their proper place and serve God as their mate. 1 Corinthians
11, let's begin here in verse 3. 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. Now here's the basic
principles concerning the church and its earthly design. Paul
makes three statements here. That we need to learn and apply
to our everyday lives. First of all, that Christ is
the head of every man. Now Christ is, in one sense of
the word, head of every man. Every man. Saved or lost, alive
or dead, son or rebel, He is the head of every man. In John 17, verse 2, it says
that God has given Him power, that is authority. over all flesh
that He should give eternal life to as many as the Father had
given to Him. In Romans 14, verse 9, it said,
To this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that He
might be Lord both of the dead and the living. And in Matthew
20, verse 18, our Lord made this statement to His disciples before
giving them the Great Commission. He said, all power is given unto
me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and preach the
gospel. Christ is the head in one sense
of the term of every man. Every man. He sits at the right
hand of God. There is a man in glory, and
he sits on the very throne of heaven and earth, and he is the
head, Colossians 2.10, of all principality and power. In this sense, he's the head
of every man. But in the context of the passage
here in 1 Corinthians, verse 3, the term is every man, and
that's in reference to his body, the church, of whom he is the
covenant head. He's talking about His covenant
head. If you take Christ out of His
mediatorial office, just to consider who He is, He's God. He's God. He's equal with the Father. He
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He's equal with
God. It's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
That's our God. And Christ is God. And as God,
He's the head of every man. But when we consider his covenant
headship, we consider him as incarnate. He come down and was
made of a woman and made under the law. And he did that as our
covenant head. He didn't there represent every
man. He's not the head of every man
in that sense. He's the head of his body, the
church. He tells us over in Colossians. He's the head. Colossians 1.18,
and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have
the preeminence. The church is not a democracy.
It's a theocracy with Christ at its head. He is the head. He holds the reins. He dictates
policy. He rules over his house. And the head of every man is
Christ. And godly men are willing and
submissive to Him. All they need is a clear understanding
of the will of God, and they're ready to obey. In Psalm 110,
verse 3, it said, thy people shall be willing in the day of
thy power. And they are willing. And they
are submissive. And while our obedience may not
be perfect, it's a willing obedience. Jesus Christ is the head of every
saved man, and as a loving husband, as the provider of his house,
and their representative by way of his covenant union with us. All right, here's the next statement.
The head of the woman is the man. He's the head of the woman
in the same sense as Christ is the head of the church. He's
ordained of God to this office for her good and God's glory. God had a purpose when He created
man and when He created a woman. He had a purpose. He didn't create
things. He didn't create this world and
create things here and there and then just let them evolve,
let them go, let them be subject to chance and let them be subject
to this and that and then kind of work things out as He went.
That's how religion talks about God. God said, I am He who declares
the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I'll
do all my pleasure. The head of the woman is the
man according to the purpose of God. He's ordained of God
to this office for her good and His glory. He's bigger. Just look at the shape of Him.
Look at what God created. He's bigger. He's stronger than
her. Why? Why? Because God put Him over
her to protect her and to provide for her. She's made for a different
purpose than He's made. She shows one thing and He shows
another. Both of them have their place
in the kingdom of God. Spiritually, there is no distinction.
We are all one in Christ Jesus. But physically, on this earth,
in the purpose of God, there is a distinction because God
has a purpose. And that purpose is all revealed
in Christ Jesus. And then as a rule, He is wiser
than her. He is wiser than her. Turn with
me to 1 Timothy chapter 2. It's not my ideas. It's not my
speculation. This is the Word of God. I Timothy 2, verse 11. Let a woman learn in silence
with all subjection. That is, without objection, and
without debate, and without getting your two cents in. Verse 12, But I suffer not a
woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over a man, but to
be in silence. Why? He gives two reasons. First of all, Adam was first
formed, and then Eve. Adam was created first, and he
is the federal head of all mankind. When Eve sinned, she was the
first to sin. But mankind didn't fall in Eve
because Eve wasn't the federal head of all men. Adam was. Adam
was. He was created. Adam was created
by God and then Eve was created from him and for him. And is
this not exactly how believers are born? We're taken from him,
from Christ. He's the firstborn. and taken from him and made for
him and joined to him. And then secondly, I Timothy
2.14, Adam was not deceived. See it there in verse 14? Adam
was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. It was the woman who was drawn
aside, who was deceived and tempted and persuaded, to commit this
transgression and break the commandment of God. It's in the eternal purpose
of God for a man to be the head of the woman, and it's built
into our very nature, and to go against this order is contrary
even to our nature. And then he makes this statement,
the head of Christ is God. Now Christ is equal with God
in His Godhead. But as our mediator, as our covenant
head, as our incarnate representative, he's subject to God. He was born
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law. There's only one sense in which
this is true, and that is as Christ is the mediator of God,
and he is the representative and head of the church, and he's
the surety of the everlasting covenant of grace, and as He
is our substitute and Redeemer, He's subject to the authority
of God. Paul writes to the Philippian
church and he tells them, he said, let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus our Lord, who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation. and took on Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. And He did this to fulfill
the redemptive will of God. It tells us over in Hebrews chapter
10 that in the volume of the book, it's written of Me, I came
to do Thy will, O God. Hebrews 10.7. And as a woman and one equal
with any man as an heir of God and eternal life, you should
have this same mind with the same end in view. As a church
being one with Christ and joint heirs with Christ, we should
all strive for the same thing, to be willing, submissive for
the glory of God. Submissiveness is not a sign
of weakness. It's a sign of wisdom and strength. The distinction of the sexes
is a picture of how God saves sinners, how He saves sinners
through the representative work of Jesus Christ, our Husband
and our Lord. I Corinthians 11, verse 4. 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
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. For a man indeed ought not to
cover his head forasmuch 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 was the man created
for the woman, but the woman for the man. And for this cause
ought the woman to have 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 the
woman is of the man, even so is the man also of the woman.
But all things are of God. Evidently, it was a custom in
those days for a woman to worship with a veil over her head or
some type of covering. Remember where he's at. He's
in Corinth. He's in Greece. But all Paul
is doing here is to show us that by nature and by the ordination
of God that men and women have a distinction in this world in
the assembly of the church and in worship. Not teaching us that
women need to wear hats and coverings on their head. But these things do picture the
distinction which God has put even in our very natures. I've
heard the same argument used about pants and dresses and long
hair and short hair and all these things. Makeup, no makeup. I believe what Paul's teaching
here is that our appearance in public worship ought to reflect
our place in the kingdom of God. That's what he's teaching. Women
ought to wear such apparel and wear their hair and makeup as
such as suits their place in the kingdom of God. And he tells
us that in exact language throughout his epistles. And to cut your
hair in such a way as to look like the women rebels of this
world is a shame to your womanhood. That's what the Bible says. It's
a shame. And to wear clothes that make you look like a man
denies your role as the woman. Denies God's ordination of you
and your place in the kingdom of God. It denies that. Why would
we want to do that? Now next week I'll recap a little
and we'll go on. There are several verses here
where he deals with this thing of women's apparel, the distinction
of the sexes, our place in the kingdom of God, and why. And
why? He's not punishing women. That's
not why he's saying these things. He's simply showing us the distinction
of it, what they're made to picture. If you can see your role as a
woman or a man in the kingdom of God, you'll live your life
accordingly. You'll live your life the best
you can to glorify God as he's made you and placed you in the
kingdom of God. And that's all these things are
about. Churches have grabbed these things and went off the
deep end with them. Started this, that, the next
thing. All kinds of trouble and strife and everything else over
these things. And they're just simply teaching
you this. You come in here to worship. Come in here as God
has made you. And dress accordingly. Look accordingly. Act accordingly. Obey accordingly. Because spiritually speaking,
We're all one. In glory, after this world's
over, we're all one. But here in this earth, there's
a distinction, and we need to learn to live with it.