This weekend at a conference I attend entitled, “The Power and the Promise of the Word,” Grant Osborne made the statement that in an attempt to reach people we have marginalized the Bible so that it is no longer being preached from our pulpits. Now isn’t that an odd reality. I wonder if it happened in a somewhat predictable progression?

We have seen a good thing – the need to reach people with the gospel. We have found the gospel despised by many. So we have substituted something else for the gospel – something that is more appealing to people (good stories, self-help sermons, etc.). And it has worked – we have reached many people so that our churches are overflowing and we’re building bigger and bigger buildings every day.

But the problem is that though people are being reached, they are not being reached with the only thing powerful enough to change their lives with that which is the only power of God unto salvation – the gospel. Thus, we reach them, but we don’t reach them with the gospel. Thus, they are no better off than when we first reached them. In fact, they may be worse off, because at least before they realized they were going to hell, while now they feel secure when their eternal destination has not changed.

Isn’t this odd? The church had a right desire to worship, changed from the God-given methods of his Word, and has produced the present-day reality of our churches in which all of our great accomplishments have no foundation and are ready to be wisped away by the wind. What started as an attempt at worship has ended in a catastrophe in our churches.

And it reflects something doesn’t it? It reminds us that even if our desire is worship and yet we leave out an essential element of God’s description of worship, then what we will end up with will be something despised by God and devastating to his church. It is like sitting down to a keyboard with one of your hands positioned one row of keys over while you sit there and attempt to type out the most beautifully written story you’ve ever imagined. Though it might seem beautiful in your mind, the result will not even resemble what you set out to do.

Thus, just as you need to look at the screen every once in a while to make sure you’re on track and accomplishing what you want, so must we examine our worship (especially corporate worship) to ensure that we are still reflecting the standards of God’s word.

What we have described in these scenarios was very much the problem of the Corinthian church. They were attempting to carry out some elements of public worship and yet were missing the very heart of what worship was, and consequently they needed to be rebuked by Paul for a worship that was despised in God’s eyes. And he does so in this eleventh chapter.

This chapter is confusing and difficult, and it has caused me great strain as I have studied. Martin Luther, as he struggled to preach and teach through Ecclesiastes wrote, “Solomon the preacher is giving me a hard time, as though he begrudged anyone lecturing on him.” ¹ I have felt the same way about Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 this week, and was tempted at times to see if I could teach anything from this text with confidence that I was interpreting it correctly. However, I do think this morning that I can confidently offer us some principles for our public worship that Paul was making clear to the Corinthians in this chapter.

I will give us three of them this morning as I attempt to explain this chapter, and I will begin the first of them with the phrase “We will not worship God if …” followed by a practice that will cause our worship to be despised in God’s eyes, even as these Corinthians had done with their worship. And then I will try to show in the last two principles what acceptable worship must be comprised of before God. Therefore, may we hear these and repent if we are making the same errors as these Corinthian believers.

We will not worship God if we disregard our calling to love our brothers and sisters in Christ or if we disregard our calling to honor Christ before the world

It seems that one thing going on in public worship was that the ladies in the Corinthian church were not wearing a head covering (whether it was a piece of cloth on their head or their hair pulled up so as to provide a covering on top of their head). Now to us, it would seem that there is no big problem here, but in that culture, it communicated a couple of things. First, it communicated that these Christians were not distinguishing between gender roles. Second, and consequently, it communicated a rebellion against God’s created order and against differing roles of men and women in the church (as well as in marriage).

I say this because Paul begins this section reminding them of God’s ordering of creation and authority within certain relationships and then moves instantly to the issue of covering their heads. And within this he says that the man disgraces himself and the Lord if he covers his head even as a woman disgraces herself and the Lord if she does not cover her head in public worship. He writes, “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head.”

Therefore, it appears that wearing a head covering in that culture was probably somewhat equivalent to wearing a dress in a culture where that is all women wore. If a woman in that culture were not to wear a dress, she would be sending all kinds of mixed signals to those who saw her. One might wonder if she wanted to be a man, if she were involved in homosexual activity, if she wanted to usurp her husband’s role in the family, or why she despised God’s created order of making her a woman. In the same way, if a man were to wear a dress, he would be communicating that he did not want to be a man, that he was not willing to lead with his God-given responsibilities, that he is likely involved in homosexual activity, etc. Thus, by Paul saying that the woman who would not wear a head covering might as well shave her head, he is saying, if you’re going to send those kinds of mixed signals you might as well go all the way and let people call you, “Tom.” “But obviously that would be disgraceful,” Paul would point out so as to ask, “So why do this?”

And this covering probably communicated an attitude of submission toward male leadership as well. So, if men were to have the head covering, they would communicate that they wanted to abdicate that role and dishonor Christ, while if women did not have the head covering, they would communicate that they wanted to usurp the role of their husbands (or male leadership in the church), and therefore would dishonor them. Thus Paul writes, “For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels,” in which verses 8-9 are the reason given for the commands of verses 7 and 10. ²

Finally (though we will come back to verses 11-12), Paul argues that nature shows them that this is how they should dress or appear in verses 13-15, writing, “Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.” But here I do not think he means that nature dictates our customs but that nature reinforces our customs. That is to say you cannot look at nature and tell that women should wear dresses, but in a culture where only women wear dresses, nature tells men that they shouldn’t wear them. It is natural for men not to try to appear as women or for women to appear like men.

And at the same time, you probably had men who thought that women should wear such head coverings because they were inferior. However, Paul disputes that as well, in two ways. First, in his writing on Christ being the authority of man, and husbands being the authority of wives, he adds, “and the head of Christ is God,” thus showing that though there is a difference in function and one submits to the other, it is not because women are inferior, just as Christ submitted to the Father though being equal to him. And then he adds to that pointing out man and woman’s interdependence on one another and God, writing, “Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.”

And that was just what they were doing wrong in their praying and prophesying. In addition, Paul gives us verses 17-34 to show that in taking of the Lord’s Supper (in which they shared a meal together), some were eating all the food before anyone else showed up (not doing it together), they were eating all the food (leaving the others hungry), and they were getting drunk.

So simply to make a list, we could say the following:

1) Men were showing they wanted to provide no leadership (thus clearly not loving their wives).

2) Women were showing they wanted to usurp male leadership in the home and in the church.

3) Men and women were showing they did not recognize what God were created concerning gender.

4) They were sending a message to the church and the world that they were quite possibly involved in homosexual activity.

5) They were embarrassing their spouses, Christ, and the church in their actions.

6) They were showing disdain for one another, not waiting for them in the Lord’s Supper.

7) They were showing no care for one another, letting others go hungry while they ate all the food.

8) They were getting drunk in public worship and therefore ridiculing their Lord and his commands before one another and the world.

9) They thought of themselves as superior and others as inferior who were fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

And these are simply the ways they were showing a lack of love and honor toward Christ and one another in these elements of prophesying, praying, and taking of the Lord’s Supper in their worship. I mean, what else could we imagine they were probably doing if these things showed this clearly in their public worship?

And this serves to remind us that at the heart of worship is love and honor toward Christ and one another. This is not unlike Christ’s rebuke of Israel in Isaiah 58:1-7 as he tells them,

“Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
"Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?"
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
"Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

And so this serves as a warning to us, to Cornerstone Community Church. Let’s assume that we labor for the next twenty years to make our worship as conformed to Scripture as possible and yet along the way lose a passion to honor Christ and grow cold in our love for one another. If that were to be true, we might be deceived into thinking we were great, and the whole community might think so as well. In fact, we might gain the reputation as the church that “really follows the Bible.” And yet if we do not love one another and strive to honor Christ accordingly in the world, he will despise our worship, for we will have missed the inner essence of worship – loving God with everything and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

This should lead us to a constant evaluation of our practice here and a constant evaluation of our hearts. And this leads us to two other things that I want to remind us of concerning worship.

We will worship only as we focus on others above ourselves

I brought up this theme last week from chapters 8-10, I will bring it up again next week from chapters 12-14, and I will bring it up today, for it is clear from the text. In order to worship in a manner that is pleasing to God, we must consider others.

The main problem in these practices was that the Corinthians were merely thinking of themselves. Thus, they were being uplifted and yet they were tearing down the church of Christ and disgracing the church in the eyes of the world.

You will not worship God in marriage if you merely focus on yourself. But if you make your desire to see your spouse built up in Christ and his name honored in your marriage, then you will indeed send forth a much-need glorious testimony into the world. And ironically, as a result you will know greater joy. I’ve noticed this in my three years of marriage. Though Lili and I have not had many arguments, probably 98% of the ones we have had could have been diffused immediately had one or both of us decided not to be selfish and to consider the other person above ourselves.

Could you imagine what a church would look like if the individuals within considered others in the church above themselves? Well, that is what the church is supposed to be like. Our dream should be a reality, and it will be so long as we remember that worship demands that we exalt others above ourselves seek meeting one another’s needs even above our own. There is no place for individualism in the church of Christ.

We will worship only as we keep in mind the goal of our worship

The irony of the Corinthian’s actions was the context in which these actions were occurring. They were showing disdain for one another in Christ while prophesying and sharing in the Lord’s Supper. Now, simply as a reminder, prophecy was given for the edification of the body. This is quite clear from the following chapters. In addition, the Lord’s Supper was given to celebrate our unity in Christ as we proclaim our one hope of salvation. That was the goal of these two elements in public worship, and they were both being denied by the perverted practices, so much that they defeated the very purpose of these elements in worship. They were using these elements that were to build up the church to build up themselves and to tear down the church.

Therefore, we need to keep in mind that when we gather for corporate worship (and in all of life) our goal is to see Christ honored as his church is being edified/built up. Therefore, if the end of worship is the glorifying of Christ and the means through which Christ has chosen to be glorified is through his church, then one of our chief goals of worship is to see his church edified, equipped, and built up so that she might reflect her Lord more clearly.

Thus, even as we close this morning in the sharing of the Lord’s Supper, it is an opportunity to share in this meal together. May it be an opportunity for us to show our unity (sharing in the same hope of salvation), to serve one another, and to encourage one another by reminding one another of the hope that is ours in Christ. May this be a time of true worship.

May we be a church who truly worships – who loves the Lord our God and our neighbors as ourselves. To Christ be glory in his church both now and forever. Amen.

¹ Heinrich Bornkamm, trans. by E. Theodore Bachmann, Luther in Mid-Career, 1521-1530, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983, orig. 1979), 564.

²As for as the phrase “because of the angels” the only thought I have is that the angels recognize God’s created order, and if they do, how much more should his redeemed church.

THE WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH - LOVING CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH