KNOW, LIVE, BE-LIVE AS THE CHURCH-1 CORINTHIANS: Jelly Beans & Ice Cream

Jelly Beans & Ice Cream

1 Corinthians 11:1-34

Relative to the roles of men and women in the church; I was reading this week a paper by Tim Keller at Redeemer Church in DC - they wrote the following:

“In life there are endless opinions about what is good and bad, true and false, beautiful and ugly, right and wrong. There are numerous places where opinion is merely a matter of preference, like declaring a favorite ice cream flavor. However, when it comes to discerning God’s will in matters of faith and practice it is less like picking an ice cream flavor and more like declaring how many Jelly Beans you think are in a jar. There are an actual number of Jelly Beans in the jar, and our opinions about that number can be closer or farther away from reality. Knowing God’s will is more like counting the Jelly Beans than picking an ice cream flavor, because he has revealed himself in his word”

The book of 1 Corinthians writes to a church who has gone buck wild crazy - they’re all about their preferences. And I think of the Jelly Bean jar analogy, they’ve gone beyond trying to justify life from scripture (looking in the jar) and they’ve started determining their favorite ice cream flavor.

We see Christians and sadly entire churches and denominations doing that today including many mainline denominations such as the United Methodist church Presbyterian Church in the USA (PCUSA) among others who’ve been off the reservation for a LONG time like the Episcopal Church - not asking what does scripture say - but taking a blind mandate make people love Jesus who loved everyone and doing what ever they think is best to do that. In doing so they make a God in their own image, not the God of scripture, they’re picking ice cream not looking at the jar.

And so, that too is the world we live in, were full of sexual dysfunction relative to God’s good purposes and design for sex, gender, and living lives of love in community and committed marriage relationships and we’ve re-purposed Jesus’ church for our own good - we’re desperately in need of people who live out God’s goodness and truth.

As we look to this passage we’ll find it to be culturally controversial, I qualified controversial with “culturally” because our culture - again has gone buck wild crazy. We love whatever is new, got a new gender description; we’ll take it because that’s what we’re into. Cisgendered is a thing - it’s people who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth … really we need a word for that, how about we call it REALITY?

Medical professionals are being advised that they cannot deny gender/sex based health care to people if they request it - so I’ll be base, a guy walks in and want’s a pap smear, you cannot say no, but make yourself the Dr. - what do you do?

This text is hugely important to us today in a world where we’re even changing language at a frantic pace. I was recently listening to the radio when the person talking said that their parent had turned transgender; and I was stricken, wow - we say parent and eliminate gender all together; we’re picking ice-cream.

They say art imitates life; and their was a great art classic from the 80s or 90s, I don’t know if you remember this particular piece of theater but maybe a clip will bring back memories.

{Boys Have a Penis; Girls Have a Vagina}

However that simple truth, expressed in art imitating life, is being less clear. There are now gender-neutral film prizes (MTV started this recently) - of course the award was for the role of beauty in, Beauty and the Beast; I’ll let you guess if Emma Watson or Dan Stevens (winning the gender neutral award) was beauty or the beast …

There was a divorce between a same sex couple in Tennessee who’d had a baby - and only one of the mothers was biologically linked to the child and was given rights of mother - USA Today reported that the other was “given the rights of Husband” - because it’s hard to move away from God’s design - this is an opportunity church if we’ll take it, just like the one Paul had in Acts 17, but we need to be not just illuminating truth, but drawing people in, too.

We’ve started to hold a conversation about what the jar may look like, and how many beans may be inside without ever looking at the jar, that is to say, if God created all of life and we look to life not to God to know about it; we’re leaning towards preference like ice-cream flavor rather than studied reason for a count of beans.

Here is what I hope we’ll see today:

The text may not say what we think it does

The text speaks volumes to culture

The text is right, even if it feels uncomfortable

You may come to 1 Corinthians 11, and specifically in central PA and ask what DOES this say about head coverings and I’m going to say, nothing. In the same way that our illustration from earlier isn’t about ice cream or Jelly Beans.

Head coverings are illustrating something they’re Paul’s path through the culture to be drawing and then illuminate God and His plan.

Lets work slowly to get this right.

1 Corinthians 11:1–3 (ESV)

1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Head Coverings

2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.

3 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.

Some things to notice here:

a) This is about marriage and how it gives an image to the world:

Man covered by Christ, wife covered by husband, Christ covered by God.

b) This is shown against the created order Man then out of man, woman - both redeemed by Christ.

c) It images the trinity and intra-relationship.

This is about how gender rightly ordered in a marriage relationship points to God and creation. Starting in verse 4 - Paul applies Biblical Godly truth from creation to the culture:

1 Corinthians 11:4–5 (ESV)

4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head,

5 but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.

“If her head were shaven…” here is our clue that we’re looking at application of truth to culture. Is there some universal understanding of a shaven head being shameful; no this was their cultural understanding. So Paul is leaning into something he’s always leaned into, leveraging the culture to communicate God’s truth - because what’s more important than traditions and appearance is truth, communication truth without sinful accommodations.

Its how he came to the Romans in Acts 17, where they wanted to hear and know all things new - he came and talked to them quoting their own poets. He’d been reading their stuff - he listened to their radio stations, he was attuned to the culture it’s important so that you can meet people where they are - this is why I listen to NPR and watch TV shows - a) I enjoy both and b) I want to be able to be in the world just not simply of it. I don’t want to be hidden away in the world, but out for Christ enabling Him to image God through me.

And so, this culture had traditions regarding freedom from slavery and ultimately rebellion based on hair cut and head covering and Paul said guys don’t jump into a cultural fad that says I’m independent when really in the created marriage order wives are to submit to their husbands; it sends the wrong signal. It picks ice cream flavor rather than looking to God’s word for truth.

Maybe Paul would write to ladies today and say ladies, don’t go to the women day march and demand abortive rights; that is a confusing message to culture for the Christian to send.

Does Paul say that women should be squashed and rights less; no that’s a LOW view of complementariness and must walk into the issue with a flavor picked, because if you’re looking at the jar you wont get that read.

If you look back to verse 5 does it say that women wont pray and speak prophetically, no - in fact Paul here assumes they WILL and says how that’s to be done.

Now the man shames himself (the Greek for dishonors his head) explains “down from his head” meaning upon him, not Christ who is his head why? He switches place with the women, so think culturally again, there are things women do that guys don't and guys if you do it - it’s going to confuse those outside the church about what you believe regarding gender (and it’s important to the created order and testimony of our belief to the world) so fells, if you come in here wearing lipstick and eyeliner; it’ll raise some eyebrows and we’ll talk.

So ladies:

1 Corinthians 11:6–12 (ESV)

6 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.

7 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.

8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.

9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman;

12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.

He’s saying if you follow after the culture in rebellion, he uses something called the “passive middle” to do what your mom has done for years it goes like this… you do something slightly dumb, and she illustrates it with something ridiculous:

“If everyone was jumping off a cliff, would you do that too”

No, scheesh mom that’s a ridiculous - Paul too - if you want to be like the culture and be rebellious and won’t cover your head to show marital submission - just shave it and go all in.

Now - again you have to want complementariness to be one-sided sexist and chauvinist because look at what happens in verse 7 as soon as Paul says man is the glory of God, he gives the honor of glory to woman, and shows woman’s purpose in marriage - check out verse 9 this business is the most confusing statement you’ll ever read -but, I think it’s not that one off/crazy/confusing.

Ever hear of demons? They’re fallen what?

And how did they fall? They were rebellious to God and his created purpose for them.

Paul is talking here about being submissive to God’s purposes for marriage and speaking against being contentious and rebellious.

Why should ladies be submissive - (remember the Alamo) remember the angels - remember God’s order - remember God’s character; He is perfect and loving and has designed your marriage to bless you and to point to Him - ladies, guys - lets look at the jar not pick a flavor - lets not start with our issue (submission is awful) or should we wear hats in church, rather lets come empty to His word and be filled.

I want to make note of this - there are lots of interpretations of “because of the angels” another being that because the angels are present at worship, and we don’t want to offend them, but this falls short for me because I believe that the issue of covering is more a cultural one than a timeless one and so, I just wanted you to be aware of that and didn’t want to over simplify.

Let me give you one more reason why I don’t follow the ‘angels’ part. I don’t think Paul is talking corporately until verse 17. Rather I think it’s more about marriage relation and daily life, not the least of which being because the prayer and prophecy of ladies would be at home, not in church; so this is out and about in the culture (at work in the markets) then in 17 we go to church together. But remember - I disagree with a lot of good commentators here so be a Berean yourself.

So, husbands and wives, single people how you are together and how you explain the way you understand marriage (and you have tons of opportunity if you’ll take it) is important.

Now - in verse 17 it changes. He started out in v1/2 soft with praise and that he was glad that they held fast to directions he gave them and talks to them about issues of culture (not theology and hard truths) but in 17 he uses language that is often reserved for military command (think if I said something like I think you should…. verses here are your marching orders) it’s different.

Paul gives marching orders for how they’re to gather and how they’re to take communion in the church. These are timeless; these are truths for today.

How does this fit us today - should the ladies wear doilies? Not necessarily - we’re living within a greater culture not a church culture but a worldly one and the way we live within it but not of it can and should point to God.

So we are to be in it but not of it. We are to be winsome. We are salt (drawing) light (revealing) - we’re to draw and reveal scriptural truths - but to do that we need to look at the jar not pick a favorite. We’re to be informed by truth.

So, in our culture today what are we to resist?

Where can we illuminate truths about God’s design for gender and marriage?

I pray that Church, we be a people who go deep on understanding God’s design for femininity and masculinity in a culture who is erasing both. And that we understand headship and leadership as well as submission, we need to communicate these things to the world around us and we’ll be used by God to transform to draw and illumine.

Guys - make these truths flow out of you, and I promise that you’ll have opportunity to talk about these things.

We started here:

The text may not say what we think it does

The text speaks volumes to culture

The text is right, even if it feels uncomfortable

Remember though to be drawing as well as illuminating - here is what I mean by that; you can just hit someone up with your wrong, or you can befriend someone who believes differently than you and be open to talking about it over time; you can slap a one woman one man sticker on your car or you can befriend lesbian and gay couples and live as a straight couple submissive and leading and let God work.

If you’re hearing all this - and your not a Christian and you’re thinking this makes since, God has just moved on your life and I suggest you be saved today - covered by Christ and all this will unfold over a life time of Bible study, and fellowship and prayer and experience - your not perfect today - but you’ll be perfected in Christ.

Living On Purpose!