Good morning and say hello to another rainy day. At least this time it looks like it will only last a day or so. In fact, it looks like the weather this weekend is supposed to be gorgeous! I can’t wait to take advantage of it and plan some fun outdoor stuff. There’s just something awesome about being outside in God’s creation. Walking, gazing up at the sky, smelling the fragrances, feeling the cool wind on your face. God’s creation is truly something to behold, we are blessed to be able to enjoy it!
Here’s a bonus side note for you today. Christian music. I have always struggled with it. Most of the modern contemporary offerings are just hard for me to embrace. When we were on Maui, our worship leader Chris (from Texas) sang a song one morning and it stopped me dead in my tracks. The message, the rhythm, the heart, the feel. It was from 2 guys that called themselves Shane & Shane. The song was Psalms 46. These guys went through the book of Pslams and made songs out of them. In fact, I found out later that this was the entire album, ‘Psalms Live.’ If you haven’t checked them out you should. The whole album is on Amazon Music for free. I listen to it as I write every morning. It’s soft, soulful and touching, great for your Bible time if you like to have music playing. Check it out!
This morning we are in 1 Corinthians 11 and Paul has an odd mixture of topics for us, women’s dress, men’s hair, the role of men, women and God in the marriage and taking communion. What a bunch of topics huh?
Many of these specifically relate to the culture of Corinth in 54AD when Paul wrote this. You see, in that day prostitutes left their heads uncovered. Paul is telling the women they should set themselves apart from the world and be different, cover your head. As you can imagine the context today is not the same. However, the core message is. Be in the world not of the world. If we are to be like Christ today then we will look much different to a sinful world. Paul is saying don’t be like the world, be like Christ.
As far as men’s hair, in 54AD Corinth, for a man to have long hair was shameful. (1 Cor. 11:14) Today our society is different and we enjoy great freedoms. If a guy wants to have long hair, he of course is free to do so. I still think though, that our society somehow adheres to this policy. Guys with long hair are seen as rebels, rockers and even disobedient. Why is that? I guess it all depends on why you want to have your hair long. Are you doing it to rebel? Are you doing it for attention or shock value? I guess what I’m saying is its not so much the length of the hair as it is the motive behind it. Rebellion towards God can manifest itself in many ways.
Now we come to the touchy part. Verse 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.” 1 Cor. 11:3
I’ve noticed that anytime God’s Word deals with the roles within the marriage concerning men and women, many women automatically get worked up. We had a friend out in Maui that recently got ahold of a video of a pastor preaching on wives submitting to their husbands (Eph 5:23, also Paul) and put it on Facebook. Her and her girlfriends had a field day getting all bent out of shape over it. “How dare he say we should submit to any man!” I wanted to respond to her and clarify what it really meant but if a person is void of the Holy Spirit, God’s Word cannot truly be revealed to them. In fact Paul tells us earlier in this book of 1 Corinthians, that without the spirit of God to help us understand His Word, it will be folly (foolishness) to us. Here it is:
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor. 2:14
So before we get into verse 3 lets look at that word submission. The word submission is loosely derived from the word respond and really makes this verse come alive. The wife is to “respond” to her husband. But respond to what? When I took a class on hermeneutics (the study of the bible) we learned that 90% of all scripture mis-quotes can be settled if you simply read 2 verses before and 2 verses after. After all, you wouldn’t just read the 39th sentence of chapter 12 of Moby Dick and then pretend to understand the whole chapter! The verse before “wives submit to your husbands?” Eph 5:21 “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ok, so already we see this is not just wives submitting to their husbands but Christians submitting to each other out of deep respect for Christ. That already clears a lot up and that’s just the verse before.
Lets look at 2 verses after. Eph 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.” Wow. I am to love Margie with a love that means I’m willing to die for her like Christ died for the church. If I’m able to offer Margie that type of love do you think she would respond to it? I think any wife would treasure that type of love and would respond with a level of love, respect, and yes even submission to her husband. But see the full context here, she cannot respond unless the husband first offers her this kind of love. The respect, honor and response to the husband’s love is a reaction not a command. You cannot force the wife to respond with love, she does it out of the great love that is first offered her. You see this is to mirror the fact that we love Christ because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) I’ve heard it said that if your wife feels unloved husbands, its your fault because you are not first offering her the love that Christ had when he died for the church. Your not giving her a reason to respond. Ouch. Seems to me that the guys have the really hard commandment here.
So let’s explore the verse that we looked at earlier. “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.” (1 Cor. 11:3)
First off, think of the word ‘head’ that is used here 3 times in one verse. The head is the part of the body that gives direction. We are to first all get our direction from Christ. That’s men and women. Secondly, in order for any team, group, business, squad, platoon, or organization to work effectively there needs to be a leadership structure in place. God says the man is responsible for the marriage. I’ve seen many organizations where there was a power struggle and it was not a pretty thing to see. One person was in charge but another thought they should be. The two would fight for control and it created division, factions, anger and hatred. If left unchecked it could even destroy the organization. God knows this principle and says if marriage is to work properly there will have to be a leadership structure in place or the power struggle will leave destruction in its wake. Now once again, don’t just key in on the woman having the man as her boss, that’s not what it says. The man and woman are both to have Christ as their head first. The husband is to shoulder the burden and take responsibility for the marriage. Christ is even subject to the Father in this verse. God is telling us He has an order for everything and if followed there is harmony not chaos.
I pray that your personal 5 minutes in God’s Word today challenges you and makes you see the word differently. When you see the world through the eyes of God it will indeed look different to you.
God bless your steps.
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