What is it about Haircuts and Hats?
The Beatles and the 60’s; Long hair and rebellious attitudes. These are normal expressions of Young people. Today, you find the same rebellious attitudes in shaved heads; spiked hair, rooster hair, and green hair. And hats! There are lots of hats in our world – for men and women. There are derby’s, helmets, baseball caps, wide brimmed hats and hats without brims at all. Hats with feathers and hats with bandanas. Dirty beat-up hats and top hats that go with canes. Hats made from the fur of animals and hats made of straw. Some are functional – some are not.
Why on earth is the Apostle Paul concerned about the length of hair and whether it is covered or not? What has this got to do with men and women in the church? We are going to look at three specific things from 1 Corinthians 11 this morning.
Headship
Cultural Disrespect
God’s Covering
Headship
“Praying” is man talking to God about man
“Prophesying” is man talking to man about God
Praying and prophesying are two primary activities in our worship assembly. Paul talks about "praying" which is in essence man talking to God about man. "Prophesying" is in essence man talking to man about God. Paul is talking about the ministry that believers have and are to be involved in.
We gather to pray on Sunday mornings. Some of our prayer time is corporate - usually with one person speaking on our behalf the prayers of all the people. Some of our prayer time is personal and individual - with each of us taking the time to speak to God about our own needs. Some of our prayer time is in the community as we gather at the front or at a prayer time with the body at the end of the message.
We also gather hear the prophesy of God’s word. The word “prophesy” means simply “to forth tell” or “to speak forth in a powerful way the truths of God”. When I speak here today I prophesy about God. It can be future truth or it can be past or present truth. Prophesy is preaching about the truth of God.
Let’s talk about the idea of headship in your life. Headship is about leadership. It’s about going first; stepping out; and leading the way.
Whenever we get people together we almost immediately start getting hung up on issues of control; authority; submission and who is in charge. Certainly it is true in the marriage relationship. But we see it everywhere else too! In churches, business partnerships, corporation politics and civil politics.
Headship is about leading – not authority. Listen, All authority comes from God. There is no authority without that recognition and everyone is under his ultimate authority. We are to submit to one another and recognize the leadership of others in our lives.
Paul put it this way in verse 3… 3 But I want you to understand this: The head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.
What we do with our heads reflects on the head of our life.
Now lets get to the issue of… Cultural Disrespect
Cultural Disrespect
1 Corinthians 11:4
4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered brings shame to his head. 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered brings shame to her head…
Either of these things can be done in a way that is shameful to your head! There is a little play on words going on here about your head. It’s kinda neat actually. It makes me feel a lot better about some of the things we preachers say to get your attention like sermon points all starting with the same letter. Paul refers to the head on your body and the head in your life.
Everyone has two heads!
When he spoke of a man not having his head covered while praying and prophesying he is referring to a Corinthian custom. The phrase, "head covered" means, "having down from head." It speaks of a veil and not necessarily a hat, as we would think of in our day. The word “shame" speaks of bringing dishonor. Paul’s implication is that it would not be proper for a man to wear a veil or to have a covering. In fact, it would be embarrassing to him and to his Lord. Now why would it bring shame, disgrace and dishonor?
Because to a man his head coverings are the symbol of his authority. We wear our out authority on our heads. Whether a Roman Helmet or a modern helmet with a lieutenant’s bars, a Navy captains hat with gold braids, a baseball teams caps, or a MacDonald’s worker’s cap. They all signify man’s position among men. To wear these things when praying or prophesying bring shame on a man’s head – Jesus. We take off our hats and coverings to show our being in submission to his headship in our lives.
But Paul also says that a woman should have her head covered while praying and prophesying. (Clearly, there is no problem with a woman praying or prophesying in the church.) He goes on to say that to be uncovered would bring shame and dishonor to her head – which is a man.
In Corinth a woman wore a veil to keep herself for her head – that is her man. Even today in some eastern countries a married woman’s veil signifies that she will not expose herself to other men, and that her beauty and charms are reserved entirely for her husband. In a similar fashion, the women in the Corinthian Church covered their heads to show their devotion to their husbands. That is why Paul said if her head was uncovered it brought shame to her her head (husband).
There is a very important principle revealed here…
Cultural Disrespect
What you do with your head often reflects what is going on inside it
Headship is not dictatorship. It is about love, support, and respect.
For a man the covering on his head was a sign of authority and power. To wear such a covering while praying or prophesying was a clear sign of disrespect. A man in Corinth who prayed and prophesied in church with his head covered was saying “I am the authority in my life. Not God, Not Jesus, Me.”
For a woman – the covering on her head was a sign of part of the Corinthian culture which showed having hair or head uncovered was a sign of disrespect to her head. Veil covering was a way of being reserved for her husband alone.
This brings us to the idea of a covering…
1 Corinthians 11:11
11 But in the Lord women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. 12 This is true because woman came from man, but also man is born from woman. But everything comes from God.
In the Lord… everything comes from God. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians he writes that we are all one in Christ Jesus… neither male nor female.
I’ve found that the real issue with respect to men’s roles and women’s roles in the church is about whether the man or woman is “under authority”. I have seen both divisive men and women. The divisive man or woman has no authority but himself or herself
Several years ago I had to deal with such a woman. She was a missionary to China. Sweet, quiet, and reserved. We supported her ministry for years understanding that she had been sent out by another church and served under their headship. We later discovered that this was not true. So, we met with her to ask if she was willing to be under the headship of shepherds of the church she said, “I don’t need to be under anybody but God.” We stopped supporting her immediately.
The issue is not whether she is a woman or a man. The issue is being under the headship of Christ. If a man or a woman wants to pray or prophesy at Meridian Christian Church and refuses to be under the headship of Christ and his shepherds they will not be permitted to do so. Period.
Let me contrast this woman missionary I just told you about with our own Esther Hetrick. Esther is a woman of God. She has been our worship minister for almost eleven years and she has done this under authority of God. She is not perfect although she is given to perfection. She is a musician and is not a normal person although like most musicians she believes that she is normal.
Esther has been engaged in a doctorate study on worship for the last year or so. Being that the latter part of 1 Corinthians 11 is about communion I have asked Esther to prophesy next Sunday about the significance of the Lord’s Supper in the context of the church community. I don’t know if she is going to wear a veil or a coffee filter on her head – but I doubt it. In our culture a covering on a woman’s head doesn’t proclaim what it did in Corinth. One thing I know about Esther is this. She will act, dress, and behave in a manner that clearly shows that she is under the covering of God’s authority through his church.
So that was then and this is now. What do we do about haircuts and hats?
So what is the answer?
What we do and how we do it reveals what we think about God and his word to us
In verse 13 Paul says “Decide for yourselves…” Paul said this with some irony. I hear a little sarcasm leaking through his words, as he knows what the answer is. For us, the answer may not be quite as obvious because our culture has changed. The principle has not changed and never will.
Are we rebellious and arrogantly holding on to power and control. Do we demand our place of honor? Do we simply serve those in our lives?
Remember that what you do with your head often reveals what is in it.
Men, when you pray and prophesy, bow your heads –take off your caps. Let God and man know that you are under his covering and no one else’s. Don’t bring shame to your head.
Women, when you pray and prophesy, dress in a way that reserves your body for your husband or your boyfriend. Don’t bring shame to your head.
When you pray and prophesy make sure you are under the authority of Christ, the chief shepherd and those he has given over the shepherding of the body to in his absence – the shepherds of the body.
Let’s pray today for the body of Christ and his church.
