1 Corinthians 11 gives a very clear example of the divine order that was set at creation:

“For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.” – 1 Corinthians 11:8-9

The head of Christ is God, the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man (1 Corinthians 11:3).  Since God and Christ are the Godhead, they are equal, but authority wise the order goes to God then to Christ (John 4:34, 8:28, 12:49-50).  The same principle applies to man and women: both are equal, but God gave authority to the man.  God also designated distinctive gender roles that man and women are told to abide by and not deviate from (Deuteronomy 22:5).

The first role is that man should not pray or prophecy with his head covered because it dishonors his head.  Christ is the head of man.  A man should not cover his head because he was made in the image of God (1 Corinthians 11:7).  Therefore, covering the head deglorifies God.  The covering of man could be long hair, since long-haired men are sometimes viewed as feminine, and therefore is a disgrace to him since God is not feminine and man was made in the image of God (1 Corinthians 1:14).

The second role is that every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head (man).  The Holy Spirit is speaking to every woman and not reducing this to merely every wife, as commonly interpreted.  A woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors not just her head (man), but also God’s divine order.  In 1 Corinthians 11:5-6, Paul creates a logic to demonstrate why a woman should cover her head – hair or no hair at all.  “If the head is not covered, the woman should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.”

What is a covering?  Naturally, our covering is our hair:

“Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory?  For long hair is given to her as a covering.” – 1 Corinthians 11:14-15

But spiritually (as woman pray, go to Church, etc.), a woman’s covering was her veil.  The veil was worn as a sign of submission to man.  Culturally, during the OT&NT, a woman without a veil advertised herself publicly as a harlot and/or openly rejected man’s authority.  Therefore, the absence of a veil at Corinth disgraced her head (man) and God’s divine order.

Paul was speaking to the tradition of a veil at Corinth.  In today’s church, the lack of a veil is not a lack of submission to man since culturally it is not recognized.  However, it is clear that the principle of this passage is not cultural because the divine order was set at creation.  This implies that in today’s church, a woman should still not do anything to deglorify her head (man), which is to say, deglorify God’s divine order.  This may include short hair since from the male perspective, short hair can communicate lesbianism, rebellion, etc.

Corinth was not the only place where God created man in His image and then created woman in the image of man (sarcasm).  The divine order, and thus the doctrine of glorifying your image, applies to the entire creation.   Rejecting the divine order is to reject God, His plan, and His order.

Although today the absence of a veil does not advertise a woman as a harlot and does not deglorify her image, wearing a covering will glorify her image, the image of man, which is to say the image of God.  Why?  Because it shows the willful submission of woman to man; thereby, glorifying God’s divine order.

The last reason why we are told to follow this divine order is “because of the angels” – 1 Corinthians 11:10.  There is no generally accepted interpretation of this verse.  The predominant interpretation of this verse is that the angels are present during Christian gatherings.  This interpretation came from Jewish beliefs supported by Psalm 138:1 – “before the “gods” I will sing your praise.” (where “gods” is translated as angels).  While the angels are present at our gatherings, they delight in the willful submission of man to the Godly order, in their respective places. Compare the following:

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” – Ephesians 3:10

“For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the area.  We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.” – 1 Corinthians 4:9

“…Even angels long to look into these things” – 1 Peter 1:12

It is clear that the angels are on lookers of Christians.  They watch us to learn what has been made known to us and they are delighted in what delights the Lord – outward appearance (including following God’s divine order), inward humility, dress, and submission to God’s divine order.  And remember the last verse of this topic: “If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice – nor do the churches of God.” (1 Cor 11:16).

-Mark

I’ve been writing a lot lately on Church, its purpose, and how today’s church model is very different from the church in Acts’.  I’ve felt led to write such posts mainly because when I look at the Christian Church, I see many churches that fail to equip God’s people for the evangelistic work that we are supposed to be doing, too many churches manipulating non-believers into “salvation” by not revealing the deeper things of God, and too many churches practicing churchianity as their lifestyle rather than performing the work that a Christian is called to do daily as their lifestyle.

I’m not bashing, condescending, or hating in any way.  The most important thing as a Christian is to have a real relationship with God.  But also do not forget that we are all accountable to God, and because of this, strive to uphold what God calls of us.

So let’s get to the point: is Church for the Christian or an opportunity to reach non-believers through a specifically catered service?  The first church was mentioned in Exodus 19:5:

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.”

Possession (Strong’s 5459) is equivalent to peculiar.  Therefore, God is calling the assembly a peculiar possession.  God selected his bride and proposed to her.  She was special in God’s eyes (for more info on the marriage relationship to Israel, see Israel’s Marriage with God).  This church was an assembly of Hebrews, whom God had chosen to enter into a relationship with Him.  This assembly was closed off to all foreigners (Exodus 12:43), unless the foreigner became circumcised (Exodus 12:44) – which is to say, the foreigner becomes an Israelite.  This is because in order to partake in the celebration (at the time, Jewish festivals/feasts) of God, the assembly needed to maintain its purity and unity by not allowing any idolaters into their assembly, or church.

Although God commanded Israel to not allow foreigners to celebrate Israel’s festivals with Israel, God did not call for complete segregation from foreigners.  In Leviticus 19:33-34 God says:

“When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.  The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”

Therefore, while assembling as a congregation to celebrate God, foreigners were not allowed to partake.  But while living their daily lives, Israel was called to love foreigners.  This should start to sound somewhat familiar to you since the Old Testament was a shadow of the things to come (Colossians 2:17).

So what about the church of Acts?  There are 7 key characteristics that define what the church of Acts did (see The Church of Acts for more details): Prayer, witnessing outside the church, devotion to all things of God within the church, christian fellowship, proper delegation of church authority, baptism, and a focus on the entire church body (not just a particular church).  The church in Acts was socialistic, where no brother was ever found in need because possessions were sold to distribute wealth.  All characteristics of the church in Acts and all teachings within the New Testament point to a church with the entire purpose of preparing and equipping God’s people so that they can successfully go out into the world to witness to non-believers.  The church is not supposed to be geared toward bringing in non-believers for the following reasons:

1) Churches should replicate the teachings within God’s word for how to run and manage a church

2) If a church is geared toward non-believers, it is not possible for it to properly equip God’s children.  How can a church celebrate God and His word to the fullest if its service is “watered down” for the non-believer?

3) In the Old Testament, God forbade foreigners to partake in the celebration of Jewish festivals and other holy days so that the congregation can maintain its purity and unity.  This obviously has an implication for today’s church (Colossians 2:17).

Similar to the Old Testament, where although God forbade Israel to allow foreigners into its holy celebrations but mandated Israel to love its foreigners that lived in its lands, the church today should follow this example as well.  Inside the church, focus on raising up God’s people by following the example of the church in Acts and the teachings within God’s word.  Outside the church, love non-believers and be strategic witnesses.

If you are a church leader, remember that you are accountable to God.  If your heart differs from what His word tells us, clearly in this case your heart is not being guided by God.  Be ever discerning and seek the heart of God at all times and be sure to adjust your service to what God’s word tells us out of the fear of the Lord.

-Mark

What did it look like?  Aside from the miracles, signs, wonders, and sufferings that the Church performed or experienced, I want to look more closely at the strategic use of the original Church.  Do you believe that the Church at this time experienced an apostolic movement to confirm the resurrection of Christ?  Good – then we should be more fervent to construct the  modern Church in the image of the original Church since God gave them gifts that we rarely see today.  Do you believe that at the time, it wasn’t so much an apostolic movement as it was a greater filling of the Holy Spirit?  Good – then we should be ever more fervent to replicate the early Church, which had a greater filling of the Spirit.

Prayer:

“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” – Acts 1:14

One of the main functions of a Church is that it serves as a house of prayer.  Matthew 18:19 says that if two or more gather in Christ’s name, they will receive what they ask for.  The key is that everyone must be in agreement of what is being asked of.  There is no use in community prayer if we do not agree on what is being prayed for.  All believers in Acts were not only one in heart, but also one in mind (Acts 4:32).

Witnessing outside the Church:

“…For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” - Acts 1:22

Please see Churchianity vs. Christianity.  Many churches go outside of their walls only a few times throughout the year.  This needs to change.

Devotion to all things of God within the Church:

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” - Acts 2:42

Within the Church, the congregation devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles – this is the opposite of being witnessed or preached to; doing (devoting) verses receiving (being witnessed/preached to).  Within the Church, you also see fellowship, prayer, and breaking of bread.  Devotion is being proactive to the apostle’s teachings – which are written all throughout the New Testament.

Fellowship:

“Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” – Acts 2:45-47

Christians hanging out together but not breaking bread, worshiping, praying, encouraging, or sharing insights/teaching is often mistaken as fellowship.  This is not fellowship; this is merely Christians hanging out as the world does…minus the wicked acts.  According to what the book of Acts gives us for an illustration of the early Church, fellowship is giving to the needy within the Church by being so selfless as to even selling your own possessions, breaking bread and eating together, and praising God for the community of believers.

To further illustrate the selfless nature of the early Church, below are some more verses:

There is no “I” in team; all the believers were one not only in heart but also in mind:

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” – Acts 4:32

Division, dissension, slander, gossip, and differences were obviously dealt with biblically since the product was a unified congregation in heart and mind.

Are there any in need within your congregation? This shows what it means to be one in mind:

“There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.” – Acts 4:34-35

Proper delegation:

“In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

- Acts 6:1-4

If you are a minister, do not neglect your duties as a minister by spreading yourself too thin.  If you are a pastor, do not neglect your duties as a shepherd by spreading yourself too thin.  It is important to also take notice on how important the apostles considered prayer and ministry – so important that they gave responsibilities to others, even though they were the best at what they did in the Church.

Baptism:

“So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.” – Acts 10:48

So important is baptism, that it was mentioned 17 times in Acts.  We take baptism for granted today in the Christian Church in America.  Imagine being baptized during a time where surrounding kingdoms are ready to kill or persecute you because of your outward proclamation of Christ?  Anyone who repented in Acts was immediately baptized.  Not only is it symbolic of a renewal, but it has an impact on us spiritually.

Focus on the entire Church body:

“The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.” - Acts 11:29-30

Too often today do church leaders focus only on the members within their church and the community around their church.  This was not the case in Acts.  In Acts, the Church worked together by providing for their fellow brothers in the surrounding kingdoms.  Multimillion dollar churches and churches so large that they begin creating satellite churches in areas miles apart was not heard of in Acts.  The Philippians did not monopolize the Christians of Macedonia.  Rather, the Philippians would have sent money to the Christians of Macedonia to help them establish their own church and help them when needed.  This is important because we need pastors who can get involved in the local community and our individual lives, not pastors that are celebrity status and broadcast their messages across state borders.  This is a moral hazard…many Christians use these messages as their primary bread and skip out on church.

This should give anyone that is involved in church leadership some solid long-term direction for their church and anyone not involved in leadership some insight so that they can spark change.

-Mark

I’ve been to some churches over the past few years – mostly due to relocating or visiting a friend’s church.  I’ve been to Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, and non-denominational churches.  Recently, a friend of mine was talking to me about her experience as a worship leader for quite some time at a non-denominational church.  It took her 4 years to realize that her church was not really living up to the original function of the Church in Acts.  She briefly mentioned that the church would go on annual missions trip and seldom participate in some other outward reach programs.  But for the most part, she was not content with this version of a church, which hides behind its own doors (except for a few times throughout the year).  Another interesting piece of information is that this church would outcast those that left or disagreed with some aspect of the organization as if this church were the only part of the body that had it right, and thereby creating its own “kingdom” (or bubble).

What stuck with me the most from the talk was that she believe that many of these non-denominational emergent churches were practicing Churchianity rather than Christianity.  Reflecting on my past church experiences, I realized how true this was.  Denominations tend to have more outward reach programs through the help of its denominational affiliations with non-profit organizations and such, probably due to their sheer size.  As for non-denominations, first, I’ll tell you why I think this inevitably occurs within this breed of churches.  Then in a future post, I’ll tell you why it is Churchianity and not Christianity. DISCLAIMER: I am speaking generally, not all non-denominational churches are Churchians rather than Christians.  This difference occurs most likely due to sufficient funding, or a lack of caring about funding…as you will see.

I say inevitably occurs because the organizational design of non-denominational churches is set up so that the incentives of the leader/owner at a church are not aligned with that of what a business needs to survive: profits.  Non-denominations do not receive stipends from the parent denomination (such as a Baptist Church), since they do not have a parent denomination.  Moreover, most non-denominations are not funded properly either because there is no endowment which supplies a sustainable cash flow in perpetuity or because there are not enough people to supply sufficient funding (non-denominations are not affiliated, so many people may feel their is no legitimacy to these churches), This lack of funding is the misalignment of incentives.  Non-denominations need a cash flow to survive, yet they are not getting it.  So like any other business owner, the product or service needs to change so that they can attract more “customers”, which will hopefully supply the business with a sustained cash flow.

So what do these non-denominations do?  Like any other business, they need to target their product or service toward  a core audience so that they can be very efficient with a target audience then very inefficient with a broad audience – this is when the marketing comes in.  So you begin to see services that are marketed mostly toward a younger audience through the pop-worship rock, lights, sound, lasers, etc.  They target their messages toward that demographic.  They even go so far as to limit who can go to certain services, as if the Church of Acts had such segregation…(or as if the kingdom is segregated).  Granted, some pastors actually have a genuine heart to reach a certain sociographic and don’t change their service to become more efficient and receive better funding.  Even in this case, as you will see, this is still leading to a toxic view of what Christianity is…so even these pastors are not blameless (1 Timothy 3).

Through this marketing clutter, caused by targeting a certain sociographic, the target audience becomes manipulated into Christianity: the topical message approach does not let people respond to all possible convictions, the deeper truths of Christianity are usually not spoken about so those that have accepted God usually haven’t weighed the cost of accepting Christ (Matt 21:44), the modern worship that makes God the object of a sappy love song distorts the image of God, God’s divine order is not upheld which means that there is no divine presence at the gatherings (1 Cor 11:10).  Therefore, what is felt is hype and emotion which is created through the marketing and is being confused with “God”; the whole message of the Bible gets lost.

As I said earlier, the saddest part is that some that run such services genuinely have good hearts.  But unfortunately, truth within your heart is different than acting on that truth (Galatians 5:24-25).  They do not realize the toxicity of topical messages;  They do not realize that there is no divine presence when God’s divine order is not upheld, therefore, they are confusing hype and emotion with truth;  They do not realize that most modern worship displays God as your boyfriend/girlfriend;  They do not realize that the little cash flow they receive is most likely a coincidence due to strategic marketing than a blessing due to preaching truth and going out into the world; Etc. (and the list continues).

Satan twisted scripture to try to deceive Christ; how much more would he do it for us that are not Christ?  If only we could go back to the Church of Acts.  The Church of Acts was designed by the Gospel according to Jesus, who taught the disciples while on Earth with him.  Even 2000 years ago, Christ said in Luke 10:2 “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  The same is true today.  Why are churches still creating their own kingdoms, dismissing those that leave, and not going into the world often?

The message you receive at a church should not be your primary food, nor the worship your only time of worship.  Church supplements what we lack individually.  Individually, God gives me my daily bread through reading and I receive the joy of God through worshiping.  Individually, I cannot have fellowship with myself – this is why I need church.  Individually, I will confess that I am weak and rely upon others’ strength to go out into the world as a group to help the needy – this is why I need church.

Unfortunately, the message and worship are only times that many “Christians” actually receive or praise throughout their week.  This is why topical messages should not be and why worship should be taken seriously.  Sanctification comes by understanding more about God through His word.  Topical messages do not reveal the deeper truths of God (such as sanctification!) because most of His wisdom is intertwined throughout many verses and is revealed by Him through conviction, not by topics.  Furthermore, a pastor speaking on a topic opens up the congregation to point their finger at the pastor.  For instance, if a pastor speaks about sacrificing money spent on yourself and I see him eating at a restaurant or going to the movies, he clearly hasn’t avoided the presence of evil, the blamelessness that he should uphold, and the message he preaches to his congregation!

The design of the Church of Acts should not be spoken of briefly, so please check out what it looked like in this post: The Church of Acts.

-Mark