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LONG HAIR AND SUBMISSION #4
MORE THAN A SEAT ON THE BUS
Here are a few bits of trivia for our Thursday consideration.
U.S. President Martin Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, New York, back
in 1782. The eighth president, he was the first one who was BORN a U.S.
citizen. And he's also known for being a widower in office; his daughter-in-law,
Angelica, served as the White House hostess in the absence of a first
lady.
King Bhumipol Adulyadej (adulyaDET) of Thailand has a birthday, as our
writer, David Smith, is pleased to tell us, remembering back to his missionary
days in that country. Even as you're hearing this, the entire nation is
decked out in what would otherwise look like Christmas decorations. The
69-year-old monarch is famous for having a beautiful wife, Queen Sirikit,
and for being a good saxophone player.
Point of interest #3: 44 years ago, the one-year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott
began, four days after Rosa Parks wouldn't give up her seat.
Now friend, what does this trilogy of trivia have to do with anything?
All this week we've frankly been having a difficult time in First Corinthians
chapter 11 along with some parallel STICKY chapters by the same controversial
author. "Women should be silent in church," the writer, Paul,
tells us. "They're subject to their husbands. Men shouldn't wear
long hair; women should. A woman should never pray with her head uncovered;
a man should ALWAYS have HIS head uncovered." Etc. Etc. And frankly,
it sounds like a whole lot of trivia.
But you know, there's a real danger in seeing the trivia points — and
upholding and uplifting the trivia points — and FAILING to see the vital
principles that are the REAL intention of these Bible teachings.
I mentioned the King of Thailand, who's having some khaNOME — the Thai
word for birthday cake. And we said the guy plays the saxophone. Well,
that's interesting, but it's far more important to note that here's a
royal leader, who, while his job is largely ceremonial, has been successfully
on the throne for 53 YEARS. Thailand is the ONLY country in Southeast
Asia to never be taken over by a European power. AND it's never been successfully
controlled by the communists. A good king has something to do with that.
King Bhumipol has intervened a number of times to resolve governmental
crises . . . and that's a lot more important to know than the fact that
he plays a hot jazz saxophone. President Van Buren didn't have a First
Lady; that's TRIVIA. More important are the big things: his four-year
term was financially scarred by the Panic of 1837; BUT he was successful
in establishing the independent treasury system.
Friend, here's my point. We need to read our Bibles carefully, noting
both the applications AND the vital principles that lead a writer to TELL
us the applications.
Here in chapter 11, Paul talks about head coverings. He discusses decorum;
when should a woman speak and when should she be silent. And frankly,
we get rather prickly reading about it here in 1999. But what's the PRINCIPLE
behind these verses? Every commentary we can find makes the clear point
that Paul is teaching the importance of PROPRIETY, of ORDER, of religious
decorum, of GOOD TASTE, of being sensitive to the customs and manners
of the times.
We've already spoken about the culture of Corinth, but let me share again
just one sentence from a thousand-page treatise entitled New Testament
Theology by Dr. Donald Guthrie. Commenting on this subject, he writes:
"It is important to note . . . that in the
contemporary world [of that time] women were almost universally regarded
as inferior to men. This was particularly so in the Jewish world which
was ENTIRELY male-dominated. A few areas in the Gentile world, like Macedonia,
accorded women more rights, but the pagan world as a whole had NO CONCEPTION
of the equality of the sexes. Moreover education was denied to Jewish
girls and was not widespread among the girls of other nations. It was
in such a climate of male orientation that the Christian communities developed."
With that in mind, let me read to you three verses
from First Corinthians FOURTEEN, and let's look together for the PRINCIPLE
Paul wants to teach. Here's verse 33:
"The main thing to remember in all this
is that God is not the author of confusion but of orderliness and peace.
The principle of orderly conduct applies not only to your church, but
to all who worship God everywhere." Now here are verses 34 and 35:
"As is done in synagogues, women attending church should not shout
and carry on like women do in pagan temples, but should be quiet and listen
as the law says, so as not to OFFEND our Jewish believers. If your women
can't understand what is being taught, they should not interrupt the speaker
but wait until they get home and ask their husbands. While pagan women
shout and interrupt each other in their places of worship, it's disgraceful
for a Christian woman to behave this way."
So the PRINCIPLE was this: worship should be orderly
and conducted with gracious STRUCTURE. It wasn't to be freewheeling and
boisterous and controversial, a BABBLE of interrupting. And frankly, in
that culture, an overt OUTSPOKENNESS by women would have struck a visitor
as unseemly, out of place. "This is too strange for me," they
would have said, going right back out the door. Just as maybe you and
I have done when we poked our head into an unfamiliar church where things
just seemed too WEIRD inside.
But now here's the irony. What if TODAY, here in 1999, a church were to
adopt the APPLICATION — not the principle, but the trivia, the APPLICATION
— that Paul was talking about? Imagine an evangelical Christian church
today that endeavored to keep all the women silent, and that enforced
codes of headgear — hats OFF for men and ON for women — and all the rest.
Do you know something? Frankly, to require those things TODAY would actually
be DISRUPTIVE and cause confusion; it would lead to violating the very
principles Paul was trying to protect in the first place!
In fact, I find a tremendous expression of that irony in one of our good
commentaries. Doing what we just said, they observe, would require us
to surrender the PREMISE of an argument, while holding onto the CONCLUSION
that DEPENDS on the premise. And then they add this:
"That would be equivalent to removing the FOUNDATION of a building
while seeking to salvage and use the SUPERSTRUCTURE suspended in mid-air."
We discussed on Tuesday a paragraph in First Timothy
2, where Paul writes these words:
"I also want women to dress MODESTLY, with
decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive
clothes, but with GOOD DEEDS, appropriate for women who profess to worship
God."
And you know, frankly, it's been easier for some of
us to elevate the word GOLD — which might be an application of a principle
— and downplay the words MODESTY and DECENCY and PROPRIETY, which are
timeless principles. Here in 1996, we might leave off the gold, and I'm
not saying that's not a good idea, but forget to decorate ourselves with
good deeds, with a kind heart and a humble attitude. Every morning, not
just when we're getting dressed, is there too much gold-and-pearls glitter
to our CAR, our expensive house, our wardrobe, our mercenary attitude,
our salary disputes? Friend, let's not suspend a house in mid-air while
we let the FOUNDATION to that house wash out to sea.
We mentioned at the beginning of today's study an American heroine named
Rosa Parks. Here was a woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus,
and a history-making boycott began 44 years ago. But you know, the seat
on the bus wasn't the main thing! Let's not get hung up with the seat
on the bus. The problem wasn't with bus seats; the problem was with the
hearts of men and women. Racial hatred was there; attitudes of superiority
and cruelty were there. Segregation and violence were the established
laws of the land. The Jim Crow rules and the meanness of "(quote)
separate but equal" were the problems that pushed some American citizens
to the back of the bus. Today we climb onto a bus or an airplane and we
sit in the front, in the back, in the middle . . . anywhere we like. But
there are STILL some hearts that need changing, aren't there? So the piece
of history we celebrate here on May 27 has to do with more than the leather
fabric of a Greyhound bus seat. This is a day to remember the long hard
struggle for justice, the ongoing spiritual growth we still need . . .
and to honor the memory of those who made the hard decisions, who endured.
We close up shop today realizing, maybe for the first time, that God calls
us to something rather HARD. Maybe you've gotten the idea that Christians
here in 1999 can slough off this or that requirement, that living the
Christian life isn't as disciplined as you thought. "I can get away
with a few things," we say to ourselves. "Great! Paul was writing
to someone else." But you know, when we look deeper for the principle,
we find that our task is actually harder. Which is more of a challenge:
to let someone sit in the front of the bus, or to have your heart transformed?
Which is more difficult, to refrain from the physical act of adultery,
or to obey the even deeper, more soul-invading principle of purity, of
abstaining even from LUST, the wishful glance, the exploitive moments
of the imagination?
We can read the Bible, notice the surface list — the LITTLE things — and
actually make some progress. OR . . . we can ask the Holy Spirit to reveal
to us the deep, abiding principles of heaven. And then we REALLY fall
on our knees and confess our need of a Savior.
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