(The Head Covering) 03 - Theology of Authority, Modesty and Clothing — Tom Chaplin

The Theology of Clothing, Authority, and Modesty

Go ahead and begin our Bible study. The last couple of weeks we've been considering this topic, understanding the head covering, a whole Bible approach. This is our third lesson on this subject and we've been considering what I call just some underlying fundamental principles that while they don't specifically, or at least I haven't tied them to the head covering yet, they're issues that are always there, lurking perhaps in the back of our minds, kind of conditioning us as to how we look at the head covering issue when we're studying it.

And so far we've considered the role of culture in biblical interpretation, we've looked at principles of Old Testament interpretation, and today we're going to combine these two right here into one lesson, and this will finish up our, I hate to say preliminary study but I guess that's what it is, this will finish up our covering of these fundamental issues and next week we'll actually get into looking at the scriptures that deal specifically with the head covering.

But we do want to look today at these two issues right here and I would entitle our lesson today, The Theology of Clothing, as it relates to authority and modesty. So that's what we're going to cover today, but of course we need the Lord's help as we study any issue of scripture, so let's before we actually get into it ask his blessing on our study.

Father, we do once again thank you for this opportunity to look at your word, and Lord we do acknowledge our dependence upon you and the fact that unless you give us light and understanding that we won't understand the truth, and just pray that you would meet with us here this evening through your Holy Spirit, that you would guide and help me to present those things that really are true to your word and not just my own personal opinion, and that you would give us all hearts to receive and to understand that which you have for us concerning this issue of the head covering.

Lord, I feel it's a very important lesson tonight, and just enable me to share my heart and be true to your word, and just bless it, Lord, and may your son get all the praise and honor and glory. Lord, I'd ask it in his name and for his sake, amen.

Biblical Guidance for Modesty

Well, as we noted last week, there are many that consider an issue such as the head covering to be, you know, an issue that's pretty minor and a lot would say, you know, why are you spending any time at all looking at something like that?

However, I think for most of us, at some point an issue like clothing does become serious. For instance, as I mentioned last week, if some authority was to tell me that my wife had to wear hot pants, I'd just have to take issue with that.

I mean, it's just not something I'm open to in my understanding of scripture and morality and how we should dress. And so we all draw the line somewhere. I mean, at some point, for most of us, clothing is going to be an issue.

But the problem is, how do we draw the lines? You know, all conservative Christians anyway would acknowledge that we should dress modestly. I mean, that's what it says in Timothy, right? We are to dress modestly.

So what does that mean? And you can almost get a different answer to that question for everybody you ask. And so what we want to know is, is there any biblical guidance on that issue? Are we really just, each one of us, left by God up to our own subjective judgments?

Or does God actually give us some direction? And I personally believe that God hasn't left us on our own, but that he has given us some guidance and direction. And today I want to look at some of those principles and share them with you.

Now, I think this is an accurate statement. You might want to correct me if I'm wrong, but when most of us think of the issue of modesty, we usually think of it in terms of, at least in terms of women, of them being dressed in such a way as not to be a sexual enticement to somebody.

And I think that generally the sexual dimension of the issue is what we think of most when we think of the subject of modesty. Am I, I mean, is that correct for most of you here? I mean, that's always the way I looked at it.

That's the first thing that came to my mind when I thought about modesty. Well, you know, if that's the way you think, and you probably do, you might be kind of, you know, kind of quizzical about why I would link authority and modesty together.

Because we don't, I don't think, normally think in those terms or link the two together. But what I want to do today is show you that they're very closely related. And in understanding these concepts here gives us a lot of instruction and direction as to how we understand the importance of clothing or how we are to dress in a way that would please God.

So, surprisingly enough perhaps to you, I'm not going to be talking a lot about the sexual dimension. We'll be talking about authority, the dimension of authority as it relates to this subject. And, frankly, from a scriptural perspective it's probably more important than the other thing that we think of when we think of the issue of modesty.

Christ as the Head of Every Man

So, to begin with, what I want to do is first just lay out God's chain of command. We want to talk about that first. And we are going to look a little bit at 1 Corinthians today. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 1 through 3.

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. But I would have you to know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God.

Now what we want to focus on this evening for a little bit is that verse 3. We see this word occurring over and over again in this verse, it's the word head. Now, what does that mean? If I say that somebody is my head, what am I conveying to you?

What do I want you to understand? Well, let's think about the physical head. What is the physical head? The physical head is your traffic control center, isn't it? It is that part of your body that directs and controls the rest of your body.

For instance, my hand moves. Why is it moving? Because my head is telling it to move. What happens if I was unconscious? Would my body do anything? It would just lay there limp, wouldn't it? Because my head is out of control.

I mean, it's not functioning at that point. And so when you say that somebody is your head, what you're saying is that person is your authority. He's the person that directs you, that controls you. It's the person you're to be in obedience to.

My head is someone that I have to obey. Any problems with that? Would you say that's proper analysis? Well, in this verse it uses that term and it says that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.

Well, let's start at the top of this chain first. How is God Christ's head? In what sense? Now, this is somewhat of a mystery because I believe in the Trinity that you have the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and that these three are one God and that they are co-equal and yet, you know, three persons, one God.

And yet this verse indicates that God the Father is the head of Christ, meaning that Christ himself is subjected to the Father. So how can that be? And I'm not going to tell you that I have all the answers to such questions.

I did look in several commentaries for help and John Calvin, he said this, he said that it is spoken of Christ as mediator. It's dealing with Christ as the God-man and that in that sense, Christ is inferior to the Father in as much as he has assumed our nature that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

He is inferior to the Father in as such as he has assumed our nature that he might be the firstborn. So it's not as Christ considered as the second person of the Trinity but Christ is considered as the God-man, our mediator, the man Christ Jesus that was to be a propitiation for our sins that he is in subjection to God the Father.

Christ's Joyful Submission to the Father

Well, since Christ is our example, how did he manifest subjection? What did that mean to him? Look in John 4, verse 34. John 4, verse 34. He said, Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.

For Christ, what God the Father wanted him to do was like eating the most delicious meal you can imagine. It's that which he enjoyed doing. It's that which nourished him. It's that which made him happy.

His meat was to do the will of him who sent him. Look in John 5, verse 30. I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

So I think we see the heart of Christ. From his perspective, he existed to please his Father. When he did something, he wanted it to be exactly what God the Father wanted him to do. And it was enjoyable to him.

It was his meat. It was that which nourished him. And so he had an unabandoned giving of himself to his Father. And that's an example to us. And as you and I consider this whole subject of headship and what it means to be submitted to our head as it's laid out in scripture, we need to keep that in mind, that that is the way Christ submitted to his head.

And that's a pattern for us as we continue in the rest of this study. Well, it's said that God is the head of Christ but Christ is the head of man. Now what does that mean? Let's look at that for a second.

Look in Colossians 1 .18. I'll start in 17. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in him all things might have the preeminence.

So, to say that he's the head of man, I believe, implies initially that he is the head of the church and all individuals in it. He is in authority. He is that head. And as we function as a church, it's his direction coming to us as a body of believers through his spirit that directs us and guides us.

And we, as his members, act according to the direction he gives us through the spirit. So, first off, he's in charge of the church. He rules in the church through his spirit. Look also in Matthew 28 .18, though.

His authority is not just restricted to men and women in the church. Matthew 28 .18. He said, I think I started one verse below where it says all authority is given to him. Excuse me, verse 17. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

But he said that all power is given to him by God the Father. He's in total control not only of the church but of everything. And that's brought out again in a passage such as Philippians 2, verses 9 through 11.

Look there for a second. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So we see that the authority of Christ reaches to his church but not just to his church. It embraces all men and all things. He is absolute head over everyone. But what does this mean to us for you and me personally?

I mean, we're talking maybe abstract theology here but we need to get personal with it now and bring it home to our own hearts. How are we to relate to Christ as our head? How did he relate to his head?

He gave total, unbounded joyful submission to his Father. And if we really from the heart recognize Christ as our head, that's the type of subjection that we should have towards him. Isn't it? I'll tell you a little story.

There once was a little boy and he was being somewhat rambunctious and his mother thought he was getting a little bit too rambunctious. Maybe you've had that problem at times. I do sometimes. So mama said, son, let's calm down now.

I think what I want you to do is get a book and you go sit on the couch. And her boy, he was dutifully obedient and he went and got a book and he went and he sat down on the couch but his mama looked at him and knew that something was wrong.

You can tell when your child is not happy. Well, this boy didn't look happy so mama comes and says, son, what's the problem? And the boy says, mama I'm sitting down on the outside but I'm standing up on the inside.

I'm sitting down on the outside, mama but I'm standing up on the inside. We've got to give him credit. At least he was being honest. I bring that little illustration out to make this point. Our submission to Christ is not just external.

It's got to be from the heart. And it's possible that we can engage in all sorts of external acts of submission maybe because we fear him and we're afraid he might send us to hell if we don't. But that's not sufficient.

We can obey Christ in humpteen jillion little points but if we're not submitting to him because we love him because we want to please him because it really is our joy to do his will whatever it may be then we've not submitted to him as required by this scripture to submit to him as head.

So how do you stand up with that judgment? Can you truly say from the best of your heart Can I truly say as I look at the things that I'm trying to do in subjection to God that I'm doing it from that heart of true love for him and not just to keep from getting spanked or something.

That's not sufficient. God wants our heart. He wants our love. And he wants obedience prompted by that love. So how do we stack up? Consider that. Let's move on. Let's consider some human relationships.

Headship in Marriage and the Church

God is Christ's head. Christ is the head of man. The verse goes on and says that the head of the woman is the man. What does that mean? Let's elaborate and develop that a little bit. Look in Ephesians 5 beginning in verse 22.

Man is the head of the woman. And Paul says, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Interesting. He's saying that women should submit to their husbands in the same way that the church submits to Christ.

Or as they should submit to the Lord, excuse me. The same type of submission. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church. And he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ.

So here we go with it. Their husband is unto the Lord and to submit to their husband is the way the church submits to Christ. So let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. So we see in terms of the home that the woman is to be in subjection to her husband.

To the man that God has placed in her life to be her head. So it at least applies that far. Let's look at it and see if we can broaden it out. Look in 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy 2 beginning in verse 8.

And we'll be coming back to this passage later in the message as well. I will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. In the like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety not with voided hair or gold or pearls or costly array but which becometh women professing godliness with good works.

Let the women learn in silence with all subjection but I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed in Eve and Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail in this passage other than to note that it says in verse 12 that Paul did not suffer a woman to teach or to usurp authority over a man and it's clearly in the context of the church.

So we see the concept that man is the head of the woman is not just in terms of my relationship as a husband to my wife but this concept applies in the church that women preachers and such things as that as I understand this passage don't seem to be in line with what it's teaching but that God has placed in the church man is head in terms of teaching and the exercise of authority he is to be in charge, he's to be the head and the women are to be in a place of submission to the rulers that God raises up in the church that should be men.

So we see it applies in the family it applies in the church. Look at Isaiah 3 and I'll read several verses here well I'll tell you what I'll just read one verse, verse 12 this is a passage where God is pronouncing judgment the context is one of judgment and he says in verse 12 as for my people children are their oppressors and women rule over them.

O my people they which lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths. Now here again I think it's quite clear that the headship of man not only applies in the family not only applies in the church but it was really a bad state in Israel at this time that this passage was written that women were their rulers.

This is God speaking and he's saying if I can paraphrase it, this is not good. This is a terrible situation and it's a result of you being in rebellion against me. Women are your rulers. Now we could relate to other passages but I think that should be sufficient.

God has ordained when he says that the man is the head of the woman that we as men are to be the leaders in our homes, in the church and in society in general. That's what it means to say that man is the head of the woman and that to me is a teaching that really needs to be shouted from the housetops in our society.

I mean it's something the church really needs to rise up and proclaim with great strength. Because look at America today where are we now. If you go talk to somebody that's just in the world they will probably tell you that the fact that we have women's lib women's equality.

And the fact that you can probably go down. Well I mean the last governor of Texas was a woman. And they would tell you that that is good. That that means we've made progress as a country. Do you believe that.

I mean I read articles and it talks about how children are afraid to go to school. They're afraid for their life. Divorce is rampant. Families are falling apart. I mean the church can't stop abortion.

We seem to have no power. Why do you think that is. Well maybe this isn't the total answer but a good part of the reason is we as a society have thrown off God's chain of command. We're in rebellion. The women have risen up and the men have laid it down.

And what's the result. Our society is heading towards chaos unless God is pleased to send revival. We have great needs in America in this realm. Probably most of us since I know my group here is very conservative would say amen.

But since you're so conservative I have to be hard on you probably harder than I would be if I was preaching to some other groups. Because we have to bring this home to our hearts. And I have to ask myself the question as I ask you do you embrace these principles of authority.

Do I embrace them really now I think everybody here embraces them intellectually. But do we really embrace them. Like I said right here. Let me ask the men. I'll pick on the men first. Are we leaders.

We're to be the head. It's not optional. I didn't have any choice on how I was going to be born. I couldn't say I wanted to be a woman and not be a leader. I didn't have that option. God made me a man.

Chris he made you a man. We were made men. And so what does God say to us. You're a man. You're to lead. Not optional. But are we leaders. And let me just make a few observations here. And I can't speak to any of you personally.

I'm glad I don't know any of you really. So I'm not meaning to step personally on anybody's toes because I don't know if this applies to you or not. But let me share some of the things I've seen over the years I've been in.

Male Leadership in Congregational Life

Let's talk about the church. I've been in churches where it was a struggle to get the men to pray to give a testimony. There was no heart to do such things. And there was no real effort in any of those families to say have devotions with the children or to do anything with the family in a spiritual way.

And I've been in some churches where I was greatly encouraged. I've had an opportunity to be in a church that I'm thinking of right now where you had all these men and they weren't trained men. They were just simple hard working men.

They hadn't been to seminary hadn't been to Bible school but just about every man in that congregation could get up in front of 100 to 150 people and bring a halfway decent message at least. And these same men were not backward at the end of the service.

If an opportunity was given to give testimonies a bunch of them would stand up and they'd actually speak in front of great numbers of people. And what was so impressive to me about this was that they weren't trained men.

They were just like you and me just men, being men now they weren't super gifted. I wouldn't say they were super preachers. But they had the courage and the manliness to be able to stand up and lead. That encouraged me.

But I'll tell you that's been a rare experience for the most part in the churches I've been in it's been pretty much the opposite. The men have been largely passive and find it very difficult to get any type of participation.

And I don't know where you all are on this but to me this is what we as men have to wrestle with. Are we really leaders. It's not just enough for you and I to say yes. I believe that I'm the head of the woman that has practical implications for you and me.

It means I've got to be an initiator. I've got to be bold. I've got to stand up before men. You know it says in Corinthians if any man hath a psalm, if any man hath a teaching hey, it doesn't say does the preacher have a psalm.

Does the preacher have a teaching. And it expects that the men will be leading as men in the church congregation. And I'm sad to say that if you went in and tried to implement that in many congregations you'd have a very dead service because you'd be doing good to get one or two to do anything.

But we can't be that way. Can we? We have to be men. And I just bring this out as one application for us to consider as we consider our life in the church. Are we exercising that leadership position that God has given us.

I doubt any of us go to churches that have women preachers. I mean we're too conservative for that. And we would say men are to lead, women are not to be preachers but brothers it goes much farther than that.

It touches me and you personally we've got to lead not just what we don't have, women preachers. But what do we do, what do we have as men. That's an issue. So, do you embrace God's chain of command. Do I embrace it.

We need to consider that. What about in the home. Where do we stand there. You know it's a sad thing in America that most homes don't have any type of spiritual direction. And I would expect that most of us here would not be in such a sad state.

At least I hope not. But in many homes in America if there's any spiritual direction at all it's from the wife. She's the one that reads the Bible stories. She's the one that prays with the kids. She's the one that maybe puts them on the bus to go to First Baptist Church on Sunday.

Or she's the one that actually takes them. And where's the man anytime the man is still in bed. Or maybe he's gone out hunting if it's hunting season. But as far as the man of the home actually setting the spiritual tenor as far as him laying the groundwork for his family setting the standards, pressing on and drawing his children and his wife after him.

It's rare that you'll find a home where that's the case. And I tell you I need to have needs there too. And I ask you to pray for me. I need to be more of a leader in my own home than I am but I want to be better but it's not an option for me.

And it's not an option for you men here today. And it's not an option for you young men who are soon to be fathers. You'll be married before you know it. And God has called you young men when you grow up to be heads in your home.

He's called you to be leaders in the church. And you need right now to start becoming that. Don't wait until you're 20 or 25 to start addressing these issues. You need to address them now and ask yourself what do I need to be doing now as a young man preparing to be a leader.

What do I need to do to prepare myself for that. And you need to be applying yourself in that direction before you know it. You're going to be a man and you're going to be called upon by God to be a leader.

Now's the time to address that. So where do you stand as a husband as a leader of your children in this matter. Are you leading. Are you actively setting the tenor, the atmosphere of your home spiritually.

Are you leading your wife and your family towards Christ and his kingdom. Or are you passive, are you letting these things slide. Is your wife the spiritual power in your house. I just leave you with those questions because if that's the case you may have an intellectual grasp but it's not in the heart.

And it's not good enough just to have it up here. It's got to be here and it's got to be working itself out in the way you live, in the way I live. Do you embrace these principles of authority not what you got in the Bill Godford seminar.

That's wonderful, I'm glad you went. But what you hear is not important if it doesn't live in your life. Ok, women. Now it's time for you. This issue of headship applies to you just like it does to us.

Submission and Spiritual Priorities for Women

Let me ask you this question ladies is it your meat and drink to serve your husband as the church is to serve Christ. Is it your meat and your drink. Is it that which gives you pleasure. Is that the central focus of your mentality you know it says in Genesis that God gave woman to man to be a help, meat help fit for him.

The creation mandate for you is to be your husband's helper and his greatest exponent. That's what God wants for you. Is that the way you are. You know again back to our society we live in a society that would actually teach that the way a woman should be fulfilled is to go out and get a job and make her own destiny.

In other words the man he has his life and he has his objectives that he's pursuing. And the woman she is pursuing her own objectives and somehow they live together and they have a marriage. But you and I know that doesn't work.

What happens is the wife falls in love with the boss and ends up divorced and running off with the boss or the man falls in love with the secretary and ends up no telling what. It just doesn't work that way.

Now I know that that is not any type of problem here among you. But it can be in a lesser way. I mean what is the center of your life. Is it your children that's going to be the snare. Not that you shouldn't have a love for your children.

You should but your children can never supplant your husband because you were given to him to be his helper. And the focus of your ministry in life if God has called you to marriage is to promote the objectives that God has laid upon your husband.

And if you let anything else take precedence over that then you are not properly honoring the chain of command. So where is your heart in regard to your husband. When you think about your husband is it your meat and your drink to please him to make him happy to further his cause among men and before God.

Is that really the focus of your life as a woman, as a wife. Or is it something like your children or in a more extreme case your desire to be a success in a career. You know it says in 1 Peter 3 verses 5 -6 that Sarah called Abraham Lord.

I mean that is the respect that she had for her husband. That's how far it went with her. I don't know that I've ever heard an American call her husband Lord. And I suspect most of us if we were in a group and we heard a woman say to her husband Lord and call him Lord we'd be shocked.

I mean that's so far from our 20th century equality mentality, women's lib mentality that it would just probably give some of us a heart attack. But that is commended in scripture. That was a good thing that she did.

She had given her heart to her husband who she recognized and honored as her Lord. And God said that's right, that should be her heart. And she's an example for the ladies that are here this evening. So is that where you're at ladies?

Let me ask you this question again. We're back to the I'm sitting down on the outside but I'm really standing up on the inside. Type question. Let's say your husband doesn't want you to do something. He doesn't want to do something you want him to do or he doesn't see things the way you see them.

How do you respond to that? Can you lay it down? Can you still love him? Can you be quiet? Can you submit to him and if necessary maybe wait on him? Or are you like Proverbs 19 .13 the woman there the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.

Where's your heart? How do you relate to your husband? Where are you? See I'm being harder on you because I'm getting really to the heart with this group. But you people are the most likely to be misled in a sense because you're probably very close on all the externals.

So that's why I've got to really get to the heart with you all. Where's your heart? Do you really have that heart of subjection and submission to your husband? You can lay down issues when he doesn't agree with you.

You can submit to him, you can be quiet you can wait on him and you can still even though he's irritating the stew out of you maybe you can still promote his honor and his glory and be doing all that you can to make him the man God wants him to be.

Now if you can say that and say amen then you've mastered this. But if you can't then like me you've got some work. You still have to do it. Because again it's not just learning the concepts it's getting them into the heart and living them out.

That's all that matters. And that's what we've got to get to. Anybody want to make any comments on that? Well you might have one question. What in the world does this have to do with clothing? The message has been somewhat challenging to this point.

Clothing, the Fall, and the Need for Covering

But what in the world does it have to do with this bible study and this issue of the head covering. Well let's move on and look at that because I think it has a real important part in this whole issue.

In fact I will tell you this. I don't believe that unless we get our hearts right on this subject that we'll be able to receive the head covering. And I think that will become clearer as we go through the study.

That is assuming that I have properly understood the issue. You may need to instruct me. Maybe I've missed the boat but I think you'll see that the head covering is hard to receive unless your heart has embraced these principles.

Very difficult. Well let's move on. I want to try and tie this all together for you. What in the world does all this have to do with clothing. Let's look in Genesis chapter 2. Let's begin reading in verse 19.

And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof.

And Adam gave names to all cattle and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found and help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man.