The Assembly: Communion - Headship and the Lord's Supper (Part 1) — Murray McCandless

The Time Limit and the Two Parts of the Message

Now, I confess to you, I did ask what time, how much they needed to get rearranged for the gospel. They said five minutes. You can't do it in five minutes, I knew that. And so he said, well, what time would you, I says, I would say I'll be done at 345.

By then I'll have bled enough, okay? So 345 is the cutoff. I'm going to read this section relative to headship first, and that will take us till 10 to three, okay, 10 to three. And then we'll, the remaining, we'll take up the Lord's supper.

And the emblems as discussed are outlined on your outline. So this first part, and I'm only going to read the first part relative to headship, we will take for that period of time. If we go a little past it, that's fine.

But we do have to draw a line somewhere, brethren. I mean, we could spend the whole time on headship alone without any difficulty. I think all know that. But it is so encouraging, as they've said, to see so many that have made such a effort to come back and to be with us today.

Some have driven, I don't want to say fast, but quickly, as you got back here a good time. Thank you. I'm going to read in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Chapter 11. Now, I think that the, at least verse one and two, likely belong to the end of chapter 10.

However, they are in chapter 11, that's where we will start our reading. Words of the Apostle. 1 Corinthians, for those that just came in, 1 Corinthians 11, verse number one. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

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

Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonoreth her head. For that is even all one as if she were shaven.

For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of God.

But the woman is the glory of the man, but not the image of the man, the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Verse 9, neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man.

For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman, but all things of God.

Judge in yourselves. Is it commonly that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her.

For her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. And then of course, the next, it leads up to the, well, I might as well read the next few verses.

Now in this, that I declare unto you, I praise you not. Now notice, as we mentioned yesterday, he praises them, but now he has to tell them that he praises them not in this, that you come together not for the better, but for the worse.

First of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you. And I partly believe it, for there must be also heresies, that is the word for divisions among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

That's as far as we will read. You might think that this circle up here among these fellow preachers is a very safe place to be. I'll tell you, it's a very dangerous place to be. I lost my iPad just about two minutes ago, and I'm looking under my chair, you know, at this age, I mean, everything gets lost, okay?

So poor Jim and Janice, I left them looking for my hat back at their house, and it was in the truck with me when I got here, so I'll just tell you, okay? It can be cruel without added things to it, some guy playing tricks on you.

Now, without mentioning any names, I can only tell you it was not my good friend William, okay? So just keep it in mind. You think this would be the safe place to be, it's not, very dangerous. Interesting chapter, very interesting.

Authority, Headship, and the Assembly

Now, I'm going to say right at the outset, not only do we have a world out there that disdains anything that marks authority or control, that's one thing. The sadder thing is when that creeps in amongst us.

That mentality that has been taken by the world is adapted by us as if, well, who's really in control here? Who really is the ultimate authority? And this can be battered back and forth, so what we're going to discuss in this reading this morning here, and when it comes to the breaking of the bread, I do realize, without even going into it, that that is not accepted out there.

Even in denominational circles, that's one thing. It's another thing. When companies that I would have once frequented, I can no longer go there, because what we're going to discuss, they don't believe, okay?

In other words, maybe getting ahead of myself, head chip, recognized in a woman wearing a head covering, her choice. She doesn't want to wear it, that's fine, okay? It happens, and it is happening. All I can say is, the purpose of a reading like this, selected by these brethren, is that this truth, these truths, may be maintained to us.

So I am not going to go over the little outline there of the representation, the relationship, the responsibility, and the rule, and so on. You've got it written there. I'm just going to make a few opening remarks, and they will be very brief, and then we will get going.

It's interesting, the apostle says, be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. That's a tremendous statement, for a man to say, be a follower of me. There's times brethren went, boy, we would want somebody maybe to follow the path or the course that we have taken.

But then he adds that, as I also am of Christ. What a beautiful example we have in this dear man that gives us likely over half of our New Testament. So he starts out at how good it is, I praise you, brethren.

We can be so quick to criticize, please, and it was brought up very nicely yesterday, be as quick to commend, be as quick to encourage, be as quick to lift up as to put down. It has untold rewards when you can do that to believers.

When something that you have forgotten about, they come and will say, you know, remember that time you spoke to me? No, I don't remember the time I spoke. You speak to a lot of people. Well, that encouraged me.

He said, well, thanks for telling me, brother. Thanks for telling me, sister. And sisters do that too. There are sisters that have been a tremendous encouragement to me and still are, and to younger believers and younger sisters and so on.

So whenever you can find something and there should be, listen, if in the coming day at the judgment seat of Christ, I believe with all my heart, God will find something in every believer to praise. If he can find it, can't we?

Can't we? Now, I know there's those that can become unruly, those that have to be spoken to and plainly spoken to. And I don't, I really don't envy brethren that have to do it. I was never an overseer in an assembly.

I've got friends that are overseers, but I could never be an overseer in the assembly. I might as well tell you because I couldn't take the guff sometimes that they got to take. Some of the nonsense. I just, my makeup is not, I just couldn't handle it, but they can.

Good for them. So just to encourage you. So we're not trying to put anybody down at all in this. Now, another thing, verse number three, but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and so on.

But verse two, back to verse two first, but now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things. Keep the ordinances. And I think all know what that word is. It's the word traditions, traditions.

There are biblical traditions. We seek to follow those traditions as we know them to be. It grieves me when I hear this term brethren traditions. It's not in the Bible, it's not in the word of God. Traditions of teaching, principles, practical traditions that have been followed by men far wiser, far more learned and experienced than myself.

We honor that. Okay. Hebrews chapter 13, remember the guides who have gone before you and so on. So what we carried out here this morning, it is a tradition. It's not a tradition of the brethren. It's a tradition that's given to us in the book.

This do in remembrance of me. Now, when we get into, and I may as well just state myself now and we can discuss it. When it comes to the truth of headship, we've got to keep in our mind that it neither stops or starts with the head of the woman or the man.

Starts with a head that's in heaven with Christ himself. Okay. And it flows out from that. Now we're going to go over the various distinctions of the covered sister and the uncovered man, his head and so on.

And of course the question will come up about the hair. What do you believe about the hair? Well, what do I believe about the hair? Ideally, ideally, I'm not trying to be political or ride the fence here.

I would like to think uncut hair. Okay. However, after 62 years of assembly fellowship, I have met people, sisters, who have had a real exercise and have had it, but because of medical issues and circumstances, they have had to cut their hair.

Now, am I going to condemn that? I can't, brethren. Others maybe can, but I can't. What I do find alarming is those that have no reason to do that. And yet, once they start it, unfortunately it doesn't stop and invariably it will get shorter and shorter and shorter.

You can't cut it long. You can only shorten it. Now, we'll get into the word, the nourishment of it and what that means, the care of it. And I know sisters personally today, their hair is likely better than it would be than if they hadn't cut it or trimmed it, whatever you want to say.

But they've nourished their hair and they have a testimony. So it's not just what they're doing with their hair, but it is consistent with their life. That is the secret of it, you see. I mean, I just take the position of a sister and, well, I'm not touching my hair and I'm around condemning everybody else that I think is, whatever it might be.

I have seen sisters in tears that have been wrongly accused of things they didn't do. Okay? I'm sorry, brethren. It's happened and it does happen. So we want to be very careful because, you know, really when it comes to gathering as we do, most of us men get off easy, really.

I mean, you think of a sister today trying to buy clothes. Now, I only know this because I have my wife, daughters in the family. You sisters know what I'm talking about better than I do because I'm not really in that department too often, but it is a task.

They just don't have what you would like to wear. They got their wearing out there and the less, the better. Okay? That's not what we think. That's not what we do or what we practice. So my sympathy goes out to you.

Keep at it, sisters. You find a place that's got proper clothing that adorns you as a sister where you gather. Tell the others where they can get it too, okay? I don't care where it is, but share that.

And brethren, whatever you do, you be respectful of that. All right? Since I've been here in Iowa, it's just coming to my mind now, a sister come up to me. She'd be a little older than I am. I said, called her by name and says, hey, you got new glasses.

I said, they look good. She says, I've had them since January and you're the only second person that ever noticed them. Well, I said, there could be some blindness here in Iowa. I said, really, when I look at a person, I'm not looking at the back of their head, okay?

I'm looking at them in the eye. But she thanked me. We have a sister back home, Scott knows her well, and so does Brody, and she just retired from an optical store, and she walks up to her husband, Dieter.

He's the man that said he'd never take part, by the way, and looks him right in the eye and says, nothing new. He says, no. I don't know. No. She says, my glasses. He says, you get a new pair every other week.

How can it keep up? So we don't all work at that, but look them in the face, okay? We're not looking at the wrong side of the head, all right? That's what I'm telling you. Now, that clock's got ahead of me, and I'm just going to sit down and we're going to open this, starting at verse number one, and I know our brethren that have come in so graciously and helpfully as they did yesterday, and even our brethren here that are preaching the gospel and others that have come along to help us out, we appreciate your help very, very much.

And if you don't give us help, we're going to be calling on you, so you know just a bit what this character's like. So please, brethren, and if we didn't give time from the audience, we'll try and do that today, okay?

I know it gets a busy street up here, but I'm direct in traffic, so if I've got to slow some down, I'll do it so you can get in. So having said that, we'll begin at verse number one, 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

Paul’s Example and the Universal Pattern of Headship

Isn't it remarkable that the apostle lived in such a way that he could encourage believers to be imitators of him because he was an imitator of Christ? Now, earlier in the epistle in chapter four, he sends Timothy to Corinth, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.

So two things. There's the character of Paul that could be imitated, and plus the teaching that he's giving in this epistle, and certainly in this passage, was taught everywhere in every church and every assembly.

So that does away with the thought that the substance of this is cultural. This is creational. It's universal.

Is that not further brought out? Within the general epistle, you've got different sections, right? So this section starts in chapter 10, more over, and then it goes to the end of chapter 14. And what do you get at the end of chapter 14?

These are the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? So it goes beyond the cultural aspect of just Corinth.

And that is singular there, isn't it? Just commandments of the Lord. I think with what Brother William mentioned, that verse 16 kind of ties that together. Amen? There seem to be contentions. We have no such custom.

Neither do the churches of God. What he's saying is we have no other teaching. No other teaching. And what he's saying is we have no other pattern. This is the pattern. As we were talking yesterday, we seek to adhere, conform to that pattern.

But to go along with your idea of being encouraging, I would say contextually, verse number one is directly linked to the end of chapter 10. And the end of chapter 10 is handling your weak brother with grace.

So he's going to have to be stern when he addresses the Lord's Supper, but he's not going to stand up for things that are not doctrinal to cause division. Very good.

As I deliver them to you, verse two, and I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things. Keep the traditions as I deliver them to you. If I remember right, looking that word up is the thought of a courier that is expected to deliver the goods in the same way in which he received them.

If we want the Old Testament example, remember when they were going through, everything was weighed at the far end to see if they'd lost their weight on the way through. So that we've got to be careful as we consider things today to say, well, with the passage of time, have these things lost their weight with us?

It's interesting that that same phrase or formula of words is used in verse 23 when he's introducing the Lord's Supper. For I've received the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. So this teaching about headship is of equal import and of importance as the teaching regarding the Lord's Supper.

Exactly.

Exactly. Would you think that that's why the divine order is given to us in the scripture, that this has to be established first and then the teaching of the supper. Okay. Now I know what we have in chapter 10 as well, but certainly fits in with that.

So Murray, how do we know that this is being taught in the context of a local church rather than just to the body?

Well, I think that when he's addressing them personally as that church in Corinth, you're thinking of the church in a local aspect versus the wide aspect. He's addressing that church. And I think some of our brethren touched on that yesterday, we're not, we're going to come to that, the word ye or you.

Okay. It's not we, all of us together, but he's teaching and local to a local company. However, having said that, he says there's no other company that takes it any other way. Did you have some thoughts on that?

That's absolutely true. What he's saying here is that this behavior and this teaching is taught in every local company, but it is specific to the local where it is practiced, right? Because in the church, as Frank took us yesterday, there's no male or female in the body, but here there's distinction.

And I think that really is the key to understanding how this is counter to our culture, is that the Bible maintains distinction between the male and female.

So that headship is distinct from the headship of a home. Correct. Right. So that helps us with the head coverings. You're looking at assembly meetings, seeing the importance of that. Right where I live across the road, men and knights, I don't use that in a derogatory way.

But they feel they have to be covered all the time. See they're misunderstanding the context. And we'll get into the different coverings that we have here, natural and spiritual. Yes.

But the principle of headship really is universal in God's purposes. That's right. That's why he traces it back to creation. Yes. That's right. So it's expressed in the assembly gathering. Yes. Because in all this wide world of rebellion, God expects an assembly to be displaying recognition of his authority.

That's right.

So what he has done really is he has taken a truth that goes back to creation, but he's added a level of nobility and spirituality to it that was never there before. And that is by linking it with Christ as the head.

And so there's two different types of order in the scripture. There's an ascending order and then there's an assembling order. And here you have that Christ, it brings everything to God. And so that was not there before.

So that is something now that is congregational. And that's important to notice in this too.

So Brother Murray, if I could specifically bring you to verse three. But I would have you know, what's the thrust of those words, that expression? Evidently, they have been practicing that which the apostle approves of.

You're keeping the ordinance, the tradition as I delivered them on to you, but I would have you to know. Do you think that they were actually practicing this, putting on display headship? Were they doing that?

And all he's doing is explaining the reason why. He's filling them in on information, but I would have you to know.

I think it would be, he wants them to understand why they're doing it. That's it. I was just going to say that, Brother.

You took the words out of my mouth. What he is telling them, they're likely doing it, but maybe not knowing why. That happens a lot among us. We're doing things. Now, please don't give me this line that you were raised with a generation.

You just were told what to do, but you didn't know why. How stupid do you think I was? Wait a minute. I sat teaching. You don't want an answer, do you? Not for you. I sat in teaching meetings of them.

What I would consider were, I looked up to them and they taught us from the Word of God. Much better than I can do, okay? I knew why I was doing those things. But this idea that you just did them blindly, but now the younger generation, they want to know why you're doing it.

No. Our Brethren have brought this out rightly here. He is just establishing, as Brother Bill has said, wants them to understand why you were doing it. Just before we hit that, let me say something about the order of headship.

We are not saying that it's not in the church in its wide aspect or the universal church. It is, but you can't see it. But I can see it in that local company, okay? That's why the angels are looking at it.

They can't see it in the church in the wide aspect. God says, you want to see it? Well, here's that local company.

Here's the display of that order. And what we learn from verse three is what we need to keep carrying with us right through as we go through this. Headship doesn't have anything to do with worth, something greater than something else.

We find from verse three that everything to do with function, role. So the role of a sister is given by God, and the role for the man is given by God. And if you're doing that, both are valuable to God.

It's not a determination of, oh, the woman is less than the man. And do we not get that, Brother Murray? The head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man. But the head of Christ is God.

Well, might be a young Christian here who says, I thought that Christ is God. So help us with that.

No, just as well as I do. What he's teaching is, it's just a divine order in that, okay? That is not making him less than God, even though he is God. In the same way, he's not making the woman less than the man.

What we have in creation, as we're seeing here, likely recovered, there's two genders, and there's only two genders. I filled out an application yesterday for my wife and I for a rapid COVID test to get back into Canada.

Under genders, there was five options. Ridiculous. Amen. Five options. That's Canada. It is Canada. Yeah. It's worse here. We learned from here. You better be careful. We're in the minority here. I know.

But I know where you were born.

Murray, in what sense is the head of Christ God? Isn't there equality in the Godhead? Yes. So in what sense does this come into play? Look, how do you understand that?

I would understand it this way, and our brethren can come in on it. Even though there was the equality of that, there still was submission by him, you see, to God. There was that submission. So if he could submit, where does that leave me?

So Christ has been given a task to do by God. And ultimately, Chapter 15, in the fullness of time, he will deliver up the kingdom to God, the Father, that God may be all in all.

So both names are given in 15, to God, even the Father. But here, it would be absolutely incorrect if the Spirit of God, of course, he would never do that, would say, the head of Christ is the Father.

That's right. But it's incarnation. In him now becoming a man, entering into humanity as not only a man, but a male too, over all men. He is now given the task, but also the capability to carry out that task.

So, because headship involves not only rank and order, but capability to do that. That's right. One more thing, just you were saying, Brother Bill was saying about, he's giving us the why here. I think it's important to also remember that when we're in this section from Chapter, was it seven on, that these are a series of questions that have been asked by those in the assembly, and he is addressing those questions.

We have that right up into Chapter 16, now concerning the collection of the saints. So it would seem that there was some question that was behind the content of this, and it could very well have been, although we're not told, that while the women, there was the head covering, because he commends them for that, they may have even been removing that to physically take part.

We don't know, but that could have likely been the case.

Could it not be also that those surrounding them were questioning and challenging them, why do you do this? Very good. Yeah, and that's no different from our day to day. Yes. That we have those that deny this reality, so far as practice is concerned.

And we need to know why, so we can defend it. That's right. And continue the practice of it. I'd like to say, too, that we have two types of heads here, the spiritual and the physical. Yes. But if we have here that the head of Christ is God, we know there's equality there, but we're hearing there's submission there.

Well, you have the same thing with the man and the woman. That's right. There's equality there, but there's submission there as well. And I think that what we have here as a reverse, let me put it this way, what Satan did in Genesis chapter 3 was a reverse of what we have here.

That's right. Because in Genesis 2, you have God, you have the man, and then you have the woman. Yeah. What does Satan do in Genesis chapter 3? He comes in, and he goes to the woman. That's right. He avoids the man.

The woman goes to the man. God is out of the picture. So I think what he's doing here is he's reversing. God is bringing back the original order. Yes. So that he can have a place on earth where people can see his original plan.

Yes, very good.

And with that, too, Brother Tom, we read for Adam was right there when that was taking place. He should have stepped forward, which sometimes men don't do, and said, get out of here. We've heard from God.

We don't hear from... But he didn't do it. That's right. So that just to clear the record here a little bit, the form I was filling out was not a Canadian form. It was an American form, okay?

So just... We filled them out too, so don't worry about it. So, Brother... Very simple, but in some of the versions that young people maybe read, it's talking about a husband and a wife. Yeah. No. Now, we know that Adam and Eve had that relationship, but it's talking about a woman and a man.

That's right.

So are we saying here... Is the word of God saying here then this is all men, all women, right?

Right. So the German Bible brings that in. That's why it's big amongst the Reform and the Mennonites and that's so on. And that's where your ESV is desperately wrong because in the margin, they will say this is equivalent to marriage.

It's not. Man and woman is being used to take us right back to creation. So in the Greek language, there's no word for wife. There's no word for husband, but you'll often get an adjective like his woman, obviously.

Possessive pronoun. Yeah, yeah. So here's another thing just before we jump out of verse number three. Is there not something else happening here to once again emphasize this is not about worth? Because if I was writing this, I would start with the woman.

The head is the man. Man is Christ. Christ is God, see? But here, he starts right with the man, almost like in the middle. Do you see my point?

That's what I was saying earlier. There's a difference between the orders that are given to us in Scripture that sometimes it's an ascending order, but then other times, there's an assembling order. And so here, you have the assembling order because the truth of the assembly is involved.

Excellent. Very good.

Yeah. I just want to say the reason why it's important that we're not looking at husband or wife here is because we have a lot of unmarried women here today. And the head covering pertains to them as well.

That's right.

Brother back. There are some people that, you brought up the Mennonites, they wear the head covering outside of the assembly. Can you speak to that quickly?

I had an occasion to be in a new assembly in northern Maine, and they were, as soon as Frank would remember that, Scott would remember that, as soon as they went to give thanks for the food at the meal, the sister made a mad dash to the counter, grabbed her little headpiece and put it on.

So, okay. So I said, tell me. He'd take that down to McDonald's when you go there. So she looked at her husband, he looked at the ceiling, and they quit doing it.

Verse 11 would answer that though. Yes. I don't want to jump down, but since the question was asked. Verse 11, nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord.

So now, lordship is involved. And so where lordship is involved in the assembly, in the gathering center, you must have components that are brought together, the man and the woman together, to illustrate this truth.

But then he says, for as the woman is out of the man, even so is the man also through the woman, but all things of God. So the first part of that verse is telling us something about the congregation and congregational order.

The two must be together to display this order. The second half of the verse is telling us about creational order. And so that the first man came through the woman, sorry, the first woman came through the man, but then all other men come through the woman.

So there's the distinction between the two.

Wouldn't that order also be the proof that I believe that ESV translation is wrong? Absolutely. They have translated the words in an allowable way, but not contextually. Exactly. The context indicates it has to be man and woman generically.

Right.

It can't be husband and wife. So just to answer, our brothers help you with an answer there. Verse number 10, and we're not jumping ahead because we're going to build up to this, you have to understand what a covering speaks of.

And once you understand that, you'll understand, I think it's a key to the passage. So if I...I'm going to describe a symbol to you and one word is going to come to mind, skull and crossbones, poison.

Whenever you see a woman with a covered head, submission. That's what it's all about. Then in the chapter, he's going to give you two distinct coverings. What does the covering speak of? Submission. There's going to be the natural hair, that's a covering, and there's going to be the temporary covering, that's a sign of submission.

And that's going to function in two spheres, out in nature and in the assembly. So that's why the Mennonites don't see a distinction between the individual coverings and they think, they don't realize that the physical hair is a covering out there.

When it comes into the assembly meeting, I got a temporary covering. So God has me...God has a woman and a man as well with the uncovered head displaying headship, both internal and both external. So that's why both head coverings are important, the temporary one and the natural one.

Sometimes we overemphasize the temporary one. Oh, as long as they have this, but that's only for one sphere. God's just as interested in the natural sphere, which is covered by the hair.

So the point is, when there are no men present, then the women should not wear a head covering. That's the basic truth in the sense of Other words, you're coming together and both the men and the women present are displaying this truth.