Thursday
3-26-15 (Martinez, Argentina)
Scripture
reading: Josh 23-24 Ps
44 1 Cor 11
S.
1 Cor
11:13-16 "What do you think about this?
Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her
head? Isn't it obvious that it's disgraceful for a man to have long
hair? And isn't it obvious that long hair is a woman's pride and joy? For
it has been given to her as a covering. But if anyone wants to argue
about this, all I can say is that we have no other custom than this, and all
the churches of God feel the same way about it." NLT
O. Paul is writing to correct
various activities of the Corinthian believers. It seems that he is
trying to bring them into conformity with the general customs of the churches
of that time. I have heard much from the pulpit preached from the second
part of 1 Cor 11 related to Holy Communion, but I don’t recall a single sermon
from this first section. Most of us preachers would not want to touch it
with a ten foot pole! Ha!
A.
There are some
Pentecostal churches that take this section very seriously, but for some reason
they never seem to stop with these pauline rules, but add many other rules and tend to
become extremely legalistic and cultish.
Frances and
I were visiting a tourist city on vacation in southern Argentina. We had
no Assemblies of God church in the town at that time, but noticed a small
church that looked inviting. So we arrived right on time according to the
sign outside. The doors were open, but we were apparently the first to
arrive. We chose seats about half way down the aisle. Soon an usher
came in to greet us. He kindly informed us that we could not sit
together. The women sat on the left side of the sanctuary and the men on
the right. Now here we were… only two people in the church, one on each
side of the aisle! Soon others arrived and greeted us warmly. All
the ladies had long hair and little crocheted, decorative doilies resting
lightly on their heads, apparently attempting to obey Paul’s instructions.
Finally the pastor arrived and introduced himself to me and asked me if I was a
minister. So I let him know that I was credentialed with the Assemblies
of God. After some songs of worship, the pastor announced without warning
that I was preaching. When he invited me to the platform, he also invited
Frances… and someone whispered to me, “Now on the platform you can sit with
your wife.” These were their customs. However their customs were so
foreign to the up-to-date local customs in their town that their little church
was unlikely to win many converts. Anyway I preached “Jesus” and all were
blessed… including me. These were dear Christian people that love their
Lord.
P. Okay, Lord, I do have the
custom of taking my hat off (if I am wearing one) in respect to You when I
pray, like Paul suggests… and most of our ladies do allow their hair to grow
more than us men. But we have never made these things a hard rule.
There are lovely Áfrican women whose hair refuses to grow long and I believe
You love them just as much as others with long hair. Please, Lord, help
us to not get hung up on minor religious customs at the risk of neglecting Your
compassion and the warm heart of Your Gospel of freedom from the chains and
eternal consequences of sin. Amen.
Ralph
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