In this sermon, the speaker addresses a controversial chapter in the Bible and acknowledges that it may not be easy to understand. The speaker emphasizes the importance of trusting and obeying God in order to find happiness in Jesus. The congregation sings a chorus that contains important biblical doctrine. The speaker then explains that the chapter being discussed deals with the Corinthians' behavior during their love feasts and the Lord's Supper, highlighting divisions and lack of unity among them. The speaker also emphasizes that the traditions mentioned in the chapter are not the same as modern traditions, but rather inspired and divine commandments from the apostle Paul.

Well, these weeks we're resurrecting some old choruses. And we have another one today, and Mr. Charlie is going to pass them out, maybe with some help from somebody else, who knows. This one's cheapest of ten thousand, fairest of the fair, altogether lovely, beyond all compare. Lord of all creation, man of Calvary, son of God, who loved and gave himself for me. Carolyn will play it through once, and then we'll see what we can do with it. I think you'll like it. The words are good, and the tune carries itself along. Beyond all... A few hands, Ray. That's very, very good for the first try. Let's try it again. Cheap... It does very well. I'm going to let you do it once, just by yourself, without my foghorn interfering. So let's just try it. Then we're going to sing it again at the end of the meeting, and then try to remember to pass your papers in towards the middle. I forgot, next week. Try it again at the end of the meeting. All right, just the choir. Just now, cheapest of ten thousand. Ready? Good words. And we have a fistful of them yet. We're working our way through 1 Corinthians, as you know, and this morning we come to chapter 11. Chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians. And we mentioned last week that the first verse really belongs to the preceding chapter, where Paul had given his own example of self-denial, and then he says in verse 1 of chapter 11, Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. But the chapter really begins with verse 2, and it has two main subjects, head covering and the Lord's Supper. We'll see that as we go along. I'll just read the first part, verse 16, verses 2 through 16. Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions as I delivered them to you. But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. For this reason, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angel. Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man in the Lord. For as the woman was from the man, even so the man also is through the woman. But all things are from God. Judge among yourselves, is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering. But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God. When Paul says in verse 2, I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions as I delivered them to you. Let me just say a word about traditions. When the word traditions is used here in 1 Corinthians 11, it doesn't exactly have the same meaning that we give to it today. We do things in a traditional way. For instance, we will be observing President's Day in the United States. It's a tradition, President's Day. But when Paul uses the word tradition, he uses it concerning inspired traditions. It's just another way of saying the teachings, the inspired teachings that I have delivered unto you. All churches, I suppose, have traditions, but not traditions in this sense of the word. The word itself simply means that which is handed down, which is carried over or given over. And Paul is saying, I thank you that in general, I thank the Lord that in general, you Corinthian Christians are observing the divine teachings which I have given to you. That's what he's saying. I think that's kind of nice. Wherever Paul could find something to praise, he did it. Somebody said, blame comes best on the back of praise. That is, if you're going to criticize somebody, put in a little word of praise first. Blame comes best on the back of praise. And that's what he's going to do here, because not everything he says in this chapter is praise for the Corinthians, as you'll see as we go along. So just remember that when you come to the word tradition, don't weaken it by making it the same as traditions that we have today. These are the inspired, divine traditions which the Apostle Paul had committed to the people. And they're the same as the commandments of the Lord. And Paul says that in chapter 14, verse 37. He says, if anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge the things which I write unto you are the what? Commandments of the Lord. So really, when the Apostle Paul is speaking as a prophet, as an apostle of the Lord, it's just the same as if Jesus were saying it. It's just the same as if God the Father was saying it. The inspired tradition. Now he goes on to talk about headship and the head covering. And maybe just a word of explanation is in order here. You cannot have any ordered society, it's impossible to think of it, without having headship and subordination to that headship. Somebody has to be in charge. You know, when Truman was president, he had a little motto on his desk, and it says, the buck stops here. He was the president of the United States. He held the highest office in the United States. Authority. And we as citizens were to be submissive to that authority. And God ordained that. God ordained that. The opposite of that is anarchy. Anarchy means where there's no government. And you cannot live under anarchy. You know, when the Communists were pressing their cause throughout the world, they were known as anarchists. They wanted to overthrow the government. And they created the impression that they were against government. But when they got into power, they had the very strongest kind of government, didn't they? They believed in authority, and they believed in submission to that authority. It's just that they were opposed to the then existing government. So this is true in governmental affairs. You must have headship, and you must have submission to that headship. And it's certainly true in the home, too. God has ordained it. God has ordained this as an order in humankind that someone be the head, and others be in submission to the head. Just think of a home, and there are seven kids in this particular home. And nobody's in charge. And everybody can do just as he wants to do. If the kids want to come in at 3 o'clock in the morning, that's okay. Would you like to live in a home like that? I wouldn't. I want to live in a home where somebody has the say, lays down the rules, and where the rest of the people obey the rules. And this is so fundamental. It's so fundamental that it's even in the Godhead. Now, that's a shocker, isn't it? It's so fundamental in all of life that it's even in the Godhead. You have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And it says here, I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ. The head of the woman is man. And the head of Christ is God. In other words, the Lord Jesus has a subordinate position. Although he is God, he has a subordinate position to God the Father. He's God the Son. And God the Father is his head. So people who really rebel against the idea of headship are rebelling against the ordinance of God. They're rebelling against something that God has set up in creation. And you can't get away with it and be happy at the same time. And so the Apostle Paul is going to elaborate on how this applies to the husband-wife relationship, the man-woman relationship in life. And let me just stop here and say that as far as the average Christian church today is concerned, verses 2 through 16 might just as well not be in the Bible. Is that surprising? Well, it's absolutely true. As far as the average professing Christian church today is concerned, you might just as well take a razor and cut these verses out of the Bible. They have no more meaning for the church today. But listen, God's Word was written for all ages, for all cultures. And you can't go away, you can't get away from it and still prosper. Now he says every man or woman, every man who prays or prophesies, notice it's application to men and women. He's going to apply it first of all to men, and he's going to apply it to women. Every man who prays or prophesies, having his head covered, dishonors his head. God has said, now, in the Christian church and in Christian life, a man doesn't pray to God with his... That doesn't seem to be any trouble. I look around, you know, and that's true generally speaking. In Christendom today, men don't go into church or pray. Even when I'm driving along in my car and I want to speak to God, I take my hat off. No big deal. The Bible says that that's all. And it doesn't say when. It doesn't say when he's in church. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say when he's in the home. It doesn't say that. It's just a period, you know. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. It's just dishonoring to the Lord. It's not showing the proper respect to the Lord. Now notice, the woman is the opposite of the man. People have terrific problems with this. And they work themselves into tremendous problems by trying to twist the Scriptures to fit the culture of the day. And you always get in trouble when you do that. And it's going to backfire. This passage of Scripture is going to backfire in anybody who tries to do that today. Don't try to fit the Scriptures to the culture of the day. Try to fit the culture to the Scriptures. But you won't do that. You can't change the culture. But that should be the attitude of the Christian. If God says it, that's what I believe. There may be problems I don't understand. All right, I'll believe it as closely as I can. Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that's one and the same as if her head were shaved. Dishonoring. Speak to the Lord. Or, let's say, to teach the Word of God to a sister's group with their head uncovered. You say, what? Wait, a lot of reasons why. And Paul's going to go over them. He doesn't just lay this trip on us and not explain why he's saying it. For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it's shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. It doesn't say just when she comes together in meetings of the church. The church isn't mentioned in these verses. The church isn't mentioned until later in the chapter, whenever she prays, whenever she prophesies. But there are certain times when a woman doesn't pray or prophesy in the assembly. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians chapter 14, it says, verse 34, Or let your women keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. If they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home. For it's shameful for women to speak in church. 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 12. And this has to do with public worship. This chapter generally acknowledges that chapter 2 of 1 Timothy has to do with behavior in the church of the living God. And I do not permit a woman to teach her to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression. You say, well, I thought you people believed in the priesthood of all believers. We do. We believe in the priesthood of all believers. But the same Lord who instituted the priesthood of all believers instituted certain controls on the public exercise of that priesthood. Just as the same Holy Spirit who gave gifts to the church set controls over the public use of those gifts. 1 Corinthians 14 has seven different controls over the public use of gifts. So, you can believe in the priesthood of all believers and yet recognize that God has put certain controls over the public exercise of that priesthood. A woman has the same access to God in prayer or in worship that a man does. There's no difference. A woman stands in the same relationship to God. If she's in Christ, she has the same position before God of acceptance that a man does. A woman is not the least bit inferior to man as far as the Word of God is concerned. Not the least bit inferior. Some women are superior. Women are superior, for instance, in bearing pain than men are. And in many other ways, women are superior. But as far as standing before God is concerned, if you're saved, you have the same position as anybody else. But in the discipline of the church, in the order of the church, God has set up certain controls, and also in life in general. Now, it says in verse 7, he's going to start giving reasons for this. The argument concerning glory. Verse 7. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of men. When that word image is used, it generally means representative. God put man down here on earth to represent him. You see, the world can't see God. He's invisible. But he put man down here to show forth his majesty and dignity. He really did. That's a tremendous thought, isn't it? Man is the crown of all the creation of God. Not lions, not elephants. Man. He's the image and glory of God. He's the representative of God to show forth the dignity and majesty of God. And the woman is the glory of man. She's the dignity of man. And that's true in a very real sense. Now, people say, look, McDonald, what Paul is talking here was just for the culture of his day. It has nothing to do with us in the twentieth day. And this is particularly brought forward because we live in a day when the feminist movement is so very strong. As you know. I don't have to emphasize that. Never emphasize the obvious. But the important thing to see here is that Paul goes back to creation. To enforce what he's saying. It says, for man is not from woman, but woman from man. What does that mean? Well, it has the order of creation. God created man first and he created woman second. You say, what's the significance of that? By creating man first, he gave headship to man. He put man in the place of responsibility. That's what it means. Paul is going way, way back to the Garden of Eden to bring this forth. Man is not from woman, but woman from man. And then the purpose, not only the order of creation, but the purpose of creation. It says, nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. The argument from the purpose of creation. Remember, man was there and he was all alone. What a situation. To be all alone. Not another single human being in the world. God said, I'll take care of that. I'll make him a helper suitable for him. And he did. He put Adam to sleep. One of his ribs made woman. That's the complement of man. There's a very real sense in which the woman fills man to the full. There's a sense in which man is incomplete without the woman. Paul brings that up beautifully at the end of Ephesians chapter 1, where he's speaking about Christ and the church. Christ and the church. And the church, of course, is spoken of in the scriptures, the bride, right? And he says that the church is the fullness of him that fills all in all. The church is the fullness of him that fills all in all. Well, I've often illustrated that in this way. If I take, this is complete. This envelope is complete. Supposing that part represents Christ. And this part represents the church. The church is the fullness of him who fills all in all. Marvelous, isn't it? In a sense, the Lord Jesus doesn't consider himself complete without the church. Can it be that in the glory, heir of him, I had a thought. He was yearning for the lost one whom his precious blood had sought. That's marvelous, isn't it? The Lord Jesus, even in a past eternity, didn't consider himself complete without the church. The fullness of him that fills all in all. And there's a sense in which that's true of the woman and the man. I had an irreverent friend back east who used to say, because I never married, I was a cake half turned. Well, that's what he meant. He meant that I wasn't really quite complete at all. I'm glad he didn't say half baked. But anyway, I think I know what he meant. And there was a certain measure of truth to it, too. A certain measure of truth to it. So, he has the argument in the order of creation and the argument of the purpose of creation. The woman was created to be a helper for the man. A help meat, it says in the King James. But that's what it really means. Then he goes on to the argument concerning the angels. It says, for this reason, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. What is that all about? It's a good question. Perhaps I could explain it this way. Let's go back to creation and the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve. And Adam is the head and Eve is to be submissive to her head. Not inferior, but submissive. It has to be a boss. It has to be a head. It has to be somebody in charge. One day, the devil appeared to Eve. And he said to her, in other words, be my guest, have some fruit. And he pointed to the forbidden tree. And she said, uh-uh. We're not allowed to eat of the fruit of that tree. He said, who said that? God said it. Well, just forget it. Have some. Now, what should Eve have done? She should have gone to Adam and said, Adam, we have a visitor. And this is what he says, what do you think? She didn't. She made the decision. She took the place of headship. And because of that, the human race was plunged into sin. But all the ambulances and all the hearses and all the funeral homes and all the hospitals and all the depravity of man stems from that decision. Because she didn't go to Adam and recognize him as her head and ask for his decision in the matter. And the angels were looking down. They said, hmm. It was a usurping of authority. They saw what happened in that first creation. Now God has a new creation. God is a new creation where people saved by the grace of God are born children of God, sons of God. And the angels are still looking down. And God is saying, I don't want them to see the mistake of the Garden of Eden repeated in my new creation. And so I want women, when they pray or prophesy, to have a symbol on their head of submission to the man. Submission to the husband or submission to the leader. When it says a symbol of authority, it doesn't mean her authority. Because that would be the very opposite of what Paul is saying, wouldn't it? For this reason, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head. It means a symbol of the man's authority and her submission to the man's authority because of the angels. So the angels now look down and say, oh. I see they learned a lesson. What happened in the first creation is not going to happen in the second creation. The trouble is they don't see it very much. That's the whole trouble. Now, Paul inserts a parenthetical thought here. I say parentheses concerning interdependence. He says, nevertheless, recognize that fact. And it's illustrated by what I did with the envelope. She's not independent of her. She's not independent of him. There's a mutual dependence. And Paul doesn't want to overlook that fact. For the woman was made from the man, as the woman was made from the man. Even so, the man also is through the woman. That is, you and I, men, were all born of a woman, weren't we? The original creation, the woman came from the man, but ever since then, the man is born through the woman. All things are of God. God is in control over all things and he has ordained all things. And God has built certain principles into human life, and you can't violate them and get away with it. It's just like that. God has put the law of gravity into life. It works, the law of gravity. Don't try to go against it. God has put certain spiritual principles into life. And if a person wants to find fulfillment and joy and lasting satisfaction in life, the thing to do is recognize these principles of God and obey them. Judge among yourselves, is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature, this is the argument from nature, does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it's a dishonor to him, but if a woman has long hair, it's a glory to her, for a hair is given to her for a covering. How does nature teach you? Well, that's a very difficult question. The answer that I would give is this. In almost all cultures of the world, I mean, even Aborigines, or people living in darkest Africa, it's usually the man who has the short hair and the woman who has the long hair. And I think that's how nature teaches you. It seems to be. I don't say there aren't exceptions. There are exceptions to every rule. But generally speaking, it's the men who have the short hair and the women who have the long hair. And yet these people have never heard the light of the gospel, don't know anything about Christianity. Nature itself teaches you, if a man has long hair, it's a dishonor to him. And elsewhere, I think of the Psalms, it teaches that when a man has long hair, it's a symbol of his rebellion against authority. If a woman has long hair, it's a glory for her. And it's true, isn't it? A woman's hair really is beautiful. When it's long, it's just lovely. Now, it says her hair is given to her for a covering, and people jump in with both feet here, and they say, Oh, that's the covering, that's the covering. No, it's not the covering. There are two coverings in this chapter. One is a veil, the first part of the chapter, and the other is her hair. It's a different word in the original language of the New Testament. But don't think that when Paul says here, her hair is given to her for a covering, that that takes care of the first part of the chapter. It doesn't. Let me show you why it doesn't. Verse 6. If her hair is the covering that's intended, listen to this verse. If a woman is not covered, that is, does not have her hair on, let her also be shorn. Well, if she doesn't have her hair on, she doesn't need to be shorn. But it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her have her hair on. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense at all. So you must see in this chapter there are two coverings. There's a veil in the first verses, and then there's her hair in verse 15. And then Paul gives the final statement. He says, look, it's almost as if he anticipated a lot of disagreement on this subject, isn't it? It's almost as if he looked down the corridors of time to 1992 and heard what's going on in the average church. He says, listen, friends, if you want to argue about this, we don't have any such custom as arguing about it. The churches of God and the day in which I'm living accept this as the word of God. That's what he says. Once again, it's marvelous how people turn and twist scripture. A lot of people take this verse as saying, if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom. We don't have this custom of wearing a head covering. It's so foolish. He just spent all these verses talking about it, and now they take this verse to mean it doesn't mean what it says. I told you before about the carpenter shop that had a sign up front, all kinds of twistings and turnings done here. And that could be written over a lot of churches today. All kinds of twistings and turnings done here. Terrible what people do with the word of God. Paul is saying in this verse, we don't have any custom about arguing about these things. We accept them. They're what God says in his word, and we accept them as the word of God. Well, we had to go over this kind of quickly, and we might not even finish at that. The next part of the chapter, the rest of the chapter, has to do with the Lord's Supper. And let me just pause to give a word of, explanation really helps here. In the early days of the church, the Lord's Supper is not exactly the same as it is today. In churches today, and we do ourselves, we have what we call the communion service of the Lord's Supper. You come here at six o'clock tonight, you'll see the Christians gathered around in a circle, and there's a table in the middle, and there's bread and there's grape juice on the table. And the Christians take the bread, and they take the grape juice, and they show forth the Lord's death. It wasn't exactly that way in the New Testament. Do you know how it was? They gathered together, and they had what was known as a love feast. Love feast. In other words, they sat down to a big meal. It was known as the agape. You could live a normal life and not know that, but that's what it was known as, the agape, the love feast. And it was good. It was a time of fellowship, a time when the Christians could just... I don't envisage that they had churches of 5,000 people in them, you know. Probably more a church this size, you know, where you could all sit and just enjoy fellowship with one another. And then when the meal was ended, the bread was already on the table, and the wine was already on the table. And they would take... In other words, the love feast would just merge into the Lord's Supper. They were kind of connected. And I think it's beautiful myself. Really beautiful. Sometimes I wish that's the way we did it today. But difficulties came in. Some people came to the love feast with their hampers full of food, and others didn't have a sandwich to eat. And some people came with extra wine, and they actually got drunk at the Lord's agape. They did. Shocking. And because of that, because of the terrible abuses in connection with the Lord's... with the love feast, it kind of passed and left the Lord's Supper. For you simply meet and break the bread and drink the cup in fond remembrance of the Lord and his death for us on the cross of Calvary. Now, that explains some of the verses in this chapter that might be difficult otherwise. Verse 17. Remember I said praise comes best on the back... Blame comes best on the back of praise. Well, he's going to criticize them. Now, in giving these instructions, I do not praise you since you come together not for the better but for the worse. He's speaking about when they come together this love feast and the Lord's Supper. First of all, when you come together as a church, I hear there are divisions among you and in part I believe it. Well, that certainly was not praise worthy. Here are people supposedly eating... partaking of the Lord's Supper and eating a love feast and they won't even shake hands with one another. Terrible. That's not practical Christianity. There must also be factions among you that those who are approved may be recognized among you. Paul is not praising. He's not saying anything good about divisions. He's saying one of the inevitable results of divisions shows who's right and who's wrong. That's what he's saying. Therefore, when you come together in one place, it's not to eat the Lord's Supper. You say that it's for that purpose, but you're not doing that. The Lord's Supper is a fellowship. It's a communion. It's saying every one of us who has trusted the Lord Jesus as Savior is a born-again believer and we acknowledge them as our brothers and sisters in Christ. In eating... Here it is. In eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others. Remember? Some with a full picnic basket and others that don't have enough. In eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others and one is hungry and another is drunk. Well, boy, when I read a verse like that, I'm somewhat encouraged because although we have a lot of problems in the church today, I don't think drunkenness is one of them at the Lord's Supper. Have you ever seen that? I haven't. And yet that took place in the early days of the church. Corinth. Corinth. If you visit Corinth even today, you'll find the hills are just covered with grape vines. It's a great place for growing grapes and making wine. And you get kind of a reflection of that here. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. Oh, it's indignant that such a thing should go on, a denial of all the precious truths concerning love of the brethren. Then he gives the institution of the Lord's Supper and that's pretty well known to most of us here, I'm sure. The institution and meaning of the Lord's Supper, verses 23 to 26. We'll just read them. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is a new covenant in my blood. This too, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. And Paul received that as a direct revelation from the Lord. This is how it happened. This is what it means. Now, he goes on in the closing part of the chapter to emphasize the necessity of self-judgment. The necessity of self-judgment. Can any Christian come to the Lord's Supper? Well, yes, if he comes having judged and put away sin in his life. No, if there is secret sin in his life, or sin that has not been confessed. It says, Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. In an unworthy manner. In one sense, we're all unworthy. Every Christian is unworthy. Who's worthy of the death of the Lord Jesus? That's not what it's referring to. When it says in an unworthy manner, it means how you do it. The state of soul you're in. You're backslidden. You're going on in sin, and yet you come and go through this charade of remembering the Lord. That's what he's talking about. So don't stumble over that. Don't stumble over that expression, unworthily. It's an adverb modifying eat, drink. It's not a noun modifying us. We're all unworthy, but in Christ we're worthy. And if we come clean to the Supper, there's no problem. Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that. What does that mean? It means I get down on my knees and I get things clear before the Lord. If there's been some sin in my life and I've not confessed it, I do it. So that when I come to the Lord's Supper, I come with nothing between my soul and the Savior. Not of this world's delusive greed. He who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself. Not discerning the Lord's body. In other words, this is something you can't do and get away with it. What happens is, for this reason, some are weakened sickly among you and some sleep. You never know from the headlines what's behind the headlines. You never know from the things that happen to Christians what's behind them. Not all sickness and death is the result of sin. We know that. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it is. We would judge ourselves. We would not be judged. Just remember, this isn't judgment to hell. It says that in the next verse. It says, when we're judged, we're chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned by the world. This is the chastening of the Lord. It's his correction. It's his child's training. But for the child of God, one who has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, there's no eternal judgment, shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Therefore, my brethren... Now he's going back to the love feast once again, to the agape. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come. This whole epistle has to do with setting things in order, and there were other matters that Paul had to deal with, and he said he would when he came to them again. I hope this helps to clarify some of the portions of this chapter. It's not an easy chapter. It's a controversial chapter. It has been, I'm sure, especially in the last few years. The cream lies on the surface. Let's accept it the way it is. There's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. Now, before Matt comes and closes in prayer, we're going to try our little chorus again. Jesus of ten thousand, fairest of the fair, altogether lovely, beyond all compare. Lord of all creation, man of Calvary, Son of God, who loved and gave himself for me. An awful lot of good Bible doctrine in that little chorus. Did you notice that? Okay. Ready? Jesus of ten thousand, fairest of, altogether lovely, beyond all compare.