Spiritual Covering and Spiritual Authority

You may be the man in your house, but there is the man over your house. Dr. Tony Evans says in The Family in All of Life, we have to remember where our spiritual covering comes from. Every man is answerable to Jesus Christ. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. Connecting with the incredible power God has given us requires a clear understanding of who we are and who we aren't.

Dr. Evans discusses both today as he takes us to 1 Corinthians 11 for a look at our spiritual covering. God said, let them rule, that you and I were created to rule our world, not have our world rule us. Satan knows that if he's going to cancel our capacity to rule, he's got to disrupt order and create confusion, dissension, and division.

Whatever he can divide, he can control. He got Adam to move out of his lane, Eve to move out of her lane. They both moved out of God's lane and they lost their ability to rule their world. Instead of them enjoying the blessing that God had promised, they were now living under the curse. And the very thing that was to be a blessing was now a curse to them. All of this is tied to what the New Testament calls the mystery of lawlessness. This mystery is the deception that Satan brings about when he can create disorder leading to loss of blessing and loss of spiritual authority. You and I were created to rule our worlds under God's hand.

Now, I know starting out, this is going to be a problem. So let me start with Paul's final word in verse 16. If one is inclined to be contentious, because what I'm about to say was as popular then as it is now, and Paul knew that what he was about to say was going to cause some controversy. So he says, if one is inclined to be contentious about what I have just said, which is what I'm getting ready to say, he said, we have no other practice.

This is the way it is. Nor have the churches of God. In other words, Paul is saying, I'm not trying to mimic what they're doing out there in the world. I'm not trying to mimic what they're saying out there in the broader society.

If you would be contentious, there is no other rule but this one. Because, of course, he's speaking inspirationally under the hand of God. He sets forth his thesis in verse three. But I want you to understand, in other words, pay attention because don't miss this, that Christ is the head of every man. The man is the head of a woman and God is the head of Christ.

I don't think I read it loud enough. I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man. The man is the head of a woman and God is the head of Christ.

Just in case somebody was nodding, I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man and the man is the head of a woman and God is the head of Christ. He introduces to this church that was in chaos. If you've ever read the book of 1 Corinthians, you know that chapter after chapter is problem after problem. Everything was out of order.

Everything was in disarray. There was division in the church. And in that context, he lays out a theology that is critical to you ruling your world.

I call this spiritual covering and spiritual authority. Verse seven, for a man ought not to have his head covered, some are covering, which is headship, since he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. Please notice what he says. He says the man is the image and glory of God. He says the woman is the glory of the man. Notice, he didn't say that the woman loses her image.

When you get married, you don't lose your image. The image belongs to male and female, Genesis chapter one. He says your glory changes. What's glory?

Glory is to make something look good, advertise, or highlight something. It says the man is the glory of God. The job of the male is to demonstrate how magnificent a creature God can make from dirt. Because Adam was made from dirt.

You were just thrown together. The woman is the glory of the man. What does she show?

How magnificent a creature God can make from a man. That's why she prettier than you are, because you dirt, and she was fashioned. Your job is to display God, her job is to display you. You're supposed to say, my Lord says, she's supposed to look at you and say, my Lord says. See, you're making him look good, she's making you look good, and everybody making God look good, because everybody's in line.

That's what he says. So you women have the same image. You're no less an ontological being. You're no less endowed with God's presence, but you are to come underneath his authority, regardless of the fact you're making more money than him, regardless of the fact you got a greater degree than him, regardless of the fact that you're smarter than he is. If an 18-wheeler pulls up to a yield sign, and a Volkswagen is coming down the highway, the 18-wheeler can't say, cause I'm bigger, carrying more cargo, I'm just gonna drive anyway.

They must give the right-of-way to the smaller vehicle, even though they're the bigger vehicle, cause that's what the rules states. You may have, lady, more education, you may carry more cargo, you may have more to offer in terms of ability, but God has given him the right-of-way. Therefore, you must yield, as long as he's not carrying you outside of the divine design. And at least you can say he moving. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Paul says that there is an order. That order has limitations though. If a man tells his wife to rob a bank, should she rob the bank? No, she shouldn't rob the bank, cause that breaks a greater law. God's law, thou shall not steal. And of course, the law of the land, that that's a crime, that breaks the law. In other words, if a man tells his wife to steal, he loses his authority.

That's authority loss, because he's acting outside of his lane. He has no right to make that demand. So a man does not have absolute authority over a woman, he only has authority as it agrees with lordship, as it agrees with him coming on his Lord.

In other words, as long as he's not violating a divine mandate or the word of God. Yet he makes the point that men and women are not independent of each other, that they need one another, that they are mutually dependent upon one another. He says in verse 11, neither is the woman independent of the man, nor the man is dependent on the woman. The reason, remember men, that God gave the woman was because the man needed help.

And that's more than washing dishes, cooking and cleaning and wiping noses. That is using her gifts, her skills, her mind, her brain, to add what God left out in us. He says, let the woman have the longer hair, let the man have the shorter hair. Why? As an illustration that she is to add to what he lacks on the head.

Her long adding to his short. Why? Why do this? I'm talking about spiritual covering and spiritual authority. Verse 10 tells you why. Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels.

He says, as long as headship is there and the visible recognition of headship, why? Because of the angel. So that means angels have something to do with this. The devil is an angel. His name was Lucifer. Guess what Lucifer did?

He broke the order. God created him to be the archangel. He says, I don't want to be underneath God anymore. I want to be equal to God. I want to be like the most high. I don't want to have to answer to him. I want everybody to answer to me. I'm the man.

I want to run my own show. The mystery of lawlessness, rebellion set in. He deceived himself, mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of us all. Deceiving himself, he rebelled. When he rebelled from God, he was cursed. When that angel rebelled from God, he got cursed. And all the one third of the angels that rebelled with him were cursed because they rebelled against the divine order.

They were placed on planet earth as a holding cell until it was time for their eternal destruction. God created man, but Adam broke the divine order. Then Eve broke the divine order, which allowed the angel called Lucifer or now Satan to come into the garden and turn their blessing into a curse. In other words, they got cursed because of an angel.

Satan and angel came in and it caused there to be pain in employment, pain in finance, pain in pregnancy, pain in the ground, pain in the career. Their whole world got cursed because an angel got involved in their lives. Angels are very involved with your life. They're very involved with your careers. The bad angels are called demons.

They are very involved. All they need to see is no order because once they see no order, that reminds them of their own rebellion. They take their rebellion into your lack of order and create more chaos. And you thought, well, we had different personalities.

No, y'all had different personalities when you met. But when the order got reversed and he was able to enter into it, he could turn those different personalities into chaos and confusion and cause you to lose the rule of your home. You lose the rule of your children, lose the rule of your career because the angel sat in and took authority.

Now, first of all, your mama and how your mama, if your mama ran your daddy, she was wrong. And he was wrong too. In fact, the scripture says in Isaiah chapter three, verse 12, it says, and the whole nation of Israel was wrong because the men got passive and the woman took over the rulership and judgment hit it because everybody was out of order and chaos set in because of the angels.

But the flip side is also true. Just as the bad angels can turn your garden into a wilderness and you lose your rule, the good angels can turn your wilderness back into a garden. Ephesians chapter three, verse 10 says that the angels are waiting to get their instruction and they look to how the church is operating. And when God's people are operating correctly, that is a signal to the angels to respond to what God wants done on earth. So every Christian in here is assigned a personal angel. You have an angel with your name on it. He is assigned to you by God to look after your wellbeing, your protection, your provision, and your guidance.

He is on assignment to you. The church has an angel. It is on assignment to our church to look after our provision, our protection, and our guidance as long as we're operating in order. When we call on God, if God sees order, he okay's the angel to operate on your behalf so that you can rule your world. So a lot of our angels are taking a break because they don't see the order that grants them the permission to enter your world so that you can rule it and the chaos go away. If it's not in order, the angels won't move because that's what got the first group cast out of heaven.

We're operating out of order. More from Dr. Evans on the advantages of keeping things in order when he returns shortly to continue this message from his Marriage Matters series. It's a 14 lesson look at God's blueprint for marriages and families, and will help you understand and get serious about the role God has designed for you as a husband or wife, leading to a godly marriage that's both thriving and fulfilling. We're making the complete two volume collection of this material available to you as our gift in appreciation for your contribution toward keeping Tony's ministry coming to you and others here on this station. And as a special bonus, but only for a limited time, we'll also include copies of Tony's companion three booklet bundle, Marriage Matters, for married men only and for married women only. To get this complete package sent your way, visit tonyevans.org to make your resource request and donation, or if it's more convenient, call us at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are ready to assist with your resource request. Again, that's 1-800-800-3222, or online at tonyevans.org.

Tony will come back with more of today's lesson right after this. Alaska is a land where ancient glaciers drop house sized chunks of ice into the sea. Where grizzlies fish for spawning salmon. Where the lush green canopy of trees is offset by distant snowy mountains.

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That's tonyevans.org. What did Jesus tell Nathaniel in chapter one of John? Nathaniel was under the tree. Jesus told him you were under the tree. Nathaniel believed in Jesus. Jesus told him, Nathaniel, because you believe, like your father Jacob, and I saw you sitting under the tree, and I saw you sitting under the tree and you paid attention to my word.

You were listening to me. He says, here's what you're gonna see, Nathaniel. You're gonna see heaven open and you're gonna see a ladder come down from heaven and you're gonna see angels going up and down this ladder, bringing what God wants from heaven to benefit you on earth. You're gonna see angels climbing up and down the ladder. You heard the song, we are climbing Jacob's ladder. That refers to angels climbing up and down the ladder, bringing what God wants from heaven down on earth because things are in order.

Jacob got to see the angels and got to see what God had in mind when he got back in line with God. See, angels can have everything to do with it. And the reason why we're not getting our prayers answered is because the angels don't see the order necessary for them to respond.

They have to have alignment in order to respond. So you can get your rule back. You can get your power back. You can get answered prayers back.

You can get the blessing of Genesis 1, the right to rule your world back. Every time I talk to a couple, one thing will come through inextricably clear. One or both are out of their lanes.

She trying to be him, he's trying to be her, or they trying to be nobody. And they're out of their lanes. When you get in your lanes, God can overrule personalities, backgrounds, histories, and all the stuff that's bringing confusion to your world.

Let me show you how powerful this covering is, this operating underneath your head is. First Corinthians 7, 14 says that even an unbeliever, a non-Christian who wants to stay with a Christian, Paul says, let them stay because them being in your house provides a covering. Because once they leave your house, they leave divine provision, protection, and guidance. And he says, and it blesses your children. Because of the illustration, this is Rahab.

Remember what the spy said? When we come, this whole town's gonna collapse, but everybody you bring into your house will be covered because of your relationship to God and your relationship to Israel, you bring them into your house, you bring them underneath your covering and therefore protection, provision, and guidance. So could it be that your world is never shaping up because you're out of alignment? Lady, if you're dishonoring your husband illegitimately, in other words, you have no basis, you're just disrespecting him, what you just did was cancel God on your behalf. Men, are you not operating underneath God properly? You're canceling God.

Not only for you, but for the benefit of your family. Because once you name Jesus Christ Lord, he must call the shots. You don't get to call him anymore, except as you reflect him in the shots you call. Now they had a particular problem in this church, I'll say this, related to the women speaking out. It was obviously an issue in chapter 14 when they had to tell the women to be silent. So they were exercising in an unauthorized manner. They were taking over in a sense. He tells them about praying and prophesying. They were doing this publicly. He's not talking about they were praying silently in the pew because you can't prophesy silently, you're speaking forth the word. Now the good news here is that means one, there was a gift of prophecy and two, it was publicly used. Women were publicly used in the church because he says that when they pray or prophesy. So they were praying or they were declaring something God wanted the church to hear.

Why? Because gifts are not gender-based, certain offices are. A woman can't be a pastor, but she can have the gift of teaching. She can't be a pastor because she can't have the gift of prophecy.

In other words, she can have gifts that the church uses, even though she doesn't occupy every office, likely only one office, the office of final authority or the elders, the pastoral office of the church. So what they were doing was they were operating without being under authority. They were just doing it because they were gifted to do it, but they were not doing it in order. He says there ought to be a visible recognition that you are doing what you do under authority. That visible recognition must happen in one of two ways. It must happen with a veil. Therefore, if you were called up to lead the congregation in prayer, there would be something covering you that indicated I am underneath a head.

I have gotten my head's permission to do this or to give this prophecy or because your actual head was there. You don't need a symbol when the actual thing is there. It's like Jesus was gonna do with the Lord's supper. He says, we're to take the symbols till he comes. When he comes, we don't take the symbol anymore because you don't need the symbol when you have the whole thing. So the times when we have ladies reading the Bible publicly, we either ask their husbands or one of the leaders from the church to come up with them, declaring they're doing it under authority. Then they don't need a symbol. If there is no one there, then they need a symbol. God wants it publicly declared that you are operating underneath God's authority.

It is to be a visual demonstration. This is not independently. I'm doing this in line. This is no small thing, folks, because it has to do with whether God authorizes you to rule your world. Out of alignment means God can't help you.

Out of alignment means God can't work for you. You know, when we know a storm's coming, we carry out our umbrellas, don't we? You know what the umbrella, they cover you. Umbrella doesn't stop the storm. It just changes how the storm affects you. Umbrella doesn't stop it from raining.

I'm not here telling you come to Jesus and operate under his order and there'll be no rain. I'm just saying you'll control the rain's effect on you because you'll be operating underneath the covering. You'll be covering your career. You'll be covering your finances. You'll be covering your family. You'll be covering your kids. You will be operating underneath the covering.

And when you operate underneath the covering, the world may be wet around you, but you're walking through the rain dry because you're operating underneath the authorized covering. May God allow us individually as families and as a church to come underneath his covering so that we can rule our world his way. Dr. Tony Evans, talking about the changes we can experience in life when we acknowledge the fact that God has us covered. Our message today was called spiritual covering and spiritual authority. And if you'd like to add it to your home or church library, remember it's available as part of Tony's current series, Marriage Matters.

It's full of practical things you can do to take your marriage more seriously, build love and respect, communicate more effectively, overcome problems you thought were unbeatable, and much more. As I mentioned earlier, for a limited time, we're making a special package available that includes all 14 messages in this two-volume collection along with the three-booklet bundle that includes For Married Men Only, For Married Women Only, and the companion work that ties them together, Marriage Matters. You can get them all with our thanks and as our gift when you help keep Tony's teaching on this station by visiting tonyevans.org and making a contribution in support of the ministry. Again, get the details at tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center is open 24-7, so call any time of the day or night. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or again, online at tonyevans.org.

Money troubles are often high on the list of things that can cause conflict for husbands and wives. On Monday, Dr. Evans will take a look at how to break out of debt and develop a godlier approach to money management. Be sure to join us. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you. Thank you for joining us today and have a great day.