This passage is one that can make us feel a little uncomfortable. We are reluctant to reflect on our own Christ-likeness, in part because it feels like ‘boasting’ in some way, and so a bit inappropriate. But Paul ‘commends’ himself, as exhibit A - evidence of what the Spirit can do to transform someone into Christ-likeness through the Gospel Paul preaches. As part of your worship together as a family, you might want to read a passage such as Acts 26:9-11 to get a sense of the dramatic change Paul has undergone. When you’re doing that why not pop over to the Open Doors website. They have some great children’s resources to help them make sense of modern-day Pauls, and how they can help support the Church... or if you were hoping for something aimed at older children and youth, try the Open Doors Youth website. Have a chat with John Gillett who is an Oen Doors regional speaker, and will ahve some resources that might help you talk this through with your children, and to pray with them.
But when you understand Paul’s background, and the fact that he is now an Apostle... you can understand why Paul feels so excited about the way God has changed him, and is changing him to be more like his Lord. If they don’t know the story, I’m sure your kids would want to hear about how you became a Christian, and the ways in which God has been at work changing you over the years...
Christianity is about learning how to be like Jesus. The very last thing Jesus tells the Apostles – right at the end of Matthew’s Gospel – is to ‘...make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...’ (Matt.28:19-20). It’s amazing how easy it is to lose sight of that, and to make Christianity about any host of other things!
But do you know what the commands of Jesus are? How many can you list out? Once you’ve listed them, have a conversation about what it looks like to keep them... and why it can be so tempting to not keep them!
If you are leading Family Worship with older children, or teenagers, here’s a project that can easily last the whole week. Why not read through one Gospel and list out all the commands, or places where Jesus acts in a way that He expects His disciples to follow His example... For younger children, maybe take a shorter piece of Jesus’ teaching – something like the Sermon on the Mount, and work through that over the course of the week?
Don’t forget to pray for each other as we learn together how to obey everything He has commanded us. ...and to pray for the ministry team at home and at MIE!
You might find My First Questions, section 98 helpful...
Paul’s whole vision about what it means to be a Christian, and to be a part of a Church is connected with our learning how to become more like Jesus. He thinks one of the most important jobs a Church has is to help you on your journey to being someone who thinks, feels, acts, treats people just the way Jesus would do. That’s a really hard job! What are some ways that the Church might help you as you learn to be more like Jesus? ...and how might the Church let you down?
How can you help other people at MIE to become more like Jesus?
When you go to Sunday Groups, or a youth group, or when you are doing Family Worship at home... what should you be expecting?
Paul celebrates the fact that the Holy Spirit has been at work helping him to become more like Jesus. In fact, he wants other people to see how much he has changed, because it will help them to understand the power of God at work in his Gospel (and maybe stop people wanting to follow after other teachings and ideas). Read through II Cor.6:3-12. Can you spot all the ways Paul is telling us he has been made like Jesus? You might want to print the passage off on the computer, and use different coloured pens to highlight different ideas!? Here’s one of my favourites to get you going: have a look at II Cor.6:10, and then at II Cor.8:9. If you have the list of the fruit of the Spirit in front of you (Gal.5:18-19) it might help too – but there are other aspects of Jesus’ experience at play here too.
Where are the place where you can see the Holy Spirit helping you to be more like Jesus? can you draw a picture about a time when you knew the Holy Spirit was working in you like this?
You want to get as many people helping you as possible. Becoming like Jesus is like a team sport! And Paul is warning us that we don’t want people on our team who are going to trip us up, or make it harder to be like Jesus. Paul talks about being ‘yoked’. It’s a picture we might not understand, so first of all, here is a picture of two animals yoked together. You can see what a problem it can be if it goes wrong:
The point of the yoke is to keep one animal walking alongside, and in step with the other. You don’t want one of the oxen wandering off in a completely different direction. When Jesus tells us to take His yoke upon us (Matt.11:29), what do you think He means? And why does Paul say we shouldn’t be yoked with people who don’t share our faith in Jesus (6:14)? Why would it be a problem if we were? Have a look at the picture again!