I’ve been thinking this week about how easy Family Worship can be… it could be as straightforward as swapping notes on the sermon & Sunday Group sessions from the previous week and praying about something that particularly struck you. That’s often what Monday morning’s breakfast looks like in the Prentice household. We all take notes from Sunday and then we spend the meal time first seeing how well we can remember what was said, then unpacking, questioning, and otherwise engaging with the main ideas! But that might not work for you, so…
Paul opens this section by carrying on his train of thought from the end of Ch.4. He’s just been thinking about the ‘eternal glory’ of the New Creation, and that launches him into a whole exciting exploration of the Christian hope. This light momentary life is like a tent… and as you can see form the video below, even the most robust tents are dangerously fragile and vulnerable.
That is a great image for our bodies in this age - a tent! But Paul is looking forward to a New Creation Resurrection body, a ‘heavenly dwelling’ that is much more bricks and mortar. Paul uses other images to try and communicate the difference between our bodies here and our bodies in the New Creation - you can find them in I Cor.15:35-44. This can be great conversation - you’d be surprised how many people are confused about ‘life after death’, or indeed frightened by the prospect. This can be a passage that helps children to negotiate bereavement. You could do the whole thing in a ‘tent’…
A more ‘this age’ angle might be to explore why it is that following Jesus can make us look like we are ‘out of our mind’ (v.13). Why does living in a way shaped by Jesus’ teaching and example look so (literally) crazy to other people? How does Paul help us to deal with other people’s mockery here?
Or take the opportunity to help your family deepen their understanding of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This passage is absolutely packed with insight. Our sin is not counted against us (v.19)… but it is counted against Christ. In the OT sacrifices at the Tabernacle (another tent!) the person bringing the sacrifice would lay their hands on its head, symbolising the transfer of sin. This is fulfilled in Christ. Is there some activity you could do that would help to visualise this for your child(ren)? ‘Seeing’ Christ take our sin can be a powerful way of entering into the drama of the Cross. Much of the language used in the Bible to convey this idea is financial - the idea of crediting to an account.
Or to look at the Cross from another angle: we share in Christ’s death (v.14). This is more complex idea, but the preachers of the early Church illustrated it with a needle and thread, speaking of how the needle (Christ) pierces the fabric (death), and draws the thread through with it. We pass through death with Him, and are brought into a New Creation life (v.17) which is what allows us to live so differently to how we did before (v.15). Or there is the idea of reconciliation… and of how we are caught up into that ministry as we take on the role of ambassadors, representing Christ and speaking on His behalf: Be reconciled to God. How can we do this more often? Can you get involved with CE somehow this term? Maybe provide a meal one evening? or bring someone along? …or Messy Church is now running monthly at all three sites… who could you bring along to that?
Or how differently the Cross looks depending on whether you are a Christian or not. I love the way the same thing can look so different, depending on who is looking at it…
Do you see people or pillars?
Looking at Christ ‘from a worldly point of view’ (v.16) leaves you watching a tragedy, a chronic injustice at best, a wasted life, but nothing more. But when we gaze on the cross with the eyes of faith, we see the moment in which our God is most fully displayed and most powerfully active in His love. And, says Paul, we no longer regard anyone from a worldly point of view. What does it look like to do that? How does the way we see people change depending on whether we see them from the world’s or Paul’s (the Christian’s) perspective?
Paul talks about us being a New Creation (or perhaps the idea is of our becoming part of the New Creation). This - along with Paul’s understanding of history in Christ, and his vision of our future in Christ - gives us the basis for confidence in spiritual growth. Remember: the Spirit is at work in us, transforming us from one degree of glory to another. Parents often mark their child(ren)’s physical development. This could be measuring their height at regular intervals, or marking a significant milestone. What might this look like in terms of spiritual development. What milestones can you anticipate… the first time they did ‘x’… what is the equivalent of measuring their height? How can you mark their growth as a Christian? How can you build that in to the life of your family?
This a great passage for memory verses. How about:
5:15, He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
OR
5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
OR
5:21, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Catechism Questions:
My First Book…. try sections 208-217 (not all at once though!).
To Be a Christian… Q&A 63-69
All this talk of the Cross… this could be a great time to talk about Communion. If you want your children to start taking communion, have a chat with us…