OK, let’s get the big picture in place, so that you can explain it to the kids. This is a big part of family worship - once we understand the passage well ourselves, we can usually think of ways to help our children make sense of it as well!
This is probably the most complicated chapter in Second Corinthians. It’s an incredibly visual passage though, leading Paul’s readers once again into the most ancient parts of the Bible, into the books of Moses. Lying behind II Cor.3 is a story from Exodus 34:29-35. Moses comes out of the presence of the Lord, and his face is radiant with God’s glory. Like everything Moses does, he is foreshadowing the work of Christ, giving us a picture-drama to help us understand Jesus better.
Moses is a shadow, or better, a fore-shadow. In reality, it is of course Jesus who comes from the presence of the Father, and in whose face we see the glory of God (Jn.1:18). Whereas Moses simply reflects that glory, it emanates from Christ. Paul links to this passage because it one of the favourite passages used by those who are trying to ‘cancel’ him at Corinth. They use it to bolster their claim that Moses is really where God can be met. For Paul’s opponents, ‘Moses’ is shorthand for ‘the Law... and specifically the Law being used as a way of earning your place before God’. ‘Moses’ means being good enough by keeping enough of God’s Laws enough of the time.
Paul disagrees. The Law can be a mirror to show us our need for Jesus (Rom.3:20; 7:7). But it can’t ever make us like Jesus. It can describe Jesus to us, and by doing so, it can show us we aren’t like Him. But it can’t make you like Him. When you try and use it to make you like Jesus, that just creates problems – specifically death (v.7) and condemnation (v.9) . Only Jesus can make you like Jesus – something He does by His Spirit.
For you as a family, this might be where you decide to camp out. How can we use the Law to show us our need for Jesus? There are any number of ‘crafty’ ways you can explore the 10 Commandments. Younger children might enjoy this one. Older kids might need something slightly more challenging…
While we think of things like ‘Christ-likeness’ in vague or general terms it is quite easy to kid ourselves. But when we get down to specific issues, it becomes more difficult to avoid our falling short. Leading your family in Confession and Repentance would be a very powerful act of worship in the home.
Getting back to II Cor.3... Paul is highlighting a serious problem for a Church that wants to use the Law as a way of proving to God how good they are, rather than allowing God to show them how bad they are... and therefore how badly they need Jesus. If you insist on mis-using the Law in this way, you get trapped. Actually it’s a bit more disturbing than that. God traps you.
Have a look at v.13. Why does Moses not want the people to see that the glory is fading? Or to put it in a more pointed way: What (Who?) is the ‘end’ of what was passing away? And why would God want to stop people seeing that ‘End’?
Because if you are going to reject Christ and the righteousness He offers, and insist on trusting in your own, that is a problem. As soon as you turn to Christ and trust Him, the veil is removed (v.16), and instead of the slavery to sin, compounded by our own legalism (Rom.7:14), we are given the freedom that comes from the Spirit – the freedom to be God’s slave (I Pet.2:16).
The real joy in this chapter is in the incredible potential for spiritual growth held out in 3:18. As we contemplate on the glory of God in the face of Christ, the Spirit is at work changing us so we become like Him. God has a human face, and we can learn again to look like Him.
There are a number of Catechcism Q&As that will help here, and which follow on from last weeks. For younger children, just the one or two is likely to be sufficient. Maybe a variation, or simplified version of:
363 How does Jesus heal you?
Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, as I continue in repentance and faith, Jesus mends my disordered soul from the effects of sin in my mind, will and desires.
(II Chron.7:12-14; Ps.25:4-11; II Cor.3:17-18)
364 What is this healing called?
This healing is called ‘sanctification’ which means to be made whole and holy. By the work of the Holy Spirit, my mind, my will and desires, are increasingly transformed and conformed to the character of Jesus Christ.
(Prov.2; John 17:15-17; Rom.12:1-2; Eph.2:1-10; 3:14-21)
Older children and young people would benefit from working through, To be a Christian, 357-368
Some ideas for family worship:
Memory verse? I’d focus on some part of II Cor.3:17-18, depending on age and enthusiasm!
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
· Other activities could include anything that involves key themes or ideas in the passage – hiding/hiddenness, freedom, glory, temporary/permanence...
· For older children and teens, why not do a couple of case studies in reading the OT. Have a look at Ps.45 or Ps.102, and ask how reading these as about Christ changes what you think their meaning is (see Heb.1). Or even more directly – how does the story of Moses model and enact for us the story of Jesus?
· The Law teaches us about Jesus... sometimes by way of contrasts / opposites. Jesus is Life, therefore we do not murder; Jesus is faithful, therefore we don not commit adultery... using the 10 Commandments (especially if you used a craft activity to represent them) can you work out how each describes the Person of Jesus.
· Over the last few weeks, we’ve been asking ‘what makes a good Church?’ This might be a good time to revisit that question. It’s a good idea to ask the question in as open-ended a way as possible. In the light of II Cor.3, the answer has to include something about focussing us on Jesus – that is the only way the Spirit will grow us into the likeness of Jesus. It is a spiritual law that we become like that which we worship (see Ps.115:8, for the negative side of this). Why not pray for those who teach thorughout the life of MIE… that they would be faithful in showing us Jesus.