There are a number of very powerful ideas at work in this passage – any or all of which you could use to structure your family worship throughout this week. I’ll lay some ideas out around each of these aimed at different ages, and you can use whichever seem like they might work for you, if any!
Here’s the first one: In contrast to the false teachers Paul was critiquing in Ch.3, Paul is adamant that he doesn’t ‘distort the Word of God’, rather, he ‘sets forth the truth plainly’. OK, so before we get into the chapter any further than the first 2 verses we have an incredibly significant and potentially revolutionary issue in our hands. Especially if you have older children / young people in the family, this opens up an important question about different ‘interpretations’ of the Bible. We tend to operate in a relativistic mind-set (courtesy of our cultural norms). This means that there is huge pressure to accept any sincerely held interpretation as legitimate because it is sincerely held. Would Paul accept that? Does he consider all interpretations equally valid? Should we? How can we tell whether someone is ‘using deception’, or ‘distorting’ the Word of God? Why can a Christian never ‘hide behind’ the idea that what we believe is just our opinion, or just our belief, as if others are free to hold their opinions or beliefs?
If you’res truggling to find a way through the conversations, then maybe have a look at The Basics of Bible Interpretation, or perhaps this article onwhy there are different interpretations of the Bible at GotQuestions…
Paul has a great way of taking serious theological ideas and breaking them down into pictures that we can see and understand. He does it twice in this chapter. The first is when he draws the distinction between veiling/blindness and light / seeing. He works with this image 4:3-6. He is picking up the image he used in Ch.3 (veil) to explain why people can’t understand / accept the message about Jesus. This isn’t primarily an intellectual issue, but a spiritual one. The god of this age is blinding the minds of unbelievers. You can play all kinds of blindfold-related games with younger children to help them grasp the idea that Satan is at work to stop people seeing Jesus. it would be great to pray as a family for people you know who can’t see the truth about Jesus. Maybe then invite them to this term’s CE Course starting next week?
Paul connects the whole things back to the story of creation. One of the more tragically humorous arguments against the Bible’s account of creation is that light appears in Day 1, but the sun, moon and stars don’t appear until Day 4. That is of course to miss the point totally! The Light of the World that God speaks into creation is Christ (Jn.1:5-10; 8:12). Only when Christ is ‘present’ can there be life and order, beauty and joy. Until then there is only chaos, formlessness, instability and darkness. You may well have a ‘children’s Bible’ in the house already – it’s worth re-visiting the creation account and heling your child(ren) grasp this. Paul captures this dynamic and brings it into his argument in II Cor.4 to reflect the reality of what happens when people become and grow as Christians. Again – in an act of New Creation – Jesus is spoken into a person’s life. Only then is there the Light that can dispel the darkness of a satanically inspired blindness. Why not think about who you can speak about Jesus with in your own circle of friends and family?
My First Book, section 107 (Light of the world), or 128 (witnessing) might help here.
Paul’s second image in this chapter is that of clay pots. Before we even explore what the image means, here’s a great craft idea that can last all week! Get some ‘air-dry’ clay. Make a clay pot, let it dry and paint it. break it and glue it back in a way that allows cracks and gaps to remain. Put a tea light in there and see the light shine out of a ‘broken’ jar of clay. And while you’re doing all that, you can be talking about what Paul is driving at.
First of all, what does Paul mean when he talks about ‘treasure’? What does that make you think of? What makes something a ‘treasure’? If you need to do something while the clay is drying, why not set up a treasure hunt (maybe to find the words of this week’s memory verse which you’ve hidden around the house)... why do people search for treasure? Why does Paul talk about the message of Jesus as a ‘treasure’? Would you think of it like this?
Why does he describe us as ‘jars of clay’? It captures our fragility and our vulnerability to damage. Paul has a specific sort of damage in mind. It’s the damage that comes when people don’t like us because we are Christians and because we keep talking about Jesus. When we insist on telling people about Jesus we can create all kinds of problems (see vv.8-12). We often try and avoid those problems, but Paul is saying that our weakness when we experience opposition is precisely what shows God’s power at work in people becoming Christians!! So we keep going, even when it seems like we’re making no progress, or even getting pushed back. Nothings stops us talking about Jesus – even if we get in trouble for it.
Does that seem scary? Paul feels scared too, but he knows that the ‘Spirit of faith’ is at work helping him to believe in Jesus, and to help him help others to believe in Jesus. So he keeps speaking (vv.13-14). How can you help your children think about the help that the Spirit gives? have you stories you can tell from your own experience about how you haven’t lost heart (v.16) in telling someone about Jesus? Or perhaps you could watch a Torchlighter film together (see bottom of this post)? …or read a short biography of a missionary? Maybe pray for Tracey Needham as she gets this term’s CE course up and running..? Or write a card to someone inviting them to come to the CE course with you? Or maybe the Youth Alpha Mark Brailsford is running at St. Andrew’s on Sunday mornings?
And if none of that captures your imagination, then how about the question of whether your vision of the New Creation is compelling enough to help you endure the struggle of being a Christian, and telling others about Jesus (vv.16-18). How can you cultivate an excitement about the New Creation? What is it like to look forward to something? Christmas isn’t too far away, so maybe that’ll be a helpful analogy? What is there about our future that is glorious? Can you write a prayer, or a poem about all the things you are looking forward to?
If you’re struggling here, why not look at a couple of Jesus’ parables where he describes the New Creation in terms of feasting and partying, or To Be a Christian Q&A 114-120
Memory Verse:
For younger kids, I’d go for II Cor.4:7, ‘we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us’.
Older children might be able to grasp the more conceptual ideas in 4:11-12, For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
Or for a different angle, why not try 4:17-18?
Enjoy!