What does the world think of as powerful and successful... what does our culture teach us to aspire to? What are we being told we can and should achieve at school? What ambitions do we have? What do we boast about? These are massive questions that can shape the direction of our lives – and which keep coming to the surface throughout II Cor.10. As parents it is important that we are helping our children think these issues through with a Gospel lens. One of the big hits in II Cor.10 is that the things the world boasts in and aspires to, treasures and values should be very different from the things the Church boasts in and aspires to.
One clear example of this – and we see this working out in II Cor.10 – is the issue of power and authority. What does this look like in the world and in the Church? The issues isn’t that Christians should avoid ‘power’, but Jesus (and following Him, Paul) is very clear that how we use power should give away the fact that we are disciples of Christ. Have a read at Matt.20:25-28. Whether we are an older sibling, or a CEO of a multi-national, a parent or a president, this has something to say about how we relate to authority and ‘power’. You could talk about what it looks like to be ‘in charge’... maybe use the opportunity to help your child(ren) understand why you make the decisions you do as a parent.
For older children / youth, it might be helpful to talk about Church leadership, and how to recognise godly leadership by the way authority and power is used in the Church. One of the points in II Cor.10 is that the Corinthians should have recognised there was a problem with their new leaders (11:5, super-apostles) before they had even heard them preach! Their abusive use of power should have sounded alarms. If your ‘children’ are old enough to remember, or even to have been to Soul Survivor, this could be a great opportunity to help them reflect on and make sense of the recent revelations about Mike Pilavachi?
Who commends themselves, and who does the Lord commend (i.e. praise, see as qualified, 10:18)? And on what basis? How can we care more about what the Lord thinks than what other people think!
Paul is only interested in building the Church up (v.8). He doesn’t’ want to make a ‘name’ for himself, and he isn’t particularly bothered about his reputation. Caring what other people think of you can be quite dangerous if it leads to you making different decisions than you otherwise would as a Christian. Peer pressure is a tough reality for all of us, irrespective of our age. How can we care more about what God thinks of us, rather than what other people think – or to put it in Biblical terms, how can we overcome our ‘fear’ of man, and replace it with trusting in the Lord (Prov.29:25).
But for Paul, everything he does, is about helping the Corinthians grow up as Christians (v.15). That is his express hope!! This gives us a brilliant opportunity to help our children get a secure vision for Christian maturity in play. The Bible regularly pictures Christians as ‘growing up’ (see e.g. Heb.5:11-6:3; I Pet.2-3). This in itself can be a surprise. People often think in terms of ‘being a Christian’ or not. But healthy Christianity has an impulse to grow and develop. Helping each other to think about what that looks like, what it means, would be a great conversation... and would give you something to pray about together as a family. How can we, as a family, best help each other grow as Christians? Is that something that everyone in the home wants to do?
And while you’re thinking that all through, it’s worth noting that for Paul, spiritual maturity is connected with evangelism (vv.15-16)
When do you think it is OK for Christians to agree to disagree? It isn’t very long before children will realise that not all Christians agree. Some of those disagreements are apparently so severe that it stops us worshipping together Sunday by Sunday. Is that OK? How can Christians disagree well? Why do they disagree? What is it OK to disagree about? ...and when does disagreeing about something put you beyond the borders of legitimate Christian thinking?
We’re seeing Paul wind up for a ‘fight’ (vv.3-5)! When is it OK for Church leaders ‘fight’ others who call themselves Christians? When is it necessary? Can you think of examples where you have seen this done well... and when you’ve seen it done badly? A graphic picture that re-occurs in Scripture is of a pastor as a shepherd. When does a shepherd need to fight to defend a flock, and when does fighting damage the flock?
Older children can take this a step further. What ‘arguments’ and ‘pretensions’ are they becoming aware of that set themselves up against the knowledge of God? It is critically important that you equip your children to work through these questions as early as possible. Unanswered arguments are like a spiritual cancer that quietly eat away at our confidence in our faith, until we find we don’t have faith at all. Many of our children are exposed to ideas and arguments that attack and undermine the Christian faith, or simply a vision of life that denies the necessity of Christian faith, far earlier than we anticipate. I recommend you begin to put the ‘weapons’ they need in their hands. One way of doing this might be to read with them something like The Case for Christ (youth edition). Or the ‘young readers edition’.
There are plenty of other ways of tackling this. Focus on the Family have an interesting article about how to TEACH KIDS HOW TO DEFEND THEIR FAITH. Slightly more intimidating (though they are listed index style for ease of access when you need them, Cross-Examined have 65 APOLOGETICS QUESTIONS EVERY CHRISTIAN PARENT NEEDS TO LEARN TO ANSWER.
Mind you – something you’ll hear me talk about a lot is the idea that changed lives are the most powerful apologetic is a changed life. In fact we were looking at it a few weeks ago when I was preaching on II Cor.6. You can listen on Youtube if you missed it! So how can you open your family to other families, or to your children’s friends in a way that will allow them to see the reality of what Christ has achieved in you!
Memory verses from this passage..? Well v.4-5 is a pretty vivid visual image... and by the time you’ve worked through this last section they should have a pretty good idea what the image is about!?
A lot of folk seem uncomfortable with the more militant spirituality that finds expression in passages such as these... I’ve genuinely never understood that. It is a powerful metaphor, that makes a lot of sense of Christian experience. This might be the week to watch the Torchlighter video on John Bunyan, and his classic Pilgrim’s Progress. It is available on Youtube and I’ve included it below. ...and maybe to read Pilgrim’s Progress. There are so many editions, pitched at different age ranges... you’ll have to have a look online! there are a couple of film versions on line too – check out youtube.
Craft ideas... if your kids enjoy dressing up as knights... this could be your lucky week! Alternatively there are quite a lot of printable versions of II Cor.10:5 online, that can be printed off and coloured in or otherwise decorated...
Again there are a number of ‘peer-pressure’ craft activities online, including ‘bag of tricks’, if this is something you find yourself gravitating to in your time of family worship. It’s a school lesson - but you can easily adapt it for use at home and in a Christian context!
