Freedom to Change

Passage

2 Corinthians 3:1-18

Sermon Summary

Do you feel struck and frustrated that you're not growing spiritually? Paul shows how we participate in the Spirit's transformation:

1) Get sick—that is, be convinced that the way of change by pure law and willpower is a dead end that only makes things worse.

2) Take heart—that if you have turned to Jesus, the Spirit is in you and already at work changing you progressively over time.

3) Guide your gaze—be more deliberate about where you focus your attention, because it shapes your affections that shape your whole life. By gazing at Jesus through the ordinary means of grace, you increasingly become more like him.

4) Look around—at other believers. The word translated "beholding" in v. 18 involves both gazing and reflecting, so we also see God's glory in the lives of ordinary Christians who are being changed by him, too.

Ultimately, the Spirit's transformation plunges us into a life with more suffering AND more glory than we could possibly imagine, because it makes us more like Jesus.

Discussion Questions

1. Optional Starter Question: What stood out or stuck with you from the sermon?
2. Looking back over the past few years, where can you see evidence that God has changed you, even if the change felt slow or subtle at the time?
3. Walter mentioned resolutionism, informationism, mañana-ism, and other forms of self-reliance to change. Which of these tendencies do you most recognize in yourself, and how have you seen them fail to produce lasting change?
4. Name some specific things that currently capture a lot of your attention. How are they shaping your affections, which then determine your actions?
5. Which of the ordinary means of grace (gathered worship, scripture, prayer, fellowship, etc.) most consistently help you "behold" the glory ofJesus? Which one might you need to give more of your attention to in this season of your life?
6. Describe some specific ways you see the glory of the Lord reflected in the lives of other Christians in your life.
7. Name some ways that you desire to change. How might God's agenda overlap with and/or differ from your desires?

Prayer Prompts

• Thank you, Father, for this evidence of the Spirit's work in and around me__________
• Forgive me, Jesus, for "beholding" __________ more than you.
• Empower me, Holy Spirit, to pursue you more through these "habitations of the Spirit" ___________

Resources Consulted

• Africa Bible Commentary, ed. Tokunboh Adeyemo
• The Message of 2 Corinthians, Paul Barnett
• 2 Corinthiansfor Everyone, NT Wright
• 1 & 2 Corinthians Commentary, Richard Pratt
• The Unseen Realm, Michael Heiser
• True to Our Native Land, ed. Bryan K. Blount
• The New Testament in Color, ed. Esau McCauley
• The Holy Spirit, Sinclair Ferguson
• Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. Gerald Hawthorne
• NIGTC Commentary on 2 Corinthians, Murray J. Harris
• Biblical Critical Theory, Christopher Watkin
• The Holy Spirit in Christian Experience, Simeon Zahl
• You Are What You Love, James K.A. Smith

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