This Christmas - Week 1

INTRO VIDEO

INTRODUCTION

5 MINUTES

TELL A PERSONAL STORY

When I was your age, I loved Christmas. I could not wait for Christmas to get here. And I think that is because I would get to go to Christmas Eve services at my church and hang with my best friends, spend time with my family who I did not get to see all the time, sure… open some presents and the best part of it all, watch “A Christmas Story”. That is my favorite Christmas movie. “You’ll shoot your eye our kid!” I was surprised that my mom and step-dad would let me watch it as they were pretty strict when it came to stuff like that.

So even to this day I cannot wait to watch a Christmas Story. When they started to run that movie all day on Christmas on TBS, I would sit a watch it four or five times. I will tell you that This Christmas, I will probably go to church on Christmas Eve, kind of have to since I am one of the pastors, spend some time with family, sure… open some presents, and watch my favorite movie.

Maybe your favorite part of the Christmas season is different than mine. But I think most of us would agree that one of our least favorite things about Christmas would be getting a gift like one of these!

VIDEO: Jimmy Kimmel: I Gave My Kids Bad Christmas Presents

Okay, I’ve totally been there! I may not have gotten a potato or broccoli, but I’ve opened my fair share of terrible Christmas gifts!

TENSION

4 MINUTES

Regardless of whether you get a weird or unwanted Christmas gift like we just saw, or the amazing, perfect gift that you hope for, one thing is true about this season: Christmas is a holiday where we talk a lot about giving and being generous.

For some of us, we’re on the receiving end of generosity. We’ve been asking for that one perfect gift all year, and we got it! Or we were surprised by an unexpected, thoughtful gift from someone in our lives.

Or maybe we’re on the giving side of generosity during the Christmas season. Sometimes when you’re shopping there’s a person outside ringing a bell and asking you to be generous by putting your money into the red kettle. When you come to church, you hear Jeff or I talking about giving your time or money to meet the needs of families in your community, like we did with Mountain of Food. When you’re checking out at the grocery store with your grandparent, the clerk always asks if you want to donate $1 to a certain cause. Your school does a food drive or a toy collection this time of year. Maybe your parents make you clean out your old toys or clothes to give away before you get new ones on Christmas morning. No matter how it looks, giving what you have away—and doing it with a kind, open, and generous heart—seems to be the theme of the season.

But can we all just be honest here? Giving what we have to help others is a great idea. Being generous with your time, money, or resources is awesome! But it doesn’t always feel awesome, does it? Sometimes all this holiday generosity doesn’t bring us joy. Instead, it sometimes just makes us feel guilt, or shame, or frustration. Even if we don’t want to admit it, we’ve all probably felt it.

Maybe you’ve felt this when you gave a gift to someone, but they didn’t seem to appreciate it. That’s super disappointing. Or maybe you received a gift, and while it was really nice, it made you feel uncomfortable. You knew the person who gave it to you didn’t have a lot of extra money, and the money they did have, they spent on you. Or maybe—since we’re being honest here—you’ve felt guilty when it comes to generosity. You’ve heard all this talk about giving, and you know it’s what you’re supposed to do. But truthfully, it’s not what you want to do. After all, you don’t want to spend all the money you’ve saved up on gifts for other people. That doesn’t seem fair, does it?

And what makes it worse? When you see other people giving around you! Maybe there are people at church, or in your community, or even at home who don’t seem to struggle with giving their time, or money, or resources away at all. They act like it feels good! And something about their generosity makes you feel even worse about your own, because nothing about it feels good to you.

So what do we do? When it comes to generosity this Christmas, how do we get excited and feel good about giving?

TRUTH

4 MINUTES

I think we can look to the Bible for that answer because it talks all about generosity. Before Jesus came, God told His people to be generous to others.

But God took it one step further. He didn’t just talk about generosity; He gave us the ultimate example of what generosity looks like. One of the most beautiful themes of the Christmas story is God’s generosity towards us. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today!

Maybe you’ve heard some of it before. The baby Jesus born to Mary, laid in a manger. Shepherds, angels, a star, and all that good stuff. Well, the epic and amazing story that actually unfolded in that Christmas scene involved a character we often don’t include in our Christmas pageants or storybooks. And that super-important character is God the Father.

You see, human beings (that’s us!) have a habit of taking God’s gifts to us for granted. It’s a habit we’ve had since the beginning. God’s first generous gift to us was His beautiful creation of the world—this originally-perfect place for us to live. But Adam and Eve, the first humans to ever live, made a choice that broke that perfect creation. It hurt their relationship with God, their relationship with others, and their relationship with themselves. And we inherited all of that brokenness. We sometimes make bad choices like they did. Those kinds of choices we refer to as “sin,” and it’s the kind of stuff that separates us from God’s loving and perfect gifts. It separates us from Him.

But God—because He’s generous—wants a better reality and future for each of us. He wants a relationship with us—one where our sin won’t get in the way. And even though we didn’t deserve it, appreciate it, or earn it, God generously made a way for us to have it. That’s what Christmas is really about! And it’s summed up in one of the most famous Bible verses of all time:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16 NIV).

I really want you to notice one word here: gave. God gave us His only Son, Jesus. Before we ever did anything, He gave. That very first Christmas—the one we look back to and celebrate every year—is about what this verse is talking about. It’s about God’s most generous gift to the world: Jesus.

What makes that gift so generous? Well, besides that it was His Son, God gave us Jesus knowing that He would make a way for us to have a relationship with God again. Knowing that Jesus would first show us how to live and how to love and then die on the cross to wipe out our sins—our wrongdoings—for us. He gave us Jesus to save us, and that’s the ultimate gift. I mean, talk about generous!

But what does this mean for us? Well, besides the fact that the gift of Jesus changes everything about our relationship with God, it also demonstrates what generosity looks like. God didn’t have to give us Jesus. God didn’t give us Jesus because He felt bad for us. No, God gave us Jesus because He loves us. God’s motive is always—100% of the time—love. It’s His reason for doing everything—including giving us Jesus! God gave because He loves us. And when He asks us to give to others, it’s with that same heart.

You see, God demonstrated generosity by sending Jesus. He showed us what real generosity—the kind motivated by love—looks like in action. He set the example for us to follow when it comes to giving.

So maybe you’re thinking, “Give out of love? That’s cool and all, but what if I don’t know the person I’m giving to? Or what if I don’t love them? I mean, how am I supposed to give because of love if I don’t actually feel that way?”

Good question! Your generosity doesn’t have to be motivated by loving the person on the receiving end (though sometimes it is!). Your generosity can be motivated by God’s love for you! Because God loves you and gave so generously to you, you can respond by showing that same generosity to others. You can follow God’s lead in loving and being generous by doing the same for others.

Because God demonstrated generosity by sending Jesus for us.

APPLICATION

2 MINUTES

You see, this whole Christmas season is really about one thing: God’s gift of Jesus to us. And let me tell you from experience that nothing will bring you more joy this Christmas than receiving that gift.

So as we head into Christmas, be reminded of God’s amazing generosity to you. Maybe for you that means…

· Changing the way you see giving. Maybe this holiday season you can give because of God’s love for you. Instead of giving because you feel guilt, or shame, or like you have to, instead you remember all that God has given you and let that motivate you to be generous with others.

· Asking God to help you be generous. Maybe you struggle to know how you can be generous. As a student, you don’t have all the time or money in the world to just give away, do you? Probably not! But you do have something. Maybe this Christmas season you spend one Saturday serving a family in need. Or maybe you give a few extra dollars to a charity. Or you donate some toys or clothes to someone in need. Maybe it’s simply volunteering to help more around the house this season. Ask God to show you what you have to give this Christmas and help you be generous to share that with others.

· Receiving God’s gift to you. Maybe you’ve never thought about Christmas this way before. Maybe you’ve never really considered what the birth of Jesus actually means for your life. Maybe you’ve never actually received the generous gift of God’s unconditional love. Well, this Christmas is a great time to take hold of it! God gave us Jesus because He loves us. Because He loves you. And if that’s something you want to talk more about, today is a great time to do that with your Small Group Leader on Wednesday.

LANDING

1 MINUTE

But we need to remember, God demonstrated generosity by sending Jesus. And that makes this Christmas something to really celebrate.

As we get ready to pray, I want you to be thinking about this question: What’s one way I can be generous this Christmas?

Let’s Pray.