Merry Christmas vs Happy Holidays
You want to get some people fired up this Sunday morning? Try this out, it’s guaranteed to work or your money back. Say, “Happy Holidays” to the people around you during the shake a friend’s hand/welcome time of your worship service. See how many people look at you like you have offended their mother. Every year we see Christian groups organize boycotts of certain companies because they do not allow their employees to say Merry Christmas, or they get very offended when a store insists of hanging “Happy Holiday” signs around their store. Then there are those truly evil people that abbreviate things and say X-Mas. Why do we all get so offended? Is it because they are removing Jesus from Christmas, or because they do not recognize the true reason for the season? Here is my question, “What do we expect a lost world to do?” Why would they recognize Christmas as anything except a commercial holiday, or a time to enjoy time off from work spent with their families?
This week, let’s take a different look at this phenomenon. Christians all around the country will get offended that advertisers and retail stores do not recognize Christ during this time of year. Time to make it personal, does your life show evidence that you recognize Him as Lord or your life? Maybe we are too quickly offended by what the lost world is saying, and not offended enough by what our lives are saying to that lost world. The key idea for this week’s lesson and the main thought I want you to meditate on this week is: “Are you willing to commit to living a life that displays the truth of the Messiah to the world around you?” Last week we saw how Isaiah’s prophecies pointed to the coming Messiah, and this week we will see how our lives’ point to the current evidence of a life changed by that same Messiah. The Messiah that was long pointed to has come, and we need to be pointing still today. Our lives, what we say and do, is how we communicate to the world what we truly think of Christ. They need to know Him, and we need to live for Him. Kinda crazy how God designed things to work!
This week as you are processing the lesson, let me know what you think. What parts of the lesson surprised you? convicted you? challenged you? encouraged you? Join the conversation!
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The three questions in the intro part of the lesson plan regarding the hostility of our culture toward Christianity and wrestling with our part in contributing to that hostility, and how to begin changing those attitudes will be the meat of the lesson for me.
I plan to encourage and challenge my group with a newspaper article that ran in a local paper this week about a group of Christians in our area who are taking Christ to the streets in an urban area known as “Devil’s Triangle” due to the high crime rate and gang activity. These Christ-followers are not only offering after-school programs, etc., but are actually moving into the neighborhood and becoming a part of the community. My favorite quote from the article: “Randy and Tina are living out the love of Jesus Christ. It’s an edgy concept, that Jesus left the most beautiful gated community to come live in our ‘hood — and we should do the same.”
My point is that most of us may not be called to move to another neighborhood, but we are all called to live out the love of Christ in our own neighborhoods. Another quote from the article: “Others who live there don’t mingle the way he does…He goes out and talks to people. He invites others to come alongside and help.” Pretty simple concept, don’t ‘ya think?
If we truly believe that Jesus is the Messiah, we must first be willing to openly proclaim Him as such. In fact, we should be so openly jazzed and genuinely excited about our Savior that we cannot help but demonstrate his love for others through the way we live our lives.
What neighborhood has God placed you in? Where do you walk? Who are the people God puts before you every day? Did you even see the face of that harried store clerk as she handed you your receipt? Did you see the stress in her eyes? Do you know your next door neighbor? Do you know where they will spend eternity? Do you care? What about your mail carrier, your newspaper delivery person, that UPS or FedEx guy bearing gifts from afar? You have a chance to impact their lives for eternity! Don’t pass them up.!
1 | Sandy B
Saturday, December 8, 2007, at 12:50pm
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