Livingandgiving
like jesus
A Church-Wide
Cell Group Init
iative
based on the book
CHRISTMAS
IS NOT YOUR
BIRTHDAY
by Mike Slaughter
For the
Group Leader:
This study guide is intended to guide laypeople in
their reading of Christmas Is Not Your Birthday,
by Mike Slaughter. Christmas Is Not Your Birthday
casts a vision for how Christians can experience
the true joy of living and giving like Jesus beginning with the Christmas season and continuing as a
lifestyle. This study helps participants see the traps
and discontentment of consumerism and the call
of God to live generously to fulfill God’s mission in
the world.
This PDF contains two pages for each of the six sessions. Printed front and back, each weekly handout
can be contained to one sheet per participant,
saving paper and giving participants less to fumble
with during the discussion. It is recommended that
study participants read the corresponding introduction and chapters in the Christmas Is Not Your
Birthday book, but key passages are reprinted on
the weekly handout so the group can read and discuss the main idea of each chapter together. (Note:
Sometimes the book excerpts are abridged or
adapted for this study and do not appear exactly
as they are in the book.)
Suggestions for
the Discussion Leader
1. Prior to the meeting, get comfortable with the material. Read the focus Scripture for the session, the book
excerpt on the handout, and the discussion questions.
2. Read the corresponding chapter in Christmas Is Not
Your Birthday, and think of any additional questions or
issues your group might enjoy discussing. The handout
can be just a jumping-off point for deeper discussions.
Don’t feel limited by it.
3. For the first couple of sessions, encourage group
members to participate as they feel comfortable doing
so. Invite quieter members of the group to share their
thoughts, but do not pressure them to speak if they are
not ready.
4. Read the Scripture passage and book excerpt aloud.
Even if participants were asked to do the reading before
the session, reading together will refresh memories and
enable those who have not read the material already to
participate without embarrassment.
5. One way to begin each discussion is to ask participants to voice their initial impression of the Scripture
or book excerpt, before asking the questions provided
on the handout.
6. Model a style of openness, honesty and warmth. At
times, consider being the first to share, particularly
when talking about personal experiences, but remember that as a leader you do not have to know all the
answers.
7. Ask the follow-up questions “Why?” or “Why do you
believe that?” to help continue a discussion and give it
greater depth.
8. Close the session in prayer, and be sure everyone
knows the time and place of each meeting. Reach out
to those that missed the session and invite them to join
you next time.
Session 1: Christmas is Not Your Birthday
Based on Introduction, pages ix-xi
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes
of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them,
“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” - Luke 4:18-21
It is October 12 and I am on my way to the local mall to purchase a new carryon bag. I am scanning the radio channels and notice that one station has already
switched to a twenty-four-hour Christmas music format. Bruce Springsteen is singing familiar reminders about Santa Claus seeing you “when you are sleeping” and
knowing “when you are awake.” My mother used such reminders as part of some
behavioral modification strategy leading up to Christmas season every year.
Growing up, Christmas was like a second birthday but a much bigger and better
deal! Mom’s reminder was clear: I’d better be good or I would get a lump of coal
in my stocking instead of the new Red Ryder BB gun that I was willing to trade my
little sister for. Apparently reminders worked, because I did get my Red Ryder that
Christmas. No I didn’t shoot my eye out but I did ricochet a BB off my forehead
once while target shooting in our basement.
As we grow older, our desired gifts become more sophisticated. Unfortunately the
idolatrous promise of the desired object to bring us life-fulfillment and meaning is
never realized as the newness wears off and we seek the next new, best thing. We are
hypnotically lured by the seductive marketing sirens of mindless consumption. And
by buying into the false promises of secular consumerism we continue to feed our
children’s materialistic self-focused addictions.
I arrive at the mall and notice that the marketing preparations are in full swing.
Santa Land is under construction as workers on motorized lifts hang banners heralding the season of conspicuous consumption.
According to the National Retail Federation, as of 2010, adult consumers spent
an average of $830 each on holiday food, decorations and presents. In a two-parent
family that equates to roughly $1600.00! Now add this cost to the average American
household credit card balance of $15,788 with an average annual percentage rate of
14.67%.
Christmas has been hijacked and exploited. We have professed allegiance to Jesus
but celebrate his birth with an orgy of materialism. Christmas is not your birthday;
it’s Jesus birthday! This study will help you reclaim the broader missional meaning of
Jesus’ birth and experience a Christmas season with more peace and joy than any toy
or gadget could ever bring.
1. Think about your family’s Christmas traditions as you grew up. What were the most
unique traditions you practiced? How many of them focused on your own comfort
and pleasure, and which were sacrificial in nature?
2. Think of one of the best Christmas gifts you’ve ever given to someone. What
made it the best, and how long do you think they appreciated it?
3. Name some ways you think Christmas has been hijacked. How have you allowed
Christmas to become more about you and/or consumerism than about Jesus?
4. Do you typically use cash only for Christmas, or do you go into at least a little
debt? How can you make this year a cash-only Christmas?
What
Chris was the
reme tmas gif best
as a c mber rec t you
hild a eiving
nd w
hy?
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
5. What are some things you currently enjoy or love about the holiday season? What
don’t you like? Is there a common theme between what you like and don’t like?
6. What new tradition(s) can you plan that would focus more on Jesus’ presence than
presents?
Challenge - Ask those closest to you, whether friends, family, parents or
children, what they would change about the Christmas holiday and why? Bring
back your answers for the group meeting next week.
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
Session 2: You Are a Miracle Worker
Based on Ch. 1: “Expect a Miracle” pages 1-18
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give
birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. -Isaiah 7:14
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the
LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. -Isaiah 53:5-6
Centuries before Jesus’ birth the ancient prophets spoke of the coming of a messiah deliverer who would be called:
“…Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the
increase of his government and peace there will be no end…” -Isaiah 9:6-7
But this Messiah king would also know suffering and rejection, and his mission
would clearly prioritize the poor and marginalized. Expectations of what this messiah would be like and look like however were quite diverse and even contradictory. Some expected a worldly political revolutionary who would restore the glory
days of the Davidic Kingdom, whereas others visualized a messiah who represented
the Greek ideal of focusing totally on the afterlife.
Jesus was not what folks expected. When you think about God, adjectives like
powerful, majestic, and almighty tend to come to mind. But Jesus did not come to
earth with any air of worldly wealth or majestic power. On the contrary, everything about Jesus’ life stood in stark contrast to worldly priorities and values. As
a man, he lived in tension with the organized religious system. He resisted the
world’s obsession with wealth, pleasure, power, and recognition. He identified
with the weak and powerless, the widow and orphan. And he did not condemn the
sinner. So what does God look like? Like Jesus!
List some of the adjectives that come to mind when you think about Jesus, his
attitude, his relationships, his life and mission. How do these contradict what the
culture teaches about success and influence?
Too often we view God like Santa Claus – a genie in a bottle here to fulfill three
wishes. We have created this Santa Claus Jesus in our own image, a golden-calf
messiah who promises to fulfill all our earthly wants and wishes, an idol of consumption who supports the human quest for meaning and purpose in material
things outside of a relationship with God. But at Christmas we should celebrate
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
the birth of the Messiah who was born not only to die sacrificially for us but to show
us how to live sacrificially. Christmas is the celebration of a miracle but we’ve edged
the miracle worker out of his own birthday celebration. It is time to take it back by
planning new traditions that focus on Jesus’ presence, rather than the often forgettable presents we expect to give and receive.
Christmas is about a miracle. Miracles don’t just happen; they are born through
labors of pain. The dictionary defines miracle as a visible interruption of the laws
of nature, understood by divine intervention and often accompanied by a miracle
worker. In other words a miracle is a unique event in the world that God does through
people like you and me. That’s right – you are God’s miracle worker! You are God’s
means to affect change in your world and God wants to birth a miracle through you.
Every miracle of God is conceived in the heart of the believer, grows in conviction and
clarity, and is delivered through committed action. And every spirit-filled Christian
has the potential for a God movement within them. Are you ready for God to birth a
Christmas miracle through you?
1. How do you picture God? How do you think this picture affects your Christian walk
and your faith in God?
2. Name the ways your image of God has more in common with Santa Claus than with
who Jesus is and how he lived?
3. Have you ever witnessed or experienced a miracle? If so what happened? Do you
think God could actually work a miracle through your life?
4. For your life to be meaningful you need to give it away to others. What does that
look like for you, and how difficult is it? Do you have capacity to give away more?
5. What would it take for you to be more prepared for God to use you for miraculous
purposes in the world?
6. What ideas do you have that could be seeds for a mission miracle? How could this
group help you make it happen?
Challenge – Pray about and then write down 1-3 ideas or thoughts that
you feel might be God-initiated dreams for you to pursue in helping change this
world for God’s Kingdom.
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
Session 3: Living God’s Mission
Based on Ch. 2: “Giving up on Perfect” pages 19-37
The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord
is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of
greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have
found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call
him Jesus”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” -Luke 1:28-31, 34
Our Christmas traditions have sanitized the Jesus birth narrative by removing
the event from its biblical and historical context. Jesus was born in a stable, a cave
where animals were kept. And where there are animals there is also dung, which
in turn brings flies. The setting of Jesus’ birth was not sanitary and it doesn’t get
better from there. Jesus spent his earliest years as a refugee in Africa escaping the
genocide that Herod was committing in Judea against children aged two and under.
In turn the Gospel of Luke makes it indelibly clear that walking in the way of
Jesus is neither safe nor predictable. Sometimes we have the idea that when we do
right, wrong is not supposed to show up. And if we are faithfully following Jesus,
then life isn’t supposed to get messy, but it does.
God’s favor cannot be earned. God comes when we are doing everything wrong.
God comes when we are doing nothing. God comes whether we are being naughty
or nice. Why? Because God loves us and we are highly favored. Look at the situation from Mary’s perspective. She had worked really hard to do what was right, yet
it seemed like wrong still showed up. This God miracle of the birth of the Messiah
was in the context of an unplanned teenaged pregnancy with all the emotional
grief that would entail. How emotionally prepared would a 12-15 year old be for
this life experience. God’s blessing would only continue to bring pain into Mary’s
life – all the way to the foot of the cross.
Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Maybe you have done everything you know how to be faithful to God and true to your family, and then you are
notified four weeks before the holidays that your job will be discontinued. Or your
husband tells you that he doesn’t love you anymore and wants a divorce. Or your
four year old is diagnosed with leukemia. No where does the Bible say that a life of
faith will always make sense or follow a predictable path.
Read II Corinthians 11:23-30:
Why do you think God would allow Paul - a great
servant of Jesus - to go through so much
persecution and to endure so much suffering?
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
God’s love and favor on us doesn’t mean that the path of faith is going to be neat
and predictable. Life gets messy, but in the midst of your mess - God shows up. No
matter what you are struggling to overcome, no matter what life issues have come
your way, God promises to show up. Christmas is God’s vivid reminder that amid the
uncertainty, God shows up to bring peace, purpose, joy and wholeness.
So why did God choose Mary? Mary had proactive faith. A person with proactive
faith doesn’t live in the paralysis of doubt and disillusionment. Instead they actively
pursue God’s redemptive purpose and presence in the midst of any situation, even
when it doesn’t make sense.
The Holy Spirit is with you right now to be your helper through any situation,
including the messy ones. When life isn’t making sense, the power of God will be a
shadow over you! That gift, however, is often experienced in pain and suffering. Just
remember, God’s promise may be delayed but it will not be denied.
Life is not about staying safe and living comfortably. The call to follow Jesus is
a call to give your life to him and to join God’s mission in healing the souls of the
world. The real rewards are found in the joy and peace that we experience through
serving others in Christ’s spirit.
1. What is your vision of a perfect Christmas? What imperfect circumstances will
you face this year that will challenge your ability to celebrate Christmas fully?
2. What emotional and social pressures do you think Mary felt in the months and
days leading up to Jesus’ birth? How well do you think you would have handled the
situation as either Mary or Joseph?
3. How should Mary’s experience of that first Christmas influence the way you
approach the holiday season?
4. Has life ever smacked you down even though you were trying to do everything
right? What was your initial reaction to God, and how did you get through it?
5. How can you celebrate Jesus in the midst of your struggles? How can God use
your current struggles to help others this upcoming holiday season?
6. Name one promise of God that you can stand upon even in the midst of trials and
life troubles.
Challenge – This week focus on helping someone you know that is strug-
gling in life and/or faith and commit to praying for them, asking them how you
can help, and following through with help and encouragement.
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
Session 4: Putting Jesus’ Love into Action
Based on Ch. 3: “Scandalous Love” pages 39-54
When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a
promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land
is guilty of unfaithfulness to the LORD.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim,
and she conceived and bore him a son. -Hosea 1:2-3
Christmas is the heralding of a God who pursues us so relentlessly as to come to
earth in human form to be with us. The incarnation is the revelation of our scandalous love affair with the world, and God’s persistent striving to bring us back to him.
One of the most passionate illustrations of God’s love affair with humanity is
found in the book of Hosea. During Israel’s last days of prosperity under Jeroboam
II the Israelites became lukewarm in the faith and strayed as God’s people often
do in prosperous times. From a human perspective we can equate God’s relationship with the Israelites to the sacred trust commitment made and then broken in
marriage. But God demonstrates unrelenting love for God’s people through Hosea
by telling him to go and marry a wife of “whoredom” and have children by her. Can
you imagine marrying someone you knew would be unfaithful and spend your life
wondering if your children were really your own?
What God wants from us for Jesus’ birthday and every day is love. God desires
that we return God’s scandalous love with our own, demonstrated by how we treat
those in need. God is not oblivious to the fact that one child dies every four seconds of a hunger-related cause or that as many as seven will die by the time you finish reading this page. God also knows that more than 14 million AIDS orphans were
reported in 2008 worldwide. God also knows that one child dies every forty-five
seconds from malaria which could be prevented by a simple mosquito net that costs
less than ten dollars.
Only when we realize how far we have strayed from the one who loves us so
deeply and unconditionally can we respond in radical faith. And when we passionately pursue God as our defining life center, then everything else will be rightly ordered. Though we may not deserve it, God showed us mercy by sending us his Son
to show us the way home. Jesus came to earth as a tiny baby in humble, scandalous
circumstances to redeem and restore broken places and broken hearts. That is the
love we celebrate at Christmas and it is that kind of love that we are called to show
in return.
1. How might your life look different if you could fully understand and embrace
God’s passionate and unconditional love for you? When or where have you experienced God’s relentless pursuit of having a relationship with you?
2. Think about the deepest and most enduring relationship you’ve experienced
– with a spouse, parent or friend. If this is only a glimpse of the relationship God
wants with you, what must that mean about God’s love?
Hosea 3:1-3: The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though
she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” So I bought
her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told
her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate
with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.
3. How do we tend to “sell ourselves” to other things instead of making God our
number one love? What one thing do you struggle with the most?
Hosea represents God’s relentless pursuing love and Hosea’s wife of prostitution
represents God’s people, not only the Israelites but also you and me. God loves
us and wants us even while we are under the influence of unworthy lovers such
as greed, selfishness, addiction and deceit. So God has come to buy us back! The
magnitude of this kind of love is beyond my comprehension, but after all…beauty is
in the eye of the beholder.
We have been created to find life and meaning through exclusive devotion to our
lover - God, but in the spirit of prostitution we sell ourselves out to the consumerist johns of materialism and greed. This is never more obvious than in the way we
celebrate Jesus’ birth in a self-focused, hedonistic feast of gluttony, oblivious to
what God really wants from us.
5. What would it mean for us to love others “scandalously”? How would that be
different from the safe, cautious ways we often show Christ’s love in the world?
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
4. God promises to bring good out of bad, to raise up the lowly and to comfort the
afflicted. How would you view or live your life if you trusted completely in those
promises?
6. To whom or in what way can you show “scandalous” love this holiday season
because of God’s great love shown to you?
Challenge – Think of one person in your life who has either disappointed you deeply or hurt you in a way that you need to forgive them, and pray
that God would help you. Commit to praying for him or her this whole week.
Session 5: Creating New Traditions
Based on Ch. 4: “Jesus’ Wish List” pages 55-69
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought
to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions
and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God
be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with
actions and in truth. -I John 3:16-18
Do you struggle to come up with the perfect gifts each Christmas for the special
people in your life? It can be tough but here’s an even more important question:
What do you give Jesus on his birthday? How can we change the traditional focus
of Christmas from materialistic self indulgence to giving Jesus what he desires on
his birthday? And what can you possibly give the Lord of the universe? Fortunately
Jesus made his wish list unquestionably clear in his last teaching in the book of
Matthew concerning his return and the day of final judgment.
Matthew 25:31-36: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with
him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him,
and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of
the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you
gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes
and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came
to visit me.”
We serve God when we serve others. We give to Jesus when we sacrifice our
time, talents, and resources to meet other’s needs in his name. The church is the
body of Christ. We are the only hands, feet, and wallets that Jesus has. Many people ask the question “If God is all-loving and all-powerful then why doesn’t God do
something about evil?” The answer to this question is simple: you are the something
that God is sending to combat evil in this world.
You are the evidence that the Messiah of God’s Kingdom is among you when everything that is broken around you is being restored, when the oppressed and captive are being set free, and when good news is being preached to the poor. Everyone who recognizes Jesus as Messiah is a servant of his mission and if that includes
us, then we need to be committed to live more simply so that others may simply
live - because that is what Jesus desires from his followers.
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
Can you imagine the birthday celebration if every Christian in every church
practiced the commitment of giving an equal amount of what they spend on themselves to a specific Jesus mission somewhere in the world? We can change the
world one place at a time, one person at a time, if we are willing to celebrate Jesus’
birthday in a way that honors him. When we acknowledge Jesus as Lord we give
him the rights to define our lifestyles, our values, and yes, in the way we celebrate
his birth.
At Christmas, we celebrate a messiah, a deliverer who was born to die. So we
too are called to give ourselves sacrificially with Christ for the world that God
loves. Such sacrifice is paradoxical because the more of ourselves that we give
away, the more abundant our faith and our commitment will be with what we have.
1. Who is the hardest person to shop for on your Christmas shopping list? How
much time and energy do you have to spend finding a gift for him or her?
2. What would happen if you put as much time and energy into Jesus’ wish list each
Christmas as you put into getting everyone the right gift?
3. What are some practical ways we can change the traditional focus of Christmas
from materialistic self-indulgence to giving Jesus what he desires?
4. Describe an event where you gave of your time, talent and/or resources and
were completely blessed beyond what you expected.
5. Why do you think God uses people to bring restoration and healing to a broken
world instead of just stepping in with almighty power? Has God ever used you?
6. What “big buts” are keeping you from giving sacrificially of both time and
money? What excuses do you need to overcome this year to truly honor Jesus
with your life’s resources?
Challenge - Get creative! What is one new tradition or family practice
you could start this year to make every Christmas a more authentic celebration of Jesus?
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
Session 6: Making Life Different
Based on Ch. 5: “By a Different Road” pages 71-91
For most people in Western contexts, shopping is spirituality. It is an attempt to
find meaning and happiness in the product… Once again we are back to idolatry: the
attempt to establish meaning and purpose on our own terms outside of a relationship with God. -Alan & Deb Hirsch
The holiday season, which begins for many with Thanksgiving and continues
through New Years Day, often brings increased stress and even depression due to
the dizzying demands and distractions of shopping, work parties, extended family
visits, blended family responsibilities, cleaning, baking, entertaining, and –oh yesdid I mention spending? To top it off, burning the candle at both ends makes us
more susceptible to colds and other ailments.
Then we start off the New Year with guilt (and inches) from overeating, the debt
from overspending, and the emotional low that comes from pursuit of fleeting
joy. Meanwhile, the reason for the season -Immanuel, God with us- gets lost in the
frantic complexity. But it doesn’t have to.
On January 6, after the holiday vacations are over and the gifts and decorations
are put away, we celebrate Epiphany-the arrival of the wise men or “magi” who
came from afar to see the new king. The true biblical account of the magi is an inspiring example of persistent life-altering faith. The amount of energy and expense
involved in their journey would have been considerable in what appears to have
been a two-year quest. And after they arrived they offered Jesus treasures that
would have been worthy of a king.
Matthew 2:11-12: On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary,
and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and
presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned
in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
What we see here are the marks of true commitment:
1) They bowed down and worshipped him – when we acknowledge Jesus as Lord we humbly submit to his authority.
2) They opened their treasures – the resources of heaven don’t fall from the sky, instead they are released through God’s people.
3) They returned to their country by a different road – Belief is simple, but changing course or life attitudes and practices are often hard commitments to
make.
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
January is a traditional time to commit to taking a different road. We see the New
Year as a time for making resolutions to change something about our lives. Whether
it be quitting a bad habit or starting healthier practices, we vow to make this year different. But what if we allow the lessons of Advent and Christmas to shape the way we
start the calendar year - and the rest of our lives - by reorienting our priorities to focus
not on ourselves but on the radical love Jesus gives to us and asks from us in return.
Jesus continually challenges our life values and priorities by making clear the contrast between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of consumption. Overspending,
debt, and attachment to material possessions hinder our ability to fully commit to
following Jesus in sacrificial mission. The more we have the harder we have to work
to maintain what we have, which means less time to develop relationships with those
closest to us and less time to serve Jesus’ mission for the least and the lost. Jesus
names the alternative path for his followers:
Matthew 6:31-33: So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we
drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
1. Do you typically begin each New Year with a big relief, big guilt, big gut, big expectations, big let-down, big debt, big joy and/or big depression? Why do you think this is?
2. Which of the following examples of the three Magi do you most need to put into
practice: Submitting to Jesus’ authority over your life, opening up your treasures for
God’s purposes or committing to a needed life course change with God’s help? What
will you do to begin making this happen?
3. How can you simplify your home to create more room for peace and righteousness, rather than for more stuff? What excess can you get rid of in your home (or your
schedule) to reflect more accurately where your priorities lie?
4. What would it mean for you to “seek God’s kingdom first”? What changes would
that shift necessitate in your life?
5. Take a moment right now to think of ways you can make first things first by finishing
the following sentences:
I will spend more time with the people I love by ______________________________.
I will demonstrate my faith in practical service by _____________________________.
I will cultivate my relationship with God by __________________________________.
Challenge – Write down what you will do differently this holiday season in
order to honor Jesus’ birthday and God’s desire to bring good news to all people.
Excerpts from Christmas is not Your Birthday: Experience the Joy of Living and Giving like Jesus by Mike Slaughter Abingdon Press © 2011
Notes
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6759 S. County Rd. 25A
Tipp City, OH 45371
937.667.1069
www.ginghamsburg.org