Celebration

 

Being a Christian does not make you lame; in fact, being a Christian should mean that you celebrate in all things.

 

Throw a party, using Derek Minor’s album “Empire” as the background soundtrack. Just let this youth lesson night be one big party and celebrate all the things that God has done/is doing in your ministry.

 

To transition to the lesson, play the song, “Party People” for the students and give them a time to just “lose their minds.”

 

Ask students what they think a Christian party should look like? What kind of things would be there, or not be there? When should Christians party? Why should Christians party? Ask these kinds of questions to get the discussion rolling:

• What does a Christian party look like? Is it fun or lame? Why?

• If you were to throw a party, what would it look like?

• What are some reasons that Christians should throw parties?

• Is it okay for Christians to “lose their mind”?

• What are some things that you can celebrate right now that God has done in your life or someone close to you?

 

Read Luke 15:1-7 and Philippians 4:4 (from The Message paraphrase, if you can.) Explain that Christians get a bad rap for being stuck up, sticks-inthe- mud, party-poopers, lame—the list could go on. But that is not how it should be at all. Philippians 4:4 says that we are to “rejoice in the Lord…” “Rejoice” does not mean to be calm and quiet, but to celebrate enthusiastically. We should celebrate every time God does something awesome in our lives or in our ministries.

 

Jesus said that every time a soul is saved there is rejoicing in heaven. So if Heaven is a good enough place to party in celebrating the work of God, why can’t we do that here? The better question would be—why aren’t we doing that here? We should start to celebrate and let people know that God is not dead and that He is actively working in our lives.

 

Celebrating should be fun. Celebrating should be done every time something awesome happens. God is the King of awesomeness, so we should be celebrating a lot. We have to be careful, though, not to sell God short. If we are going to celebrate something He has done we have to make sure that the way we do it glorifies Him. Colossians 3:17 says, “Whatever you do whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” So lose your mind and be a party people for Christ!