Leader Guide

Theme

Christmas

Objective

Student will be reminded that they should not be distracted by all the sea- son displays, lights, decorations, and fun of Christmas. They’ll realize that this time of year is a great time to serve others and humble themselves in worship.

Warm Up
Human Christmas Trees – For this activity you will need a ton of Christmas tree decorations – lights, ornaments, tinsel – the works! Divide your group into teams. Each team identifies their tallest member to become a Human Christmas Tree and decorates their “tree” as creatively as they can. Then you judge each team’s Human Christmas Tree and determine the winning effort. Give the winning team a prize for their creation.

Transition
Generate some discussion about Christmas activities. These questions should get the conversation rolling:

• What is your favorite part of Christmas?

• When do you open your presents?

• Does your family go to “look at the lights” each year?

The Video
Hand out the Student Guides and explain that experiencing the “true light” of Christmas can sometimes be difficult. All of the decorations, displays, lights, parties, anticipation about presents, shopping, and everything else can dis- tract us from what’s really important at this time of year. Tell the group that this video takes a fun look at this issue, and reminds us of two important parts about this time of year. Encourage the students to see if they can identify what those two things are as they watch the video.

Transition
Ask you students what they think the two important issues about Christmas were presented in the video. (Serving others who don’t have it as good, and worshipping God.) Explain that there is a “Christmas” passage in the Bible that isn’t in the Gospels, and doesn’t include shepherds or angels. See if anyone can guess what that passage is.

Bible Study
Teach this outline of Philippians 2:5-7.

• Copping An Attitude (vs. 5) A literal translation of this verse is, “Keep thinking this among you, which [attitude] was also in Christ Jesus.” We cannot have the same ministry Jesus had, but we CAN have the same attitude He did.

• Before Christmas (v. 6a) The verb “being” carries the sense of “existing” and is in present tense – a continuing

condition. Jesus didn’t exist as God and then stop being God at Christmas. He has continually existed as God. There was never a time that Jesus wasn’t God.

• Mine! It’s All Mine! (v. 6b) Before Christmas, Jesus was equal with
the Father and Holy Spirit. But, He resolved not to cling to that status. Jesus did not hold tightly to His status – His fist did not clench His title; instead He held it with an open hand.

• Emptied (v. 7a) The One who existed in the form of God emptied Himself. He did not empty Himself of His deity – He set aside of the manner of existence as equal to God.

• Prince and Pauper (v. 7b) Mark Twain’s novel describes a son of Henry VIII who temporarily changed positions with a poor boy in London. That story illustrates this line. Our Lord took on the form of a very lowly servant when he was born. (Note that the phrase, “the very nature of” in this line is the same phrase used v. 6a.) He could have come as a full-grown man conquering the Romans and establishing His kingdom reign. But, he chose to enter human life as a helpless infant, born to a poor couple from a poor and obscure town. What a stellar example of humility!

• The Same, But Not The Same (v. 7c) Since angels also are servants, Paul makes clear that Jesus became human. The word “likeness” doesn’t mean “exactly the same” but stress- es similarity and leaves room for differences. Although Jesus became a genuine man, there were certain respects in which He was not abso- lutely like other men. For instance, He did not have a sin nature as all people do. And, He was both a man and God – nobody else can make that claim and avoid the loony bin.

The great humbling that culminated on the cross and guaranteed our salvation began when Jesus did not hold tightly onto His status and existence as God. He emptied Himself, decided to have a servant’s role, and became a lowly baby. The exact “how’s” and “why’s” of that momentous event may never
be fully understood this side of Heaven.

Wrap Up
Explain that Jesus’ great love for us needs a response. For us, we can respond in worship. As the song says, “To God Almighty we’re bowing down.” And, we can respond by serving others – “It’s the light of Christmas shining through all the good that we do for the people that don’t have it so good.” Now would be a good time to announce your Christmas service project, and then finish your meeting with a time of worship singing and prayer!