Cadyville Wesleyan Church
Humanity thrives on story-telling. Since the very beginning, families have gathered around to tell stories old and new. There's something special about the Christmas season that unites old and young: traditions, music, and (of course) movies. Children still watch It's a Wonderful Life and Charlie Brown's Christmas Special, even though their parents (and sometimes their grandparents) weren't alive when those were released.
This Christmas season, we're going to lean into the fun, the nostalgia, and the joy of Christmas movies with our series Reel Christmas! Each week, we will engage with a theme from the movie and see how the Scriptures speak into that theme and into our lives. It's a series you won't want to miss.
“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”
- Charles Dickens
Honoring the incarnation of Christ means embracing the mission that he embraced, it means taking up the mantle that he carried, it means carrying the cross that he bore.
How do we love like Jesus in a world full of Scrooges?
Luke 19:1-10 NIV
How can we reach even the most unloveable people with the message of Christ?
How we can honor the spirit of the incarnation in our lives:
1) Be the kind of people who attract sinners.
Luke 15:1 NIV
Mark 2:17 NIV
Why is it that Jesus attracted sinners by the droves, and yet sinners can’t seem to get far enough away from his church?
What is the difference between us and Jesus?
Could it be that sinners are not drawn to us because we are known for fundamentally different things than Jesus was known for?
How we can honor the spirit of the incarnation in our lives:
2) Ascribe value to the the sinners in our lives.
Luke 19:5-6 NIV
Jesus placed value on the worst of sinners to demonstrate that God’s love is available to all sinners!
Romans 5:6-8 NIV
“God took on our humanity, our sin, and the just punishment that sin deserves, dying a God-forsaken, hellish death on the cross, because only this could rescue us from our self-chosen destruction. “God expresses unsurpassable love for us and ascribes unsurpassable worth to us by sacrificing the One who has unsurpassable value on our behalf!”
- Greg Boyd
Jesus didn’t come to make us valuable.
Jesus came because we were ALREADY valuable.
“What business is it of mine to just those outside the church?”
- 1 Corinthians 5:12
Jesus saw people’s sin, but called them by name. But too many times, we know people’s name, but call them by their sin.
In Jesus’ eyes, people are not defined by their actions;
they are defined by his!
How we can honor the spirit of the incarnation in our lives:
3) Believe God can transform the people in your life.
"Because of me being saved, you know that God means to be patient with the chief of sinners, because I am the chief of sinners."
- Paul (paraphrased)
"God showed patience to me in order that those who were to come to faith might take heart that God will show patience with them.”