Lesson Notes for December 2, 2009
On the Naughty List
Intro
[Change PowerPoint slide to “The Gospel According to Buddy the Elf”] As most of you know, tonight and the next two Wednesday nights are the continuation of our look at the biblical account of Christmas with the help of Buddy the Elf in a series we’re calling “The Gospel According to Buddy the Elf.” Each week’s lesson title is a quote from the movie, and each week we’ll watch the clip from the movie that corresponds with that quote. We will then use it to discuss a key principle about the real Christmas.
Obviously we know Santa Claus is not real. If you are hearing this news for the first time, I’ll give you a moment to let it sink in. If you remain unconvinced of the fact that Santa is not real, listen to these interesting statistics: A consultancy firm in Sweden named Sweco did the math on the possibility of Santa Claus delivering presents all over the world. I’ve changed all equations to standard units for your benefit. They estimated that there are 120 people per square mile on Earth and 66 feet between each home. According to their research, if Santa left from Kyrgyzstan (the most efficient starting point) and travelled against the Earth’s rotation, this would give him 48 hours to deliver all the presents. At each house, Santa would have exactly 34 microseconds (or 34 millionths of a second) to make his way down the chimney, leave the presents, eat the milk and cookies, grab the veggies for the reindeer and work his way back up to the chimney to his sleigh. And this is all contingent upon Santa’s reindeer travelling at a speed of roughly 3604 mi/second. Of course other research has shown that Santa’s sleigh, weighed down by all the presents and travelling at supersonic speed, would encounter such massive air resistance that it would burst into flames and be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second anyway. All that’s to say that we know Santa doesn’t exist. But still, we’re all familiar with the tradition of Santa making two lists of all the children of the world: naughty and nice. We’re not really sure where it originates, but it was certainly made popular this song. [Play “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”] And that leads to our lesson for tonight: “On the Naughty List”.
In the scene we’re going to watch from the movie, Buddy has discovered he’s not really an elf and decides to go find his dad. The clip ends when Santa gives Buddy some bad news… [Play movie clip; when clip is finished, change slide to “On the Naughty List”]
Lesson
Based on what we already mentioned before, there is no such thing as Santa Claus. And thus, there is no such thing as the naughty list or the nice list for Christmas. But there is a spiritual naughty list of sorts that all our names have belonged to.
See, when God created Adam and Eve, they were without sin. They were created perfect, having no sin in them at all. But the moment they ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge in disobedience to God, they brought sin into the world. And as a result, we’re all born with a bent to sin. As a result, we have all sinned. Romans 3:23 says, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Not only have we all sinned, but our sin created separation between us and God. The moment sin entered the world, all of mankind went onto the spiritual “naughty list”.
And because mankind became imperfect and sinful, mankind could no longer have a proper relationship with God. Romans 6:23 begins by saying, “The wages of sin is death…” You see, there was a payment that had to be made for our sins. And that payment was death.
[Grab coal and present. Pick student at random. Go up to student with coal and say, “This is what you have earned…this is what you deserve. You’re on the naughty list. But would you take this present instead?” Say to everyone, “That was an easy choice right? I mean, who would take coal over a gift?”]
You see, this is what God did for us. Because the only payment that would fully satisfy the cost was a perfect sacrifice, God the Father gave us the gift of his son Jesus to take our place and die for us. In fact, to read the entire verse of Romans 6:23, it says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” Matthew announces the birth of Christ in 1:18-21this way, “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." This is the reason Christmas ever happened. It was God giving us the ultimate gift.
See, all mankind found its way on the naughty list and thus deserved nothing more than a spiritual lump of coal – death. But God said, “No way, I love you way too much to watch you die a spiritual death. I don’t want to give you a lump of coal. Please take this free gift of eternal life instead.”
Some of you here tonight are settling for coal when there’s a free gift waiting to be opened. See, like any other gift, it’s not yours until you take it. And God wants nothing more than for everyone to leave here tonight with the gift of eternal life, but it’s your choice!
[Close in Prayer]
Intro
[Change PowerPoint slide to “The Gospel According to Buddy the Elf”] As most of you know, tonight and the next two Wednesday nights are the continuation of our look at the biblical account of Christmas with the help of Buddy the Elf in a series we’re calling “The Gospel According to Buddy the Elf.” Each week’s lesson title is a quote from the movie, and each week we’ll watch the clip from the movie that corresponds with that quote. We will then use it to discuss a key principle about the real Christmas.
Obviously we know Santa Claus is not real. If you are hearing this news for the first time, I’ll give you a moment to let it sink in. If you remain unconvinced of the fact that Santa is not real, listen to these interesting statistics: A consultancy firm in Sweden named Sweco did the math on the possibility of Santa Claus delivering presents all over the world. I’ve changed all equations to standard units for your benefit. They estimated that there are 120 people per square mile on Earth and 66 feet between each home. According to their research, if Santa left from Kyrgyzstan (the most efficient starting point) and travelled against the Earth’s rotation, this would give him 48 hours to deliver all the presents. At each house, Santa would have exactly 34 microseconds (or 34 millionths of a second) to make his way down the chimney, leave the presents, eat the milk and cookies, grab the veggies for the reindeer and work his way back up to the chimney to his sleigh. And this is all contingent upon Santa’s reindeer travelling at a speed of roughly 3604 mi/second. Of course other research has shown that Santa’s sleigh, weighed down by all the presents and travelling at supersonic speed, would encounter such massive air resistance that it would burst into flames and be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second anyway. All that’s to say that we know Santa doesn’t exist. But still, we’re all familiar with the tradition of Santa making two lists of all the children of the world: naughty and nice. We’re not really sure where it originates, but it was certainly made popular this song. [Play “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”] And that leads to our lesson for tonight: “On the Naughty List”.
In the scene we’re going to watch from the movie, Buddy has discovered he’s not really an elf and decides to go find his dad. The clip ends when Santa gives Buddy some bad news… [Play movie clip; when clip is finished, change slide to “On the Naughty List”]
Lesson
Based on what we already mentioned before, there is no such thing as Santa Claus. And thus, there is no such thing as the naughty list or the nice list for Christmas. But there is a spiritual naughty list of sorts that all our names have belonged to.
See, when God created Adam and Eve, they were without sin. They were created perfect, having no sin in them at all. But the moment they ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge in disobedience to God, they brought sin into the world. And as a result, we’re all born with a bent to sin. As a result, we have all sinned. Romans 3:23 says, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Not only have we all sinned, but our sin created separation between us and God. The moment sin entered the world, all of mankind went onto the spiritual “naughty list”.
And because mankind became imperfect and sinful, mankind could no longer have a proper relationship with God. Romans 6:23 begins by saying, “The wages of sin is death…” You see, there was a payment that had to be made for our sins. And that payment was death.
[Grab coal and present. Pick student at random. Go up to student with coal and say, “This is what you have earned…this is what you deserve. You’re on the naughty list. But would you take this present instead?” Say to everyone, “That was an easy choice right? I mean, who would take coal over a gift?”]
You see, this is what God did for us. Because the only payment that would fully satisfy the cost was a perfect sacrifice, God the Father gave us the gift of his son Jesus to take our place and die for us. In fact, to read the entire verse of Romans 6:23, it says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” Matthew announces the birth of Christ in 1:18-21this way, “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." This is the reason Christmas ever happened. It was God giving us the ultimate gift.
See, all mankind found its way on the naughty list and thus deserved nothing more than a spiritual lump of coal – death. But God said, “No way, I love you way too much to watch you die a spiritual death. I don’t want to give you a lump of coal. Please take this free gift of eternal life instead.”
Some of you here tonight are settling for coal when there’s a free gift waiting to be opened. See, like any other gift, it’s not yours until you take it. And God wants nothing more than for everyone to leave here tonight with the gift of eternal life, but it’s your choice!
[Close in Prayer]
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