Join us this Sunday! In-Person 8:00am, 9:30am & 11:00am, Online 8:00am, 9:30am, 11:00am & 5:00pm

Join us this Sunday! In-Person 8:00am, 9:30am & 11:00am, Online 8:00am, 9:30am, 11:00am & 5:00pm

Join us at the next Sunday worship service:
In-Person
8:00am, 9:30am & 11:00am
Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

Week 3 Sermon Questions For Groups

At The Movies: Christopher Robin  

Introduction:

“Nothing often leads to the best kind of something.” This week, through Christopher Robin, we explore the importance of not losing sight of the things that matter. In the movie, Christopher Robin is faced with a choice: working all weekend or spending time with his family. We all face a version of this dilemma where things get in the way of what matters most whether it’s work, hobbies, sports, or social media. While work and other things can be important, we cannot risk making a living at the expense of making a life. We need to remember that today is this day. Our life is happening now, and today is the best opportunity to express love, share quality time, and make a difference.  

Something To Talk About: 

  1. Work/life balance: In the movie, Christopher Robin is faced with a choice: working all weekend or spending time with his family. We all face a version of this dilemma where things get in the way of what matters most whether it’s work, hobbies, sports, or social media. While work and other things can be important, we cannot risk making a living at the expense of making a life. It is easy to live a life without a pause button, where life consists of an ongoing handoff of children and responsibilities that needed military precision to keep moving. Days run into nights and weeks blurred into months without us having any time to relax and catch our breath. We need margin in our lives. The movie starts off with how things ought to be: laughter, joy, and a focus on relationships. Pooh, Tigger, and the gang are all together with Christopher as they go on adventures and eat more honey and sweets than they think is possible. Then Mr. Robin says his goodbyes and heads to boarding school. With that, everything changes for the worse as Christopher’s wife and daughter all see his life being consumed and determined by the lifestyle of all work and no fun.  
  2. What about today: Often times as we go through life we are thinking about the future. The “what ifs, future trips, and plans”. Have you really thought about this? If we are constantly dreaming of the future, we are missing out on much of what life has to offer right now. We are missing what God has planned for us today. When Christopher Robin yells at the top of his lungs at Winnie the Pooh and falls into a pit does he realize his work and life have driven out all the happiness and joy for today.  Christopher Robin then embarks on the road to finding himself, his family, Pooh, and the whole gang. “Sometimes doing nothing leads to the best something,” says Pooh to Christopher. By the end of the movie, the tables have turned and Christopher uses this line to save the company, his life, and his family. Today we will enjoy God’s blessings, share love with others, and do what God has called us to do. Our life is now, our life is today!
  3. Most important things: Christopher has no time for the things he once thought were important. He can’t be bothered with honey and heffalumps, tea parties, and pinned-on tails. He’s an adult now. He has a very important job and a family. His wife Evelyn loves him very much or, at least, she used to, back when he’d dance and laugh. Madeline is Christopher’s young daughter. Madeline has no time for play. Not with boarding school just a few weeks away. She must learn her arithmetic and keep up with her reading. She must work hard to be ready for the important things later on. We all live life through a lens.  We see life, people, and God through a certain internal lens called attitude and perspective.  There are many things that can and will blur the focus of our lives if we don’t maintain our focus on what is important. Christopher Robin is about how we often forget who we really are, how we settle to live in a reality consumed and determined by money and work. Our families and friends and even our quality of life are far more important than deadlines and overtime. Don’t make a living at the expense of having a life.  

Discussion Questions:

  1. When is a time you have experienced the best of something through a time of doing nothing? 
  2. Christopher Robin prioritized work for him and his daughter as the top priority but then realized that family should always be the top priority. What are some of the priorities in your life? Is family first or a top priority?
  3. Pooh Bear and Christopher Robin say that “doing nothing often leads to the very best kind of something”. What do you think that meant to them? How does it relate to you?
  4. Each character has a very distinct personality. Which of Christopher Robin’s friends do you relate to most? Which was your favorite?
  5. Life demands our attention and, more often than not, our schedules are packed full of “very important things.” What matters most in your life? What areas in your life are taking away from what matters most? What can you do today to focus on what matters to you?
  6. Read Matthew 6:25-34: As you read this passage, what most resonates with you and why? What does this passage say about God and His care for you? What is Jesus asking of us in this passage?
  7. If you had to explain the main point of the sermon to someone who wasn’t there, what would you say?
  8. Which points from the sermon connected with you the most? Why?
  9. How was your perspective challenged? How did that impact you?
  10. What’s the easiest part of the message for you to apply to your life? What’s the hardest? Why?
  11. How would next week look different for you if you took action steps to apply what you heard?

Take one thing home with you:

“When it was evening, Jesus sat down at the table with the Twelve.” (Matt. 26:20)

Jesus spent his last hours of freedom with His disciples, teaching them how to remember Him, and sharing the foundations of the gospel with them.  Jesus spent his whole life choosing to do the most important thing at any given moment. He stopped to heal the sick when they crossed his path. He sat on a mountainside to speak life to a waiting crowd. He prayed for children, even as His disciples scolded the people for bringing them to Him. He looked a bleeding woman, a blind man, and a beggar in the eyes and gave them personalized hope. Jesus never skimmed over the significant to pursue the petty. Nor should we. We should cherish what matters most and make the most of each day. This week, take a step towards spending more time doing what matters the most.