Body-Builders
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Issue 10 from |
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In this issue ·
What Should We Do With Christmas? ·
Feedback For new subscribers: ·
Introducing
“Artios Ministries” |
Welcome to Body-Builders! This is a new series of teaching articles intended to
bless and build the Body of Christ. I trust you enjoy this tenth issue, and I welcome your
feedback. A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! Every blessing, George Alexander For Artios Ministries |
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1In those days
Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire
Roman world. (This was the first
census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own
town to register. 4So Joseph
also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the
town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with
Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the
time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her
firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in
cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the
inn. 8And there
were shepherds living out in the fields near by, keeping watch over their
flocks at night. 9An angel
of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were terrified. 10But
the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people. 11Today
in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the
Lord. 12This will be a
sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13Suddenly a
great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and
saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men
on whom his favour rests.” 15When the
angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,
“Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord
has told us about.” 16So
they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in
the manger. 17When they had
seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this
child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds
said to them. 19But Mary
treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which
were just as they had been told. |
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What have
we done with Christmas? We’ve commercialised
it. The evidence is around for all to
see. We’ve dramatised
it. A lot has been read in to the
verses above. Every Nativity Play
depicting Mary and Joseph trudging unsuccessfully from inn to inn in search
of accommodation—until finally one kind-hearted but full-up innkeeper offers
his stable—is entirely based on the last phrase of verse 7, “there was no
room for them in the inn”! We’ve romanticised
it. To many today, the word “manger”
is a term for the type of cradle into which to place a Messiah when He’s born! (If you’re one of them, look up the word
in a dictionary!) We’ve synthesised
it. We have images of Christmas
all merged together. There in the
centre is the Baby Jesus with His devoted parents around the tree. On the one side are the three shepherds,
humble and kneeling. On the other
side are the three wise men in their resplendent robes and festal finery
(even though they arrived up to two years later!). In the background, in the soft focus and sweet-smelling straw,
the animals look silently on.
Overhead in the glittering starlight, snowmen are flying. And, along with Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer, the jolly figure of Santa Claus arrives with a “Ho! Ho! Ho!”, while
the skies are filled with angels singing “Jingle Bells”! Somewhere
in it all, Jesus is born! And the
message of Christmas is the message of His birth. In view of
all the secularisation, and on the other hand in view of all the debunking
there is in what Jack Hayford famously called “the spirit of holy humbug”,
what should we do with Christmas? How
should we respond? We should respond
with joy It was a
night like any other: dark, clear, routine.
The people had a high Messianic expectation, but they weren’t on the
lookout for angels! Yet suddenly an
angel appeared in the light of the glory of God and with the good news of
great joy, together with a whole army of praising angels. On that
significant night, all the years and all the prophecies from Genesis 3:16 on
were coming to fulfilment. Heaven was
rejoicing, and the celebration broke through on earth—a wondrous and unique
drama co-featuring angels and men. It was the
greatest event in history to date, and almost everybody missed it! It went unnoticed by Herod; unnoticed by
the Romans, even though God used their census to bring it about; unnoticed by
the Jewish leaders, who knew all the facts, but missed the fulfilment;
unnoticed by the ordinary Jews. And
yet it was witnessed: it was witnessed by the lowly and despised
shepherds; witnessed by Mary and Joseph; witnessed by Simeon and Anna; and
later by the Magi. All the
witnesses knew the joy the angel mentioned!
The only reason not to rejoice about Christmas is that we don’t know
about it! We should respond with joy! We should respond
with wonder Verse 11
teems with meaning: a Saviour has been born who is Christ (Messiah) the
Lord (a name used by the Jews for God, and by the Greeks for kings whom
they hailed as gods). A Saviour saves,
a Lord is served. A Saviour offers
service, a Lord demands it. Yet
here we see the Lordship of the Saviour, the greatness of humility, the
Majesty of service—Almighty God born in a stable! Songwriters
have attempted to capture the paradox.
Charles Wesley wrote: Our God contracted to a span, Incomprehensibly made man. and again: Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the incarnate Deity! Graham
Kendrick wrote: Oh what a mystery, Meekness and Majesty and Michael
Card: And so the Light became alive, and manna became Man. Eternity stepped into time so we could understand.
Like Mary, we can treasure up these things and ponder
them in our heart. And we should
respond with wonder! We should respond with proclamation In verse 17, we see that the shepherds, the first men to
know apart from the family, responded with proclamation. Having seen, they proclaimed what had been
proclaimed to them. And it was
a past tense proclamation—“a Saviour has been born”. This is not some wild-eyed wishful
speculation, but is based on hard demonstrable fact. Like the shepherds, we can see for
ourselves. In verse 12, they were
given a sign, a sign that we miss because we forget what “manger”
means. It was unusual to find
a newborn baby placed in an animal’s feeding trough! Our gospel proclamation today is not
wishful thinking, but is confident hope based on historical fact. So we rejoice, and we experience wonder—and also we proclaim. We should respond with proclamation. We should respond with praise and worship The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for
all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been
told.
Lk 2:20 Every detail of Scripture is important. It wasn’t just the words they had heard,
even angelic words. They had seen—it
had become real to them.
Therefore they praised God out of personal revelation of the truth—and
so should we! It was just one night.
Apart from Simeon and Anna and the Magi, the next episode of the drama
would not be for another thirty years!
The angel had said, “I bring you good news of great joy that will
be for all the people” (Lk 2:10). We
may wonder if any of the shepherds would still be alive then … of course we
don’t know. But as the events of that
night faded into a happy memory, and now thirty years must pass before the
next instalment, all they—and all we—can do is to glorify and praise
God. And to do so out of a personal
revelation of the truth—because it’s become real to us. So we dwell on the memory of this Christmas event, for it
leads us to respond with praise and worship. This Christmas, don’t be caught in the commercialisation,
and neither be carping or critical.
But respond with joy, with wonder, with proclamation,
with praise and worship—glorifying the God who came! George
Alexander December
2004 Note:
All Bible quotations are NIV unless otherwise stated. |
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News and Update |
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Christmas is almost upon us, with all
that that has come to mean. Some people
are expectant, some are resigned, some are worn out, and some are all
wrapped, organised and peaceful (others are jealous!). Whoever you are, take time to reflect on
Jesus and the wonder of the Incarnation. The article in this issue has a
seasonal focus. All feedback
appreciated. There’s update information on the Artios School of Theology. In addition, there are now links available to previous issues
of Body-Builders that you may have missed. Check out www.artios.org. It’s still under construction, but a little more helpful than
it was! I continue to receive more requests to
subscribe to Body-Builders. If you
have received this e-mail second-hand and would like to be subscribed, please
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developments in the New Year. Return
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Previous Body-Builders |
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You
may have missed or mislaid a previous issue of Body-Builders. If so, don’t despair! They can be accessed by clicking the links
below: Issue
2 (The Beginning of Life) Issue
3 (Getting the Word Out) Issue
5 (The Purpose of the Church) Issue
6 (Pointers to Personal Purpose) Issue
8 (Laying Hold of the Word) Issue
9 (The Community of Perfect Love) |
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Artios School of Theology |
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Artios
School of Theology is a modular course leading to a Diploma in Theology from Artios
Ministries. The first run of the
School, with classes held in Dunfermline, is currently under way. The first
module, Old Testament Survey, had eighteen students enrolled, and was
completed in June. The second module,
“Acts of the Apostles” had seventeen students, and has just completed. The
next module will be “Gifts and Ministries”, and registration is now
open. Classes will be held in
Dunfermline starting in January. For
more information on the Artios School of Theology, please click here*. For specific information on the next
module, please click here. At present, the course cannot be offered
by extension (distance learning), but it is hoped to make this available in
the future. *
If you tried this and it didn’t work, you may have to download an Acrobat
Reader first. This is available free
of charge from Adobe. To get it,
click here. |
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Introducing Artios Ministries
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Artios Ministries is a new
ministry launched officially in October 2003. The Founder and Director
is George Alexander. For 12 years, George pastored Liberty Church in
Dunfermline, Scotland, before being released in 1997 to a wider teaching
ministry. The aims of Artios
Ministries are: 1.
To proclaim the Christian doctrine and principles through teaching,
literature, and other means 2.
To provide Biblical education and ministry training 3.
To promote good practice and sound doctrine in the Church of Jesus
Christ Artios Ministries is a
charitable trust recognised in Scotland as Scottish Charity number SC 034194. |
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“Artios” is a Greek word occurring in the
New Testament. It means, “complete, fitted, completely qualified,
with all its needed parts”. It occurs, together with another word derived
from it, in 2 Timothy 3:16,17 “All scripture is inspired by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for
every good work.” RSV |
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Contact Information |
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Difficulties or Comments? Just click here and let us know. |
Artios Ministries 13 Whinhill Dunfermline Fife KY11 4YZ U.K. |
01383-739537 (+44-1383-739537) |
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© Copyright 2004 Artios Ministries |
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