|
Body-Builders |
|||
|
Issue 23 from |
|
||
|
In this issue ·
The Stone Has Been Rolled Away ·
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 issue, and I welcome your feedback. For my latest personal newsletter, please click here. Every blessing, George Alexander For Artios Ministries |
||
|
You can now subscribe a friend to Body-Builders
(and please do!). Just click here.
Your friend will first receive an e-mail offering the chance to
subscribe. (To
update your own information or to unsubscribe, see the links at the end.) |
|||
|
(For a
printer-friendly version of this article, click here.) Easter. Even the
word is controversial. In most
languages, the word used for the celebration is the word for Passover. As best, the term “Easter” is a little
suspect, being apparently derived from the name of a pagan goddess. But whatever the celebration is called, we
understand that it’s a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And yet, like Christmas, it has been commercialised and
adapted, so that for some, Easter is about presents, chocolate and the Easter
Bunny! The association with chocolate
is because Easter Eggs are often made of chocolate. And why eggs?
Simply because an egg looks like the stone that closed the tomb of
Jesus, and was found to be rolled away — and eggs can be rolled in imitation. Cutting through the confusion to the reality, we have
the following: 42It was
Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening
approached, 43Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the
Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to
Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. 44Pilate
was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already
died. 45When he learned
from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. 46So Joseph bought some linen
cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb
cut out of rock. Then he rolled a
stone against the entrance of the tomb.
47Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he
was laid. 16 When the Sabbath was over,
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that
they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2Very
early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their
way to the tomb 3and they asked each other, “Who will roll the
stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” 4But
when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been
rolled away. 5As they
entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the
right side, and they were alarmed. 6“Don't
be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was
crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going
ahead of you into Galilee. There you
will see him, just as he told you.’” 8Trembling
and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they
were afraid. Mark
15:42-16:8 On the way to the tomb, the women asked each other who
would roll away the stone. Actually the
answer to their question was “an angel”, but in a sense we don’t need to
know. The important thing, as in
verse 4, was that the stone had been rolled away. And that pictures for us the message of
Easter. Resurrection had swallowed
the Cross; the tomb was open, but empty — at least empty of dead bodies — the
bondage was broken, the victory complete.
God incarnate couldn’t be held.
He has risen! The stone symbolises restrictedness, bondage, and the
limitation of freedom. In the
proclamation of the Easter message, we can see several “stones” rolled away
in our own lives. The Stone of Doubt Our faith is not frivolous or airy-fairy. It’s not mysterious or esoteric. It’s clear and reasonable. And it’s soundly based on historical
facts. That Jesus lived and died on a
cross is not open to serious question.
The historical basis for His life is irrefutable. The divergence comes over the
resurrection. But even here, when the
facts are looked at and examined by the principles of logic and legal evidence,
the cogency of the argument in favour of resurrection renders it unreasonable
not to accept that Jesus rose from the dead. And if we accept that He did, then the basis of faith is
complete. The facts of the death of Jesus, though very
significant, don’t by themselves prove His claims. It’s the fact of His resurrection that does that. (See for instance Romans 1:4; 14:9; Acts
17:31; 1 Corinthians 15:12-20.) And
our faith is based on fact — fact that has happened in history,
and fact that stands up to all honest critical enquiry. As the well-known hymn puts it, “No
more we doubt Thee, glorious Prince of life.” Thomas is often referred to as “Doubting Thomas” because
he refused to believe that Jesus had risen unless he saw for himself. But the following week, when he did
see for himself, he believed. He was
Doubting Thomas no longer! The stone
of doubt had been rolled away. Paul wrote, “…everything that does not come from faith
is sin.” (Romans 14:23) As He took our sin, Jesus took our doubt
on the cross. The stone of doubt is removed, and the open and empty
tomb testifies to faith. The Stone of Despair For Jesus’ followers, all their hopes and plans had come
to nothing. They had witnessed His
miracles and been stirred by His teachings.
They had dared to believe that here was the promised Deliverer, who
would release them from their shame and lift their heads again. He’d been captured, and tried — but surely
He would make His move. He’d been
hung on a cross — yet maybe Elijah would save Him. But then He’d died, and been entombed. And all the expectation had apparently
come to nothing. It was the end, and
all that left was disappointment, hopelessness, and despair. On that first Easter Sunday, the Risen Jesus had an
ironic conversation with two followers on the road to Emmaus (see Luke
24:13-35). Their faces were downcast
and their hearts disappointed. Their
hope had come to nothing. They were
kept from recognising the identity of the one talking to them, but they heard
His words! As Jesus opened the
Scriptures to them, their hearts burned.
And as He opened their eyes, their despair was gone, and gone
forever. It was the time for
rejoicing. The stone of despair is removed, and the open and empty
tomb testifies to joy. The Stone of Defeat As Jesus hung on the cross, the on-lookers wondered if
He would yet turn the situation around.
Their language sounded as if they were goading Him to do so. Could He snatch victory from the jaws of
defeat? They would have liked to have
seen something unusual happen. But,
no, apparently it was defeat after all. And unseen by the on-lookers, it would appear that Satan
for a brief time thought he’d won, because Jesus had died “in sin”. But Satan had nothing in Jesus (see John
14:30) and He couldn’t be held. The
cross may have looked like defeat, but when coupled with and completed by the
resurrection, victory is revealed. The once-popular Diane Fung song says: Victory is on our lips
and in our lives For Jesus has surely
been raised from the dead. The stone of defeat is removed, and the open and empty
tomb testifies to victory. The Stone of Death Death is the last enemy, the culmination of Satan’s
corruption of God’s creation. The
finality of death is indicated in that when death occurs, we say things like,
“That’s it”, or, “It’s all over”. Had Lazarus still been alive when Jesus arrived, the
sisters would have sought His immediate help. But in the event, they did not say, “Lord, now that You are
here you can help”, but rather, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would
not have died.” Death having occurred
we think means that it’s “too late.” Not so for Jesus.
He actually died, yet it wasn’t the end. On the third day He crashed through death, shattering its
gates, and was raised to life! Death
could not hold Him, and it can no more hold us who are in Him! The stone of death is removed, and the open and empty
tomb testifies to life. The refrain is so familiar to Handel’s rousing tune: Thine be the glory, risen,
conquering Son, Endless is the victory
Thou o’er death hast won! In the resurrection, doubt becomes faith, despair
becomes joy, defeat becomes victory, and death becomes life,
for truly “He has risen!” George Alexander April 2007 Note: All Bible
quotations are NIV unless otherwise stated. For a printer-friendly
version of this article, click here.
|
|||
News and Update |
|||
|
Happy Easter! It’s the time of the year again when the Church of Jesus Christ
traditionally focuses on celebrating His Resurrection, and that is the theme
of the article in this Issue. All
feedback appreciated. In response to a request, printer-friendly versions of
the Body-Builder Articles are now available.
To access the list, click here. Also in this Issue, there’s general update information on the Artios School of Theology,
including correspondence
courses, and links to any
previous issues of Body-Builders that you may have missed. There’s also a link to my latest personal newsletter. After a little space to enable some other things to happen, the new Biblical Interpretation course module,
which had a record attendance, has just been completed in Dunfermline. (For more information about the current
module, click here.) A re-designed website
was launched in February. There is
still much development to do, but check it out anyway: www.artios.org So much unwanted e-mail flies around that ISPs are always trying new
ways to curtail it. This is generally
welcome, but it sometimes affects the distribution of the likes of
Body-Builders. We’re investigating
alternative ways to send out the Body-Builders, ways we trust will solve the
problems. In addition, please add mail@artios.org to your address book so that any
anti-spam software you may use doesn’t put the Body-Builders in the “Junk”
folder, but that you continue to receive them as normal. If you have difficulty opening these e-mails or if the text looks weird
and you suspect it’s not showing as it was intended to (I know it looks a
little strange in Hotmail for instance), please let me know and I’ll try to
solve the problem. Alternatively, you
could try the web version (click here). 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 click here. If you’d like to subscribe a friend,
please click here.
(The friend will first receive an e-mail offering the chance to subscribe.) Check out www.artios.org
for updates. More news and
developments soon …. Return to top
|
|||
Previous Body-Builders |
|||
|
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) Issue
10 (What Should We Do With Christmas?) Issue
12 (Internal Prosperity) Issue
13 (How To Develop Spiritual Strength) Issue
14 (Building the Walls of Your Life — 1) Issue
15 (Building the Walls of Your Life — 2) Issue
16 (Building the Walls of Your Life — 3) Issue
17 (Up and Down the Mountain) Issue
18 (Living in the Light of the Word — 1) Issue
19 (Living in the Light of the Word — 2) Issue
20 (Living in the Light of the Word — 3) Issue
21 (Living in the Light of the Word — 4) Issue
22 (Of Faith and Miracles) NEW! Printer-friendly versions of the
articles only are now available. To
access the list, click here. |
|||
Artios School of Theology |
|||
|
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 2004. The second module, “Acts
of the Apostles” had seventeen students, and completed in December 2004. That was followed by,
“Gifts and Ministries”, “Spiritual Dynamics”, and “New Testament Survey”,
which finished before Christmas 2005. In 2006, we have done “Romans”,
“Healing” and “Pastoral Epistles”.
Now in 2007 “Biblical Interpretation” is complete. The next module will be “Bible
Doctrines”, and will start later this month. If you’re within striking distance of Dunfermline, you can
register in advance for the next module. Click here. For general information on the Artios School of Theology,
please click here*. “Old Testament Survey”
is now available as a correspondence course (distance learning). The module comes with a notes booklet,
teaching sessions on audio, and email support. The audio teachings are recordings of the “live” class, and are
nominally 20 hours in length. There
is a charge for this course. To
apply, request more information, or ask a specific question, click here.
Other modules are
currently in preparation as correspondence courses and will be introduced
very soon. * 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. |
|||
Introducing Artios Ministries Building the
Body by Equipping the Saints |
|||
|
Artios Ministries
is a pastoral and teaching ministry launched in October 2003 and based in
Dunfermline, Scotland. Deeply concerned for the Church of Jesus Christ and
committed to its restoration to God’s original intention, Artios Ministries
seeks, in partnership with many others, to work towards the development,
maturity and completion of the many-membered Body of Christ on the earth, as
the whole Church attains to the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ. The Founder and Director of Artios Ministries is
Rev George Alexander.
An ordained minister, George has been privileged to serve in a
full-time ministry capacity for more than twenty years, spending most of that
time in pastoral ministry. Now
concentrating on teaching and training, he is still based at Liberty Church
in Dunfermline, where formerly he was Senior Pastor. George is married to Mary, and they have
four grown-up children. Artios Ministries is a charitable trust recognised in
Scotland as Scottish Charity number SC 034194. |
|||
|
“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 |
|||
|
Contact Information |
|||
|
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) |
|
|
© Copyright 2007 Artios Ministries |
|||
