December 26th Family Christmas Questions / Advent Study
Here are the next questions for your family Christmas Study or Advent Study. They are followed by a creative idea on keeping Christ in your family Christmas. The answers to the questions appear at the end of this blog. One great benefit of doing this with your family is that it will become a tradition which transcends the Advent Season whereby you do a short daily Bible study as a family at every meal throughout the year. Answer each question True or False
According to the Bible… 1) _____ After Jesus’, Joseph and Mary remained in Bethlehem and set up housekeeping.
2) _____ Shortly after Jesus’ birth they were married and at the ceremony the prophetess Ramona prophesied concerning the death of the baby Jesus.
3) _____ Jesus was a beautiful baby who grew into a handsome man with long flowing hair.
Keeping Christ In Christmas - Thank You Cards… Today’s suggestion for Keeping Christ In Christmas is very simple. A. Every member of the family sits down at the dinner table to talk about what they received this Christmas. This discussion centers on Grace – which is receiving that which is not deserved. All gifts came not as a right but as a result of the loving grace of a friend or loved one. B. From there you talk once again of the loving grace of God in sending His only Son and the loving grace of Jesus in coming. C. Lastly each member thanks God for His loving grace and the loving grace of friends and family who gave so generously. D. Then you all begin to write Thank You Cards. You cannot complain about the materialism of Christmas and the unthankful attitude of your children on the one hand and then not send out Thank You Cards on the other. The latter combats the former. John Crawford a spiritual mentor of mine (Missionary to New Zealand and my supervisor in the Navigators) once told me that virtually all passages in Scripture concerning grace were followed by a direct application involving works. Example: Ephesians 2:8-10 GRACE - 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. WORKS - 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Your application of the grace of Christmas this year and every year should be the work of writing personal thank you cards with pen and ink. (Not a generic Facebook post). Something physical was given you and some physical expression of thanks should be returned.
The Answers to today’s Advent Questions -
1. T - Matthew 2:11 (After the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary remained in Bethlehem and set up housekeeping.) By the time the Magi found Jesus, Mary and Joseph were no longer at the manger. They had evidently found a house to live in and had set up housekeeping. Jesus was living in a house, with His parents in Bethlehem.
2. F – Revelation 22:18 & 19 (Shortly after Jesus’ birth they were married and at the ceremony the prophetess Ramona prophesied concerning the death of the baby Jesus.) There is no historical narrative of the wedding of Joseph and Mary. We do know from the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1:16 that Joseph and Marry were at some point married. We also know that in Matthew 1:24 God the Holy Spirit specifically tells us that Joseph “took Mary as his wife”. This however is all that is known. All non-biblical traditions and speculations of Joseph’s and Mary’s wedding, Joseph’s reaction to Jesus’ Deity, Joseph’s and Mary’s marriage, how Joseph and Mary raised Jesus during His childhood and teen years, what became of Joseph during Jesus’ earthly ministry and the state of the marriage of Joseph and Mary during Jesus’ earthly ministry, all these and more are purely fictitious and should be avoided as commanded by the Holy Scriptures in I Timothy 4:7.
3. F - Isaiah 53:1-3; Deuteronomy 22:5; Matthew 13:54 – 56; I Corinthians 6:9; 11:14 (Jesus was a beautiful baby who grew into a handsome man with long flowing hair.) The Bible clearly says that Jesus was not of striking appearance and would not stand out in a crowd. (Isaiah 53:1 – 3) His appearance was certainly not of the nature that would strike awe into people. People tended to be impacted by what Jesus had to say. His appearance did not seem to exert any influence upon them in terms of belief in His teachings or acceptance of Him as a great man or teacher. (Matthew 13:34 – 36) The prohibition of God the Holy Spirit in Deuteronomy 22:5 of dressing like a woman, the prohibition of men wearing long hair in I Corinthians 11:14 and the prohibition in I Corinthians 6:9 of being effeminate in appearance or manner, would deny Jesus the long flowing hair and effeminate dress and demure, as is so often attributed to Him in paintings. The actions of God the Son will always conform with both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit and it is unthinkable to assume that He would ever be in conflict with the standards put forth by God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in the Word of God. Classic sculptures of the time, which have remained intact to this day, depict men of that period and locale as clean shaven with short closely cropped hair. As a carpenter’s son, Jesus was certainly not the wan, skinny figure depicted in Renaissance paintings. Rather this depiction of Christ reflects the decadence of the aristocracy of the Renaissance period, rather than historical and Scriptural accuracy. Who knows how our continued insistence to depict God in pictures and sculptures, despite the Biblical injunctions to the contrary (Exodus 20:4 & 5), will confuse and muddle the truth of Christ in future generations? Certainly it has already been a great distraction and stumbling block in the modern mission movements as these depictions create a false impression in the minds of Africans, Asians and Middle-Eastern cultures that Christianity is a Western Religion. It is not the Word of God that creates this impression but rather the misplaced zeal of western artists.
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