Here are the next two questions for your family Christmas Study or Advent Study. They are followed by a creative idea on keeping Christ in your family Christmas with the answers at the end. 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… 4) _____ In accordance with the early Church in the Book of Acts and the teachings of the Apostles, we celebrate the birth of Christ each year.
5) _____ Contrary to conventional wisdom, the Christmas Revelation actually spans a period of several years.
6) _____ Unlike many of the priests, Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes of the time, Zacharias was both righteous and blameless in his service of the Lord.
Keeping Christ in your Christmas - At the dinner table and at bedtime get in the habit of worshiping through song. Choose a Christmas hymn and sing together as a family. Also at bedtime sing a Christmas hymn. Avoid the temptation to sing the more familiar secular songs and contemporary Christian "story songs" but rather teach your children the great doctrinal truths of Christmas through song. For a list of Christmas hymns with great family projects copy and paste this link - http://gciweb.org/documents/Misc%20Studies/Seasonal/Christmas/Christmas%20Carols%20&%20The%20Word.pdf also this is an excellent web site for great hymns - http://nethymnal.org/
Now the answers for today's Advent Questions... 4. F – (In accordance with the early Church in the Book of Acts and the teachings of the Apostles, we celebrate the birth of Christ each year.) There is no record in the Holy Scriptures of the celebration of Christmas. Both Galatians 4:8 – 11 and Colossians 2:16 – 19 free us as Christians living under the New Covenant from the forced observances of dates. Romans 14: 4 – 8, allows for the free observance of dates as a form of worship and faith. The observance of Christmas as an act of worship, thanksgiving and meditation is a matter of conscience and one may choose to observe or not to observe this holiday as a matter of personal conviction. In terms of Church history, the actual celebration of Christmas has not been uniform. In fact there was a time in England during the period of Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan roundheads that the celebration of Christmas was outlawed. This was done not out of secular but rather, religious conviction. The date of Easter, being fixed by the Bible was remembered, but Christmas being neither fixed in scripture, nor alluded to in the Word of God, was outlawed as Roman Catholic superstition. Christmas as we know it today, and the prevalent message of the ambiguous “spirit of Christmas” is as widely attributed to the writings of Charles Dickens. Should secular governments cease to recognize a “Christmas Holiday” they would do so in violation to the Doctrine of Dickens, but it would have no significance in light of the Holy Scripture. As Christians, this observance is an excellent opportunity to share Christ within our sphere of influence and we should by all means take advantage of the support of popular culture as long as it lasts.
5. T - Luke 1:1-2:38; Matthew 1:18- 2:23 (Contrary to conventional wisdom, the Christmas Revelation actually spans a period of several years. ) The Christmas Revelation as described in the Holy Scriptures, spans a time period of several years. The actual time frame work extended from the announcement of the impending pregnancy of Elizabeth and subsequent birth of John the Baptist to the return of Jesus from exile in Egypt.
6. T – Luke 1:5 – 9 (Unlike many of the priests, Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes of the time, Zacharias was both righteous and blameless in his service of the Lord.) Unlike many of the participants in the events surrounding Christ’s birth who were either by standers (the shepherds), ignorant (the scribes), corrupt (Herod) or outright pagan (the Magi) it is recorded of Zacharias in Luke 1:6, that he was, “righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.”
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