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THE COLBORNE CHRONICLE Thursday December 22nd 1960 orae .tolfeHojl THE PURPOSE OF HIS BIRTH Rev by J. A. Shantz "For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord -- Luke 2:11." Laying aside all controversey men have placed against the Biblical account and reason for His birth, we should like to see the purpose of His birth. Ever since the sin of Adam and Eve, the fellowship between man and God is broken, separated by a vast gap. Throughout the Old Testament, God began to reveal Himself to mankind, especially to the Israelitish nation, by a progressive unfolding of His ultimate and future perfect revelation, which came in the Lord Jesus Christ. The fact that man was separated from God's fellowship by sin, and man cannot go to God as a sinner, made it necessary for God, in the person of the Lord Jesus, to come to man. One of the purposes of His coming was to declare God to all men. Herein is a unique thing, that God being Spirit, should clothe Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus with human flesh. By the ideals and character which were evident in His life among us we see God. He spoke the words God gave Him. Often Jesus did not do that which was acceptable to the ligious heirarchy of that < yet he refused to conform only when man made laws hid or perverted the commandments and will of God. Jesus came to declare God to mankind, people living under the law were only condemned, their hearts were not cleansed of sin they needed grace and truth. The Law being insufficient for the heart of man, Jesus came to bring grace and truth. - John 1:17. The Lord Jesus was born to die. In John 18:37 "--. To this ei>d was 1 born, and for this cause came I into the World --". While this was spoken in direct answer to Pilate's question, it nevertheless was intended to mean for us the fact that the birth and life on earth of Jesus Christ was a progression to the death on the cross. The death of Jesus Christ stands in a peculiar relation to all of his life. The death of Christ was the purpose of his birth. All his ministry and teachings pointed to the time of His death and resurrection. The Jewish people j were looking for a political] leader or King. Jesus said, "My; kingdom is not of this world: if! my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight, John 18:36. Jesus was to establish the kingdom of God in the hearts and lives of men and women and to do this He was the One who could provide the secrifice which would thrust out the kingdom of darkness and) make way for the kingdom of truth and light. Another purpose of His birth was that He might be our Brother. Jesus is the Son of God, the only begotten, but by the washing of regeneration we Brethren. We being sinners do not belong to the family of God, actually, we are in the family of Satan in our unregenerate state. Since we are in the wrong family by virtue of our physical birth we must be adopted into the family of God by the second or spiritual birth. Jesus speaking to a most educated Jewish rabbi said, "Ye must be born again." Since His death provided the propitiation for our sins, we may now, if we will, by faith be adopted into the family of God, having Jesus as our Brother. Several scriptures tell us that we are joint-heirs with Him, "That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:7. This Christmas Season, are you a fellow-heir with Jesus Christ to eternal life? Too, He was born that He might lift man to the throne, "Must Jesus bear the cross alone," yes He did, to provide the way of Salvation for each one of us. We too, must bear our cross as we walk this earthly pilgrimage. Aptly, the Hymn of the Church says, There was no other good enough! To pay the price of sin; He only could unlock the gate Of heaven, and let us in. This is most unique, that God Himself provided the atonement for our sins, as He alone is Perfect, and that He became a human being, that He could fully take our place in the atonement of our sins. In Jesus Christ, incarnate in human flesh, the Son of God, the only Begotten, dearly be-{ loved of the Father, perfect in: His humanity and perfect in Divinity yet united, we find the answer to our need of a Saviour ] from our sins. His name is Emmanuel -- God with us. MADE IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN by Rev. F. W. Taylor Phillipians 2:6-7. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. At this season of the year we commemorate and celebrate the' birth of Jesus; that the Son of' God and the Saviour of the\ world was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the King; that deity and divinity appeared in human form. The; thought that God should have come to earth in the Babe of Bethlehem's manger has been a stumbling block to unbelieving minds throughout all the centuries. It only needed to hap-1 pen once and that once was in' the fulness of time, when the world was ready and the time! was ripe. One does not derty j there are difficulties in this | claim. But we can only let the records speak for themselves, or the birth and life and words and deeds and death and the resurrection of Jesus speak for themselves. After all His life is as great a mircle as His birth. His life is just as difficult to ex-1 plain as His birth since never man spake or lived as Jesus did. The event of Jesus' birth brought joy to the angels in, heaven. It just seems they knew Him so well, loved Him so much, served Him so devotedly, that, when He was coming to earth they gave Him their angelic salutation and joined in their parting song. They appreciated what He had been doing and wished Him well in His new undertaking or role. It was a farewell and good wishes. Paul tells us that by Jesus' coming into the world He did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped at or held or preferred. Some may think of it as a stepping down for Jesus. But surely the will of God is never a stepping down no matter where it may take us. We should always be ready to do the will of God, to step down or stand back or aside if in so doing the will of God is being done and the work of God carried forward. After all the work of the Church or Kingdom does not exist to exalt us or to place us on a pedestal and keep us there to receive the plaudits and the praise of men. We should be at our Father's service whatever He wants us to do or needs to be done and wherever He wants us to go regardless of discomfort, inconvenience or sacrifice, j With vivid imagination and spiritual sensivity and knowledge of scripture Paul saw the coming of Jesus as a humiliation as making Himself of no reputation. While doing the will of God in any way at any time and in any place gives dignity and divinity to that life and service, still the coming to earth from heaven was such a change as to give the appearance of actual humiliation. We are not in a position to know exactly what life in the presence of God is like. But the glory of God, the glory of heaven, the glory of the Kingdom of God far surpass even the so called glories of this world and this life. A tremendous gulf separates the two worlds. Paul thought of Jesus as having dwelt in the presence of God, in all His majesty, glory, power and knowledge. Paul then thinks of Jesus emptying Himself of all these glories and entering into a world of sin, suffering, sorrow and selfishness. He took upon Himself the limitations of human nature in body, existence and activity. He left the presence of God not only to dwell in a sinful world but to die upon a criminal's cross. Just as the great plan of redemption was begun and perfected by the self denying process so must we as Jesus' followers and witnesses of His gospel be emptied of Self. Yes, God and Jesus did something about man and the world's condition. God did not leave the world to itself. Jesus didn't think of His own pre-existent comfort, prestige, dignity and superiority. He was thinking of man and his plight and what He could do for man, something that he couldn't do for himself. He came down, or plunged in if you like, to save a dying and drowning world. That self emptying or putting God and the saving of the world first must take place in the Church's life and in the Christian's life. Jesus left heaven to deal with the ugly fact of sin and wickedness in order to set up something of the Kingdom in the hearts of men. We too must do something similar to save ourselves from negative and empty living. We must give ourselves to 1he will of God and the winning of men to Him. For these and many other reasons Jesus came to earth on that first Christmas Day and was "made in the likeness of THE PRINCE OF PEACE Rev. R. K. HARRIS "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 Once again the Christmas season is upon us and the general poplace is caught up in the swirl of customary activities. Perhaps I could say that this is the most troubled Christmas this old world has ever faced. Nation is rising against nation and internal upheavals are rampant in nearly every country on the face of the globe. Turning from the political scene we find discorn raging among commerce and industy with so many strikes and so much unemployment to say nothing of the chaos reaching into the family circles as divorce and separation is on the upward trend. In spite of it all the cry of the hearts of men and women everywhere is for peace. My Bible tells me, "When they cry peace and safety sudden destruction cometh upon them." Surely we can see that in spite of the cry of the general populace for peace, world, commercial and domestic situations are becoming steadily worse. What then is the answer? Somehow I think we can find the reason for such dire conditions if we consider the closed Bibles, sparcely attended and often discontinued prayer meetings, as well as the empty church pews on the Lord's day. The World today is not giving the Lord His rightful place and since the Prince of Peace is not ruling our nations and hearts but rather greed, hate, and avarice, how can we expect to have anything else, but chaos. I have spoken to some professing Christians who, because Christmas is on Sunday this year, resent spending even one hour in the house of worship. They are more taken up with celebrations and revelings than to doing honour to God on the birthday of the Redeemer. There cannot be peace in the home or the nation or the world until peace first begins in the individual heart yet if we cannot give Him one hour at least on Christmas day are we giving the Prince of Peace His rightful place in our lives? Until we do we cannot know real peace in any respect. As Christmas day draws near urge people everywhere to start the day by giving some time to worship at the church of your choice, and pray that The Prince of Peace shall be given His rightful place throughout the whole world that true Peace might come upon us all in reality. / CHRISTMAS MESSAGE by Rev. W. E. Sayers, M.A. St. John calls Jesus Christ 'THE WORD' (John, Chapter 1). What are words? First of all, they are symbols. The word 'paper', for example, is not identical to what you are holding in your hands! The word itself symbolizes; describes; identifies. And so St. John means that Jesus Christ symbolizes, describes, and identifies God. This otherwise unknowable Word became flesh. It became knowable. It became man as the living description and identification of God in the world. And words are our means of communication one with another. Words are the means whereby we apprehend the minds -of other persons. Words convey ideas, and shape thinking. Words enable grasp new truths, and concepts of reality which we would never be aware of, unless someone else ] conveyed them to us, by the use of words. And so Jesus Christ, 'THE WORD', is the way in which God has communicated with us. Through Him we apprehend -- to a limited extent -- the mind of God. Jesus Christ is God, and He conveys to us the idea of God. That is why He said "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me". He is the only communication between us and God. Our knowledge of Him changes our thinking, and we have a grasp of reality which goes beyond the natural dimensions of space and time, for eternity itself is communicated to us. But thirdly, words are also used in order that we might express ourselves. Love bottled up Inside us is torment. But by words we express it; we 'let it out'; we say 'I love you'! Words are used to express our gratitude, and appreciation; our feelings; our thoughts; our concepts; our plans; and our purpose and goals! And so "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life". Jesus Christ is God's expression of His love, and God's Word reveals God's purpose to us -- that we might all have everlasting life! "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us . . . .". The Greek text says literally: "And the expression of God became human and made His temporal dwelling midst . . . !" That Word was identifying God; communicating God; expressing God! God love, and God did this because He loves us! That is why the angels sang, and why we sing with such joy at Christmas. Very God Himself came into the world as a babe in Bethlehem, so that you and I might know God personally! The tree; the presents; the turkey -- all these are nice, but unessential extras! They serve to express our joy, and jubilation! But the real Christmas itself is in our rejoicing that now we know God. We rejoice that "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father", for "I am in the Father, and the Father in me"! Christmas has eternity in it! It has the love of God in it, and is indeed, the expression of God's love for us! All this is what John means when he says that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us! CHRISTMAS 1960 by Rev. J. A. Roney To show His love for us Jesus came to be a babe in Bethlehem; He came to befriend the unlovable; He came to die for us. To show your love for Him come to sing His praises; Come to adore Him; come to receive Him in Church on Christmas Day. He is what we all need -- not the cake or pudding, or holly and mistletoe, or presents and a tree. We need the Saviour of the world, whom the angel called Emmanuel -- "God with us". He is not in a manger, nor in the fields, nor by the Sea of Galilee, nor on the Cross, but would be with us. There is an opportunity this Christmas to receive Him and let Him begin, or renew His work of love in us. Far better than my words are those of the old Wexford Carol. "Good people all, this Christmas time, Consider well and bear in mind What our good God for us has done In sending His beloved Son. With Mary holy we should pray To God with love this Christmas Day, In Bethlehem upon that morn There was a blessed Messiah born." May the Peace and Joy of Jesus Christ fill your heart and overflow into the World. "CHRISTMAS' by Rev. James Gibson We wish everyone of our friends in Colborne a Christian Christmas. By this we mean a Christ-honouring, joy continuing Christmas. This day which commemorates the birth of Christ is noted more for feasting, and for the giving and receiving of gifts, yet, the most precious and costly gift (The Lord Jesus) is undervalued by the majority of people. Let this not be true of those who prefess to love and serve Him. He should be precious to us, not only at Christmas, but every day throughout the year. Someone has said, "If you confine Christmas to a day, you miss the meaning of it". If you try to crain it into twenty-four hours, you crush it and lose the essence of it. Above and beyond all consideration of friendship and family ties lies this supreme joy: God is our Father; Jesus Christ is our Saviour: We are His and He is ours. While the home-coming of children and the gathering together of friends not a custom to be condemned, yet how much better it would be to weave more of the real spirit of the day into those gatherings -- then what glorious results wOuld be forthcoming! Surely every thought of Christmas time must write on our hearts and minds once again the message of God's love for us. Then as our hearts overflow with the joy of this wonderful message, other souls will hear of the Christ who can save and satisfy all those who put their trust in Him. "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved". Let us make it known everywhere, that the greatest blessings which are ours at Christmas are ours because Christ came.