It All Began In A Manger

Fear not! Good News! That’s how you could sum up the message of the angels. Don’t be afraid! I’ve come from God to tell you that He loves you and that the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem is also the divine Savior of the world, the Messiah you’ve been waiting so long for! Yes, God demanded a human sacrifice, and He also demanded perfection of that sacrifice. But the Great News for you is that Jesus is both! He’s man and He’s God, and because of that, He brings salvation to all who believe in Him. One day He will die just as He was born - without respect, with only a few believers standing by, a commoner shunned by the world. But His death and His resurrection will be your salvation and your eternal life! So Fear not! Good News!

Fear Not! Good News! Oh, how we need to hear that today! How many fears do we bring with us this morning? Fears for our health, our finances, our loved ones, our marriage, our nation, our world. Why don’t we have that same joy that the Shepherds felt after they got the news and saw the baby, and went home praising God? After all, we’re Christians. We believe in the story of Christmas. Jesus lives in our hearts through faith. Then why we do we fear? Let me ask you this morning: What do you see? Right now, what do you see? Do you see angels filling this sanctuary? Do you see them hovering over you? Because, they’re here! They’re here for you, just like the angels were there for the Shepherds.

The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 1:14, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” That’s us - by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, who shed His perfect blood for you, you will inherit salvation. And because of that, God’s angels minister to you - right now. Don’t fear! I think we do fear so many things in our lives because we forget - we forget God’s awesome promises to be with us, to help us, to send angels to minister to us. We forget because so often we don’t take the time to stand in His presence and see His awesome glory and feel His love, like the shepherds did.

We stand in God’s presence when we worship, when we study and meditate on God’s Word, when we pray, when we join with other Christians in small group Bible studies, when we hang out with strong Christian friends who encourage us in the faith, when we watch TV and listen to radio and read things that educate us and inspire us in our faith. But, I know at least for myself, too often I end up listening to more bad news than good. We read things that give us no hope. We watch shows that teach us that this life is all there is - and the only good things are money, sex, and power. On this Christmas day we can regain that attitude of courage and confidence and praise when we take the time to stand in God’s presence, just like the shepherds. In Acts chapter 5, the disciples Peter and John were arrested for preaching the Gospel and put in jail. The next day, when they were brought before the religious leaders, they spoke boldly about Jesus. Verse 13 says, “When the religious leaders saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” That attitude of courage and confidence and praise in life come from spending time with Jesus, something all of us can do.