Lessons of the Christmas Story
#3 – What We Can Learn from the Shepherds
Luke 2:8-20
December 24, 2006
(Idea for this message from AboutSunday.com)
The most overheard comments regarding bad Christmas gifts. So here they are, the top five most overheard comments regarding bad Christmas gifts…
5. Hey, now there’s a gift.
4. If the dog buries this, I’ll be furious.
3. I love it – but I fear the jealousy it will inspire.
2. To think – I get this on the year that I vowed to give all my gifts to charity.
And the #1 comment regarding a bad Christmas gift…
1. This is a perfect gift, for wearing around the basement.
So if you’ve heard any of those comments about a gift that you gave, now you know what they really meant.
(SermonCentral.com. Contributed by: Andrew Hoover)
Has anyone here ever wished they were famous at one time or another?
You know, being known all around the country or even the world for something, with people doing anything they could to be your friend.
Growing up, I had a couple of those episodes.
The first one I can remember is wanting to be a rock star. I had a cool stage name picked out, and had dreams of selling out concerts as we sang the biggest hits of the time.
I grew up mainly in the 70’s and 80’s during a time of loud guitars and big hair…
Even in college I had dreams of being big in the music business.
How many of you here aren’t afraid to admit that you know who Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass are?
Well, my dream in college was to have a band called, Brian La Croix and the “We-all-juana” Brass.
Unfortunately, that didn’t catch on all that well…
Another dream I had was to be a world-famous conductor like Leonard Bernstein, conducting Beethoven symphonies with the greatest orchestras in the world.
Bernstein had big hair, too…
Well, I’ve never been famous. No one from any of the major networks calls me to get my opinions about issues affecting our world, and there’ll never be a movie made about me.
I don’t get calls from anyone like Billy Graham or Chuck Swindoll or Rick Warren to come and preach for them.
I’ve yet to receive an e-mail from them saying they want to borrow one of my sermons for a massive outreach they’re doing.
I can only thank God that I’ve never been invited to be on “Oprah.”
God has pretty much changed my focus since those early days, and truth be told, I’ve actually had occasions on the other side of the spectrum, wondering if God could ever use me in any fashion whatsoever.
I mentioned those struggles a couple weeks ago.
I also mentioned past how sometimes we can start to wonder if God has anything has anything significant planned for us.
We can look at our circumstances and begin to think that our main purpose in life is just to suck up oxygen and try not to eat too much.
Forget about being famous, we just want to be recognized when we’re at the grocery store or McDonald’s or Cabella’s.
We like the feeling when someone calls to us from across the street just to wave and say hi. Or stops us in the soup aisle just to chat.
For a moment, we can feel special, even if it’s in a small way.
One of the greatest aspects of the Christmas story is how God used ordinary people, and even some who, according to their own social definitions would never be called on by God to do anything of any importance.
People that we can identify with. People like you and me. The shepherds in today’s passage are no different.
And today I want you to notice something that has the potential to change your life as we see God dealing with another bunch of ordinary yahoos like you and me.
We looked at a portion of this passage a few weeks ago, but wanted to revisit it for the purpose of this message.
Luke 2:8-20 (P. 725) –
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Have you really tried to sit back and imagine this scene? It’s hard for me, so I’m glad for all the movies I’ve seen.
One thing that all of the movies try to communicate was that the heavenly visitation was nothing short of awesome and spectacular.
And another thing: it was unique. Angels weren’t in the habit of showing up on Judean hillsides to chew the fat with shepherds.
“Wow! Did you see that? That was an angel over there!”
“Simmer down, whippersnapper. They’re here every week at this time. I’m just glad they wait until after supper…”
No. It was unique. Never happened before, and I don’t remember hearing about it happening since.
And as awesome and spectacular and unique as that was, the angelic appearance wasn’t the end, and it wasn’t even the high point.
The point of the angels visiting wasn’t to give something spectacular to write about in Scripture, although I’m glad we have it.
The angels were there to tell them one thing: go to Jesus.
And it was at the stable that these common shepherds were to have a personal experience with God Himself as He lay in that manger.
The angelic experience on the hillside was meant to lead them to a divine experience with Immanuel – God with us.
Here’s what I think is what we can learn from the shepherds, and I hope that you leave here today convinced of this to the very core of your being:
No one is too poor or too insignificant to have a personal experience with God.
Shepherds weren’t exactly at the top of the social scale in their day.
Movie and TV stars wouldn’t be lining up to go the New Year’s Ball the shepherds were having – if they had them.
The people would be too afraid of getting their fancy clothes dirty or stepping in sheep doo doo.
One of the reasons I think God chose the shepherds was because they were humble.
They didn’t have the baggage of self-importance that so many people carry, even many Christians. Even me, when I’m really honest with myself.
Among the occupations, shepherding had a lowly place. They were outcasts, not allowed in the city and not trusted by the general public, for often they were thieves. Luke gave this story about the shepherds for a reason. Jesus would come, not to the proud and powerful, but to the outcasts, the humble, those considered “last” on the social lists. To these men God brought the first news of his Son’s arrival.—Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary
No one is too poor or too insignificant to have a personal experience with God.
I’m wondering if maybe you’ve noticed something about this episode with the shepherds? Their names aren’t listed.
We have no idea who these guys are. We don’t have a record of their names. Apparently they didn’t sign a guest book at the stable before they grabbed some Chex mix and eggnog. But they’re part of the record of God.
The angels didn’t go the King, and they didn’t go to the religious leaders.
They went to the shepherds. That’s significant because…
No one is too poor or too insignificant to have a personal experience with God.
So what do we do with this?
Well for one thing, I think what many people need to do is to quit waiting for something spectacular like a visit from angels to get them to go to Jesus.
I think a lot of people are waiting for something “divine” to get them motivated to do something with God, and they end up either getting disappointed because they think God doesn’t care, or following the directions of false angels disguised as real angels right into error that will cost them and others their souls.
We have the Word of God. We have the God-breathed Word of God to help us have a personal experience with God.
Have you ever been in a conversation where you do all the talking, and it’s not because you can’t shut up? It’s because the other person doesn’t contribute to the conversation. It’s very uncomfortable, and you can get the idea that the other person doesn’t care for your company a whole lot.
The Bible is God’s part of the conversation, folks. He’s talking through the pages of Scripture. And He’s waiting for you to engage in the conversation.
The Bible is even better than the angels! The word of angels doesn’t compare to the Word of God.
Folks, if you want a personal experience with God, the door’s open. The invitation is given by God Himself. And…
No one is too poor or too insignificant to have a personal experience with God.
He invites you to experience Him through His Word, which is always true, and is still relevant for our lives in the 21st century.
The invitation is for all of us, for everyone who’ll take it, regardless of background or occupation.
Be intentional about getting in the Word of God. A week from tomorrow begins a new year. What a great time to make a goal of getting together with God in the Bible and prayer on a regular and consistent basis.
If you’ve never had a regular quiet time or devotions, start with a few minutes a day, three or four times a week. Then increase it to every day over time.
Maybe you’ve never read through the Bible in a systematic fashion. Start by reading a chapter a day from the New Testament, and you’ll get through the whole thing in a year.
But do something. If you want to experience God, you need to come to Him through the Scriptures.
It’s the Holy Spirit using the Scriptures that helps us understand God’s world and appreciate it more.
It’s the Holy Spirit using the Scriptures that helps us get through the storms of life and gain the most from the good times.
If you want to have a personal experience with God, come to Him through the Scriptures.
Let me say it one more time: No one is too poor or too insignificant to have a personal experience with God.
To God, no one is insignificant.
When Alan Keyes was in town at a pro-life rally before the election, he brought up an interesting fact, and it has stuck with me.
I am adamant about life beginning at conception. But I learned something from his speech.
When God called Jeremiah, He said –
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…”
Mr. Keyes pointed out that life begins, not at conception, but even before that. It begins in the mind of God.
And here’s what I want to tell you from that: this is not true only for Jeremiah or other prophets. It’s true for you and me as well.
When you were conceived, God already knew you. And He knew you would need forgiveness so He sent His Son to die for you.
And He knew that you and I would need to know about Him, too, and to experience Him as we go through a world full of hurt and sin, so He gave us His Word so we could have that experience.
This God who knew you even before you were conceived wants you to experience Him.
The God of the universe doesn’t care what you do for a living. He doesn’t care about your background. He doesn’t care about your economic status.
He simply wants you to experience Him. And He gives you the tools and the opportunity to do it.
Let’s end this year and go into the next determined to meet with the God of the universe on a regular basis.
Don’t wait for some spectacular event, because chances are you won’t have one, and even if you did, you might not recognize it for what it is.
Take hold of the Word of God and experience God like never before.
You won’t be sorry, and you’ll see God do things in your life that could never have happened any other way.
Let’s pray.
