WHAT A STORY!
Luke 2.20
S: Good News!
C: Christmas
Pr: ENTHUSIASTICALLY LIVE THE BEST NEWS THAT HAS EVER BEEN TOLD!
Type: Inductive
The Shepherds were:
I. ORDINARY
II. SCARED
III. CURIOUS
IV. CONTAGIOUS
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Humbly realize that God became human
• Meet Jesus
• Be contagious
• Live the excitement and tell, tell, tell
• Tell someone over the next three days that Christmas is about Jesus
Version: ESV
RMBC 23 December 07 AM
INTRODUCTION:
1. Who have you met that is important?
And what is your reaction?
Did you go crazy?
Decide not to wash a part of your body for a week, or ever for that matter?
I think most of us have this one common reaction…
When we meet someone important, we tell other people about it.
I was speaking to Marie about this in the office this week, and she told me that she and Troy shook hands with President and President Clinton (oops, I am getting ahead of myself there).
Troy has a fascinating interest and he has met these people: Jimmy Doohan, George Takei, Patrick Stewart, Gates McFadden, and Marina Sirtis.
They are also known as Scotty, Lt. Sulu, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Dr. Crusher and Counselor Deanna Troi.
Just the other week, Kam met someone famous: Lee Evans.
And I have too…
I ran into Jim Kelly once – literally!
I bounced off.
Even after being retired, he is a solid guy!
But these examples do not even compare to who some sheep herders were able to meet one evening.
They met really important people in the largest scheme of things.
But no one expected it to happen to them, because…
OUR STUDY:
I. The Shepherds were ORDINARY.
(8) And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
2. These were men without pedigree.
Shepherds were not highly educated.
They did not have a lot of money.
Since the nomadic nature of their job created plenty of opportunity, they were known for “what is thine is mine.”
Because of this, shepherds were treated with contempt and mistrust.
You could not depend on shepherds for anything except their sheep.
They were hard men – calloused, grubby and uncouth.
And in this story, they were scared…
II. The Shepherds were SCARED.
(9) And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.
3. These men were flattened with fear.
You see, the tough guys are on the ground.
These hard men are flat on their face – trembling.
Why?
Because when the Glory of God comes, it puts everything in perspective.
When you are faced with the reality of God’s presence, you realize what bad shape you are really in.
It has a way of making you humble real fast!
And I am sure they are thinking, “We are in for it now.”
“We are going to be vaporized!”
For sure, they thought they were goners.
But now…
Now that they are where they are supposed to be, humbled, flat on the ground…and ready…so now…
4. They received good news that brings mega joy.
(10) And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. (11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (12) And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (13) And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
(14) “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Mega joy.
That word that is translated “great” to describe joy is, in the Greek, mega.
This was huge!
They were, at that very moment, receiving the best news that could ever be communicated.
To ordinary people like them, even grubby, dysfunctional men like them, the Savior had come.
This was huge.
It was time to celebrate.
It was time to express some joy!
The Messiah had come.
And they, those sheep herders, had been told.
Of all people, why should they be told?
Why them?
They probably could not figure out why.
It probably never crossed their minds to ask.
All they knew was that their King had come…and they knew it…
So now we find that…
III. The Shepherds were CURIOUS.
You know how this room is when there is big music in here, like last week?
As a piece ends, there is that moment with the reverb…and then the silence.
It doesn’t say the angels were singing in the text, but I think it is hard to imagine it any other way.
So the song is done…the angels disappear…and there they are…with the reverb…and then silence.
Once again it is quiet…
The sheep are moving about…
The crickets are tweeking…
Imagine that moment with the shepherds…
Here they have been exposed to the glory of God.
Here they have heard from God’s frightful, beautiful, and delightful messengers.
What is going on in their mind?
Do you think they said, “Well, guys, that was nice,” and then sat there?
No!
It was time for a very thorough investigation!
It was time to get going!
(15) When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
I have come to this conclusion…
5. No one goes slow with news like this.
I see it like this…
There is that moment of silence, then all of sudden there is a ton of commotion.
There is a lot of clamoring.
You see, I don’t think they went to Bethlehem like this, with hands folded, walking in step with each other, and halos above their head.
They were off.
They knew where Bethlehem was.
And I don’t figure anybody was left behind to watch the sheep.
They just figured that the sheep could take care of themselves.
They were like Tigger, bouncing all the way to Bethlehem.
I see…
…robes waving,
…arms flailing,
…legs running,
…and voices yelling, “Let’s go! Let’s go!”
We know the result of all this, that…
IV. The Shepherds were CONTAGIOUS.
6. We know this story because the shepherds did not keep quiet.
(16) And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. (17) And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. (18) And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. (19) But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. (20) And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
When we think of the manger scene, we think of it being serene.
You know what I mean.
In the Pilgrimage, we have a light on the baby and music playing in the background, and a shepherd has his hand on his heart.
Well, there was probably not a lot of light – no streams of light – no halos over Mary and Jesus.
But we do know this, no matter what the conditions were in the stable, when the shepherds got there, they understood.
They understood that the angels had told the truth.
The signs had been unmistakable.
So when it came time to leave, this was nothing to stay quiet about…
They did not return to their flocks and say, “Well, we saw an angel today; we saw our new King today; that was nice…” and then sit down.
No!
This changed them!
They were energized.
They were excited.
They were enthusiastic.
They were telling everybody the best news that they had ever received.
CHALLENGE:
ILL Christmas (S)
A family was out vacationing at the lake one summer. Dad had been puttering out by the boat house. Two of his sons, a 12-year old and a 3-year old were down playing along the dock. The 12 year old was supposed to be watching his little brother, but he got distracted. The 3 year old, little Billy, thought that would be a good time to check out the shiny aluminum fishing boat tied up at the end of the dock. So he went to the dock and put one foot on the boat, and one foot on the dock. He lost his balance and fell into the water, which was about 5 or 6 ft deep.
The splash alerted the 12-yr old who let out a piercing scream. Dad came running from the boat house, jumped into the water, swam down, but unable to see anything, came up for air. Sick with panic, he went right back down into this murky water, and began to feel everywhere around the bottom. He couldn’t feel anything. Finally, on his way up, he felt little Billy’s arms locked in a death grip on one of the posts of the dock, about 4 ft under water. Prying the boy’s fingers loose, they burst up together thru the surface to fill their lungs with life-giving air.
Finally when the adrenaline had stopped surging, and nerves had calmed down a little bit, the Father asked his son, “What on earth were you doing down there hanging onto the post so far under the water? And little Billy’s answer was a classic, laced with the wisdom only a toddler could give. He said, "I was just waiting for you dad. Just waiting for you."
Friends, today we celebrate that over 2000 yrs ago, the God of the universe left the glory and the splendor of heaven, a place where there was no pain and no sickness, no accidents, no hurt, and no death.
And he plunged into this dark, murky world on a rescue mission…
…a rescue mission for all of us who are drowning,
….a rescue mission for all of us who are barely hanging on,
…a rescue mission for all of us who are lost in the darkness.
See that baby in a feeding trough.
See that baby born to two peasants.
See that baby born in the stench of a barn.
See that baby…
He is the Word become flesh.
You see, we are called on to…
9. Humbly realize that God became flesh and meet Him in Jesus (John 1.14).
The testimony of Scripture is…
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Have you met Jesus?
You see, when you meet Jesus, it is never the same.
Because when you meet Jesus, you have met God.
This is why this time of the year is so special.
The festivities are great.
The music is great.
The presents are great.
Being surrounded by families and friends – that is great too.
But it doesn’t compare to the good news about Jesus.
It does not compare to God becoming flesh.
What a story!
For Christmas is God rescuing us as we hang on for dear life on that post.
We keep hanging on to that post.
And we are going to drown.
But God is there to rescue us if we will just let go.
When we do let go, and we breathe the fresh air, there should be no doubt what excites us!
We have life!
We have light!
We are saved from certain death!
When something good happens to us, we don’t sit around like nothing happened.
We tell others.
We share the good news.
This means we are to…
10. Be contagious.
When we hear that word “contagious,” it typically has a bad meaning, doesn’t it?
Like having a cold or a virus…
We don’t want to spread it all about.
We don’t want to infect others.
But not this time…
Not this time…
Let’s be contagious!
Let’s spread it all about!
Let’s infect others!
For we know the baby in the manger.
And He has changed us.
He has energized us.
He has empowered us.
It is good news!
So…
11. ENTHUSIASTICALLY LIVE THE BEST NEWS THAT HAS EVER BEEN TOLD!
Don’t catch yourself acting as if this is unimportant.
Live the excitement and tell it.
For WHAT A STORY it is!
Tell it!
Say it!
Speak it!
I want to encourage you to do something very simple, but very specific over the next three days.
Tell people that Christmas is about Jesus.
You see, as a believer in Jesus, you are the witness.
Many of us will spend time with friends, neighbors and family over the next three days, even the week.
And many of these people do not know what Christmas is about.
Tell them…
It is about Christ.
And tell them that Jesus has changed you.
Prayer
Before we sing, note that this next song is our theme for the day:
Go Tell It on the Mountain is a part of a tremendous tradition of songs, choruses, and hymns that were created among our African population while they were slaves.
They were sung in the fields, in their homes and in their churches, and passed down to successive generations.
It was not until toward the end of the 19th century that they began to be written down.
Our next song tells us about the attitude of the shepherds, that they knew that they had a message worth telling.
But not only that, we are to tell it too:
Go tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born!
BENEDICTION:
Enthusiastically live the best news that has ever been told – don’t hold back – live it – tell it – share it – for it is the best.
So go tell it on the mountain – over the hills and everywhere – that Jesus Christ is born.
It is joy to the world, for the Lord is come; let earth receive her king; let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing.
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to the good news and message of Jesus, to the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral:
Axelrod, Marc Experiencing Christmas Joy
Bill, Brian The Shepherds’ Joy about Jesus
Decker, Paul I’ve Got Something to Say
Grant, Steven Simala Worship Like the Shepherds
Leroe, Robert The Shepherds’ Faith
Rolen, Terry Why Sheep Herders?
Rowe, Curtis The Shepherds’ Perspective
Books:
Collins, Ace. Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001.
