Celebrate and be Glad!
Text: Luke 2:8-20
By: Ken McKinley
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Christmas is a time when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and our text tells us that some of the first people to realize this and celebrate were a group of shepherds outside of the town of Bethlehem. Now most likely these guys were what were called “Temple shepherds.” It was their job to keep the sheep that were going to be used in the sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem, which was about 8 miles away. We know that because the temple flock was pastured near Bethlehem. Now some people argue over the exact time of the Lord’s birth. Some people say it must’ve been in the Spring, because that’s the most likely time shepherds would’ve been out with their sheep. But that’s not necessarily the case. Winters in Israel brought a lot of rain, and allowed for good grazing, so it very well could’ve been in December; or maybe even in January. But it’s really not important. We’ve set aside December 25th as the day we celebrate the Lords birth. And since we don’t know the exact day, the 25th is as good a day as any.
And like I said last time, God passed over the people that the world thought was important. He passed over the High Priest, He passed over Herod, the religious leaders, the Pharisees, the theologians, the politicians, Rome, Athens and Jerusalem, and instead His Son was born in Bethlehem, in a stable, and when these shepherds came to see Him, there He was lying in a feeding trough. And that’s something we see over and over again in the Bible. Instead of the manly-man Esau, God chose the momma’s boy Jacob, when Samuel goes to anoint the king of Israel to replace Saul, he looks at Jesse’s oldest and thinks, “Surely this is the guy whose going to replace Saul, he’s big and strong,” but it isn’t, so he thinks it’s the next in line, but it isn’t, and so on and so on, until finally David is chosen. Jesus chose 12 of the most unlikely men to be His disciples, and here at the His birth, instead of being born in a palace, He’s born in a manger. God’s ways are not our ways.
Now our text says that when an angel of the Lord stood before them, the glory of God shone around them. That’s the Shekinah glory of God. We see that in the Old Testament when the presence of the Lord was in the temple. It’s the same kind of thing Moses saw on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 24. But God’s glory had departed from Israel. His glory had not been shown in Israel for hundreds of years, and when God finally decides to let His glory be seen, it’s to a group of shepherds out in the fields. In-fact, if my math is correct, it had been over 500 years since the people of Israel had seen a visible manifestation of God’s presence with them. It’s no wonder it scared the ba-jeebies out of them.
I want you to put yourself in their shoes and just think about that for a second. There you are, minding your own business out in the field, it’s very dark, because there were no street lights, or yard lamps, or anything like that. There may have been a campfire, but maybe not, depending. When all of a sudden an incredibly bright light shines all around you, and an angel is suddenly standing before you and he says, “Hey, don’t be afraid…”
Yeah right!
And so the shepherds were afraid, but the angel said, “Don’t be afraid.” That is the command that is given more than any other command in the New Testament; “FEAR NOT!”
Then the angel tells them why they shouldn’t be afraid. He says, “We’ve come with ‘good news’ that’s going to be a source of great joy for all people.” Literally the angel said, “I evangelize to you a great joy!” That’s were we get the idea of an evangelist, a “teller of the good news, the Gospel.” And that good news is that the Savior, who is Christ the Lord, has been born in the town of Bethlehem, we see that in verse 11 (read). It’s the city of David, Bethlehem, the one that the prophet Micah spoke of, in-fact it had to be. If not, then either Micah was a false prophet, or the person being born there was not the Messiah. If Jesus had been born in Jerusalem and had claimed to be the Messiah, every Jewish scholar would have declared Him an impostor.
Now that phrase, “Christ the Lord” isn’t found anywhere else in the New Testament, sure there are other places where Jesus is called Christ, remember Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And Jesus is called Lord in other places as well; remember Thomas when he touched the nail scared hands? He said, “My Lord and my God.” But the two aren’t put together anywhere else but here. Christ, or Christos in the Greek means “the Anointed One.” It’s the same meaning as the Hebrew word Messiah, and it’s a title. Christ is not Jesus’ last name, it’s His title. He is Jesus – The Christ.
The word “Lord” is kurios and it is used in place of the Hebrew Yahweh that we find in the Old Testament. And so what the angel is saying is that this Anointed One is also Yahweh, the embodiment of God. He is Emmanuel – God with us. Paul explains this in Colossians 2:9 when he said, “For in Him (that’s Jesus) dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” And so; what all of Israel, and all the world has been waiting for has finally come, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Look at verses 13 and 14 (Read). The angelic host understood that Christmas is a time to celebrate and be glad. Today; how many of us truly celebrate Christ’s birth as Christmas time? We are so stressed out about everything; do we even stop and think about what the holiday is really all about? Can you celebrate the true meaning of Christmas? Can you sing praises to Him and glorify His name? The Christmas story tells us the same thing that Acts 4:12 tells us; that, “There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” So the angles understood it, and they came together and said, “”Glory to God in the highest!” But what about the shepherds? What did they do with their new found knowledge? Well look at verses 15 – 18 (Read).
One of the things that makes the Christian faith unique is that each individual must come to an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Our parents, and grandparents, and children’s faith cannot save us. And even though Jesus went to the cross and died in your place to pay for your sins, you can’t have a right relationship with God until you are a recipient of His grace through faith in His Son. The Bible does not teach universalism, meaning that every single human being will be saved. That’s just not in there. It’s an individual relationship and it takes a personal faith in Christ to bring it about.
Now lets look at the shepherds here; they went with haste to see the Savior. They were excited about the good news they had just heard. Then look what they did. Verse 17, when they had seen, they made widely known what had been told to them concerning this child, and everyone who heard them marveled.
Turn with me to James 2:14-26 (Read).
Now let me ask you something, if those shepherds had not believed what the angels said, would they have gone into Bethlehem and went searching for a child born in a manger? If those shepherds had not believed, would they have shared the good news with others, would they have made it widely known what had been told to them?
Probably not, people would’ve thought they were crazy. People would’ve thought they were out there in the fields with the sheep too long, or maybe they were tipping the wine skin back and smoking some strange herb. But instead; these shepherds became the very first Christian missionaries. They were moved to tell the Good News.
Verse 19 (Read). This is one of the main reasons I think that Luke actually interviewed Mary for the writing of his Gospel. It says, “Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke wasn’t there when all this happened, John wasn’t, Peter wasn’t, only Mary and Joseph. So Luke went to the primary source for his retelling of the Christmas story. He went to Mary. Mary kept these things in her heart. Isn’t that just like a loving mother? And she pondered them. That means she didn’t just remember them, she thought about it, what it meant, she meditated on it, she came back to it over and over again. If anyone knew that Christmas was a time to celebrate and be glad it was this first time mother, who had just given birth to the Savior of the world.
But the shepherds did too. Verse 20 says that they went back to their fields glorifying and praising God.
One of the old Jewish traditions was the celebrate the birth of a son. When a son was born into a wealthy family, the father would get a band of the local musicians together and they would celebrate with music. When the heavenly Father’s Son became flesh, all of heaven celebrated with praise and adoration. The heavenly host shouted out, “GLORY TO GOD!”
The angels gave glory to God and praised Him, the shepherds went back giving glory to God and praising Him. What kind of response do we have during Christmas?
You know there are actually some people who dread this holiday… there are some people who are so filled with anxiety about Christmas that they just want to get it over with and be done with it. There are others who would like Christmas to just go away because just the thought of it makes them uncomfortable, its offensive to them. Christmas tells us that we couldn’t be good enough. If we could, God wouldn’t have had to send His Son, and that offends some people.
But Christmas also tells us that this same God; loves us with an amazing love. A love that was willing to sacrifice, a love that was willing to endure; not just the persecutions of this world, not just the schemes of the devil, but His own righteous wrath. That’s exactly what Jesus did. He came as a child in Bethlehem, but He became our substitute when He hung on the cross 33 years later.
And that’s why Christmas is a time to celebrate and be glad, because even though we were enemies of God, God Himself sent His Son to be our peace offering, so the angles said, “Rejoice and be glad. Peace on earth, good will towards men.” Isn’t He worthy of all our praise? Every day of the year, but especially this time of year.
Let’s pray.
CLOSING
