I opened with a monologue done from a Shepherds Prospective followed by this sermon!
Read Luke 2:8-10:
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.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them and said to the Shepherds “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news”. When we think of news we often think of bad news. The television brings us news that is often time sad, depressing and painful. We have heard the saying that “No news is good news”. However that is not always the case. We have good news in lives. Maybe a new job; a promotion; a new child or grandchild and so on. However, the good news we are talking about today is news that truly defines good. In fact, I want to call it Great news or maybe awesome news or I have heard that the new teen age word these days is “epic”. It would be epic news. Today we want to look at this great news and discover the implications of this news for the world. The verb used here for good news was later used to describe the bringing of the good news of the Gospel. The Gospel begins with Christ and the good news that the angel is speaking of is Christ.
I. Good News – of Great Joy
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 Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ (or the Messiah) the Lord.
We read in verse10 and 11 that this good news is of great Joy. Today is the third Sunday of Advent, the advent of Joy and the Harrison’s lit the advent candle of Joy. The people of Israel had been waiting for the Messiah they had been awaiting a Saviour.
The Israelites were awaiting a Saviour that would rescue the people from the hands of their captors. They were living under the rule and power of Rome at that time. The Israelites idea of a Messiah would be someone who would rescue them from them their captors. However, Christ came to free mankind of something much bigger than the Roman Empire. He came as a Saviour from sin and death.
The message of great joy was that Jesus the Lamb of God had come into this world. Throughout the history of the people of Israel the priest would have to go into the temple to offer up lambs as a sacrifice to God for the sins of the people. With the arrival of Jesus the Lamb of God and with His death and resurrection to come, God would give us, through Christ, a direct access to Him.
For those who seek this atonement we will one day live with Christ forever. The world will pass away, but we have a hope of eternal life through Christ. Oh what joy!
The Israelites could not see past their circumstances of being under Roman law, they could not see the big picture of who the Messiah truly was and is. In fact, many Jews are still awaiting their Messiah because they did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. However, many today are coming to see Christ as their Messiah, but many are still waiting. The Joy that night that the angels spoke of was Jesus the Messiah, the hope for the world.
II. Good News - for all people
For many years I drove truck, hauling produce from California to Canada. I would often cut across the back roads of Idaho instead of staying on the busy interstate. The area I would travel trough on the back roads would take me through desert, volcano’s, named the Creates of the Moon, but it would also take me through prime sheep grazing mountains. Now you may think that these sheep were in a fenced area, they were not. These sheep still were looked after by shepherds. These shepherds often had an old pickup truck with a home made camper. They live with the sheep, they smell like the sheep. One day I noticed one of these shepherds in a store I stopped at. He looked un-bathed, un-kept and by the way others were avoiding him, I could tell his smell was a little on the ripe side. These Idaho shepherds are considered a lower class in their society.
So too, the shepherds in the time of the birth of Christ were not considered in the upper class. They were the lowest in their society. Tyndale commentary states: Shepherds had a bad reputation. The nature of their calling kept them from observing ceremonial law which meant so much to the religious people. There is debate amongst the commentaries whether these shepherds were regular shepherds or whether they were the shepherds that were assigned to watch the temple sheep that were used for ceremonial sacrifices.
Regardless, it was to simple, despised men working in the fields that the angel of the Lord first came with a message that would change the world. The glorious message of the Lamb of God, who can take away the sins of the world, came first to the lowly shepherds who were looking after the lambs in the fields.
Luke 2:10 states that: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” This Good news that we have been talking about is for all people. That is the second point I want to make. Good news for all people.
What Joy it is to know that when Jesus came to earth He did not come just for the Kings, Queens and the elite, but He came for all He came for you and for me. John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Ken preached this past year on the “whosoever” of that verse and looked at the implications of that word. Whoever believes on Him will have eternal life. Christ came as the hope for all mankind.
John 3:36 reemphasises this: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the son will not see life for God’s wrath remains on Him.
This Hope is for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It does not matter if you poor or rich; if you think you have lived the most shady life, or even if have totally rejected God in the past Christ came for all. Some say “but if only you knew how I lived” or “God could never forgave me”; His response is He came for all. He came for the thief on the cross in Luke 23:43 when He said to him: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”.
He came to save Saul who persecuted and killed Christians, including Stephen, but went on to be arguably the greatest apostle for the gospel ever. His name was changed to Paul at this time, Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ. In Acts 9 we have the account of Saul’s conversion. He was blinded on the road to Damascus by a bright light and Jesus spoke to Him aloud from the light from heaven and that was the beginning of Paul’s transformed life. Paul transformed life is described by himself in Romans 1:1 where he starts his letter with these words: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God. Here was a man who persecuted the Christians even to the point of death and Christ transformed his life and made him a powerful messenger for Christianity.
No matter who you are or what you have done Christ came to this earth for you. He came for the despised shepherds, He came for the thief on the Cross, He came for the poor, He came for the leaders of countries, He came for you and He came for me. This good news is for all people, like the angel said “I bring you good news of Great Joy that will be for all people”
III. Good News – Our Response
The third point I want to make is we have the good news, so what should be out response. Well let look at the response of the shepherds.
Luke 2:15-20:
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.
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.
They spread the word about what was told to them about this child. The message did not stop with them, but they proclaimed the birth of the Messiah. Adam Clarke puts it this way: “These shepherds were the first preachers of the Gospel of Christ; and what was their text? Why glory to God in the highest heavens and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.” Straight from the angel did they receive the truth and they proclaimed it.
Do we have a message to proclaim? If Christ has transformed our lives we do. Are we proclaiming the message of our Saviour the hope we have. I love that song we sing about Jesus being the hope of the nations, He truly is. The angel said ““Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy.” We have the good news, what will be our response? These simple men, the shepherds, spread the word. What’s stopping us?
Conclusion
In conclusion, we truly do have great news. This great news is of great joy that is for all people. Are we living as though we have good news of great Joy in our lives? Do we believe we have good news that is for all people? Are we proclaiming this good news to others?
Maybe your here today and you have never experienced the joy that I am talking about today. Maybe you have never taken that step and believed in Christ the Saviour. There is no better time than to make that decision to believe in Him than right now. We will sing a few songs in a moment in preparation for prayer and if you would like to meet this Saviour I would invite you to the alter and one of us will meet with you and pray with you. The good news of great joy the angel spoke about that night to the shepherds is for you today and for all. Will you receive the good news?
Let’s pray and then we will invite the worship team forward and the alter is open and we will have people to pray with you over on the side. Maybe you are here also and are struggling with things and hurts and would want someone to pray with you they are willing to pray with you. Maybe you been walking far away from the good news the team is ready to pray with you. Let’s pray!
