“Good News from a Manger”
Luke 2:8-20
The story I am about to tell you, as hard as it is to believe is a true story. In fact, the event I am about to describe actually took place numerous times. In 1944 the Japanese army sent one of their soldiers into battle during WW2. His name was Hiroo Onada. He was one of their finest soldiers, having been selected to work in military intelligence and was trained in guerilla warfare.
He, like other soldiers was told that he was to remain faithful at war, to never give up and to stay there and that eventually, it may take several years but eventually someone will come for you and you can come home. Hiroo took those words literally.
Well as you know, the war ended the following year in 1945. The Japanese flew over that area and dropped thousands of leaflets telling any soldier who saw them that the war was over. Here’s the part that is hard to believe. Even though he saw the pamphlets Hiroo could never believe that the war was over-- so he stayed—in fact he stayed continuing to believe there was a war to fight… for 29 years. 29 years later after the news broke he finally believed it and he came home.
The word gospel is a NT word that simply means good news. You and I are called to share the good news. You see every one of us was born with a sin problem—we all have a sinful nature—and the Bible teaches that there is nothing we can do about it on our own. We are headed for destruction---for spiritual death and there is nothing we can do to change that.
Romans 3:23 describes our sinful condition.
Romans 6:23 describes the payment for that condition.
But this is where the gospel becomes so important. The gospel is this: God has done something for us that through His Son Jesus Christ that you and I could not do for ourselves. And so death has been turned into life and that is the good news. In the book of Luke we find the familiar story of the birth of Jesus. The setting in which this took place was that Caesar had issued an order that a census be taken so everyone was required to go to Bethlehem to register. It was a requirement for the purpose of being counted for a census….taxation/paying taxes. So Joseph and Mary who were pledged to be married, made the trip. The trip was difficult because Mary expecting a child at any time, we know that because shortly after they arrived, the baby Jesus was delivered.
The shepherds that were living nearby were the first to get the message. An angel appeared to them and the Bible says they were terrified. The 400 years preceding this are often referred to as the silent years. It was time when there was not scripture given and people had not heard from God. Clearly our heavenly father was waiting for the right time and this was it. So they had not ever seen anything like this. And that is when the angel speaks and says do not be afraid….I bring you good news. And what was that news? Simple. Jesus, the savior of the world has arrived.
This morning I want you to understand 3 very important truths about the gospel/good news.
(1) The good news is not good news unless we put away our doubts and choose to believe it. You see it occurs to me that some of us have trouble accepting the good news. For some of us there have been so many bad or difficult things happen in your lifetime that when you hear good news your response is something like this..
I’ll believe that when I see it
I’ll believe that when pigs fly
That’s basically how Thomas responded when the other disciples told him that Jesus was alive. The disciples came to Thomas…now remember he had been traveling with Jesus and these other 11 men for 3 years…there had to be some level of trust there…the disciples came to Thomas and said we have seen the Lord.
Thomas responds this way….”unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into His side (3 requirements) I will not believe it.
The interesting thing in that story was that it was a full week later that all the disciples were in the same house together—Thomas was there and the doors had been locked. It’s obvious I think that they had the doors locked because they were afraid—Jesus had been crucified and they were His followers so they knew the same thing could happen to them. This is what caused Peter to deny that he ever knew Jesus.
But the Bible tells us as they were standing there with the doors locked that Jesus came and stood there among them. Can you imagine the look on Thomas’ face when Jesus said Thomas, put you finger here; see my hands, reach out and put it in my side. Stop doubting and believe. The good news is not good news until we put away our doubts.
(2) The Good news is not good news until we apply it. Another thing that occurs to me here is that we can believe the good news for other people but think it doesn’t apply to us. We say well if that works for you then fine or sure God might do that for you but not for me. Let me tell you something here and I will give it to you in 3 statements.
1. God loves. 2. God loves His people. 3. God loves all his people, all the same.
Several years ago I had a call come in on my cell phone from someone …phones have this great thing—called ID—now so you get to decide whether you want to take the call or not and the caller ID said FAVORITE SON. I have 3 sons and they’re all favorites—but when I answered it, it was my son Brian. He had taken my phone and changed his ID and instead of saying Brian, it said FAVORITE SON. Listen. God does not play favorites. God does not love the Pope more than He loves you. God does not love Billy Graham more than He loves you.
Now you need to take that and apply it to your life. Let me be clear. (1) No one is entitled to God’s blessings any more than you are (2) God does not love anyone more than you. (3) God wants you to be just as successful as the next person (4) God is always there to help you fight your battles. Paul said if God is for us, who can be against us?
The good news is not good news until we put away our doubts and choose to believe. The good news is not good news until we accept the fact that God loves all of His children in the same way.
(3) The good news is not good news until we choose to share it with those who need it the most.
What if tomorrow a research scientist were to discover a cure for cancer? What if there was suddenly a vaccine for cancer just like there is for many other diseases. But what if the scientist then said this is really good news but you know what? I’m not going to tell anyone. Just gonna keep it to myself. Or what if he said I think I’ll tell some people but I think I’ll only tell people who are healthy. You see the good news is only good news to those who need it. Jesus said healthy people don't need a doctor -- sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough."
Over 20 years ago I was reading a book about how to share Christ with those who are in your family. One of the things the book challenged me to do was to make a list of people in my extended family who as far as I knew did not know the Lord. I had no recollection of ever meeting my grandfather. My Dad’s father. So I decided that year that I would try to locate him and see if we could go and visit him. I called my mother and quickly learned that even though I was living in KS at the time he was only a few hours away and had just been admitted to a nursing home. I also learned that he was terminally ill and only had a few months to live. His name is Warren Henderson and his first name is my middle name. So we made the trip and as soon as we got to the room where he was and I saw him for the first time in 70 years I realized that he and my Dad looked a lot alike. I introduced myself, my children talked to him and we had a good conversation. My wife knew the reason I had gone there so she quietly took the kids out and gave me some time alone with him. I ask him if he had ever heard of the scripture verse in John 3:16. He simply replied “no, I never have. So I quoted it to him but I also noticed a Bible in the room that the Gideon Organization had left there, just like they do in hotels. I explained to him what the Bible says about sin and the wages of sin. I asked if he had ever been in church and he told me he went when he was about 16 and that was the last time. So shared with him that he could have eternal life in heaven and told him that it was available to him by simply praying and committing his life to Christ. I said would you like to do that and he said I really would. So we prayed and he accepted Christ as His Savior. My family returned and we were all so happy that he had made this decision. I talked with the nurse and she told me he had less than 3 months to live. We left but I wanted to go back at least one more time so we did a month or so later and when I came to his room honestly he seemed so different. He had a smile on his face. In fact the nurse stopped me in the hallway and said aren’t you the one who came to visit Mr. Henderson recently. I said yes. She said well what did you say to him? I said well actually he prayed and asked Christ into his life. She said I knew it…ever since you were here he has been smiling and has had such a peace about him. She then told me that she was a Christian also. He died not long after that and I was able to speak at his funeral service and share that story.
If someone is living with cancer and we don’t tell them there’s a cure then the cure is meaningless.
If someone is sick and we don’t tell them about the healing power of Jesus then the power has no meaning.
If someone is dying in sin and we fail to tell them there is way out, they will never know.
So I close with several questions.
(1) Have you heard the good news?
(2) Have you believed it is actually for you?
(3) Have you shared the good news lately?
