INTRODUCTION
If you have been at any of the last couple Sunday morning worship services you know that Christmas is my favorite time of the year. And you have also learned that I enjoy singing Christmas carols.
We have sung “Silent Night” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Today I want us to join together for another favorite Christmas time carol “God Rest Ye’ Merry Gentlemen” (the words will be on the screen).
(TRANSITION) There are actually several more verses to this song that are rarely sung. Basically the song tells the story of the shepherds found in Luke 2:8-20 – I want to read it to you from the New Living Translation this morning.
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
I find in this story a powerful example of how people move from fear to praise when they catch a glimpse of the glory of God.
THE TEXT
A. The Backstory (Luke 2:1-7)
Before we get to the part of the story we have already read there is another magnificent event happening.
In Luke 2:1-7
• The Decree (vv. 1-3)
o Caesar Augustus
o Tax & Census
• The Action (vv. 4-5)
o Joseph and Mary (who is quite pregnant by now) travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem in order to participate in the census
o The journey was about 80 miles and probably took a week to complete.
o Came to Bethlehem registered and waited for the child to be born (fulfillment of prophecy – Micah 5:2).
o Jesus was born and wrapped in cloths and laid in a feeding trough.
o Because of the census there were no rooms available at the lodging places.
(TRANSITION) But while Mary is in the throes of birth pangs, like any other woman delivering a child, angels are visiting shepherds. On the hills outside of Bethlehem shepherds were about their daily business of watching the flocks. Night had come. The sheep were corralled. The campfire burned to shield them from the night cold.
B. Shepherds and Angels (Luke 2:8-12)
Then SUDDENLY the darkness of the night gives way to a shining glimmering light. The shepherds covered their faces in surprise. Then, slowly, they pulled their hands down from their eyes. Before them stood and angel of the Lord.
The shepherds, like every other person we have talked about who saw an angel, were afraid. Luke tells us the “glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified.”
The angel quiets the shepherd’s fears and begins to announce the reason for his visit.
Today – right now – in the city of King David the Messiah (the Christ, the Son of God) is born!
The angel declares that his news is GOOD and JOYFUL (as contrasted with the terror of seeing an angel).
Then he tells them how they will know which child is the Messiah – he will be the one wrapped in cloths and lying in a feeding trough.
• Isn’t amazing how this points to Isaiah’s depiction of the Christ!
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2b)
• He came from heaven to earth. He was made in the likeness of human flesh. The Son of God had come for the purpose of redeeming ALL of humankind.
Notice that when the angel announces the good news that he also declares it is GOOD NEWS FOR ALL PEOPLE
• Those who live in darkness will now see a great light. Those who live in fear of death and religious tradition can now have the opportunity to be free – to be able to praise God. ALL PEOPLE.
C. The Angels Sing (Luke 2:13-14)
As the shepherds listened to the good news and when they had received the sign of how to find him – SUDDENLY – a flash much larger than before – a light much more magnificent fills the sky.
Now, not one, but a host of angels adorn the sky and they begin to sing praises…
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (v. 14).
(TRANSITION) The angels vanished. The sky faded to black. The shepherds were left to consider the awesomeness of what had just happened.
D. The Shepherds Reaction (Luke 2:15-20)
One of them looks at the others and says, “Let’s go! Bethlehem is waiting. Christ the Messiah is waiting. Let’s go find Him.”
They made the journey from the hillside to the dwelling where Mary and Joseph and Jesus were living. Luke does not tell us how long they stayed or even what happened while they were there. But we do see the effect it had on them.
They left the manger and began telling anyone and everyone who would listen about what had happened. How the angel came and they were afraid – terrified. But instead of God’s wrath or judgment the angel told of GOOD NEWS – they were surrounded by the glory of the Lord.
Luke records that as the shepherds returned to their duties they did so, “glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.” They had moved from fear and terror to a song of praise – GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO
MY STORY
As I prayed and worked through this passage I could not help but notice the change in the shepherds. When we first meet them they are in terror of the messenger of God but at the end of the passage they are singing and praising God.
As I considered this idea I was reminded of something in my own life. I got out one of my journals and began to leaf through the entries. Then I came to March 13, 2010. I was attending a conference in Johannesburg with several local and international speakers. Sherry and I had spent the better part of our lives in a denomination whose primary focus was on outward appearance, fleshly works and the propagation of an incomplete gospel. We were spiritually and emotionally drained by legalism and religious bondage.
Sherry had already told me she no longer wanted anything to do with church if it meant continuing on the way we were. We were both desperate and hungry for an authentic and free relationship with Christ. Everything was dark.
A man by the name of Sibs Sibanda was speaking. He spoke of the Emmaus Road and having a burning passion for the work of God. My heart was breaking. I longed to feel that passion again but had been in the grips of fear for so long I did not know what to do. I felt as if I would burst if something did not happen to me.
In an instant I recognized a decision had to be made. I could live in fear and lose my faith (and the faith of my wife and children) or I could walk into the glory of God surrounding that meeting and accept the GOOD NEWS THAT BRINGS JOY.
My whole body crumbled in my seat when the altar call was made. I slid to my knees and began to sob. Years of junk fell off me as I poured my heart out to God. And this is what I wrote in my journal after this encounter with God:
“Today begins a new day. I feel as if I have been born again, again. Tears of repentance have flowed once again and my heart feels clean. I had no idea how utterly cold I had become. Well, yes I did but today I have been confronted with my own frigid heart and mind. My head is full of Scriptures and arguments; but my heart has been so very far away – so very distant from the fire of God I once knew so well. Father, baptize me new! Baptize me with fresh fire and fresh love to do what you have called me to do.”
On that day – at that moment – SUDDENLY I knew everything was about to change for us. My mind screamed with fear. We would lose everything: our income, our home, our reputation and our friends. We would come home only to be ostracized and criticized by those who once loved us. BUT THAT DAY I WALKED OUT OF FEAR AND INTO THE LIFE GOD HAD ALWAYS INTENDED.
We did lose it all. We nearly went bankrupt. For several months we had to depend on food pantries in order to have groceries. If it had not been for God’s provision through our jobs, friends, our church and school scholarships we would have been living in a shelter.
But through all of this we held onto the fact that God had visited us and brought us the good news. We were on a lonely dark hillside but God’s glory shone in our hearts. We persevered and we prayed and we trusted that the journey we were on was ordained of God.
As time went on God helped us to move forward, build new relationships, and build new skills and so much more.
I would not trade what I have now in Christ for anything in the world. Now we sing a song of hope and freedom. I can truly join with the angels and sing, “Glory to God in the highest…”
CONCLUSION
Three times in the first two chapters of Luke someone is visited by an angel. Three times Luke records the phrase, “…do not be afraid.”
Luke 1:13 “But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.”
• Zechariah moved from a fearful moment to a time of rejoicing over the promise of God.
Luke 1:30 “But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”
• Mary moved from fear her fearful moment to a song of rejoicing over the promise of God.
Luke 2: 10 “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”
• The shepherds were told to not be afraid BECAUSE they came with a declaration that the promised Messiah is now come! They come with GOOD NEWS
Like these folks I stood at a moment in my life where I needed to move from fear to hearing the promises of God to a place where I could see the GOOD NEWS for what it is – GOOD NEWS!!
Where are you at today? Are you standing in fear while God is telling you the great promises He has for you? Are angels singing but because of fear you cannot see the glory of God all around you?
I am challenging each of you this morning to shed that fear. To step up to the altar, lift your hands, and declare the promises God has given you in faith.
