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 that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
News. It is supposed to refer to what is happening in all directions
North
East
West
South
But I think we as humans seem to gravitate toward the bad news.
The Newspaper- I often see people, especially in the morning, reading a newspaper. I’ve asked many times “any good news”? I have yet to have someone answer me “Yes! Lots of good news!”. They always say something like, “Nope. All bad”.
So I wonder, why does anyone want to read the newspaper? Maybe it’s our human attraction to bad news more than to good.
A doctor told a man ‘I have bad news. You have cancer and your have Alzheimer’s”. The man said, “Well, at least I don’t have cancer”.
A doctor came to a patient & said, “I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is you have 24 hours to live”. The patient said ‘what’s the bad news?’ The doctor said, “I forgot to tell you yesterday”.
-Even our jokes seem to reveal this tendency we have toward bad news.
I’d like to focus on this message of Good News from the angels. They gave a 7-point, positive message.
The Message
a. Do not be afraid
b. Good News
c. Great Joy
d. For All People
e. A Savior, Messiah, the Lord is born in the town of David
f. Glory to God in the highest
g. Peace on earth, good will to men (or to men of good will)
The angels gave a 7-point message.
Point 1
1. Do Not Be Afraid
About 100 times the Bible teaches, “do not fear”, or “fear not”. The first is God speaking to Abraham “do not be afraid. I am your Shield and your very great Reward” (Genesis 15:1). Another 100 or so times people in the Bible talk about fear and how it can be avoided, like Psalm 23, “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for You are with me, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me . . .” Another collection encourage us to fear-to fear God, like Psalm 112:1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who takes great delight in His commands”.
Someone said if you fear God you would not fear man.
As John said “he who fears has not been made perfect in love, perfect love casts out fear, for fear has torment.”
It seems to me, this message is just as relevant today as it was when the shepherds heard it over 2000 years ago.
2. I bring you GOOD NEWS
You may have heard that this week Facebook released their list of the top search topics for 2015.
1. The US Presidential Election
2. November 13 Paris attacks
3. Syrian War & Refugee Crisis
4. Nepal Earthquakes
5. Greek Debt Crisis
6. Same-sex marriage
7. The fight against ISIS
8. Charlie Hebdo attack
9. Baltimore protests against police violence
10. Charleston Shooting & flag debate
How much of this is good news?
We seem to have a bad-news bias by nature.
There is actually quite a lot of good news in the world. A smaller percentage of the world population is malnourished than ever before, more are being educated than ever in human history, we have conquered diseases like smallpox and almost eradicated whooping cough and polio. These were common when I was a child, but are so uncommon now that many of you may have never heard of some of these diseases. Population growth has leveled out in most of the world, and since urbanization and education are the two most important factors in limiting the number of children per household the total world population is expected to level out at about 10-11 billion-a manageable number. So, there is a lot of good news. But we seem to want to focus on the bad news.
Last night we had a concert. As the choir entered, the line broke as the performers reached the stage, with each person going to a different part of the stage-it seemed chaotic-unplanned. I started taking notes, and continued taking notes of all the things that could have been improved in the evening program.
It was actually a pretty good concert, with many elements done I think better than the Bangalore Conservatory has ever done, and I think most of the people in the audience really enjoyed it. But my notes focused on what went wrong. I, also, have a bad-news bias. We seem to fall into that trap pretty easily.
So,
What’s your focus?
The Bible says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)
We always have a choice what to focus on.
The angels were heavenly news reporters. If they had been like human reporters the headlines would have read differently
“Herod, insane king, Announces death sentence for thousands of kids”, or, “The Messiah has come, but no room for Him”, or “Rome Dominates again, declared a census, Son of God born in manger as result” . . . God wasn’t focused on these things.
For Him, there was good news to proclaim.
Do not be afraid
Good news
Great Joy
Joy. The Greek word Xara, or chara is at the root of several other words, like charis, grace, and charitos, gift. It’s also the root word for our English term character. Character and joy go together.
The whole world seems aware of the reasons to be afraid, and depressed. But God’s message focuses on reasons for joy.
Research the past fifteen years has indicated the most powerful path to joy is prayer and meditation http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1015863,00.html
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/neuroscience-reveals-the-secrets-of-meditation-s-benefits/ (etc.).
Richard Davidson has been called the Happiness because he found that profound joy seems related to activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, and that area is stimulated when people pray and meditate regularly. People who are daily practitioners of prayer can actually produce serotonin, a ‘happy hormone’ at will.
It seems to me no surprise that Joy figures so prominently in a message from God.
Do not fear
Good News
Great Joy
For all people
The message of Jesus is not for one nation. It is not for North or East or West or South. It is for ALL. It is a message of peace and joy. Who doesn’t need that message?
We’ve all heard the news of the tragedies in Chennai. There is also, so much good news. I was talking to someone this week that was on Church Street at a coffee shop there. She heard some shouting and looked up to see a group of Muslim activists with signs, shouting something. She was afraid. As they approached she saw the signs “Give for Chennai”, and “Pray for Chennai”. They were collecting donations for a relief fund for the flood victims. She gave a donation.
Why is it we think so easily about what divides and separates us and have to work to think about all the things that unite us as human beings? True, there are monsters among us, and within us. But we must allow our heart stings to be played by the better angels of our nature. The message of the angels to the shepherds plays this song. It’s a song of peace, love and joy for all people. And all people need to hear the message.
Do not fear
Good News
Great Joy
For all nations
And the Source of that joy for all nations?
The birth of a child.
I know of no greater joy that witnessing the birth of a child. I was present when both of our children were born. I’ll tell you that I’ve had no more profound experience in my life. My wife was crying out in pain one moment, but as soon as her baby came out, the doctor plopped her on her mommy’s tummy. Her memory of pain seemed to disappear, and was replaced with hot tears of joy. I’ve never seen her happier.
So there can and should be joy when any child is born. But this child is special.
He is Savior. He is Messiah. He is Lord.
The prophet Isaiah said it this way
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7
I don’t know who said it first, someone has observed that the first part seems to be from our human perspective, a Child is born. The second seems to be from God’s perspective, a Son is given.
His government is greatness and peace, and counsel, and justice, and everlasting.
And the SIGN
He is in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.
If you were God, sending your Son, where would you send Him?
God sent His son through a humble, unimpressive couple, to a dingy, dirty feeding trough in a cow stall behind an inn. He sends the message of His birth to a group of stinky, rough shepherds.
This is, in every way, the King of the people. He is not born to privilege, or to power.
God’s presence is enacted among us in humility.
For this reason Paul says
“ Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 4)
The means of God’s birth has lessons of it’s own
You cannot overcome darkness with darkness, but only with light
You cannot overcome evil with evil, but only with good
You cannot ovecome violence with violence, but only with peace
You cannot overcome pride with pride, but only with humility
You cannot overcome power with power, but only with gentleness
You cannot overcome hatred with hatred, but only with love.
This is the SIGN. This is the Joy for all nations. Jesus, the Son of God, born in a manger. Born in humility.
So
Do not be afraid
Good news
Great Joy
For All Nations
A Child is Born
Glory to God
The old, classical Greek word for glory was kleos. The Bible uses the word doxa, which means essentially the same in the New Testament. kleos was the root of the name Hercules-actually HeraKleos, or the glory of Hera. The mighty works of Hercules were supposed to draw attention to the source of his power, his mom. The Bible teaches that we are like that-we are actually glorious creatures. As C.S. Lewis stated
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
In the book of Revelation we see the most glorious among us, seated at 24 thrones in the presence of God. Each is wearing a crown of glory-earned by their works here on earth. They take their crowns, throw them at the feet of Jesus, and proclaim that He is worthy of all glory, honor, praise and power.
Our glory, our fame, our greatest accomplishment is entirely derivative. We draw all our greatness from the One who created us.
Our glory is always like that of the moon and not the sun. The moon is, truly, glorious, beautiful, entrancing. Yet we could not see it without the light of the sun. In fact all of the light of the moon is simply a reflection of the dazzling light of the sun. We are the moon. God is the sun. We may be distracted by the beauty of the moon because if we look at the sun we’ll go blind. But the sun is what makes all else beatiful.
All glory belongs to God. The angels proclaim this. They remind us where our focus should be.
So
The angels give their 7-Point message,
Do not be afraid
Good news
Great Joy
For All Nations
A Child is Born
Glory to God
and conclude with this:
Peace on earth toward people of good will
The Greek word Eirene, the latin word Pax, both are translated into English as peace.
I think, though, in the Bible we have to understand peace in its Hebrew context. The New Testament writers often greeted their audience with grace (discussed some above-charis) and peace. Grace was the standard Greek greeting. Peace was the standard Hebrew greeting. They are combined in the Epistles as grace & peace. I think the writers are not thinking of the Greek ideal of peace, which can be understood in the context of the Pax Romana-a peace that is inforced through violence, power, and war. It is better understood in the Hebrew context of Shalom=physical, psychological and social wellbeing.
God wants us to be healthy physically, to enjoy a pleasurable and prosperous life.
He wants us to have phychological wellness, to be balanced and happy, and at peace
And
He wants us to be healthy in our relationships with others, on the scale of friendships all the way to international relations. The proclamation of the angels “peace on earth toward people of good will” shows us the way.
We have to have a will, a heart toward peace, in order to embrace peace. Peace is not easy.
Peace of body mind and relationships takes constant daily work. Some people are not even interested in the task. God offers it to those who will recieve it, and the promise of that peace is found in the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Messiah.
This is the 7-point message the angels proclaimed to lowly shepherds.
It is the message now proclaimed to each of us.
In this world were we see such an abundance of well-publicised bad news. It’s refreshing to renew our interest in this ancient proclamation of Good News to all Nations.
Do not be afraid
Good news
Great Joy
For All Nations
A Child is Born
Glory to God
Peace on earth to people of good will.
