Shouting with the shepherds
Luke 2:1-20
Introduction-
Luke 2:1-7 (1-20 in sections)
We live in a day and age that people say happy holidays instead of merry Christmas.
It is a time of presents and a time of personal pleasures.
We struggle to have time with family and friends.
We spend more than we should to keep up with the Jones of the world.
Illustration
Christmas according to the public schools:
To avoid offending anybody, most schools dropped religion altogether and started singing about the weather. At school, they now hold the winter program instead of Christmas program in December and sing songs such as winter wonderland, frosty the snowman, and a crazy song, Suzy the snowflake. A visitor from another planet would assume that the children belonged to the church of Meteorology.
Here’s one
Typical of the last minute Christmas shoppers, a mother was running furiously from store to store. Suddenly she became aware that the pudgy little hand of her three year old son was no longer clutched in hers. In a panic she retracted her steps and found him standing with his little nose pressed flatly against a frosty window. He was gazing at a manger scene. Hearing his mother’s near hysterical call, he turned and shouted with innocent glee, look mommy, it’s Jesus- baby Jesus in the hay. With obvious indifference to his joy and wonder, she impatiently jerked him away saying “we don’t have time for that”
Most people are familiar with this passage, even if they don’t read their Bible.
It is the Christmas story, recorded in the gospels.
It is like watching “It’s a wonderful life, The Christmas story, The Christmas carol, Charlie Brown’s Christmas. They are classics! They are familiar. George Bailey saving the angel Clarence, Herbie the elf that wants to be a dentist, The Grinch that slithers around Whoville, all remind us of Christmas, but they are not Christmas.
God decides to announce the birth of His son Jesus, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of mankind, and he uses the shepherds to be the first to hear and see, and the first to go and tell.
The shepherds were not exactly the ones I would have used to carry and spread the good news.
A dirty bunch of smelly shepherds. God entrusted them with the greatest message ever sent from heaven.
(V8-12) “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 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. Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you; you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Shepherds doing what shepherds do...watching and living amongst the sheep.
Angel of the Lord shows up in the field, lights up the sky, the glory of God all around them. “Don’t be afraid, I bring you good news. Today a savior has been born to you.”
Like gypsies, carnival workers, circus workers, all those who’s testimony would not hold up in court because they are so unworthy. Angel shows up and acknowledges God has sent his son Jesus into the world.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Question-
So why would God send the angel first to the shepherds?
He wanted to show that His love does not discriminate on class, wealth, or job title.
He does not love kings more than laborers
He does not love pastors, priest, more than the ones in the pew.
God does not show favoritism.
God likes humble, He uses humble people, and his love is available to all that put their faith and trust in Jesus alone.
The shepherds had a choice that night.
Life was usual and God shows up.
He reveals himself to them and brings them the good news. The birth of the King.
They have a choice to check it out for themselves or do nothing and keep doing their jobs.
Some I’m sure were too busy to check it out
Preoccupied with other things (schedule problems)
This baby is the Son of God.
Savior of mankind
Redeemer for a dying world
Offering us eternal life
Be our light in a dark world
I am sure that not all the shepherds went to look
I am sure that not all of them were excited
I am sure that all were not wanting to worship Him.
They became the first evangelist
Their testimony: (Story)
I was doing my thing.
God showed up.
God gave me some good news.
He showed me that there was a better way.
I decided that I could not keep it to myself, I must not let others perish, but want them to know.
Illustration:
I have a piece of paper that says that I am an ordained minister with the Church of the Nazarene. I worked hard to get it, long hours, lots of money and a lot of effort. That does not make me a minister.
A minister spreads the good news. Takes what God gives him/her and tell others.
Shepherds that night were ministers.
They did not wait for the big ministries
They did not look up into heaven and wait till God shows them who to go to.
Needs are all around us, you don’t have to look too far.
Don’t wait- be a blessing now!
Wise men and women still seek him
Wise men/women still serve him
Wise men/women still worship him
Don’t flatter yourself tonight most of us know Christ because we were born is the right country, right time, privileged to have someone be a shepherd and spread the good news so we could hear the gospel and respond. Privileged and blessed.
Because someone reached out to us, not the other way around.
Jesus was born in a manger, physically as a child, but He always was.
He was before the foundations of the Earth.
All the things that needed to happen… happened. All the things that couldn’t happen…did not happen.
Jesus the Son of the living God in the flesh shows up.
You cannot kill God.
You cannot outsmart God.
You cannot stop the plan of God.
Christ birth was profound. It was wonderful. It is an opportunity for eternal life.
(V14-20)
“Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. 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. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
You have to see the savior for yourself!
You can’t see Him through someone else’s eyes, feel his presence by what your parents did.
You have to go to Bethlehem yourself!
It’s not just a holiday! It is Christmas! It is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ! God with us!
I wish all of you could experience the presence of Jesus! The experience when you are flooded with the love of Christ that fills the room.
Instead of looking at the manger, look inside the manger and experience Christ!
Grasping the reality of forgiveness, turning your sins over to the God of the universe and feeling His arms around you , telling you that he forgives you and His love floods your soul.
Many will miss Christmas this year because it interferes with our plans, the events we make happen.
Jesus came for sinners.
Jesus came for mankind’s redemption.
He can’t save you till you know that you are in trouble.
He can’t save you till you realize you are lost without Him.
Christ birth is profound, wonderful.... life changes for you when you accept what He has come to do and that is to redeem us from destruction.
The gate to salvation is narrow, because all roads do not lead to God.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and few find it.”
Angels have always been a messenger of the message and the plan of God.
Zechariah and Elizabeth,
Mary and Joseph
Tonight the Shepherds
Even the persecuted church years later had an angel show up.
Acts 5:19:
“But during the night an angel of the lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. Go stand in the temple courts, he said, and tell the people the full message of this new life.”
Driving this home:
The shepherds didn’t just accept and enjoy the message. They acted upon it.
“They hurried off and told others”.
Christmas is real history, but it has to become your story.
You have two responses tonight
The messenger comes tonight with a message of redemption, you have never acted upon it before and tonight Jesus tells you to come and receive salvation. I want to pray for you tonight. Would you just slip your hand up? I used to be so concerned if no one raised their hand. Jesus says that if you are embarrassed of Him that He won’t acknowledge you. It is a God moment. It is a moment that we can make things right with God- anyone like me to pray for you?
(2)The second response is I have heard the message but I wait till another time- We are not promised tomorrow. Each day is a blessing form God!
For those that know the Lord as savior-
Question-
When was the last time you were in Awe of God?
How long since you were on your knees crying out to Him to do something fresh and new in your life?
Is He savior to you?
Is He Lord to you?
Corrie Ten Boom:
“If Jesus were born 1000 times in Bethlehem and not in me, than I still would be lost.”
It’s time to make Jesus savior.
Christmas is all about Jesus.
Closing:
Do what God is telling you to do-
Accept the free gift.
Act on what you know to be true.
Stop looking at the manger, and look in the manger.
