“When God Crashed Our Story”
Luke 2:8-20
December 14, 2025
Have you ever ended up somewhere you weren’t supposed to be? Maybe it was getting lost. And to make matters worse, you didn’t even realize you were going the wrong direction. Suddenly, something just didn’t make sense. Anybody willing to admit that one?
Or maybe somehow you were invited to a dinner event. Yes, an event. You went and you felt like you were totally out of your realm of understanding. It was designed for literature buffs and you have a hard time reading the Sunday comics. You were just out of place.
Maybe you were in a conversation with people who were talking about thermodynamics vs. kinetic energy sources and you knew, you had absolutely nothing to add to that conversation.
It’s that feeling — awkward, uncomfortable, unsure — it’s wondering what am I doing here. How do I even relate to these people.
Sadly, that’s how many people feel about God. They’re just not sure about Him. They’re not sure how to relate to Him - - - How do I pray? How do I open that big book and read it? Does God really love me? And if I’m struggling with the basics, then how am I ever going to get deep in a relationship with God?
Some people think church is for “good people.” Faith is for “clean people.” It’s kind of like God lives behind religious velvet ropes. You know those ropes that keep the crowd at bay. It’s like when people are walking down the red carpet. There’s those velvet ropes that keep you away.
It’s like we’re on the wrong side of the velvet ropes. Like we’re standing outside of a great banquet where people are laughing and we can see inside, but nobody is inviting us in.
You know something good is happening …… but you don’t have the wristband or the invitation to attend.
A lot of people think God is like that.
They think He’s inside. The church is inside. The holy people are inside.
And the nobodies are left on the outside . . . wanting to get in, and at the same time,
hoping nobody notices them too much.
But Christmas didn’t build a velvet rope.
It tore it down.
The Christmas story doesn’t say, “VIPs only. Come only for the sinless. Only the good are allowed in. Only the law-abiding ones can enter.”
That’s not what the Christmas story is about. God says - - - - “Come, come and see.”
And then Christmas happens … … and the first invitations don’t go to church people. That’s what we would assume. The priests and the pharisees and the scribes and the nobility will get the first invitations.
But that’s the beauty and majesty and power of God on display.
Instead the first invitations go to a group of shepherds.
They go to people with the wrong résumé, the wrong reputation, and the wrong way of practicing religion.
In Christ’s day, shepherds stood on the bottom rung of the Palestinian social ladder. They shared the same status as tax collectors and dung sweepers. During the time of the Patriarchs, shepherding was a noble occupation.
The shepherds were not men revered or esteemed by society. These were men marginalized. Some shepherds earned their poor reputations, but others became victims of a cruel stereotype. The religious leaders maligned the shepherd’s good name; rabbis banned pasturing sheep and goats in Israel, except on desert plains.
Shepherds were labeled ‘sinners,’ representing a class of despised people.
The shepherds who navigated the dark streets of Bethlehem to find the newborn baby were not the kind of men that regularly made kingly visits. These men were separated from mainstream society and likely their language, habits and associations would have been repulsive to those living in the homes they passed.
If you have a Bible, open it to Luke 2, beginning in verse 8. Luke is the 3rd book of the NT. Luke tells us - - - -
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,
“Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Think about what the angel is telling the shepherds - - - -
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
There’s not a moment which occurs that people are not freaked out when they encounter angels. It’s not part of our normal rhythm of life.
I want you to understand the level of fear these shepherds had. In English we read - - -
and they were filled with great fear.
But that’s an understatement, and that’s according to the Greek, the original language.
In the Greek, the literal reading of the end of Luke 2:9 - - - -
?a? ?f?ß???sa? f?ß?? µ??a?
kai ephobe - thesan phobon megan
I’m not sure if you can see it, but I’ve highlighted it, the words phobos are back to back, ending with the word megan, which means abundant / exceeding.
So, understand these guys were totally, 100% freaked out, scared beyond what we can imagine. So, that’s their encounter with the host of angels. Not just one. Only one is speaking, but they’re looking at a multitude, a host of angels.
The fact that the angels came to the shepherds has to tell us something about the heart of God.
This is a constant them in the Bible, the people the world pushes out … God pulls in. Don’t ever count yourself as unworthy, unnecessary, unneeded in God’s kingdom. We’re all needed. This is not an exclusive kingdom, it is inclusive. You’re never an outsider to God.
The shepherds were in the fields doing what they do, shepherding. They weren’t seeking God or looking for the baby, but God found them. And that’s part of our story isn’t it? That’s part of God crashing our stories.
How many times, when we look back, do we see God coming to us, bringing someone into our lives, bringing situations which were beyond our control into focus. We didn’t do it, we couldn’t have done it, but God extends - - - -
- - - - His grace and mercy, His healing, His glory, His power, His presence, His compassion, His joy, His comfort, His understanding, His love . . . .
I can keep going on folks. That’s God!!
If I were announcing the birth of my child, I would make sure it’s not going to the dirty, smelly shepherds. The social outcasts. This was the King of kings and Lord of lords crashing into our world, and God doesn’t go to the high and mighty - - - He doesn’t go into the temple - - - He doesn’t go into a palace - - - He doesn’t have a conference with a big announcement coming.
Heaven’s spotlight falls on shepherds in the dark. And that’s not accidental.
Shepherds were — —
Unclean Unreliable Poor
They weren’t allowed to testify in court. They were spiritually suspect
Think about the timing. Nobody schedules important moments on the night shift. That’s when janitors clean. Warehouses move product. Nurses keep people alive. Security guards watch empty buildings. Stores are restocking.
And that’s exactly when God showed up.
Not Sunday morning.
Not church time.
Not even during rush hour.
God’s announcement came during the night shift. What’s another name for the midnight shift? The graveyard shift. Think about that? That’s when God showed up with His great announcement.
If God can show up during the graveyard shift or at least during the night shift … then, He can show up anywhere in your life.
More times than not, our wrestling with God comes at night. And that’s when grace does its best work. St. John of the Cross called it the dark night of the soul. That’s when we’re alone with our thoughts, our deepest thoughts and longings and are real and raw with God.
Shepherds were the kind of people nobody trusted … and nobody listened to. Yet they are the first ones God chose to trust with the news.
Which again tells us something powerful about God -----
God doesn’t find people after they clean up their act.
God finds people in the middle of their mess.
Grace goes where the so-called good people won’t.
Think about all the places Jesus went.
Grace doesn’t wait for church attendance.
Grace doesn’t wait for Bible knowledge.
Grace doesn’t wait for behavior change.
Grace walks into your life.
Grace sits next to you in the dark.
Grace knows your address.
And if you’ve ever felt — —
Too broken
Too ashamed
Too embarrassed
Too forgotten
Christmas tells us God already knows your address. He knows where to find you.
Luke then tells us - - - -
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,
“Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
The shepherds don’t just see the miracle.
They go tell it. It’s so cool that the first evangelists in Christian history smell like sheep.
They had no training. No titles. No credentials. Just their testimony.
Imagine how it is when you have good news, great news! You want to share it with everyone. You don’t wait. You just wanna get the news out there.
You find out your cancer-free.
You’re kids have a great accomplishment.
You get that great job.
You met that person.
Whatever it is . . .
You don’t wait to get the editing right. You don’t check grammar. You don’t wait for approval.
You call! You text! You post it! You shout it out! “Friends, listen to my great news!”
Isn’t that what Jesus told us in Luke 15? Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners. And then He tells 3 stories, 3 parables about what was lost. Isn’t that a nice parallel about the ministry of Jesus as well.
He tells the parable of the lost sheep, then the lost coin, then the prodigal or lost son.
And when they’re found, what do you do? You throw a party, because what was lost has now been found. So, we praise God!!
The shepherds didn’t go to seminary. They didn’t have a Calvinististic or Armenian theology. They weren’t affiliated with a certain denomination.
They didn’t practice a certain church governance. They probably weren’t even very good church attenders.
They worked on Sundays - - - and got criticized by the pious and pompous, you know, the whitewashed tombs in the church.
But what they did have and experience was seeing the salvation of the world come crashing into the world.
CRASH slide
Grace doesn’t make you polished . . . It makes you passionate.
Grace doesn’t just rescue you . . . it repurposes you, it gives you purpose.
And when grace grips your life, it gives you a voice.
The proof that grace has reached you is that it doesn’t stop with you.
CONCLUSION!!
Grace crosses lines.
So the question isn’t: “Who deserves it?” Well, that’s a loaded question. But that’s for another day.
The real question: Who needs it? Are you willing to admit you need Jesus? Not just this season, but every day, every second, every season . . .
. . . we need the King of kings and Lord of lords. There’s no outsiders with God. He’s calling. Will you answer His call?
And it’s not just a touch of Jesus. With Jesus, it’s an all or nothing. You can’t just have a bit and hope for the best. So, today . . . tomorrow, every day . . . it’s answering the call of God . . . . and saying YES to Jesus.
Jesus come! And as you answer the call, will you also be brave enough to extend that same grace Jesus has extended to you?
CLOSING PRAYER
Lord Jesus,
Thank You for finding us when we were far away.
Thank You for loving us when we were unlovable.
Thank You for calling us when we did not belong.
Now, help us say YES! YES! YES! To you
And as we do, that we would become more like you.
Help us love like You.
Welcome like You.
See like You.
Open our hearts, spirits and minds.
You came for us and you died for us.
May we carry Your light into dark places.
Amen.
