GOD’S UNUSUAL BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
LUKE 2:8-20
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A Jewish lady named Mrs. Rosenberg who many years ago was stranded late one night at a fashionable resort - one that did not admit Jews. The desk clerk looked down at his book and said, "Sorry, no room. The hotel is full." The Jewish lady said, "But your sign says that you have vacancies."
2. The desk clerk stammered and then said curtly, "You know that we do not admit Jews. Now if you will try the other side of town..." Mrs. Rosenberg stiffened noticeable and said, "I’ll have you know I converted to your religion."
3. The desk clerk said, "Oh, yeah, let me give you a little test. How was Jesus born?" Mrs. Rosenberg replied, "He was born to a virgin named Mary in a little town called Bethlehem." "Very good," replied the hotel clerk. "Tell me more." Mrs. Rosenberg replied, "He was born in a manger."
4. "That’s right," said the hotel clerk. "And why was he born in a manger?" Mrs. Rosenberg said loudly, "Because a turkey like you in the hotel wouldn’t give a Jewish lady a room for the night!"
B. TEXT & THESIS
1. One hour after Queen Elizabeth’s 3rd child was born: 128 cables were sent to all parts of the world, Gov’t offices stayed open all night; the personnel on night duty were doubled, all the dignitaries on the planet were notified.
2. Now if a Queen made her child’s birth such a big splash, doesn’t it seem right that God, as a proud Father, would want to let the world know about His Son’s birth too? So how did He do it? Who did He use to tell the good news?
3. Luke 2:8-20
4. Let’s look at God’s unusual birth announcement.
I. THE SHEPHERDS – GOD’S CHOICE
A. WHY THE SHEPHERDS?
1. Why did God choose shepherds to tell the news of His Son’s birth? Why not fishermen, potters, or Jewish leaders?
2. Now if I had been an Angelic spin doctor - advising the Lord God how to advertise the birth of His Son - I would have respectfully suggested a different course of action. Conventional wisdom would dictate making a big splash with the “Good and the Great” in the land.
But forget the Shepherds, Lord – they don’t bring in votes.
3. After all, shepherds didn’t have the best reputation in Jesus’ day! They weren’t the sort of people you’d want “proclaiming the birth of God’s one and only Son!”.
4. What do I mean?
a. Shepherds were considered unclean. Their line of work prevented them from participating in the feasts and holy days that made up the Jewish religious calendar. When everyone else was making the trip to Jerusalem to make sacrifices at the temple, or to participate in one of the annual feasts, shepherds had to be out in the fields, watching over the sheep.
b. Shepherds were looked on with suspicion. They were constantly on the move. They were known for thieving. Because of their poverty, if something went missing - it was usually attributed to the shepherds.
c. You could not trust the word of a Shepherd. They were not allowed to act as witnesses in a Court of Law because their word was not considered trustworthy. The Talmud stated, "No help should be given to heathen and shepherds."
d. Shepherds were rough, uneducated men. They were accustomed to hard life. Most of the time, they were "living out in the fields" (v. 8). They were with the sheep 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. People in the cities looked down on the shepherding life. Shepherds had a lowly position in society.
B. GOD SEEMS TO HAVE A SOFT SPOT FOR SHEPHERDS. Why shepherds? I want us to look at six possibilities why God chose shepherds;
1. God Does the Unexpected. He seldom works as we expect, which is one of the best evidences for its authenticity. If you had been a Jewish writer wanting to make up a story about the entrance of the Messiah--the Savior of the World--into human history after two thousand years of prophecy, would you have invented a tale in which He was born in a stable and laid in a feed bin? Would you have made the announcement to a bunch of shepherds? Of course not.
2. Jesus was the descendant of a Shepherd-King. Jesus had descended, as to His earthly nature, from the line of David, the shepherd-king who had once kept flocks in those very fields. A thousand years before, the boy David was among flocks in those same rugged pastures. (And before him Abraham & Moses – were shepherds). Now another Shepherd-King—the Son of David -- had been born.
3. The Angelic Choir Needed an Outdoor Audience. This might seem a trite and inconsequential point, but think: No house, temple, chapel, or cathedral could have contained the angelic numbers that night. Highest heaven was evidently emptied as the blackened sky was filled with ten thousand times ten thousand angels. Only a group under the open skies could have received the message.
4. Jesus Came to the Poor and Humble. He came to redeem common, ordinary people like us. Being born in a stable and laid in a manger symbolized His poverty and His identification with us. He left the ivory palaces of heaven to enter a world of woe. He who had been rich became poor that we through His poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9; see Is. 61:1-3). It is helpful to balance this point by remembering Matthew’s account in which the star appeared to the wise men, who were the exact opposite of shepherds. They were cultured, respected, wealthy, Gentiles. Jesus came for all.
5. A Lamb Was Born that Night. Perhaps most importantly, this message was given to shepherds because of the nature of the message itself. The Lamb of God had come into the world. The picture of a Lamb is the Bible’s most consistent picture of Christ. Who would be a more appropriate audience for the Good News about the birth of the Lamb than an audience of shepherds? But there’s more. The Hebrew scholar Alfred Edersheim tells us that the flocks near Bethlehem were no ordinary sheep, but were those being raised for sacrificial uses in the temple. "How right the angels should appear to them that night."
6. These Shepherds Were Spiritually-Minded Men. We can assume that these men were devoted to the Lord. God hides His secrets from the "wise and prudent" and reveals them to babes (Matt. 11:24). It’s possible for shepherds to have great depth. Consider David. And notice in this passage how quickly the shepherds believed and obeyed the angelic message. God seems to have a soft spot for Shepherds. He even identifies Himself as the “Good Shepherd of the sheep(Heb. 13:20).”
II. THE APPEARANCE OF THE ANGELS (2:9-14)
A. THE APPEARANCE
1. It was just another night…crickets chirping, wind blowing…the sheep were bahhing. Then suddenly, brilliant light flashed all around them.
2. Verse 9 says, “the angel of the Lord came upon them”; the Greek says —“Angel…stood over them.”
3. Next it says,“and the glory (Shekinah) of the Lord shown round about them.”
Brilliant light, dreadful holiness, awesome presence
4. Next is their genuine response; “and they were sore afraid” ? feared exceedingly
5. Of all of Jerusalem-Bethlehem area, only 3 or 4 men were “awake” to the presence of God – the rest of the town’s occupants were asleep spiritually! I want to be one of the ones awake; I want to hear from God. There were many religious people in Israel in those days, but few of them were privileged to know God’s working. Don’t be afraid to be the only one serving the Lord – it’s always been only a few, a remnant.
B. THE ANGEL’S MESSAGE
1. “Do not be afraid”! Praise God! You would think a Message from a Holy God to sinful men would be unpleasant, BUT it wasn’t.
2. “I bring you good news of great joy that will be to all people”(Vs. 10).
a. A double miracle: Isa 7:14, Matt 1:23
1) Miraculous sign to House of David – A woman would be a virgin after she had conceived.
2) Greater miracle – no ordinary child; He would be “God with us.”
b. A Savior is born, which is Christ (v 11), the Lord (Jehovah).
3. [Question in Shepherds’ minds: How can you find this child?] “He is lying in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes”.
C. HEAVENLY HOSTS REJOICE (Vs 13-14) Why were the angels rejoicing?
1. “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying…”(Vs. 13). The entire sky and heaven were filled with angels, rejoicing. Why?
2. The angels always rejoice at the salvation of sinners. “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents”(Lk. 15:10).
3. They were praising their Creator – Christ Himself. Heb. 1:6
4. With Christ’s Coming and Overcoming, all heaven must be in jubilation;
a. The future is now certain. The decisive victory won.
b. The devil will be defeated and the age of righteousness ushered in. REDEMPTION HAS BEGUN! SET IN MOTION!
III. THE SHEPHERD’S RESPONSE (2:15-20)
TEXT: “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.” (Luke 2:15-20) We would do well to follow the pattern of the Shepherds in celebrating Christ’s birth.
A. WENT SEEKING THE SAVIOR (Vs 15). They longed to know Jesus by personal experience.
B. THEY BEHELD THE SAVIOR (Vs 16, 17a). They searched throughout Bethlehem till they beheld Jesus with their own eyes.
C. THEY TOLD OTHERS ABOUT JESUS (17, 18)
D. RETURNED TO THEIR OCCUPATIONS AND KEPT WALKING IN THE WONDER OF CHRIST.
1. Vs 19 Mary “pondered” (kept – as a priceless treasure) – weighed, considered
2. We should keep and ponder the timeless truths of God’s Word also.
CONCLUSION
A. PEACE CHILD
1. In 1962, the Sawi people of New Guinea still lived in relative isolation. They were head-hunting cannibals. Don and Carol Richardson, a missionary couple, attempted to share Christ with them. Two rival Sawi tribes, fascinated by the Richardsons, moved their villages right around the missionaries’ jungle home.
2. But Don became frustrated by his inability to find a point of contact. He was also discouraged by the 14 civil wars he had already counted right outside his front door now that the two tribes lived side by side.
3. Eventually, the Richardsons decided to leave. However, the Sawi response surprised them: "If you’ll stay, we promise we’ll make peace in the morning."
4. The next morning the Richardsons awoke to see the most amazing ritual they had ever witnessed. The two tribes were lined up outside their houses, on either side of the clearing. Finally, one man dashed into his hut, grabbed his newborn son, and began to run across the meadow towards the other tribe. His expression betrayed absolute agony. His wife ran after him, screaming and begging him to give the baby back to her.
5. But her husband wouldn’t stop. He ran over to the other tribe and presented the boy to them. "Plead the peace child for me. I give you my son, and I give you my name," he said. Moments later, someone from that tribe performed the same agonizing sacrifice with the same intensity and passion. Richardson found out later that as long as those two children remained alive, the tribes were bound to peace. If they died, then cannibalism, murder, and civil war would break loose.
6. While this amazing scene unfolded before him, Don suddenly realized that this was the analogy he needed to communicate Christ. The next time he spoke to the Sawi elders he told them of the perfect Peace Child, Jesus, that God gave to us at Christmas to make peace for us. Eventually, droves of Sawi became followers of Christ.
7. Later the Sawi quoted with deep understanding the words, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and He shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace”(Isa. 9:6).
B. ALTAR CALL
1. I believe the message God is speaking to us today is that loves and wants everyone to come to Him – even the most undesirable. In fact, they are invited FIRST!
2. Like the Shepherds, have we:
a. longed to know Jesus by personal experience?
b. Have we searched until we have beheld Jesus with their own eyes?
c. If we have, are we telling others about who we’ve seen?
d. Have we gone back to our regular occupations, but are still walking in the wonder of the Savior?
3. Call to Salvation through the “Peace Child”.
C. SONG: “THE FIRST NOEL”
