Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
THE SHINING OF GOD’S GLORY
Luke 2:8-18
For centuries the land of Israel had prayed, hoped, sacrificed and waited for the coming of their Messiah. Literally millions of bulls, goats, sheep and other animals were sacrificed as a symbol of that Messiah and His sacrifice that would deliver them from the oppressive hands of their enemies and that would mark their sin debt, Paid In Full!
During all of those years Israel had known both times of peace and times of war; times of freedom and times of captivity; times of great joy and times of deepest sorrow.
In the times of peace and of war there were those common people who did their best to go about doing their daily routines as best they could. The very survival of the people depended largely upon the faithfulness of the common man to just continue doing his work no matter what was going on until the closeness of the conflicts would force him to leave his duties and seek safety.
The very survival of the church and the work of the gospel depend upon each of us doing our daily work for the Lord. Though the battles between men and nations may rage about us, we must continue to do our best to work in the harvest fields of our Lord.
All too often we hear of those who would tell us to horde money, weapons, food and water for the hard times ahead. While I believe in preparation and providing for your family’s needs, I think that the more important thing for us to be doing is to work for the salvation of lost souls and not stick our head in the sand and go into a defensive mode.
The Church that Jesus is coming after will be a victorious church, without spot or wrinkle, not some weak, emaciated church that is hiding in seclusion or cowering in fear!
Among those who continued to do their duty year after year in the land of Israel, there were those men and their families whose livelihood was one most of the disrespected jobs of all. They were the sheep herds and those who cared for the flocks of sheep, the herds of cattle and all of the other animals that were useful for food, for clothing and for the continuation of the rites of sacrifice unto God.
Most of the shepherds were accustomed to a life without much excitement and without much wealth. The live of the common shepherd consisted of nothing more than feeding, caring for, and protecting the flock of sheep under their control.
You may can relate to this in your own life by looking at the day to day routine that you live right now. After a fashion we are all like shepherds for we care for our children, we watch over our families, we protect our loved ones from harm as best we can and life seems to be most dull and boring at times.
I have heard life described this, “Life consists of long periods of repetitious and boring activities, interrupted with moments of extreme pain, sorrow and anxiety.” Does that sound like your life? It certainly describes mine. Not that we don’t enjoy life and live life to the fullest.
And so, for thousands of years these shepherds had trudged ever onward in their work caring for the flock. By day they would be ever vigilant to watch over the sheep and feed them. By night they would always have to gather the sheep into the fold, close the fences around them for protection and then sleep nearby to be ready on a moments notice to leap to their rescue if trouble came. Thieves, robbers and wolves were an ever present danger so the shepherds had to be on constant alert.
From the dawn of Creation to this day there have been those who lived their lives faithfully watching over the promises of God and keeping His Word hidden in their hearts. Sometimes there were only a few but there has always been a remnant who was willing to give their lives in defense of their faith in God.
Living for the Lord isn’t much different in many ways than that of the shepherds who cared for the sheep. There is always the watering that is necessary through the washing of the Word of God in your heart. There is always the moving to greener pastures by following the leading of the Holy Spirit into the paths of righteousness. There is always the ever present danger of those wolves in sheep’s clothing who would step into the pulpit of the church and lead the people of God astray. We have to ever vigilant for the safety of our souls.
Living a Christian life is the most rewarding, the most exciting, the most peaceful life there is. To those of the world, who are enamored with glitz, glamour and hype of the world that the devil puts before them, living a life for Christ seems so boring and unappealing. Little do they know the real joy, the real peace, the real satisfaction that a life for Jesus really brings. Jesus Christ has a way of satisfying all those desires for excitement and fun with the things of God and then makes them much more fulfilling and satisfying.
In Israel the shepherds were looked upon as the lowest class of society that you could get to without becoming a Samaritan or a Gentile. They were the people who seemed to live in poverty and in the lowliest of conditions. Most of Israel would not consider doing the work of a shepherd for they enjoyed their wealth and comfortable surroundings too much.
The same is true in our society. Those who serve the Lord and watch over their flocks are looked upon as the outcasts of the mainstream of society. Most will never give up their lifestyles to become shepherds in the Lord’s Kingdom.
The shepherds knew that the rest of the people could never understand their love of the work that they did. The shepherds took great satisfaction knowing that they were performing a great service to the King of Israel by providing the necessary wool, milk and meat for the people. They also greatly enjoyed the closeness with nature and they developed special relationships with the sheep. To an outsider, the flock was only a bunch of ignorant sheep always needing attention, but to the shepherds these sheep were as his own children. He knew each one by name. He knew each one by their personality. He knew the needs of each one and he would do his best to provide those needs.
The world looks upon you as ministers to the Lord and to sheep of God’s house, your fellow servants of the Lord, the same way. They cannot understand the love we have one for another. The world cannot grasp how much difference there is in the fellowship of the saints compared to the fellowship of people on the job or at a social club. There is so much more love in God’s House, so much more caring one for another, so much more desire to help one another than you will ever find in the world’s crowd.
Thus we find the shepherds on this one particular night on the hillsides of Judea. This night began as ever other night before it. The shepherds were at their campfires and were settled down for the evening near their flocks. The flocks had settled down in the fold and were under the watchful eye of their shepherds. All was quiet and peaceful. There was a sense of such great peace and it was such a beautiful clear night. I’m sure that the shepherds would often lie down and look up at the night sky to see the stars and meditate upon the promise that God had given to Abraham many years before. God had promised Abraham that his children would be as great as the stars in the sky in number. Now these shepherds could reflect and know that God’s promises were true and that God had been so faithful to Israel.
In many ways this is a snapshot of the Church today. We are settled in Christ. We are safely in His fold and under His watchful eye. God has placed shepherds over His flocks and we are resting in Him. We reflect upon the promises of God and know that He is faithful. We also know that He has promised us such great things and we place our faith and trust in God to bring every word of His promises to fruition in our lives.
On the hills of Judea that night everything changed. These lowly shepherds were among the most privileged people on earth and would soon be the first of many to come who would spread the word, evangelize if you will, the coming of the Son of God. They could not and did not understand all that they say but they knew that this was something straight from the Throne of Jehovah God!
The story of what happened to those simple shepherds that night is found in Luke chapter 2, verses 8 through 18.
Luke 2:8, "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night."
Suddenly, without warning, the peaceful, dark, starry sky was shattered by a bright light, brighter than the noon-day sun! The glory of the great God of Heaven flooded around them and overpowered them. It was as though the sun had suddenly fallen upon them in the middle of the dark night.
In the middle of this power and majesty of the light of God’s glory there appeared a one of the Holy Angels of God, with an announcement that would forever change the course of human history and the destiny of the souls of mankind.
Luke 2:10-14, "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
Immediately after these words were spoken there appeared a multitude of the Holy Angels singing praise and glory unto the Lord God of Heaven from the top of their lungs. There was such joy, such power, and such majesty coming from their praise that it seemed that every rock, every grain of sand, every blade of grass and all of Creation had suddenly burst forth in this great song of praise.
From an almost drowsy state of mind these lowly shepherds were suddenly thrown into what seemed like the very choir room of Heaven with God’s glory and power all around them. They were overwhelmed and they were scared out of their wits.
No one had ever experienced this before. There is no place in all of God’s Word where an event of this magnitude had ever occurred before. This was the power and glory of Almighty God shown forth in a few minutes of greatness that beggars description.
Luke 2:15-16, "And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger."
After the initial shock had passed. The glorious light of the presence of God had subsided and the angels were gone back to Heaven, things went back to normal – or about as normal as they could be after such an event. After all, how normal can you be after the power, majesty and glory of Almighty God has just overpowered you in such a fashion as this?
It was to the lowly shepherds and the flocks that the first news of the coming of the Messiah was given. The 3 Wise men from the East saw the star and also came to Bethlehem and found Jesus with Mary sometime after the night when the angels appeared to the shepherds. There was no Heavenly Host that sang praises around these Wise men.
Perhaps the sequence of these events is a shadow of the spreading of the gospel. The outpouring of the Holy Ghost began at Jerusalem in the Upper Room with the 120 Jews and then spread throughout the world with signs and wonders.
The main point that I want to share with you right now is that you and I are living our lives much as those shepherds on the Judean hills did that night so long ago. We are going about doing our usual routine and as we look around us it seems that it as dark as the night sky. This world is caught in the gross darkness of sin. The blessings of God and the promises of God stand out in this blackness like the stars in the night sky.
As we gaze upon those promises and place our hope in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am overwhelmed by the fact that we may be only moments away from being in the same place as those shepherds were.
Can you imagine what it will be like to be here on this dark planet and then in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and all of the Holy Angels of Glory just as they were! Can you imagine the glory, majesty and power of the light of God as it floods our souls when we enter the gates of the New Jerusalem and find our selves in the very Throne Room of God!
We have a down payment on that inheritance right now. When Jesus saves our soul, fills us with His power and love, washes away all the guilt of sin, and gives us a robe of His righteousness, then fills us with the power of the Holy Ghost, that is such a great and wonderful feeling. It is impossible to explain how that feels to receive those great blessings right now.
How much more impossible is it to explain or understand how grand and glorious and
…”What a day that will be
when my Jesus I shall see,
when I look upon His face,
the one who saved me my His grace,
when He takes me by the hand
and leads me through that Promised Land!
What a day, glorious day that will be!”
How fitting it was that Jesus would be found in a manger where these shepherds would have fed their flocks. Jesus Christ, The Bread of Life found in a manger, the very place where the Flocks would get their sustenance for life. Jesus lying in a manger is a symbol of our source of eternal life.
Luke 2:17-18, "And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds."
And so it must be for us, as people who have been given such a great and precious gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Unto us the Word of God has been revealed. Unto us has the Holy Spirit come and is now living in each of us. We, who are so very blessed to have seen and known the Savior are to make known abroad everything that has been given to us and said to us concerning Jesus Christ.
We are to tell everyone we meet of the first coming of the Messiah in the manger of Bethlehem, of the coming of salvation and the Holy Spirit into our own hearts and then of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and might as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Everyone will hear our words and hear our message but not all will understand or accept them just as it was at the time of Jesus’ birth.
The shepherds spread the word of all that they saw and heard and all that heard it wondered at what had happened but not all accepted and not all believed their report.
If someone refuses to accept the truth, that does not change the truth. It only leaves them believing a lie.
When you walk out of this service this morning and this message has come to a close, don’t forget what you have seen and heard and go spread the good news of glad tidings. Go and tell the world that the Prince of Peace has come and is coming again. Go and tell everyone you meet about Jesus.
Jesus wants to give to them and to those of you who are here this morning the greatest gift that anyone could ever receive. He wants to give you freedom from guilt, freedom from sin and an eternal inheritance in the eternal city of God. Jesus wants to adopt you into His own family and make you an heir of all that God has to give.
Why not take Him up on that offer and accept Jesus as your Savior right now if you haven’t already?
What a great Christmas you will have if you come to know the real reason for Christmas!
