HICK TOWN HEROES
LUKE 2:8-20
INTRODUCTION… Hick Test (http://www.geocities.com/jam_ieg/stud.html)
* If the number of cattle out number the amount of people in your town
* If you can’t find your town on a map
* If your next door neighbor lives more then a mile away
* If you can hold your breath from one end of town to the other on a single breath
* If the biggest crime in your town’s history was the day you and your brother went cow tipping
* If there are no intersections in your town
* If you see more people riding horses rather then in cars
* If you only have two stores in your town usually a gas station and beer store
* If you own a cage to keep the coons from your garbage
* If you got running water 3 days ago
… then you live in a hick town.
When we think of a ‘hick town,’ we think that nothing good can come from it. We think of it as a small insignificant town with nothing to offer the larger world. The people from these towns are not significant. It is of course not true, but we tend to think it anyway. The biggest and brightest and the most important people and things are located in big towns with lots of people... at least that’s what we think.
The coming of Jesus is the greatest event in all of history. Yet, He did not come with great fanfare or with parades or announcements to kings. Jesus was not born in a large town. Jesus’ birth was announced to simple people... the hicks... who became heroes of the message.
READ LUKE 2:8-20
I. THE ANGEL APPEARED TO THE SHEPHERDS (VERSES 8-9)
I want you no notice what the shepherds were doing. The shepherds were working and were watching their flocks even in the middle of the night. The angel with the news of the birth of Jesus was not sent to the chief priests or the elders or the teachers of the law, but to a group of poor shepherds. These shepherds were not at the top of the social scale. They often had to move around and lived in tents... they were shunned. Their job was not seen as one of the more important ones in society. It seems so odd that shepherds were not highly valued because the patriarchs were shepherds. Moses was keeping the flocks of his father-in-law when he came upon a burning bush and was called to lead Israel from Egypt. David’s job before becoming King of Israel was shepherding. Oddly enough, these are probably the same fields (1 Samuel 17) that David watched his sheep in since he was from Bethlehem.
These common hard working people were not sleeping or retiring for the evening, but were watchful over their herds. "They were broad awake, and therefore could not be deceived in what they saw and heard, so as those may be who are half asleep" (Matthew Henry’s Commentary). Was this a dream? It could not have been a dream to those who were awake and working.
We know that the first reaction of the shepherds was fear. How do we know that? Verse 9 tells us that this angel appeared and the glory of the Lord was around them and they were ‘terrified.’ The word the Bible uses here is meant to show us that they were afraid, but they were also reverent and full of awe. This is the same word used in Matthew 9:8 when the people were filled with awe when Jesus healed a paralized man. This is the same word used in Matthew 17:6 (and Luke 9:34) when Jesus was transfigured before three of the disciples. The shepherds knew they were looking at an angel from God... and this did not happen everyday. They were afraid. They were in awe. They were humble and reverent.
II. THE ANGELS GAVE THE SHEPHERDS A MESSAGE (VERSES 10-14)
The angel appeared to these simple shepherds and gave them quite the news briefing. The angel tells them in verse 10 that he has ‘good news.’ The ‘good news’ that the angel is bringing them is the ‘gospel.’ He is telling them the good news about Jesus Christ. Specifically, that He had arrived on earth.
What exactly did the angel tell them?
#1: the good news was for all people and would bring them joy (verse 10). The news of Jesus’ arrival is certainly a good thing and brings such hope into the world. All people, through Jesus, will have the opportunity to come to God. Jesus’ birth was one step in the plan towards the cross.
#2: the good news is that the Savior was born in Bethlehem (verse 11). The Gospel of Matthew (1:21) records that the angel told Joseph to name the child Jesus for a very specific reason. It is the same reason that the angels proclaimed to the shepherds. Jesus will ‘save His people from their sins.’ He is the Savior.
#3: the Savior that was born is the Christ (verse 11). The people of Israel had long awaited a deliverer that would come from God. There certainly were different opinions about this Messiah that would come, but he was expected to come and deliver Israel. The angels tell the shepherds that this ‘anointed one’ from God was born in Bethlehem. The wait of the people was over... their deliverer had arrived!
#4: the baby is in a manger (verse 12). This Savior and Christ was not born in a palace or even in an inn. This baby was born in a barn and had a feeding trough for a bed. This is a ver humble beginning for Jesus. Also, if you go looking for a baby, how many babies could there be in barns on this particular night? The shepherds would know this child when they saw Him based on his location.
ILLUSTRATION... Praise God by Joseph Bayly
Praise God for Christmas, Praise Him for the incarnation, for the word made flesh.
I will not sing of shepherds watching flocks on frosty nights, or angel choristers.
I will not sing of a stable bare in Bethlehem, or lowing oxen,
wise men trailing star with gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Tonight I will sing praise to the Father who stood on heaven’s threshold and said farewell to his Son
as he stepped across the stars to Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
And I will sing praise to the infinite, eternal Son, who became most finite, a baby
who would one day be executed for my crime.
Praise him in the heavens,
Praise him in the stable,
Praise him in my heart.
These shepherds were the first ones to get the message about Jesus and the good news that He brings. What are these shepherds to do? What will be their response?
III. THE SHEPHERDS SPREAD THE MESSAGE (VERSES 15-20)
I think it is very interesting to note the reaction of the shepherds. Verse 15 tells us that they had a small conversation amongst themselves and then they hurried off to find the baby in the barn that was the promised Saviro of the world. My immediate question is... what about the sheep? You know that sheep are one of the dumbest animals on the face of the earth and need constant care and supervision. What about the sheep? The shepherds decide to ‘go and see this thing that has happened’ and they leave their livlihood grazing all by themselves in the middle of the night. They must have believed what the angel told them to leave their sheep alone.
Verse 17 tells us that they saw the child and did what? Did they go right back to watching their flocks. Actually, they did not do that until verse 20. What were they doing in the mean time? What were these lowly shepherds doing in the middle of the night? They went knocking on doors and woke people up. They spread the news about what they had been told and what they had seen. These simple shepherds were God’s first missionaries and evangelists.
They told people that the Messiah had been born as God promised. This was the best news anyone had ever heard. It is still the best news anyone has ever heard. Jesus is the good news and the very first people to spread that news were simple hick people that God chose to share the message with.
CONCLUSION
