What It Takes to Hear From God
Part 4 of 4 in the series, "Christmas Calms Our Fears"
Luke 2:1-20 (NLT) 1At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2(This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3All returned to their own towns to register for this census. 4And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5He took with him Mary, his fiancé, who was obviously pregnant by this time.
6And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.
8That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, 10but the angel reassured them. "Don’t be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! 11The Savior--yes, the Messiah, the Lord--has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!"
13Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others--the armies of heaven--praising God: 14"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors." 15When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Come on, let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20The shepherds went back to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God for what the angels had told them, and because they had seen the child, just as the angel had said.
Not everyone that first Christmas heard from God like the shepherds did.
Caesar in Rome was so powerful that all he had to do was make a census decree and everyone had to travel to their hometowns whether or not it was convenient. But he didn’t hear from God.
Herod was powerful enough to have all of the baby boys two years old and younger in Bethlehem killed because of his fear of a Jesus becoming his rival – but he didn’t hear from God either.
Likewise not everyone today is looking and listening for the right things to be able to hear from God.
The Judean shepherds watching their flocks on the night of Christ’s birth saw and heard from heaven in a remarkable way that first Christmas! You need to hear from God in your life. You need to understand His will, you need to receive His blessing, and you need to have Him answer your prayers. So what can you do to help insure that you hear from God? These shepherds teach us.
We’re finishing the series on "How Christmas Calms Our Fears." The best thing you can possibly do to deal with your fears in life is to hear from God. Whatever you worry about, whatever makes you anxious, whatever doubts and fears you have, hearing from God is the best medicine for dealing with those unpleasant emotions. Four times in the Good News Accounts angels appeared and said, "Don’t be afraid": to Joseph, to Zechariah, to Mary, and now to the shepherds.
We’ve been applying the message, "don’t be afraid," to our lives. The story of the Judean shepherds is just one more example from which we can learn how God can calm our fears. This time we see that listening to God’s message calms fears and we learn what it takes to hear from God.
The shepherds just may have seen and heard what others missed because they were watching for the right thing. That is what it takes to hear from God. You need to know what to listen for.
1. If you want to hear from God you’ve got to seek God’s glory, not your own.
Luke 2:9 (NLT) Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them.
Why were the shepherds out with their flocks that night guarding their sheep? Why weren’t they asleep in their tents? They were guarding their flocks because this was the time of year that the lambs were born. The reason they stayed up was to make sure the lambs entered this world safe and sound. Their night watch wasn’t interrupted as much as it was fulfilled! The Lamb of God was born on their watch so God dispatched a choir of angels with an explosion of light to let them know their watching was over!
Jesus, the Lamb of God, was born to bring God glory.
2 Corinthians 4:6 (NLT) For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made us understand that this light is the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
We often fail to seek the glory of God because we’re seeking it for ourselves. Self-glory is such a misguided motivation for living, yet millions, especially in our culture, live exactly for that reason. They’ve been fooled into believing they have to receive a lot of attention in order to live a significant life. So they live for their personal agendas instead of living lives intent on bringing glory to God. And consequently they don’t hear from God like they could.
Being a shepherd was a very humble profession. It was a rough life. If you were a shepherd you weren’t a member of society’s upper echelons. Shepherds were considered unclean and ignorant but they were truly unprejudiced witnesses to the birth of Christ. You weren’t accused of being a glory seeker if you were a shepherd. Most of us can probably identify with the shepherds because they were ordinary people. God picked ordinary people to witness the first coming of Christ.
The Bible gives us a stark example of the difference between the shepherds, looking for God to get glory, and others of their day seeking self-glory, in the story of the family of King Herod.
In later chapters of the Christmas story we learn that King Herod was interested in his own personal glory. He lived for his own power and prestige so he didn’t get to hear from God. But the wise men from the east did get to hear from God because they wanted to worship Jesus. They saw His star in the east and made a long, selfless journey, presenting lavish gifts to worship their new king.
A lot of people have theorized as to just exactly what the star was. Was it a comet or some other heavenly object? I like what J. Dwight Pentecost says in his book, "The Words and Works of Jesus Christ." He believes the star is best explained as "a manifestation of the shining glory of God that He reveals to those who are recipients of revelation."
Herod passed this desire for self-glory on to his grandson, Herod Agrippa. The Bible says of him:
Acts 12:21 (NCV) On a chosen day Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to the people. 22 They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not a human!" 23 Because Herod did not give the glory to God, an angel of the Lord immediately caused him to become sick, and he was eaten by worms and died.
God will not allow rivals when it comes to His right to receive honor and glory.
If you want to hear from God seek to see Him receive honor and praise and glory and don’t seek it for yourself.
Like the shepherds, we must be on guard. Like they guarded the sheep we need to guard our worship, even when we attend worship together. If you’re not careful you can leave church and say, "those songs or that sermon didn’t do much for me." We critique the worship service as if we’ve been to the movies. WE ACT AS IF WORSHIP IS PRIMARILY FOR US. It is partially for us, but it is primarily for God’s glory, and that is an easy thing to lose sight of.
Reminds me of the mother with her little girl out Christmas shopping who passed by a Nativity Scene in a department store window one Christmas. Catching a glimpse of the beautiful scene the child grabbed the mother’s hand and exclaimed, "Mama! Mama! Please let me stop for a minute to look at Jesus!" But the mother quickly pulled the little girl away and said, "We don’t have time for that, it’s Christmas!"
"Imagine the shepherds leaving the stable and saying, ‘That didn’t do much for me. I don’t think Joseph had much of a say in the matter. Mary didn’t look very good. When that baby started crying it really disrupted the whole evening. And it wasn’t very clean in that stable. The animals sure did smell and those angels were way too loud!" (From a sermon by Michael Luke, Sermon Central)
It’s easy to lose sight of what really matters. It’s easy to get caught up, not only in the Christmas season, but year-round it’s easy to get caught up in the wrong motivation for living.
Live for God’s glory, not your own.
1 Corinthians 10:31 (NLT) Whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, you must do all for the glory of God.
When you live for God’s glory you will hear from God. When you hear from God you will be equipped to effectively deal with your fears. Living for God’s glory is such a liberating lifestyle in so many ways.
2. If you want to hear from God you’ve got to live in an atmosphere of praise.
Luke 2:13 (NLT) Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others--the armies of heaven--praising God: 14"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors."
Last week we covered, "How to Respond to God" and we saw how Mary responded to God in praise even though her situation was very perplexing. I hope you’ve been practicing responding to God in humility, faith, and praise like Mary.
The Bible teaches that praise does something very special about drawing God to us. God is present everywhere but His presence is especially manifested when and where He is praised.
Psalm 22:3 (KJV) But You are holy, Who inhabitest the praises of Israel.
In Hebrew, this word translated "inhabit" literally means, "to sit down, to settle, to remain, to continue." Some versions translate the word "enthrone." God sits downs and settles where He is praised! God inhabits, or lives in, an atmosphere of praise. So, if you desire God to manifest His presence and blessings, create an atmosphere of praise in your life. Live in an atmosphere of praise.
Don’t live in an atmosphere of complaining, bickering, fussing, feuding, gossiping, negative talking, etc. Those things turn God off just like they turn the rest of us off. Do you like to hang out with negative, bellyaching, faultfinding, whimpering people? I’m sure you don’t. And God doesn’t either. But if you will develop and nurture an atmosphere of praise in your life you will attract God’s special attention!
This is one of the reasons David was called, "a man after God’s own heart." He lived and breathed to praise God. Consequently God was with Him and heard him.
The choice is yours. Do you want to have God hear you or do you want to keep on nursing your negativity?
I want to encourage you to develop an atmosphere of praising God in your life. Take one week; every time a negative, worrisome, fearful thought enters your mind, every time you are tempted to say something negative, instead, praise God. Arm yourself with a verse of scriptural praise or a verse of praise in song and say or sing that instead of dwelling on the negative thought. I guarantee you that will make a noticeable change in your life! You will hear from God!
Praise is our way of thanking God for all the good things He is and all of the good things He has done.
Hebrews 13:15 (GNT) Let us, then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus, which is the offering presented by lips that confess him as Lord.
One Christmas, a parent decreed that she was no longer going to remind her children of their thank-you note duties. As a result their grandmother never received acknowledgments of the generous checks she had given. The next year, things were different, however. "The children came over in person to thank me," the grandparent told an old friend triumphantly. "How wonderful!" the friend exclaimed. "What do you think caused the change in behavior?" "Oh, that’s easy," the grandmother replied, "This year I didn’t sign the checks!"
God signed His check when His only Son in human form to become our Savior! He deserves our gratitude – our praise!
In his book, "Psalms of the Heart," George Sweeting tells of missionaries John and Elaine Beekman. God called them to missionary work among the Chol Indians of southern Mexico. They rode mules and traveled by dugout canoes to reach the tribe and stayed there for 25 years with other missionaries until they had translated the New Testament into the language of the Chol. Today, more than 12,000 Chol Indians are followers of Christ! But the interesting thing is, when the missionaries first came, the Chol Indians didn’t know how to sing! With the coming of Good News about Jesus, however, the believers in the tribe became known as "the singers." "They love to sing now," Sweeting says, "because they have something to sing about!"
If you are a child of God you too certainly have something to sing about! Even if you can’t carry a tune make a joyful noise (Psalms) and make melody in your heart (Eph. 5:19). Tell others the good things God has done instead of spending your time bemoaning all the bad things going on around you.
If you develop an atmosphere of praise in your life you’ll hear from God. If you hear from God you won’t be afraid.
3. If you want to hear from God you’ve got to share the Good News with others.
Why did God tell the shepherds about the entrance of His Son into the world when there were so many others to whom He could have sent the angels with the announcement?
God told the shepherds because He knew the shepherds would tell others!
Luke 2:17 (NLT) Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.
God blesses those who tell others about Him. God shares information with those who will pass the information on. Consider what happened in the early church.
Acts 4:33 (GNT) With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God poured rich blessings on them all.
One of the reasons the early church had God’s rich blessings was because they were great witnesses.
We need to do more than just celebrate the coming of the Lord Jesus – we need to celebrate and communicate!
I want you to stand with me and come around row by row, beginning with the front row on my left side, your right, and as you do I want you to light the small candle you’ve been given by placing the wick of your candle in the wick of this large candle. We’ll let the large candle represent the Lord.
(Song – "Light A Candle" by Avalon, 3 minutes and 42 seconds, from the CD, "Joy – A Christmas Collection.")
Lyrics: light a candle for the old man who sits staring out a frosty windowpane
light a candle for the woman who is lonely and every Christmas is the same
for the children who need more than presents can bring
light a candle, light the dark, light the world
light a heart or two, light a candle for me, I’ll light a candle for you
light a candle for the homeless and the hungry, a little shelter from the cold
light a candle for the broken and forgotten
may the season warm their souls
can we open our hearts to shine through the dark
light a candle, light the dark, light the world
light a heart or two, light a candle for me, I’ll light a candle for you
and in this special time of year may peace on earth surround us here
and teach us there’s a better way to live
and with every flame that burns we must somehow learn
that love’s the greatest gift that we could ever give.....
As each of us lit his or her candle the room got brighter. That is how it is with the Good News about Jesus. As we shine our lights His light becomes brighter in this world.
Like the song we just listened to said, "Love’s the greatest gift that we could ever give," so I want to ask each one of you to think of one person who needs Christ’s light, one person who needs God’s love.
It might be a family member, a friend, an associate at work, or a neighbor.
Once you have that person in mind I want to ask you to do something. Today is the last Sunday of 2005. I want to ask you to come forward and pray for that person. I want you to ask God to give you an opportunity to share His love with them – to share His light with them. (You can do it with your eyes open so you won’t burn someone with your candle.)
Prayer: Lord, your light and your love are sorely needed in this world. There are hurting people all around us; people looking for your love even though they may not even know that is what they are looking for. We ask you to send us – to give us the words to say and to help us to live the life that supports an effective witness for you. As this year swiftly comes to an end and a new one approaches we ask you to make it one of our giving glory to you and not looking for the glory for ourselves, a year where we each live in an atmosphere of praise, and a year that we share the Good News with others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
