Shepherds: Fear Not! Series

Do Not Be Afraid

Luke 2:8-12

December 15, 2024

We’re in the last week of our advent series in which an angel of God tells people “do not be afraid.”

We all have our fears, some are rational and some are irrational. One fear I have is a fear of heights. I don’t like to be over 10 feet high, unless I’m in a plane or roller coaster.

One of the sports I did in high school was swimming. In the summer we’d swim outdoors at an olympic sized pool. One of them was in Park Ridge, Illinois; which is 4 miles from O’Hare airport. And directly in line with one of the runways. From the ground, planes looked like they were just a few feet over your head.

The pool also had a separate diving area, which had an olympic 10 meter platform diving board, that’s 33' high. If you went to the top of that, you felt like you could jump and grab the planes wheels. But I couldn’t go up there! Fear of height. Even thinking about jumping up on that platform makes my stomach turn.

I still don’t like heights, but I have gotten to 20' now. Thanks to firefighter wisdom, So, I’m making progress.

There are a lot of things to be afraid of in the world . . .

There's the direction of our country fears. Financial and relational fears. Fear about our kids and loved ones. Worries about health issues.

Anyone else afraid of heights? How about spiders and snakes?

Anybody afraid of pickles? It’s actually a thing. It's called dillpickophobia. Actually, it’s tubariphobia

I want to talk about one fear that a lot of people have. It’s one we really don’t talk about or like to admit to others. It's a fear we don't acknowledge until we're at a funeral or there's a scary health issue or we have a close call.

It's the fear of wondering where do I stand with God.

If something were to happen to me, where would I spend eternity? Would I spend eternity with God in heaven or would I be separated from God in hell? Or is this life all there is and I would just cease to exist?

This can be really, really scary because we know we've done wrong. We’ve sinned. We know all the bad things that we've done. And you may not feel close to God and that leads to having fear about our eternity.

Too many people say, “IF.” If I get in! That should not be our approach. It’s either a YES or NO. Not an IF.

We’re going to look at Luke 2, it’s the story of the shepherds receiving the good news of Jesus’ birth. Starting in verse 8, 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.

I love the way Luke wrote this. Because the literal Greek says this about the shepherds - - - -

kai ephob-ethe-san phobon megan

?a? ?f?ß???sa? f?ß?? µ??a?

and they feared [with] fear great

That’s how it’s written. They feared with fear which was great.

Another way to say this would be — — they were filled with intense and overwhelming fear.

They were terrified. They had fear on top of fear. That’s what these shepherds were facing. I’ve never had an angel speak to me, but I can imagine the intense fear I might have as well. That’s our starting point.

The angel has not yet spoken, and these shepherds are freaking out. The angel now says - - - -

10 “FEAR NOT, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

The angel is bringing good news of great joy which is for all the people. So, don't be afraid. Fear not. I am going to bring you the best news you’ve ever heard. And it’s for all of the people!!

The good news is this - - - -

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.”

A Savior is born. If we're being saved, then what are we being saved from? We’ll get to that in a bit. And why did God send His angels to shepherds?

It’s interesting because if I'm God and I'm bringing this good news to the world and I'm sending angels with this birth announcement, I'm going to send them to someone who’s important.