Majesty In A Manger (Luke 2: 8-20)
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The Story of the Shepherds
The Story of the Shepherds
As I began to prepare today
I thought what am I going to say about this part of the Christmas story that we don’t already know or heard 100’s of times
I began to research, pray, and process what to do for today
I came across a message that someone wrote and what they had to say made so much sense with the story of the shepherds
What is “ Majesty”?
Dictionary meaning says impressive stateliness, dignity, or beauty, and or royal power
Similar words that could go with majesty might be
Magnificence
Pomp
Grandeur
Sovereignty
Authority
Power
Supremacy
So in terms of thinking about this word “majesty” how does that fit with a manger?
A manger that was used to feed the animals
A manger sitting in a stinky barn around stinky/smelly animals
The Christmas story is filled with so many surprises
A barren old couple who learn they are going to have a baby, not from their Doctor, but from an Angel in the temple
An unmarried woman learns she is going to become a mom in spite of the fact that she has never been with a man and will face all kind of ridicule
The fiancé of the woman who must decide whether to believe her incredible story of her pregnancy and raise this child as his own son
The first visitors to the new baby, a group of ragtag shepherds
Hopefully what we can draw out today is Jesus came to this world for all of us
Not just the rich, famous, the religious, or the pious
Our Heavenly Father put a plan in place the moment that sin entered the world in the Garden with Adam & Eve
That plan was to send Jesus to this world that lived life but then gave the ultimate sacrifice in giving his life for our redemption
The Shepherds
Like any job, there were good shepherds and there were shepherds who just logged their hours for a paycheck
Some of the most significant people in the Bible were Shepherds: such as Jacob, David, and the prophet Amos
Being a Shepherd was not an exalted or even a respected profession
Shepherds were often despised
A shepherd’s testimony was not admissible in court because they were considered unreliable
They were seen as social outcasts
They often smelled like sheep and were generally much better with the sheep than with people
Perhaps this is why it’s surprising that God would invite or even command the Shepherds to see Jesus first
He didn’t choose religious leaders
He didn’t invite royalty
He didn’t invite prominent citizens of the town
Instead the angel was sent out to the field to invite the shepherds
This wasn’t an accident but this was God sending a message for us all
Prayer
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified,
but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!
And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.
All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
Can you imagine this setting
Imagine the shepherds out in the country
Verse 8 says they were staying in a field nearby which could of been a few miles out of town
It is pitch black dark
They may of been kicked back around a fire just hanging out trying to keep warm or staying dry
When Jesus was born, it was considered to be the rainy season, possibly mild temperature or weather
So just hanging out in the field, completely dark and SUDDENLY an angel of the Lord appeared out of nowhere
Can you imagine the sense of shock that night?
It could of been like when you’re driving at night and boom, there are headlights that come out of no-where and it scares the living daylights out of you
It blinds you and disorients you for a few seconds
You may feel horror, fear, confusion when this happens
Perhaps we may have a little bit of an idea on how the shepherds felt when the angel appeared to them
Actually they were shocked or startled twice when the sky was filled with angels singing/worshipping saying Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased
Imagine the next conversation the angel has with the shepherds
Calm down, its OK, Sorry I scared you but here’s the deal
Jesus, the Messiah, the Redeemer has been born in Bethlehem, the city of David
Every Jewish child (even those who became shepherds) was taught about the promised Messiah
People had been waiting for Him for hundreds of years
Everyone assumed he would be born near the temple and celebrated by Kings and religious leaders
Why the Shepherds?
Perhaps it was to make it known that the message of Christmas
The message of hope, redemption, forgiveness and new life
There is no one who is a “nobody” in God’s eyes.
The Lesson of the Shepherds
The Lesson of the Shepherds
The world is always writing people off
We determine that a person can’t do a job; won’t amount to anything
Or that they are a bad person because they made a mistake
As a result the world is filled with people who feel anonymous and insignificant
The child who is labeled as just average
The teenager who doesn’t like what they see in the mirror
The person who has a minimum wage job and feels judged for it
The retired person that feels useless and discarded
The divorced or widowed person that feels alone and forgotten
The person who wants to work but can’t find a job because nothing is out there that fits their needs
The person is in a big group setting and yet no one seems to notice them
The person who works for an employer that is in accessible and won’t listen to their concerns
The person who is disabled, handicapped, has special needs and can’t get anyone to help them or listen to them or trying to understand them
Pam works at Hiland with special needs kids
I will tell you these students are awesome
When you get in their world and try to understand them for who they are, it completely transforms them
These kids are smart and want to be heard and want to be treated just like everyone else
We live in a world where there is an emphasis on the chain of command, power, and who you know
It is all about the pecking order
The idea is that the closer you are to “the top” the more significant you therefore are in that particular organization
We measure significance by titles, the salary you are paid, the car you drive, the popularity you possess, or the power you can exert
We are told how to “dress for success” and how to “speak with authority”
All of these things are designed to make us more “significant” than other people
However
People who are deemed significant in the world find that when they leave their place of employment, their community, or their circle of friends, they find that their “significance” is suddenly vastly diminished or gone
People aren’t nearly as impressed when you are outside your own little Kingdom
So, even the “significant people” in the world often feel insignificant
What we see with the Shepherds is that God does not measure people the way we do
God sees potential rather than baggage
He looks past titles and sees the heart
He isn’t concerned about your annual salary but about the fruit you bear in the lives of others
It is a reminder that those whom the world esteems are often the ones so full of themselves that they have no room for the Lord
Jesus came into the world to reach lost people
Few people understand lostness more than those who feel insignificant, broken, and anonymous in the world
Have you ever heard someone say: “God could never love me because of all the bad things I’ve done”?
There are many people, maybe some of you, who feel that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace
The message of Christmas does not agree with that
The person who knows and admits that they have done bad things is also the one who sees their need for a Redeemer; they know they need someone to rescue them
And those people are the very people God is looking for
The Shepherds remind us that we need to see ourselves differently
We need to see ourselves through HIS eyes
We need to see that the coming of Christ is a declaration that God sees our need and has done something drastic and dramatic to address that need
God has CHOSEN us
He has set His love upon us
Notice something, the angel did not say, “For a baby has been born to a woman named Mary” He said, “For unto YOU” is born this day a Savior . . . Jesus had come for the Shepherds!
Certainly, after that night the Shepherds must have told the story over and over again
But the one thing I am sure they could never get their minds around is this one question: but why me? I know I feel that way
Maybe you do too
The Response of the Shepherds
The Response of the Shepherds
After the angels departed and went back to heaven the shepherds decided they need to go and see this baby they just heard and learned about
They could of made up all kinds of excuses not to go
Someone needs to watch the sheep
We have nothing appropriate or clean to wear
Nobody want’s a smelly shepherd around a new baby
I’m sure someone can do the job better than we can
There are others probably invited to and so they won’t miss us
Listen, these guys didn’t make excuses
They heard the command from the angels and they went to find him
The same problem happens to people today
We are invited to enter into a relationship with the Lord of life, and we make excuses
We excuse ourselves because we feel we are unworthy
We excuse ourselves because we have done too many things wrong
We excuse ourselves because we have other obligations
We excuse ourselves because life has just literally worn us out and we have no more strength
And as a result, the invitation to forgiveness and new life goes unclaimed
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Jesus invites us into a relationship with him
He came to reach out to us and all He asks us to do is to enter into the relationship that He has made possible
Before this can happen we must respond
It is not enough to have the information, we must act on it
However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.
No matter where you’re at today in your life
He will never ever reject you
He loves you even more than you know how to love someone else
The shepherds worshipped
When the Shepherds reached the manger they worshipped the newborn King
Their hearts were stirred
When they left the manger they told others and praised God
Worship is a natural response to the reality of Christmas
The lives of these Shepherds were changed in that one brief moment
They told Mary and Joseph their story and then they hit the streets running, telling everyone that the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem
They didn’t care how people around them responded, they simply wanted to spread the good news to anyone who would listen
True worship is not a sequence of religious exercises
It isn’t about songs we sing
It is about an encounter, a humbling and life-changing encounter with the Lord. Such an encounter changes us
And that change will motivate a new way of living
3 takeaways for today that we can learn from the shepherds
First, no one is anonymous or overlooked by the Lord
By extension, that means you and me
You could sit here today and feel like no one cares or sees you
You may feel no one would miss you if you weren’t here
However the truth is, God sees you, He knows you, He loves you, and He invites you to be part of His family
He invites you to experience the forgiveness that is made possible by the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
This Christmas story is designed to send us a message
There is no one who is anonymous
There is no one who is forgotten
Christ entered the world because you mattered to Him
Second, God is calling us into action
He is looking for ordinary people that he can use for his kingdom work
People that he can use for his big “K” kingdom work
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Like the shepherds God called them to action
He called them to be witnesses of the miracle birth of Jesus, the Messiah
Finally, God is asking us to respond to his invitation
As God called the shepherds into action
He also gave them an invitation to respond
They didn’t wait around wondering what to do or making up excuses why they shouldn’t go
They went in search of Jesus
You may be thinking this morning that it’s scary, it’s crazy to respond to his calling/invitation
And your right, it is scary, it is crazy
But the reward for responding to his kingdom work is so, so, worth it
Because no matter how hard it is, God is right beside us helping us
Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Be encouraged this morning
God has your back as he calls you to action
God has your back as he calls you to his invitation
There’s another kind of invitation that you can also respond to that would make this Christmas special
If you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior do it today
There are people here today that will help you, that will pray with you
I hope this Christmas season will be a blessing for you
I hope that you will be blessed in this season and also that you can be a blessing to those around you
I know for some of you this Christmas will be different as your family members have passed
I’m so sorry for these first experiences and know that we are praying for you
If this Christmas season brings you a lot of stress, pressures, anxiety
I would encourage to step back and allow the love of Christ just flow through you
Allow him to heal your wounds
Allow him to heal your struggles
Allow him to use others in your life to help you through
Because Majesty in a Manager, that’s what its all about
Jesus came for you and for me to give us life full of hope, grace, forgiveness, and a future with him
Worship Team to come forward to lead us in a song called Majesty in a manger
As they’re coming up here I want to read something that Max Lucado wrote about the sheperds
It was a beautiful night—a night worth peeking out your bedroom window to admire—but not really an unusual one. No reason to expect a surprise. Nothing to keep a person awake. An ordinary night with an ordinary sky.
The sheep were ordinary. Some fat. Some scrawny. Some with barrel bellies. Some with twig legs. Common animals. No fleece made of gold. No history makers. No blue-ribbon winners. They were simply sheep—lumpy, sleeping silhouettes on a hillside.
And the shepherds. Peasants they were. Probably wearing all the clothes they owned. Smelling like sheep and looking just as woolly. They were conscientious, willing to spend the night with their flocks. But you won’t find their staffs in a museum nor their writings in a library. No one asked their opinion on social justice or the application of the Torah. They were nameless and simple.
An ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an “extra” on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed. The sheep would have been forgotten, and the shepherds would have slept the night away.
But God dances amidst the common. And that night he did a waltz.
The black sky exploded with brightness. Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity. Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherd was dead asleep, the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an alien.
The night was ordinary no more.
The angel came in the night because that is when lights are best seen and that is when they are most needed. God comes into the common for the same reason.
His most powerful tools are the simplest.[1]
You matter to God whether you realize it, or feel like it. Christmas is about God’s desire to connect and to redeem YOU. Embrace the wonder and run to the One who calls you.
[1] Lucado, M. (1996). The applause of heaven (pp. 68–70). Dallas, TX: Word Pub