Shepherds seek the Lamb

Good Morning,

Before we begin lets open with a word of prayer.

Pray 3+

Today we are in Luke 2 and we will be looking at verses 8-21. If you are in a blue pew Bible, this will start on page 949.

Luke 2:8–21 ESV

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. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 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.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

In our opening 8 verses today, we see two groups. We see the shepherds and the angel. While I won’t spend a lot of time here, because it isn’t the main point of the text, I do want to point this out because it is important and it has lead many astray.

Why is this angel here?

We live in just a small part of reality, and honestly it is the least reliable part we have. We can see this especially well in marriage. Of the people here who are married, how many of us have done something with our spouse or had a conversation with our spouse and we each remember it completely differently. In fact if we are honest, many of us have had heated fellowship over one or more of these instances, right? Experience is a very bad way of building truth and it is easy to see that when we look back. That is not to say this isn’t reality, like I said it is part of it, however like I said it is also a very small and unreliable part of it.

Scripture itself is a testament to this fact, here in our passage we see this heavenly being, an angel of the Lord. I have never seen an angel, I have never experienced the fear that comes with seeing one as the shepherds had, yet I can know they are real based upon scripture because the God, who is truth, deemed it necessary to tell us about them in His word. I bring this up because it is likely that at least some here have had some sort of spiritual experience and I cannot rule out the fact that others of us may because the Bible tells us that spiritual realm and spiritual warfare is real.

We see in Ephesians 6:12 “12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” and in 1 Peter 5:8 “8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” I bring up these two verses because we have to be careful when we are looking at the spiritual realm, and this prompts the question on the screen. Why is this angel here?

This angel is here to bring glory to God. Look first at verses 10 and 11.

Luke 2:10–11 “10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” They point these men to the person who is Christ, the anointed one, the Lord. In the New Testament, the word Lord can mean several things, but it is always a person who is in authority and given the nature of those who are speaking, it speaks of the one who is in authority over the heavenly host. In the Jewish mind of the time, there is only one who is above the angels and that is God. Then if we go down to verses 13 and 14, we see the same thing

Luke 2:13–14 “13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”” These angels glorify God, they point the shepherds to Him and sing His praises. However, the Bible tells us of other forces.

In 2 Corinthians 11:13–15 “13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. He works to deceive because he is the father of lies, drawing people away from the truth of God’s Word. When the serpent came Eve, he said, You won’t die, you will be like God, knowing good from evil. This same thing happened with Joseph Smith, either he was lying from the beginning or an angel really did appear to him, but the end was the same, you can be like God as long as you do what I say.

If what you are listening to, what you are seeing, or what you are experiencing isn’t pointing you toward God and the truth found here in His Word, it is not from Him, it is far more sinister.

Let’s look at the other group here, the shepherds.

Who are the shepherds?

It has often been preached that the shepherds were the outcasts of society, I am not sure but I may have said this in the past. That is an easy conclusion to come to, often shepherds were the youngest of a persons children. The lived with the sheep, slept with the sheep, and likely smelled like the sheep. So while this is possible, I cannot find Biblical grounds for this and it is thought that this thinking comes not from Jewish writings of the time but rather from Aristotle.

Aristotle was cited as saying that among people, “the laziest are shepherds, who lead an idle life, and get their subsistence without trouble from tame animals; their flocks wandering from place to place in search of pasture, they are compelled to follow them, cultivating a sort of living farm.”

Jews however, trace their entire lineage back to Abraham who had flocks and herds of animals, much like a shepherd. Jacob who would be named Israel by God, served as a shepherd under Laban for his wives. Moses shepherded Jethro’s flocks in Exodus 3:1, and David was a shepherd long before he was ever king. This is just some of the Shepherds in the Old Testament, this nation’s entire sacrificial system was dependent on shepherds. God calls Himself a shepherd or is described as a shepherd throughout the Old Testament as well. David writes in Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my Shepherd. In Ezekiel 34:12, God himself says, “12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.”

Does this mean that they were esteemed? No, but neither were they the outcasts of society, that is often presented. These men were shepherds and they guarded the sheep that would be sacrificed for the atonement of sin. Turn with me to the passage that Doug read earlier.

He read for us the parable of the Lost Sheep found in Luke 15, I asked him to read this because there are some interesting parallels to our passage today, but they are inverted.

Luke 15:1–7 “1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

Jesus is telling this parable recognizing that the Shepherd here is Himself. He has come to look for the lost sheep. When he finds the lost sheep he lays them upon his shoulders and brings them home.

In our passage however, the shepherds are those who need the lamb, it is not the lamb who needs the shepherd. When the angel comes and announces to them the good news, they run to see the savior, the only perfect sacrificial. The one they need to save them. The lambs they cared for would atone just for the past sins, they could never restore the relationship with God. They could not create a new heart in fallen men. These shepherds with haste came to the one lamb that was able to do all of that and more. The lamb that was not in their flock.

They also like the parable rejoiced when they found this perfect lamb. In verse 15 of our passage it reads

Luke 2:15–20 “15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

After they see the baby lying in the manger, they begin telling people about it. It says all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. They had found the lamb, they wanted everyone to know about it. The one who was to be the promised savior had been revealed to them and this was not something they could keep in. One thing that I want us to notice though, is the setting has not changed. The Savior, who was Christ the Lord, was sill lying in the manger. He is still in the humble estate that we saw Him in, in last weeks passage. He is still in Bethlehem, the city of David, surrounded by all of these people who came for the registration. These people who would have been relatives of Joseph because each had to return to his home for this registration. Yet when these shepherds tell them all they are amazed, but the text does not give any indication that they went to see or find this child.

Then our passage ends with this. Luke 2:21 “21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” His parents faithfully keeping both the law as it was commanded by Moses and the command the Lord gave them and named him Jesus, which means Yahweh saves or Yahweh is salvation. So..

How does this reflect Jesus's ministry?

Like, I said this passage is very often given as if the Shepherds are the outcasts of society, and while that is a possibility, it is not the most probable. This interpretation also gives us a different view of God, because when it is presented like this it becomes Jesus comes to the outcasts. What we see in the shepherds, rather than them being outcasts, is humility. When we view it through the outcast lens Jesus becomes a social justice warrior rather than a savior. There are proud outcasts, who want nothing to do with God. Rather, what we see is God shows Himself to those who will submit themselves to Him. In Psalm 138:6 it reads “6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.” It says something very similar in James 4:6 “6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”” That is what we see in Jesus’s ministry, he is there for those who humble themselves. It is one of the reasons the Pharisees were disgusted by Him. He ate with Tax collectors and sinners. He was willing to spend time with those who understood they needed a savior. Even Nicodemus, he spent time with him trying to show him the truth of Scriptures, but look what he says to the Pharisees another time. Turn with me to Matthew 23 and I will start in verse 1.

Matthew 23:1–12 “1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

He will go on to pronounce woe on the Pharisees for all the evil they do. Salvation comes by faith in Him, not by keeping laws outwardly. He then exalts the shepherds and uses them to go out and share the good news of His arrival. These men saw the perfect lamb with their own eyes and their lives had been changed. They now wanted to share that news with who ever would listen. They had seen the angelic host singing praises to God because of this baby they had seen. An angel had come to them and spoke of the good news. These were life changing events, miracles of God that they got to be part of. Do we have this kind of excitement?

How are we participating or do we participate in that ministry?

I know for some of us it has been a long time since we were saved, but I am telling you this a far more exciting event than an angel appearing before you. If you are here and you are saved you have the living God inside of you now. That is far more miraculous than an angel’s announcement. Jesus, the second person of the eternal Godhead, had to come as this infant we see here, he had to live as a man and lay down his life and raise it up again, just so you have the opportunity to come into fellowship with Him, but it doesn’t stop there.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” We have been made new we are no longer who we once were. You are a completely new creation, no longer bound to and a slave to sin and death. Again this is far more than an announcement, but like all the late night infomercials used to say, but wait there’s more. The living God now resides inside of us. This is the most joyful and exciting news, if we aren’t at least as excited as the shepherds about the blessings that we get to have, we are missing what we have been blessed with. I have to confess I have blown this lately. My beautiful wife has had to put up with me moping because I forgot this. She helped to remind me that what God has given us is far more amazing than anything we have here on this earth, even if it is what we feel is part of who we are.

However, the Shepherds went and shared the news and what they had seen with anyone who would listen. They were excited and those who heard it were amazed by it. In the ESV it says, they wondered at it, but this is more wonder like amazement not curiosity. Do we share with others this way? Is the Gospel something that we are so exited to share that others are amazed by the news? Or do we share at all? There is this saying about us sharing the gospel and it is good but sometimes in our culture falls a bit flat. It is something along the lines of “One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” It falls flat because of our view of beggars and bread, it is more like one beggar leading another to a 5 star restaurant that is all you can eat with no cost. The gift is beyond measure and it costs us nothing. We should be excited to share that with others.

Lets close with a word of prayer.