The Chosen week 2

Peace

Luke 2:8–15 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.”

ADVENT

(1) the word “advent” means “coming;”

(2) the season of Advent, which leads up to Christmas Day and includes four Sundays, is a time to reflect on the coming of Jesus on one holy night in Bethlehem — a coming that caused a great turning for the world toward hope, peace, joy, and love;

(3) the four themes just listed are the four themes the Church traditionally explores during the Advent season.

The Chosen Series

Who Can Remember Last Week’s Main Phrase?

Nothing Is Impossible With God

That message was one of hope. That was the first theme of advent.

Hope- a confident expectation in Jesus that God always brings about the impossible- like restoring a broken world like ours.

Today, we are going to talk about a story that is nearly impossible to believe.... that angles passed along to shepherds a very special message as well.

I want to show a scene to begin today from “The Chosen” it has to be about shepherds, and it has to do with one shepherd in particular.

Let’s watch...

V?IDEO

“We’re not told much at all about the background of the shepherds of Christmas, so these are imagined scenes from the creators of The Chosen. But they did their homework. Because we doknow that it was hard out there for a shepherd at the time of Jesus.”

Shepherds socially

A bottom-line truth concerning shepherds that scholars and historians across the board agree on is that they were lowly within the grand scheme of societal structure. That is, in comparison to others they were

(1) seen as working a very average, unspectacular, uninspiring job (even if someone needed to do it),

(2) often deeply-impoverished,

(3) rather out-of-the-loop with everyday life (given that they were off and about with animals all day long and into the night),

(4) a bit awkward (given most of their time being spent with animals),

(5) often unhygienic (given their work with animals),

(6) assumed to be uneducated,

(7) subservient to just about everyone, every demand, and the supply-and-demand nature of the ebb-and-flow of the marketplace, and

(8) often deemed ‘unclean’ from a religious standpoint (once again, given their work with animals and perhaps even their inability to worship as regularly as others).

Socially, Shepherds were outcasts.... they were pigpen from the Peanuts cartoon.

Did you notice how everyone left t he well when the shepherd arrived?

They were dismissed by their society.

They were considered disgusting by their society.

They were disconnected- no one talked to them.

“Can you imagine what was going on within these shepherds? The battle that raged in their heads and their hearts?”

“Of course you can. Because while you might be [a teacher or a secretary or doctor or a nurse or a lawyer or a...], you have a lot in common with a shepherd...”

Who hasn’t been dismissed before? By those around them?

Who has found others to be finding them disgusting?

We all can find ourselves in a world where socially situations occur- that are ususlly painful- where people dismiss us/

And our hearts and our minds hurt....

And sometimes we begin to believe the lie- that we are of little worth. unwanted. unloved. unclean.

And though you might be a teacher or a secretary or a tax man or a nurse or whatever- you have a lost in common with a shepherd.

For shepherds, it was actually worse than what we’ve discussed so far.

Let’s watch another part of the Chosen...

At this point in the episode, the shepherds have found their way into the Town of Bethlehem, and they’re visiting the marketplace to see if anyone would like to purchase a lamb or two from their flock. And do you remember the one shepherd we were pushed to focus on in the earlier scene — the one with the pronounced limp? You’re going to watch him interact with a religious leader over the possibility of his lamb serving as a pleasing sacrifice to God. Watch how he’s treated...

VIDEO

Shepherds Spiritually

two devastating details from the scene that was just shown:

(1) the Pharisee telling the shepherd that “it’s because of people like you that the Messiah has not come,” and

(2) the moment the religious leader’s assistant spits on the ground where the shepherd had been standing with his lamb.

What is the clear message that’s being passed along to the shepherds?

"Due to your sin — due to the things you’ve said and left unsaid, done and left undone — it’s not just people who are disgusted by you, but God himself, too. And so it’s not just people who are dismissive of you, but God himself, too. He’s done with you, because you’re just too far gone.”

The shepherd’s physical condition had probably long made him the recipient of wrong deductions, or unfair deductions, about his spiritual condition.

Listen to these verses from the beginning of John 9. SEe John 9.1-2

John 9:1–2 ESV

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Do you see the blind assumption- no pun intended?

A prominent thougth at the time was that if you had any sort of problem, you must be sinful.

If you hobbled in any way, you must be horrible in some way.

Did you see the wound on that shepherds’ arm? It was ugly.

But he’s nursing wounds that run deeper than that scratch down his forearm, isn’the?

Because the pharisee pointed out the spiritual relationship HE thought there was- the shepherd’s spiritual condition as a result of his sinful condition.... I want to say a few things.

Sin is real.

God does not like sin.

Sin is a battle against God and His ways.

God does judge sin- God hates sin.

Romans 3:10 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Shepherds Spiritually

Let me ask you one more time. I already posed this question at least once today.

Can you imagine what was going on within these shepherds? The battles that raged in their heads and hearts?

And now let me say something I’ve already said today....

Of course you can imagine what was going on within these shepherds. Because while you might not be a shepherd, you are a human being....

Explore the agony your listeners face as they are forced to come face-to-face with their sin. Explore the anxiety they face when realizing they are power-less to come up with a perfect sacrifice. Confess on their behalf that you are all stumbling your way through a spiritually-dire situation that is deeply painful. And give words to what you know is going on within your listeners — the battle that rages in their heads and their hearts: “Deep within you, you often tell yourself, ‘There is no way forward. I’ve made war with the only one who is perfect and can cover it all and deliver me.’” And then maybe even repeat that playful line: “While you might not be a shepherd, you are a human being...”

“And back to those shepherds. So far I’ve only been able to share how it gets worse and worse and worse for them. But at Christmas — on that holy night of Jesus’s birth — it suddenly gets better. Listen...”

simply read Luke 2:8-15

Luke 2:8–15 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.”

Look closeley at Luke 2.10

Luke 2:10 ESV

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.

repeat the phrase “for all the people.”

“All.”

Even shepherds.”

................ Remember what we’ve talked about so far....

The shepherds’ social condition.

The shepherd’s spiritual condition.

The Shepherd’s Peace

God chose to tell the Shepherd’s first.!

Who would you have told first?

How could it nothave brought them...peace. Through his messengers, the angels, God is saying, “I know your battles within. I know the war you’ve waged against yourself. But you are of great worth. You are wanted. You are loved. I have not overlooked you, forgotten you, passed you by, or dismissed you. And yes, you have waged war against me and my ways. But I am making peace betweenus through my son, the Messiah, the Rescuer, and may it bring such peace within. By him you will be forgiven. He will be the perfect Lamb, sacrificed for you. You are being made clean. Made new. Made mine. You. Yes, you.”

Video

The Shepherd’s Peace

Yes, the physical wound of the shepherd is being bound up and healed by the very swaddling cloths of the baby. But the baby’s arrival is binding up the shepherd’s deeper wounds. And the baby will grow to be a man who will once-for-all bind up the deepest of wounds by laying down his life. By his wounds the shepherd’s will be healed — just as it was promised in the Old Testament prophecies of the Prophet Isaiah! And the shepherd is being given such peace. The battles have been stilled and are being stilled and will always be stilled because of this Child born one holy night.

Light the Advent Candle

Advent Video

On the first Sunday of Advent, we talked about how the coming of Jesus allows for a turning away from hopelessness and instead toward hope. So we lit the candle of Hope. Today, on this second Sunday of Advent, we see that coming of Jesus allows for a turning away from shame and instead toward peace. And so we light the candle to remember and rejoice that he came even for shepherds. He came for us.”

Bottom Line:

Jesus Came To Bring Peace Within Because He Makes Peace Between

Peace with God

Peace with Ourselves

Peace with Others.