The Characters of Christmas - week 3

Main idea: The birth of Jesus shows that everyone has an important job in the kingdom of God.

The shepherds were ordinary people who witnessed an extraordinary moment with God.

Luke 2:8–19 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.

We know from verse 6 that the region is Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a small village about 5 miles south of Jerusalem. The traditional site of verse 8 is about 2 miles outside of Bethlehem. (SHOW MAP.)

In Bible times, shepherding was a 24 hour job. During the warmer parts of the year, the shepherds would keep them in an outdoor corral and lay in front of the gate, so the sheep would be protected from predators.

Some common facts about shepherds in Bible times:

they were a despised class of people and viewed as outcasts

they had bad reputations and questionable honesty and integrity

they were not allowed to testify in court

many were very poor

they had a work schedule that was not beneficial to the rest of their life

they were always ceremonially unclean

Two of Israel’s most beloved men were shepherds; Moses and David

the Bible is intentional about creating a different opinion of shepherds

Some common truths about this particular group of shepherds:

They were devout Jews. As I think about times when angels appeared to humans, those men and women were faithful to God. It is possible they were raising sheep that would be sacrificed for Passover a few months later. This comes from Rabbi’s and has no biblical evidence. Calendar and weather would need to align for this to be true. For instance, it is 56 degrees in Bethlehem today.

They were honored in this extraordinary moment. Look at verses 9-10. An angel appeared. The glory of God revealed itself. They received a message that was not to kept, but was intended for all people.

They received deep truth from the angel. Look at verse 11 ~ “For unto you is born this day in the city of the David a Savior (redeemer), who is Christ (Messiah) the Lord (Jehovah).”

They were invited to share a gospel moment with the King of kings and Lord of Lords. Look at verses 12-13. Shepherds, this is what you’re going to find. God is laying in an animal food trough as a baby wrapped up in a blanket. Go check it out! But, before you go, let’s worship the Lord! Let’s proclaim his goodness. Let’s give him some praise and glory.

They were busy people with obligations that made getting to Jesus inconvenient. Look at verses 15-16. When the angels had finished, the shepherds said, “let’s go” and they hurried to find the manger. They needed to work through some details, because they couldn’t abandon their sheep. That was how they made money. That was their identity. Their entire lives were wrapped into those sheep. Sheep are incredibly naive animals. They are also are easily deceived. The shepherds needed the right person to watch them. We can only imagine what that conversation might have been like.

Let’s flip the excitement for a moment. What if their response was different?

Mr. Angel, we are honored that we just experienced this amazing moment with you. We are so grateful that we experienced the glory of God. It was pretty cool to see the multitude of heavenly hosts singing like one big choir.

Mr. Angel, we loved every second of what we just experienced, but we can’t adjust our lives to get more of God’s glory. We don’t want to trust other people with our sheep. We don’t want to put our finances in another person’s hands. Our lives are pretty comfortable. We want to keep controlling what we can in this world. We don’t have everything we would like, but we’re okay with it.

Mr. Angel, thank you for the offer. We’re going to remember this one time event as long as we can, but we aren’t interested in more. We don’t want to re-shuffle so we can experience more of God’s glory in our lives.

That wasn’t even close to the shepherd’s response, but maybe some of us have had that response. You went on a mission trip, went to summer camp, attended a concert, served in VBS, met a need in the community, sat in a spirit-exalting prayer meeting, or something else. At the end, you felt God giving you some instructions for more of God’s glory, but it would have been too much work, or you would have had to release control and trust another person, or life would have too many unknowns for a while, and you said no. Do you wonder what life would have been like if your NO had been a YES? Look at verses 18-19 ~ And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them, but Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

The “all” in verse 18 were curious but not committed. They were content with the one-time event and then moved on with the routines of their lives. Friends, if we remain curious but not committed, if we remain content with a one-time event, our job goes unfinished. Like the shepherds, we have an important job in the kingdom of God and we need to be more than curious or casual about experiencing the glory of God.

The shepherds were changed by the birth of Jesus.

Luke 2:20 ESV

20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

The shepherds went back to their field changes individuals. They were glorifying and praising the Lord because He chose to give the good news of the gospel to a despised group of people with a bad reputation. The Lord chose to reveal his glory to a group of people unable to worship in the temple. The Lord chose to honor a group of people unworthy to give testimony in court. The Lord gave an important job to a group of people with an insanely busy schedule. The Lord CHANGED a group of people because they said, “let’s go!”

Application:

Every time the glory of God is revealed in our lives, we should consider that an honor and a privilege.

Worship is essential to proclaiming the gospel.

Seeking out more of God’s glory provides opportunities to saturate the lost with God’s glory.

How is (present tense) the birth of Jesus changing your life?

Do you believe you have an important job in the kingdom of God?