The Child Proclaimed to All

Would you pray with me?

Prayer

Good evening!

If you’re a guest with us this evening, welcome! We’re glad you’re here.

If you’d like to turn with me in your bibles

Luke 2:8-20

We’ll walk through the passage together in a moment, but first…

Introduction

Have you ever been the only winner in the room?

Maybe you’re the only one in the room who’s bold enough to be a Michigan fan, Michigan wins, but you keep your mouth shut because you want to keep your friends.

Maybe you just got a Christmas bonus for your hard work. You’ve been working hard all year and you’re excited about your hard work paying off, but you don’t say anything because you want to be considerate of everyone else.

Maybe you just received a good report from the doctor about your recovery. You’ve finally reached the point where you can put this illness or disability behind you, but you don’t really speak up because it’s just not applicable to everyone else.

In most cases good news just isn’t good news in the same way for everyone, and we often find ourselves on the losing side of good news if we’re honest. Why couldn’t my team have won? Why couldn’t I have received that bonus? Why couldn’t I have heard a good report from the doctor? In this life there is no shortage of seeing other people get good news that we would like to hear, yet there is one bit of good news that will always be for us. It is reserved for no one and shared with all.

The extraordinary news of the Christ Child’s coming is never reserved for extraordinary people. It is news proclaimed to all: shepherds and sinners included.

The extraordinary proclamation

The ordinary witnesses

Extraordinary Proclamation

8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there appeared 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 men with whom He is pleased.”

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If I may begin with a question, “What makes this proclamation extraordinary?

Throughout the Old Testament magnificent promises and proclamations have been made, and yet I don’t know that we’ve seen anything as quite as extraordinary as this.

An angel appears to shepherds in the field with the glory of the Lord shining such that they were terribly frightened! One angel is extraordinary enough and deserving of fear, yet we’ve seen this before.

Angels have appeared to men throughout the Old Testament bringing good news. God in His grace has faithfully sent these heavenly messengers time and again to provide for His people good news to hope in, and very often that good news left God’s people waiting. A waiting not without hope but still waiting. A promised child was to come! One who would crush the serpents head. A Child who would bring blessing to the nations. A Child who would sit on David’s throne and rule over an everlasting kingdom. A Child who would save His people from their sins. For this Child Israel has been waiting for for over a thousand years.

Does this angel appearing to the Shepherds come to tell them once a more, “A Child will come!” Not this time. This is not a promise of who will come, this is a proclamation of who has come.

The Promised Child has arrived and a multitude of angels appears to declare His arrival.

And suddenly there appeared 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 men with whom He is pleased.”

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It wasn’t that a single angel wasn’t enough to get the point across. Throughout Scripture men fall before the presence of a single angel and these shepherds are already afraid, they’re listening! The heavenly host is the only fitting way to announce the arrival of the Lord and Savior of All, God in human flesh. So what make this proclamation extraordinary? We can see a multitude of heavenly angels, that’s pretty extraordinary, but is it really the angels that make it extraordinary or is it the Child?

I think in our modern day we’ve exchanged expediency for gravitas when it comes to important announcements. We’d rather have it at our fingertips than presented in any kind of grand fashion. I think there used to be a time when we valued the setting of an announcement more because the setting communicated importance. Someone may have invited guests, hosted a grand dinner, and given gifts to build an appropriate setting for a grand announcement. Supposing you were a guest to such an announcement, you get dressed up, you arrive to generous gifts, a magnificent dinner, a guest list of some of the most important people in the community and your host stands up towards the end of dinner, everyone anticipating some grand announcement fitting the setting that has been laid for it. He says, “Thank you all for coming, I’ve invited you all here this evening to let you all know that there’s a chance of rain tomorrow.”

Would you consider that an extraordinary proclamation? Certainly an extraordinary setting, but the proclamation itself is just plain.

When we see the glory in the angel’s declaration it is an extraordinary setting to a truly extraordinary proclamation, there’s nothing plain about it:

“good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

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No number of heavenly angels is as magnificent as the coming of the Savior, Jesus Christ. As humble as he came, the glory is in Christ and the angels come to declare His glory. What then is so glorious about this Child Jesus who has come? What reason for joy is there in this good news?

Simply put, who He is and what He has come to do. Who and what.

The angel puts it clearly: Christ the Lord has come to save.

This is the good news! This is the extraordinary proclamation! This is what the people of God have been waiting for since sin and death entered the world. And to make the good news even better, the news is for all people.

Now there may be some who say, “I don’t see the good news! You say this is for all people, but what good does Jesus do for me? What is he going to save me from?”

The truth is.. whether we recognize it or not, we all need saving: Saving from the penalty and illness of sin.

As God’s creation, we stand guilty before him having rebelled against His commands. We need not commit murder or adultery to be counted guilty. Even envy and jealousy is enough to make us guilty in the eyes of God. To be human is to be a sinner and guilty before God apart from a Savior... From the moment Adam and Eve sinned God was not without a plan to save us from our sins. Here we see the plan coming to light. Jesus Christ, being fully God came as a child not simply to walk among us, but to die for us. The guilt of men, our guilt, requires a just penalty, the penalty of death. So Christ being the perfect sacrifice as God and man died that the sins of those who put their faith in Christ for salvation would be forgiven. Having paid the debt in full, He would rise again, defeating death that those who are forgiven would also be raised from the dead unto eternal life.

For those who recognize their need, their sinfulness, Christ’s coming is indeed good news of great joy. For those who do not see their need, this proclamation may really be like another weather forecast, just another story of a great man doing extraordinary things.

May I ask, which is it for you?

Do you see your need for a Savior? I can say with confidence. This good news is for you! It’s for all people because we are all in a state of need. This good news is not reserved for the righteous, or the rich, the powerful or the pious. It extends to every shepherd and sinner who will receive it.

Ordinary Witnesses

When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

Firstly, let’s recognize that Shepherds in that day were the most ordinary of society. Throughout the Old Testament the dirty and unclean things are sent outside the camp in order to keep the people pure. We find in our story this evening a group of shepherds out in the fields, outside the city. There is nothing praiseworthy or noteworthy about these shepherds. Before men they are lowly laborers, and before God they are lowly sinners. How many of us can say the same of ourselves? In spite of their lowly standing before God and man, they are the first to hear the good news in glorious fashion.

I hope we would recognize this as a theme of Scripture and not an outlier. Throughout the story of Scripture God is opposing the proud and giving grace to the humble. It is the poor in spirit, the mourning, and the persecuted who are counted as blessed. Why are these remembered and counted as blessed? They are the ones who are humble and know the depth of their need before God.

How then do these humble shepherds respond?

Do they respond in pride: A savior? Who needs a savior?

No! “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger.

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For those who know their need before God there is no greater news than God coming to meet their need, and they will not wait a moment to see it fully. There’s no consideration of their worthiness as they rush to see the Christ Child. Their standing before men as lowly shepherds does not keep them from running into town to see the Child, and their standing before God as sinners does not keep them from boldly approaching Christ the Savior.

This... is the glorious news of the gospel. Though we are nothing in the eyes of men and sinners in the eyes of God, the entire testimony of Scripture bids us, “Go and see the Christ!” There’s no preparation necessary. The Shepherds went straight to Bethlehem in a hurry! They brought no gifts, no formalities, and no goodness of their own. They came empty to be filled! They came needy to be given a gift. They came as sinners to the one who freely offers forgiveness.

As believers we rest in knowing that though we are always needy, we have all that we need in Christ our Savior. As we remember the Christ Child in the manger this season, might we readily confess, this Child, this Christ, is the one who I run to though I have nothing to give. In Christ, I know a steadfast love, forgiveness, and faithfulness that I will never deserve.

If you’re not a Christian this morning, yet you know your need, I would invite you not to hesitate to run to Christ. He does not lay in a manger today, but he eagerly awaits the prayer of needy sinners. In view of Christ’s death on the cross as our sacrifice for sin and His resurrection from the dead, you can pray today, “Jesus forgive me of my sin! I believe your death has paid for my sins, and your resurrection provides me everlasting life.” In such simple prayers does everlasting life come to needy sinners. If that’s a confession you think you need to make, and you’d like to talk to someone about that, please don’t hesitate to talk to myself or one of the elders after the service. Jeremiah read the Christmas story this evening, Steve will be towards the back. We’d love to talk to you, even just to get to know you a little better.

In concluding our narrative this evening, those who receive this good news cannot help but bear witness and worship.

The shepherds don’t merely sit and revel in the coming Christ though they certainly could have, they went and told the town!

When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.

They understood from the onset, that this good news truly was for all people! And when the news has gone out, what remains is worship.

The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

So begins the eternity of praise and worship of all those who have tasted and seen the good news of the gospel: the coming of Christ as a Child.

Perhaps you are a ‘winner’ in the room today. From what I hear Ohio State had a pretty good win over the weekend. Maybe you did get that Christmas bonus. Maybe you did receive good news from the doctor recently. Might we praise God for that good news this Christmas, but whether you heard the good news or not... let us not forget the good news which extends to all people and will last beyond this season, this year, and even this life. As Christians we will glory and worship in the good news of Christ’s coming for millennia. Let us cling to the good news that will never fade this Christmas.

Let’s Pray.