Why the Shepherds?

Chemical Reactions

My freshman year in high school, I had one of those teachers who loved his subject, and he wanted his students to love it as well.

The subject was biology.

It was one of those classes where we were always doing something.

Every day I’d come to class, I’d be excited about what we were going to learn or do.

Even getting in trouble was fun.

If you got in trouble we had to write factoids.

Factoids were basically, 20 useless facts, that you had to handwrite, and turn in.

Kind of like

And I wrote them a lot.

I liked the class, and I talked a lot.

I pretty much got in trouble every day.

I decided, I was spending too much of my time in my favorite class writing factoids -

I

That’s how often I got in trouble.

I realized I spent too much time writing factoids and that my time could be better spent.

I’ll never forget the time, Mr. Largent said, “Luuuuke … factoids.”

It didn’t phase me.

I reached into my Trapper Keeper, and pulled out factoids already written.

I wrote them in the more boring classes ahead of time.

I pulled them out of the trapper keeper, and handed them to Mr. Largent.

Sadly, Mr. Largent didn’t want my prewritten factoids.

He crumpled them up and threw them away, and wanted to watch me write them.

I’ll never forget that a blue whale’s tongue is the size of a VW Bug … that was one of the factoids.

I loved Mr. Largent’s biology class.

We disected frogs, played with lasers and electricity.

But my favorite was playing with chemicals.

It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to teach a 14 year old boy how to blow stuff up.

But we would learn how you could take normal household items … mix them together and make cool stuff that’s super flammable.

My favorite was learning how to make hydrogen.

We made hydrogen with things found around the house.

And we also learned that hydrogen is flammable.

Remember the Hindenberg?

That’s hydrogen.

We also learned about chemicals

We made gun powder, and would light it on fire.

I’m not going to say all that goes into making hydrogen, but I will say it’s made with water.

Water contains 2 hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule.

That’s where you get the H20 from.

The trick is separating the hydrogen from the oxygen.

You get the ingredients together.

But by themselves they won’t do much.

You need a catalyst.

The catalyst makes the reaction work.

Once the catalyst is added to the mix, things get real hot, real fast.

I will say that one of the by products was this acidic liquid burned your skin real bad.

What we see today is a reaction of sorts.

In high school:

I wanted to take the water, and capture the hydrogen from it, so I could blow stuff up.

In today’s reaction, our ingredients are:

We have shepherds.

Shepherds

We have angels.

And angels.

And we have a desired outcome.

I call the shepherds, “Idle Lives”.

Because we don’t want to live idle lives.

Idle lives are boring.

They are stale.

They’re just water.

God hasn’t created us to be idle.

The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

That’s doing something.

say, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

That is not an idle life.

We are called to live productive lives.

Today’s sermon will trace the reaction God desires in our lives.

It begins with idle lives.

They receive cataclysmic news.

And end with energized worship.

And those happen to be our 3 points as well:

Idle Lives

Cataclysmic News

And Energized Worship.

Ed read our text earlier, but let’s look at it again.

Look at .

Read :8-20.

We begin with the first ingredient in our chemical reaction … Idle Lives.

The shepherds are our raw materials in the equation.

They are the idle lives.

They are not idle lives because they are lazy, because they certainly are not lazy.

But they are not living to their potential.

And this has nothing to do with them as shepherds.

It’s more along the lines of what their potential is in Christ.

At this point in time if you were to ask someone in the area, what the potential of a shepherd is … they’d say there is no potential.

They are a level above homeless.

Being a shepherd is like being a worker at a carnival.

But they were not always this way.

Shepherds, and these shepherds especially, shouldn’t have been seen so poorly.

Being a shepherd was not always a bad thing.

Israel’s history is filled with shepherds.

Jacob made his riches … as a shepherd.

Israel entered Egypt … as shepherds.

David … was a shepherd.

But as time progressed, the romantic view of shepherds, became nothing more than almost homelessness; they were weird people.

They were socially ostracized.

Away from the community, because they are watching sheep.

They were spiritually ostracized as well.

They are not able to participate in the religious life of Israel.

They couldn’t attend religious feasts.

Their jobs meant that they were not able to observe the religious rites of being a Jew.

They don’t get a Sabbath.

After all, their job is to protect sheep, and predators don’t stop attacking sheep, just because it’s the Sabbath.

Sheep need protecting, regardless of what day of the week it is.

If an animal died … they’ve were the ones to deal with it.

That will make them unclean.

But it’s their job.

Being a shepherd had pushed them to the margin of society.

They were spiritually unclean.

And since they were spiritually unclean, and continued to live in such a condition, they are untrusted.

Who would trust a person that doesn’t seem to be concerned with what everyone else thinks?

Who would trust a person who gave little to no concern for his observation of God’s law?

Who would trust a person that didn’t seem to be concerned with what everyone else thought?

And since they were untrusted, they were not even allowed to testify in court.

So a murder took place, a shepherd saw it happen.

You’d need another witness, because shepherds were not trusted.

Shepherds, and these shepherds especially, shouldn’t have been seen so poorly.

Shepherds were not always a bad thing.

Israel’s history is filled with shepherds.

Jacob made his riches … as a shepherd.

Israel entered Egypt … as shepherds.

David … was a shepherd.

And these shepherds were special shepherds.

Peaceful Armies

There was a collection of extra Jewish rules, called the Mishnah.

The Mishnah was not Scripture.

They are not lost books of the Bible, or anything like that.

The Mishnah is a collection of extra writings, that gave tips, advice, and sometimes, extra rules for the Jews, just to keep them extra holy.

One of the rules regarding shepherds, was that flocks were supposed to be kept in the wilderness.

Far away from anyone.

But these shepherds were not far away.

In , Jesus is born.

And then in the next verse, it says, “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field ...”

So they are nearby.

They are not in the wilderness.

So that tells us something is special about these shepherds, what could possibly be special about them?

Well, in the Mishnah, there is another rule regarding sheep.

And it says that any animal found between Jerusalem and a spot near Bethlehem, is reserved for sacrifice.

And if this is the winter time, then it’s a Passover sacrifice.

Suddenly, these shepherds are not so random.

They are guardians of the sheep that will soon be used for the Passover.

So here’s the sadness of it all.

They have idle lives.

They have important jobs.

Historically they were important jobs.

Religiously they were important jobs.

They have been entrusted with the sheep that will soon be given to God during Passover, that is important.

Let me say it this way.

I love my pastoral duties.

I like doing funerals.

I enjoy doing weddings.

What I don’t like, is when the couple getting married, asks me to hold the wedding rings during the service.

Usually, it’s because the bridesmaid doesn’t have pockets.

And no one trusts the best man with anything.

I’ve got to hold on to them.

I have this fear, that the time in the service will come for the rings, and I’ll reach into my breast pocket … and find empty space.

Being entrusted with those rings is serious business.

I’m expected to take care of them.

The shepherds have been entrusted with gifts for God, that is serious business.

Do you see the huge responsibility and privilege these shepherds have been given?

The solution living idle lives isn’t to stop being shepherds.

They have a needed position.

They are uneducated, ignorant, dirty, unclean watchers of sheep.

There is a need to maximize their role as shepherds.

Or to put it another way, to redeem their role as shepherds.

And each of you have this same need.

You might not be shepherds.

But you are:

Parents.

Workers.

Co-workers.

And God has placed you in those spots for a reason.

You have been put within the church.

God has gifted you.

He has gifted you to serve His church.

Many people just exist.

They exist as parents.

They exist in the workplace.

They exist even in church, just showing up.

Too many live idle lives.

And they are looking for a change.

And they think that:

If they find a new job … they’ll get that change.

If they move to a new house … they’ll get that change/

My family originally moved to Murrieta, thinking that a move to another town would fix their problems.

But it didn’t.

Sometimes people turn to sin.

If they find a new love, they’ll finally be happy.

If they get more money, they’ll finally be happy.

Like the shepherds, your place in life, needs to be redeemed.

Parents.

Workers.

Co-workers.

God has placed you in your positions for a reason.

He has given you your family, for a reason.

He has given you your job, for a reason.

You have been put within Southwest Christian Church, for a reason.

God has gifted you.

But up until now, you’re living an idle life.

He has gifted you to serve His church.

In order for this change to take place, there needs to be a cataclysmic reaction. And in this story, there is Cataclysmic News

Cataclysmic News

Have you ever seen what happens when you add a mentos to a diet soda?

You should try this sometime with your kids, try it when you get home.

You take a 2 liter bottle of diet soda, and add a bunch of mentos mints to the soda, while it’s in the bottle.

It erupts.

There’s something about diet soda and mentos, that causes the soda to shoot 10 feet in the air out of the 2 liter bottle.

Before it was just diet soda, and in an instant it’s a huge volcano of diet soda.

The mentos was a catalyst.

It brought change.

The shepherds are just shepherds.

And in a moment there is a catalyst added the equation, and everything changes.

The shepherds are keeping watch over their flock.

They are guarding the sheep.

Staying alert for any predators.

And in a moment, an angel of the Lord slipped through their defenses and lit up the sky around them.

It says that the glory of the Lord shone around them.

Do you remember those glow in the dark stars that kids used to put on the ceilings of their bedrooms?

They’d suck up light, and somehow begin to glow.

This angel of the Lord had come from the presence of God, and like the glow in the dark stars that radiated the light they absorbed,

This angel radiated light from God, more specifically glory from God.

And he comes with news.

It’s not bad news.

He says that it’s good news, and it will bring joy to people.

This news is going to change everything.

The news is the mentos to the diet soda.

You see the news in verse 11, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

The city of David is Bethlehem.

It’s not far from where they are.

And who is born?

A Savior.

Christ the Lord.

On this night, there would be lots of babies born.

But this baby would be found in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

The swaddling cloths isn’t the big deal.

But you won’t find any babies lying in a manger.

A food trough for animals.

But the news, the cataclysmic news, is that a Savior is born, Christ the Lord.

And it’s not just any savior.

It’s the Savior.

It’s Christ the Lord.

This is the only time in the synoptic Gospels that Jesus is called Christ the Lord.

The only time in Matthew, Mark, or Luke that Jesus is called, Christ the Lord is right here.

That makes this an important phrase.

Verse 13 then says that suddenly a multitude of angels showed up.

They add to the news, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.”

We sang those words this morning, but in Latin.

Gloria in excelsis deo.

Glory to God in the highest.

If this was a newspaper, that would be the headline.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased”

But the news, the article, would say, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

This is the news that defines us as Christians.

The great news is that there is peace, and specifically, there is peace with God.

We don’t talk this way anymore.

It seems as if we used to talk this way.

We’d talk about being saved.

We’d talk about sins.

And sins being removed.

It’s not popular to talk about God hating sin.

It’s not popular to talk about God’s judgment of sin.

It’s not popular to talk about our war with God.

Along the way, this became offensive.

The church stopped talking about sins, and began talking about other things.

The church stopped talking about sins, and began talking about other things.

Addictions.

Fulfillment.

Happiness.

Emphasizing these things, when in reality they are not our most pressing need.

Within church growth circles, it’s popular to talk about felt needs.

Addressing people’s felt needs.

What is it they want, and give it to them.

People are hungry, so give them food.

People need clothes, so clothe them.

And this is important.

We are to do good works.

We are to care for others.

But there’s a flaw in this.

There’s a flaw in the church’s plans when they only address felt needs.

You can address a person’s felt needs, and never give the soul what it needs.

You can get a drug addict off of drugs … and he’s still going to Hell.

You can restore a broken marriage … and happily go to Hell when it’s over..

You can get out of debt … and still find yourself with a burden you cannot repay.

Somewhere along the way … we’ve gotten lost.

Jesus came to be a Savior.

To be the Messiah.

To be Lord.

He came to die … for our sins.

, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,”

He didn’t come to die for our bankruptcies or low self-esteems.

He came to die for our sins.

says, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

We are at war with God in our sins.

Because our sins put us at war with God.

This war was so great, that Jesus came to die for those sins.

And with His death, and resurrection THERE IS PEACE.

That’s what the angels proclaimed.

And how great is this peace?

Verse 13 says that a multitude of heavenly host showed up praising God.

Couple things.

A host is an army.

You might want to know how many a multitude is?

They aren’t just an army, but they are a heavenly army.

And it’s not just a couple of soldiers, but it’s a multitude of heavenly soldiers.

When an army shows up, it means something.

It’s a lot.

When we are about to go to war, troops are deployed in mass.

Armies are sent.

You don’t send an army somewhere to say:

Your self-esteem is saved.

You don’t send an army somewhere to say:

I want you to be happy.

Armies are about battles.

They are about warfare.

These angels show up, and what is their message about the war?

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

They are a peaceful army.

They come praising God.

This is the news that shakes up the world.

We sang those words this morning, but in Latin.

Gloria in excelsis deo.

Glory to God in the highest.

This is the news that shakes up the world.

This is the news that defines us as Christians.

This news being that there is peace, and specifically peace with God.

They come as a peace brigade.

They come announcing peace.

If there was a fight going on, and I showed up by myself, with flowers in my hair.

And held up my hand like this (make the peace sign), and said, “Peace.”

What would you think?

You’d think I’m a hippy.

And there’s no way my presence would stop the fight.

I’d get pushed out of the way, and the war would continue.

But if I showed up in uniform, weapons, tanks, soldiers.

And I said, “Peace.”

The fight would stop.

The heavenly army of angels came, saying peace.

The fight is over.

Grace has come.

Because a Savior is born, who is Christ the Lord.

The angels delivered the message, and the shepherds headed into town, Bethlehem.

They didn’t go into to town to see if it was true.

They didn’t go with doubt.

They went to see what had happened.

To see what the Lord had made known to them.

They found things exactly as the angel said they would be.

We have our ingredients for the chemical reaction.

We have the idle lives.

Then the cataclysmics news is added to the mix.

And then the change happens.

The hydrogen is made.

The Diet Coke explodes.

And what is it that happens in our lives? We explode into Energized Worship

The shepherds had gazed upon the Lord.

They understood the peace that was being given to them.

Remember how this whole chemical reaction began.

We had idle lives.

We had shepherds who were living their lives in vain.

They had a holy task, to take care of the Passover sacrifices.

And yet, no one appreciated them.

They were barely seen as people created in the image of God.

They were untrustworthy, and not allowed to even give testimony in court.

But something has happened.

A change has occurred.

The catalyst was added to the mix.

They’re different people now.

They see the child:

Wrapped in swaddling cloths.

Lying in a manger.

And what do they do?

They talk.

They become the witnesses they never could be before.

They told Mary about it.

They told Joseph about it.

There were others there, besides just Joseph and Mary.

They were probably other travelers.

There were well-wishers from the town.

And they told them about it also.

And notice what happens.

People never listened to shepherds before.

Their testimonies weren’t valid.

And in verse 18, “And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.”

People were actually listening to the shepherds.

Mary listened.

People were listening to the shepherds.

The shepherds had this amazing experience.

It’s the type of experience that changes history.

We sing songs about it.

The shepherds play a role in the decorations in our homes.

Children play shepherds in Christmas pageants.

As Christians, we share in this religious experience.

If you are a Christian, it means you’ve experienced something similar.

The Holy Spirit now lives in your heart.

You are a different person.

The thing is, many times we don’t know how to progress after the experience.

Think of that mountain top experience.

As a kid you’d go to camp.

Have this amazing experience with the Lord.

Come home and say, “Now what?”

Perhaps you’ve had it after a Sunday.

You are reconnected with the Lord.

You get excited.

And you wonder, “Now what?”

What do you do after you become a Christian?

Do you need to move to the mission field?

Do you need to always be in tears?

Do you need to have a special feeling?

But notice what the shepherds do.

They have this amazing experience.

Their lives are changed.

Then in verse 20 look what happens, because it’s actually pretty ordinary, “And the shepherds, returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

Did you catch what they did?

”And the shepherds, returned …”

Their lives were different, but they didn’t stop living their lives.

They returned.

They returned to being shepherds.

After seeing the true Passover lamb in a manger, they returned to the yearly passover lambs they guarded.

Something has changed though.

They now glorify and praise God for what they had heard and seen.

Their lives have been radically transformed.

They were idle workers.

They received cataclysmic news.

They become energized worshipers.

The converted life doesn’t stop living.

Energized Worship

You become a Christian:

You don’t quit your job.

You don’t drop out of school.

You don’t move to the desert and live in a monastery.

You return to your life.

You remain in your family.

You remain in your job.

You remain in the relationships you have.

God hasn’t saved you to abandon these things.

He has made you a certain way.

says, “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.”

He has wired you a certain way.

There is a

But there’s an added element, you now know something.

You know of Christ.

You know of the forgiveness of sins.

You know that Jesus has come.

You know of life eternal.

You know that there is something good for those to whom God is pleased.

And so you return, but now your life is categorized as a life of glorifying and praising God.

You continue living, but it’s now a life that has been energized.

It’s a life of energized worship.

says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

We need

Christian mechanics

Christian engineers

Christian lawyers

Christian business men.

These are needed.

Do your job, and do it joyfully.

This is where God has placed you.

Glenn Parker was an NFL lineman for the Buffalo Bills.

He once was commenting on the general cheerful attitude of NFL linemen.

He said, “There are not a lot of well-paying jobs for 300-pounders. We found one, and we’re happy about it.”

Do your job and do it joyfully.

The shepherds returned … joyfully.

Who are you, what is your role?

Do it joyfully.

says, “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.”

Wherever God has placed you, be cheerful about it.

It’s His will, His goal for your life.

says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,”

When we see our work as for the Lord, then no matter how lowly it is … it’s suddenly a royal job.

You are sitting there and thinking, “Sure this sounds good. It sounds nice and religious. How do we do that?”

By doing exactly what the shepherds did … being fixated on all that God has done.

Focusing on the cataclysmic news, produces energized worshipers.

If you aren’t focused on the works of God, I can guarantee you, you will never give Him praise for His works.

Let me say that another way, if you are bored by life, and questioning what God is doing, the only conclusion is that you have not been focusing on what He has done.

It’s only logical.

It’s hard to be thankful, when you don’t think there is anything to be thankful for.

It’s hard to live a life focused on God … when you don’t focus on God.

Think of prayer for a moment.

The primary purpose of prayer is to communicate to God.

There’s a secondary benefit.

When you frequently pray, then you frequently see answered prayer.

I hope you are praying for your prayer partners.

And if you don’t have one, find one.

You’d be surprised that when you pray, you begin to see prayers answered.

And when you have answered prayers, then you have things to rejoice over.

A second way to look at the works of God, is to look at your own salvation.

The shepherds celebrated because they learned there is peace with God.

Consider your sin, and how that is war against God.

And with the child, the war is ended.

There is peace with God.

I look at this room and see lots of raw ingredients.

Now let’s have some kind of reaction.

May the Lord transform you from idle lives, into energized worshipers.

And this only happens, by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Walking in the Spirit.

Being filled with the Spirit.

And having the cataclysmic news of the Gospel transform your life.

Then, when that reaction happens.

Become an energized worshiper.

Doing all things to His glory, and rejoicing always.