Shepherds and Angels

Introduction: Turn with me in your Bible to .

Outside of , probably no verse is more known than

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.

We don’t often talk about how awesome it must have been for the angels to deliver that good news. And I wonder what they were thinking. Ok God, when are we doing this? Not yet? How about now? Now? I’m not sure why I think of the angels like a 4 year old, but must be the season of life I’m in.

But then they get the news, NOW! And then the next question, Where are we going? To Rome? Egypt? Washington, DC, (wait....2000 years too early) Jerusalem to the house of Herod, wait until we see his face…I’m sorry say that again? Shepherds....in Bethlehem? You sure? Ok you’re the boss....and they were off.

The good news came first to shepherds.

But, have you ever noticed that sometimes 2 people can receive the same news and respond in very different ways? Like was is like YES!!!! and the other is like “Oh no!” We see this all the time in elections. But even in our personal lives.

Take Christmas for example. There are those who are really excited for Christmas and there are those who would at least like to get through the 4th of July first. You’re excited or it’s “Oh not this again.”

Like you’ve been waiting for a very long time for that TV to go on sale and black Friday comes around and there it is! You’re excited. And you’re spouse is like, “Oh not this again.”

Did you know that when a person goes on Jeopardy and wins money, they often have to sign a contract that they won’t tell anyone until the show airs or risk forfeiting the money. And sometimes those shoes are taped months in advance?

And here’s the thing about good news…it’s good news whether you want to accept it or not, but what makes it real for you is how you respond to it.

Can you imagine winning all that money and not being able to tell anyone? Probably pretty nice, but you can’t even spend any of the money out of fear people might start asking questions.

Transition to the Text: The coming of the Messiah wasn’t exactly a surprise, many were looking to his coming. But what was a surprise was the timing. It had been 400 years since God spoke to His people. And the coming of the Messiah was more like a folk tale for many. If he came he came, if not, we still have to make it through the day tomorrow. So from the start, the coming of the Messiah was ready to be good news to some and indifferent news to others. But on that night so long ago, God did something truly unexpected. He sent angels to tell of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds and then invited them to share what they what they were told.

Let’s read how the lives of the shepherd’s changed that night.

Luke 2:8–20 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.

luke

Transition to the the Big Idea: The angel’s changed the lives of the shepherd’s that day. But their message still rings throughout the earth. The Messiah has come and salvation is found in no one else. So turn to Him now.

Big Idea: The angels announced good news to a dark world.

And it’s getting darker. And in a world where bad stuff happens every minute of every day, I think I can speak for everyone when I say, we need some good news.

But we have to accept the fact that Jesus’ birth is not good news for everyone. In fact for some it can bring anger, for others it can be disgust or worse, indifference.

Main Point #1 - The Birth of Jesus is good news for the people of God. ()

Explanation: First, this is good news. This is the gospel. Second, to the right people this should evoke great joy. And 3rd, it will be for all the people. For many of us the last half of this passage can be confusing. The first proclamation by the angel states that this will be good news for all “the people.” “The” is an important word here. This is not a universal good news for all people, but rather, Luke tells us it is for those who have been waiting receive it. It’s for the the people of God. We already saw last week that it’s only good news if you react to it as such. For Herod it was not good news. For caesar, it was not good news. And to be honest, this wouldn’t have been made the front page of the Bethlehem gazette. It’s only good news for the people of God.

Illustration: Let me give you a modern example. How many of us are anxiously awaiting the return of Jesus? Maybe we look forward to heaven, but would like to live out our lives first. Or maybe today isn’t good for us. Maybe we’d like to get married first or see our grandkids. Like Jesus coming back to be somewhat of a disappointment. And let’s take it a step further, will the return of Jesus be good news for the unbeliever? I can promise you it won’t be. It’s only good news for those who are waiting in anxious expectation. The same was true back then. The angels were saying that for those who have been waiting and watching and kept the faith, your faith is about to be sight.

They started with shepherds. The shepherds represent the lowly and humble who respond to God’s message. They were definitely jewish, but their status was lowly. It is often preached that shepherd’s were considered the wretched dregs of society universally hated by all and therefore the idea is that the announcement of Jesus’ birth first came to sinners. I’ve even preached this myself. But there really isn’t any evidence outside of some late rabbinic writings several hundred years later. It is more likely that the connection of shepherds to Jewish history helps to show them as a representative of the nation of Israel. Abraham was a shepherd, when the Israelites go to Egypt Joseph tells pharoah that his family are shepherds. Moses was a shepherd. We might even remember that David was the 8th son of Jesse and because of him being the youngest, he was delegated as the family shepherd. Shepherd’s throughout scripture are depicted in a positive humble light in contrast to the the ruling class.

The inclusion of shepherd’s punctuates the idea that the good news wasn’t for the religious elite or the ruling class, but really was for all the people of God. From the lowly shepherd to the high priest.

But the point isn’t that who it is for, but who it’s about. In Bethlehem (right over there) has been born a savior. The people were looking for a savior. One who would save them from bondage to Rome. they were looking for another Moses to lead them out of slavery. And that is exactly what Jesus was going to do. The only thing was their bondage wasn’t to Rome. Their Slavery was to their sin. Their bondage was to themselves. And Jesus would, as the angel told Mary, save his people from their sin. Again, it’s not about the whole world, but about His people.

And just in case they hadn’t already figured it out…He was the Messiah! Born in Bethlehem in the line of David to a virgin under a star.

Gospel Application: We should be able to relate to this story of a savior. Each one of us today, without Jesus, is enslaved to our sin and in bondage to our sin nature. We can’t do anything to get ourselves out of it. And in God’s grace and mercy, He so moved history and planned everything that 2000 years ago, Jesus was born in Bethlehem in fulfilment of prophesies that the people of God would be saved from the consequences of their sin. That is why this is good news!!! But as we read this account of the birth, we see that the shepherds received it as good news and they recognized that it was from “The Lord.” But more importantly, they embraced it.

Main Point #2 - Peace on earth will only be for those who embrace Jesus. ()

Explanation: And to solidify the point that “all the people” doesn’t mean “all people” the angels say this very important statement: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth people.....among those with whom He is pleased.” It’s only for those with whom He is pleased. So how do you please God?

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

hebews 11:6

Faith. And what’s important here to understand is that even within the nation of Israel not everyone embraced Jesus. In fact you could argue that most didn’t. Sure the Shepherds did. And again, in 2:25, Simeon was anxiously awaiting the Messiah and testified to His identity. And then in vs. 36, we see Anna do the same. And through the New Testament, all the people will be divided into those who embrace Jesus and those who reject Jesus. And while in those early days, the people of God was restricted to the Jewish people, the door was swung open for Gentiles to embrace Jesus. Look at what Jesus says. He came even for them.

John 10:16 ESV

16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Hebrews 12:6

The point is that God’s people will hear the voice of Jesus and respond. Eventually. It doesn’t always happen at once. But it will happen.

john 10:!6

So the people with whom he is pleased is not a nation or a people group or an ethnicity, but on a people who respond in faith to his voice.

While the message of Jesus’ birth is good news for everyone, it will only be effectual for God’s elect.

While the message of Jesus’ birth is good news for everyone, it will only be effectual for God’s elect.

Illustration: Just think back to the last presidential election. How was the world divided? Was it good news or bad news? What about 4 and 8 years before that? Good or bad news? Those are rhetorical and I don’t want you to respond. We all respond to news differently.

Gospel Application: With the Jesus, the question is do you embrace Him or not? Do you respond with joy to the good news that Jesus would come to earth and die for a sinner like you and me? Are you grateful that your sins are not counted against you? Or when it comes to Christmas, is the joy more in presents and family gatherings?

The true mystery of Christmas is that it’s not about a baby at all. It’s about our savior coming into the world to save us from our sins. And because of that we ought to say, “Glory to God in the highest!”

Main Point #3 - The angelic announcement demands our response even today. ()

Explanation: For the shepherds, there was no question what they were going to do. They were going to go search for the baby. But I want you to notice something, the angels never told the shepherds to go. Sure they told them what was happening and then further how they would know that this was in fact the baby, but they didn’t say go. They didn’t need to. The shepherd’s were already all in.

Now first they recognized that was from the Lord. For some, we might say, well if angels showed up at my work, I’d believe too. But would you? And even if you did believe the angels, would you drop everything to go? This was no minor inconvenience. They would be leaving the sheep in the open field and going to find a baby. What if something happened to the sheep. They didn’t care. To find the messiah was too much to pass up.

The angel’s announcement demanded a response.

God slowly unfolded his plan to mankind. We call this progressive revelation. Now I don’t know exactly what Mary knew, but I do find it interesting that in the account of the angel visiting Mary, he never once mentions the word Messiah. However, it is specifically revealed to the Shepherds that this baby is Christ the Lord.

Did any of them know that Jesus wasn’t just a baby, but truly God in the flesh?

Now why bring up what they knew. It’s pretty clear that they didn’t know everything. Yet still they responded to what they did know.

So today, we respond to what we do know. Many of us know that we are sinners in need of a savior. Jesus is the savior. But we must embrace Him as He is. We must respond. And the truth is we all respond. We can respond in faith like the Shepherds. We can respond in anger like Herod. Or we can respond with indifference which is still a response.

Illustration: There are certain things in your life that demand your response. A jury summons. No you can’t throw those things away and say you never got it. There are those moment when you parents call you and use your middle name. There are times when your wife asks you to take out the trash or do the dishes and “in a minute” won’t suffice. But everyone once in a while there is something that truly causes us to come running. Like when the word’s dinner’s ready are heard from mama’s kitchen. Around Christmas time, there is always the doorbell when it’s amazon time.

There are things that we respond to because we have to. And then there are things we respond to with joy. When it comes to Jesus, let us respond with joy!

Gospel Application: 2,000 years later, we look back not to the manger, but to the cross. We look back to the fulfilment of that baby’s mission. To save his people from their sins. The shepherds and perhaps Mary and Joseph didn’t know all that God in store, but we do.

God slowly unfolded his plan to mankind. We call this progressive revelation. Now I don’t know exactly what Mary knew, but I do find it interesting that in the account of the angel visiting Mary, he never once mentions the word Messiah. However, it is specifically revealed to the Shepherds that this baby is Christ the Lord.

Did any of them know that Jesus wasn’t just a baby, but truly God in the flesh?

Now why bring up what they knew. It’s pretty clear that they didn’t know everything. Yet still they responded to what they did know.

So today, we respond to what we do know. Many of us know that we are sinners in need of a savior. Jesus is the savior. But we must embrace Him as He is. We must respond. And the truth is we all respond. We can respond in faith like the Shepherds. We can respond in anger like Herod. Or we can respond with indifference which is still a response.

Christmas Challenge: Respond and pass it on.

For the unbeliever: Respond. The Bible says that his sheep hear his voice. So if you hear his voice respond.

For the believer: Respond by passing it on.

Conclusion: The right message can go viral. You may have heard of this in the past. When someone posts a funny video or picture or story, it can go viral. A lot of times things that go viral are pretty dumb and don’t add a whole lot to the world. Sadly many of us can quickly succumb to making fake news go viral.

But in our day in age, viral can do a lot of good. People go missing and a quick share online can lead to being found. Good news can pass around the world in an instant.

On that day they didn’t have internet or cell reception. All they had was a story that needed to be passed on. So they told the story.

And today, you may think that the internet is a great way to spread Jesus. If I see one more post about share if you love Jesus, scroll if you love the devil, I’ll scream. That’s not how we spread the love of Jesus.

We spread the love of Jesus by sharing the story God. We tell people that there is a solution to the problem of their sin. They can find forgiveness and life ever lasting. We point people to Jesus.

Do you realize that the younger generation will be the first generation that can realistically see the gospel spread to every tongue tribe and nation? It’s true, within 50 years, we could see the gospel advance truly to the ends of the earth. But it won’t happen unless people are willing to pass it on.

Will you let it start with you? Respond and pass it on.

Let’s pray.