Exclaim: The Shepherd's Response
Notes
Transcript
ME: Intro -
ME: Intro -
I once heard that a first responder described an average day as “hours of sheer boredom followed by seconds of sheer terror.”
This is like the life of a firefighter.
They go through their normal everyday life at the fire house,
When they would receive a call.
Upon that call they would go to the fire and the first thing they would do is assess the scene.
When they were done fighting the fire,
They would return to the fire house and give an after action report,
A debrief of what happened at the scene,
Before they would return to their normal everyday life at the fire house again.
You see, there is a difference between just seeing a fire and responding to a fire.
You may have seen, Thanksgiving weekend,
The Silo Restaurant over in Greene caught fire.
Really sad, really tragic.
My sister’s first job ever was at the Silo.
So, I saw a picture on Facebook that I saved to my phone and sent to her.
We talked about how sad it was to see.
It was right down the road from where we grew up.
What I did, and many other people who shared pictures did,
Is not the same as what the firefighters who showed up in the middle of the night did.
They did not get there, take a picture and post it on social media.
They responded.
I am not saying this to shame anyone who may have posted it on social media.
My point is simply there is more to this idea of being a first responder.
More than simply seeing something.
More than saying, “Yea, I saw the fire.”
There is a response.
This morning we are looking at a group of people who were some of the first responders to the birth of Jesus Christ in Luke 2:8-20.
It is the Shepherd’s Response.
And it forces us to answer whether we are going to respond to the birth of Jesus Christ?
The natural response to seeing something extraordinary is to tell others.
That is the response we see from the shepherds,
Exclaim!
Like a first responder in our context,
The shepherds:
Receive the Call (vs. 8-14)
Assess the Scene (vs. 15-16)
Respond with a Report (vs. 17-20)
The birth of Christ blended everyday life with the supernatural.
His birth is called the incarnation.
It means God took on human flesh.
On one level,
Through the incarnation,
He became our example of living supernaturally in the every day life.
He could have just come to earth for one day and became a sacrifice to forgive our sins.
But He came for more than that.
He came to be our example,
He said this in John 13,
After washing the feet of His disciples,
He sat down and said,
For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
The Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:21 that Christ suffered for you, giving you an example that you should follow in His steps.
The Apostle Paul similarly wrote in 1 Cor. 11:1 to follow him as he follows the example of Christ.
And in Phil. 2, he said to have the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.
Then the Apostle John said imitating Christ is a requirement of being a Christian in 1 John 2:5-6;
but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
Christ’s exemplary life began as a baby in Bethlehem.
That is what we are looking at in Luke 2 this morning.
Jesus could have come as a grown man,
Instead, He came as a baby,
Just like we all do,
He entered the world the same way.
Luke 2 gives us the most detailed narrative of His birth.
It blends the supernatural with every day life.
It is a beautiful picture that culminates in the idea of Emmanuel,
God with us.
My hope is that we would marvel at Emmanuel.
We would meditate on this idea of Emmanuel,
That you would make the Emmanuel principle central to your life,
So, that when Christmas ends you will know Christ is still with you and in you,
This hope of glory can elevate your everyday life.
This is what we see happen with the shepherds in our passage this morning.
So, let us quickly summarize the opening verses of chapter two to set the stage for the shepherd’s response.
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
Chapter 2 opens with a decree for a census to be taken of the entire Roman world.
This reinforces that Christ’s birth is not some fictional Christmas story,
It is rooted in world history.
Christianity is a historical religion.
Our historian is the Gospel author, Luke.
He was careful to connect the historical event of Christ’s birth,
With the historical event of a Roman census.
The other significance of this decree,
Is the effect it had on the lives of two simple Jewish people,
Joseph and Mary.
Their world was already thrown in upheaval in chapter one after each received a visit from a heavenly messenger.
Giving them an announcement that would change their lives forever.
The announcement that Mary will carry a child who will be the Savior of the world.
Now, in ch. 2, Mary is carrying Jesus in her womb,
So, here and and Joseph get up in response to the decree.
And they traveled 75 miles, on foot, from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
The pictures and movies always show her on a donkey.
She may have, donkeys were commonly used for travel.
But the Bible does not specify.
Either way,
Any women who have carried a child can appreciate Mary’s journey more than I.
But it is easy to wonder why Mary took to trip.
Joseph had to make the trip,
The decree demanded him to.
But Mary did not have to go.
According to the law, there was no reason for her to go.
So, why did Mary go?
Perhaps Joseph just did not want to leave her alone?
Remember, they were not yet married,
Her pregnancy made her susceptible to communal shame and disgrace.
In fact, when Joseph discovered Mary was pregnant,
His original plan was to divorce her quietly to spare her from shame and disgrace.
You see, generally, the community helped a woman when she was in labor.
But Mary’s situation would have set her up from shame, not support.
And perhaps they wanted to spare her from that.
That is a definite possibility for why Mary might go with Joseph.
But I think more than that,
They both knew who Christ was,
They knew the Savior had to be born in Bethlehem.
I doubt they had originally planned to take it upon themselves to travel to Bethlehem for His birth.
But they were told that the Baby would be the Savior of the world,
Then the decree came out,
And Joseph knew he would have to travel to Bethlehem.
I believe Joseph and Mary had faith that God had orchestrated the birth of Jesus to occur in Bethlehem,
Just as God’s Word prophesied.
Therefore, when Joseph said “I have to go to Bethlehem for this census.”
Mary said, “I have to go to Bethlehem too. This baby must be born in Bethlehem.” Luke 2:4-7
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
So, they go, and verses 4-7 narrate the birth.
All these people who had to go to Bethlehem for the census left no room at the inn.
So, Mary and Joseph are turned away.
Picture it;
Mary, a first time mother,
Has to give birth in a stable, in a foreign land,
With no real family, no nurses, no doctor, no midwives, no medicine.
And she does it.
All it says was that the time came for her to give birth,
She went into labor.
The next thing it says is she gave birth.
She then wraps her child tightly in cloths to keep Him nice and snug,
As she lays Him in a manger.
This displays the frailty of Jesus.
It was that frailty of Jesus later on the cross that gives us eternal life.
So, this is a brief overview of Christ’s birth.
WE: Receive the Call (vs. 8-14)
WE: Receive the Call (vs. 8-14)
After this, is where we pick up with our passage,
The response of the Shepherds,
Who, in Luke 2:8-14, Receive the Call;
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. 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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
(vs. 8-9)
Who are these shepherds?
In this cultural context,
Shepherds were considered lower class.
They are working men,
But their work prevented them from keeping the ceremonial law,
They were generally seen as unclean wayward travelers,
Who often roamed about the countryside and were considered thieves.
They were rejected by most people,
Unable to come into the temple because they were ceremonially unclean,
And literally dirty.
The sheep used for temple sacrifices had to be kept in fields outside the city.
For shepherds to keep watch over sheep,
It required them to stay with the sheep in the fields outside the city.
They had to stay with the sheep day and night.
Night was especially important because the threat of predators greatly increased under the cover of night.
One ordinary night,
These shepherds were out on the hillside protecting their sheep,
When an unexpected intruder suddenly appeared,
Bringing a Christmas light show with him.
This intruder was an angel, a messenger of the Lord.
In the midst of a dark night,
A bright light, indicating the glory of the Lord,
Shone around them.
There was no preventing this intruder.
Can you imagine the terror?
Pitch black darkness at night on a hillside in the country.
Then suddenly a blinding light,
As bright as the sun, pierces through the darkness,
And an angel appears!
That would be overwhelming!
There was no missing the glory of the Lord!
They saw it all around them on that hillside that night.
And they were terrified!
(vs. 10)
Recognizing the fear of the shepherds,
The first thing the angel does is reassure the shepherds.
Speaking to calm and refocus the shepherds’ attention,
The angel says, “you do not need to be afraid,
I am not here to tell you frightening news,
I bring the most joyful news!”
And this news is for all of God’s people.
What is this news?
“Unto you, a Savior is born!”
Did you catch that?
“Unto you.”
Who is the angel talking to here?
Shepherds.
That’s right, lowly shepherds,
To them, a Savior is born.
That includes us as well.
This is one of only two places in the four gospels where Jesus is referred to as Savior.
The other reference is after Jesus tells the woman at the well everything about her,
Then she goes into to town to tell everyone about Jesus,
Then, the people say in John 4:42;
They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
He is not just a Savior,
He is the Savior of the world.
He is the deliverer, the redeemer!
And not only that,
He is Christ the Lord.
This angel is telling us that Jesus is the Messiah,
And He is God.
The Messiah was the future deliverer during OT times,
He was the Savior who would rescue God’s people and usher in prosperity and blessing.
Messiah literally means anointed one.
This anointing is a kingly anointing.
The first promise of the Messiah comes all the way back in Gen. 3:15,
When God told the serpent;
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
All other prophecies regarding the Messiah in the OT come from this first promise.
As time went on,
The prophecies shined more light on the work the Messiah would accomplish.
These prophecies created a sense of expectation among the people of God.
The fulfilment of all these promises is now a baby.
This Baby that is being born today,
Is the promised Savior of the World,
And God Himself!
This message would be shocking for these shepherds to hear.
God, the Savior, had been born.
What a claim this angel is making!
The angel needed to give some sort of proof to support this claim.
So, he does in vs. 12.
He says there will be a sign to prove what he is saying is true.
A sign was an object or act that points to a spiritual reality.
It would be some sort of phenomenon used to indicate something is true.
So, what is the sign in this case?
The Baby Himself is the sign.
You will find this God-Savior Baby.
Where?
Well, right where you would expect Him,
In a manger,
Using a feeding trough for a crib.
What a preposterous seeming sign.
But before the angel can even finish his sentence,
A massive chorus of military forces join their voices together to praise God’s greatness!
What else would we expect a military force to cry out except peace.
Peace with God.
Peace brought by the God-Savior Baby,
Jesus Christ!
This chorus is known as the Gloria in Excelsis Deo.
It is the Latin phrase for Glory to God in the highest.
It is a confession of the wondrous eternal glory that God possesses.
That ordinary night on the hillside in the country,
These shepherds were just doing their job,
Watching their flock by night,
When they unmistakably saw the glory of the Lord shine around them,
And they heard the praise of many angels in response to the glory of the Lord.
Smack dab in the middle of these two things,
They received the call from the angel.
GOD: Assess the Scene (vs. 15-16)
GOD: Assess the Scene (vs. 15-16)
And in Luke 2:15-16, we see the shepherds respond,
By going and assessing the scene.
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.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
But before the shepherds go,
The angels leave and return to heaven.
Can you imagine what that must have been like?
Did the sky open and the angels fly in single file?
Did they just slowly float up until they disappeared?
I don’t know.
But it says the shepherds just stand there and watch the angels go away from them.
They were just out in the field,
Doing their job,
Working hard,
Just like many of you,
Then they first had a terrifying encounter with these messengers of God,
That ended up being a joyful encounter that left them in awe.
Idk if any of you have had an encounter like this,
I never have.
I have never seen a supernatural light.
I have never received a prophecy from an angel.
But I have received clear revelation from God.
I have received good news for all people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
Good news about a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.
How do we respond to this call?
Well, let us see if we can learn anything from the shepherds.
The shepherds turn to each other and say,
“What are we waiting for!?”
“Let’s head straight to Bethlehem and see if what this angel has said is true!”
So, they hurry to Bethlehem and found Mary, Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.
They went to Jesus, to see what God had revealed to them.
They wasted no time.
They went straight to Bethlehem to assess the scene.
To become eye-witnesses.
Bethlehem was a small town south of Jerusalem.
It was in the hill country of Judah.
Modern day Bethlehem is now called Beit-Lahm.
There is an ancient church in the city,
Built early in the first century under the leadership of Constantine.
It is called the Church of the Nativity.
It is positioned over a cave called the “holy crypt,”
Which tradition states is the stable in which Jesus was born.
There is no way to know with any certainty if that is true.
But perhaps just as interesting,
This Church of the Nativity may be the oldest existing church in the world.
YOU: Report What They Saw (vs. 17-20)
YOU: Report What They Saw (vs. 17-20)
Luke 2:17-20;
And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
(vs. 17-18)
The focus of the shepherds is the Baby.
They go to see the Baby.
The Baby is the good news God had given them.
After they see the baby,
They go from Jesus to report what they saw.
The shepherds begin to spread the word.
They reported the message they were told from the angel.
And it says everyone who heard their message were amazed!
The shepherds were going around sharing their story with everyone and anyone they could.
They reported what they saw far and wide!
How everything they had just seen and heard changed them.
(vs. 19)
Contrasted against the vocal reaction of the shepherds,
Is Mary’s quiet meditation.
She ponders the words of the shepherds in her heart.
It means she thought deeply about these things.
So, she could preserve these things as memories.
She could have been the one who shared the detailed account of Christ’s birth with Luke,
Since she committed these things to memory.
I believe she did tell all this to Luke.
(vs. 20)
When this was all said and done,
What do the shepherds do?
They returned.
They went back to work.
They returned to their sheep in the fields outside of Bethlehem.
We are entering Christmas break season.
And it is always hard to go back to work after Christmas vacation right?
Your carrying all those big meals,
You have been out of your normal routine,
You are still thinking more about your family then deadlines,
And you have these new gifts you want to use instead of clocking in.
As hard as it is to return to work after Christmas vacation.
Imagine how hard it would be for these shepherds!
But they did it.
They returned to work.
We can see how this whole thing plays out, right?
The shepherds were just doing their thing one night,
When the angel shows up and tells them about the Baby.
So, they go and see that everything the angel said was true!
After seeing that, they could not keep it to themselves,
They responded by exclaiming what they had seen and heard.
Then on their way home they just kept praising and worshiping God.
They would be walking along the way and they would turn to one another,
And talk about how awesome God is!
They were changed!
Now, they tend their sheep while glorifying and praising God for what they had seen,
I can just picture them being out in the field,
Shaking their heads and saying,
“God is with us.”
They did not really go back from Bethlehem alone.
They went back with the promise that God was with them.
The Messiah was now on earth.
Their Savior had been born.
So, no matter what they go through from that day forward,
They have seen and know, God is with them.
WE: Application
WE: Application
The same is true for you today.
I want to close with some applications.
First, as you go through your everyday life,
Maybe you face physical trials,
Weakness, sickness, difficult job, loneliness,
Whatever you face, remember, God is with you.
How?
Because Jesus fully experiences this life as you do.
He had parents He had to obey.
He had a hard labor job he had to work.
He got tired and needed to rest.
He got hungry and needed to eat.
Yet He also healed the blind, walked on water, and calmed storms.
He blends the supernatural power of God with everyday circumstances.
And He is with you in everyday life.
If you are a believer,
There is an even greater promise than God being with you,
And that is God being in you.
The Baby was born to also bring us the Holy Spirit to indwell us.
The Baby came to die on the cross,
To take away all our sins,
So, that he might live within us,
And give us supernatural life.
The Holy Spirit is not so that we can perform miracles like Jesus.
But it does empower us to resist temptation.
To say no to the world, the flesh, and the devil.
And to advance the gospel to the ends of the earth by preaching the Word!
The birth of Christ,
And the message of the angel,
Was not just a single escape from the everyday life of the shepherds.
They understood that it changed every day of their lives after.
Similarly, we can share that Christ’s coming changes every day of our lives as well.
Like the shepherds, we can respond immediately to the call,
And put feet to our faith.
We have an extraordinary report that we can share with others.
Next application is our reputation.
These shepherds had a reputation of glorifying and praising God by the end of our passage.
Is there a better reputation we could have?
What are you know for?
Why not be known as someone who glorifies and praises God in everything you do?
Your everyday life is significant.
When you go back to work tomorrow, or later in the week, or after Christmas,
Thank God for your everyday life.
God created it,
And ask Christ to come inside you to live supernaturally through you.
Realize Christ experienced whatever you may be going through.
And if Christ is in your,
Turn constantly to His supernatural power in your everyday life.
If you are here and would not consider yourself a believer.
The whole reason Jesus came was to save the world,
Because we could not save ourselves.
Maybe you have seen or heard about Jesus.
You could say, “Yes, I know about Jesus.”
But have you responded?
Do you know Him through the power of the Holy Spirit?
Do you know that you need Him to save you?
Matthew 1:21 says He is given the name Jesus because He saves His people from their sins.
If you have not responded.
The Bible says if you trust in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord,
Then you will be saved.
If that is you,
I am going to close in prayer,
You can repeat this prayer yourself to God.
There is nothing magical about the prayer itself,
But it communicates a response to Jesus.