Sermon Tone Analysis

The Thrill of Hope – 1 - Hope Announces

Luke 2:8-20

Introduction

What is it about Christmas that people love so much?

Why is it that people start decorating as soon as the temperature drops below 60 degrees?

Why do we look so forward to the Christmas season?

It is fitting that Christmas occurs during the Winter season, when it is far more dark.

Life can be dark at times.

Life can be difficult.

The Christmas season is so special to so many people because it is a season of hope.

That is why for this Christmas season we are borrowing the phrase from that great Christmas song, O Holy Night…a thrill of hope.

At Christmas, hope comes crashing into the darkness.

That is what our text is all about today.

In the opening verses of Luke 2, Jesus has just been born.

The event that happens immediately following Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is this, in the fields just outside the city.

Luke 2:8-20 - 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.

Have you ever been blindsided by something?

That is what happened to these shepherds sitting in the field that night.

Imagine the scene…they are immersed in total darkness.

No city lights.

No street lights.

No iPhone screens lighting up their faces.

All they have is the light of the stars, moon, and a likely fire to warm them on the chilly night.

And in the midst of the darkness, light breaks through.

TS – this first Christmas night is defined by two characteristics:

1. UNEXPECTED REVELATION (2:8-15)

When these men clocked in for their overnight shift in the fields, this was the last thing they expected to happen.

These men were shepherds.

They had no business whatsoever expecting any message like this.

Shepherds in the ancient world were considered the lowest class.

In fact, the only people group in their society that was viewed as being lower was the leper.

Shepherds were considered religiously unclean…their job responsibilities kept them out of the temple and away from the ritual cleansing activities of good, religious people.

Shepherding was an unwanted job, a dirty job.

Therefore, shepherds were considered dirty, unwanted people.

Yet, when God opened the heavens to burst forth into the world, he didn’t do so to the emperor, the kings, the high society.

He came to the low…dirty…despised…outcast.

Which is quite fitting considering that is who Jesus came to save anyway.

In verse 15, once the angel choir has gone back to Heaven and the sky has darkened back up, they make their plan to head to Bethlehem to see this great thing.

Notice how they phrase it: Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

This incredible announcement of who Jesus is and what he has come to do, was not imagined…not fabricated…not dreamt.

It was revealed.

God himself revealed this to them.

God stoops low, to the lowest, to reveal to them the identity of His Son.

This revelation is:

a. PERSONAL (2:10-12)

v. 10 – I bring ‘you’ good news of great joy…

v. 11 – for unto ‘you’ is born this day…

v. 12 – this will be a sign for ‘you’…

This ‘good news of great joy’ was for them.

It is ‘good news.’

It is the same word for ‘gospel’ in the NT.

This good news of who Jesus is and what Jesus has come to do…is for YOU.

You, the outcast…lowly…unimportant…seemingly invisible…filled with regret…overwhelmed by sorrow…overcome by pain…the sinner.

The thrill of hope is not for the deserving, the worthy, the powerful…it’s for you.

Jesus wasn’t born in the Imperial Palace in Rome.

Jesus wasn’t born in the Temple in Jerusalem.

He was born to a humble couple who lived in abject poverty, placed in a food trough in a small town in the backwoods of nowhere.

And the first to be told about it from God Himself are the low, dirty, despised shepherds.

God is trying to tell you something.

Jesus came for them.

Jesus came for you.

b.

HOPEFUL (2:10-14)

This revelation from God provides for us the identity of Jesus.

The dependability of a message depends on the dependability of the messenger.

This revelation comes directly from God Himself.

Again, not fabricated.

Not imagined.

Revealed by Heaven itself.

Jesus is, verse 10, “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Three titles are given for Him here, and it is the only place in the entire NT that all three are given in one place.

Jesus is Savior – you know what this implies?

That you need saving!

Because of your sin you stand before God condemned.

God could write you off.

God could dismiss you.

God could judge you.

God could pour out His wrath on you.

Instead, He sent a Savior for you.

John 3:16-17 - 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Jesus is Christ – remember, Christ is not Jesus’ last name.

It is His title.

Christ is the Greek version of the Hebrew word Messiah.

Jesus is the Promised One from the OT.

- Jesus is the heel that will crush the serpent’s head from Genesis 3:15.

- Jesus is the greater prophet promised by Moses in Deuteronomy 18.

- Jesus is the greater Son of David that will rule eternally from 2 Samuel 7.