I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 2:1-20
2
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of
the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a]
Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to
register.
4
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to
Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of
David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to
him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the
baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him
in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available
for them.
8
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over
their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory
of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said
to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for
all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he
is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby
wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising
God and saying,
14
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his
favor rests.”
15
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one
another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the
Lord has told us about.”
16
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in
the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had
been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what
the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and
pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising
God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had
been told.
-- several years ago, I was in a
high-rise building in Atlanta for a meeting -- I went over to the elevators to
find one to take me to the floor where my meeting was supposed to be held, and
I noticed a sign on one elevator that said, “This elevator only goes to the
basement”
-- if there’s a more fitting
illustration for 2020, I don’t know what it is -- 2020 started off bad with an
impeachment and the threat of war with Iran, and it only went down from there
straight to the basement of life with the pandemic and the hurricanes and the
fires and the election and everything else that has been going on
-- this has been a hard year -- and
people are tired and they are worried and they are wondering if things are ever
going to get better again -- usually, when there’s a new year on the horizon,
people are looking forward to it and hoping that things are going to improve,
but no one is even mentioning 2021 -- it’s like we’re all afraid if we talk
about it that we’re going to jinx it and it will be just as bad -- if not worse
-- than 2020
-- this is not normal for us as
Americans -- America has always been the land of confidence -- we’ve always
been a place where people were convinced that we could weather every storm that
came our way -- but it seems like today that many Americans just aren’t sure
--they’ve lost confidence in everything and are scared about what the future
holds -- people are looking for answers -- they’re looking for hope -- they’re
looking for someone who can tell them that things are going to get better --
that things are going to get brighter -- but it all seems so dark and hopeless
right now, doesn’t it?
-- back in World War II, when the
Germans were bombing England, the people there were as worried about their
future as we are today -- they were having to send their kids to the
countryside to keep them safe from the bombing of the cities -- they couldn’t
work -- their economy was in shambles -- no one knew what the future held
-- it appeared that there was no
stopping Hitler and that England and the West were destined to fall -- so, people
back then started looking for answers to their problems, too, just like us --
they started looking wherever they could for hope and encouragement of some
kind -- of any kind
-- then Nat Burton composed the
song, “The White Cliffs of Dover,” and it played on the radio in England even
as the bombs fell -- the lyrics went like this: “There'll be bluebirds over the
white cliffs of Dover, tomorrow -- just you wait and see -- There'll be joy and
laughter, and peace ever after, tomorrow -- when the world is free
-- “The shepherd will count his
sheep -- The valleys will bloom again -- and Jimmy will go to sleep in his own
little room again -- There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover
--tomorrow -- just you wait and see.”
-- this song spoke to the hearts of
the British in an uncertain time -- when people were worried about the future
-- when people were losing hope -- this song brought them back -- it spoke hope
and encouragement and promised a better future -- and it strengthened the
hearts and the minds of the English people so that they could make it through
the hard times they were suffering [illustration borrowed from a sermon by
James Dobson, Focus on the Family]
-- we need a word of encouragement
like that in America today -- we need a word of encouragement like that in our
world today -- in the midst of these times that we have been going through,
when it seems like our elevator is only going one way and that’s down, we need
someone to bring us a message of hope and encouragement to give us the strength
to go on
-- that is the message that we find
here in this familiar story from the Gospel of Luke -- as this story begins,
the nation of Israel was in a very dark place -- for over 400 years, the people
of God had not heard from God -- the Promised Land was held by the Romans --
and the people longed for restoration -- they longed for a Savior who would set
them free -- but no matter how long they waited -- no matter how long they
hoped in their hearts for the Messiah to come -- nothing ever changed
-- but one day, something happened
-- one day, the waiting ended -- and with the cries of a baby in the still of a
cold, winter’s night, the light of the Messiah dawned in the land of Israel --
and the hopes and dreams of all the people were finally realized as Jesus was
born on Christmas Day
II. Scripture Lesson (Luke 2:8-12)
-- this morning, I want us to look
together at this familiar story -- the Christmas Story -- to remind ourselves
of the hope we have in Christ, even when it seems like we are walking in
darkness today
-- while I opened by reading the
whole passage, our key verses this morning are Luke 2:8-12 -- let’s turn there
now
-- verse 8
8
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over
their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory
of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said
to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for
all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he
is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby
wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
-- I want you to get the picture of
what is going on in this verse -- Luke tells us that on the night Jesus was
born, a group of shepherds were living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch
over their flocks at night
-- there’s a reason the Christmas
story opens with this picture of the shepherds at night in their fields -- you
see, they represent us -- they represent what the world was like before Jesus came
-- and what the world is like for so many today
-- you’ll sometimes hear it said
that shepherds in that day were considered second-class citizens -- but that’s
not really true -- they were just part of the working class -- not the rulers
or the elite of society -- not the priests or the pharisees or the scribes --
they were just the regular guys like you and me -- the one who had to work for
a living -- the ones who suffered the most when times were bad -- when the
economy turned bad -- when the famines came or the droughts dried up the
grasses in the pastures -- when the Romans started pushing people around --
when the politicians started playing games with people’s lives
-- the shepherds represent the
everyday man and the everyday women -- the people who are just trying to get by
in life
-- these are not the people that the
Israelites expected would be the ones who would hear from God when He finally
spoke again -- everyone thought that the word of God would come to the priests
or to the rulers -- remember where the Magi went when they came looking for the
newborn king of Israel? -- they didn’t go to the shepherds -- they went to King
Herod -- they went to the priests -- that’s the people we expect to be the ones
God speaks to
-- but this story tells us otherwise
-- it tells us that God speaks to those with hearts that are open to Him -- He
speaks to those who are longing for Him -- who are looking for hope -- who are
keeping watch at night and listening for His still, small voice -- no matter
who they are
-- I once heard a missionary speak
about giving a Bible to the pastor of a church in Africa -- before he got
there, they didn’t have a single Bible in the church at all -- not even the
pastor had a Bible -- so, when the missionary got there and handed the Bible to
the pastor, you can just imagine how excited the people were
-- he said the pastor went to the
front of the church and raised the Bible up over his head and all the people
cheered -- and then the pastor did something the missionary never expected --
he opened the Bible and began ripping the pages out -- the missionary was
dumb-struck -- the pastor was just ripping up the Bible he had just gotten --
but then he watched as the pastor passed out the pages to the church members so
each one of them could have part of a Bible to take home with them
-- one man was so excited and the
missionary asked him, “what passage did you get?” -- the man proudly showed him
a page from the Book of Lamentations -- I mean, if you want to talk about a
book of the Bible that is not the most inspiring book, it’s Lamentations -- a
book that speaks of the judgments about to fall on the nation of Israel
-- the missionary said, “Oh no, we
need to get you another passage” -- but the man said, “No, I want this --
because it begins with this verse, “and the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah” --
and if the word of the Lord can come to Jeremiah, then it can come to me, too”
-- that’s the promise that we see in
this passage in Luke -- the word of the Lord came -- not to the priests or the
religious leaders in Jerusalem -- not to the scribes and the Pharisees -- no,
for the first time in over 400 years, the word of the Lord came to a group of
shepherds living in a field outside of town as an angel appeared to them and
spoke the message of God to them -- and the word of the Lord can come to us in the
same way, too
-- so, an angel appears to the
shepherds and tells them to not be afraid -- that’s a common phrase in the
Bible -- almost every time an angel appears to someone in the Bible, they
always begin by telling the people to not be afraid
-- and, certainly, the angels say
this because they know that the presence of an angel is a terrifying thing --
Luke says that right here -- when the angel appeared to the shepherds and the
glory of the Lord shone around them, they were terrified -- and, honestly, if
an angel just appeared right here in front of us, we’d all be scared, too --
so, that’s one reason why the angels always tell the people they appear to to
not be afraid
-- but I think there’s another
reason, too -- I think we all tend to live with hearts of fear -- with hearts
of worry and anxiety -- a lot of people go through life scared and worried
about what’s going to happen in the future -- just look at this year -- certainly,
this year has been a year of fear and worry and anxiety
-- but that’s how most of us live --
with fear and worry in our hearts -- and that’s why one of the main messages of
the Bible is to not fear -- we see the phrase, “Do not be afraid,” given to us 366
times in the Bible -- once for every day, including leap years -- God repeats
it over and over again for us, because He knows our hearts are prone to fear
and because He wants us to know that He takes our fear away -- that with Him,
we don’t have to be afraid any longer
-- the angel goes on to tell the
shepherds that he brings good news of great joy that would be for all the
people” -- all the people -- not just for the good
people -- not just for the rich people or the religious
people or the people with the right clothes and right jobs and right standing
in society -- but good news for all of them, even the shepherds
-- even us
-- the good news was that the long
wait was over -- the long night was coming to an end because the Savior had
been born -- Christ, the Lord
-- and with those words, God spoke
to the hearts of the shepherds to let them know that hope was born in Bethlehem
-- that the light that gives life to men had been born into the darkness so
that all might be saved -- and great joy filled their very souls and their fear
went away
-- in the midst of their fear and
hopelessness and despair, God’s words through His angel brought hope and
encouragement to the people again
-- the angel said that would know
the Christ child because of this sign -- they would find a baby wrapped in
cloths, and lying in a manger
-- I was listening to a devotional
yesterday about this passage, and the speaker said something I had never heard
before -- he said the reason this was a sign for the shepherds is
that it was a symbol they would recognize -- it wasn’t just the baby -- it was
the baby lying in the manger that was important
-- you see, the shepherds the angel
is speaking to here are the ones who raised the sacrificial lambs for use in
the temple at Passover -- and when it was time to gather the lambs and to make
sure they were perfect and suitable for use as a sacrifice, the priest would
place each lamb in a stone manger and examine it
-- so, the baby lying in a manger in
the place of the sacrificial lambs was a message to the shepherds that this
baby -- the newborn Christ -- was to be the perfect sacrifice for all mankind
-- our Passover Lamb -- our salvation -- and that’s why this was good news for
all the people and why it’s still the best news for us today
III. Closing
-- let’s bring this to a close
-- there's an old hymn that speaks
to the uncertainties of our times called, "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow"
-- let me share with you a stanza from that hymn:
-- "I don't know about tomorrow
-- it may bring me poverty;
-- "But the One who feeds the
sparrow, is the One who stands by me
-- "And the path that be my
portion, may be through the flame or through the flood
-- "But His presence goes
before me and I'm covered with His blood"
-- "Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand
-- "But I know Who holds
tomorrow, and I know Who holds my hand."
-- regardless of what else might happen
this year -- regardless of what might happen in 2021 -- one thing is sure --
God is with us and He is still holding our hand -- the message of hope that He
gave to the shepherds that night in the field still rings in our hearts this
morning -- “do not be afraid, for I bring you good news of great joy that will
be for all the people”
-- I saw a church sign one time that
said, “God still loves you” -- it’s that word “still” that makes the difference
-- even though here at the end of
2020, it’s easy to be afraid -- it’s easy to lose hope -- it’s easy to be
worried about the future -- God wants us to know that He still loves us and
because of that, we don’t have to be afraid
-- in fact, God loves us so much
that He sent His only begotten Son to be born in a stable and laid in a manger
-- so that whoever believes in Him and puts their faith and trust in Him will
not perish but have eternal life with Him
-- that is the message of Christmas
-- that is the message that the shepherds first heard in the field that night
-- and that is the message that God is speaking to us today
-- so, take heart -- do not be
afraid or worried about the rest of this year or the years ahead -- the God of
all life still loves you and still has a plan for your life -- our Savior has
been born -- our sins have been forgiven -- and we have hope of eternal life
through Him
-- so, rejoice on this day and
celebrate the newborn King, for He is Christ, the Lord!
-- let us pray
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