Luke 2:28 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 of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ 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,
and on earth peace to men 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.
Tonight I’d like to consider just three aspects of this passage:
1. To whom were the angels speaking?
2. What did they say?
3. What was the response?
THE AUDIENCE
Shepherds: they were “nobodies”. This is clear. If it were not for these few verses in the Bible, this troop of sheep herders would have lived out their entire lives without any notice from anyone in the world. No one in our century would have heard of the shepherds of Bethlehem were it not for the message God sent them by the angels.
Yet, beyond this, Jesus called himself a Shepherd, and not just any shepherd, but the Good shepherd. The people who reflect God’s glory do so by means of their simplicity and ordinariness. God receives the glory He deserves, quite often, only when He works through the lowly. The high, mighty, influential, popular, famous and rich do things for God and too often get glory for themselves. But God brought His son into the world through two poor village Jews, and He announced His birth to the lowly. This was the nature of Jesus’ entire ministry. As Augustine said
Maker of the sun,
He is made under the sun.
In the Father he remains,
From his mother he goes forth.
Creator of heaven and earth,
He was born on earth under heaven.
Unspeakably wise,
He is wisely speechless.
Filling the world,
He lies in a manger.
Ruler of the stars,
He nurses at his mother’s bosom.
He is both great in the nature of God,
and small in the form of a servant.
THE MESSAGE
The message to these simple shepherds demonstrates the fact that God and God alone will get the glory for the work He does. And that brings us to part two: the message
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
This demonstrates for us the unmistakable dual aspect of our relationships: first to God, and second to humanity (the vertical and horizontal). In our relationship with God, He gets all the glory. In our relationships with one another, God wants us to have peace and good will. Jesus taught the greatest commandment was “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” and the second greatest commandment was “love your neighbor as yourself” “All the law and prophets are fulfilled in these two”. How do we love God? At least part of it is we give glory to Him.
What is glory? I know many have undertaken to explain the meaning of glory. I’d like to add my two cents worth.
The Hebrew word, chabad, has something to do with weight. But the way the word is used shows us it means more than this.
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. . . . When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Exodus 33:18-23
It seems that to God, His glory had something to do with His goodness and nature. I think this relates to beauty. The cherubim declared the whole earth was full of God’s glory (Isaiah 6, also Psalm 57 and 72). The earth, God’s creation, is beautiful-it is glorious-it is an expression of God’s nature. James declared that “Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights” (1:17).
And that brings us to the NT word, doxa, which can be understood as “radiance”. This word, in turn, is related to a classical word kleos, which has to do with credit for doing great deeds. Hercules’ name was actually a conflation of Hera and kleos-the glory of Hera. His mighty deeds were supposed to bring honor and attention to the goddess. In this, I think, we can see a connection with the glory which belongs to God. All beauty, goodness, wonder, power, and mighty works emanate from and belong to God. When we frail, pitiful human beings take glory upon ourselves we are working contrary to God’s nature and will-we are taking to ourselves that which belongs only to Him.
Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. 24 But the word of God continued to spread and flourish. Acts 12:21-24
So the man who received glory for himself died. But the word of God spread and flourished.
Ill. The story is told of a great violinist who acquired a great Stradivarius violin. News about his new violin had circulated and advertisements and headlines announced his first concert on the great violin. The violinist was aware of these headlines and went on stage and gave one of his greatest performances. As he played there was a murmur among the crowd “what a lovely instrument!” “A glorious violin!” “surely one of the finest instruments ever made” . . . Half way through the concert the great violinist stopped abruptly, threw his violin on the ground and jumped up and down on it. He said “That was a cheap violin I bought at a shop around the corner. Now I would like to play for you on the Stradivarius”. He completed the concert and the audience understood. They were focused on the instrument, and had forgotten, it is not the instrument that makes the performance great-it is the touch of the master’s hand.
We often give glory to the instrument, or take glory to ourselves. Only God deserves the glory.
Ill. Soli deo Gloria. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote these words at the end of all of his compositions, whether they were written for church or secular purposes. As far as he was concerned all of his great works of art were only for the glory of God.
So, the first part of the angels’ message “glory to God in the highest” is clearly a significant part of the proclamation of Christmas. Jesus was born in such a way that no human instrument was allowed to take the glory on himself. He was the gift from God.
And the second part of the message “and on Earth, peace, goodwill toward men” Or “to men on whom his favor rests”.
This, I believe, may be a summary of Jesus’ ethical teachings. Jesus said “do not think I have come to bring peace on the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Jesus ministry did, indeed, cause division, because you either align yourself with Him, or you don’t. Yet the ministry He called us to was “the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). He calls us to a radical kind of interaction with others-that if one demands we go a mile, we go two. If one strikes us on one cheek we turn the other also, if we see someone sick or in prison, or hungry, we seek to meet them and comfort, heal, and feed. Jesus demanded that we love as God loved us, He sends the rain on the just and the unjust, He cares for those who do not even acknowledge Him. A world in which all people live according to these principles would be a world of a radical and restorative peace. We have yet to see such a world established here. Perhaps this season, as we approach the new year, we can dedicate ourselves, as much as it has to do with us, that we would live at peace with all people. Let this be the generation which obeys the proclamation of the angels at the birth of Jesus.
THE RESPONSE
The shepherds immediately left their sheep and went to see Jesus.
They Hurried to Jesus
In this city I’ve seen many changes over the years. One of those changes is that many more people these days seem to be in a hurry. Sometimes I wonder what they’re in such a hurry for. Almost every time I go out for a drive, at a stoplight some auto rickshaw or old, beaten moped will weave its way through the minute spaces between vehicles to maneuver itself in front of me. I know my vehicle will go much faster than theirs, so I am certain that their presence in front of me will slow me down. So I wonder, ‘what are they hurrying for?’ Whenever a lorry speeds past me at an intersection-running into oncoming traffic, breaking a handful of laws and endangering half a dozen lives in the process I think “what are they in such a hurry to see?”
I am certain of one thing. They are not in a hurry to see Jesus.
What motivates us to hurry? Is there anyone here who hurries to the altar, hurries to the prayer closet, hurries to the time of worship, hurries to sing and praise and glorify God? Those who hurry to see Jesus will see Him indeed.
I’ve spoken at a few places where the behind the podium, where only the speaker can see, the words are carved “sir, we would see Jesus”. These must be the words on our lips.
They Spread the Word
If there is anything I think each of us must include on our list of priorities for the year to come, it is to spread the word. To spread the word you don’t have to take a course on evangelism-you just have to learn how to tell the story of what God has done in your life.
They Glorified and Praised God.
We always look at the magi as examples of people who came to Jesus with gifts-but I think these shepherds brought something just as valuable as anything the magi offered. They brought themselves to Jesus-they spread the word of what God had done, and then they gave back to God the fruit of their lips, a sacrifice of praise. The angels had said ‘glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men”. They shared the word of peace to their neighbors, then returned brining glory to God.
The lowly shepherds responded well to the message “glory to God in the highest, and on Earth, peace, to men on whom His favor rests”
How will we respond?
Pastor Paul Decker tells a story that I think we can close with tonight, as we contemplate the year at an end and the year to come (www.sermoncentral.com)
Some years ago David Robinson, who plays basket-ball in San Antonio, visited our church. He’s not a member of our church, but he shows up occasionally. You can imagine the stir that occurred when that seven-foot, striking fellow walked in the auditorium. He came to the first service, and at the end of it, people mobbed him. The pandemonium finally settled down, and he went his way, and we began the second service.
As I stood to do the announcements, a homeless person walked in the back of the auditorium. He came down the center aisle with his backpack, ratty jeans, and torn T-shirt. His face was unshaven, and he had a distinct odor. He walked down to the front and sat down.
The contrast struck me. When David Robinson enters, he was immediately swamped. People wanted to touch him and be close to him. Nobody jumped up to sit next to the homeless man. After two or three awkward minutes, one of our elders got up from his seat and sat by the man and touched him.
I was struck. The message I received in my heart that morning was, If you want to touch Jesus, whom do you touch? Jesus said, “Whatever you’ve done for the least of these, my brethren, you’ve done also to me.” And so, if we want to touch Jesus, we have a special use for our hands—to touch people no one else wants to touch. We can find special purpose by seeking out the forgotten the ignored—people like this man. We can seek out the untouched and touch them.
God sent His angels with a message to the lowly and humble. I think the Lord would have us do the same.
When we share in communion, we are eating of the flesh of the One born in a manger. We are drinking the blood of the One who was crushed for our iniquities, by who’s stripes we are healed. We are taking upon ourselves the nature of the One who humbled Himself and took upon Himself the form of a servant, in a lowly manger.
COMMUNION
