“What would you do if you saw an angel – Luke 2:8-19”
Gladstone Baptist Church – 17/12/06 pm
1. The Shepherds were minding their own business. When the reality of that first Christmas was shown to them in spectacularly vivid colour. This is what it is like for many of us when the truth of God breaks through.
I want you to use your imagination here this evening. You are sitting out on a hillside around a small fire. It is small, because wood is scarce. The night is fairly cool because you are not far from the desert. The stars are out and the sky is looking absolutely brilliant. You are lying on your back looking up at all the stars when suddenly, you wet your pants because right in front of you in living colour was a brilliant light. An angel. Now most of you have never seen a real angel before, but you had seen plenty of images of angels – usually they involved pretty little girls in white dresses with wire shaped wings with stockings stretched over them. But this little angel was nothing like that at all. He was scary. He was brilliant – you could have been wearing a welding visor and still been overwhelmed with the brilliance of his light.
But when he spoke, all your fear melted away. Because he brought good news that would benefit the whole human race. He told you that this very night, in the town of Bethlehem, King David’s hometown, a saviour has been born. He was to be the long awaited Messiah.
What would it have been like for the shepherds on that lonely hillside that first Christmas evening. It would have been confronting I’m sure. They were minding their own business, but suddenly, their whole world was turned upside down as God revealed himself to them.
You know, that is identical to how many people describe what it was like when they become a Christian. They were going along in life fine – minding their own business – when – They came face to face with the reality of God with a capital GOD. When that happens to you, you can’t side step it and just go on. You can’t hide your head in the sand and wait for it to go away. You have to be honest enough to respond to it. What would you do if you were confronted this evening by an angel?
Tonight, I pray that if you have never been confronted by the reality of the Christmas story, that God makes it a reality for you tonight. It did happen – it is a historical fact. It did involve God – that is an undeniable fact. It demands a response – and for some that is a scary fact.
When I look at these shepherds being confront, I see 3 parts to their response and I think we can learn a lot from their response.
2. They went to find the promised king. They wanted to see him for themselves. To meet with him. To experience his life for themselves. He was their priority & their goal. They wanted to take a look.
Firstly, they went to investigate the claims of the angels.
We read in Luke 2:15-16
“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.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
These shepherds weren’t willing to trust any old stranger in ignorance – even if he did glow a bit. They wanted to find out the truth for themselves. In our world today, there are a lot of con men out there. I don’t know about you, but I get sick of getting bogus emails telling me to go to a bank I don’t even have an account at and confirm my credit card details or bank account details.
I got this one sent to me the other day – actually I’ve had it a couple of times over the last 5 or so years. This it what it promises …
Dear Friends; Please do not take this for a junk letter.
Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it. For a two week time period. For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00
Regards.
Charles S Bailey
General Manager Field Operations
PS.
Now I hope not too many people have fallen for this one in the past – it is a hoax – aiming to clog up the internet for legitimate users. If you doubt me – go to www.snopes.com to read up on its history.
A wise person will investigate any claims before believing what another tells them. There are people who are out to con us and when we fall for their tricks, we usually get burned. Being suspicious of what another person says is a good thing. But sometimes, too much suspicion can cause us problems too. There are people out there who try to tell us the truth and we reject them. We are so suspicious that we don’t even let them get to the first base. Why? Because we because we can’t be bothered trying to determine whether it is the truth or we are tired of being taken for a ride. We are apathetic. And the result is, we miss out on the opportunity and the truth.
The shepherds weren’t going to do anything in ignorance which was good, but they didn’t dismiss it out of apathy either. When the angel disappeared, the shepherds left their flocks and went to find out whether this thing was for real.
Many people in our society at some point in their lives are confronted by the claims of Jesus Christ. That He is God’s son. That He is relevant to their lives. That He has the right to dictate how they should run their lives. But instead of going to check out the claims like a logical person, they dismiss the claims outright and therefore potentially miss out on a gold mine – eternal life and all that Jesus promises. Don’t make that mistake. Investigate the claims of Jesus. Talk to someone who invited you to tonight and ask them your questions. We’ve got a course designed to help people investigate Jesus’ claims starting in the new year – if you want more information, please come and see me after the service. I’m always happy to talk also and help you with your investigations – so call the church office and have a chat.
The first part of a sensible response to Jesus’ claims is exactly what the shepherds did – they went and investigated the claims.
3. They Worshipped him (& God).
And when they did go to Bethlehem, they found it all exactly as the angel had said. This wasn’t a con-angel trying to lead them up the garden path.
What had the angel said … “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Well the sign was there – a baby wrapped in cloths lying in a manger. Quite an unusual sight really. Not many people give birth, wrap their kid up in some strips of cloth and put him in the animals feed trough. Cribs and cradles are more fitting for babies than feed troughs, but this was what the angel had said and this was what the shepherds found. Now if that part of the claim was true, then it was a fair conclusion that the rest was true also. That this baby was a saviour. That this baby was the promised Messiah who would come to rescue his people. That this baby was to be Lord over all.
The shepherds seeing the baby, recognised their Saviour, Messiah and Lord and they worshipped Him because he was true and real.
You see the second part of their response after they went to investigate the claim was to worship the one who without a shadow of a doubt was the Saviour, Messiah and Lord. Worship is a word we don’t use very much in our society today is it. I know we say we worship sport. We worship our car. Some may worship their wives or husbands. But it is not a term we use commonly. But the shepherds knew what it meant. They lived in a day when they were ruled by kings and emperors. They were required to worship these men and show them honour.
But where as they had no choice as to whether they should worship king Herod and Caesar Augustus. They did have a choice whether they wanted to honour Jesus. Here was a baby who was deserving of their honour and their life’s devotion and they chose to give it to him. When you are confronted with the truth of who Jesus is, you need to choose whether you are going to worship Him. Worship involves all aspects of your life. It is not just a Sunday thing, but it is a life thing. You honour him with your behaviour at home, at work, in your finances, in your priorities, how you spend your time. That is real worship and it involves a cost. But this Christmas, I challenge you to recognise that God is there in his brilliant glory. He desires to show you his Son – Jesus Christ. Follow the shepherd’s example. Go and investigate the truth of the matter. If you do so, I think that you will find also the Baby in the manger is who He says He is – God’s Son. Then bow down and worship Him. Jesus deserves our worship because he created us and he rescued us from our sin filled lives.
But I see yet another part of the shepherds response that first Christmas night.
4. They Witnessed for him.
The third thing the shepherds did was that they left and began to tell others about what they’d seen. In a court of law, that would be called bearing witness or give a testimony of these events. We can read that
When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them
The shepherds didn’t want to keep this good news to themselves. It was way to exciting to keep it a secret. The whole world was going to benefit from this new king born and the whole world needed to find out what was true and real. So they started right then and there that first Christmas night. They went out and witnessed for Jesus.
Tonight, there are many here who have already investigated the claims and decided to worship the God of this universe with their lives. We need to be sharing it with others who need to know. Christmas provides us with a wonderful opportunity to do this. To share with people what the real meaning of Christmas is. I want to encourage you to seek innovative ways to share Jesus with your neighbours and workmates and friends this Christmas. Take the time and witness for him because everyone needs to be let in on the secret.
5. This Christmas we need to walk to Jesus and take a look. We need to worship Him and Witness for him..
Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but amidst all the clutter take a moment to consider the claims that Christmas makes on your life. Christmas is nothing without Christ. Take Christ out and you just have mass – getting heavier and heavier from the loads and loads of food we eat.
Christmas is more than a weight watcher’s nightmare. It is the birthday as a king. Maybe this Christmas is the first that you have been confronted with this fact. Well good – take a leaf out of the shepherd’s book – Go and investigate the facts and convince yourself that Jesus is God, born a man so he could die for you. Secondly, give yourself over to Worship at the Saviour’s feet. And then thirdly Witness to the good news that you have found.
What would you do if you saw an angel? Probably the question is better put. What are you going to do now that you have caught a glimpse of God’s Son Jesus?
Let’s pray.
