Good News of Great Joy!
Luke 2:8-20
December 20, 2009
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Me: I don’t know about you, but for me, sometimes the joy of the holiday season can get lost in the hustle and bustle of just getting ready for it.
Between the Living Christmas Tree, doing nursing home services, speaking here an extra time, and trying to get my own shopping done, it’s easy for me to just get the attitude of, “Let’s just get this over with.”
But I do enjoy the season, for the most part. I can even put up with the snow, at least until the end of December.
I like seeing the decorations, I enjoy listening to Jim Nabors sing Christmas carols, and I enjoy the Christmas specials on TV – even the ones with Santa Claus.
I like watching, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with Jimmy Stewart, and my favorite Christmas movie of all time, “A Christmas Story,” - you know, the one with Ralphie who wants a BB gun for Christmas and plots ways to get his parents or Santa to get him one.
And I enjoy seeing my kids’ faces when they’re opening the gifts we’ve been able to get them.
I like Christmas, for the most part.
We: There is lots to enjoy about Christmas.
And that’s good, since it’s supposed to be a joyous holiday.
In our passage for today, we’re told that the birth of Jesus was an occasion of good news of great joy.
So my hope is that today you’ll walk away with some of that joy in your hearts, even if it has lost of that in your life.
God/You: Our passage for today is Luke 2:8-20 (p. 725) –
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 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.
Great stuff in this part of the Christmas story.
From this passage we can learn some things and what I want to impress on you to day is to look at the people here and decide that each of them is worth imitating.
So I want to describe a bit about what is worth imitating in each of these cases, and maybe God will help you grab something new that you can use to help bring some life to your Christmas celebrations this year.
Imitate…
1. The angels.
> They sang praises to God for the Savior.
This is easy to imitate this time of year, isn’t it? We’ve already done some of that this morning, and no doubt most of you will do some more before Friday.
I really enjoy most Christmas carols, because of the joy they proclaim, and because they shout the goodness of God to lowly sinners like us.
And then, in the only instance of Scripture where this happens…
> The angels told someone how to find Jesus.
Every other time an angel is involved in helping someone come to the point where they are ready to hear about Jesus, the angel says something like, “Go find that Peter dude, and get him to tell you about something very important.”
Because you see, that’s our job, and it’s a great way to imitate the next group of people, and that is…
2. The shepherds.
I’m going to spend most of my time here, because I really like these guys, and here are three reasons why:
> They listened.
As scared as they were, they knew that the angel had something they needed to hear. And so they listened.
They listened and heard about the Savior – or at least where to find Him.
Now, if an angel came to me, hopefully I’d understand enough to stop and listen to what they had to say.
And I find that it’s interesting that according to verse 15, they understood that what the angels were bringing was a message from God Himself – in other words, God was speaking through the angels.
By the way, you and I can listen to God today – as He speaks through the Scriptures.
But the shepherds didn’t just listen…
> They checked it out.
What was their response to the news of the angels?
"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.
They didn’t wait for a more convenient time. They left immediately.
And I think there are a few things worth noting about the shepherds and how they checked it out:
They didn’t demand an answer to all their questions, they didn’t say, “Prove it,” they didn’t say, “Hey wait a minute. Angels don’t really exist because we can’t observe them scientifically, so therefore we have to ignore what they say. Besides, this is a religious message and we all know that religion is a crutch for ignorant fools so we don’t have to go check out this so-called ‘Savior.’ Not to mention we have sheep to take care of.”
No. They checked it out. They quickly made whatever arrangements they had to make for the sheep or just left them there (Scripture doesn’t say), and they went to check it out.
I love it when people say to me, “All God has to do is prove Himself to me and I’ll believe.”
The proof is all over – in creation, in the lives of those changed by Christ, and in the reliable first-hand eyewitness accounts of those who were there.
God has done all the “proving” He needs to do. It’s up to you to check it out.
At least take the example of the shepherds and go see if it’s true.
Read the New Testament. Read some excellent resources that show the reliability of the New Testament accounts of Jesus as historically accurate documents.
Ask questions – honest questions in a search for knowledge and answers, with a spirit of actually wanting to learn rather than a cynical spirit of looking for an excuse to throw it all away.
Because the danger is this: if this stuff is true, and Jesus is who He says He is, and He did what the Scriptures say He did, your rejection has eternal consequences.
You can’t afford to be wrong about this.
So at least check it out. Don’t ignore it, don’t blow it off. Check it out.
> They told others what they had seen.
This is what the word “witness” means.
A witness in a courtroom is charged with telling the court what they’ve seen, heard, or otherwise experienced, and to share their knowledge.
If you have experienced the life-changing truth of Jesus in your life, like the shepherds did, then you should tell others about it.
Learn how to tell someone about Jesus and how they can have their sins forgiven and have a home in heaven, as well as God’s power and presence in their lives on earth.
Even if it’s just, “read this little booklet by Billy Graham.” Or, “Come to church with me and let me introduce you to Lowell Harms or Pastor Brian (or any other person you know who is able to explain how a person can find Jesus).
How many people here have seen the latest “Star Trek” movie?
I don’t go to many movies (I’m too cheap), but I wanted to see that one in the theatre.
I really loved it, for the most part.
I went to it with one of the people from the Christian school, and it was obvious that he hadn’t been exposed nearly enough to the original (and best) series, because when certain things were done or said, he didn’t catch the importance of the reference.
You could tell all the Trekkie types in the theater because they caught all those things. A guy who was sitting a couple of seats over from me and I were loving it, doing fist bumps and stuff…
The action was great, I thought they picked a really good cast in most cases, and the story was interesting.
I wasn’t too thrilled with how they dealt with the Uhura/Spock thing, and there was a couple minutes of totally unnecessary footage, but overall I really liked the movie.
I’ve seen it on DVD twice since it came out.
What does that have to do with what I’m talking about?
Just the fact that most people have no problem talking about the latest movie they’ve seen or the football game, or what their favorite (or least favorite) politician is doing than they are about telling someone about how Jesus came to give them eternal life and avoid hell!
Doesn’t that strike you as just a little odd? Doesn’t that strike you as being just a little outside the priority scope of Jesus and His mission to seek and save the lost?
Folks, I’m not saying that every conversation you have has to be centered around Jesus.
I’m simply saying that when the opportunity comes, you’re ready, willing, and able to point someone to Jesus.
I’ll give you the tools you need to prepare, I’ll do all I can to help you with that.
If enough people are interested, I’ll teach a class on different ways to tell people about Jesus that works for your personality type.
You let me know. And for anyone who is interested, I’d be glad to meet with you one-on-one to help you be ready.
And you noticed something else here? It’s the reaction of the people who heard the shepherds: they were amazed at what they heard.
My guess is that it was because the shepherds didn’t say, “Hey look. I don’t want to offend you, or be pushy or anything, but um, if you get a moment, I’d like to um, you know, tell you about this thing I know about, about the Messiah and all. But only if you don’t feel it’ll impose on your already ambivalent ideas on religious philosophies and such. Okay?”
Or, “My pastor’s really being a jerk and pushing us to tell other people about Jesus, so do you have a minute? I’d like to get this over as quickly as possible and maybe he’ll get off my back about it.”
Please don’t raise your hand if that’s your attitude…
No – the shepherds were excited! They couldn’t hold it in!
They had seen something so wonderful and so life-changing, they simply could not imagine not telling anyone about it.
3. Mary.
Here’s Mary, first of all going through labor in the filthy conditions of an animal stable, and having nothing better to lay her baby in than a feeding trough.
Can you imagine what would happen if social workers of today were to walk in on that scene?
Baby Jesus would have been raised by foster parents!
I can say that because my wife and I are foster parents.
Okay, so she’s trying to recover from her labor; she’s going through all the emotional stuff that goes with childbirth, marveling at the perfection of this little baby who came to be through supernatural means, and probably pretty tired.
And what happens? A bunch of shepherds show up.
And they’re saying, “Look, you’re not going to believe this, but there we were, minding our own business, keeping our flocks by night and all that, and then next thing you know – angels! And they said to come here and find this baby who they said was the Savior.
Is this the little fella here? Oh, aren’t you just the cutest wittle baby in do whole wide world? Can I hold Him? Hey, have you checked these swaddling clothes lately?”
Now, I’ve never been a new mother, but I’ve been there for the births of all five of my kiddos.
And one of the things Debra wanted most after everything was all over was a whole lotta rest.
Ya think it’s just possible Mary could have said, “Look guys – it’s kinda late, I’ve just delivered a baby, and I’m a little exhausted. Would you mind coming back another time?”
But no – it says that…
> Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
You know what I want to do this year? I want to treasure the idea of Christmas more than I ever have before.
We’ve had some very special Christmases over the years.
But I think that sometimes I don’t really let the season or the celebration capture me like it really ought to.
I don’t do enough treasuring and pondering.
Maybe for you this Christmas, that’s what you need to do.
Christmas has lost the magic it used to have for you. Maybe you haven’t really sensed that magic since you were a little kid, when the “treasuring” meant wondering what kind of treasure you’d find under the tree.
Or maybe Christmas has never had that kind of specialness that so many others have had because Christmas for you was never a really great experience.
Or it could be that for you, Christmas brings painful memories for one reason or another.
But let me suggest that whatever your situation, we could all do a bit more treasuring and pondering.
Treasuring the fact that God loves you so much that Jesus would have come for you even if you were the only person on earth.
Treasuring the fact that Jesus came in a way that we could understand and relate to and who understands and relates to you, and who understands and relates to your joys as well as your sorrows.
And pondering the fact that somehow, God became flesh and lived among humans.
Pondering the fact that the Creator joined His creation for a time, knowing that that creation would turn against Him and take His life, and knowing that this was the only way He could help them avoid the penalty we deserve for rejecting Him.
Pondering the fact that all of history was divided because of this baby.
We: Folks, you know what I think would be great?
If people would look at the people who come here and see something beyond the tinsel and the gifts, as wonderful as those things are.
I hope people see in you that you possess good news of great joy for all people, and that you want to share it with them.
And let me give you a way to start sharing it with them today: come and help with the candy cane distribution this afternoon.
It’s quick – if we get enough people, it won’t take more than an hour, if even that.
It’s easy – we ask how many people are living in the house, we hand them that many candy canes and we hand them an invitation to our Christmas Eve service.
Simple. But it’s a great way to show people that we care enough to share the good news of Jesus at Christmas time and invite them to take the gift of eternal life for themselves.
But whether you help today or not, please make the effort to let people see in your face, your attitude, and your actions that you possess something they both need and want.
Let’s pray.
