Do you ever feel like you don’t really matter to God? Do you ever think that God is so busy running the universe that He doesn’t have time to be concerned about your insignificant life? Do you ever feel like you really don’t have anything of worth to offer to God? I think if we’re honest, all of us have had those kinds of feelings at times.
This morning we’re going to look at the account of a group of people who probably felt a lot like that. And we’re going to see how the first Christmas was God’s demonstration that all lives really do matter and that God cares deeply about every single one of us.
We’ll be looking at a portion of Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2 this morning. I’ll begin reading in verse 8:
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Most of us are probably so familiar with this account that we miss out on the wonder of it all. Here we have the only announcement of Jesus’ birth recorded in the Scriptures. And to whom does God make that announcement? Certainly not to the people we would expect. The mayor of Bethlehem doesn’t get the announcement. It doesn’t go to the High Priest in Jerusalem. Caesar and the members of his royal court don’t get the announcement. Instead the announcement is made to a bunch of uneducated, smelly, low-class, social and religious outcasts who are keeping watch over their flocks.
Why the shepherds? Some have suggested it is because Jesus would be a shepherd in the line of other great shepherds in Israel’s history – people like Moses and David. Isaiah had prophesied that the Messiah would shepherd God’s people (Isaiah 40:11). And later in His life Jesus would refer to Himself as the “Good Shepherd.”
Perhaps that is true, but I think there is a simpler explanation. In order to understand that we need to consider what it was like to be a shepherd during the time Jesus was born. These shepherds were certainly much different than the cute, clean cut little shepherd boys we see in our nativity sets or Christmas pageants. These men certainly didn’t live what we often picture as the “All-American” life.
They didn’t have a trophy wife, two kids, a dog and a nice house in the suburbs with two cars in the garage. They didn’t have a 9-5 job where they kissed their wives and kids good bye in the morning and then came home and had dinner with them and tucked the kids into bed at night.
They were crude and harsh in their language, uneducated and unsophisticated men. They spent day and night with the sheep they tended. There were no showers and no washing machines so they didn’t look good and they didn’t smell good. They had the reputation, sometimes deserved and sometimes not, of being thieves. They were considered to be so untrustworthy that they were not permitted to testify in court. As a result they were the social outcasts in their culture.
Their occupation also made it impossible for them to meet the myriad of manmade regulations that had been heaped on top of the Mosaic Law. So they were considered too “unclean” to participate in the worship in the Temple and therefore were also religious outcasts of their time.
So again we must ask, “Why the shepherds?” I am convinced that the reason God chose to announce the birth of the Messiah to these lowly shepherds is that He wanted to demonstrate that His love does not discriminate on the basis of class, or wealth, or social standing or even religiosity. God does not show favoritism. He does not give preference to one group over another. His salvation is made available to all on the same basis – faith in Jesus alone.
When I think about that idea, I’m reminded of the words of Paul:
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
(1 Corinthians 1:26-29 ESV)
God chose to announce the birth of His Son to these shepherds because it meant that the focus would be on the message and not the messengers. And as a result, God, and not any man would get the glory.
Maybe this morning you can identify with those shepherds. Maybe you feel like a social or a religious outcast on the outside looking in. Maybe on the surface things look like they are going well, but deep inside you feel like you don’t fit in. Maybe you think that even if God is aware of you – which you doubt – He doesn’t really think a whole lot of you. If that describes your life at all, then the passage we’re looking at this morning is not just good news – it is great news! While the coming of a Savior into the world is good news for everyone, it is especially good news for those who are overlooked and looked down upon by the rest of the world.
Let’s continue in verse 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. 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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
I love the KJV translation of verse 9 that records that the shepherds were “sore afraid.” And for good reason. First of all, the appearance of a single angel would be enough to cause great fear for these shepherds. But even more frightening was the fact that the glory of God also shone around them.
The glory of the Lord had appeared often in the Old Testament. According to Stephen in Acts 7, it had appeared to Abraham. In Exodus 16, the glory of God appeared in the distance to the people of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. When the tabernacle was first erected, the glory of God filled it to the point that Moses was unable to enter it (Exodus 40:34-35). Later, the glory of God filled the Temple when it was first built and dedicated to the Lord. But because the people failed to heed the warnings of prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel to return to God, Ezekiel has a vision in which the glory of God left the Temple during the time of the Babylonian exile. From that time forward until it appears to the shepherds, there is no further appearance of the glory of God recorded in the Scriptures.
So it’s not hard to imagine the fear that came over these shepherds. But just as an angel had previously assured Zechariah, Joseph and Mary, he told the shepherds to “fear not.” And the reason that they were not to fear is because this angel had some “good news of great joy” for them.
In the underlying Greek, the verb “I bring good news” is just one word which is the basis for our English word “evangelize”. Every time that word is used in the New Testament it refers to a verbal sharing of the good news of Jesus. It is a reminder that while we are to demonstrate the love of Jesus to others by the way we live our lives, that by itself is never sufficient. It must be accompanied by our verbal witness as well.
The message that the angel brings is not just “good news”, it is “good news of great joy”. The Greek word for “joy” used here is related to the Greek word for “grace”. In fact one Greek lexicon defines “joy” as “grace recognized”. So one reason that the birth of a Savior is such good news is because it is the tangible demonstration of God’s grace that provides lasting great joy and not just temporary happiness.
Another reason this is such good news is that it is “for all the people.” We’ve already talked about how choosing to announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds was God’s demonstration that His salvation is available to all. Although many fail to understand it or refuse to respond to it appropriately, the coming of a Savior is good news that is offered to all.
The third reason it is good news is because of who Jesus is. The angel uses three different terms that each tell us something about Jesus:
• He is “a Savior”. That indicates right off the bat that all people are in need of begin saved from something. But what exactly is it that we need to be saved from?
Some might claim we need to be saved from an unfulfilled life. And isn’t that often how we try to “sell” Jesus? “Have an unfulfilled marriage or job or some kind of disappointment or even despair in your life? Then just come to Jesus and he’ll save you from that.” Now is it true that Jesus can rescue you from that kind of unfulfilled life? Sure, but that is not primarily what he came to save us from.
Some might say that Jesus came to save us from some bad habit. “Have some kind of addiction that you need to get control over? Whether it’s alcohol or drugs or smoking or sexual immorality, whatever it is you can’t get control over, then just give it to Jesus and He’ll fix it.” Once again, Jesus can absolutely help us overcome those habits, but that is still not the primary thing He came to save us from.
Just as the angel had told Joseph earlier when he commanded him to name Mary’s son Jesus – a name that means “YHWH saves” - Jesus was coming into the world to save man from his sin. That is the universal problem from which every single person ever born needs to be rescued. And the good news is that God was sending His own Son into the world for that very purpose.
• He is “Christ”. “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name. It is a title that literally means “anointed”. It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew “Messiah.” This little baby who was lying in a feeding trough and being taken care of by a teenage mother and the man to whom she was betrothed was the fulfilment of God’s longstanding promise to send a king in the line of David. That is why it is fitting that He was born in Bethlehem, the city of David.
• He is “Lord”. That is a term that first of all indicates a position of authority. But it is also the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew “YHWH”. So to say that Jesus is Lord is to say that Jesus is God. That is what separates genuine Biblical Christianity from some other religions that claim that they are Christian. They are fine with making Jesus their savior. They might even acknowledge that He is God’s anointed. But they fail to acknowledge that He is God in the flesh.
The arrival of Jesus here on earth is good news is because He is Savior and Christ and Lord all at the same time.
Then the angel gave these shepherds a sign. This Savior, Christ and Lord was not the kind of Messiah that most people were expecting. He was not going to ride in on a white horse and overthrow the Roman government. Instead he was coming into the world as a little baby who they would find wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in an animals’ feeding trough.
As amazing as this experience must have been so far, the angels aren’t quite through putting on a show for the shepherds. Let’s pick up our account in verse 13:
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
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.”
Now the one angel that has been speaking to the shepherds is joined by an entire angel army, a “heavenly host”. And that angel army is doing what angels always do – they are giving glory to God – saying “glory to God in the highest”.
But to that praise they add a proclamation that the birth of Jesus means that it is possible for there to be peace among those with whom God is pleased.
Unfortunately many have taken this declaration of the angel and tried to turn it into a promise of a world that is free from conflict and war and then they complain that God hasn’t fulfilled that promise. That misunderstanding is due in large part to the KJV translation that we are all probably familiar with:
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace,
Good will toward men.”
That translation unfortunately gives the idea that the entire earth is going to experience peace as a result of the good will toward all men demonstrated by God through the birth of Jesus. While that is indeed going to occur at the second coming of Jesus, we certainly don’t see that in our world right now after His first coming.
The ESV translation we are using gives a much clearer and more accurate translation of the underlying Greek, however. And using that translation, it is clear that there is peace only among those with whom God is pleased.
There are two important things to note here. First, the peace that is proclaimed here is peace with God. Certainly were all men at peace with God, it would also produce peace among all men. But since that is not the case, there is no promise here of a world that that will be free from conflict among men.
The second thing to note is that the peace the angel speaks of here is only for those with whom God is pleased. And given the context of the gospel, especially what we’ve studied in the book of Romans over the past several months, the only thing that makes a person pleasing to God is faith in Jesus alone.
When Jesus began his public ministry, he read from the scroll of Isaiah and proclaimed that He had come to preach the “year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:19). He then ushered in that favor of God by the shedding of His own blood which resulted in the new covenant that procures the forgiveness of sins for all who repent and believe in Him.
So while the birth of Jesus is potentially good news for all people, it actually only ends up being good news for those who are at peace with God through faith in Jesus.
As soon as the angels departed the shepherds discussed what they had just experienced with each other. The verb tense used here indicates that there was an ongoing conversation that took place. These shepherds had to figure out how they were going to find this baby and they also had to deal with some logistics like who was going to take care of the sheep while they were gone. Perhaps that conversation went something like this.
[Show video]
Obviously the producers of this video took some artistic license, but I do think they captured the essence of the wonder and confusion that these shepherds would have experienced that night.
As we continue the account in verse 16. We see that the shepherds immediately went to find Jesus:
And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
Obviously these shepherds had experienced a once in a lifetime event. But they still had to make a choice about what they would do next. And Luke records that they chose to go “with haste” to see the baby Savior. In other words they responded with immediate obedience.
And it couldn’t have been real easy to find baby Jesus and his parents. Although Bethlehem wasn’t a huge town, it was now overflowing with people to the point that Mary and Joseph had been unable to find a room at the inn. Finding Jesus was like a scavenger hunt in which the only clues the shepherds had were 1) the baby is in Bethlehem, 2) the baby was a boy, and 3) the baby is laying in an animal’s feeding trough wrapped in strips of cloth.
I can just imagine these shepherds arriving in Bethlehem in the middle of the night, knocking on doors asking if anyone knew of a recent birth. Perhaps others even joined them in their search. This must have raised quite a stir there in Bethlehem.
And once they finally found Jesus, the shepherds must have had quite a conversation with Mary and Joseph. We’re not given any of the details but it’s not hard to imagine the shepherds recounting their experience with the angels out in the fields and then listening as Mary and Joseph told of their own encounters with an angel.
Verse 17 records what the shepherds did next:
And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
Those shepherds had every reason in the world to keep quiet about what they had just experienced. After all, in that culture no one was going to trust a shepherd as a witness. And besides, just think of how crazy it would have sounded to tell others that they had been visited by an angel and seen the glory of God along with an angel army. Who was going to believe that?
But the good news that a Savior had been born was too good just to keep to themselves. So as soon as they had seen the Christ child they immediately began to tell others about all they had experienced that night. These ordinary people with an extraordinary message became the first to proclaim that a Savior had come into the world.
God still works the same way today. He takes ordinary people like you and like me and He calls us to share an extraordinary message of love, grace and mercy that begins with the birth of the Savior. In some ways it’s a message that sounds a bit crazy to many.
The idea that God would be born into this world as a baby and then live a sinless life and die on a cross and rise from the grave doesn’t make a lot of sense to many people. And the idea that that is the only way our sins can be forgiven so that we can have peace with God is even more unbelievable.
But if we’ve experienced the same kind of joy that the shepherds experienced then that ought to be our natural response, just like it was for them.
Unfortunately, not everyone who heard the message from the shepherds responded with that same kind of great joy, as we see in verse 18:
And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
The people who heard the testimony of the shepherds responded the same way a lot of people today respond to Christmas. They think about it, wonder about it, maybe even celebrate it. But unfortunately they never experience the joy that they could have because they don’t become “one with whom God is pleased” by placing their faith in Jesus alone.
Mary, on the other hand, treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. This teenage girl had been through quite an experience over the last nine months and the encounter with the shepherds just added to her amazement and her awe.
Let’s close with verse 20:
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
After the most amazing experience of their lives, the shepherds returned to their flocks. But they certainly returned to their work with a completely new attitude. They went back glorifying and praising God. And even though they returned to the exact same work that they had engaged in before, I have to believe that the events of this one night completely revolutionized their lives.
As a result of the events of that night, they now knew without a doubt that God not only was aware of who they were but He loved them enough to reveal Himself to them in a marvelous way. They understood that even if the rest of the world considered them outcasts, God didn’t view them that way at all. And as a result their lives were now filled with the kind of lasting joy that can only occur when God’s grace is realized.
So my prayer for you this morning is that this account will help you to know without a doubt that regardless of how you might feel about yourself and about God, God knows you intimately and He loves you enough that He sent His own Son into this world so that you can be at peace with Him. He cares deeply for you and wants you to experience the lasting joy that comes only through faith in Jesus alone.
And I pray that you will so experience that great joy personally to the degree that you’ll be that ordinary person who takes the extraordinary good news and shares it with those who God brings into your lives.
