Luke chapter 2, verse 8. I suspect maybe everybody
has read this scripture before. Maybe not. There
may be some people listening online that have
not ever read it before. Obviously, when it gets
Christmas time, we often reflect on these passages
that talk about the birth of Jesus and the events
that surrounded the birth of Jesus. And we don't
have a whole lot of details, but the details
that we do have in regards to Jesus' birth are
beautiful and worth considering and reading through
all of the characters and thinking about those
characters that were in the story, Mary and Joseph
and Zechariah and Elizabeth, the wise men, the
shepherds, Simeon and Anna. All the people that
are included in these first couple of chapters
in Luke and Matthew, it's good to look at all
of these characters. There's kind of a common
theme among these characters is that, for some
of them at least, they're looking for the Messiah.
But I think among all of them that I just mentioned,
when they hear the news of the Messiah, they
rejoice in that news. We're going to pray, and
then we'll look at the text, and we'll talk for
a minute. Father God, we come to you. We thank
you for your good word. I pray that you just
bless the reading of your word tonight. I pray
that we would just not overcomplicate your word,
not just in these scriptures, but ever, dear
Lord, that God, your word, in some sense, may
be tough, but in another sense, it's so simple,
dear Lord. So I pray. that we would just see
the simple and beautiful love of Jesus Christ
in this season and every day hereafter. I pray
that your Holy Spirit would be among us, free
us from the worries and distractions of the world.
I pray that you just help me to have the words
to speak all for your glory. In Jesus' name I
pray it. Amen. Now I'm going to get a little
help tonight. We're going to get an old friend
to... Read this passage of scripture for us tonight.
I guess I really don't know what Christmas is
all about. Isn't there anyone who knows what
Christmas is all about? Sure, Charlie Brown.
I can tell you what Christmas is all about. Lights,
please. And there were in the same country shepherds,
abiding in the field, keeping watch over their
flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone
round about them. And they were sore afraid,
and the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold,
I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall
be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you.
Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in the manger. 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, good will toward men. That's
what Christmas is all about, right, Ron? Now,
I suspect for most of y 'all, that's a classic.
You probably, well, some of you might have grew
up watching it as a kid when it first came out.
I don't know. I don't want to date anybody too
much. But I watch that every year. I don't know
if kids these days watch that. I mean, when I
was growing up, there was this staple of cartoons
that came on every year. And, man, I was so excited
to see them. And I don't know if kids still watch
Charlie Brown. I don't know if it's a big event
that comes on TV or not. I'm not sure. But it
should. because that little cartoon, as fun as
it is, and the old measly tree that they put
up at the end, I believe it's that one scene
that really makes the whole show, and it really
brings everything back to the point of Christmas.
Charles Schultz, the guy that did those Peanuts
cartoons, he was a Christian guy, and to include
that simple little one -minute clip that we watched.
that really just sums up the importance of what
Christmas is. And what Christmas is, is the announcement
that Jesus Christ has come. That the Savior of
the world has come. That the anointed one that
was talked about in the Old Testament, we see
that the Messiah was talked about. The Old Testament
word is Mashiach, is the Old Testament word.
And then in the New Testament in the Greek, that's
translated into Christos. which means Messiah.
That's where we get Christ from. And then in
the Hebrew, it's Messiah. So some translations
may say Jesus Christ or Jesus Messiah or the
Messiah. All of those come from the original
Hebrew word, which means the anointed one. And
that's who Jesus Christ was, and that's what
we see. in this passage that Linus just read
for us. And a fun fact, you probably all know
this. I mentioned it last year, and you probably
knew it before that. But if you never noticed,
go back and watch it. You'll notice that Linus
drops his blanket when he says, fear not. He
drops his blanket. That's a security blanket.
He always has his blanket. Every time, in every
episode, in every cartoon, Linus never drops
his blanket but that one particular time. And
that's a neat little Easter egg that was put
in there that in that moment that he's talking
about the coming of the Messiah, his security
is not in his blanket. His security is in Jesus
Christ. And what a spectacular announcement that
that was for the shepherds that night, that God
had appeared to the shepherds. I don't know why
God appeared. to the shepherd. There's a lot
of different opinions and thoughts as to why
God appeared to the shepherds. I don't know.
Maybe he appeared to them because they were the
closest ones. It said they were in the same region.
Maybe he said, okay, those folks are close. They
can get there and start praising Jesus pretty
quick. I'll call on them. Some have suggested,
well, maybe these shepherds were raising the
lambs that were going to be slaughtered for sacrifice,
and this was symbolic. Well, that could be the
case. I don't know. I'm not an expert. The Scripture
doesn't say that, but maybe that's the case.
Maybe he called on them because they were shepherds.
Maybe he called on them because... That's who
Jesus was going to be. Maybe they were Jesus'
people in some sense. Maybe that was symbolic
in foreshadowing that Jesus was going to be the
good shepherd. Maybe he called on them simply
because they were a humble people. That's kind
of what I think. I don't know if that's why or
not. But I know that the Scripture says this,
that God resists the proud, but he gives grace
to the humble. And maybe these were the people
who were going to listen. And maybe that's why
God appeared to them. And we certainly know throughout
Scripture that there are plenty of people who
hear the news of the Messiah and they don't rejoice.
They don't go to seek Him out. There are people
that see Jesus with their own eyes. They hear
Him. They see the miracles all throughout Scripture.
And yet they still fail to humble themselves
before the Messiah. So maybe that's why God went
to the shepherds. Maybe that's who God goes to
today. Now, I believe God gives everybody an
opportunity, but the proud are those who resist.
What about you and I? We're in this room tonight.
We just heard the scripture read, the announcement
of the birth of the Savior of the world, that
in the middle of the night, these shepherds who
would have been nothing special, they would have
just been... Working men, they were hanging out
one night. They were nearby. The angel comes
and says, hey, by the way, I've got good news
for you. I bring you good tidings of great joy.
The Savior, who is Christ the Lord, has been
born to you this day. That's a pretty good news
to give. And when the shepherds heard this news,
and they are surrounded by a heavenly host of
angels, upon hearing the news, what did they
do? they go to seek out the Savior. They go to
look for him and they find him and they rejoice
and they tell everybody else what has taken place,
what the angels has revealed to them. And they
leave rejoicing and praising in all that had
taken place. And really that's the message of
Jesus today. That's the message of Christianity
today. That's the message that, We need to hear.
That's the message that our world needs to hear.
That's the message that those who are listening
online need to hear. That there is no greater
message than that message the angels brought
that day. That it is good news of great joy.
That we are sinners and we are in big trouble.
We are destined to go to hell. We are destined
to be doomed. But there's good news. Jesus Christ
saw us in our sins, and he came to this nasty
old dirty earth to be crucified, to be rejected,
to be mocked, and he did it because he loved
us. And that's good news. And that should bring
great joy in our life. If we follow Jesus, yeah,
life is tough. Everybody in here knows life is
tough. There's good seasons in life and there
are hard seasons in life and there is death and
there is sickness and there's aggravations with
spouses and trouble with family and financial
hardships and stresses at work. And I mean, this
is what life is. And you know it. It doesn't
matter if you're old or young. Life is tough.
But good news, Jesus has come to bring joy to
you. that there's something better than what
this life has to offer us. Ultimately, one day
we'll be in the presence of the Lord, but even
as we walk through the struggles here, we can
still have great joy in knowing Jesus Christ
loves us, that he came and that he died for us.
And so that's the good news that the angels brought.
It's still good news for us today. The invitation
that the shepherds had to go before the king
to seek him out, to find him, is still there
today. Now, we're not looking for Jesus today
in a manger. He's not in a manger today. He's
seated at the right hand of God. But the invitation
is still there. The invitation is still there.
It may not be a multitude of heavenly hosts among
us in this room today, at least not that we can
see. Maybe they're here. I don't know. But we
do have the Word of God. We have their story.
And we have all of Scripture that's an invitation
for us to know there's good news. The Messiah
has come. The Son of God has come. Will you seek
Him out? Will you look for Him today? Will you
humble yourself before Him today? Will you be
one of the humble ones who finds the grace of
God? Or will you be one of the proud who resisted?
The invitation is there. Praise the Lord, the
shepherds went. They went and they found the
Messiah and they rejoiced in the good news. I
hope that we will all do the same today and every
day after. Let's pray. God, we come to you. We
thank you for this simple truth that we see in
Scripture, dear Lord. Just the simple fact that
Jesus has come. And you call us to rejoice in
that. The shepherds did it. So many others did
it in these stories of the birth of Jesus Christ.
And I pray, dear Lord, that we would all be those
who would do that tonight. I pray that if there
are any that do not know Jesus Christ, maybe
tonight they realize it's the night that they
need to put their faith and trust in him. I pray
that they would just repent, dear Lord, and ask
you to forgive them, that they would humble themselves,
that they would seek him, dear Lord. God, I pray
that we would not hear the good news, the good
tidings of great joy, and just turn away from
that, dear Lord. What a sad story this would
have been if the shepherds would have heard that
good news and went back to tending their sheep.
But instead, dear Lord, they looked for a better
shepherd. So I pray tonight, God, that we would
be the ones who would seek the good shepherd,
that upon reading your word, upon hearing the
truth of it, that we would be those who seek
Jesus Christ, who trust in Him, and who rejoice
in Him. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.