Today in our classical carol service, we heard about shepherds witnessing a miraculous message from angels proclaiming the birth of Christ the messiah. They were terrified! Their faith led them to leave their fields go and witness this miracle for themselves.
Our passage today: Luke 2:8-14, Preacher Ian Bayne, Sunday 17th Dec
Our passage explained
Normally shepherds would be keeping their flocks. Tonight something special happened: the angels proclaimed Christ as the messiah. The shepherds were “terribly terrified”.
Having proclaimed that Jesus had been born and was in a stable, the shepherds then travelled to see Him. It was an extraordinary event!
1. We find comfort in things that we know.
When we create traditions it’s hard to stop, as we like the comfort. When things happen out of the ordinary things are frightening, especially in the spiritual realm as described in our passage.
Our spirituality has been damaged in the fall (Gen 3), so what we are sometimes afraid of can actually be a message of hope. As an example, we can look to Manoah in Judges; the father of Samson.
There was a certain man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. [3] The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are unable to conceive and have no children, you will conceive and give birth to a son. [4] Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean; [5] for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”
Judges 13:2-5 CSB
We know a lot about Samson killing Philistines with a jawbone, and bringing down a great house. Manoah is only mentioned briefly in a passage strikingly similar to our passage today. His father thought he would die from seeing an angel, it was an extraordinary event.
2. What’s irregular can sometimes be a message from God.
Moses was raised up to lead Israel from being a simple shepherd passing a burning bush.
Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. [2] Then the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. [3] So Moses thought, “I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?” [4] When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered.
Exodus 3:1-4 CSB
This was highly irregular and God used it to get Moses’s attention.
3. Joy and praise are natural to the believer
Christmas is like every day for believers. The world celebrates on a day, but Christmas is every day for believers. Every day we remember as John recounts from Jesus’s teachings:
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 CSB
Joy supersedes every situation, overriding life’s situations. The praise we offer to God provides focus to our situation: that Jesus was born to die, to be raised again and to ascend to heaven for all enemies to be made a footstool for his feet.
If you don’t have joy from Christ the you may have taken a wrong turning, and hence we need to retrace our steps and find that joy again.
In Pilgrims Progress they get captured but escape through the “key of promise” and retrace their steps back to where they went wrong, and further: put a sign up to warn others.
We remember the faith the shepherds had, to go and see Jesus. They had both faith and works which are necessary for salvation:
Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?
James 2:20 CSB
4. Faith makes Jesus smile.
Two instances made Jesus smile: first the Roman Centurion:
“Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. [9] For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” [10] Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith.
Matthew 8:8-10 CSB
And again to the Gentile woman:
But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!” [26] He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” [27] “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” [28] Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.
Matthew 15:25-28 CSB
We need to be reminded of this daily. True faith makes Jesus smile, and offer his salvation to us.
Jesus was born over 2000 years ago and your life will be transformed if you believe in him.
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