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Good morning my dear “Walking with Jesus” friends, scattered around in so many places.
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.” (Luke 2:8)
I wonder if immediately into your mind has come images of little children dressed up in bathrobes in school or church Christmas performances?
Or maybe movies or pictures you’ve seen of shepherds and flocks in lush Ireland or similar places?
What Luke describes is neither of these. If you’ve been to Israel or Jordan, you know that most of the year the land is dry, rocky and arid, at least in most places. Bedouin shepherds both then and now needed to be on the move with their flocks of sheep and goats, always looking for water and feed. The area immediately east of Bethlehem which even today is often referred to as “the shepherds fields”, most of the year looks quite barren.
As some of you know I was recently in Jordan and with a missionary friend, visited some Bedouins in their tents and saw others leading their flocks to find food. It’s a hard life. (I took that picture on my phone so the quality is what it is) Their homes are tents which can be dismantled moved and reset easily. Most have no electricity, no running water, no heating or air conditioning. It’s like camping… for a lifetime! Most children leave this lifestyle and pursue an education and move into more permanent towns. Some, however, follow in the footsteps of their parents and grandparents, which is why the Bedouin lifestyle still exists 4000 years after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their who lived that life.
We don’t know who these shepherds were. Perhaps Jews, but also perhaps descendants of Ishmael or Esau, maybe even Gentiles. What we do know is the encounter with angels that Luke describes for us is quite different from all the previous angelic encounters in the Christmas story. This time there were many angels, and their message was both for those shepherds and ALL humanity. “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 Savior has been born to you, He is Christ (Messiah) the Lord.” (Luke 2:10,11)
Do you see the words “good news”? This is the beginning of “the Gospel”. Gospel means “good news”, and it begins with the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus Christ! God came to live among us… “Immanuel” (Matt. 1:23; Is. 7:14)
The word “you” is both specific…those shepherds to whom the angel was speaking, and ALL living humanity, everywhere in the world, in all generations, for the rest of time!
Regardless of who these shepherds were, they would understand “the town of David” to be Bethlehem, and they would understand the Greek word “Christ” to mean the Jewish Messiah. But they would also understand “the Lord” to mean, King, Master, Ruler over all. Thus “Christ the Lord” is significant both to Jews & Gentiles, everywhere.
Now the word “Savior” would probably have been understood to mean ‘deliverer’, ‘rescuer’ rather than Savior from sin. So when we put all that together, you can imagine their excitement to go and find this newborn. But where should they begin their search and when?
The angel answered that, didn’t he? But more specifically look at vs. 12 “And this will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Now the word “you” is very specific… ‘you who have heard my announcement’. And there’s a sense of urgency isn’t there? I’m sure these shepherds knew about the census, the crowds, the lines, the overcrowding of Bethlehem. These conditions… a newborn baby wrapped in cloths in a manger, would be a very temporary situation. If they were to find him they’d need to act immediately! But as they were choosing who would go and who would stay with the sheep… suddenly the sky was filled with a ‘great company of the heavenly host…praising God and saying:
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.” (Luke 2:13,14)
How many is a ‘great company of angels’? I don’t know but I can only imagine the sight, how about you? And the sound… oh my the sound. Did they speak those words or sing them or both?
And then as suddenly as they had come, they were gone… leaving these simply shepherds to wrestle with what had just happened. A hallucination, a vision, a nightmare… what was it? My friends, could I invite us to freeze that moment? It is common to everyone in the Christmas story, and it’s common to you and me. Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Magi, Herod, Simeon, Anna… all of the people identified in the Christmas story had a miraculous encounter with God as their invitation to be part of this remarkable incarnation of God miracle. When the encounter was over, each was left with the same challenge… how to understand what happened, and what to do about it.
Oh, and one more question they wrestled with: how would they be different as people, for the rest of their lives, as a result of this encounter with God? How would this experience affect their lives, their behavior, their relationship with God years from now?
I know most of you personally, who are on the “Walking with Jesus” journey… and I know many of you have had significant, even miraculous encounters with God in your lifetime. And around the world this Christmas season, millions of people will have dreams, or profound spiritual experiences that could be life changing!
For these shepherds, verse 15 tells us they acted immediately… and as far as we know they were the first human beings other than Mary and Joseph to actually SEE, with their own eyes, and maybe even touch with their hands, God incarnate in human flesh…infant Jesus!
Many of you my friends, know that for the past more than 20 years I’ve asked God to give me a significant verse about this time of year, that would be for my wife Dawn and me, a guiding light, a powerful life verse for the next year. For several days I’ve been contemplating what the angels said, as possibly my theme verse for 2020: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.” (2:14)
Here’s a statement I’ve come up with in the last three days, that turns this verse into a life principle for me, I wonder what you think about this: “Every thought, word, attitude, choice or action of mine, which brings ‘Glory to God in the highest’, will bring PEACE to my heart, and God may use it, to bring His PEACE here on earth.” What do you think of that? What would my life be like in 2020 if that became my DAILY guiding principle, and I just kept repeating Luke 2:14 over and over, so it saturates my mind and heart… to the point that, before I speak a word, I would ask myself “will this bring Glory to God in the highest”? With every choice I face in 2020, what if I asked, “what choice will bring Glory to God in the highest“? You get the point, right?
And have you and I lived long enough, that we can confirm, yes it’s true… when I say or do things which I know bring glory to God in the highest, a miraculous thing happens… PEACE rises up in my heart! right? So, will you consider joining me in this endeavor of seeking to live Luke 2:14 all year long, in 2020?
Luke tells us the shepherds were so amazed by their angelic encounter and then their experience with Joseph, Mary and the baby in the manger, that they couldn’t help themselves… they ran around Bethlehem, in the middle of the night, pounding on doors and telling whomever came to answer their knock, all about what they had just experienced. And when they finally arrived back with the sheep… they were changed shepherds! What do you see in Luke’s description in vs. 20? How does that compare to you and me?
And one last thing… put yourself in the stable with me… animals, manure, straw or hay, and feeding troughs, one of which has a human newborn baby in it! A young woman recovering from her first birth experience, a young dad a bit overwhelmed by it all, and maybe one or two shepherds lingering, after the others had already run off into town.
Inhale deeply… what do you smell? Listen carefully… what do you hear? Look intently into each face, even the animals… what do you see? The Creator of the Universe, the One who put the stars in the sky, who designed each animal species, who created mankind… is in the human flesh of an infant! Have you ever heard the song “Mary did you know”? Oh I urge you to take 3 minutes and watch/listen to this wonderful presentation of this powerful song. Here’s a youtube link…. https://www.youtube.
Oh Lord Jesus Christ, we bow before You, the great I AM! You are Creator and Sustainer of all. You are Healer, and Savior and we thank you for what is possible for us, in a life-transforming relationship with YOU! We worship you today!
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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