You've Heard the Good News, Now What Will You Do With It?

Luke chapter 2, verse 8. I suspect maybe everybody

Luke 2:8

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.