The Response

Well, like I said, we're wrapping up today where we began last week in this episode with

angels and shepherds.

Of course, in the first installment last week in verses 8 to 14, some shepherds were the

surprising recipients of an angelic announcement that a child had been born in Bethlehem, was

a message of salvation because the newborn baby was the long-awaited Savior, Christ,

and Lord.

That's actually what the angel said.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, which

means that this good news of great joy, as they called it, that would be for all people,

was good news because it related to their salvation, the forgiveness of their sins, eternal life

and peace with God.

In other words, this was a gospel message.

And what made it gospel or good news was the baby, Jesus, whom the announcement was all about.

And we were reminded last week that Jesus is the good news.

Jesus brings great joy.

And salvation is for all people who will trust him alone for it.

And this is the real Christmas message.

When we think about it, and we remarked on that some last week, the Christmas message is

not a message of peace in the sense of peace with one another.

It's not a message of Christmas spirit.

That is, that along this time of year, because Jesus was a good guy, that we're all good guys

this time of year too, and that we do nice things for one another.

That's not what Christmas is about.

The Christmas message, the gospel message, the only saving message, is Jesus himself, God

in the flesh, come to take away our sins.

It says Kent Hughes, the Holy Spirit included this story in the scriptures so we would not

miss the point, which is the real savior of the world was not Caesar Augustus, nor will

it be any great world leader.

The savior of the world is Jesus, the son of God who came to earth veiled in Mary's flesh,

was born in human flesh, lived in the flesh, died in the flesh, was resurrected in that flesh,

and now lives in the same glorified flesh at the right hand of the Father.

This message of salvation, this message of Christmas and of the gospel has everything to do

with Jesus as God.

This is an incarnation message, and we need not forget that as we get into

so many of these really unique elements of the nativity story, we might begin to lose

sight of the fact that what this is all about, what all of this is pointing toward, is incarnation.

God is with us.

God has taken on humanity.

And so we've thought a lot about, over the last few weeks, about what the gospel is.

But in today's text, as we wrap up this story with the shepherds, I want us to focus in particularly

on what the gospel does.

We've talked about what it is.

Now we want to see what it does.

Because the birth of Jesus is not just a tale on which we muse, think about, or ponder.

It's a divine message to which we must respond, to which the people that we take this message

must respond.

And it doesn't allow for indifference.

People, I think, honestly, I think people that don't really understand the gospel and

they don't really understand the word of God, even though they may identify as Christian,

and culturally speaking, I think one of the big things that they miss here is that you can't,

there is no allowance for indifference.

In fact, indifference itself is a denial.

You either come to the message of Christ and you see the person in the work of Christ,

and that either drives you to fall before Him as Lord and Savior,

or it drives you away in rejection of Him, or at least in what the Bible says about Him.

There's no place in there for us to just kind of read the story or hear the message

and kind of move on with our lives not thinking anything about it.

That's not actually possible in this situation,

because the gospel isn't just something that we study and understand intellectually.

The gospel is actually something to which we must respond.

And so let's consider for a few moments this morning, using this story of the shepherds,

let's consider what the gospel does and how we must respond,

and how we're looking for people to respond when we share the truth with them.

Okay? Four things. The first one is this.

The gospel beckons us to come and see.

The gospel beckons us to come and see.

Now look with me at verse 15.

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.

And they went with haste, and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.

And so it's very simple.

The angel appears to the men, he scares them to death,

and then he clarifies, he calms them down, he clarifies the message.

I have good news for all people. It will bring great joy.

It's about a baby.

This baby's in Bethlehem, just down the road from where you are now.

And what will distinguish this baby from every other baby that's in Bethlehem

is this baby is lying in a feeding trough for animals.

It's in a manger.

And so the implication being,

if you go there to see if this is true,

that this Messiah has come,

it will be the one that you find in this stable in the manger.

That's the sense of what happens.

The angels go away,

and then the men look at one another and they say,

Well, what are we doing here?

We must go and see this thing.

Let's go see if what the angel says is actually true.

And they make haste,

and they run,

and they go to Bethlehem,

and they found Jesus exactly as the angel said that he was.

And whenever a piece of news is conveyed to us,

we process that on the basis of its direct impact on our lives.

Now think about all of the headlines you read in a day.

Whether you get your news from social media,

or if you like the newspaper,

or maybe it comes through an email,

or you watch it on the television,

or whatever it is you do.

Whenever you see the headlines,

and whenever you hear the news briefings,

you process each story based on its value to you personally.

Now you may be moved in a particular way by a story,

but if it's not really directly affecting you,

or our world in general,

it's pretty easy to acknowledge it,

even give some sympathy,

and then kind of move on from it, right?

But there is a type of news

that comes to us from time to time

that so grips us that we cannot help but pursue it further.

Or maybe it takes some type of emotional hold on us

to where we can't easily get it out of our minds.

We're pursuing it.

We are thinking on it.

We are trying to figure it out.

We're trying to learn more.

And such was this news that the angel brought to the shepherds.

Can you imagine?

This supernatural thing,

this angel appears to you suddenly in the middle of the night,

is something on its own that you're going to want to share.

But even after that,

the dynamic of this message that the angel brings,

that salvation has come,

and it's coming a baby,

and this news so grips the shepherds

that they could not quickly process and move on.

They immediately took action.

They pursued it.

They went to see.

If this was true,

let us go and see this thing,

they said to one another.

And Luke says they make haste.

Now think about that.

This is the middle of the night.

We've already been told

that the angel appeared to them at night

while they were in the fields with their sheep by night.

It's just the middle of the night.

We don't know how many of them there were.

We don't know how big their herds were.

But we know they made haste to go to Bethlehem.

Maybe a couple of miles they had to go

to actually get to where the proper village was.

Now think about that.

You can't take a herd of sheep with you

if you're making haste in the middle of the night.

It doesn't make sense.

So one of two things had to happen.

Either they looked at each other and they said,

all right, you guys are the lowest on the totem pole.

You got to stay here.

We're going to go see the thing that the angel said.

Or they collectively look at each other and they say,

this is too big for us to care about these sheep right now.

We're going to leave the sheep

and we're going to go see this child.

We're going to go see this baby.

And I think that's probably what they did.

Maybe they had a makeshift pen for them.

I don't know.

We don't know what they did or how they did it.

But the implication, I think, of the scripture

is that they are so impacted by this news

that they are so enamored by this idea of salvation

and Messiah that they leave everything behind

to go to Jesus.

And the gospel is that kind of news, isn't it?

You can't just simply acknowledge it and dismiss it.

It beckons us to come and see,

to come and see if these things are true.

And if you leave your herd, whatever that may be,

and you will have to leave something to come to Christ.

You'll leave your sin.

It may require you to leave a career.

It may require you to leave social standing.

It may require you to even sever certain relationships

that you have in order to do this.

But whatever it is that your herd is,

if you will leave that herd and pursue this Christ,

you will find him as the shepherds did

to be exactly as God has said,

exactly what the message claims him to be.

You see, though faith in Christ

is necessary for salvation,

it is not a blind faith.

And this is something for which I'm thankful

because some of you more naturally

are given to be trusting by nature.

And then there are natural cynics like me

who want to blow a hole

in everything that any type of information

is actually conveyed to you.

And what's so helpful about the call of faith

in the gospel

is that God does not say with this gospel,

close your eyes,

shut off your brains,

and just do what I say.

He could do that, but he doesn't.

He doesn't do that.

With the gospel, he says,

no, here's my message.

Come and see.

Come and see.

There's a lot of people that

they just simply don't come and see.

It was Chesterton, I think,

that said that it's not that people

have read the gospels or the scriptures

and found them wanting or lacking.

It's that they have never actually come

to the scriptures to actually see

if there is verifiable data there.

And the fact is that there is.

And the question is,

will you come and see it?

The question we must ask the people

to which we take the gospel

is, will you come and see?

And you may say,

well, am I supposed to go to Bethlehem?

Is that what this is about?

Like, is this some kind of pilgrimage?

Of course not.

There's no manger for us to see.

God's given us something

actually far better than that.

He's given us his own revelation.

He's given us everything we need

in the pages of the Bible.

And we can come and see right here.

We can see that the Bible

is not only historically reliable

as a historical document.

Even secular historians

will at least agree to that.

It's reliable because it is

the very word of God.

He has sent his messengers

with his revelation.

That's what we have in the Bible.

And he beckons us to come and see.

And so we read the Bible.

We study it.

We study it to see

if these things are true.

And what you will find

as you do that

is that Jesus is exactly

as we say he is.

He's a wonderful Savior.

He's the only Savior.

You just need only come and see.

Well, that brings us

to the second thing here.

And that is that the gospel

invites us to hear and believe.

It invites us or beckons us

to come and see.

It invites us to hear and believe.

Now, it would be one thing

for the shepherds to act out of

just sheer intrigue

to see what was going on with this.

But I do think that Luke

intends to communicate here

that they were fully convinced.

They believed that Jesus

was indeed this Messiah

and Son of God.

And their faith, I think,

is demonstrated in the fact

that they immediately

began to share the news

and they went back

to their sheepfolds

worshiping the Lord.

This was a life-transforming event

because they believed

the gospel message.

And again, Kent Hughes

is helpful here.

He says it is not enough

to hear about Jesus.

It's not enough

to peek in the manger

and say,

oh, how nice.

What a lovely scene.

It gives me such good feelings.

The Christ who was born

into the world

must be born into your heart.

Religious sentiment,

even at Christmas,

without the living Christ,

he says,

is a yellow brick road

to darkness.

And there's a clear distinction

as we think about these things.

There's a clear distinction

between those who are intrigued

by the stories of Jesus

and those who actually

acknowledge him as Lord

and receive him as Savior.

Those who are merely intrigued

are gripped by religious sentiment,

maybe.

Maybe it's just the,

there's something attracted to them

about the story

or the narrative

or the romance, perhaps,

of what unfolds here.

But those who actually receive him

are true disciples.

And the gospel message

not only beckons us

to come and see,

it invites us to hear this truth

and believe it for salvation.

In fact, invitation

is the best possible word for it

because it is a divine invitation

from God to believe.

Now think about this, kids.

Remember what Jesus said

in Matthew 11.

Remember he says,

come to me,

all who labor

and are heavy laden

and I will give you rest.

It's an invitation from Christ.

He says, come to me.

You're labored.

You're heavy laden in your sins.

You're laboring

in your efforts at goodness

to try to be as good as you can

and to try to earn maybe salvation

or earn God's blessing

in the best way that you can

and I mean,

you even go to church

on Christmas morning

for goodness sake.

And Jesus says

to all of those people,

the religious people

and the people

who are working so hard

to gain some kind of favor

with God

and Jesus says,

no, you need to come to me.

You're laboring.

You're heavy laden.

Come to me

and from me,

you'll actually find true rest.

True spiritual rest,

he says.

Because the story of the Bible

is about God making a way

for sinners

to be reconciled to him

with everlasting peace.

And this story of Jesus' birth

is just the beginning

of how God brought his plan

to fruition.

Jesus, God's sinless son,

came to pay the penalty

for our sins

by dying on the cross.

Then God raised him from the dead.

We just sang about that, right?

We just sang about it.

God raised him from the dead,

showing that Christ's sacrifice

was effective,

that it did what it was supposed to do.

It satisfied God's wrath

against our sin.

And this is the only way

for our sins to be forgiven.

It's the only way

for us to be at peace with God.

And what's so wonderful

about the whole thing

is not only that God does it,

but then God extends

this invitation,

just like you may get

an invitation to a birthday party,

or just like you may give

an invitation to go on a date

one of these days,

or whatever it is,

just like you may get

an invitation to go

and visit with someone

this Christmas day.

So God extends an invitation,

and he says,

all who will come to me,

all who will come

and trust in Christ alone,

will receive rest.

I sung a song with the girls

earlier this week.

I don't know if they knew it.

It was one that we came across

looking for a different song,

actually,

but it's an old hymn

that I remember singing

growing up.

And at the end of it,

it says,

oh, come to the Father

through Jesus the Son.

You remember the Fanny Crosby song,

to God be the glory?

Oh, come to the Father

through Jesus the Son

and give him the glory.

Great things he has done.

Because you can only come to God

through his Son.

You can come no other way,

only through him.

So the gospel says,

come and see.

And then it says,

hear and believe.

Receive it.

Thirdly,

the gospel motivates us

to go and tell.

So there's come and see.

There's hear and believe.

Now there's go and tell.

Look at verse 17.

And when they saw it,

that is the shepherds,

when they saw it,

they made known the saying

that had been told them

concerning this child.

So they hear the call

to come and see.

They go to Bethlehem.

They see the child.

They receive the invitation

to hear and believe.

That's the implication

of the text.

And then they immediately

go and start telling everybody

they can possibly tell.

Thus, MacArthur says,

they become the very first

New Testament evangelist.

Now, I don't know

how they did this.

This is the middle of the night.

We already have established

that fact.

I don't know if they just go

and start waking people up.

I don't know if they stick around

for the night

and once the sun comes up

and before they go back out

to the fields

to check on the sheep,

they find whoever is out

and about in Bethlehem

or whoever's on the road

as they're making their way back.

All we know is that everyone,

they began to come across,

they began to share

this good news of great joy

that had been delivered to them.

And for those who would

think of Luke's gospel

as some kind of fabrication

or invention in Luke's mind,

special note I think

should be taken

of the shepherds

being responsible

for sharing this good news.

Remember last week,

we talked about this

with shepherds.

They had a necessary occupation

for a flourishing life in Israel,

but they were not respected people.

They were religiously,

the religious people

according to the Mishnah

had actually banned them.

They were considered

perpetually unclean,

which meant that

they couldn't participate

in the ceremonial things

of Jewish life.

They weren't allowed to do that.

Most people considered them

as if they just assumed

that they were thieves,

that they were the lowest part

of society.

They weren't even allowed

to testify in court

and in legal proceedings.

Their testimony

would not be accepted

because of the way

that the culture

viewed them as shepherds.

And yet God chooses

these people

as the people

that are going to be

the first evangelists

to share this news

that the Messiah has come.

And there are people

that would say,

well, these gospels

are just the work of man.

It's fabrication.

It's mythology.

It's fiction.

It's not real.

Well, if Luke was trying

to do that,

why did he pick shepherds?

Why did he say shepherds

were the ones?

He would get no historic

reliability whatsoever

from that on its own.

This is not a work of fiction.

This has the marks

of history on it.

Now, Ashlyn is the one

in our family

that loves to share news

with people,

aren't you, sweetheart?

The better the news

or the more exciting the news

or the more dramatic the news,

maybe we would say,

right, Ashlyn?

The more eager she is

to share it with someone else.

And she comes about it honest.

Her dad's really the same way.

Whenever something's going on,

she just can't wait

to tell somebody.

In fact, there are many times

that driving down the road,

we might have to look at Ashlyn

and she's heard this many times

and me and Julie would say,

now Ashlyn,

this is not your story to tell.

You got to let them tell it.

Let Harper say

what's going on with her.

Let Chelsea say what's going on

with her or whatever it is.

And her favorite way

to lead off a conversation

is with what?

Two words.

Guess what, right?

That's how she leads

every conversation.

We're alike in that way.

I think that's really

what's happening

with the shepherds here.

This is such awesome news.

It's dramatic news.

It's good news.

It's wonderful.

Everything about it

is fantastic

that they are motivated

by the gospel message itself

to actually go

and share it

and to say to everybody

that come across,

guess what?

You're not going to believe it.

The Messiah has come.

The Savior is here.

We saw him

and we know it's him

because this angel appeared to us

and then we saw

a whole bunch of angels

and then it was exactly

as they said

and his mom's a virgin.

I don't even know

how it's possible

but it is

and he's got to be

the son of God.

He's come to save us

from our sins.

That's what they begin to do.

The truth is

we don't need someone

twisting our arms

to go and share the gospel.

If you find yourself

in a particular funk

as far as evangelism is concerned,

your personal evangelism,

the solution for that

is not to just try harder

because it just doesn't work.

The solution for that

is to immerse yourself

all over again

in the gospel

because the gospel itself

is what actually

motivates us

to do this.

The gospel itself,

the message of Christ itself

is what pushed these men

to share this news

and there were two responses

to their news

that I want to point out to you.

Look at verse 18 first.

All who heard it

wondered

at what the shepherds

told them.

They wondered.

This word for wondered,

falmazo.

Say that with me kids.

Ready?

Thaumatso.

That's the Greek word here.

You know what it means?

It means to be amazed.

Now when we think

to be in wonder,

the way we typically

use that in English

is we are conveying

the idea of being perplexed.

Like this is a unique thing.

This is an unusual thing.

And I'm kind of curious

and maybe even a little bit

confused about it.

But that's not exactly,

kiddos,

that's not exactly

how Luke intended

this word to be used.

It's one of his favorites.

He uses it over

and over and over

in his gospel.

Because this was the response

that people most often

had to Jesus.

When Jesus would come

into these villages

and these towns

and he would teach

and he would perform

these miracles,

Luke would say

their response

would be falmazo.

They would be amazed

at what they saw.

Perhaps perplexity

is a minor note here.

But the bigger note here

is amazement.

Like wow!

That's amazing!

And then he says here

that as the shepherds

went and shared this news

that most of the people

they wondered,

they falmazo'd,

they were amazed

at what the shepherds

were saying.

But here's the thing

that we need to remember

about this.

Most of the people

that were so amazed

by Jesus in his ministry

through his teaching

and through his miracles

never ended up following

him as Savior

because he didn't match

what they wanted him to be.

He wasn't a wealthy,

strong military leader.

That's what they wanted,

wasn't it?

They were amazed

at what he could do

but they weren't very impressed

by who he was.

And especially when he starts

talking about things like

if you're going to come

after me,

you're going to have

to deny yourself

and take up your cross

and follow me.

Well, they didn't like

that stuff very much either.

And then when he comes

into the temple

and he starts to cleanse

the temple

and then when he goes

so far as he's put

under trial

and he's crucified

on a cross,

that's the point

that most of them said,

no way,

there's no way.

It's amazing what he can do

but there's no way

he's the Messiah.

And they walked away

unbelieving.

That's what's happening

I think here

with the shepherds.

They're running

and they're telling people

and they're thalmazo'd.

They're amazed

that something like this,

if it happened,

that it would happen

to shepherds.

They're so amazed

at the story of it

but that doesn't

actually mean

that they believed.

Many people are intrigued

by the stories

of Jesus at Christmas.

There's actually

very few

who actually trust him.

Now I know that's true

because Jesus said

it was true.

Remember in the

Sermon on the Mount,

enter by the narrow gate,

he says,

for the gate is wide

and the way is easy

that leads to destruction

and those who enter by it

are many.

But he says,

for the gate is narrow

and the way is hard

that leads to life

and those who find it

are few.

And the evidence

that we have

in the Gospels

is that lots of people

were intrigued by Jesus.

Not too many people

followed Jesus

and wondered.

But that brings us

to the second response.

That's in verse 19.

Look, but Mary

treasured up

all these things

pondering them

in her heart.

She treasured

these things.

Her response

is a bit different.

We've seen

in earlier passages

that Mary was full of faith.

She embraced

the Gospel message

but here we see

she treasured.

She didn't wonder

at the truths.

She treasured them.

There's a difference.

Says MacArthur,

Mary's deep meditation

on the Savior

illustrates another aspect

of what it means

to embrace Christ.

Salvation's initial euphoria

and excitement

deepens.

It deepens into richer,

fuller,

more profound

understanding

of the person

and work of Christ.

The truth is

that the nature

of God's work

through the Gospel

means that one

who truly believes it

will grow

in faith.

They will grow

in love.

They will grow

in obedience

to Jesus.

The Bible says

that's what happens.

That may be slow growth.

Some of us,

it was,

I think I was

in the eighth grade

before I broke

four feet tall

and a hundred pounds

or something like that.

Some of us

grow slower than others.

That's the same thing

that's true

in the Christian life.

Some of us

grow slower than others.

We mature

at different rates

and that's God's work.

That's God's business

to do in us.

But growth will be there

nonetheless.

A wanderer

is intrigued by Jesus

but the Gospel

ultimately has no real effect

on their lives.

There's no real transformation

of worship.

There's no real transformation

of devotion.

There's no real transformation

of love for God

and love for Christ.

There's no real transformation

to continually repent

from sin

and press on.

They're just intrigued.

They're just religious.

But the one who truly

comes to Christ in faith

will inevitably demonstrate

the life transforming power

of the Gospel.

And the question is

when it comes to the Gospel,

when it comes to Jesus,

are you a wanderer

or are you a treasurer?

Remember.

Number four,

this would be the final thing.

The Gospel prompts us

to return and worship.

So we've got come and see,

hear and believe,

go and tell,

and here's this fourth point

which is so good.

It's so helpful.

Return and worship.

Verse 20,

and the shepherds returned,

glorifying and praising God

for all they had heard and seen

as it had been told them.

They couldn't stay

in Bethlehem forever.

Joseph and Mary

would have found it weird

for these shepherds

just to camp out for a while.

That's not what they did.

What did they have to do?

They had to get back

to their lives.

They had to go back

to the sheep.

They had to get back

and do all the things

that they were supposed to do.

They had to probably

eventually get back

to their families,

all those things.

And what's the difference?

When they returned,

how did they return?

Luke says that

when they returned,

they were glorifying

and praising God

because the gospel prompts us

to do just that.

We go about our lives.

We can't camp out

at the church gathering

all week long

as much as some of us

would love to do that.

We can't do that.

We got to get back

to our lives.

We have to go to school.

We have to go to work.

We have to do the things

that we do.

And what's the difference

for us versus those

who are merely intrigued

by the things of Jesus

and merely pay lip service

to a religious practice

on a Sunday morning?

Well, the difference is

as we return,

we return glorifying,

praising God,

produces worship,

genuine worship.

And it's the gospel message

that does this.

When a person realizes

they're lost in sin

and destined for eternal hell,

and then they hear

the message of salvation,

it radically transforms

their worship.

It transforms our prayers.

It transforms our songs.

Psalm 1 or Psalm 86 says,

I give thanks to you,

O Lord my God,

with my whole heart.

I will glorify your name forever.

Why?

For great is your steadfast love.

You have delivered my soul

from the depths of death,

from the depths of hell.

It's radical transformation

of worship.

And if worship is missing

in your life,

or if corporate worship

in the context

of the Sunday gathering

feels forced,

almost like you have to fake it,

it might be that you haven't

really understood

the gospel message yet.

Or it could just be

that it's been a long time

since you let yourself

really ruminate

on the wonder of the gospel.

And the solution for that

is the same as the solution

for a lack of evangelism.

It's not to come

a little earlier on a Sunday

and really just try to

work really hard

at meaning the things

that you sing.

That won't last very long.

The solution is

immerse yourself

in the gospel.

Use this Christmas day

to immerse yourself

in the wonder

of the incarnation.

Christian Getty wrote,

The peace of Christ

makes fresh my heart,

a fountain ever springing.

All things are mine

since I am His.

How can I keep from singing?

That's what Christmas time

should produce.

Worship.

That's what the incarnation

should produce.

Worship.

So this Christmas morning,

will you hear

the call of the gospel?

Don't just look

at the baby in the manger.

Accept God's invitation

to receive salvation

in the name of Christ.

He sent His Son

to save you

from your sins.

So don't wait.

Believe.

Follow Him.

He invites you to come.

And Jesus said,

Not a single one

who comes to Him

in faith

will He ever cast away.

And if you're a believer,

if evangelism or worship

has grown cold

or callous,

look to Jesus afresh.

Just gaze at the gospel.

Think of the wonder of it.

But move on from wonder.

And begin to treasure it again.

Treasure it again.