The Chronicles of Christmas: Telling

This morning I want us to consider how the shepherds responded. The shepherds told. They responded to God’s redemptive message by telling that message to others. They are the first heralds of the message — “that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16, NIV).

In our text for this morning, we find three essential responses to the good news of the incarnation.

• We Need to Really Hear the Message

• We Need to Make Peace with the Message

• We Need to Trust the One Whom the Message is About

I. WE NEED TO REALLY HEAR THE MESSAGE

1. let’s begin with the end of the passage, verse 20

“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:20, NIV84)

a. this is probably the least known part—or at least the least quoted part—of the passage

2. Luke tells us that they heard, they saw, and they listened

They Heard — the message of the Angels

They Saw – the message validated in the manger

They Listened — the message inculcated by the repeated telling

a. let’s examine all three of these

A. THEY HEARD—The Message of the Angels

1. as the shepherds are doing what shepherds do—tending to their flock—an Angel of the Lord appeared to them

a. the angel has a message of great joy for all people

2. the angel speaks, the shepherds here, and when they go to investigate, they find everything just as had been told to them

a. then we read in vs. 17 ...

“And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.” (Luke 2:17, ESV)

b. the verb, made known the saying in verse seventeen means message—they spread the message of what they had heard and seen

1) the shepherds are the first evangelists of the gospel!

3. the first stage of responding to the gospel is to hear the gospel

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”” (Romans 10:14–15, 17, ESV)

a. the angel speak to the shepherds, and then the shepherds speak to everyone else

4. the problem, of course, is that not everyone who hears a message really hears the message

ILLUS. Every married couple here this morning—especially the wives—are familiar with this phenomenon of hearing, but not really hearing. Every now and then I’ll say something to Linda, and I’ll get that “look” that communicates “you’re an idiot.” But she is too kind to say that and so she says, “I told you about that three days ago. Didn’t you listen?“ The answer usually is, “Yes, and no. Yes, I heard it. Yes, I remember saying ‘okay’. Yes, I remember acknowledging it. But obviously I really didn’t pay attention to what she said. Did I really understand? Did I really perceive the implications? Well… No.”

a. the Bible reminds us how easy it is to hear, but not to REALLY hear

5. there’s something important here I want you to see

a. don’t miss the ordinariness of how the Word of God comes to most people

1) His word comes to most of us in a very ordinary way

2) the shepherds got an angel, but everybody else got the shepherds

b. some people, people like Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Peter and Paul, they get visions, they get burning bushes, they get lights, and angels, and voices and revelations from heaven

1) the get the spectacular, and they paid attention

c. but most of us get the Word of God in very ordinary ways

1) if an angel were in this pulpit this morning, face glowing, garments shining, sword flashing it would be very easy to pay rapt attention to him

2) but you got me instead!

6. some people miss the gospel because they want flash, but what they get is the ordinary

B. THEY SAW—The Message Was Validated by the Manger

ILLUS. When I was working on my Master’s Degree in Communication, I was introduced to the work of Edgar Dale. In 1946 he developed what we now call Dale’s Cone of Learning. He tells us that we learn, really learn, only about 20% of what we hear. That’s pretty depressing for someone who earns his living through oral communication! But we learn 50% of what we hear and see.

“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.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:15–16, ESV)

1. the message the shepherds hear is extraordinary

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11, ESV)

a. the people of Israel have been waiting over 1,000 years for this

1) and now it’s revealed to, of all people, peasant shepherds

b. the Old Testament prophesies concerning the coming Anointed One have begun

1) a Savior—Christ the Lord—has been born and heaven cannot contain the excitement as God’s heavenly host break into time and space erupting in glorious praise

2. the sight the shepherds see is ordinary

a. they find Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger

1) there are no Wise Men lingering in the background ... yet

2) are cattle lowing? ... possibly

b. what the shepherds see that night could have been seen in virtually all of the households of Bethlehem that night—mothers with babies

1) but this one is swaddled and in a manger—an animal feeding trough

3. what makes the ordinary scene extraordinary is that it is a confirmation of what the angels had told them

a. we can’t “go and see” the child in the manger, but we can go to the Scriptures and get confirmation of the Gospel

b. we can’t “go and see” the child in the manger, but we can attend church, and confirm the Gospel in the lives of those who have experience Christ in their own lives

C. THEY LISTENED—The Message Inculcated by the Repeated Telling

ILLUS. Edgar Dale discovered in his research that we only really learn about 20% of what we hear only. We learn 50% of what we hear and see. But we retain an amazing 90% of what we hear, and see, and tell to others.

“And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” (Luke 2:18–20, ESV)

1. the implication of the passage is that the massage the shepherds had heard, and seen is a story they are broadly disseminating to anyone and everyone they can find

a. this was not a “Cool, I’ve seen it, now let’s go home” moment

b. the message is becoming fixed in their hearts and minds by the repeated telling of the event

2. even Mary—who has had her own angel visit—upon hearing the shepherd’s story—ponders, and treasures what she hears

a. the word ponder means to put into context, or as we might say, to connect the dots

b. Mary is thinking, “How does this fit in with everything else I know and have experienced?”

c. Mary, and the baby have validated the shepherd’s experience with the angels, but the shepherds experience has validated Mary’s experience with the Angel Gabriel

1) so Mary is pondering; she’s connecting the dots of God’s redemptive work, and her place in it

2) and Mary will continue to do that until the day of her son’s resurrection

3. but Mary is also treasuring up this experience

a. the word treasure has more to do with the emotions

1) to treasure up literally means to keep something alive

2) it means to relish, or to savor an experience to such an extent that it’ll never be forgotten

b. Mary adds this experience to all the other miraculous experiences of the last nine months

1) the truth catches fire in her heart and mind—God has used her to bring His Anointed One into the world

ILLUS. Amy Grant, a popular Christian singing artist, once recorded a song entitled, It's Not a Song. The lyrics go like this: "It's not a song until it touches your heart. It's not a song until it tears you apart. After what's left of what's right and what's wrong, till it gets through to you, it's not a song."

2) the same is true of the Gospel, until it gets through to you it’s not a saving gospel

II. WE NEED TO MAKE PEACE WITH THE MESSAGE

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”” (Luke 2:13–14, ESV)

1. most of us are more familiar with the Charlie Brown Christmas version of this verse spoken by Linus—“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”

a. there is, however, near universal consensus by Bible translators that what we read in newer translations is the better translation— and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!””

1) the meaning is that God’s grace rests on those who are His; they are the people with whom he is pleased

A. RECEIVING THE MESSAGE OF JESUS GIVES US PEACE

1. Luke is telling his readers that when you grasp God’s grace, when you understand the message of the Gospel, and receive it into your heart, and mind, and soul, that’s when you have peace with God

ILLUS. At this time of year it’s not unusual to see signs or even billboards that read, “Know God know peace, no God no peace.”

a. the only way to have peace with God is to make peace with the message of the Gospel

2. one of the most counterintuitive and radical themes of the New Testament, is that before we become Christians, we were at war with God

ILLUS. The six-year-old boy who has never asked Jesus into his heart is at war with God, is at enmity with God. Your 76-year-old granny, who is as sweet as can be, is at war with God if she doesn’t know Jesus. Your sixteen-year-old daughter, who is at war with you, may be at war with you because she is also be at war with God.

a. but here is the thing ... most people don’t believe that

1) in fact, an amazingly high percentage of Christians don’t believe that

b. people will respond with “I don’t believe in church” or “I’m not passionate about God,” or “I’m indifferent toward spiritual things”

1) but you’ll rarely hear someone say, “I hate God” or “I’m God’s sworn enemy”

c. yet Paul the Apostle says “The natural heart is hostile toward God”

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:7, KJV)

1) now, if you’ve been attending here for any length of time, you’ve heard me explain that word enmity before

2) it means being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something; to have a deep-seated dislike for someone

3) it derives from an Anglo-French word meaning "enemy" and suggests a real hatred, either overt or concealed

3. this is radical, but until the lost man comes to understand just how much he hates God, he’ll never be open to the Gospel message and come to term with it

a. here’s how Paul essentially describes it in his letter to the Romans

1) here’s the irreligious lost person ...

the irreligious person overtly asserts his or her independence against God

they bluntly say, “I want to live the way I want to live.”

2) but here’s the religious lost person ...

the religious person covertly asserts his or her independence from God

the religious person says, “I’m going to obey the Bible. I’m going to follow the Ten Commandments. I”m going to pray, and I’m going to come to church, and I’m going to be good. Now God, you have to bless me; You must take me into your Heaven because I’m so deserving of it.”

b. both are asserting their independence; both are attempting to have life on their own terms; neither one likes the idea that God in actually in charge of life

ILLUS. Consider the parable of the Prodigal Son. It ought to be called the parable of the Prodigal Sons (plural). We fail to understand that both sons were lost—which is Jesus’ point in the story. The younger son was lost, and his lostness manifested itself in evil behavior. The older son was also lost, and his lostness manifested itself in his self-righteous behavior. Both rejected the love and grace of the father.

4. Paul says that the mark of a real Christian, and not just a religious person, is that a real Christian comes to see that hostility and comes to realize, “It’s not just that I’ve done bad things, but even the good things I’ve done have been done for the wrong motives.”

a. the Christian says, “I need to be saved by grace, because even my good things were done for bad reasons.”

b. it was the OT prophets who announced God's promise to give His people a Savior who would lead his people into peace

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6, NIV84)

c. this is perhaps the most quoted Messianic prophecy of the Old Testament

1) the people of Israel looked forward to the day when "of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end" (Isa. 6:7)

2) for a nation of people who had frequently experienced war with their enemies, persecution by their neighbors and subjugation by foreign powers this was indeed a powerful hope

d. but the prophecy also tells us that this peace will not be purchased cheaply

1) how will the Prince of Peace secure the peace of his people?

2) Isaiah gives us a hint in his description of the suffering servant

"He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isa. 53:6)

5. you need to make peace with the message of the Gospel—you’re a sinner in need of a Savior

III. WE NEED TO TRUST THE ONE WHOM THE MESSAGE IS ALL ABOUT

“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:8–11, ESV)

1. almost any time you read in the Bible of an angel suddenly showing up, the first words out of their mouth are Don’t be afraid

a. yeah ... right

2. and it doesn’t matter what angels say because people are going to be afraid when angels show up, and we read that the shepherds were sore afraid

a. literally the text says they experienced mega-phobia ... they were terrified

3. but their fear will turn into joy when the angel’s message is confirmed, and their joy will turn into praise, and their praise will turn into proclamation

a. the angel’s message is a message of hope ... born that night is ...

1) the Savior of the world

2) the Christ of God

3) the Lord of life

A. WHEN GOD GIVES US GRACE WE DON’T HAVE TO FEAR ANY MORE

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Romans 5:1, NIV84)

ILLUS. One of the church’s favorite Advent hymns is It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. The third stanza reminds us that life can sometimes dish out great difficulties. The author of the hymn writes: "All ye, beneath life's crushing load, Whose forms are bending low, Who toil along the climbing way With painful steps and slow. Look now! for glad and golden hours Come swiftly on the wing: O rest beside the weary road, And hear the angels sing!"

1. one of the most prevalent fears among Americans is the unexpected crushing load that bends us low

a. the catastrophic financial setback ... the unexpected serious illness ... the debilitating accident ... the unforseen end of a relationship or marriage

2. being a child of God does not give us immunity from these crushing loads of life

a. there is hardly a soul here today whose life has not been touched by tragedy or heartache or setback or failure

1) like the hymn intones, we toil along the climbing way with painful and slow steps

3. in spite of these crushing loads, the angel's message to the shepherds is a great joy, and the promise of peace

a. to these shepherds the angels herald the good news

1) their burdens can be lifted

2) their darkness can be turned to light

3) their pain can be healed

4) their sorrow can be turned to joy

5) their disappointment can by turned to expectancy

4. what is man's most crushing load men bear?

a. it is the burden of sin

b. the word Savior in this passage implies that we need to be saved from something

1) saved is a synonym for rescued and delivered

2) it implies that there is a threatening or dangerous, or desperate, or deadly condition from which we need to be rescued

5. the condition that is so dangerous and deadly — the situation that threatens your eternal life is the ugliness and sinfulness of your sin

a. but the good news is that God came into this world with a purpose — to save men who are hopelessly lost in their sin

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16–17, NIV84)

b. through God’s Prince of Peace you can have peace with God

c. on the night that the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, he told the carpenter, "You will call him Jesus, for he will save His people from their sins."

6. to that end, the Son of God died for His elect upon a cross of shame

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:24–25, NIV84)

What’s the application? What do you do with this Christmas narrative? Let me close with a story.

Dorothy Sayers was one of the first women who ever graduated from Oxford. She was a student of classical and modern languages. She was a playwright, a literary critic, and an essayist. But she is best known as a writer of detective mystery fiction.

Her most famous detective stories were about the fictional character Lord Peter Wimsey. He was an aristocrat and a detective, and he solved all kinds of mysteries and crimes.

She wrote a whole series of short stories and novels about him. About halfway through the series, a new character emerges, a woman. Her name is Harriet Vane. It turns out that Harriet was one of the first women who ever graduated from Oxford. She’s a writer of mystery fiction. She’s not particularly attractive (just as Dorothy Sayers was not particularly attractive by her own admission). Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey fall in love and get married and solve mysteries together and live happily ever after.

What some scholars think is that Dorothy Sayers looked into the world she had created and looked at the man she had created, and fell in love with him, and wrote herself into the story. He was lonely, and she solved his problem with herself and Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey lived happily ever after. Some of you are out there saying, “Aw, isn’t that sweet.” But do you realize the claim of Christmas is infinitely more wonderful than that?

Christmas means God looked into the world He created and looked at us and saw the mess we were in, and he wrote himself into the world He had created. He came into the real world as Jesus Christ. He didn’t come just to embrace us but to die for us.

Luke shows us God in that feed trough. That’s who the baby is. He temporarily laid aside his glory so that we might have glory forever. He lost his peace so we could have infinite peace.

Look at what he did for you. Won’t you trust somebody who did all that for you? Why can’t you trust him with your future? Why can’t you trust him with your life? If he did all that for you, you can trust him. So do you see what the angel is saying? “Do you want to stop all your fear? Behold! Look at Christmas. Look at what he did. To the degree you behold it, to the degree you grasp it, to the degree you treasure and ponder it in your heart, to that degree those fears will start to diminish. Fear not; behold.”

Related Media

Related Sermons