Christmas-1

Well, good morning. Good to see you guys.  Well, I'm Billy, one of the elders here.

If I haven't met you, I would love to meet you at some point. Dave Gibson and the team just got back from Ecuador yesterday, and some are here. Dave's here, Sylvie's here.

And I'm really excited for him to get to share next week about that trip, I won't steal their thunder, but awesome stuff already for glimpses. Lots of people came to trust Christ. So super cool. I get to kick off a series today that he'll pick up on next week

called Reassessing Our Responses to Jesus, and I'm excited for it. It's going to be good stuff.

If you know me, you know I work with Cru, the campus ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ in the US and so I work with college students, professors, and I love it. It's why I still do it 20 years later. I love working with college students, part of campus ministries. You never know who you're going to meet. And so earlier this year, I mean, we worked

with the full spectrum of people and where they're at spiritually. We met this gal who's coming out of a tremendously difficult background, horrendous abuse, got into new age witchcraft. Really hard stuff, but she's since come to Christ. And then we met with her and have been trying to help her grow. She's just really fighting through each day trying to grow in her faith. And so she's really new to the Bible. And a couple weeks ago she

texted me and this is what her text was. I did a screenshot and it said, hey, Billy, do you happen to know what Isaiah Chapter 9 is about? It popped up twice for me today. So I'm curious.

 And so I wonder if you would know what to tell her. I bet you it's familiar to a lot of you, (Isaiah 9:6-7)

“For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder

and His name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace.

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his Kingdom

to establish it and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

 from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. “

So how many have heard that verse before? Yeah. Pretty familiar, right? And and do you

know what it refers to a lot of you like. It refers to Jesus being born, right. It'll come with a family line of David bringing peace. So maybe there might be a couple here that are more like this student. They're like huh, didn't know that, not not really familiar. Or maybe even coming out from a background like her where you're just struggling. To figure out life, you're really new to the Bible, to Jesus. You're just trying to, you know,

you've been beat up  67 trying to figure it out and find meaning and significance. Or for a lot of us, maybe are on the other end of the spectrum. You've still struggled with life. But as far as familiarity with the Bible, this stuff is very familiar. So familiar maybe that you might even almost kind of become numb to it, kind of shrug your shoulders. Not really. You would say it's important, but it's just so familiar. That it doesn't really affect you that much because you hear especially passages like this every year, right? You nod along like, Yep, Yep, really familiar.

So I wonder what is something that's not like that? Something that is you could hear it over and over and over and be just as excited about it. It could be, I want you to think of something. It could be your favorite food, like you just never get tired of. It could be certain music you listen to over and over, or a movie, you could watch it over and over.

And they like telling people about it because you like it so much, right? Can you think of

something?

When I was thinking about this, it's almost embarrassing for me. What came to mind? Because I thought of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Right, it's the last gasp for the Broncos, right, the lateral Ian Johnson, Statue of Liberty, right. And if you don't know what that is, you know, then what my response is I become like evangelistic about it. Like what? You have not heard the good news of David, Boise State against Goliath, Oklahoma. Oh, let me tell you. This is such good. Like I want to tell you, right? It's almost embarrassing.

Or today, if you have not heard of, I say Ashton Gente and you look at me with a blank face. I'm like, are you kidding me? You live in Boise, right? And some of you, I know you're going. Who's Ashton Jet? And I have to stop myself. I'm like, I want to tell you all about it. So when I think of that, I'm like, man, I get excited. And I could watch the Fiesta Bowl highlights over and over and over. And I have, it's embarrassing. I still am just as excited. Like I don't know what's going to happen. And then I think of stuff like this passage, and I go, yeah, it's good. And it doesn't really affect me that much because it's just so familiar. And it's almost like I've been desensitized to it. Like the significance of this somehow pales in comparison to Boise State football, which is ridiculous.

So wherever you're at this morning, maybe you have something else in your mind.

We really need what Isaiah foretold and what was fulfilled in the passage that we're going to look at this morning. And not only that, but it really should affect us like it should have some impact on us, not just kind of mindlessly, not along with it. So that's what I've been praying for is that we could look at this passage with fresh eyes this morning and hearts that engage because it's a classic. We're going to look at a classic.

Speaking of classics, does this look familiar? Does anyone know this? Right, Charlie Brown Christmas, isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about? And what is the very next thing Linus does? He steps up and recites Luke chapter 2, verse 8 through 20, right? And that's our passage for this morning. That's what we're going to look at. And I pray that it would be fresh. So Lord, would you help us, help us engage our minds and our hearts as we look at this morning. All right, let's jump in.

Here it is. Luke 2: 8 “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.” So same region. If you read the verses right before this, you know they're in the area of Bethlehem because Mary and Joseph have just come from Nazareth and followed. I don't know if you can see it, but there's

two red dotted lines, couple different routes they may have taken from Nazareth down to Bethlehem. So that's where these shepherds were. And they're out in the field. Doing their job, watching the sheep. And this is not a prestigious job. This is what they're dealing with. And it's not a compliment that that's us like that we're referred to as the sheep right in the Bible. Oh my goodness. But it's so true. I thought about labeling that sheep Billy, but then I thought, well, then I think of a goat, Billy, goat anyway.

They're out taking care of the sheep. And this is like, you know, that old show Mike Rowe, Dirty Jobs. That's shepherds. They're the low rung of society at the time. They're not prestigious. And so that is who this whole scene happens to, which is amazing.

So as a bit of a side note, if you ever feel like you feel insignificant, unimportant, that maybe God doesn't even pay you as much attention as he does to other people, think of this passage. Like that is so far from the truth. Look at who God sent messengers to in this passage. It is so cool. So imagine you're there. You are one of the shepherds. It's

dark, it's quiet. You're awake because you're keeping watch over the shepherds or the sheep, maybe the occasional bleeding of a sheep, right? But it's just calm, it's peaceful.

And then boom. There's a precious moment, Angel, and they say, oh, he's so cute.

Dude, look at the Angel. No, no, no, no, no. Like, that's not what angels are like, right? Sorry, Mom. Sorry, grandma. Precious moments. Angels. I know they're cute, but no.

What does it say? “An Angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were filled with great fear.”

Fear. So it's peaceful, it's quiet, and then boom, there's a glowing man. Standing there talking to you like I'd be freaked out too. This is not normal. I'd be freaked out. And that's almost always the response to real encounters with angels in the Bible, right?

Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, Daniel, they all are filled with fear. The Angel has to say, don't chill out, it's OK, Don't be afraid.

And I think that's important to recognize there's a danger today of people. Seeking out Angel encounters. Like they want to try to get in touch with angels. I've seen YouTube videos training people how to see angels and how to communicate with them. That's a problem, right? Why? Because they can get an encounter, believe me, right? Like even Satan masquerades as an Angel of light. Second Corinthians 11:14 “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”

I actually know someone, who years ago told me that she had started an Angel business.

And she would help you get in touch with your guardian Angel. And she trusted me

enough to tell me about it. And she said, oh, yeah, mine, mine is misunderstood because he's a death Angel, but he's really good. He really is. I'm like, oh, no, this is bad. So I think it's worth pointing out we should never seek, seek out angels. We're never told to do that in Scripture. But this is important because there are churches actually teaching people. How to get in touch with angels like this is not good, right?

So this is how it happens very rarely and you'll be freaked out. So who is this Angel? We don't know. Could be Gabriel, most likely Gabriel if I was to guess because who has just showed up in the previous chapter to marry Gabriel? Who showed up to Joseph? Gabriel who? Who showed up to Zechariah? Like that's who has been showing up? Daniel. It's interesting Gabriel came. To Daniel, chapter 8 & 9 and it says the man Gabriel. So how they show up is like men and and they talk not a glowing man, it's not a normal man, but so the Angel shows up and what does he say?

Verse 10 the Angel said to them.

“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

So, what's the good news? He says I bring you good news. I'm sure that's familiar terminology, right? The actual Greek word right there in that verse is evangelizomai. So it's like a verbal form and it really means I bring good news. And that's I bring the gospel, right? What does gospel mean? Good news, He's saying. I'm bringing you the gospel. I'm bringing you good news. And about what? It's good news about something and I want you to answer it in your own mind before we look at it more in this passage. When, when you hear the gospel, what is it in, in the Bible? What is the gospel?

I'm going to give you 10 seconds. So I want you to actually think about how would you

answer it if you were going to stand up and say, here's what the gospel is? OK, I'm going to cut you off mid thought. Hopefully you came up with something. I have grown up around the church, I would have said in simple form, Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins. He rose from the dead. And if we believe that we'll be forgiven and have eternal

life, something along those lines. It is the simple version of the gospel. And I would say,

yeah, that's that's part of it. That's not all of it, though. It can't be. It cannot be all of it. Why do I say that?

So here's a couple examples from Luke. Luke 20 says Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel. He's preaching the good news. So was he preaching what you just had in your mind? If it involves him dying, Nope, he hasn't died yet. If it involves raising from debt, no, he hasn't risen yet. But he's preaching the gospel.

So the gospel has to be more than that, right? So before you think I'm a heretic. It's right there. Jesus was preaching the gospel. Here's another one because the Angel is saying I'm bringing good news, right? What has Jesus done at this point? He's laying in a Manger, hasn't done much yet, certainly has not died and risen yet. So Luke 4, another example, this is Jesus.

Jesus said to them, I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose. So that's a big clue. The Kingdom of God. It's the good news or the gospel of the Kingdom. Of God. So what's the gospel so far from the Angel? We know it's good news. It'll bring great joy. It's for all the people. Is there anything related to the Kingdom of God though, like we see here in Luke 4?

 I think so, and here's one more clue to what the Gospel means in this context, what they would have been thinking in Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says design your God reigns.” 

He's saying God reigns so this is a classic passage foretelling. The good news basically the gospel and most often in this context back then, good news, the Gospel Evangelism was associated with kings. That's the most common. And you get an example of this with the Priana inscription in nine, BC. It was about Caesar Augustus. And so if you read that, it speaks of Caesar Augustus as the good news of Evangelism for the world about the Son of God. This is Caesar. Who is the Savior, the bringer of peace? Does that sound familiar? Because that was how they spoke of the gospel back then, always associated with the king. And so this is way better news than that, right? But that's the context that this comes in.

So let's look at the next verse, verse 11. “For unto you is is born this day in the city of David as Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

So if these shepherds knew the scriptures, and they probably did, their parts probably would have been about to jump out of their chest right now when they hear the Angel say this right, 'cause what would that probably remind them when they. If when they hear unto you is born, they'd be thinking, Isaiah 6 For unto us a child is born. And

they're probably thinking, Wow, the Angel saying unto you is born this day, that child.

In the city of David, right where are they? Looks like they're right there. So this would have been crazy today that he's saying today it happened today or they might have thought of Micah two or five, two through 5. Here's a couple of those verses. You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah from you shall come forth for me. One who's to be ruler in Israel when she who is in labor has given birth and he shall stand and shepherd his flock and the strength of Lord he shall be their peace like they knew this stuff. They've been waiting.

For hundreds and hundreds of years for the Messiah to come, the coming King Messiah you might know as Hebrew, same word as in Greek is Christ. The question is, what does that mean? What does that mean? It's not like his last name like Joseph Christ and Mary Christ had Jesus Christ. It's not that. Messiah or Christ means anointed 1 so sometimes that was an anointed priest. Or an anointed king in this context, mostly referring to him as the anointed king. So that's why I have tried so hard since this started making sense to me. Whenever I hear Christ, like in those songs we just sang or I read Christ, I try to pause and translate it to anointed king because that's what it means. It's like. Otherwise, I just read right over it and I'll even say it without thinking about it. But he's. Anointed King. And it has changed how I read things when I'm reading the passage. And now all of a sudden I see what they would have seen and heard when they thought of Christ or the Messiah. So they knew that he'd be born in the family line of David. They knew he'd be born in the city of David, which is Bethlehem, which is where they are now. And just those two prophecies that he'd be born in, in Bethlehem. And of this family line of David, I think is fantastic evidence for the legitimacy of the Bible. And for Jesus being the fulfillment of these prophecies, of the long-awaited prophecies, long-awaited king, Messiah, because skeptics will say, oh, sure, prophecies, right? Like there are a few prophecies and billions of people who have lived. So certainly out of billions and billions

of people, eventually someone's going to fulfill a few prophecies. And I'd say, yeah, right.

First of all, there's tons of specific prophecies, not like two or three. At least 60. And so these are specific, though. And I have these conversations with skeptics. I'll be like, all right, how many people have all those billions of people have been born in Bethlehem?

OK, not many. So you've just wiped out most of the people of history. Billions don't qualify, right? And of those who were born in Bethlehem, how many were born in the family line of David? Like, whoa, you just narrowed it to a very narrow sliver of humanity, right? And that's just two prophecies. I'll go. There's a whole lot more. So this is the real deal. This is absolutely amazing. No coincidence. Jesus was no ordinary king. And the Angel said more than that, said he's a savior, right? And so Israel's been longing for a savior, a Christ, but they're expecting what kind of a, an anointed king? One who will save them from who? Rome. Right. Like who do they want to be delivered from Rome? The oppression of Rome? But what did the Angel tell Joseph in Matthew 1? He said she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from what? From Rome, not from their sins. From their sins, so even his name. Jesus is Yahweh's saves, right? God saves. And so he saves from sin and the penalty for sin, which is far better news, right? Far better news. So the gospel is the good news that Jesus is the Christ. He is the anointed saving king. That's the good news. That's how Jesus could go around proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom. And the Kingdom of heaven is a hand. Why because he's there. Like he's right there. So how should we respond then?

How should we respond to this? Hopefully it's not like I've heard this.

I think we should take our cues from the rest of how they responded and 1st, 1st was other angels show up. So verse 13 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 among those with whom he is pleased. So first a side note. These other angels show up. What do you picture? When you picture that? What does it look like? The multitude of angels? Does it look something like this? It's just a Google search.

Are they like in the air? Well, it doesn't say that. It could be, I don't know, but it could be

just standing on the ground. I don't think so. What about wings? They have I'll have wings doesn't say that. Is it important? Maybe not, but I think reading the Bible carefully is, and that we don't insert stuff that's not there. There are beings in the Bible with wings, right? Cherubim, seraphim, living creatures, they've got like 4 wings, 6 wings.

So if you want to do it and say these are cherubim, don't say that you'd have to have multiple wings. The point is like, I think we should read the Bible more carefully and certainly it's not precious moments. Little chubby cherubs, right flitting around. I think I think it's unimportant, but it's crossed my mind like maybe one day when I'm in heaven, there might be an Angel and and he would have heard this correction like no, it's not the

little flood and go high 5. I'd be insulted if I was like a legit Angel, and those were how I was presented anyway. So we've got this multitude, right? Have you ever been in the midst of a multitude of people? I don't know how many this was, but it's a lot, right? Like in a stadium or in a concert venue and you're in the middle of a whole crowd chanting or singing like it's powerful, right?

Especially if you've ever been like that. And it's like worship. And so I just think, man, how cool would it have been in the middle of this multitude of angels praising God would have been so cool. And why were they praising God? Why do you think they were praising God? They probably praised him all the time, right? But as I thought about this,

was like, they've been waiting for this too. They've been waiting. They knew the prophecies. They knew what good news this was, and now it's happening and they're rejoicing like this is good.They're actual conscious beings who live in history and engage and do stuff. And so this was good news.

To them, so they're praising God and this good news when they're declaring it is linked to peace on earth. And so this isn't, you know, like peace and quiet. And you know that it's

more like Hebrew Shalom, right? It's a deeper, fuller sense of peace. And I think it has to do with relational peace that's going to come between sinful humanity and a perfect, holy God. And how does this come through the Prince of Peace?

Right, like we saw earlier in Isaiah 9, he is bringing peace. If you pay attention, all these

prophecies, how often peace shows up, it's amazing. It's all over it. Even these songs we just sang. And so did they need peace? Do you think they needed peace? Absolutely.

Absolutely.

So this is good news. Really good news. Do you need peace? Deep peace. This is good news, and Jesus is the only true path to true peace. And that's the gospel. It's good news. So the angels are responding by praising God. So how about the shepherds?

The Angel says, this will be assigned to you. You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a Manger. And when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherd 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 found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a Manger. So sometimes I'll joke with Angie about how portals are in the Bible. I think this is a great passage, right. And I'm half joking, but they're like they're there and then they're gone. They went into heaven. How'd they get there? Don't know. I don't think it's like Star Trek and they dematerialize, but I don't know like they actually went somewhere real. And sometimes I'll just. And think about this and go there. Like those guys that we're reading about are somewhere right

now, those angels, they're doing something. We just can't see them, right? And I think that's fascinating because sometimes you just read over this stuff almost like it's fiction. It's not fiction. These are real beings who really do stuff.

So they leave. And then what do the shepherds do? Like, man, it's a long night, let's sleep on it and go in the morning. No, they're like, let's go, let's go find this baby. And so they went. Do they know where this manager is? I don't think they gave him a Google Maps pin. It was like, you got to go look. I'm sure they knew where some of the managers were. I'm sure there's more than one right in the area. They probably knew they're shepherds, but they got to go look. And so they're going. They're looking.

Finally, they find him. And they obviously are going to tell Mary and Joseph what happens, but not only did they just tell, tell them. They start describing it. That's in the next verse. But I think their response is this, this is something that stands out to me. It's that they didn't just believe what the Angel said, but they trusted the Lord in it and took action.

So it says. Let's go see this thing that's happened which the Lord has made known to us. They didn't say that the Angel believed. God is the one who sent the Angel. So they're believing this is of God and it's true and they're trusting in him and, and so they're going to go find it. They know that this is true. And I just label that loyal faith. So they're loyal to God and they didn't just believe it, they took action on it. That's faith.

And the next verse says when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told to them concerning this child, when all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. So they again didn't just tell Mary and Joseph, they went around. They told everybody. They were telling everyone. I'm sure they came across crazy. And I mean, how could you, if you had this happen to you, how could you not go tell people, right? This is crazy.

So they shared the gospel. They're sharing this good news that they had just heard.

And they're telling everybody that this baby is Christ. He's the anointed, saving king. He's here. And that's convicting to me. Like, do I think this news is so good that I want to share it with anyone who will listen? They actually believe they're lost and dead and separated from God without it. That this good news about Jesus is exactly what is the key for my friends, my coworkers, neighbors, family.

To experience that peace and joy and reconciliation with God who created them and loves them and sent his Son to die in their place on the cross. If I believe that, man, I want to respond like the shepherds that I just can't help but go and tell people about it. Somehow I can do that about Boise State football and it's convincing. I think, man, am I that excited about this good news that is way more important, way more significant,

eternally significant.

So the shepherds returned, glorifying God and praising God for all the adherent, seen as it had been told to them. So they had to go back to work, right? The sheep are still there. They're probably going like what in the world? What were the sheep thinking? What do you think? Probably not much. I don't think they think at all probably. But they, the shepherds go back glorifying God, praising God, which makes sense, right? When you know the good news about Jesus, the saving king, especially when you first hear it, you want to tell people and every day, including going back to work, kind of like Steven talked about.

Going on Monday is a day to praise God and share this good news with others. And so others responded too. It says in verse 18, all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds had told them. Other translations say they marveled or were astonished or amazed, which makes sense. And you know, you can be amazed at something and believe it or not. But the question is how? How, how do you respond? What's your response to this, whether you've heard it a million times or this is new?

I think our response reveals something about our belief or our faith or lack thereof. And it's I think important to point out that just mere intellectual assent or belief does not equal faith, right? Lots of people hear this and can believe it. But I'll think about the demons? Became aware of this whole scene? Did they know that Jesus had been born?

Yeah, absolutely. Word would spread quickly, I'm sure. They're aware of it. And did they believe it? Did they believe Jesus was born? Yeah. Did they believe he was the fulfillment of these prophecies? Yeah. Did they believe he's the king? Yep. They believed all of that. But James too, right? Says the demons believe in God. And what? Trembling. They know exactly who he is. But that points out to me that intellectual belief is not enough. So what the demons and people with merely intellectual belief do not do. Is it to declare this king of kings as their Lord, right? Declare their loyalty to him as their king, who they will trust and follow and obey. That is faith. That is what makes the difference. That is faith in this amazing, wondrous news about this amazing and wondrous Christ King. So I think it's also cool just to see that.

Mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart. So she's already aware that this is not a normal baby. She had the whole message from an Angel and virgin birth thing like she's  aware, but she still took this to heart and so this is not just a head issue. This is a heart issue and it challenges me to consider how am I responding. Am I responding merely intellectually or from the heart and so I'm convinced that the.

The right response to the angelic gospel. By the way, if you saw the outline, my title, it was intentionally to make you go angelic gospel? I said that to Angie. She's like, whoa, that's weird. I was like, perfect. So what I'm going for, I want people to think about it. Hopefully you see now I said that it's the Angel delivering the good, the good news, right? The gospel, the right response to that, that Jesus. Is the saving king. Is joyful faith, loyalty to the King, right? Like he's the King? That should bring joy. We should

trust him, follow him, praising God from the heart and telling others. Hopefully we go out of here and want to tell others this good news at any opportunity we have. So Lord, would you help us to do  that?