Luke 2:1-20
Our reading is Luke chapter two,
verses one through 20. We have, as you are keenly aware,
Christmas in September. Somebody was asking me the other
day, what am I going to do when it comes to Advent? And I just
said, you wait and see. Luke chapter two, beginning at
verse one. In those days, A decree went
out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration
when Quirinius was the governor of Syria and all went to be registered
each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from
Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David,
which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and the lineage
of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed. who was
with child. And while they were there, the
time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn
son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger
because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same
region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch
over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared
to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they
were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, fear
not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that
will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. And this
will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped
in swaddling cloths and lying in a 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
among those with whom he is pleased. 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
they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And
when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told
them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered
at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these
things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as
it had been told to them. And at the end of eight days,
When he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given
by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Let us pray together. Oh, Lord, your word has been
read and is soon to be proclaimed to be preached to us. And we
recognize this to be a divine exercise. And so we ask that
you would work in us that we might hear, that we might see,
that we might understand, that we might have joy. Lord, let
the word of God dwell in us richly, that we may sing psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, make music together, making melody together
in our hearts. Lord, let us treasure these things. Let us ponder them. Let us wonder. And let us go from this place
this day, ready to tell all that we have seen, all that we have
heard, and all that you have made known to us, that the world
also may know of the glories of Jesus. We ask for your help
and your grace and your blessing. And we pray for it in Jesus’
great name. Amen. Some of you may be weary
of politics. Maybe you watched this week as
I did the congressional or the Senate hearings on a new judge.
Some of you may be weary of history. It seems to repeat itself over
and over and nothing new under the sun ever happens. Maybe some
of you are weary of your schooling and in particular, some of you
may be weary of being forced to study English literature like
Shakespeare. Well, let me tell you that all
of this helps politics, history, even your Shakespeare. It helps
us understand the context of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How you say you may be wondering, well, how does politics help
with the birth of Christ? Well, Jesus needed to be born
in Bethlehem. His parents were from Nazareth,
some 80 90 miles away. And so a census, a required registration
brings this family to the right town for birth. What about history? What was taking place in the
year six BC when Jesus was born? Well, Quirinius, the word of
God tells us was governor of Syria when this registration
took place. It gives us all kinds of insight
and information into the world of the Roman empire, into the
world of Israel and there being a state under a state. What about Shakespeare? Many
of you, I’m sure, are wondering about that. Well, you remember
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar had a grandnephew
who would become Augustus Caesar. Caesar Augustus. Caesar Augustus,
who’s listed here in the first verses of Luke chapter two. Caesar
Augustus’ grandmother was the sister of the great Julius Caesar. You remember from your Shakespeare,
maybe even from your history classes, all the stabbings and
the killings in the Senate, all the strivings after power. You remember the story of Mark
Anthony and Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. You remember all those
stories. You remember the famous line
from Shakespeare when Julius Caesar was stabbed, he says,
et tu, Brute, you too, Brutus. Well, all of that flows into
this wonderful historical context that we read in the early chapters
of Luke. Luke chapter two and the birth
of Jesus. You see the birth of Jesus came
at a significant moment in the history of the world. It came
at a significant moment and it was a significant event for it
has changed everything in human history. And these are good reminders
to us that God’s timing is perfect. God is never late. God is always
on time. God always brings salvation at
just the right time. And we can trust in God’s providence. I want us, as we take a peek
at this Christmas story, I want us to consider three important
things that take place in this passage. And the first thing
that we notice in this passage is The birth announcement or
the birth of the Lord Jesus. That’s the first thing we find
it in verses 2, 1 through 7. We find the birth of the Savior,
Jesus Christ. Second, in verses 8 through 14,
we’ll see the birth announcement through the ministry of the angel
and then the angels. And then I want us to consider
what is a fitting response to both the birth of Jesus and the
birth announcement of the angels. What is a fitting response for
us as Christians? So first, the birth. We find this in verses one through
seven. You ladies who’ve been with child, you know that at
a certain point in time, there is a travel ban. You don’t get
on airplanes when you are with child. You stay close to home. You stay near the hospital. You
stay ready for the birth of your little one. And it’s late in
the term for Mary. It’s late in her term, but Caesar
Augustus has ordered, has called for a census. And so they make
their way to Bethlehem where the little one should be born.
It’s a 90 mile ride from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It’s the place
where the scriptures have foretold that David’s greater son, Jesus,
must be born. And we speak of the birth of
Jesus as a humble birth. We speak of his birth of being
a mean birth. We don’t use that in the way
we might use it of middle schoolers and bullying, but mean, meaning
poor, weak. not high in the eyes of this
world. But Jesus’ birth is part of what
we call in theology the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus,
who was exalted in heaven, who lived in the riches of glory,
who lived in the presence or in the bosom of his Holy Father. came to this world through birth. He came to this world and was
not born in the private maternity ward of the hospital where royalty
comes into this world. But he came to be in a stable
in Bethlehem and was laid in a manger. And we speak of the
humiliation of Jesus Christ. He was conceived by the power
of the Holy Ghost. He was nurtured in the womb of
the Virgin Mary, he was he was born. He took to himself a true
body and a reasonable soul. He underwent the miseries of
this life. He was made under the law of
Almighty God. And we speak of the humiliation
of Jesus in a couple of ways. One is one is that he he lived
a human life as we do in this cursed world, in this dark world
with the infirmities that are common to all men. But Jesus,
as we know, as we read from the scriptures, he had some uncommon
infirmities. He suffered, he was ridiculed,
he was crucified, he was hung on the cross, he was put in the
grave. Jesus, the God-man, was humiliated
in his life, his birth, and also his death. Remember, the Lord
spoke to David in the Old Testament. David was living in a palace
in Jerusalem in the city of Jebus that he had captured. And David
had built for himself a wonderful palace built out of cedars from
Lebanon and all sorts of materials that had been brought in from
all over the world. David was dwelling in a wonderful palace. And God
says, and I still live in a tent. God was still making his presence
known in Israel through the tent of the tabernacle, a mobile church
building, if you will. And so we see throughout the
history of Israel, and particularly in the birth of Jesus, God often
comes to us in humble situations. It was no different with the
birth of the Lord Jesus. He who dwelled in the highest
of heaven came to live on earth. in a stable and in a stall. But you know, here’s the most
important thing. Jesus came to live not in a church building
constructed by men. He didn’t come to live in the
greatest synagogue or sanctuary that mankind could build on this
earth. But he came to live in human hearts. And one of the
things we must remember, dear brothers and sisters, is that
Jesus, if we have received him by faith, he dwells in us. Temples not made by human hands,
but formed and fashioned by both our creator and our redeemer. And so there’s the birth of the
Lord Jesus. What about this birth announcement?
It comes to us in verses eight through 14 of Luke’s gospel chapter
two. every month or every four weeks
to be exact. Patrick and I make our trip to
the barber shop and you know how the barber shop is. It’s
like the dentist office. It has all sorts of magazines
spread out there in the waiting room to keep you occupied while
you wait for your turn in the chair. And so one of the magazines
that I always see laid out on the top is People Magazine. And
People Magazine, about every other issue, at least it seems
to me, but I’m sure this is an exaggeration, it seems to me
they are fascinated with royal births. And so there’s more often
than not, at least in my account, a picture of little Georgie,
a picture of Kate, a picture of, uh, the next in line for
the British crown. And we are, we are so absorbed
with royalty. We are so absorbed with who will
sit on the throne next. And dear friends, Jesus birth
was not announced. It was not covered by the media. Jesus birth, was announced first
as an outcast. It was announced first to shepherds. In the modern American church,
we have this little saying, maybe not weed, but at least it’s out
in the modern church planting jargon. It says, we want to be
in the city. How does it go? In the city for
the city. We want to go to the cities where
people are. We want to be in the city for the city. Well,
a couple of friends of mine and I were joking about this motto
in modern church planting. And we said, well, we want to
be in the sticks for the Hicks. And that’s God’s motto here.
He could have gone to Rome. He could have gone to Jerusalem.
He could have gone to Babylon. He could have gone to Assyria.
He could have gone to any great city in the world and said, look,
people, I send my son, the royal one of David, Jesse’s rod, the
key of David. All these little phrases we’ve
sung about and read about today in our hymns and in our scriptures. But he chooses to go outside
Bethlehem. Now, outside Bethlehem, I mean,
that’s not even as big as saying outside of Burlington. That’s
like saying outside of Altamahal or outside of Saxapahal or outside
of Snow Camp. You see, Jesus announced birth
came not with fanfare. It came not with An announcement
to royalty or to important people. But God sent his angel and then
he sent his entire angelic host out into the outskirts of a little
bitty town to a little bitty group of people who were considered
in social circles, even religious circles, to be outcast. But God,
in his mercy, announced his birth. If you will, he gave his first
gospel announcement. To the little people. to the
people who didn’t matter to the world, yet they mattered greatly
to almighty God. And you’ll notice in Luke chapter
two, when you read in verses eight through 14 of this birth
announcement, you see a wonderful experience. What would it be
like to be a shepherd out keeping your flocks by night? pitch black,
the stars shining, the moon maybe had risen. It was quiet. And
in those days, no hum of power plants or no continuous rumble
of the interstate, all modern things not yet invented. And
so when it was dark, it was dark. And when it was quiet, it was
dead quiet. And all of a sudden, there in
the field as the shepherds were keeping watch, possibly keeping
sheep that would be used in the temple sacrifices, there was
an angel that appeared before them and the glory of God shone
round about them. No doubt many of you have watched
Charlie Brown’s Christmas special. And Charlie Brown, you know,
in that Christmas special says, can anyone tell me, he wails,
can anyone tell me what Christmas is all about? And Linus with
his blanket walks to the center of the stage. And from the King
James version of the Bible, he quotes, and there were shepherds
out in the field, abiding, keeping their flocks by night and low. You know how it goes. It’s a
made famous statement. Low, there were angels. An angel
appeared. And what does it say of the shepherds?
And they were sore afraid. They were scared out of their
wits. They were more scared than when the angel appeared to Mary
in her home, more scared than when the angel appeared to Zechariah.
For they came to these shepherds, these outcasts of Israel. And this announcement was given. Verse 11 says, for unto you is
born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ
the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find the baby wrapped
in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Back up to verse
10. The angel says, fear not, for
behold, I bring you good news. Again, that’s that gospel word.
I come to preach the gospel to you. And so the first gospel
sermon, the first gospel summons was preached. It was proclaimed.
It was given. It was given to the shepherds. And then suddenly a whole host
of the angels, you can imagine the army of God, a portion of
them appearing in this field and they sing glory to God in
the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Now you’ve got to understand
two things here. One is this was a message of
salvation. This was a message of good news. This was not just
a birth announcement. This was a gospel announcement.
The one who can save you has been born. But this was also
in an announcement that in the midst of a tumultuous Roman empire,
a king who could bring peace had been born and all praise
to God should be given and indeed was given. But this was the first
summons to come to Jesus. And that’s the third thing we
want to see in this passage. There’s first the birth, second,
the birth announcement, the third, the response. And I want us to
read of this response beginning at verse 15. When the angels
went away from them into heaven, the shepherd said one to another,
let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened,
which the Lord has made known to us. Dear friends, what is
the only fitting response to the gospel? What is the only
fitting response to the message of salvation that a savior who
is Christ the Lord has been born? And furthermore, since his birth,
we know that he suffered and obeyed and died in our place. And so what is a fitting response
to the gospel? to the message of salvation through
faith in Jesus. Well, we see it as we walk through
the rest of our passage for the day. It says in verse 16, they
went with haste and they found Mary and they found Joseph and
the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made
known the saying that had been told them concerning the child. Is the gospel still fresh to
you? Does it still bring you joy?
Does it still send chills through your spine when you sing amazing
grace? How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. Or when you sing another Newton
hymn, let us love and sing and wonder. Let us sing and praise
the Savior’s name. He has hushed the law’s loud
thunder. He has quenched Mount Sinai’s
flame. He has brought us near to God.
Do you still get goosebumps when you think about the cross? When
you think about your disobedience, when you think about your sin,
when you think about your transgressing God’s law, when you think about
how daily you do break God’s law and thought, word and deed,
do you get goosebumps when you hear the gospel proclaimed and
realize that I am saved? I am saved from my sin. I am
saved from eternal punishment. I am saved from the wrath of
almighty God. We read in this passage that
not only did the shepherds hear the gospel, they went with haste. to see the gospel. And then with
great joy, they told others of the gospel. And then as you read
further on, beginning at verse 18, it says, and all who heard
it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured
up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds
returned glorifying praising God for all that they had heard
and seen as it had been told them. As we think today about
the response that is due, the gospel. We hear the gospel and
with joy, we run to Jesus. And with joy, we also tell others
about Jesus. When we read Psalm 31 a few moments
ago in our call to worship, we didn’t read a lot of the middle
of Psalm 31. But Psalm 31 is one of those
Psalms where King David says, oh Lord, things are bad. Enemies
are around me on all sides. And if I don’t die today, I will
die tomorrow. And then the middle part of the
Psalm, King David says, save me. And he gives all these reasons
why God should save him. And then towards the end of the
Psalm, he says, and if you save me, I’ll do a couple of things.
Number one is I’ll tell others that you saved me. I’ll preach
the gospel. And number two is I’ll worship
you. And you see the fitting response
that comes to us today in our passage, the angels rushed with
haste to the manger where Jesus lay. And they told others the
gospel, they worshiped the child. But notice they also went back
home. There’s a point where in the Christian life, we go up
on the mountain and we have these wonderful, high and joyful Christian
experiences. And maybe each Sunday ought to
be seen as that. But there’s a time for us to
go back down the mountain. and to go back tending our sheep,
or tending our children, or sweeping the floor, or making meals, or
doing laundry, or going to the office, or doing whatever it
is that God has given for our hands to do in this world. And
that’s exactly what the shepherds did. They went back glorifying
and praising God. And you know, there’s something
about Christianity. We sort of make it complex. We
think that we have to have this big missionary enterprise. We
think that we have to have all this big worldly stuff to make
the gospel known. And what has God simply said
to us? You come worship me. You come learn everything you
can about me in the word. And then you go out into the
world and you serve for my glory and for the good of others. And
as you go, you tell others about me. And that’s exactly what the
shepherds did. And we can think with our minds,
we can use our imaginations just for a little bit. Don’t you think
they were pretty obnoxious when they got back to the fields outside
of Bethlehem? Don’t you think they were, what
do we call it? Obnoxious evangelists. They couldn’t
wait to tell everybody about Jesus. This passage ends a little
bit mundanely. It says at the end of eight days,
when Jesus was circumcised, he was called Jesus. The name given
by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Something significant
about these few verses, though, his name was Jesus, which means
he will save his people from their sins. It’s also interesting to think
about the shepherds who were going home. If they were smart
shepherds, if they were Bible thinking shepherds, if they had
been to Sunday school at their synagogue, they also on the little
journey back from the stable in Bethlehem to wherever their
field was, however far it was, they had to be talking amongst
themselves and one had to say to the other, you know, we’ve
been given our pink slips. Because in fact, if they were
raising sheep for the sacrifices, In Jerusalem, they had just seen
the last sheep, the last lamb that would be needed. For before
their very eyes, laying in that manger was the lamb who had been
slain before the foundation of the world for the salvation of
sinners. Oh, dear brothers and sisters,
what a great birth. What a great birth announcement.
But how about your response? Let’s pray together. Our Lord
and God, we thank you for this gospel story. May it be of great
joy to us as we read it afresh, as we read it anew, as we are
challenged by our response to the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Lord, help us this day to know what has taken place before our
eyes. And Lord, let us know this day
deep in our hearts what we ought to do. to worship you and to
adore you and most of all to obey you. Give us your help and
blessing and grace. We ask it and pray it in the
strong name of Jesus. Amen.