The Light Has Come: Witnesses to Peace: The Shepherds

Pastor Fletcher preaches from Luke 2:8-20. Discussion points: Shepherds who were looked down on in their society but were chosen to witness Jesus’ birth, we are awaiting Jesus’ second arrival on earth, the peace that the angels were announcing was peace between God and humanity.

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  Scripture reader: [Luke 2:8-20] 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 great fear. 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. 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 clothes 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 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 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.

  This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

  Preacher: All right, good morning. It's good to see everybody today. I don't know about you, but every time I hear that passage being read in front of a group of people, I I can't help but think of Linus dragging his little blanket onto the stage and the spotlight falling on him and just, it's warm and fuzzy feelings. Is it not Christmas? It's really nice. Charlie Brown peanuts. We get it all and with, with this passage, We find ourselves today in the second Sunday of Advent and we're taking a brief pause from our series on the book of Daniel, which has been a joy, really exciting book to be working through, we will resume Daniel in the New Year in January.

  But for now, we're going to do a short series on the incarnation and the series is called The Light has Come Witnesses to the birth of Christ. And with this series, we're going to be looking at some classic Christmas passages. We're just going to be trying to think through the passages and the people that witnessed the birth of Christ that we were given a description of in the New Testament. So this week we're going to be talking about the shepherds and what the shepherds saw and how they responded to that. And as witnesses to Christ next week, we'll be talking about the magi who brought Jesus gifts.

  And then, the week following that, I actually haven't, 100% decided what we're doing. I'm leaning towards Joseph because, you know, we're all wondering if Mary knew, but like, what about Joseph? Let's like, dig in there a little bit. So maybe, maybe we'll do a, a sermon on Joseph. I've never heard that before, but we'll see what happens, you know, keep you on the edge of your seats for a few weeks from now. You can show up and, and figure out what we decided to preach on that week.

  In today's story, an army of angels appear to a group of shepherds and they declare glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace among those with whom he is pleased for some of these, for some of the, for some of us, as we hear these words, glory to God in the highest and peace on earth. They ring hollow. You know, it's just something on the cover of a Hallmark card, is it not? Peace on earth, Glory to God in the highest. We don't really contemplate what that means.

  For others of us, we might hear that and we might look at it with an eye of suspicion and say really? Peace on earth. Well, Jesus came 2000 years ago and I'm looking around and, it looks like he did a pretty crap job of it. I don't see a lot of peace on earth. We still have war, we still have Brokenness. In fact, we might look at that passage and not just think skeptically, we might just think that it's just sheer contradiction when we look at it because didn't Jesus himself claim that he's not bringing peace, but instead he's bringing division. Look at all the wars that have been fought in the name of Jesus.

  In fact, many people have proposed the idea that religion doesn't help with violence. It causes more violence and that if we actually want to have peace on earth, the first thing we need to do is get rid of the religion. Listen to how Bertrand Russell said this nearly 100 years ago between the world wars. He said religion prevents us from removing the fundamental causes of war. It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age. But if so, it will be necessary to slay the dragon that guards the door and this dragon is religion.

  I don't know how you're looking at what the angels had to say, how you receive that today. But I know that you are looking for what they declared all of us have a deep longing in our heart for peace. This is why every Christmas movie ends with a scene of peace. They all start with some type of suspense and then the suspense was relieved at the end when you know, the family comes home from their trip to France and you're reunited, or the, the angel finally gets his wings as the family is singing the Carol together in the living room, we are all, it all just reflects this thing that we're looking for, which is peace. We are all looking for peace.

  So let's look at the passage. We're going to handle some of those questions that I brought up a few moments ago as we walk our way through the passage. Before we get to the shepherds, I want to take a moment to set the scene. OK. We started in verse eight today and that picks up in the middle of a story. And so for many of us, the story of Christ being born is familiar, but I think it deserves another retelling this morning and maybe we can see it with fresh eyes and for maybe some of us, we might not be as familiar with the birth story of Christ. And so I would love to be able to, to share that with you today.

  So chapter two of Luke, Luke is a historian. He's, he's a physician actually who's writing an account of Jesus. and he's one of Jesus' followers. And so he starts it with a lot, he gives a lot more details throughout his gospel than the other gospel writers because he does have that more scientific mindset to him. And so he starts off chapter two by saying that at that time, there was an emperor in Rome named Caesar Augustus heard of him. Many of us have he called for a census. Now, back in that day, they didn't have the US postal service. Ok. When we have a census, I get something in the mail, I fill it out or I follow the link online and I tell them how many people are living in my home. That is not the way that they would do it back then because there wasn't postal service and whatnot. So instead everyone had to go to their ancestral hometown. That means you went to where all your relatives lived and then you, they were logged, everybody was logged and they wanted a good number.

  So Mary and Joseph had to make their way to their ancestral hometown at the time. They were living in Nazareth, which is where Joseph had kind of made his life, but they had to make their 90 mile trek to Bethlehem. The only problem is Mary is nine months pregnant and that was not the baby moon that she was expecting. I will guarantee you that. Now I don't think that any of us would be dumb enough to do this, but just in case you were wondering, your wife does not want to travel 90 miles on the back of a donkey. Nine months pregnant to visit her in-laws. You're not gonna make it 90 miles. I'd be surprised if you make it one, but Mary was better than most of us, I suppose. And so they, they made it all the way.

  But when they get there, Mary is ready to pop and I don't want to ruin your nativity scenes, but I'm going to. Ok. So in your nativity scenes, how many of us have seen the nativity scene that has, you know, Mary and Joseph baby Jesus in a barn in a stable. We've all seen that but you get to this and it says that there was no room in the end and we get this idea of a nasty innkeeper being like no room for you go stay within the barn. That's probably not actually what's happening. Ok. Maybe it doesn't give us a lot of details, but the word for in, in the passage is the same word that we would use for guest room. And so when they get there, they are probably, it would make sense for them to be trying to stay with family. Would it not since it's his ancestral hometown, he probably still has family in Bethlehem.

  And when they get there, the guest room is not ready for childbirth. Neither is mine. Ok. So where do they go? But they probably are situated in the family room of a, of a, of a family member and the family room is kind of like the main living space. And what they would do back in that day is when it was cold outside. You had animals, your animals were your livelihood. They would let the animals come into the family room to be warm from the cold weather. And so many scholars, most in fact, probably believe that they're actually giving birth in the family room of Joseph's extended family here. Could he be in a barn if you like that idea? Go for it. You know, the, the text doesn't say, but I just thought I would bust your bubble a little bit this morning.

  So this leads us to verse eight where we're introduced to the Shepherds. And in verse it says in verse eight, first verse that we looked at this morning and in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Shepherds play this dramatically overemphasized role throughout all of scripture. So if you've read the Bible, you've come across Shepherd story after Shepherd story. And I don't know how many of you have met a shepherd in real life. I have not ever met a shepherd in real life. I assumed that they were more prevalent back then. But I assume that, that, that they are not like every other person you meet is a shepherd in ancient times.

  And so it's almost as if God has a soft spot for shepherds. They pop up all throughout the scripture. You look all the way throughout the history. Father Abraham, he kept livestock. He was a shepherd. You see Moses, when he ran away from Pharaoh, he went and lived with his, with his father in law Jethro who was a shepherd and he kept livestock. You see, King David, the lowly shepherd boy who was chosen and risen into kingship, lifted up into it. Many of the Psalms and prophets refer to God as our shepherd. And with all this emphasis, it's easy to miss the irony because in the first century shepherds were not generally revered, but they were denigrated, they were looked down upon.

  And so shepherds were seen as, you know, kind of laborers. They weren't really the high class. They were not even allowed to give witness or testimony in the court of law. And so it's to these blue collar dudes working the night shift that the angels come and reveal themselves and that they are invited, who can't even give witness in the court of testimony. They are invited to witness the birth of Christ, the first born of all creation. It's really an amazing thing that emphasizes God's flips priorities. God doesn't always look for the high, the exalted, the rich the powerful, but God often looks for the humble and the lowly to lift up and to put into high positions and to give great honor to.

  So then the angel appears to these guys and verse nine, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear. Well, I would be too if I'm just working the night shift and the glory of the Lord appears to me. It's a little frightening, but let's talk about the angel for just a moment. There's a lot of angel obsession out there and a lot of our notions about who angels are, are misconceived notions about who angels are angels.

  We don't know what they look like, but we know that almost all movies get them completely wrong because the first thing an angel says when he shows up, well, the first thing a human does when an angel shows up isn't say, say, oh, that's cute. You know, it's not like a baby with wings flying there. They're not helping any baseball teams in the outfield. You have angels, they show up and what's the first thing that they say? They say fear not. Ok. Modern translation. It's cool. Don't freak out.

  Ok, like something crazy is happening when an angel appears, we know that the word angel actually means messenger. And so an angel is a heavenly being who is a messenger for God. And the most common things that they say is just, don't freak out imagine working the night shift, just mind your own business. And then the glory of the Lord shines and a bunch of angels come and they start speaking to you. And this is what the shepherds experience. Verse 10. What did the angels say? And the angel said to them fear not for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ, the Lord.

  I love the way that the angel says this. The angel says for not and then fear not. Excuse me, fear not. And then why does the angel say? Fear, not fear not for I bring you good news. That's right. Good news alleviates our fears and brings us peace. The word for good news here is the Greek word that we often translate into gospel. When we're gospel people, we are good news people. The gospel simply means good news. The angel brings good news, good news brings us peace.

  Let me give you an example. Back in 2013, my wife and I were living in Boston. It was our first full year to live in Boston. We moved to Boston in 2012. In 2013, we were living here. My wife was expecting, she wasn't quite as far along as Mary in our story, but she was expecting and we went to go see the Boston Marathon with some friends on Beacon Street. And so we were about a mile from the finish line and was anybody else here in 2013? A few? Ok. well, you know where the story's going, I suppose. So we leave the party, we're there for a while and then, you know, you see all the elites run by, you see the wheelchairs, first guys in, in the fatigues walking by, then you see all the elites run by and then you get the mere mortals coming about like 30 minutes after that.

  And so we're like deep into the mere mortals when we decide had to go home. So we, at that point, we don't have a car. And so we get on the t we ride our way home. We're living in JP at the time and we go, we must have gone through Copley and then taken, interchange downtown, I believe and got back. And by the time we got to our, our tea stop in JP, we started getting texts from friends and family and they were all very concerned and saying, are you OK? And we responded back. Yeah, of course. What's up? How you doing? And it's at that moment that we got the news that there had been a bomb at the Boston Marathon. And I'm telling you, we must have passed through Copley right before it went off because by the time we were home, it had already happened.

  Each of our friends as they sent us, this message were in a state of suspense, awaiting longing for our response. And the good news of our safety brought them peace. Now, a few days after the marathon bombing, there was a huge manhunt throughout all of Boston. They were, they sh, I, in fact, one night it all went down, there was a, like a, a shootout over at MIT and then they shut down the entire city. I mean, it was wild. It was only thing it was similar to were like those first couple weeks of COVID. that was somewhat similar to it but Boston, like they were like, do not leave your home, scary stuff. Like we have armed gunmen running around the city. We do not know where they are.

  So they gave us this range from like Watertown to Dorchester and said, like, do not leave your house. And it's like, that's a million people guys, you're wanting us all to stay home. So we all stayed home. We did the one thing that it was probably the last time I ever did this tuned in to local news. You know, I had to like, get the bunny ears going on the TV, just to see what's happening. And we had to sit at home all day long and at the end of the day as we're sitting in suspense, what do we get? But the good news, we got them, we, we found the bomber. You can leave your home again and we all did. We went for a walk at that moment. I think everybody in Boston said time for a walk and we all went outside and walked around for a few moments.

  Now, how does good news that the angel is declaring? Bring us peace? Well, similar to the stories I told the whole world is in a sin, is in a state of suspense. The book Romans says that creation is groaning under the Brokenness of sin. The whole world is anticipating a deliverer someone to come and right all of the wrongs to make the world new again, to eliminate the enemy, the evil one, Satan himself to defeat sin and to release us from our slavery to self and sin and Brokenness. And the angel is coming to say he's here. The savior is here. I bring you good news. The wait is over. The Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one. He is here. Your wait is over.

  So what did the angel say next? Verse 12. 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 heavenly host, host is a word that you could use, army. A heavenly army, praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is well pleased. Now, you might read that passage, peace, peace on Earth among those with whom he is well pleased. And you might think that's not quite how I remember that verse going. It's a very famous verse. You're probably as I am more familiar with the old King James version that says on earth, peace, goodwill towards men. I feel like we sing that one in a few of our carols.

  And though it sounds warm and fuzzy, there's essentially universal acceptance among scholars that the old King Jimmy version, there is not the most accurate version for us. The angels aren't promising peace to the entire world. The a the angels are declaring peace to a specific group with those with whom God is pleased. If the angels were declaring political peace or an end to international strife, then the past 2000 years would have looked very different. I'm sure God could have done that, but instead they're declaring something deeper and more lasting and that is peace with God, peace with God for all those who would look for him. And the first line of Hark the Herald angel sings one of my favorite Christmas carols. If not my favorite. It's definitely on the Mount Rushmore of Christmas carols. It says peace on earth and mercy, mild God and sinners reconciled.

  This is the piece that he's talking about the peace of God is peace with God. The peace that you are all longing for, that we desire so much in our life is ultimately peace with God. If the main thing Jesus offers is peace with God. Let me ask the question. Does that mean that Jesus promotes war and division among people? Of course not, of course not. There have been many wars fought in the name of Jesus, but Jesus was not, was always an advocate for nonviolence. What, what did he say? When Peter chops off the ear of the guy in the garden, he says, put your sword down, Peter. That's not the way we're going. That's not what we're doing here, but put your sword away.

  You see Jesus being led away, led away to a death that he did not deserve. And as he's going, he did not fight back. He did not call down the legions of angels. He went peacefully and with the confidence that he was doing the will of God. And after Jesus is led that way through Nonviolence, what do all of his followers do? We see? We see record of many of the disciples following his exact path of Nonviolence all the way to their own demise. Yes. Religion has often been used to justify war and violence exhibit a the crusades, but just because someone is fighting a war in the name of Jesus doesn't actually mean that Jesus endorses the war. Many people are just looking for an excuse to fight wars as part of the brokenness that lives within us.

  Humans are looking for a way to leverage their beliefs or to shape their beliefs into what they're already wanting. How many, how many times have you found someone that wants to do something? And then all of a sudden they convince themselves that that's what God wants them to do. They shape God in their own image instead of allowing themselves to be shaped in the image of God.

  I love the way that Rebecca McLaughlin says this when she's talking about does religion cause violence? Look at this from her book, Confronting Christianity. Does religion cause violence? It certainly can. But millions of people are driven by their faith to love and serve others. And Christianity in particular has served as a fertilizer for democracy, a motivation for justice and a mandate for healing. If we think the world would be less violent without it, we may need to check our facts.

  But that does, we still have to grapple with Jesus own words because Jesus says I come not to give you peace but to give you division. Let's look at that later in the book of Luke Jesus says this, do you think I've come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you but rather division from now on in one house, there will be five divided three against two and two against three. And for some of us, we might read that and it is unsettling to us. And that's because we live in an American place where most of us can make our own individual choices about our religious beliefs and live at peace with our parents because we've been taught that we're individuals in that way.

  But what the scriptures teach us is that Jesus brings this, this, there, there's a sense of disruption in our lives. When we come to Christ, it does change us and you'll understand what he thinks way more clearly. If you just imagine in a Muslim nation that two members of a household become Christ followers. Well, that's going to bring some disruption and some division among the household. We might not all be as accepting of different ideas for better or worse as we are in the West. And so the peace that Jesus offers is peace with God, not necessarily peace with all those around us. If you follow Jesus, it's going to disrupt your life, it's going to cause wreak some havoc and sometimes.

  But at the same time, book of John Jesus says this, you know, sometimes Jesus says, contradictory things, you just have to tease these out and, and hold them in tension and understand that they're both true because this is what he says in the book of John. He says, John chapter 14 verse 27 peace, I leave with you. My peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. And so here we have Jesus telling his disciples, I do give you peace. I give you a deeper and greater peace than the world can offer. Because I give you peace with God, acceptance by God. You are loved by the creator and sustainer of the universe. We get to spend eternity and perfect fellowship with Him.

  The peace that Jesus brings is peace with God for you today. Have you ever experienced the peace with God in that way? I'm not going to assume that all of us have. And so maybe today is your first day to take a step and under and say, I want peace with God. I want to understand what it means to be accepted by God. I feel like such a failure, but yet I can have peace with God. And today is an opportunity you are invited to trust in Christ and to receive the peace of God. But for many of us, we've been Christians for a long time and we've been taught this truth that we can have peace with God and we understand the gospel, but we only only understand the gospel as the ABCs of Christianity. You know, we're taught this in children's ministry oftentimes that the gospel is the ABCs.

  You admit anybody you've ever learned this in children's ministry when you were a kid, admit believe and commit, right? So you admit that you're a sinner, you believe that Christ died for you and you commit your life to follow after him. And for many of us, that's where it ends. We stop right there and we just say ABC S now I have peace with God. I'm good to go. But the gospel is not the good news of Jesus is not the ABCs but it is the A to Z of faith. it's everything. And so as we live in our lives, as we continue to follow, after Christ, we have to see that many of the problems that we have in our lives. The lack of peace that we experience is actually because a lack of trusting in the gospel, lack of belief.

  We have to go back to that first thing, which is the good news of what God is, a lack of trust that God is who He says He is and he will do what he says. He will do so to experience the peace of God, whether for the first time or the 100th, the answer is still the same. Like go back to the good news and examine what you're believing. You might have to replace your old ways of thinking with new ways of thinking. We have these unhelpful patterns.

  Let me give you a couple of examples you might believe or you might think something like this. If anyone really knew me, they would reject me and you might not actually think that but it's like one step behind the thoughts that you have in your head. Like if you really knew me, you would reject me. And so you spend all of your life trying to cover up who you really are and to put a face forward, you think through how you can actually dress and how you can speak and what you can do to put the right foot forward and the right face in front of people so that you won't be rejected. But friends, the gospel says you are accepted, not because of what you have done or what face you put forward. But because of what Christ has done for you, you have a greater acceptance than what you even realize.

  And so you combat this thought when you think no one will accept me if they knew the real me, you combat it with the truth. God knows me better than anyone. He knows me all the way to my core and yet he loves and accepts me. Isn't that good news?

  I'll give you another example. You might think I've been a good person. I've tried my hardest. I've done good things. Why doesn't God reward me? And this thought it reveals something that you believe about who God is and how He operates. And it's not the gospel because the gospel says that God rewards you fully in Christ, not because of what you have done, but because of what Jesus has done. And so this is revealing a type of works, righteousness in your own life saying if I do good things, then God will give me good in return. And so instead of this, I've been a good person, try my hardest. Why doesn't God reward me?

  We have to have this contra belief, this, this truth spoken into our life that says God doesn't reward me because of what I've done. But because of what Christ has done, I've been blessed in the heavenly realms. I have all that I need. Jesus came to give me peace, not so that I can earn it. He came to give it to me there. These are just two examples of ways that we have to return to our first love.

  We have to return to this continual belief in our life looking for the lies that we're believing that are preventing us from having full faith in Christ and replacing those with the truth of the Gospel because the, it's really the lies that cause us so much anguish and steal our peace and the truth of Christ sets us free and allows us to live in peace with God. Ultimately, we do believe that Christ actually will bring peace to all the earth though you see, he came first to inaugurate the kingdom as a lowly infant, bringing the kingdom of God to all of us. And we live in a time between arrivals.

  Advent means arrival. And so we celebrate the first arrival of Christ. And now we long for his second arrival because we believe that Christ will return and that he will make all the world right again, that he will reign and rule as the king of the world. And that he will bring peace throughout all of the world. That the glory that shone on the shepherds in the field will shine on us all that the kingdom of God will fill the entire earth. And this is what we remember in this advent season, we long to see the future arrival of Christ. Who may it come quickly come quickly, Lord Jesus.

  Each week, we participate in a sacred meal. And one of the things that we say as we take this meal is come quickly, Lord Jesus, we long to know you in full. This meal is just a, a part. It's just a, a piece. It's a reminder that we have peace with God today, but we still live in a broken world. And we long for the day when Christ would come and bring the kingdom in full. So if you would let's stand and prepare our hearts to receive this meal as the band makes their way back up here. And I will pray for us.

  Father, as we come to your table today, would you give us a divine sense of peace and to know that you were with us in a really special kind of way. And that if God is on my side, that nothing can hold me down, that you give me more peace than what I ever could imagine, a deeper sense of peace, than I am accepted, loved, redeemed. That I, I have been lifted up, Though I am lowly, you have made much of me. You've given me a, a place in your kingdom. And so God, I pray that you would replace our harmful thought patterns, the lies that we so often fall into. You will help us to identify those lies and that you would help us to replace those with true belief in who you are and what you've done. God as we come to your table, we pray that you would help us to repent of those things and to receive the truth in you. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.