Text: Luke 2:8-20

What do we do when we have good news? What do we do if we just got engaged or if our team just won the big game? How do we share the message when we got that promotion at work or when our child is born? We have plenty of ways that we let people know. We call our parents, relatives, and friends on the phone. Perhaps we send a quick text message to several contacts in our phone. Many of us get on social media websites and post news as soon as it happens. We go on Facebook, twitter, Instagram, snapchat or whatever other app we have. We want people to know the good news. We want to share our excitement and our joy. As we look at the birth of our Savior Jesus, we see similar actions and attitudes. Of course they did not have the technology we have today. And yet, the angels and the shepherds shared their joy. We focus on the song of the angels. We share their message: Gloria in Excelsis.

Part 1: Our reason to be afraid is removed

The joyous message of Christmas is a message that we have heard before. We come back to this wonderful message every year. Because it is very familiar, we need to be careful that we don’t lose our appreciation for this good news. We spend a few minutes this evening meditating on the words from the gospel of Luke. As we do so, it is good for us to look at the reaction of the shepherds. As we think about these shepherds, we can see that they react to the message of God in the same ways that we react to God’s Word. 

The shepherds had an incredible experience that only a very few people in history have experienced. They were face to face with angels. When the first angel appeared to them, Luke tells us that the shepherds were terrified. They were terrified because the glory of the Lord was shining around the angel. This means that the radiance of God was with this angel. The holiness and righteousness of God was visibly present. The shepherds had a reaction that we see often in God’s Word. When a person comes before the holiness and perfection of God, they are terrified.

The reason for this fear comes from the imperfection that we have as human beings. Every person is sinful. We have all broken God’s laws many times. The fear of the shepherds came from the realization that they deserve to be punished forever. They deserve hell because of their sins just like we deserve eternity in hell because of our sins. We don’t know the specific sins that these shepherds committed. However, we know the commandments of God and we know our own hearts. Our sinful nature is constantly tempting us toward disobedience.

The shepherds knew each other very well. They worked together every day. They probably knew each other just like we know our families. Think about how we like to get together with our families at this time of year. We have Christmas parties and we spend lots of time having many conversations. As I think about these family events, I wonder about how often our conversations take a turn toward spiritual topics. Do we have conversations about how gracious God has been to us? Do we urge family members to repent of their sins and to trust in their Savior for forgiveness? I would guess that we probably avoid topics like this because we are nervous about upsetting our family members.

Talking about sin does make us uncomfortable. We get uncomfortable because we realize just how imperfect we are. We start to realize that we deserve punishment. We get defensive because we don’t want to believe that our sinful actions could actually be a sign that we are rejecting the Savior born at Bethlehem. But there is a real danger. If we cling to our sin, if we live in sin and do not repent, then we are pushing Jesus out of our hearts. Then we have every reason to be afraid because our path could lead toward hell.

There are many easy sins that we can fall into. This time of year there is a heavy focus on greed. We want more possessions and we are happy when we receive the presents that we want. When we get together with family, it is easy for the conversation to drift into gossip. We tear other people down and run their reputation through the dirt. We point out their sin but fail to identify our own sin. Perhaps we come to church a few more times in December but what does our worship life look like the rest of the year. Is it going to be several weeks or months before we step foot in a church again? Ultimately, all our sins focus on us. We do what we want to do. We think our way of life is just fine. We like the nice message this time of year but do we always live like we need a Savior or do we act like we are just fine on our own.

Remember that our sins deserve eternal condemnation. We have every right to be terrified because of our sin. Now listen to the words of the angel, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). First he tells the shepherds to not be afraid. The same is true for us. We don’t need to fear. Yes, we ought to feel guilty because of our sins. But in Christ Jesus, that guilt is removed. Jesus is our perfect Savior. He is the light of the world.

He did what was necessary to forgive every one of our sins. When you read through God’s Word, you see Jesus resisting temptation. Jesus obeys the law in our place. For all those times that we have not been active in our life of faith, Jesus prayed, meditated on God’s Word, and spent time at the Temple of the Lord. Scripture assures us that he was tempted like us in every way and yet he never sinned. That is why our fear of hell is completely removed. He covered over our sin. We now have a place waiting for us in heaven.

Part 2: We are able to live in peace and joy

This message is truly a life changing message. We can only imagine what it must have been like to hear the choir of angels announcing the birth of the Savior. We get a glimpse of it as we hear and sing so many of our joyous Christmas songs. The wonderful news produced a result in the shepherds. They wanted to see this Savior. Verse 15 says, “When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’”

They hurried to worship the Savior. They basically dropped what they were doing to see the Lord. We are to have that same kind of joy. For me personally, I love to be in God’s House at this time of year. I love all the festival worship services that we have to celebrate the birth of our Savior. This joy is not just isolated to a few days in December. We live in this joy throughout the year. This building is a place where we can live in Christmas joy every time we gather together for worship. Because of the gospel, we make our time in worship a priority.

The peace and joy of Christmas is not just isolated to worship for an hour on specific days of the week. The peace and joy of Christmas becomes a lifestyle. Look what the shepherds did after they saw Jesus. Verses 17 to 20 say this, “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,  and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”

There is so much there for us to take to heart. The shepherds had so much joy that they wanted to share it. They told as many people as they could about Jesus. They went back to their jobs with a joyful attitude. Try to image what their conversations were like after that day. They were glorifying and praising God. I wonder what that was like. We don’t know anything else about these shepherds from Scripture. I wonder if they ever tried to visit Jesus after that day. I imagine that perhaps they did because of the great joy that they felt. It is also significant that Mary treasured all these things in their heart.

Think about how we do similar activities. We can speak about our faith. We can have conversations about sin and grace. We can confess our sins to one another. We can rebuke each other for sins and then comfort each other with the joy of Jesus. We can talk about how special it is that God loved us so much that he saved us. I marvel at that love every day. We can go about our daily activities with joy in our hearts. No matter what happens, Jesus has forgiven sins. I never want to live in a way that pushes him out of my life. I want to cling to him every day. I treasure his grace in my heart. I love my Savior.

Conclusion

We share the good news of Jesus. Think about some of those good events in your life that you want to share. You announce that you are getting married, that you are getting a new job, or that your child was just born. Those are all fantastic items to highlight. And yet we have a greater message. We have the message of the Savior. Jesus has redeemed us from all of our sins. We do want to sing like the angels. Gloria in Excelsis. Glory to God in the Highest. God has accomplished what we never could. We could never save ourselves from our sin. Jesus has saved us. We live in joy and thanksgiving. We appreciate the love of God. We live this faith every single day. We share the wonderful message of Christmas. Gloria in Excelsis. Amen.