As we continue our Advent series in preparation for celebrating Christmas in just a couple of days, I want to remind you quickly about where we were last week. If you recall, we looked at the same passage of Scripture, except our focus was on the shepherds who received this message instead of the angels who delivered the message. We ended by asking the question of why God would send His messenger to speak to shepherds instead of someone else. We noted that there wasn’t anything inherently wrong with the shepherds, but they were really of no status. Their work kept them fairly isolated from much of the population of many cities and so they were somewhat unknowns in their various communities. They also weren’t the most religious of people for a couple of reasons; the first being that their work prevented them from being able to leave their flock in order to attend worship services. The second reason why they weren’t seen as being very religious is because the fact that their jobs required them to handle animals all day long. You have to remember, that in the Jewish culture, this would have been seen as a very unclean job, and so their attendance at worship services would have offended some of the Jews. However, like I said last Sunday and a moment ago, there isn’t really anything wrong with shepherds in terms of their morals, but they probably aren’t the best candidates for taking a message from God to the people. If you will recall, we said that this was actually a very good thing from our perspective. We noted that it showed us that the Gospel is not just for those in ivory towers with royal blood or advanced education. The Gospel isn’t just for those who have been theologically trained or who have been born into wealthy families. No, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone; for all of mankind.
The thing that we took from our look at the shepherds was that God loves sinners. It’s the old adage of “love the sinner, hate the sin.” We live in an area where when asked about a particular person our answer is usually the same, “Oh, they’re good people.” I’ve often wondered what someone must do to not be considered good people, but that’s not the point. The point is that although they may be good, there is still some aspect of their life that needs improving, and that goes for all of us. Yes, it even goes for preachers. There are many times when I feel like it is more true of preachers than of other folks. However, we don’t have to be blameless in order to receive God, His Son, and His Gospel. We don’t have to live a life to perfection in order to receive our heavenly gifts of grace and mercy and salvation. And the reason that I can make that statement this day is because of the message that the angles had for those very shepherds that we spoke about last Sunday. Perhaps it would be more exact if I said that it was because of the one who the message was about instead.
So, let’s look for just a moment at the angels and the message that they had for the shepherds. We see in verse 9 that at first appearance there is only one angel that comes before the shepherds. However, the presence of this one angel is enough to illumine the entire night sky and also to fill the shepherds with fear. And this isn’t an uncommon reaction. You see, many times, particularly in the Old Testament, when God (through various forms such as smoke, fire, or angels to name a few) comes near His people and reveals Himself to them, fear is the reaction, and it’s no different today. All of us have had moments when we felt God speaking directly to us. Maybe it was telling us to make that commitment, to opt out of that choice, or to make a difficult decision based on the needs of others instead of ourselves. I know that my reaction has often been one of fear. I can tell you that a little over a year ago that God very clearly through a series of events was telling me that I was to go to Houma, LA and shepherd the flock of this church. All that I could think of was fear; fear of the unknown. I was scared to death because God had given me, and specifically me, a direct calling with my life.
You see, in addition to that fear that I felt, there was also a sense of ease because I knew that if this was what God was specifically calling me to do, then He would be with me each and every step of the way. That’s what we see here with the shepherds. If you will recall, even though they have such fear in their hearts at this moment, once the words of the angel end, their immediate reaction is to go to Bethlehem to find and see and worship and adore this child. The angel tells 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 cloths and lying in a manger.” So the angel tells them not to fear and that the message that they are receiving is a good thing. The angel is telling them that the Messiah, the long-awaited, God-appointed ruler of His people has been born and that they can find this child in the town of Bethlehem. After giving the shepherds these words, there isn’t just one angel before them anymore. No, instead there is now, “a multitude of heavenly host praising God.”
So the scene has gone from one angel giving this good news to a group of shepherds to a sky full of angels signing and proclaiming the words “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased,” or as some of us may have learned it, “peace and good will toward men.” The difference here is really a matter of interpretation. What I want all of us to focus on for just a second is not just the message that the now army of angels is proclaiming, but that they are so boldly and lovingly proclaiming. You see, the amount of angels in the sky at this point is thought to be equivalent to the stars. This is an army of angels that in mere moments could wipe out every human on the face of the earth; these angels are heavenly beings. The good news that they are bringing to the shepherds isn’t something that will save them. Yes, we may say that it is their job to proclaim God’s word and to sing praises to Him, but it’s more than that. It doesn’t take us very long to look at a person’s body language and how they carry themselves for us to know whether or not what they are doing is something that they love. My wife is a teacher at Oaklawn Jr. High in East Houma. The kids that are in her school can tell which teachers care about them and are excited to be there and which ones have a countdown in their heads that ends with the releasing of students. You see, just because it is the job of the angels to proclaim this news, doesn’t mean that they have to give it all they have, but they do. The entire army of angels shouts with as much might as they have the good news of the birth of Christ.
Like many of you, I watched the LSU/Alabama game this past year that took place at Tiger Stadium. Watching it on television I got the feeling that it was so loud that it was almost an act of God keeping so much crazy and chaos confined to one location. One announcer said, “If Tiger Stadium was a dome, it would have lost its roof tonight.” Yet, somehow, I don’t think that this scene in Baton Rouge, one of the loudest and craziest, that I can ever remember, holds a candle compared to the scene that night outside of Bethlehem. It’s at this point where I want to ask you one simple question. I don’t want you to respond aloud or anything like that, but just think to yourself. If the angels, who were already heavenly beings and weren’t worried for themselves about the salvation that was to come with this Promised Messiah, were as loud and a joyful in their rejoicing as they were, what do you think our response ought to be? The angels didn’t and do not need forgiveness; they’re already without sin. They didn’t need for Jesus to die. They had never rebelled against God, but you and I have. All of us, we are the ones who are in need of Jesus. We are the ones who are in need of forgiveness. We are the ones who are covered in sin. Yet, I would be willing to bet that very none of us in this room have witnessed an event where people worshiped in a greater or louder way than the angels that we are told about in our text. I doubt that any of us have ever seen anything close to such a sight. Just as I said a moment ago, I know that myself and many of you have seen passion that rivals that of the scene that we have here, but I doubt it was a worship service. It may have been a sporting event, graduation, some type of reunion, birth of a child, or even the moments after avoiding a disaster, but it probably wasn’t a worship service. That’s not to say that they don’t happen, but they don’t happen as frequently as these other events.
You see, if the angels are excited about the Gospel, shouldn’t we be even more excited? After all, we’re the ones who are the beneficiaries of all that is to come. As we all prepare our homes, our families, our schedules, and whatever else there is to celebrate Christmas; as we leave this place and for most of you hopefully rejoin us tomorrow evening; let us prepare our hearts. We need to take account and be reminded of the message that was received that day, but we also need to be reminded of the joy, the excitement, and the passion that filled the worship and praising of the angels. If the birth of Christ means so much to a group that really gains nothing from his presence on earth, shouldn’t that very same birth mean so much more to a group that quite honestly gains everything from what is about to come? Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment