While I suppose we all have pictures in our minds about Christmas, things that we remember, things that we're looking forward to, things that we expect to happen during Christmas time, normal things for us. We might have pictures of family in our minds, or pictures of food in our minds, pictures of gifts in our minds or food in our mind, and particular songs running through our thoughts, church events that we're participating in. We could probably make a long list of things that we have in mind when we think about Christmas and celebrating Christmas. And we go after this pretty big time. One report I read said that Americans will spend $9.5 billion on Christmas this year, that's between travel costs, gifts, decorations, and food. So that's going all out for Christmas. And we probably have expectations regarding Christmas, so much so that if those expectations don't get met, well, we'll feel real disappointment. And also, because of those expectations, Christmas can be a stressful time of the year, even to the point that if your experience doesn't meet your expectations, some people might even feel depressed. But the real issue here is, how much of our picture of Christmas, how much of our expectations regarding Christmas, reflect the reality of Christ's birth. There's certainly nothing wrong with celebrating Christ's birth, and there's a lot to celebrate. But exactly what are we celebrating? How much do we really understand the birth of Christ and what it was like on that first Christmas, the time when Christ was born.
So, I invite you to take your Bibles and open up the Luke chapter 2, Luke chapter 2. We're going to look at Luke 2:1-20 here this morning, and when you get there when you get to Luke chapter 2, let's stand in honor of God's word as I read it for us. Luke chapters two starting in verse one, it says,
“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 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 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 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 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 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 them.’”
Amen, you may be seated. This is a well-known text, often read at this time of the year, and it paints a powerful picture for us of what that first Christmas was like, what was going on at that time. And the first seven verses really kind of set the scene for us for that day that and the events leading up to that day, but I want us to focus in as we look at those verses on Joseph and Mary and think about what it was like for them as they made their way from Nazareth down to Bethlehem, and having the baby born there.
And so just to help us, let's put this down for point number one: “Put yourself in their sandals.” What was it really like for them? And what we know is that times were hard in Israel and times were hard for Joseph and Mary. They were living under Roman rule. I mean, the fact that they have to comply to a decree given by Caesar Augustus reminds us of that fact that they're living under Roman rule. They're in Israel, and the Jews hated Rome. And they hated the rule over them. There were in fact, some people in Israel at that time, they were known as the Zealots. Today, we would call them terrorists. These men had it as their mission to assassinate key Roman leaders. That was their business. They had the business of assassinating Roman leaders, they were known as the Zealots, or terrorists. But what we know is that one of them was converted and became a disciple of Christ. Do you remember his name? Simon, the Zealot. When you read the list of Jesus's disciples, look for that guy. And think, Simon, the terrorist. That's how much they hated and despised Roman rule over them. The Romans were Gentiles. And the Roman taxation of them was oppressive. And you can pick that up, read through the Gospels, about how they were taxed every which way you could imagine. And tax collectors were particularly hated. The whole system was oppressive. And that's why when you understand that you can understand certain things that we read in the New Testament, for example, in Matthew 5:41, Jesus says, “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” That's not just like a hypothetical, hey, someday, this might happen to you, you might want to consider this. No, that's what was happening. Roman soldiers had the authority to tell you to do anything they wanted you to do for up to a mile.
And so, this was what was really happening. Jesus is talking about a real situation, that's the kind of oppression they live down there. That's why when you get to Matthew 27, they can pull this man Simon of Cyrene out of the crowd and make him carry Jesus' cross. Because they had the authority to do that. And that's what was happening. That's the kind of conditions they're living under. That kind of reminds me of the country of Uganda, in Africa back in the 70s, under a man named Idi Amin. Some of you might remember, some of you older people like me might remember that. When I was in Uganda, one time, I was talking to some pastors who are older, like me, who were around during that time, and they told me what it was like, and they said, yeah, when the army rolled into town, it was not a welcomed sight. Because the men in the army, they could tell you to do anything, anytime, anywhere. That's the kind of conditions they were living in, in Israel at this time. But this order is given, and Joseph and Mary comply, they go down to Bethlehem because Joseph is of the family of David, the line of David. They go down there, and they do it because Joseph was a righteous man, and he's doing what's right. But in all of this, we see God's marvelous providence. We see God using all the events of this world. People are making their own decisions, but yet, he's orchestrating all of it in his sovereignty and his power, to fulfill his purposes perfectly, because this decree, which is just made for their own purposes, for Rome's own purposes, gets Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, which is the place where God had said the baby would be born. That's the prophecy of Micah 5:2. And so Caesar’s not thinking, hey, guys, there's this prophecy we need to make sure it gets fulfilled. We’ve got to get Joseph and Mary down to Bethlehem. That's not what he's thinking. But that's what God's thinking. And so even in these conditions, you see God at work, orchestrating all things for the fulfilling of all of his purposes. But also, it says at the beginning of verse 1 there it says, “In those days,” what days are we talking about? All you have to do is go back to Luke 1:5, that we're told that this all happened in the days of Herod, king of Judea. And so, Rome rules overall, but they have this local guy, Herod, and he's kind of ruling there in Israel. He's kind of a vassal king under the Romans. So really serving them there as he rules in Israel. And this is the Herod, he's known as Herod the Great. You read about a number of Herods in the New Testament; this one was Herod the Great. And he was great in many ways. In fact, you can go to Israel today, and see the ruins of buildings and structures that Herod had built. In his day, 2000 years ago, he was a great builder, that was one way in which he was great. But he also had a great ego. And he was extremely vicious, very jealous, and he wouldn't hesitate to kill somebody if he thought it was to his benefit. And I'll spare you all the details of all the people he had killed. But you will remember that he's the king of we'll have all the little boys in Bethlehem put to death that you read about in Matthew 2, this is the guy. So, these times that they're living in, they're not easy times. And neither were their circumstances. Look again at verse 4, and 5, where it says, “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, in the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.”
And so, here's their circumstances, they’re betrothed, which means they're not formally and finally married, yet. They're on their way to being married. But they're not married yet. And Mary is obviously pregnant. So today, we would refer to this as an unwed pregnancy. And so, you can think about the questions that might have been asked, the ridicule that might have been thrown her way, that gossip that might have been spread. And this might explain why there was no room in the inn, because they were rejected. But you’ve got to think what could Mary and Joseph, what could they tell people when they ask questions about this, when somebody asked Mary, hey, what's the deal? How come? You're not married, but you're pregnant? What what's going on here? What is she supposed to say? Hey, I'm really glad you asked because Gabriel, the angel came to me one night, and he told me that, you know, this miracle is going to happen. The Holy Spirit of power, the Spirit of God is going to come upon me. And I'm going to be supernaturally made pregnant, and I'm going to give birth to the Savior. Hey, everybody, this is good news. I don't think she's telling people that because what would people respond to that? So, think about her situation, put yourself in her sandals at that time. And oh, by the way, this trip from Nazareth down to Bethlehem, it's a 90-mile trip. So that might not sound like a big deal to you, but you’ve got to think about, well, how did they make that trip? They just jump in the minivan and go down the freeway. No! Most likely they walked, or you know, I mean, if you believe Christmas cards, she might have been riding a donkey. I don't know that that's much better than walking, especially if you're pregnant. But anyways, they make it down there. They probably traveled down the Jordan River Valley, because that would have been the easiest way to go. And then you get to Jericho, and you make a right turn and go up to Jerusalem and then just a few more miles over to Bethlehem. But it sounds easy when you read it in the Bible that they went up to Jerusalem, but when you're in Jericho and you're looking at the direction of Jerusalem, you're looking up the side of a mountain. It's not an easy trip from Jericho up to Jerusalem. It's a 15-mile trip. And there's an elevation change of 3400 feet. Because Jericho is 900 feet below sea level, it's on by the Dead Sea. And Jerusalem is up at 2500 feet. So, this is at the end of your trip that you're hiking up to Jerusalem. So that's the kind of trip that they had to make.
So, they're living under the oppression of Rome. They got this madman Herod ruling. They're in Jerusalem. They have to make this trip from Nazareth down to Bethlehem and she's pregnant. And they're not married. And then she gives birth to the baby. And there was a lot of discussion about the circumstances of the birth. Was it in a barn? Was it in a cave? Where did this all happen? We don't know for sure. But one thing we do know for sure is that when he was born, he was laid in a manger. And that's an animal feeding trough. So that's their situation, if you want to get inside their sandals and think about what it was like, at that time. There was no fanfare at his birth, no lights, no angels, no nothing, nothing sentimental, nothing Hallmark movie worthy. It's a pretty gritty story. And this is how the Son of God came into the world. So, if you're thinking that your Christmas is a little rough, you might do well to meditate on the circumstances of Christ's birth. And it's not really even the birth, that is the main issue. The issue is who's being born and why is he being born. And Joseph and Mary, they knew who this child was, and they knew why he was coming into the world. Let me just remind you of the information that they had received.
Go back to Matthew chapter 1, and we'll see how Joseph was informed. Matthew 1:18-22. Where it says “Now the birth of Jesus Christ[e] took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.” Now we have a quote from Isaiah 7:14. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means God with us.) When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name, Jesus. So, Joseph is told who the child is, and why he's coming into the world. And he believed, he believed what he was told, and he acted on that belief. So good how Mary was informed in Luke chapter 1. How did she know what was going on? Luke 1:26-38 says that “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, oh, favorite one, the Lord is with you. And she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, he will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be since I'm a virgin?’ The angel answered, ‘the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth, in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren, for nothing will be impossible with God.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, that it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.
So here she received this information about who the child is. He's the promised Messiah, the promised Son of David. He's going to be called the Son of God. And this is how it's going to happen. And here's why he comes. So, they know this information as they're going through all of this. The traveling, the giving birth to the baby, they know all of this. And despite their difficult circumstances, this news of who's being born and why he's coming, well, that has to be good enough. It has to be good enough for them. In those circumstances, that doesn't matter how bad things are. This is the Savior of the world coming to us, and he's going to save us from our sins. Now, that's got to be good enough to help you overcome your circumstances. Here's the thing we need to keep in mind. Christmas is not about you. It's about Jesus Christ. And we would do well, I think it would help us in our celebration of Christmas, if we kept that front and center.
Now, there were some fireworks and some fanfare at the time of the birth, but it was not where you would think it would be. Outside of Bethlehem. There's a place that we call today, the Shepherds’ Field. And there, some shepherds received a visit from some angels, and they received an official birth announcement. Let's look at it in verses Luke 2:8-14. It says, “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 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!.’”
So, as we think about Christmas, think about Christ's birth. We not only want to remember what it was like for Joseph and Mary and walk in their sandals, but we need to think accurately about angels. Think accurately about angels. There is an awful lot of just plain wrong thinking about angels. In our world people believe that when a person dies, they become an angel. Have you heard that one? And when a bell rings, they get wings. And they have names like Clarence; that's not what the Bible teaches. To take a look at what it says there that when the angel appeared in verse 9, one angel, the Lord appeared and the glory of the Lord shown around them, they were filled with great fear, mega fear. They are filled with it; they are overwhelmed with fear they are overcome with fear. That is the normal reaction to a real angel. And it does say that the glory of the Lord shown around them, like glory of the Lord is an expression that would refer to a visible display of God's presence. It's like the cloud that that led the children of Israel out of Egypt and all the way to Israel. It's like the cloud that showed up when they dedicated the tabernacle, and then again at the temple. It’s very possible that this glory of the Lord was what we call the star that led the magi to where Christ was born. But this one angel shows up, and they are struck with fear. And like I said, That's the normal reaction. Just go back to Luke 1. We read about Zachariah, who becomes the father of John the Baptist, and he's a priest and he's in the temple doing his normal duties as a priest. And we're told in verse 11 that “there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense,” Presenting the incense in the temple, doing his priestly duties, and an angel appears. And Zachariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. Again, that's just a picture of being totally overwhelmed by fear at the sight of an angel. And we saw Mary's react when Gabriel appeared to her, it says in Luke 1:29, “she was greatly troubled.” And then in verse 30, when the angel addresses her, he says, “’Do not be afraid.’” Why does he say that? Because she is afraid. I mean, that's like the standard opening line for angels, hey, don't be afraid. That's what it's like for when the angels show up. And you might remember even the account in Matthew 28, at the tomb of Jesus, and there's Roman soldiers that are guarding the tomb, and an angel appears and rolls away the stone. What did those soldiers do? They fell down like dead men, they just flat out fainted right there. And these are soldiers. I mean, they're prepared for combat. One angel shows up and they faint flat out. That's the way it is today. You know, angels are often portrayed as kind of, you know, chubby, happy little guys or, or they're kind of feminine, and they're given wings, and they're playing instruments, you won't see any of that in the Bible. The reality is that they appear fierce and awesome. And they strike deadly fear into the hearts of people who see them.
And these are the creatures that God used to bring this birth announcement to the shepherds. And the word that we translate Angel, angelus, is also the word for a messenger. And that's often what you see angels doing. They're bringing messages. And this angel was sent with a message of good news. It's good news. He says, “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 was Christ the Lord.” This is the good news that he brings, good news of a savior, but one is coming who can save you from God's wrath, the one who is coming, who can save you, from slavery to sin, is not coming to promise you a happy fulfilling life. But he is going to give you eternal life and a new life. That's what he's coming to save you and the one coming is Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Promised One, he is the savior, and he is the Lord. The one who has come to save sinners is here. That's the who and the why of Christmas. Who was it? Christ the Lord? Why did he come? To save. That's what we need to focus on at Christmas time. Not all the other stuff, but on who it was that was born and why it was that he came. The message, the messenger, the angel, he essentially brings the gospel to those shepherds. And the fact that it's good news for all the people is highlighted by the fact that it is brought to shepherds,. Shepherds in that day were on the lowest level of social standings. Shepherds had a bad reputation. See, we've romanticized shepherds, too. They had a bad reputation, they were known as thieves. Nobody was happy when a bunch of shepherds came into town, because probably something from your store is going to be missing when they would leave town. They were thieves. And they could not give testimony in court because nobody would believe them. And even though these shepherds outside the city of Bethlehem and not far from Jerusalem, we're probably raising the sheep that we're going to be used for sacrifices up at the temple. They're too busy doing what they're doing to be able to participate in that. And nobody would let a shepherd into their synagogue. They were outcasts. And so, this highlights the fact that this is good news for all people. And it reminds us that there aren't many mighty, or many noble, many famous that gets saved. God's saving the lowly, normal people, and that's like good news for all of us. Because I'm looking at a bunch of normal people here. And that's good news that he came to save people even like us. There was absolutely nothing that the shepherds would have done to deserve getting this announcement. That's just a demonstration of how good this good news really is.
And then we're told after they get this announcement, Luke 2:13, that “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude Have the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’” Some people to this, this scene here gets distorted to some people have described this, like, an angelic choir shows up, you know, and they're all wearing choir robes, and they look nice. They're smiling. And maybe they look like the kids’ choir that we had last week, real cute and all that. But there's one word in here that points us in a totally different direction. And it is the word host, a multitude of the heavenly host. That word host is a military term. It means an army. That's what it's talking about. So, you have an angelic army show up. And in the Bible, that's the way you see angels, whether they're good angels, or fallen angels, or demons, they are always organized, they're always talked about as being organized in military fashion. For example, in Mark chapter 5, Jesus encounters the man who's demon-possessed, and remember, he casts the demons out and they go into a herd of pigs, and they all run down the hill and drown in the sea of Galilee. How many? How many demons were there? A legion. That's a military term, talks about five 6000 troops. And so, this is a host, this is an army, broken down into legions. And in fact, in Matthew chapter 26, when Jesus is on trial, and he's willingly going along with all of this, because he's come to lay down his life for us. He makes it known that things could be very different if he wanted it to be, because he says at any moment, I could call and have 12 legions of angels show up. Anytime I want to, I can call my army. And they'll come up and they can do some damage. You might remember the Old Testament about the story about the one angel, who in one night, killed 185,000 Assyrians. How much damage can 12 legions do? I think that this all adds to the seriousness of the situation. In fact, it's been suggested that verse 14, there is really kind of a, like a Hail to the Chief, our King has been born and we're here to praise him. And they announced peace, peace among those with whom he is pleased. And peace is a big thing that's talked about it at Christmas time, you'll hear that word used a lot. Like, isn't it great that we can all have peace? Let's all just get a Big Mac and a coke and stand around the tree and sing some Christmas songs. And we'll just have a great time of peace. But this peace is kind of a limited offer, isn't it? It's those with whom he is pleased or those with on whom his favor rests, or those to whom he has extended grace. In other words, those who have bowed their knee to his rule. That's what it's referring to here, those who have stopped fighting against him.
I mean, we have to realize that the Bible teaches that we all come into the world as enemies of God, we all come into the world with the sin nature that is hostile towards God. But what's being told to us here is that God offers peace. He offers terms of peace: you come to me through my son, I'll give you peace. He's offering terms of peace, and those who have turned from their hostility towards God, those who have bowed the knee to Christ, and committed themselves to him, they know peace, they know peace with God. And that just reminds us that there's no peace for those who fight against God. And these angels who gave this announcement of peace will come with Christ when he returns, to execute judgment on those who did not believe, those who would not accept the terms of peace that God so graciously offered. In fact, that kind of tells you that God wants people to have peace with him. He sent the Savior so they could, but many people are going to reject that. And so, when the apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1 he's writing to a group of people who are being persecuted in this world. He's writing to encourage them and, and he says these words to him in 2 Thessalonians 1, starting in verse 5-7. He says, “This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us.” Or when is this judgment going to happen? Well, it says there at the end of 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8, “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
So, he's offering peace, He sends angels to announce the offer of peace, the terms of peace, and those same angels will be used to bring judgment on those who reject those terms. And so, at Christmas time, as you think about that, and you think about angels, one legitimate question to ask is, which side of the line are you on? Have you accepted the terms of peace? Are you still fighting against God? I think understanding this view of angels might radically change the way you view the events of that first Christmas, there's nothing comfy cozy about any of this. There's nothing light and breezy about it. This is Christ, the Lord coming into the world. And his arrival is announced by an army of angels, his army of angels. Well, that kind of sets the whole scene here talks about Joseph and Mary, getting to Bethlehem, the baby being born, the angels appearing to the shepherds, there's just one last thing you have to do to that: you have to respond to the truth.
Put that down for number three: “Respond to the truth.” And the shepherds provided an example for all of us. This is how to respond to the birth of Christ. Look again at Luke 2:15-16 where it says, “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, here they get this message from the angel, they hear the army of angels declaring glory to God, and they believed. That's the starting point for how to respond to this news, this truth, that God sent his Son into the world to be a savior, it's to believe they believed what they heard. In fact, they believe that they had received a revelation from God. They said, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us, that we received a message from God.” And they're believing it. They are believing it. And they're believing the content of what's been told them, because they say, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened. We've been told about this thing that happened up in Bethlehem, let's go see it. They believe that it really happened. So, they believe that God has spoken to them, and they believe what he says. They go up to see what God has told them about it. And they're in a hurry to do that. It says in verse 16, “they went with haste.” They were in a hurry to obey. And that's another mark of somebody who responds in the right way. You believe that God has spoken, you believe what he says, and you obey in a hurry. I mean, the very fact that they were told that this will be a sign for you implies that you need to go see it. And that's exactly what they did. They obeyed as a mark of real faith. And now you might think, yeah, sure. angels told them this, of course, they believed. Is that how it works? Why don't we get more angels to show up and start telling people? Then just because people receive a revelation from God doesn't mean that they're going to automatically believe it and act on it. In fact, the response of the shepherds, the least likely, is in stark contrast to the religious leaders, the most likely, but let's see their response when this news comes to them. In Matthew 2:1, so another familiar part of the Christmas story that we talk about at this time of the year. And some of you might have little nativity scenes, little maybe wooden nativity scenes or maybe made out of some other substance up in your houses right now, do you have that? Do you have three wise men, we put them far away, because they weren't there when it happened. They showed up later. Just you know, just trying to help you with your decorations. Says now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men or magi from the east came to Jerusalem saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. So, these Magi show up. These are significant people, these are kingmakers these Magi, and they show up and say, hey, the new king of Israel has been born.” Well, that troubles Herod because he's thinking, hey, I'm the king. What's this new king, so that troubles him and he's extremely jealous. And it says he was troubled. It also says all Jerusalem was troubled with him. Because the people in Jerusalem, they knew that hey, Herod is troubled about something, something bad is about to happen, this maniac, who knows what he's going to do when he gets troubled, we better head for cover. And so, everybody's troubled because Herod is troubled at this news. But apparently, Herod had some kind of idea about a promised coming king. And so, it says in verse 4, that he assembled all the chief priests and the scribes of the people and inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. He knows something about the story. He doesn't know the details. So, let's call in the religious leaders, and get the details.
And so, hey, where's the Christ to be born? And they told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet. Now they quote, Micah 5:2, and “you, O Bethlehem” in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for “from you shall come” a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. So, there's the message of these men, these significant men. Come and give this news that, hey, we heard that the king has been born, we've come to see him, we’ve come to worship him. And Herod is troubled by that. But he knows that he's heard something about this. And now the religious leaders confirm yeah, he's going to be born in Bethlehem, just down the road here. So how many of them got up in haste and went down to Bethlehem to check it out? How many of these religious leaders who know the Bible who know the story, how many of them hotfooted it down to Bethlehem? Well, according to the Bible, we don't know that any of them did. The Magi did because they believed the revelation from God, but not the religious leaders. And I think that that might be true of many people today, who they know the story, they can tell you all the details. They've heard about Christ's birth. They've heard it many, many times. But they've yet to respond in the kind of faith that the shepherd showed that they know, they know the right answers, but they don't have a passion for the person, the one who is born. But he came to save, and to not to respond in believing faith, to not accept the terms of peace that God is offering, is to totally miss Christmas. No matter how many billions of dollars you spend. Faith of the shepherds that respond, not only did they believe what they were told, they went and confirmed it they acted in obedience. But then look at verses 17 through 19, to see what they did, what they did next. That it says “when they saw it,” when they saw the manger, they saw all the things that were told them, “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 here's another sign of true belief, true faith. This is the way to respond to this good news is they're making it known. They're telling anybody and everybody about what has been told them that some wondered at what they said, some pondered, but the shepherds, they're just making it known. That's what true believers do. This is good news of great joy. People need to hear it. People should hear it. We need to give it out to people, the shepherds couldn't help but tell everyone what they had seen and heard. That's what real believers do. And we saw that there going through the book of Acts. You see how true believers respond. And in fact, when you get to Acts, chapter 4, Peter and John have been arrested, they've been brought before these religious leaders. And they're told, hey, you need to shut this thing down. We don't want you talking about this Jesus anymore to anybody. And here's their response, verse 19, Peter and John answered them, “whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” You're asking us to do something we can't do. We can't stop talking about what we have seen and heard. We can't stop telling people the good news of great joy. People need to hear it. Well, the leaders tried every other way they could to try to shut this thing down. And so then eventually, they just started killing people. And you get to chapter 8, this is right after they've killed Stephen, the first martyr. And so, because of that, now, the Christians in Jerusalem start scattering out to other areas. And we're told in Acts chapter eight, verse four, now those who were scattered, went to a nice safe place where there was a Republican governor. Oh, I'm sorry, that's not what it says. It says, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” You can chase us out of here, we're still going to whoever we run into, we're going to tell this good news of great joy. They're not interested in their own safety. They just want to get this news out. And you know, there is plenty of bad news in our world. Amen. Let's not pile on with the bad news. Let's start spreading the good news of great joy. Let's take advantage of opportunities, we have to tell people the good news. Well, so they believe; they act on their belief. They're telling everybody what they have seen and heard, they're making it known. There's one last thing that these shepherds do that kind of direct us and how the right way to respond to the fact that Christ was born. And it's in verse 20. It says, “And the shepherd's returned, glorifying and praising God, for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” Based on what they had been told, they are now characterized by glorifying and praising God. That's another mark of a true believer of a belief that God has spoken to them. They believe what God has said to them in what he's revealed to them in the Word. They act on that, they obey, they tell others about this, the Savior, and they are busy glorifying and praising God. But there's one little statement there at the beginning of verse 20, says, “And the shepherds returned,” where did they return to? Well, let me tell you where they didn't return to, they didn't return to a nice home with a fire in the fireplace, and then return to a nice home where Christmas music was playing. They didn't return to a brightly lit, well ornamented tree with gifts under it. They didn't go home to have a nice big special meal of all their favorite foods and go home to exchange gifts with one another. Where did they return to or where did they come from? They came from the field with their sheep. That's where they went back to. But they go back. They're praising God because of what God has revealed to them.
In 2 Corinthians 9:15, we just read this last week in Scripture the day. Jesus is referred to as the inexpressible gift or the “inexpressible gift.” If you have that gift, what other gift could be better than that? If you have that gift, you have plenty to praise and glorify God over, doesn't matter what else is going on. This is what matters. This is what matters. I think that too often, even in the church, we live like this life is all there is. And how I feel is the very most important thing. And my circumstances, they all have to be favorable for me to be happy. And even our celebrations of Christ's birth, it has to have all of the earthly elements we want, or we won't be satisfied. It seems like sometimes the gift of God's son just isn't enough. And if that's the case, then what makes our celebration of Christmas any different than the chief priests and the scribes? So, I'm encouraging you this Christmas season to think about Christ's birth, to really think about it and think about what the Bible says. And I'm asking you, will you respond to the birth of Christ like the shepherds did? Will you really believe what God has revealed to you? Will you make this good news known to other people? Will you glorify and praise God for sending his Son into the world, no matter what your circumstances might be like? Because if you have this indescribable gift of Jesus Christ, you have a new life, you have eternal life. And no matter what happens here, you are going to heaven. And you just need to remember, it's not heaven until heaven. You're not going to create heaven here. No matter how many billions of dollars you want to spend. Are we going to glorify and praise God no matter what, because we have this indescribable gift. I'm encouraging you to really think about Christ's birth. Let's pray.
Father, we are thankful that we have your word to turn to that tells us the truth. And Lord, I am thankful for this opportunity that we had today, just in this short period of time to think about what your Word tells us about Christ's birth, tells us the truth, it reveals to us what really happened. And it points us to what really matters. It's all about who was born and why he was born. And if we respond to that, if we accept the peace that you offered us through him, then we can have a life that's filled with joy, and hope, and real peace. So, Father, we thank you for this opportunity we've had to study your work together. We thank you for how good you are in sending your son into this world to be our Savior. And Lord, I pray for us as individuals and us as a church, that you will help us to tell everybody this good news of great joy. I pray that that might be the big thing that characterizes our celebration of Christmas this year, that we want everybody to know this good news will go everywhere, will tell anybody this good news and even as we think about the men of our church who have been up on the mountain, studying the good news and thinking about the grace of God and how that works in our lives. Lord, I pray that we would go to the highest mountains and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. As the song reminds us, we want to go tell it on the mountain. We want everybody to hear this good news. So, Lord, we are thankful for today. I pray Lord, that this year as we think about and celebrate the birth of Christ, that this year would be significant for all of us. Because we're going to think carefully about what it means that Christ came into the world. So, we give you thanks in his name, and we give you thanks for your goodness to us in your church. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.