Thank you, Carl. We've already read our, part of our scripture text for this morning in the responsive reading Just to remind you that that is part of our text for this morning. I'm going to pick up reading the rest of our text in Luke 2 Starting with verse 15 We read through verse 14 already together and it came about when the angels had gone away from them and to heaven that the shepherds began saying to one another Let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing which has happened Which the Lord has made known to us And they came in haste and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as he lay in the manger and When they had seen this they made known the statement which had been told them about this child And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds But Mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart And the shepherds went back Glorifying and phrasing God for all that they had heard and seen just as had been told them Let's pray Follow we do ask that you would help us to understand the eternal weight of these words So that we may see ourselves in light of your glory your Eternality That we also might see it through the baby in the manger. I Pray you would help me to know nothing but Jesus and him crucified Into that end we pray in his name. I'm in
tell me What is your Favorite present-guessing strategy are you a shaped person? Our size Do you shape your presence to find out what's in them?
Sometimes you can tell from the wrapping paper There's a certain store brand on it for instance My favorite strategy is the tissue paper strategy If I get a present wrapped in tissue paper and the person who wrapped it was a little bit frugal and wrapping it I'll press the paper against the box and see if I can see a name brand peeking through The right kind of wrapping can give you a clue to a present To what the present contains This morning I want us to look at What the shepherds received as their Christmas present? And to see if we might find some clues from their gift What the gift of God to us is and the wrapping is going to be very important in the end? The first thing I want us to notice about these verses we read this morning is the message that came to the shepherds The message is simply this it's good news. That's what gospel means. It means good news and The preach the gospel was actually redundant phrase because the preach itself in the New Testament means to declare good news But it's good news to produce a certain effect the angels say the angel of the Lord said good news of great joy Whatever it was about was to supposed to produce a certain kind of response a joyful response in those who heard it and It has a certain scope this message does it's for all the people That's what the angel said to the shepherds good news of great joy for all the people Now we know from later on in this chapter all the people doesn't need everybody except for the good news with joy Timian said this child will be the rise in the fall the cause of the rise and fall of many in Israel We even see in verse 14 that this good news is not responded to with joy by all the people The more modern translations will reflect better I think what that verse says the angels cry in head from heaven glory to God in the highest and on earth Peace among men with whom God is pleased It's not good will to everybody. It's God's peace to those with whom he is pleased That's the good news. That's the message the shepherds received and because it was the message of peace God confirmed it So that they could act upon it. He confirmed it with a sign. He said This will be the sign Go to the manger in the city of David you'll find there are baby wrapped in swineling cloths And the sign is not for the baby was wrapped in swineling cloths because all babies are wrapped in swineling cloths But that they would find a baby in a manger exactly where they ship the the angel of the Lord told in they would find them So God confirmed his word to the shepherds with this sign and Therefore they could be confident and they could tell the whole world about it How has God confirmed this word to us? Well? we When we first started dropping Rachel off at childcare for our babysitters things like that we used to teach her a song It was a song from one of her her video tapes and I'm not gonna sing it
Because there's always a music critic in the house But the words where my mommy comes back my mommy comes back. She always comes back to get me And there's a second verse to make it a little more politically correct my daddy comes back And it was a song of confidence about how no matter where mommy or daddy dropped me off I the thing I should always remember is that they're gonna come and pick me up at some point and So she could be confident when she stayed at the babysitter or at nursery at church But is that what God does here is that the confidence he gives to his message of peace He does more than that more than promising that he would come back He comes and joins himself to them You see God had always cared about his world since men and women rebelled against him since we Control of the world to ourselves God had always cared about and he'd always promised to do something about it But at Christmas God did something he had never done before he joined his world. He became a part of it Because when the Christ the Lord the Savior that is talked about here this divine son of God comes and is born in the flesh He joins the world he becomes part of it so that now God is not only assured us by his word that he will bring peace But that he has made himself so much a part of it that there is no question in our minds The good news of great joy for all kinds of people from shepherds on up to kings Is confirmed by God's word and by God's deed That was the message these shepherds received What was their response to it? Well the first thing they did was rush out it says they hurried and they sought after the sign which God gave and When they founded they told everybody what they heard Mary pondered other people were amazed but all knew that this was something that God had done We should look at the shepherds response as a model for our own response when you're thinking about your Christmas gifts You're thinking about giving your Christmas gifts too. I know and you're hoping that the people you give them to will find them acceptable Now there are three basic looks that appear on the face of a person who opens a gift There's the I've always wanted this and finally you got the hint and bought it for me look Which is a very happy look There is the well I hadn't thought of that before but I actually like it look and then there is the I wonder who I can give this to next year look. We know that gifts meet with a variety of responses Friend of mine is a pastor in Glasgow. He said the one thing he coveted since he's a pastor. He only gets one covet The one thing he coveted is a less Paul Gibson Custom made guitar He says in in the UK that'll sell for about 3,700 pounds about $10,000 give or take and of course they'll never be able to buy that But he reads the want ads anyway, and he was looking in the one ads one day and he saw in the paper a less Paul Gives him get to custom made guitar list price 3,700 pounds and the next line he read amazed him Will take 500 pounds About $1,200 and he wondered to himself whoop What could cost somebody to be willing to take 500 pounds and the last phrase in the ad explained it to him unwanted gift and that explains a lot about Christmas not just gifts we put under the tree But this gift of peace this gift of good news of great joy for all the people is the most unwanted gift ever given at Christmas And you can judge a person's reception or rejection of this gift by how they respond with great joy hurriedly telling all the people around them about what's involved about what God has done or
simply thinking about other gifts they wish they had you know when people are amazed as it says in Verse 18 of these this passage when people are amazed and looks gospel. It's not always a good thing Some people are amazed just simply because they were impressed with the outward form of events like when Jesus does miracles They say that's pretty impressive the same way they react to David Copperfield for instance But those people didn't go away and Jesus said about those people he said the queen of Shiba and The Ninevites will sit in judgment upon this generation because someone greater than Solomon and someone greater than Jonah is here See people who don't recognize what's in the package don't respond with joy to the gift and they don't tell others They made known the content of the vision and that's what people who loved their Christmas gift from God do every year They they open this package again. We remind ourselves of what was involved of how high God was before he came in the flesh and how low he went and We look at how the manger points forward to the cross and we preach the gospel to ourselves again every Christmas and It's great joy for those of us who have received this message with gladness But for those who reject the gift of peace There remains the state of war between them and God. I'm going to talk to you tonight more about peace with God But notice how the response measures the reception of the gift so the message was a Pledge of peace. It was a good news of great joy for all the people and the responses vary But the ultimate response is not only to rejoice but to tell others about it as well But what is most amazing about this story is the venue from which the message comes because that makes the message and the response even more vivid for us The venue from which this message comes in verse nine were told that the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and he was Surrounded by the glory of the Lord We're also told in verse 13 that there was a Heavenly host that appeared and What you find here is if you know your old testament background to this passage is that there's a certain place being revealed to these Shepherds the place being revealed to these shepherds in this vision of angels is the place where God sits on his throne a place we call the glory of God We sit throughout the Old Testament in Isaiah chapter six. I said he was in the temple and His vision his hit the temple was transformed before his eyes and he saw the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple and there were angels flying all around singing holy holy holy That was a peak a peak into the glory of God a peak into the throne room of God Moses when he went up on the mountain the mountain was surrounded by fire Vailing from the side of the Israelites what Moses saw but where Moses went was into the fiery cloud presence of God to receive orders and throughout the Old Testaments whenever prophets are sent by God God first introduces them into his royal throne room Gives them his word and then sends them out to proclaim it But what is mind-boggling here is that the glory of God the throne room presence of God where angels Upon angels attend to God that throne room is open to mere shepherds It's evidence that this is for all the people the glory of God is no longer going to be Sealed up behind the clouds of heaven nor veiled behind the veil of the temple But the glory of God is being opened up like a showroom For the all the people We know Moving forward in the gospel of Luke that this was the place where Jesus stood in the presence of Elijah and Moses on the mount of transfiguration We know this is the place where Stephen saw into as he was being stoned We know this is the place that we will see one day if we have faith in Christ We will see heaven open and the Son of man descending and angels in his Train and us joining them and we'll participate in the vision of revelation four and five where there is the great God seated upon the throne the lamb standing as a slain the The 24 elders the angels seeing day and night the song of Moses and of the lamb This is the place that was opened to the shepherds at Christmas time It no longer stood behind a closed veil behind the clouds of heaven But came to be manifested to be shown to all people You remember in the Wizard of Wizard to get help with their various dilemmas and When they walked in to the inner sanctum they saw the fire boiling up from the altar and the The frightening visage of the wizard's face appearing before them and and and thundering at them so that they they coward back and From that that Visage they were giving in the given instructions and they went out and they did what they were supposed to do they got the witches broom But do you remember how disappointed they were when they came back to present their broom as They were standing before this fiery presence being denied once again Little Toto pulled back the curtain and if you remember the booming voice cried out paying no attention to the man behind the curtain And what they found out was the great Wizard of Oz the terrible Wizard of Oz was simply a weak cowardly man And the lesson in the end was everything they needed to solve their problems Was already within themselves and the Wizard himself was a farce But here we see haven't opened we see the glory of God opened to mere shepherds and We realize That all we need lays not lay not in ourselves But lay in a manger Because the God of glory Took a place in a manger in diapers John said it this way this is all Luke is saying it's the verse on the front of your bulletin The word became flesh and dwelt among us and We beheld his glory Gory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth This is simply Luke's version of telling us the same thing that the glory of heaven has now taken up the home in human nature The glory of heaven was the accustomed home of Christ. It's the place where he lived and For the sake of the message of peace the good news of great joy He took up on he took up on himself a home like we live in a 10th that will wither in decay a tent that grows hungry and sleepy and tired And you see the response of the shepherds to this the shepherds become angels If you look at verse 20 it said the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen Just as had been told them Before we were told that the angels were glorifying and praising God from the throne of heaven and now the shepherds go from the throne Which is the manger to do the same thing Seeing the glory of God produces in God's children glorifying God We joined this heavenly army We joined this angel of the Lord and ascribing to God all the glory to his name that Is seen in his glorious throne in heaven that was his amplified beyond measure in his taking upon the form of a baby The message is a message of good news of Great joy because it means peace between God and his people and The response is joy and and haste to tell others about it But what makes a joy in the haste even greater is That this message is not simply from the glory of heaven. It is the glory of heaven a
Year ago this time we were expecting a second child and Vicki and I were just talking night before last about Now that Sam's four months old how how Can't even imagine before a baby's born what they'll become and and a baby I realized the baby is like a package that's being gradually opened and you can't put the paper back on by the way But a year ago we didn't know Sam and now Well, we've had some ugly scenes trying to get him away from the nursery workers in the nursery. They want to take him home
Babies are gradually opening packages except for this baby This baby was the glory of God But he was the glory of God wrapped in human flesh and in this case the package Tells us everything about the gift Because it tells us what Paul tells us in Philippians 2 that though he existed in the form of God He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped But instead and he'd himself and took up on the form of a servant to the point of death even death on the cross And therefore God has highly exalted him God has glorified Christ for what he did at Christmas and he is now And the object of our worship and praise one that we should glorify for we'll see him one day and all his glory The king of kings The Lord of lords and the book of Revelation tells us that the kings of the earth will bring their glory to it Brothers and sisters, I charge you in light of the package of the Christ child the incarnation To bring the glory to his name in all that you do Whether you eat or drink do all to the glory of God. Let's pray our father. We do pray. We pray the prayer of Solomon The thine oh Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty Indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth Yours is the dominion Lord and you do exalt yourself as head overall and We glorify you and praise you most this day father for sending the son Not in the glory of the conquering king But in the humble wrappings of a servant we pray in his name