I’m not sure—but I believe the film that FIRST put Steven Spielberg on the map, so to speak, was: Close Encounters of the Third Kind. How many of you remember it’s debut? I went to see it with some of my college buddies and I remember that we were very impressed with the special effects, because they were of a caliber that we had never seen in a movie before.
You may recall that the PLOT of the film was built around the arrival of space ships from a distant planet somewhere in our galaxy. When these UFO’s first showed up, somewhere out in the Midwest, there were power outages all over and Richard Dryfuss, who played the role of a utility company worker was called in to help. But, almost as soon as he arrived at the office his superiors sent him back out on the road to discover exactly WHERE the power drain was originating.
Do you remember that scene where he was driving around in the dark on back roads in his utility truck and he got lost—so he stopped at a railroad crossing and unfolded his map to figure out where he was? When he did, headlights pulled up behind him and he waved the car around but instead of going around, the lights went OVER his utility truck…for it wasn’t a car after all. It was one of those UFO’s. And, as the ship hovered overhead, his radio went haywire…the truck started shaking, anything metallic flew all over the place, the cab was filled with a bright light—then suddenly it all stopped—and when Dryfuss looked out the window he saw the space ship overhead…covered with lights. When it flew off, he followed it to a hill where others had gathered to watch as several of these amazing ships flew all over the place.
Well from then on he was obsessed with what he had seen….and for some reason he couldn’t get one image out of his mind: an odd shape…sort of a mountain, shaped like a volcano. He sculpted the shape in his pillow, then in the mashed potatoes he was having for dinner, and finally he built a huge, near life-sized replica in his living room. At this point his obsessive behavior became too much for his wife so she took their children and left, but even that couldn’t shock him out of his fixation with this mountain. He finally discovered that what he had been sculpting was an actual mountain in Wyoming known as Devil’s Tower. When he made this discovery his fixation gave way to an irresistible URGE to get to this mountain, so he set off—and he was not alone. Dozens of people who had seen the alien ships that night had the same urge. Well, it turned out that this “urge” was actually a subliminal SUMMONS somehow broadcast by the aliens….an INVITATION to meet them at this location—this mountain—in Wyoming. Dryfuss and some of these people ignored government barricades and headed off cross country in an attempt to get to Devil’s Tower…but only Dryfuss actually made it. When he did it was amazing. He saw the huge mother ship—bigger than many cities, covered with pulsating lights and lasers….and what’s more, he actually met the aliens who piloted it…the same ones who had issued his invitation to come in the first place.
I dredge up this old movie memory because…there is a sense in which 2000 years ago something like the plot in Spielberg’s fictitious film actually happened. You see, twenty centuries ago a group of people did in fact receive a special invitation, heralding the visit to earth of a Being Who was beyond time and space. But the invitation these men received led to a FAR more significant ENCOUNTER than that of Dryfuss’ character. You see, their invitation was not merely from some alien people of another planet. No, theirs came from the very God of the universe Himself….the One Being Who MADE all the stars and planets….Who according to Psalm 147:4, “determined the number of stars and calls them each by name…”
In case you haven’t guessed, the group of people I am referring to are of those SHEPHERDS who were caring for their flocks that first Christmas night—and God’s invitation was for them to be present at the birth of Jesus, His only Son. Scripture tells us that these guys ACCEPTED God’s invitation—they responded to His special summons—and traveled to visit the Christ child.
This morning I would like us to focus on these humble men…to see what their experience can teach us about the arrival of the Son of God for, you see, we too have received an invitation to hear and respond to the good news that Jesus’ birth heralded. Unlike the shepherds, we don’t have angels to guide us to Jesus but we do have the Bible and 2nd Peter 1:19 describes it as “…a LIGHT shining in a dark place.”
I believe it is important that we accept this invitation and study the Gospel accounts of the Christmas story because these days the true message of Christmas tends to be lost. Don’t get me wrong. In spite of the secularization of this holiday I think most people do indeed KNOW the Christmas story. In fact people are VERY familiar with it…but perhaps we’ve become TOO familiar…in that it has become part FABLE and part LEGEND…such that we forget Who it was that arrived on our planet that night. I’m reminded of the little girl who misquoted John 3:16 by saying, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only FORGOTTEN Son.”
I have found that one of the ways God’s Spirit helps us REMEMBER all the implications of what happened that first Christmas…is through the special songs about Jesus’ birth that He has inspired people to write over the years. We call them “Christmas Carols” and they are an intricate part of the celebration of the story of Jesus’ birth. I don’t know about you but I was moved last week to hear Lynn McCoy tell of how God used her singing of Oh Come All Ye Faithful to help her see her need for Jesus. With that in mind, this Advent we’re going to look at four of the most popular Christmas Carols in the hope that God will speak to us in a special way—refreshing our minds about all the facets of Jesus’ birth and the message we are commissioned to share.
Today we begin with While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night….and if you look closely at it’s lyrics you’ll see that they represent a very literal paraphrase of Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth…making it one of our most biblically accurate carols. With the words still ringing in our minds, take your Bibles and let’s review the account of the role that the shepherds played in that first Christmas. I’ll be reading from Luke 2:8-20.
Luke 2:8 – There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 – An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 – But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 – Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.
12 – This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 – Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 – “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.”
15 – 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.”
16 – So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, Who was lying in the manger.
17 – When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
18 – and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
19 – But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
20 – The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Okay—what can we learn from these shepherds’ involvement in what happened that first Christmas night? I want to highlight three things.
(1) First, their part in the Christmas story helps us to see that EVERYONE is important to God.
Think of it—who were the only ones to receive a personal invitation to be there on the night of Jesus’ birth? It was the shepherds—a very unlikely group to receive such an invite because they were despised and mistrusted by everyone of that day—and for several reasons.
First, since caring for sheep was literally a 24-7 kind of job, they couldn’t observe all the meticulous hand-washing rules and regulations required by the Jewish religion. To make matters worse, their flocks kept them away from the temple for weeks at a time which made it next to impossible for them to be made clean in the eyes of Jewish law. Now—you would think that this demanding of a job would pay well but it didn’t. In fact, no job paid less than that of a shepherd which put these men at the bottom of the ladder financially. Perhaps because of their nearly non-existent pay—they had the reputation for making off with things that did not belong to them, which led people to think of shepherds as crafty and dishonest. In fact, their reputation was so bad that they were not even allowed to bear testimony in a court of law. It was just assumed that people who worked as shepherds were people who would lie. On top of this they were illiterate…they had no formal schooling whatever. Who has time to go to school when you have to watch sheep 24-7!? To summarize, in most people’s minds, shepherds were like gypsies, vagrants, carnival workers, and con men all rolled into one. They were looked down on as being part of the lowest class of the lowest class of their culture. The only group lower were lepers.
And yet God issued His invitation to these men! As another Christmas Carol puts it, “The first ‘Noel’ the angels did say was to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay.” And that is the exact OPPOSITE of the kind of person you and I would invite to a birth—especially the birth of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
Let me put it this way. When a child is born to a member of British royalty…like back when Princess Diana’s sons Harry and William were born, well, the first messenger they sent wasn’t to the docks to break the news to the longshoremen and the fishmongers. The royal family didn’t issue personal invitations to the cab drivers of London to come visit Diana and her new infant in Windsor castle. I didn’t even receive one—but I’m guessing that if any announcements of invitations WERE sent out, they were printed in gold leaf…and hand delivered to political leaders and foreign heads of state.
Well, that’s the way we do this kind of thing so we would assume that when God’s Son was born, invitations would have gone out to the Roman Caesar or the High priest…or the Pharisees or Saducees…or the wealthy of the day…but none of these angelic messengers were sent to any of these guys that first Christmas night. No—the choir of Heaven only sang for a few, poor, smelly shepherds—social and religious outcasts. It would be like the NCC rehearsing all year to perform Handel’s Messiah and then giving the concert for just eight guys working in the sanitation department.
Well, I think God did it this way—I believe our Heavenly Father intentionally chose the shepherds—because He wanted to let it be known that His love is all-inclusive. He wanted everyone who would hear this story to realize that He loves all people. God wanted to make sure we know that He is not a respecter of persons. He does not show more respect to kings than He does to hourly wage earners.
This theme is reflected in the lives of the men who wrote this beloved Christmas Carol. Nahum Tate, the man who penned the lyrics was a pauper. He lived in constant financial distress and died in a debtors prison in 1715. The music was written by George Frederick Handel—and he too got to the point where he experienced severe financial hardship…until God led him to write The Messiah. Let me put it this way. Our Heavenly Father used these two men who struggled financially to enrich the world with this hymn that proclaims the truth that He loves ALL people.
And that is GLORIOUS NEWS! You may be here this morning and think: “If God is even aware that I exist, He probably doesn’t have a very favorable opinion of me.” If you think that you are not alone because deep down a lot of people feel like that. But, listen, no matter how insignificant you may think you are—God knows you and you are vitally important to Him. As Jesus said in John’s Gospel, “God so loved THE WORLD” and that includes YOU! Our Heavenly Father does not limit His love to the people we think of as important. God was announcing through these angels sent to humble shepherds that Jesus was not going to be the Savior of only the political and social and religious elite. He was to be the Savior of ALL people. He doesn’t give preference to any group or class. He doesn’t discriminate on the basis of intelligence or education or wealth or profession or political power or social standing or good looks…or any of the other qualities that human beings judge by.
No…God’s love is offered indiscriminately to anyone who will repent and believe, anyone who will trust in Jesus as Savior. As God says in Isaiah 66:1-2, “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word.”
Listen! You may think of yourself as someone who is on the “outside” of things—looking in. You feel kind of “out in the cold” so to speak…as you look in on people who are successful…popular. If so, this part of the Christmas story should be very encouraging! I imagine that many nights as the shepherds sat out in those cold, lonely fields, with nothing but dumb animals to keep them company, they looked over at the village of Bethlehem, saw the lights of the homes and heard the faint sound of families—people laughing—and as they looked they wished they could be a part of that. Maybe you’ve felt that way too—felt you were not one of the “beautiful people” not especially wealthy or powerful or influential not likely to be prom queen or see your name in the paper for some great accomplishments. If you feel that way then I have good news. GREAT news. The BEST NEWS possible. God loves you! He values you more highly than He does the life of His only Son!
You may be unimportant in the eyes of most people or you may be very important; you may be a mere “cog in the machine” at your place of employment or the CEO. You may be near Christ…raised in a Christian home…or far from Him…reared in a home or culture where the name of Jesus is never even mentioned. None of those things matter for the simple reason that Jesus did not come to be the Savior of only some. He came to be the Savior of ALL mankind.
You know, many times people tend to localize or “culturalize” religion. They say that Bhuddism or Hinduism is for the Asiatic races; that Islam is for the people of Arabia…and that Judaism is for the Jews. Some people over the years have even embraced the misconception that Christianity—with it’s Christmas story—is only for WHITE people. But as we at Redland know—people are VERY wrong when they think this way because Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea for EVERYONE. As the angel told the shepherds, their good news that night of nights was “…for ALL people.” Christmas is not just for one race or ethnic group but for all…red, yellow, black and white because no matter how different we may appear to be on the outside…we are the same on the inside. All of us have the same inner need for a Savior. As Romans 3:23 says, “ALL [of us] have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” And 1st Timothy 1:15 says that “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.”
So looking at the shepherds’ experience tells us that ALL PEOPLE are important to God. He sent His only Son because He loves all of us!
(2) This leads to a second thing I want to mention. The shepherds’ experience reminds us that Jesus’ birth heralded WONDERFUL NEWS.
Look at verse 10 and following: “The angel said to them, ‘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.’” Did you note the first four words in the angels’ message? “DO NOT BE AFRAID!” No doubt they said this to help calm the shepherds down—who I’m sure were terrified at the spectacular glory they beheld. I mean, try to imagine their position. They are out in the hills one night when suddenly out of the darkness the blinding light of an angel of the Lord appeared to them. Then just as their eyes are beginning to adjust and their minds are beginning to deal with the fear that ONE angel caused, the sky is filled with a multitude of angels…uncountable thousands…singing praise to God. I don’t know about you but if I had been there I would have welcomed those four words, “Do not be afraid!” And the wonderful news is that these words were meant to calm much more than the anxiety of those shepherds. Those words were meant for all people! This is wonderful news indeed because as fallen beings living on a fallen world, all of us have so much to be afraid of. Here’s a quote from Lucado’s book, Fearless:
“Each sunrise brings new reasons to fear. Layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-up in the Middle east, downturns in the housing market, breakouts of al Qaeda cells. Some demented dictator is collecting nuclear warheads the way others collect fine wines. A new strain of flu is crossing the border. The plague of our day, terrorism, begins with the word TERROR. We are peppered with bad news: global warming, asteroid attack, genocide, wars, earthquakes, AIDS. News programs disgorge enough hand-wringing information to warrant an advisory: ‘Caution: this news report is best viewed in the confines of an underground fault in Iceland.’
We fear being sued, finishing last, going broke; we fear the mole on the back, the new kid on the block, the sound of the clock as it ticks us closer to the grave. We create elaborate security systems and legislate stronger military, yet we depend on mood altering drugs more than any other generation in history. Fear, it seems has taken a hundred year lease on the building next door and set up shop.”
Frank Furedi documented an increasing use of fear in the media…by counting the appearances of the term “AT RISK” in British newspapers. He found that in 1994 the term appears 2,037 times.
During the year 2000 it appeared more than 18,000 times. I would hate so see how many times it is used today.
All this bad news is taking its toll. We are the most worried culture that has ever lived. For the first time since the end of WW2 parents expect that life for their next generation will be worse than it was for them. This prevalence of fear is a sad thing because fear feels dreadful. There’s no button you can push to make it go away. And while you’re trying to find a way to deal with it—fear sucks the life out of your soul. It drains you of contentment. It makes you self-centered. Fear can paralyze even grown men.
I’m saying the message the angels entrusted with the shepherds is welcome news indeed! Now, we need not fear because the SAVIOR has been born. And His birth drives away fear the way light banishes darkness!
Perhaps a good word picture is found in war movies where the good guys are surrounded by the bad guys…and the good guys fear that if something doesn’t happen they will be overrun. But then the sound track changes and you know something wonderful is about to happen. Sure enough, reinforcements come over the horizon and save the day. In a very real sense that’s the situation all people were in before Jesus came. We were behind enemy lines surrounded…outnumbered. Sin was defeating us—pushing us farther and farther from God. The situation looked grim. We were lost people with no hope of being saved. Then that Heavenly choir sang, changing the “sound track” of life, letting us know something wonderful was about to happen…and it did! The Savior came!
And Jesus IS the Savior isn’t He!? His sinless life and victorious resurrection made it possible for our sin to be defeated—our sins washed away! Through faith in Jesus, we need not fear life because thanks to His forgiveness, Immanuel can be with us, guiding us through every fearful decision…empowering us to do things of eternal significance….giving us a peace that passes understanding. In fact, we never need fear being overrun by death again because Heaven awaits all who put their trust in the child Who was born that Christmas night.
Perhaps you heard the story of Anissa Ayala of Los Angeles, a little girl who needed a bone marrow transplant to save her from leukemia. You may remember that her parents, age 44 and 42 did a very controversial thing. They had another baby who would provide bone marrow to save her life…which it did. Well, friends, that is not the first time that a BABY was a SAVIOR. Jesus was born—He came into our world for the express purpose of SAVING you and me.
Perhaps this is why Jesus Himself echoed the angels’ message over and over and over again during His earthly ministry. Did you know that His most common command was some form of the words: “Fear not!” In the Gospels Jesus says this 125 times. He made this one statement more than any other. The second most common command—to love God and neighbor—appears only 8 times. Here’s some examples:
- Matthew 10:31 – “Do not be afraid. You are worth much more than many sparrows.”
- Matthew 9:2 – “Take courage son; your sins are forgiven.”
- Matthew 6:25 – “I tell you not to worry about every day life—whether you have enough.”
- Matthew 14:27 and 28:20 – “Take courage! I am here! I will be with you always—even to the end of the world!”
- John 14:1,3 – “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me.”
- Matthew 24:6 – “When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic.”
The comforting, encouraging fact is that, as Psalm 27:1 says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?”
And because of Jesus’ coming the answer to these questions is NO ONE!
So, a study of the shepherds helps us to understand that EVERYONE is important to God and that Jesus’ birth heralded GOOD NEWS for us all…but it highlights one more thing…
(3) …the shepherds’ example shows that WHAT YOU DO with the Good News makes all the difference.
Put yourself in those shepherds’ sandals for a moment. Review their options as to what to do with that angelic summons.
They could have DOUBTED what they had been told. They could have said, “This message can’t be true. In fact, why should we have been told at all? We better just forget about all this.”
- They could have IGNORED it. They could have any number of excuses that would keep them from checking out the news they had just heard sung. After all, theirs was a 24-7 job!
They could have DEBATED it. They could have sat down and analyzed what they should do. Could they afford to leave the sheep? What if something happened while they were gone?
They could have REJECTED the angels’ message outright. They could have said, “This is not for us! In fact, this whole things sounds kind of flaky!”
- But the shepherds chose to BELIEVE!
Note the exact wording. They didn’t say, “Let’s go see IF these things are true.” No they said, “Let’s go see this thing that HAS come to pass.” Listen friends, it’s not enough to hear about Jesus. It’s not enough to look into the manger at Christmas and say, “Oh, how nice. What a nice story. Pass the egg nog.” You see, unless you ACT on the angel’s message. Unless you BELIEVE you are lost. You can get all sentimental at Christmas and have a warm fuzzy feeling but if you don’t use your God-given free-will and choose to believe, it’s all for naught. But if you act on this good news as the shepherds did—if you reach out in faith—you’ll find that Jesus is real! You’ll see that the angels’ message was true! You’ll meet Jesus Himself just as certainly as the shepherds did!
Like many denominations, ours has missionaries who serve “in secret” in Muslim countries sharing the gospel often at the risk of their own lives. One of these brave Christ-followers shared the following true testimony of a young Muslim man, named Omar in an issue of SBC LIFE. You may remember my telling you about it several years ago.
Omar was raised in a strong Muslim family, forced to go to the mosque and obey all it’s rituals but inside he hungered to know God. He often cried out, tears in his eyes,‘God, I want to know you. Talk to me.’ One day Omar met a man named Bill on a bus. They eventually became close friends and after several weeks Bill felt it was safe to tell Omar that he was a Christian. At Omar’s request they began to discuss their different faiths and during one of their discussions Bill challenged Omar by saying that he could know God…but through Jesus Christ…not Mohammed. Bill urged Omar to read the New Testament and investigate the claims of Christ.
Omar wrote,
Bill told me to open my eyes and my heart. He said, ‘God is not limited, my friend. He made you and will show Himself to you. Ask Him.’ I went home with a storm in my heart. I was so accustomed to following a culture, a ritual. But I kept praying. Bill helped me know more from the Koran, from the Bible, from different books. Then he gave me the names of some other Muslims who had accepted Christ. I talked to them and they said, ‘Brother, we were in darkness. Now we are God’s children.’ I couldn’t eat; I couldn’t sleep. Bill saw the restlessness in my heart and said, ‘Omar, I think you’ve read enough books. This is the time to challenge God. Find a quiet place, close the door and kneel before Him. Ask Him to come to you in the name of Buddha, in the Hindu gods’ names, in Muhammad’s name—and in Jesus’ name. See which name He answers. Late one night I thought, ‘This is the time.’ I washed my face, went to my room and closed the door and windows. I knelt before God and put a chair in front of me, like He would come and sit there. I said, ‘God, all these years I have prayed to You. You know my heart. I want to know You. I need to challenge You. Talk to me. If You are the God Who created me, I ask You to come to me in Buddha’s name.’ I waited. No answer.
Then I said, ‘I ask You to come to me in the name of all those Hindu gods. If this is the way You want me to worship You, I will worship those idols.’ I waited five minutes, ten minutes. No answer. Then I started praying in the name of Muhammad. My heart was heavy, because I always had such respect toward Muhammad, the holy beloved prophet of god. I told God, ‘All these years, I have been praying to You through Muhammad. The time has come now to ask You if Muhammad is the anointed one.’ There were tears in my eyes. I waited, ten, twenty, thirty minutes. No answer. Then, somewhat unwillingly, I said, ‘If You want me to pray in Jesus’ name, if He is Your real anointed One, I ask You to come to talk to me.’ Let me tell you, I didn’t have to wait thirty minutes! Right at that moment, I felt like someone walked into my room. The hair on my body stood up. I felt from my feet to my head that Somebody was touching me. I heard a voice saying, ‘Omar, I am Jesus, your Lord. I love you. Do you want to know anything more?’ I cried, ‘No my Lord. I trust You! You are my Lord from today. All these years I have been worshiping god, and he never answered. Today, You answered.” I didn’t sleep that night. Such joy filled my heart that I had never felt before. I told Bill and was baptized and from this day on, God has had such mercy and grace on me…to this day I am serving Jesus in His ministry.
Since the night those shepherds acted on the Angels’ invitation, millions upon millions of people have as well and in so doing have discovered what Omar did. They decided to believe the good news of the Gospel and in that faith-step, they came to know God Himself. If you haven’t made that faith step—if you haven’t decided to follow the Christ of Christmas, why not do so today?
Why not act on this Scriptural invitation and believe that Jesus is God’s Son Who died in Your place?
LET US PRAY