The angels who sang to the shepherds gave us every reason to be joyful at Christmas time. There is no excuse for bar humbug Christians in the church. “Break out with Joy” was preached by Pastor Pamela on Sunday 3rd December 2023.
Sermon Transcript
Luke 2:8-20
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 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. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favour rests.”
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.”
So, they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen which were just as they had been told.
Let us pray
Lord, I ask for a fresh revelation of Your Word today, even though we may have heard this story many times over, help our hearts to listen as if we are hearing it for the first time. Lord it is with great joy I retell this heavenly news report.
Amen
Somewhere in the fields near Bethlehem, where David many centuries before had also kept sheep, a small group of shepherds were keeping watch over their sheep. It seems that they had driven their separate flocks together in the open and were keeping watch over the collected flock.
They were totally unaware of what was ‘going down’ in Bethlehem; they did not know that the event of utmost universal and eternal significance was taking place nearby.
They did not know that the second person of the Holy Trinity, without ceasing to be who He is, God the Son, took into union with Himself, the very nature of man. And so, He became God and man in two distinct natures, but ONE person forever…. Jesus the Christ.
God became man,
God lowered Himself to take on the form of man.
Now we know from what the Bible says that God is everywhere. He is omnipresent. Omni – everywhere present. There is no place without God.
But God somehow put flesh on Himself, at the same time as being everywhere else, this is why Jesus could pray to God the Father when He walked the earth. Nevertheless God came to the earth in human form. The mind boggles…
That is what INCARNATION means God became FLESH.
The carol we sing says,
‘Veiled in flesh the God head see,
Hail the incarnate deity.’
Some people think that man is sooo clever that he can mess around with the laws that God has set in nature by cloning animals and people.
But let me tell you there are two things that man could never ever do. Firstly, he can never make something out of nothing like God did when He created the world. And secondly, MANKIND could never ever reproduce INCARNATION.
Only God could make it possible for Himself to take on the very nature of man.
You can’t do that in a science laboratory.
Something so incredibly powerful, something extremely miraculous, something that oozed the purest love was going down that night in Bethlehem nearby.
And the shepherds, just going about their normal business didn’t know what was happening!
But God was about to change all that…
They were about to receive the first message from God after the incarnation, after the birth of His Only Son.
These simple lowly shepherds were the ones chosen to receive that first message of the special delivery.
This was like that first telephone call that a new father makes to the closest friends and relatives when his wife has just given birth to their first child.
I was so blessed to witness the birth of both Daniel and Robert’s children.
Could we have those pictures please?
I made a good team with my sons-in-law as their wives (my daughters) gave birth. The memories from those days rank amongst the best for me. I brought the coffee, the popcorn, and the chocolates to munch on as we patiently waited for my daughters to give birth. In all my daughters’ pain and agony, I had a wonderful time with my sons-in-law. We did a great job waiting!
And I remember the first excited messages they sent off to close relatives and friends.
As they revealed for the first time the babies’ gender, state of health, weight, hair colour and name. My sons-in-law took great pride in delivering this exciting news to people that they loved!
In the same way, these shepherds were receiving the most important message in the universe that night from a proud Heavenly Father, who had been waiting and who wanted to share the joy of the new birth of His Son,
and today as we look at this most significant message and allow ourselves to receive a fresh revelation of the true meaning of Christmas we can’t help but be affected by the joy of His birth.
Let yourself feel the joy of His birth.
Even though it’s all this time later we can still feel the joy of His birth.
When I was hunting for the photos of Daniel and Robert that I’ve shown you today. I seriously got distracted with beautiful memories of newborn grandchildren. I was supposed to be writing this sermon but looking at the precious photos overwhelmed me with joyful memories. The special delivery of every one of my grandchildren still brings me joy today and always will no matter how long ago it was.
It is the same concerning the precious delivery of Jesus. It is so exciting, and it brings GREAT JOY that’s worth singing about. I’ve been singing about it for almost 60 years! It still brings me joy, that’s why I do the choir at Christmas time because I really am happy about the birth of Jesus, and I want all you church folk to be happy with me. Why wouldn’t you be?!
So here they were a group of simple shepherds, who were probably devout men, longing (just like the rest of the Jewish community at that time) for the coming of a Messiah who would deliver them from their Roman oppressors. They were waiting for that special man who was spoken of in the Old Testament who would help them once again become a strong conquering nation like they were in the time of King David and King Solomon.
To this simple group of shepherds (minding their own business) there suddenly appeared an angel of the Lord who purely radiated the glory of God.
Why wouldn’t the angel be radiating glory?
This angel had just left God’s intense presence. The intense presence of God radiates brilliant light.
So, suddenly this great angelic being appears and these shepherds became terrified by this unexpected supernatural intrusion…. as one would!
But the first words from this great celestial being were, ‘Fear not!’ FEAR NOT! Don’t be afraid. Stop it! Get a grip (in the Pamela translation)!
The angel doesn’t want a reaction of fear from these men. He wants something else! He wants a reaction of JOY. He knows the news he had for them was news to bring immense joy to all who believe.
Let’s look more closely at the Scripture and see what the angel was really saying not just to these shepherds but to us as Christians, because this special delivery message is still relevant, is still current, for us today.
The angel said,
“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 Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Firstly, the angel was telling the shepherds the good news that they should have great joy because the baby born is indeed “the Saviour”,
Now what sort of Saviour are we talking about here?
A beach life saver? A fireman? A policeman? No
Based upon the Word of God I can safely say, that this angelic being was talking about the One who will save people from all need, sin and death, who safeguards against all destruction, and He will give blessing in the fullest sense of the word….
This is indeed the purpose of this SAVIOUR who has been born.
I will say it again in case you missed it the first time. This Saviour, that the angel proclaims, will save us from all need, sin and DEATH, He will safeguard against all destruction, and He will give blessing in the fullest sense of the word.
WOW…what a Saviour!
But there’s more, because the angel said that He is more than a Saviour (as if that wasn’t enough). The angel said that,
He is also the Christ,
Now ‘Christ’ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word ‘Messiah’ which means, the Anointed One.
Back in the Old Testament days within the nation of Israel, when someone had been set apart for divine service like a prophet or priest or king they would be anointed with oil, to signify, or give recognition, that they were chosen by God for this duty and that the Spirit of God accompanied this person as they led the children of Israel.
For example, Samuel poured oil over both Saul and David before they became king, letting the people know that God had chosen them and God’s Spirit was with them, as they led the people.
Okay so the angel was letting the shepherds know that this baby born is THE Messiah, the Christ, the One who has been set apart for divine service, the One who has been anointed by God to fulfill the promises of God as the Great Prophet, Priest and King.
Jesus has been anointed by God to eternally LEAD His people into freedom and liberty.
So, He doesn’t just save (as if that wasn’t enough), but He also leads.
Let me digress a little here.
Jesus was known in the New Testament as Jesus the Christ, in other words Jesus the anointed One.
This combination of the name and title is apparent in Acts 5:42, where we read of people preaching Jesus the Christ.
The early disciples went around telling people that Jesus IS the Christ.
In other words, He is THE ONE who God has chosen to lead us.
As time progressed, however, the title became so closely associated with the name that the combination soon was transformed from the confession – Jesus (who is) the Christ – to a confessional name – Jesus Christ.
Christ was not the surname of Jesus. It was a confession of who He is.
Every time you say Jesus Christ, you are confessing who He is. Jesus is the anointed One who has been chosen to lead.
Every time you say that you are a Christian.
You are confessing that you represent the anointed One, the great Prophet, Priest and King set apart for divine service by God and this Jesus leads you.
So, the angel called this baby,
The Saviour (saving us from sin and death by becoming our substitute),
The Christ (the anointed One, the prophet, priest and king who will LEAD us into eternal freedom)
But the angel also called this baby,
THE LORD.
This angel was telling these shepherds that this child, born of a woman, who can be found lying in a lowly manger is not only the Saviour, and the Christ but He is also the LORD. ‘Lord’ is translation of the name ‘Yahweh’ which means GOD.
Christ the Lord describes the Child in the highest possible terms.
Yes He is the Saviour, yes He is the anointed One, but He is GOD Himself!
God incarnate.
God becoming flesh.
WOW
All the wonderful Christian doctrine that we have today is wrapped up in that first message given to those simple shepherds who were busy minding their sheep.
This beautiful baby born is the Saviour, the Christ, the Lord.
This beautiful baby born will save us from sin and death, will lead us into blessing as our Prophet, Priest and King. But this Prophet, Priest and King will never fail in leading us because it is God Himself who leads.
Are you getting the message here?
For as far as I can see, it is ALL good news for us – talk about a special delivery!!!!!
It lights joy within the depths of my being. I have a Saviour who has saved me from the penalty of my sin.
But He’s more than just a Saviour because He leads me into blessing. I’m not on my own, I don’t have to muddle my way through life He leads me into righteousness and blessing.
But He’s even more than that because He is God and that makes Him perfect and unable to make a mistake as He leads me.
The very One that created me also leads me.
The men of old used to lead the people of Israel but they all made mistakes because they were mere mortals. But God does not.
He is perfect and He never makes a mistake as He leads you.
Anthony Albanese has and will make mistakes.
President Biden has and will make mistakes.
Our Premier Roger Cook has and will make mistakes.
But God as our leader does not make mistakes so He will lead us in perfection.
On that very first Christmas night God gave such a precious gift to the world.
Whose credentials far surpass anyone or anything that has ever been born in the whole of the universe.
He gave us a Saviour, He gave us an anointed leader, He gave us Himself so that we may experience pure JOY.
Pure joy.
So don’t you dare be a bar humbug Christian at Christmas. Particularly when you’re around Christian children.
You be joyful no matter your circumstances because any bad circumstance pales into insignificance when it comes to truly knowing our Saviour of joy.
Do you know Him?
Well let’s spread this message of joy to everyone.
Amen
Pray,
Lord I ask that this Christmas all who are in this place today will experience the joy of the birth of your Son. Lord because you are our Saviour, because You are our leader, because You are our Heavenly Father, we can truly experience Your JOY in all areas of our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the good news of this special delivery.
Amen and Amen