Our scripture reading this morning is from the Gospel of Luke, the second chapter, the story of the birth of our Savior. We'll read Luke chapter 2, verses 1 through 20. Let us hear God's own word. In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 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 Savior 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 favor 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 up 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. So far the reading of God's word. Today, Christmas, I suppose, is the biggest celebration of the year for most people in the Western world. It's the biggest holiday. You can't pick up a newspaper or turn on a television or turn on the radio without hearing something about Christmas today, and it's probably been on the news for quite some time. Jesus surrounds us, but of course on that first Christmas day, that was not the case at all. It was a day like any other. It was a day so little noticed that the church didn't even remember exactly what day it was. We celebrate on December 25th, not really because we know for sure that was the day that Jesus was born. Because the day was so ordinary, nobody really wrote it down at the time. If CNN had been around, there would have been no reporters in Bethlehem. There would have been no notice taken. It was not big news in the world when it happened. The big news was that Caesar Augustus was forcing everyone to be registered. And this registration, everybody knew, was going to be related to taxes. Taxes were going to go up. And people had to register. And this would have been what would have been on the news. It was Caesar who was important. It was his orders that would have been the big news of the day. It was the prospect of more taxes that would have been the concern of many. And the action of Caesar had an impact on a lot of people also in Judea. Jews kept careful record of their family line and careful record of what town they really belonged to no matter where they actually lived. You might pause and think for a minute. If you had to go back and register in the town where your parents or grandparents had been born, how inconvenient would that journey be? For a lot of us, it would be very inconvenient, wouldn't it? Long, long trip. Well, that's what many Jews faced. And so that too would have been news. People on the road, people traveling to towns to get registered. But even if CNN had been there, There would have been probably no one to cover one little family, husband and a pregnant wife, having to travel quite a distance from Nazareth in the north down to Bethlehem in the south. Poor family, too poor to afford to be able to stay in the inn because she was right on the verge of having a baby, perhaps given the opportunity to stay in the barn. Not an important family, not a noteworthy family, not a family anyone would particularly have noticed. But God wanted someone to notice. And we could almost say that God, from time to time, breaks into human history with a kind of spotlight on events that otherwise the world would not notice or think about or reflect on. And that's what happens with these shepherds. Shepherds also were people of no particular importance. Shepherds, too, would not have been interviewed by CNN to find out what they were thinking about what was going on in their world. They were sort of at the bottom of the social heap. But God comes to them with his spotlight. with his spotlight that they might know and we might know through their experience that something of the most remarkable importance was taking place. We read in verse 9 of chapter 2 of Luke's gospel, An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. Glory is often portrayed as a kind of light shining. And so spotlight is a good image. I don't know if it happens much anymore. When I was young, when a new business was opening, they'd often hire a number of spotlights. And they'd shoot these pillars of light up into the air. And it was to force people all around town to see that something remarkable was happening. Well, this is God's spotlight focused on the birth of his son. A birth that is so humble, most of the world does not notice or pay any attention. But God wants someone to see the importance of this event, the glory of this event. And so he shines this glory on this handful of shepherds out in the fields at night, terrifying them initially. We often think, what fun it would have been to be there. No, everybody who is part of this is initially terrified by the experience. Angels are not cute, as far as we can tell. Angels are majestic and grand and awesome and breathtaking and therefore terrifying when they show up on your front door. And that's what's happening here. This glory, a little bit of a glimpse of the meaning behind the event is open to these shepherds. When they go to the barn, as far as we know, they don't see anything glorious. They see a young woman and her husband. They see a baby wrapped in wrapping cloths. the baby's been laid to rest in a feeding trough. There's no halo. There are no wise men. There's no star with a beam focused on the manger. It would have been the most ordinary sight. But the shepherds had been told that this ordinary sight is a glory that's changing the world, is an event that in the most literal sense is earth-shaking and history-making. And the angels have prepared the shepherds to understand that by the song that they sang, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. You see, the first Christmas carol, we might say, is a song that turns the hearts of all who hear it to the glory of God. This day is above all else about God and His glory and His acting. Glory to God. Glory to God for who He is. He is the Most High. He's the Exalted One. He's the supreme one. He's the one that rules over all things. He's the one, as Isaiah told us, is high and lifted up. We have a little echo of that in the world in which we live. You know, when you meet royalty, often you greet them as your highness. Now, we've become so democratized we may not be overly impressed with that claim. But normally when you meet royalty, they get to stand on a little platform or sit on a raised chair. It's one of the advantages of being a minister. You get to sit in a quasi-throne. But you don't have to call me your highness. But you see, all of this is intended to talk about importance. And that's why God is called the Most High. because he's exalted over all things. He's supreme over all things. And so the angels come to give glory to him for who he is, for his power, for his glory, for his purpose in human history. And again, we turn to Isaiah as we so often turn to Isaiah to hear something of a reflection on the glory of this God. Chapter 60, Isaiah wrote, Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you, and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. God is bringing light into a dark world. And the appearance of the angel surrounded by light gives testimony to that fact. Many of the world didn't even recognize that they dwelled in darkness. They didn't realize how much sin had affected the way they thought, the way they lived. How little they understood about God as he is in himself. How little they understood about his essential glory. And now there's just a glimpse given to these shepherds and through the eyes of the shepherds to us. The Most High God is glorious. The Most High God must be recognized by us for his glory. And not only is he glorious in himself, but he's glorious especially for what he's doing. He's fulfilling that promise. Again, Isaiah had prophesied, chapter 7, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And this has now happened. This has now happened. This promise that God had made to mankind that a Savior would come has now at long last been fulfilled. It's a promise that Adam had heard. In the days of creation, the seed of the woman, will crush the head of the serpent. But from creation, mankind had been waiting. It was a promise that Abraham had heard. In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. But they'd been waiting 2,000 years since Abraham made that promise. There was the promise made to David. David had prophesied in Psalm 110, I will have a Lord who will sit at my right hand and make all my enemies his footstool. But God's people have been waiting a thousand years since that promise to David. Isaiah had prophesied over and over. But Israel had been waiting 700 years since Isaiah. Malachi, the last of the prophets, had prophesied, the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. He shall arise with healing in his wings. but people had waited 500 years since Malachi. But now the promise is fulfilled. Now the waiting is over. Now God has kept his promise and given his son. That little baby in the manger. Son of Mary. Son of Joseph. Son of David, but most importantly, Son of the Most High. Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace. The glory of God is the angel's first theme, but the gift of peace is the angel's second theme in this song. And on earth, peace. Isaiah had said that this child would be the prince of peace. Zechariah had prophesied, John the Baptist's father, had prophesied that he would lead us into the way of peace. And now the angels celebrate that he has come. He has come to bring peace. And what kind of peace has he brought? In the 2,000 years since Jesus came, we can't make much of an argument that there's less war than there used to be. We can't make much of an argument that there's less strife and contention and hatred in this world than there used to be. What is the peace that Jesus came to bring? It's above all peace between God and man. He came to make peace, where there had been alienation, where there had been enmity, where there had been conflict. He came because God is holy in his glory, and we are sinners in ourselves. And someone had to come and bring sinners back to a holy God. Someone had to come and make that peace between a holy God who in his wrath had the right to judge sinners. But in his eternal purpose planned to save sinners through his own son. That son had to come to make peace. And so the angels sing and praise and delight that the Prince of Peace has come, the Prince who will make peace between sinners and a holy God. It's interesting how both in Mary's song and in Zechariah's song, one of the themes celebrated is mercy. That the coming of this child is the coming of mercy for God's people. The way of peace is the way of mercy. The way of providing forgiveness for people who cannot find forgiveness on their own. That's what Christmas is all about. The coming of the Prince of Peace who would provide mercy, forgiveness, life, and hope for his people. That's why the sign given to the shepherds was that they would find a child wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. It's a humble sign. They were not told to go and look for a child who was lying in a golden cradle. They were not told to go and look for a child that was wearing a jeweled crown. they were sent to look for a child who had already begun his life of humiliation, his life of suffering, his life of loss. Because it pointed to the essential work he came to do. The work of taking the sinner's place, the work of taking the sinner's judgment, the work of making peace on the cross. And that's celebrated over and over again in the scriptures as Christians think about what that meaning of Jesus was all about. Paul wrote in Romans chapter 5, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Or as Paul wrote in Colossians 1, For in him, that is in Jesus, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross. And so the angels, anticipating that peace that Jesus would bring, that peace that Jesus would make, They sing, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace. Peace to those of his good pleasure. The word of peace is not for everyone. His word of peace is for those on whom his favor rests. That's what this greeting means. His favor, his peace rests on those who are his own. Those who belong to him. Those who are connected to him. Those who are his people. Some would like us to believe that this word of peace is a word that goes out indiscriminately to everybody. And they reduce Jesus really then to just a nice platform everybody can live on or not live on as they choose. But that's not what the angels are celebrating. They're celebrating the gift of God's Son who will create for God a people. A people who belong to him because they have looked to Jesus and found faith in him. that's what this angel song celebrates. That's why we're here this morning. While much of the world is spending its time in baking and eating and watching football games and doing other perfectly fine things in and of themselves, we're here because we're part of a people. We're here because we belong to Jesus Christ. We're here because we want to give glory to God. And we long to enjoy his peace that's provided in his Son. And so the angel's song is to glorify God. The angel's song is about the gift of peace. And the angel's song calls for our glad response. You notice these shepherds, they heard the message, and they believed it. You know, it's possible to see an angel and just walk away. Huh, I wonder what that was all about. But they didn't, did they? They went and found that what the angel said was true. they could have walked away from the manger and said, hmm, let's wait and see whether this child ends up being our Messiah and Savior. But they didn't, did they? They went right away and told friends and neighbors and family members about what they'd seen and heard. And then they returned to their work. But they weren't the same. They returned to their work glorifying God and praising him. For all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they'd been told. I think Luke the preacher is coming through there a little bit. You may say, well, we haven't seen it. We didn't see the manger. We didn't hear the angels. But Luke, the preacher, is saying to you, but you've been told. You've been told. They believed when they were told. And then that faith was confirmed by the wonderful things that they saw and heard. And so it is for us, you see. Do we join the glad response? We've been told. Do we believe? Well, again, we might say, well, of course we believe, we're here. But you know, sometimes people come to church who don't believe. And it's always good to pause and to reflect and think, do I really believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of all that the prophets talked about? Adam and Abraham and David and Isaiah and Malachi and the others. Is Jesus the Christ? Is Jesus the Son of God? Is Jesus the Savior? Is Jesus the eternal King who brings peace into the hearts of his people? Is Jesus the Savior who assures us of eternal life? Who brings us joy to be sure in this life? Who calls us also to trust him? For the life of the world to come? You see, Christmas calls us to faith. And it's only out of that faith that joy and praising and glorifying God will come. It's only out of faith that that hope and life and blessedness will come. And the angels came to shine a spotlight so that we, 2,000 years later, halfway around the world, would still see the truth about that baby in the barn. And seeing that truth would believe. May God grant us the great Christmas blessing of looking to Jesus and believing in him. and finding in him our peace. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord, our God, we thank you that in our darkness you have shined a spotlight on what you were doing in history and what you gave as the great gift of your Son, our Savior. And we pray, O Lord, that as we contemplate his glory, and contemplate his humility and suffering, we might be led to ever look to him with confidence and hope and assurance. For he is our Savior, and he is the only hope of the world. Fill us, O Lord, with hope and believing. For we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.