I invite you to turn to Luke chapter 2 this morning. Luke chapter 2, and our reading will be through 1 through 20 of Luke chapter 2 this morning. Page 1018. Let's hear the word of the Lord.
"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 hosts, 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 seen and heard as it had been told them. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb."
And we'll be highlighting verse 12: "And this will be a sign for you; you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."
Well, as we gather today to think about the birth of Christ and to celebrate this what the apostles call this indescribable gift of God to us, I often think about, at this time, how pleased is the Lord himself with this celebration? Do we ever think about that? Is he pleased with this celebration? Is this something that pleases God? I think that's always a fair question to ask.
Has the cultural celebration that has invaded our time and our place has it really clouded the real meaning of the birth and coming of Jesus Christ? And that would seem to be an important question for us to wrestle through. For indeed, what pleases the Lord comes from true faith. And he is indeed pleased when we celebrate this with understanding. He is indeed pleased when we celebrate this with understanding. That's a major theme in Luke's gospel. We'll see that here in a minute: of understanding, of having understandings opened.
These things are not automatically open to our understandings. And that helps us to understand and appreciate the marvelous things God has done for us if we can celebrate this with understanding.
And Luke 2 is remarkable in this regard to show us this theme that comes out throughout the course of the book. God here announces wonderful news to these shepherds. And the text wants us to marvel at the gift given to them, that we might marvel that the same gift is given to us. It's a beautiful text. There's so much said here that's helpful.
And in verse 9, we read that an angel of the Lord was shining on them. As he is, you'll see that in verse 9: "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 he responds, "Don't be afraid. Do not be afraid." And notice the whole announcement here of everything that we celebrate in Christianity. This is gospel. This is good news that is heralded by the angels, handed out to shepherds.
There's no coincidence here that pastors are called shepherds. You'll notice here, "For I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Can you imagine this announcement? I really can't. It's easy to read a text, and it's really difficult for us to sort of step into that world and imagine such an announcement being given to these lowly shepherds. It's beautiful. They're pondering this. What would you do at such an announcement?
All of a sudden, as they're pondering what's being said to them, the whole heavenly host, the angels in heaven, break out into singing and praising God. Which is important, right? You could not come here today and properly praise God without opening your lips, right? And praising him for such a gift.
What would it sound like to hear the angels sing? I'm really interested in what they said. That day they sang a song to the shepherds, praising God. "Glory to God in the highest." And all of this is for God's glory. It belongs to the glory of God. "Glory to God in the highest." And then comes the second stanza. And this stanza has much confusion with it.
The Hallmark cards don't help you. Most of our Christmas cards on the second stanza get this really wrong. You never do your theology from Hallmark, by the way. They get the first stanza right: "Glory to God in the highest." And then they mess up the second stanza. "Peace on earth, goodwill to men. Peace on earth. Peace on earth."
Well, that's not what we're experiencing, is it? I mean, it's kind of remarkable that we put on all our cards "peace on earth." Is anyone experiencing peace on earth? The kind of peace that the Bible describes? How do we understand this? Is there peace on earth?
So you can have a Christmas celebration and you're saying, "Peace on earth." But is there peace on earth? And what does it even mean? So we have celebrated this phrase. Is this peace on earth for all men, as it says, "goodwill toward men"? Well, that's not really what the verse says. It's important to think about what the verse says. Did you see it? Remarkably said in how the ESV captures it, which gives us a good sense of the original here: "Glory to God in the highest. Now listen carefully. And on earth, peace toward those with whom he's pleased."
Wow! That's a whole different take, isn't it? "On earth, peace toward those with whom he is pleased."
Now, I think that's a shocking statement. You can understand it only in the light as it's given to you. And God, I think when we look at the situation, we can look at the context and understand this statement. God had at his disposal every king to announce this to. God had at his disposal every glorious magistrate, every Roman emperor, every tetrarch. He could have announced this in Caesar's palace. He could have done this to all the pomp and the glory of all the kingdoms of the world to see, right?
Our own wisdom would say, "That's how you get the gospel message out. You got to go to the greats. You got to announce it before the noblemen." He passed over to them all. And the choir in heaven appears to shepherds in a field. Men of no rank, of no social, of no economic status. Political standards that men use to evaluate the significance and importance of men are completely bypassed by the angels.
And what are shepherds doing? Caring for sheep. Sheep that would be sent off to be slaughtered. In terms of social and economic status, in terms of the greatness of the world, shepherds were at the bottom of the barrel. Nobody grew up and said, "Dad, when I grow up, I want to be a shepherd."
And here are myriads of angels appearing to them, announcing the arrival of the King! Isaiah 53, that he would be the one led as a lamb to the slaughter. I think that should move us. Because right from the beginning of the arrival, we see the whole story of the Christian gospel playing out. We see so many themes merged together right in the very arrival, in the theology of the coming of the Christ.
We saw this with Mary, of course, in the first sections, didn't we? That was amazing. When he came to Mary, what kind of person was Mary? Well, we've done everything we can in Christianity to try to make her worthy of this. And that's why there's the idolatry of Mary. But we studied with Mary the very thing that was announced to her: that God, in her very testimony, disregards the proud and the rich and gives to the lowly.
Look at what he's done. He's come to the nobodies. And that's the message here. He chooses to give his gospel and announce with great tidings glad tidings of great joy. He chooses, in this very text, the very proof of what's being celebrated: men who were absolutely nothings to testify to the witness of his son.
We would say, "Dignitaries need to be here. Great power and influence." And even if you talk about the wise men, they were Gentiles. They were Gentiles. These shepherds in the field represent something very important for the Christian gospel: the kind of weak and the kind of helpless and the kind of needy people that the Lord has come for.
And now you can understand the announcement, can't you, a little bit: "Peace on earth toward those with whom he is pleased."
They're singing about the Jewish concept of shalom, which speaks of reconciliation with God. It's speaking of the salvation in the fullest sense that brings peace. Peace was not celebrated by all men in general.
Now, it's a remarkable thought today because there's so many lights, there's so many celebrations. I go to Lowe's. The whole thing is decked out in Christmas celebrations. Everybody seems to be celebrating it. But the question is, who celebrates with understanding, you see?
"Peace on earth toward those with whom his favor rests." It's a good translation.
What is Christmas a celebration of? The election of grace to shepherds. Isn't this what we celebrate? The doctrine we fought over. It's really a doctrine of such hope. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to the adoption as sons by Jesus Christ himself according to the good pleasure of his will." Your whole salvation is this: He blessed you. He came to you. He chose you. You are the people of His goodwill.
God's favor is never earned. God's favor is never deserved because of wealth or power or might or education or social class or position or hard work or anything else that you try to hold high and esteem in this life. God passes over it all. God's favor is a gift. And it's a gift of grace to you. And his son is a gift to you.
And a proper celebration of Christmas is a celebration of his election in your life, of choosing you. And that should be celebrated. That should not be despised. God meant it to be a greatest encouragement to you.
And you might stand back and say, "Well, how would I even know? How would I even know?" It's proof in what they say here. What are we celebrating today? What are we celebrating?
What are we? It's proof in their understanding here that he chooses the lowly shepherds to witness the birth of his son, and they will end up leaving, glorifying and praising God. So here we're going to see how we know and who it comes to. What does it look like in someone's life? And what kind of shape does it take with those with whom he's well-pleased?
Here it is. The announcement's given. The gospel is sounded out. They hear the gospel. By the end, they're going to sing. Their mouths are opened. They're overwhelmed by the grace of God. They are testifying to the grace of God, giving praise for the things that they heard and saw.
But what did they see? Now, that's a good question. What did they see? It's not very remarkable just to come and look at a child, is it? I mean, we might think babies are cute. Some of them are. Some of them aren't. You don't want to tell the parents that, you know.
What did they see? Did they see a halo on his head? Did they see his thigh and it says "King of Kings and Lord of Lords"? They leave praising God for the things that they heard and saw.
What did they see? What do you see in a baby? He wasn't glowing. His humanity was very normal, just like ours. And that's the marvel of verse 12 today.
"And this shall be the sign to you. You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."
He's not talking about some sign. ESV has it right. He says a sign, but you'll notice here, he's really speaking of the sign. And it's very important that you see in verse 12: "And this will be a sign." There's a definite article there. You will see the sign.
What is the sign? The text says, "You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."
Well, babies are born in all kinds of hard situations. Why is this the sign? Verse 16 says that they came with haste and rushed to see if this was so, and they found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.
So they walk in and they find him, and I'm still wrestling with what is so remarkable about this sign. What did they see in the sign?
There has been nobody in history that's ever been spoken of like this. Have you ever thought about that? Nobody, to this day, says, "You know, there was a sign in Hanford years ago, and Chris Gordon was born." Nobody's ever said that. It's really sad that nobody's ever said that. Maybe my mom, she's here today, you know. She saw a sign. Maybe I glowed. I don't know. Nobody's ever said that.
And here we're reading this how many years later of this particular child that's brought into the world. Nobody's ever said this about you, let alone has it been preached all throughout time. Ponder that. Think about that. They saw something. What did they see?
You notice the text says a manger. Some translations will have, off to the side, a feeding trough, the number. We considered the other night that a manger was something that was set in the middle of the living room in these homes because there was no place in the guest room for them. So they would have had to stay in the hospitality place in the living room of a common house in Palestine at that time. And in those houses, in the middle, was a little hole that a little box laid in. So when the animals were brought in at night, they'd come under the house and they would feed.
Well, that's a shock! That's a shock! The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, through whom everything was made, who had all power and glory and dominion and might, with the word of his mouth spoke all this into existence, here in the incarnation is laid in a feeding trough?
That's really unbearable to think about and incomprehensible, I guess I should say, how low he became. The Savior of the world brought forth in a feeding trough?
Well, you know the message in that. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."
Well, that is love. That is love for you. That is real love. The apostles struggled to explain this. I can't fathom the Son of God come to us in this way, in this world. Can't begin to plumb the depths of that.
But there's a lot more here. The sign the sign you will see, says the angel, will be a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in this manger. They were little hollow rectangular containers, sometimes made of wood, the preponderance, the most of them being made of stone.
Here's the sign: the sign, the Messiah will be wrapped in strips of cloth and laid in a stone-like box.
Now, you'll remember that everyone along the way was asking Jesus for a sign. "Give us a sign." And at one point in his earthly ministry, he stops and he says, "No sign will be given to you except one: the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
The shepherds come. They gaze on the child wrapped in cloths and laying in a stone box. What do you see? What do you see?
At the end of Luke's gospel, we read this. Listen to the construction. "Joseph of Arimathea went, Arimathea, and asked for the body of Jesus. And he took it down. And he wrapped it in linen cloth. And he placed it in a tomb cut from the rock from which nobody else had been laid."
Same word laid is chosen there as Luke uses up front. He's laid. Wrapped. There's your gift. The Savior was destined for the cross and the grave for you, and he would rise to overcome death and sin for you.
None of you have ever brought forth a child to give him to death. That gives meaning to the sign. "For behold, there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord."
And all of a sudden, they break out.
And where did that leave the shepherds? You'll notice, as soon as the angels left, they ran with haste to him. And when they gazed their eyes upon him, notice what it says: they saw. They saw.
That's the theme in Luke. Remember in the resurrection in Luke 24 and the road to Emmaus? He stood right in front of them and they could not see him. And he says, "O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered and enter into his glory?" And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them and all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
And Luke says, "Then their eyes were opened and they knew him. And it says he opened their understandings and they saw him, so that they might comprehend the Scriptures."
The shepherd's eyes were opened that day in the same way. And they saw him and his mission as the Messiah to die and rise again. And they go away glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen as the gospel was proclaimed to them.
What brought peace to the lives of the shepherds that day was an understanding of who had been given to them. And that was the celebration that pleased God.
Now think of what we're celebrating today. Think of the good news given to us today. You can come right to Him. And you can have access. And he'll forgive your sins. And he announces to you good news. "Glory to God in the highest. God so loved the world that he gave his holy begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Behold! In the gospel, God is saying to us the same news today as he said to the shepherds: "I bring you good tidings of great joy. And my son underwent the ultimate humiliation for you and went to the grave. And that was the plan from the beginning, so that you'll never know that kind of suffering, sorrow, and that you will have true peace."
Did you see this week it's all over the news that Ben Sass, who's on the board here at Westminster, was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer? He's going to die. 53 years old. I'd like to explain that and say, "Well, those are bad habits in life." We want to find some reason for that, don't we? 53 years old. There's no reason. God does this at times to remind us all of our own mortality, and to remind us all that we're all under the sentence of death, and to remind us all that we all need a Savior.
Some go early, some go later, but without a Savior, you perish in your sins. And the really good news is today, God gave his son to undergo this death for us, to atone for sin, to rise again. And he says in the gospel, "Rejoice! When you rest in him and you believe in him, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. And if we die, we shall live."
This is Christmas. This is the time to glorify God and praise him that he chose you to see this. See? Did he not? He chose you to see this. You are the people of his good pleasure. That's the kind of celebration that will please God today.
"Rejoice and be glad, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, and that you, through his poverty, might become rich. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"
Let us believe it.
Let's pray.
Gracious Lord, thank you for this gift. Thank you for all you have done. Thank you for opening our eyes to see. Give us faith, O Lord, for we're so weak. And may we respond like the angels with opening our mouths and singing now your praise, for you're worthy, for such a gift that you've given to us, that we don't deserve, sinners that we are. We receive it by faith, and we believe you, and we trust you as our good God and Father, who loves us so much that he did not spare his own son for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.