The Gospel of Luke: Christ the Lord

Beloved, if you can turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 2, we're going to be examining verses 8 through 21 this morning, the

Gospel of Luke chapter 2, verse 8. When you have that, please do stand for reading of God's Word.

Here ye, the word of the Lord. 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 of the angel a multitude of the heavenly host 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, these 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 that they had heard and seen as it had been told them.

At the end of the eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Let me pray.

Father, we thank you for that good and precious word, your word, which is able to make us strong unto salvation.

We thank you, God, that you've given us now this narrative of the birth of our Savior Christ.

Let us now, as Mary did, ponder these things in our hearts and consider its implications, its truth, its glory, its majesty, as it leads us to a greater appreciation of Jesus and what he has done.

And we pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Brothers and sisters,

God often intervenes in our lives when we least expect it.

God, I think, likes to show up in the mundane parts of our lives.

Consider for a moment the story that we just read from Luke 2. You probably have heard it more than once.

Go to church on Christmas, this is likely the text that is brought forth, is the story of the shepherds as they were waiting and as they were tending their flocks, and out of nowhere, out of thin air, these angels appear and begin to herald the birth of the

Savior, Jesus Christ. What a phenomenal scene, what a powerful scene. It's a scene that is well -known in the

West, well -known from Bible stories. Yet what's often overlooked is just how mundane life can actually be.

Look at verse 8, in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, doing what?

Keeping watch over their flock by night. In other words, these are working class people doing working class things.

They weren't waiting, looking like the magi were, for signs in the heavens.

They weren't scholars who were poring over the Scriptures to decipher the appearance or the coming of the

Savior. These weren't people of great stature or of wealth or authority or influence who were waiting and seeing and conniving and trying to figure these things out.

No, just regular folk. Regular, hard -working people who were given insight into some great, powerful truths.

As it says in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And verse 9 says, 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.

You see, these are regular people doing regular things, not expecting to have an encounter with the divine.

And I think that's when God loves to show up. God likes to show up when

He's least expected. Think about your life for a moment. I'm not sure what your conversion story,

I've heard some of your conversion stories. I have many great friends who have some great conversion stories, and one of my favorites is a brother who had been converted when he was at the bus stop, just minding his own business, and just got off a shift at work.

And a man comes up to him and starts asking him very weird questions, like, sir, do you know what happens to you when you die?

And this gentleman says, no, are you going to try to kill me, though? The back story is that this happened in the hood.

So he got a little bit nervous when someone was asking him about life and death circumstances and situations.

And he begins to ask him this question, saying, what do you think happens to you when you die? These are questions that he maybe pondered, never really considered, and they began to have a gospel conversation.

And this man at the bus stop was led to faith in Jesus Christ. Led to faith in Jesus Christ. There he was, minding his own business, doing life, just got out of work, considering other things.

And yet, there on that bus stop, in the most mundane circumstances of life, he encountered the divine, he encountered

God, he encountered Jesus at the bus stop. Friends, these shepherds, doing mundane things, day -to -day things, encountered

Jesus, encountered the divine, encountered heaven when they least expected it.

And that's where God likes to show up, in the least expected moments of life. So friends, and by the way, just to put this out there,

I'm sorry I didn't get you the insert this morning. You're just going to have to take old -fashioned notes, the old way.

I promise I will have inserts for you next week, but this week it wasn't a possibility. But as you're pondering these truths, as you're pondering these things,

I want you to know that God shows up in the mundane. God is in the details.

And we often overlook God in the mundane things of life. It's when we are caught up in our own business.

It's when we're caught up in our day -to -day activities, with the children, at home, at work, at the store, wherever it is that we do things in life.

That's when we least think of God, when we least expect God. But I want to tell you that God is in those details too.

And it's often in those moments that God gives us glimmers of his glory, glimmers of who he is, glimmers of his hope and purpose and promise to you and to me.

Which is why, again, I love the story of the shepherds and the angels, because it's, again, the shepherds, just regular folk, doing regular things, encountering the divine by night, being given a glimpse into the glory of the

Lord. Because it's that which they encounter there in verse 9, an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the

Lord shone around them. God's glory was manifested to them, not just by the appearance of the brilliance of the angel of the

Lord, but more so because of what had just happened, Christ, the

Savior, was born. You see, when Jesus entered the world, he changed everything.

Everything changed when Jesus came into the picture. Friends, that's true in the micro as well, of our lives.

When Jesus enters the picture of our lives, it changes everything. You can encounter

Jesus at the bus stop, or you can encounter him at a grand cathedral with a beautiful steeple and a beautiful church.

You can encounter him maybe even in the wilderness, surrounded by nature and creation. But regardless of where you encounter him, he will change you, and he will leave you different than where he found you.

And that is true of these humble shepherds who encountered the divine by night.

And they were filled, it says, with great fear. Now again,

I love these descriptions in the Old and New Testament. When regular people, when regular people encounter

God, it often says that they were accompanied with great fear.

Now why should that be of note? Why should that be of importance to us as we read this text and as we consider this story?

It's because again, when we least expect God, and when he shows up, not only can it be an awesome thing, but it can also be a very scary and fearful thing.

We weren't expecting it. We weren't ready for it. I often ask myself, why is it that they came with great fear?

And maybe, just maybe, they were accompanied by fear when they encountered the glory of the

Lord, because maybe they felt they weren't ready for it. Maybe they felt they weren't worthy of it.

Maybe they say, I'm just not ready for this right now, God, I don't have things in order in my house, and I don't have things ordered in my life, and if I want to encounter

God, I want to encounter God at my best and not my worst, and any one of those things could be true of any one of us.

When we encounter God, and it's true when we maybe do evangelism, when we speak to individuals, oftentimes you'll find there's an accompanying mentality or spirit that goes like this, well, you know,

I'm interested in God, I'm interested in following God, but I'm not ready for it, because I just gotta,

I gotta fix things in my life. You ever heard that before? I need to get myself straightened out, I need to change a couple things, and then

I'll go to church, and then I'll go follow Jesus, then I'll start reading the Bible. You know, that's the opposite way of what the actual truth is.

You see, friends, when we go to Jesus, we don't come to Him neatly dressed and presented and say, okay,

Lord, now I'm ready for you to save me, because I've done some of the saving already, and all you've gotta do is clean around the edges.

That's not the Jesus we know. That's not the Jesus we serve. The Jesus we serve finds us in the manure of life, in our worst, in our dirtiest, at our most unclean, and that's where His glory shines the brightest.

When He saves broken humans, created in His image, marked and mired by the fall, who desperately are in need of a

Savior, and Jesus is that good Savior. He is that good shepherd.

He is that God who comes to save the one out of the 99.

That's Jesus. And so, when these shepherds who were tending their flocks by night, when they saw the glory of the

Lord, and they fell with great fear, maybe, just maybe, some of that fear, some of that anxiety that came over them was because they felt they were not ready.

Now, I'm just totally speculating here. We don't know. We don't have the true motive of their hearts. But I know what would be in my heart if I encountered

God by night. Maybe I'd be coming out of a Walmart super center or something.

Maybe I just had a bad interaction with the cashier. I don't know. Maybe I'm not ready to encounter God at that moment, and I would probably be shameful even to encounter

God in that moment. But that's when God likes to show up, again, when we least expect it.

I too would fall with great fear, fear in my inadequacies, fear in my own sin, my own depravity, that this is when you show up,

God, at my worst. And you know what? That's when He likes to show up, at your worst.

Sometimes brothers and sisters, we have the mentality that we want God to show up when we're at our best and we're at our holiness.

And yes, there should be that desire in us. That is a good desire. For Scripture says there's a day appointed where Christ will come again in glory.

And on that great day, on that great appointment, you want to be standing firm in Christ, be standing approved in righteousness, not having, however, a righteousness of your own, but a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ.

And you do want to stand approved on that great day. But know before that great visitation, there'll be times when the

Lord gives you a visitation, when He wants to mold you, change you, encourage you, empower you, and it's often in those moments when we least expect it, that He'll do it.

When we're not looking for it or we're not even wanting it, God shows up in the small, minute details of life.

And so, too, we should expect that God will show up in our lives, in our circumstances, in our falling short.

And though we may encounter that with great fear, we should also worship

Him with great adoration. Notice what the text says in verse 10 of Luke chapter 2.

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.

Why not fear? It is a fearful thing to encounter the living God. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living

God, Scripture says. But in this circumstance, the angel of the Lord assures these simple men doing simple things, fear not, for behold, look,

I bring you good news, good news of great joy.

Why not fear? Because God is replacing fear with joy through the gospel good news of Jesus Christ.

That's why we ought not to fear. Because of what God is bringing into the world through Christ.

That on this day, this appointed time, in this visitation, God had brought forth

His son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save simple sinners like them.

Like them. That's why it's good news. He wasn't coming to condemn the world, but that through the one

God would bring into the world, He would not condemn it, but rather save it. That simple men, women and children, shepherds doing work by night would encounter the living

God and be saved and lead them not into fearful expectation of judgment, but rather into the joy of the

Lord, which is our strong tower. This is why, again, the encouragement here is to fear not, for behold,

I bring you good news. When God shows up in life, know that He usually comes bearing good news.

He comes bearing good news. You know, when we fall short as Christians, it ought to leave a mark on us.

It ought to make us feel a certain way so that we may come draw near to God.

The scripture says, draw near to God and He will draw near to you. But let's be real for a moment. When we fall short in the things of life, that's when we least want to draw near to Him.

Why? Because we know we're broken, we're sinful. Just like Adam and Eve in the garden, when they fell into sin and their eyes were opened, it says, they saw their nakedness, they saw their depravity, they saw their inadequacies.

They knew that they had a shame now that had to be covered. And so often in life, when we fall short of the mark, too, we know and understand our own shame.

And therefore, what we do is we try to cover, just like Adam and Eve try to cover and try to find cover from God in the garden, we, too, run to our things of life, whether it be work, our relationships, our marriage, our hobbies, our entertainment.

We go to the things to try to hide us and keep us away from God so that He would not see or expose our nakedness.

But friends, there's good news, just as there was in the garden. You see what

God did in the garden? He had told Adam and Eve on the day that you eat of this tree, you shall surely die.

But what happened on that day? They did experience a death, a spiritual death. But instead of killing them and destroying the human race right there,

God clothed Adam and Eve with grace, covered them with grace and promised that through the seed of the woman, he would bring forth a savior.

That he would bring one who would bring enmity, who would destroy the serpent who had deceived the woman.

And that by means of this promised seed, all the nations would be blessed.

Well, hallelujah, on this day, when these shepherds were out in the field tending their flocks by night, they received a vision and a declaration that the seed that was promised in the garden, the grace that covered our shame and our nakedness had come into the world.

Oh, great joy. Hallelujah. Joy had come into the world, so therefore fear no longer had any place, just like Adam and Eve had fear and expectation of judgment in the garden.

So we too often experience that same fear and expectation of judgment. And yet, just as God provided grace in the garden, so now he provides even greater grace through the shed blood of his son,

Jesus Christ. So, beloved. If you are, if you sinned, if you fall short of the mark, know this, there is good news of great joy.

There's good news for me and for you. There's great joy because, as it says in verse 11 of Luke chapter two, for on to you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is

Christ, the Lord, the savior has come. He's here.

He is now we live in the dispensation to use that term not incorrectly, but in the correct way.

We live in the dispensation of the coming of Christ. He has come.

He has accomplished his redemptive work. He has done all that is required for our salvation. He said it is finished.

It is indeed finished, brothers and sisters. Do you believe that? Do you receive that great joy?

Why? Because the savior is here. Christ, the Lord.

Christ, the Lord. I don't believe there's any statement. More consequential in the history of the cosmos than this one right here, that Jesus Christ is

Lord, if there were a plaque on the foundations of creation, it would be that Jesus is

Lord. I believe in that so greatly that on my tombstone, I just I would be totally joyful and it would suffice if all it said were those words.

Jesus is Lord. No greater words can be said, no greater truth can be declared because so powerful is this truth that heaven itself declares it when we see the book of Revelation and the songs are sung about Jesus is all about his glory, his lordship, his centrality, his supremacy.

So that even the apostle Paul writing to the church in Philippi says in Philippians chapter two, verse nine, that God has highly exalted this

Jesus, given him in the name that's above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he is what

Lord to the glory of God, the father. That's how central that word, that term, that phrase is, that all of heaven, all of earth, all that is beneath the earth and all that is in the sea declares that truth and will one day declare it in unison.

Jesus Christ is Lord. And this is the truth that came to these simple, humble shepherds by night, that Jesus Christ is

Lord, they were not scholars, they were not magi, they were not princes, they were not kings.

These were simple people and these simple people received the most outstanding, the most phenomenal and the most powerful truth that can be known, that Christ is

Lord. And if God can do that with humble shepherds, imagine, just imagine what he can do with some of you.

Some of you who may be working as janitors or be working as software engineers and everything in between,

God uses the simple to change the world. And this is why this is of such great importance and joy to us, is because of the truth, the magnificent truth that God reveals to everyday people.

He uses everyday people in everyday circumstances to change the world.

This is why then verse 12, it says, and this will be a sign for you, you will find a baby rat in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

So think about this for a moment. You have the angels declaring this grand truth, this incredible truth, that the

Savior that was prophesied throughout Holy Scripture, promised in the Garden of Eden, long expected through the prophets, built this anticipation, one that would be born.

And where would they find him? In the palace, in Rome, in Jerusalem, in the temple?

No, no, none of those places. Instead, they'll find him in swaddling clothes, dirty, filthy, disgusting clothing.

Where? Not in the palace, but in the manger. Outstanding, isn't that incredible?

That the one whom God would bring into the world would not be found in the highest, most magnificent places or institutions, but rather in that which is most lowly, that which is most least expected, in the manger, in swaddling clothes, next to animals, next to filthy things.

And yet that is where Christ was to be found. Brothers and sisters, our lives are no different.

Our circumstances are often no different. Where do we find Jesus? Do we find him in these grand palaces?

Do we find him in these great churches and cathedrals? No, it's often that we find him when we ourselves are lying in the filthiness of the manger, when we ourselves are contaminated by the dust and the dirt and the mire of the world.

That's where we find Jesus. It's in the small places. It's in the dirty places of life.

Friends, that's where we encounter the divine. It's not when we're at our best.

It's not when we are at our most fit. It's often when we least expect it, where we least expect to find him, that we find him.

That we find him. Why? Because that's where he wants to be found. That's where the angels led the shepherds by night to find

Jesus exactly where he was to be in the manger, lying and swaddling cloths.

And verse 13 says, 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.

What a magnificent, beautiful declaration. What accompanies the birth of Christ?

What accompanies the declaration unto the lowly shepherds?

The glory of God. So why then? Why was Christ to be found in the manger?

Why is that we often find God in the most mundane circumstances of life?

It's for his glory. It's for his glory. God is most glorified.

In when all other distractions are removed and the only thing that can stand is his purpose and his glory.

That's why it's not often that people find Christ in these grand cathedrals of all these great works of art and sculptures and and beautiful things surrounding it.

These are just distractions. It's not often that you find God in the powers of of political figures in offices, but rather it's in the stillness and quietness of life where his glory most resonates and can be the loudest.

Not that Christ cannot be found in those places, not that he won't be found in those places, but rather he finds he allows himself to be found in the places in which brings him the most glory, which means it will vary from person to person.

But ultimately, God's highest priority is his own glory.

And he will do that, which glorifies his name. He will do that, which will glorify his person, his character, his love, his majesty.

Which is why even the circumstances that these shepherds found themselves in on that night.

God was to be glorified, not only amongst those with whom it had now been revealed, but also to those in the heavenly host who were praising

God for the revelation of his son, even onto these lonely shepherds, which is again why the heavenly hosts appear before the shepherds singing again, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased.

Remember, the initial emotion of the shepherds was fear. They had now been given good news of great joy.

And what should replace that fear is now a peace. A peace that, as the apostle

Paul writes later to the church in Philippi, surpasses all understanding. And this is what it looks like to encounter the living

God. Fear, good news, great joy and peace results in peace.

And friends, this is what the world is so desperately looking for. The world desperately is searching for peace.

There's conflicts in all ends of the world, political conflicts, wars, economic conflicts, uncertainty in life, uncertainty in relationships, uncertainty in the home.

And yet. The only thing and the only one who can offer true and lasting peace is the

Lord God Most High. The one who is the highest God, who is the highest. He offers peace to men on earth with whom he is pleased.

And what's interesting about this statement is that there's a connotation that with whom he is pleased were that shepherds were among them, with whom he was pleased.

These simple men doing simple things at a simple time were the ones with whom he was pleased to reveal this grand truth.

Absolutely astonishing that God would reveal himself to simple men.

Doing simple things. Why? Why is that astonishing?

What really shouldn't be astonishing? Because consider this, it's that it's in that way

God is most glorified. God is most glorified when he takes simple people, simple men, women and children, and does the extraordinary.

That's what he's in the business of doing in that way. He demonstrates himself to be

Lord because he can use anyone at any time for anything.

Verse 15 in Luke, chapter two, says when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherd said to another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the

Lord has made known to us. What I love about this response from the shepherds is that they receive this great proclamation, this great truth.

And what's the first thing they want to do? They want to act on it. They want to act on it. You know what the scholars would have done?

They'd say, you know what, let's sit down for a moment. Let's consider things, let's regroup, let's take a couple of meetings here and maybe in a week or two, we'll figure out what to do with all this information.

What did these simple men want to do? When they heard this good news of great joy, they said, let's go, let's go.

Let's go see what it is that the Lord has said and let us witness of our eyes this grand thing.

You know why God loves you simple people? Because when it's time to do the work, they'll do it.

And when it's time to go, they'll go. They won't sit, they won't have a committee, they won't debate over these things of, well, was this this way or that way?

You know, which way in Bethlehem should we go? They just went. Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the

Lord has made known to us, simple faith from simple people. And it's in simple faith that we begin to see

God do incredible things. This should be our response, brothers and sisters, when we encounter

God in our day to day lives is let us go, let us go. Similarly to what the prophet

Isaiah, when he saw the vision of the glory of the Lord and Isaiah chapter six, and it says in verse one, the year that King Uzziah died, saw the

Lord high and lifted up in the glory of his of his person filled the temple.

And it says that the angels began to sing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts over earth is filled of his glory.

And though he was consumed of great joy or great fear, the prophet Isaiah, that is, it also says when

God went, when the the the the call came, who shall go for us?

The prophet Isaiah readily said, here I am, send me. And here these simple shepherds declared, likewise, here

I am, let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing which has happened, which the

Lord has made known to us. When the Lord reveals himself to you and reveals himself through his word, he brings to you an everlasting salvation that cannot be taken nor denied.

Go and declare it to the world, go tell it from the housetop to the mountain and everywhere in between that Christ is

Lord. Verse 16 says, 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 which had been told them concerning the child.

So they went and they witnessed with their own eyes the Christ. There was a confirmation of the angel of the

Lord. It was a confirmation of the promises that were made in the garden that are made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

It was a confirmation of the promise that was made to David that his Davidic dynasty would reign forever.

It was a confirmation of the promises made to the prophets that this child, the root of the stump of Jesse, would come and would be born in Bethlehem of all places.

The promised child had come and the simple shepherds were witnesses of it.

And because of this, they great, they tell the story to Mary of what they had just encountered.

Now, Mary, having already received a visitation from the angel of the Lord in the previous chapter, when the angel of the

Lord and when Gabriel tells her that she will have a child and that this child would save a people from their sins, that this child would be the son of the most high

God, this child, his name shall be Jesus, for he saves a people from their sins.

Having already received this confirmation, now the child has come into the world and now she receives more confirmation now from not from the angel of the

Lord, but from simple shepherds. Who, too, had received the visitation, who, too, had received insight and revelation into the grand things that God was doing in redemptive history through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

And it says. In verse 18, when all who heard it, it says, actually, sorry, in verse 17.

And when they saw it, they may know the same that had been told them concerning his child and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

Notice Mary's response in verse 19. But Mary treasure of all these things, pondering them in her heart.

She treasured these things. What does it mean to treasure a thing that you hear?

What does it mean to treasure something that comes in your heart? What's that? I love that to keep safe.

To keep it safe, to guard it, to to nurture it, to ponder it in such a way that it is fresh in your heart, in your mind.

You safeguard it. And so Mary safeguards this incredible truth, this incredible truth about Jesus.

And so, too, brothers and sisters, so are we to safeguard, treasure, protect this great treasure of the good news of great joy, that Christ is

Lord and that Christ, the Savior, has come. Do you treasure the gospel?

Do you treasure these spiritual truths? Do you show appreciation for these spiritual truths as Mary did?

What are ways in which we as Christians today having maybe mundane work and mundane things of life, how can we treasure such great truths?

How can we ponder in our hearts in such a way that shows affection and shows honor to our

God and Savior? Well, brothers and sisters, one of the simple ways that we can do that is by one, being in God's word daily, being in the word, showing appreciation to God's to God's inspired word.

If you know anything about me, if you've ever been in my office for a good or bad reason, you notice

I've got a lot of Bibles. I love the Bible and I love having new Bibles. And I kind of have a little bit of a problem because I buy maybe too many

Bibles. I get this, ask my wife. I buy a lot of Bibles. I buy them so often that I don't really get a chance to wear any one of them down particularly well.

But I do have one Bible that I have had since I was 18. And that Bible is probably my most treasured one.

And it's pretty worn down and I don't use it often now because literally every time

I put in my hand, I get more like pieces stuck to my hand as it degrades more and more from it.

And you would think maybe someone would see that as a man, someone didn't take good care of that book, didn't take good care of that Bible.

But friends, it's the opposite. When you find a worn out Bible like that, that's been in the hand so well that you can see the marks on that book.

It shows that that person actually has shown great appreciation for the words of Holy Scripture.

Why? I think it was Spurgeon or maybe it's at least attributed to Spurgeon. This is a you see a worn out

Bible. That person probably isn't so worn out. Because that shows appreciation for God's word, it shows that we love the word, that we ponder, that we treasure it.

And so, friends, be in God's word daily, show appreciation and ponder these truths, not just on Sunday, not just when it's convenient, but do so on a daily basis, therefore showing to Christ the honor that is due to his name.

He's Lord and his words are gospel good news. Therefore, why would we not run to it daily?

Why would we not find our sustenance, our hope and our stay right here in God's word?

We can ponder these truths daily. What a joy, what a pleasure, what a what a gift we have in God's word.

Another way we can show appreciation and ponder these truths of this good news of this gospel is by being regularly involved in the life of God's church, being regularly involved in the ministry of God's people.

Why? Because again, notice the response from the lowly shepherds.

They receive this great truth, and what's the first thing they do? They go. They go.

They partake in the work of proclaiming the grandeur of the gospel good news.

And we, too, have that responsibility and duty because this child who was in the manger is no longer a child.

It's one of the problems with having a nativity scene is that when we have the nativity scene and we put it up, we we look at Jesus as this helpless, innocent, cute little baby and that he once was, but only for a moment.

This Christ, this savior is Lord. He is now glorified, enthroned in majesty, surrounded by throngs of angels and saints from all the ages and unbroken harmony of worship.

That's where and who Jesus is today. So much so that even when the

Apostle John saw the Lord Jesus Christ in his glorified state, the scripture says in Revelation 1, verse 17, that he fell to his feet or to his to Christ's feet as though dead.

And yet again, the proper response from a creature seeing the holy living

God is to fall prostrate forth on your feet as though dead because one cannot see

God and live. And yet what does Christ do? He offers grace and he puts his right hand upon John and he says again, fear not, fear not.

Why? Because of this great news, this good news of great joy.

The gospel is the only means by which we can approach this living, holy, righteous

God. It's only through Christ. It's only through grace that we can approach this incredible, holy, magnificent God.

It is grace that clothed Adam and Eve in the garden. It was grace that clothed these lowly, unworthy people. It was grace that clothed the holy shepherds.

It was grace that clothed Mary. It was grace that holds us together as well.

It is grace and it is by grace by which we encountered Christ that first moment when we received

Jesus Christ by faith. It is grace that keeps us until that great day when we shall meet him again, either in the air or in glory when we die and see him face to face.

It is nothing short of a miracle that we as Christians today have the privilege of having his word and having his church as ways by which we can partake in this great work and also show appreciation, ponder the truths of God's holy word of his gospel.

It says in verse 20, and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising

God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told them.

What should be our response, brothers and sisters, when we encounter God and the day to day things of life?

It ought to be to glorify and praise him. Now, how really can we encounter him in the day to day things of life?

You know, and I just answered that already. It's through his word and it's through his people. Those are the means by which

God has now given us access, access into this great work of declaring the magnificent things of God.

It's through his word and his people. Therefore, let us return glorifying and praising

God in the midst of his congregation, in the midst of his people as we hold fast to his word, which is able to make us strong onto salvation.

Verse 21, as we close this time together. At the end of the eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called

Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Now, of course, they named him Jesus. Why would they have named him Jesus, though? Because it was the name by which

God had ordained for his son to be called. Why Jesus? What's so special about that name?

In fact, if you ask yourself that question, there was nothing particularly special about the name.

It was in modern day use in those ancient times. It was used quite frequently.

The name Yeshua, Yehoshua, Joshua, it's the same name. It was very common.

Similarly, today in the world, the most prominent name is Muhammad after the prophet of Islam.

And it is a prominent name, the most prominent name in the world today. Similarly, in the ancient world in Israel, Yeshua was a very common name.

So why would God give his son a common name? Certainly, he is no common man.

Why give him a common name? Brothers and sisters, God is in the common.

God is in the common things of life. And he chose the name Jesus. Because the name

Yeshua means Yahweh is our salvation. And who had come into the world born in a manger, swaddled in lowly cloths, visited by lowly shepherds.

It was the most exalted God of heaven who had come down to partake in the lowly common existence of man.

No greater love can there be than this. That our God would be so gracious that he would partake in his own self -humiliation, his own condensation by coming down in the form of man.

To live the life that we've all have a common experience of living.

Died in the death that we shall all have a common existence of tasting. So that through his name and shed blood, common men and women can come to taste the glories and the riches of almighty

God. This is good news of great joy. Christ is

Lord and he is the Savior. Let me pray. Gracious Savior, even

Jesus Christ, the one who has come and are stayed in our place. Lord, you have given us a gift that we cannot even begin to fathom this morning.

The gift of love, the gift of grace, the gift of mercy, and the gift of your own life and shed blood.

We pray, Lord, that you would help us now in this moment to grow in greater acts of appreciation for who you are, what you've done for lowly common sinners like all of us here.

And help us, Lord, not to miss you in the day -to -day details of life, but to find you in the places where we least expect you.

Just as these lowly shepherds were out by night tending their flocks and your glory was revealed around them and you declared to them this good news of great joy, so too,

Lord, now we, with great expectation and open hearts, receive this good news of great joy, namely the death, the life, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of our

Savior Jesus Christ, through whom we now have access by faith into this grace in which we now stand and we can stand approved before the

Son of Man. Lord, we do pray that you would do this work in every single one of us and those here in our midst who have not yet made this confession of faith in Jesus Christ.

May you stir in their hearts even now as we pray that they would know that they are indeed sinners, that they are but common lowly creatures of the dirt who are in need of a great

Savior. And may you reveal yourself, O blessed Savior, as the only one who can save, as the only one who can satisfy the desires of every living soul, and may you declare unto their hearts that you are indeed

Lord, Lord unto the glory of God the Father. Father, we now close our time together in worship, turning our hearts, our affection, our attention towards the

Lord's table, and may we as we partake in this act and others sing in unison with the heavenly hosts, glory to God, glory to God in the highest.