Word of Salvation – Vol.06 No.50 – December 1960
Baby Jesus And The Shepherds
Sermon by Rev. D. C. Bouma on Luke 2:8-20
Scripture Reading: Psalm 74; Luke 2:1-20
Hymns: 350:1,2,3; 100:1,2 (after the Law); 346:1,2,3; 347:1,2,3; 466
Congregation beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Christmas is finally here. We all have been hearing about it for weeks in many different ways. And everyone knows about it. But not everyone who knows about it is going to have a blessed Christmas.
When Jesus was born, the Scribes and Pharisees in Jerusalem knew about Christmas and about Bethlehem. They knew the Old Testament Bible texts which told about the coming Christmas, and which pointed to Bethlehem. But they were so busy studying, so busy discussing and talking about these Old Testament texts that they never stopped to BELIEVE them. They missed out on Christmas, they missed meeting the God who became a man on Christmas day.
King Herod also knew about Christmas and Bethlehem. But He was so afraid that the little baby-king Jesus would someday take away his throne, that he sent his soldiers to Bethlehem… to kill Jesus.
There were also other people who knew about Christmas and Bethlehem. They were the shepherds. Let us watch as Dr. Luke tells us about the
BABY JESUS AND THE SHEPHERDS.
- Angels bring the message.
- Shepherds see the Messiah.
- Shepherds tell the message.
“And there were shepherds…!*
Out there in the open fields on this cold dark early spring night, shepherds were staring into the darkness. They had to watch and be on guard against thieves or animals which might steal or harm the sheep.
And the night was dark, just as dark as the days in which they lived – dark days in which the sheep of Israel were lost and wandering, dark days in which THIEVES and MURDERERS HAD ALREADY scattered the Lord’s flock. Herod and Augustus made these days dark. And God’s free people were again in bondage. And wild beasts were tearing at the heart of God’s turtle-dove.
The shepherds were not particularly happy. They had lots of time to think… and stare out into the darkness. And their work was boring. During the day they walked and led the sheep, but at night they had only to stay awake. That’s why shepherds were despised in Israel. Shepherds were nobodies. They were not reckoned as part of the people. They were poor and quite useless, good only to stay awake at night to watch over dumb beasts. No, shepherds just didn’t count; they were hated and despised, all alone and out on the cold dark hillside around Bethlehem.
All alone?
No! GOD WAS THERE!
Doesn’t it thrill your soul?
Not in the shining halls of an emperor’s palace in Rome where man has made himself into a little God….!
Not in the beautiful chambers of King Herod’s palace where a King worries in fear day and night because someone might try to be king in his place…!
Not in the musty rooms of the temple where Scribes and Pharisees argue and debate about meaningless points of the law….!
But out in the DARK, in the cold, among people whose names you don’t know, people who don’t count, to people who are worth less than the sheep they watch… THERE GOD SHOWS HIMSELF.
That’s Gospel! In the words of the Psalmist (74:19): “God will not forget the life of the poor forever.” And in the words of Mary’s Magnificat: God will scatter the proud in the imagination of their heart and put down princes from their thrones and has exalted them of low degree. The hungry he has filled with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.
There God shows Himself – where MEN ARE IN NEED, where men are so poor that they have NO PRIDE, NO STANDING; there God chooses, elects men to be His own where men look up to the heavens and remind God of His promises! There God’s almighty saving Word breaks the silence of the centuries where poor, broken contrite hearts fear Him!
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven!
HOW POOR ARE YOU TODAY?
Alone?
No, the shepherds are not alone. An angel of the Lord stands by them, watching and listening. God in heaven is interested in the miseries, the need, the loneliness of His own in this world. God promises, as He had for many centuries. God watches and listens as He had for 400 years…. in silence. And then God SPEAKS.
And, WHERE God speaks in the midst of my need and my misery, there the glory of the Lord is seen.
The glory of the Lord… special words for the times in the Old Testament, when God was present among the people in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. And now the temple was unholy. The ark was lost: Where…? Where is the God of Israel and His burning glory?
Here! With the men of this “night school” on the fields of Ephrata; here! with the men for whom Jesus is born!, here, preparing, purifying the hearts of believers to HEAR THE WORD OF GOD, preparing and purifying the hearts of believers to ACCEPT GOD’S SON.
“And they feared with great fear”.. yes, GREAT FEAR, because they were BELIEVERS, who knew their own unworthiness, infinitesimal smallness and who knew the majestic greatness of Jehovah…. fear which brings respect and obedience for the Word of God.
Do you know the FEAR OF THE LORD?
The shepherds were the kind of people who could not think of God without being broken and contrite of heart…. can you?
God LOVES such people, and that’s why He says to them at Christmas time: FEAR NOT..!
Don’t be afraid of the Lord’s glory.
Rejoice in the good news that God’s glory is back on earth to stay.
Rejoice, because God keeps His promises.
Rejoice, because the Messiah has come.
Rejoice, because it is God’s glory to save people from their sins!
Rejoice, because it is God’s glory to live with all men!
What is this?
The God of heaven… makes worthless shepherds happy?
The God of heaven… preaches the Kingdom of God to women and children?
The God of heaven… saves and lives with publicans, street-women and lost sons?
Yes…! And do you want proof that it is the glory of God to live your worthless life to make that worthless life GLORIOUS… a sign??
You will find this Messiah right in the place where God promised (God always keeps His Word) – the city of David.
You cannot miss Him, for – you will find this Messiah surrounded by your misery and your poverty, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, like Paul later said, “We know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He for our sakes became poor…!
Rejoice, O shepherds! You are DEAR to God!
He loves you so much that He cannot stand to see your hopelessness, and your misery. He takes your hopeless life upon Himself to change it into a life of happiness and hope and blessing.
The shepherds are overwhelmed. They cannot yet realize all which has happened. They – the congregation – are unable to answer God’s great gospel with “Praise God from whom all blessings flow”. The church can only stare in trembling, awe and amazement.
But, Oh, the grace of God! When men’s lips are sealed with worship before God’s glory, God raises up a choir to sing FOR the church.
“And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host, praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace among men in who he is well-pleased…!
Yes, THAT is the purpose of Christmas… that GOD be praised in all eternity because He so loved the world… the shepherds… you and me… that HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.
Yes, that’s the purpose of Christmas, to bring peace between sinful man and a sin-hating God, peace in place of everlasting war, peace in place of everlasting curse, peace in place of everlasting punishment.
And the shepherds?
They said to one another: Let’s go!
They UNDERSTOOD what God was talking about. They BELIEVED what God had told them. They didn’t talk about the angels and the choir and the glory…. but about “this thing which has come to pass”.
They are now going to hurry because they want to see “that which the Lord made known to us!”
Here is real FAITH in action. It drives the shepherds WITH ALL SPEED TO JESUS. They went with haste, to the Lord, that true faith….! Is that yours?
And they found that God’s Word is always right.
And they found Jesus, and Mary, and Joseph, because God had found them. There he was, just a little newly born baby, THEIR CHILD, THEIR KING, THEIR GOD!
The shepherds spoke to each other. But they spoke to others too, to all who heard it, so that such people wondered at what the shepherds told them.
Here are the first Christian missionaries in action. They preached about the glory of God in the little baby Jesus. That was a good way to celebrate Christmas.
They also returned, back to their old, poverty stricken, wretched night-shift life of herding sheep…. with a new out- look. Glorifying and praising God.
Their old life was a new life, after Christmas, because it was filled with: THANKS BE TO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT.
Amen.