Glory & Lowly, Both Proclaim

Merry Christmas. I’m Pastor Ben and it is my privilege to share from God’s Word with you this morning as we’re continuing on forward in our Christmas series here in just a second. But before I get to that, let me just welcome any guests that are here too.

If this is one of your first times here, if I haven’t had a chance to meet you, I’ll be in the West Lobby. I’d love to connect with you after service. And of course, too, welcome to those joining online, including First Lutheran in Algonac.

If you’ve been around the last few weeks, you know that we’re in this series. We’re not only in a Christmas season, but we’re doing a Christmas series called Christmas Perspective, where we’re kind of breaking down some of our preconceived notions about Christmas and looking at it from a biblical perspective. Because that’s where we’re ultimately going to go to for truth, especially here in this church is we’re going to go to God’s Word and see what it has to say on the matter.

And so today we’re going to be looking at this idea of glory and lowly, both proclaim angels and shepherds proclaiming good news. Before we get into the text, I wanted to start off with this question. When you have big news, how do you share it and with whom? You know what? Actually, even before we get to the how and who, when I say big news, you have big news, how many of you immediately go negative? How many of you like positive? That sounds good.

Big news is good. Okay. What if it was like just a text in the middle of the week and your boss says, hey, I need to talk to you tomorrow.

I have big news. Now is it positive or negative? Negative. Okay.

Context matters, right? Big news. And how do you share it? And so, I mean, this time of year, a lot of times there’s like there’s engagement announcements. There’s all sorts of other announcements that come.

People like post things online, they send announcement things. I know a couple of years ago, we had, it just timed so out so well for our family that at each of our Christmas gatherings, we had little trifold frames where the grandpas, we gave it to them and they would open it up and there would be our oldest child and then there would be the second child and they flip open the third and they squint at it and they’re like, am I looking at a UFO? Like, what is this? Is anyone tracking? Okay, they’re looking at my wife’s uterus is what they’re looking at. But they didn’t know until the grandmas come and they help out and they go, oh, okay, oh, the family’s expanding.

And actually, you know what? Even here, just this last week, this has been on my mind, big news, because we had a couple of family gatherings this last week and we had the privilege to be able to share with them that, again, our family’s expanding and so we’re going to welcome our fourth child this next year. We’re very excited for that, but I thought this was so fitting because we told our two oldest boys about this and we held off on telling our youngest for good reason. He’s four years old and we finally told him and we said, it’s a secret, hey, you’re going to wear this t-shirt, it’s Paw Patrol, it has Chase on it, it says, like, newest big brother to the rescue, it’s awesome.

He’s on board for that. But this idea of secret, this news was too good. Literally everyone that he saw that week leading up knew.

Teacher saw my wife, oh, you guys are expecting those that help out watching him? Like they already knew and actually when we told my mom, she’s like, yeah, I know, Owen already told me. He had news that was just too good to share. And that’s what’s happening here.

There is extraordinary news. These amazing messengers, these angels, and they’re going to shepherds and God has this amazing news. And we get to see a glimpse into God has this majestic, life-changing, earth-shattering news that he wants to share with the entire world and where does he go and how does he share it? Well, we pick up in Luke chapter two, just one verse previous, Jesus is born.

So Joseph and Mary, they’re already in Bethlehem, Jesus is already born and then it just kind of moves outside the city and it tells us this, that in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping over their watch, over their flock by night. Now, this is a really hard thing, I think, for us to like translate, like why shepherds? Why shepherds in the middle of the night? Shepherds are very ordinary, low status, sometimes, and scholars will debate on this, but some scholars would say that they’re considered unclean. Some would even say too that they were so low status within their culture that they weren’t allowed to give testimony in court.

Now, I don’t know for certain if that’s true or not, but there’s this idea that shepherds are the last rung on the socioeconomic ladder, that they’re not trustworthy, that they’re not good people, yet this is who God is choosing to go to. And above all else, it’s also in the middle of a night shift, that they’re doing this menial work, that they’re doing things that are unimportant, seemingly, to other people, yet this is where God goes. He didn’t go to the temple, He didn’t go to the high priest, He didn’t go to someone who was on their knees doing a midnight prayer vigil, waiting for the Messiah to come.

No, He just goes to these ordinary guys, these shepherds out in a field, which maybe you can relate to that a little bit. Maybe there is some unseen work that you feel like you do. Maybe you feel insignificant in some regard, either in the work that you do for your employer, maybe for the work that you do at your home, maybe for how you carry yourself in relationships and friendships, that sometimes we can just feel like we do unseen work, unimportant work.

Well, let me ask you this too. How many of you know your garbage man by his first name? Anybody? It’s unseen work. Is it important work? My dad, growing up and even still to this day, owns a septic tank company and will pump tanks.

Unimportant work? No, no. It’s important work, but not stuff you want to deal with, right? You need somebody to deal with that. It’s unseen work that sometimes goes unnoticed.

Again, maybe you feel that way at times, but I find this really interesting, that here, the most important news in the history of existence is not going to a king. It’s not going to some religious leader. It’s not going to Caesar.

It’s not going to the head of Rome. No, no, no. It’s going to shepherds, ordinary, poor shepherds, just watching dirty sheep, but it’s not just the shepherds that we see here in the story.

We see this angel of the Lord. Angel of the Lord appeared to them, that is the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear. So a few interesting things to note here.

This is the third time in the book of Luke that we are seeing an angel appear. First to Mary, then to Joseph in a dream, and now we’re seeing an angel. Not necessarily a named angel.

We don’t know if this is Gabriel or some other angel, but he appears. But then you notice there, as you move forward, it says, the glory of the Lord shone around them. Now I find this really curious because we don’t see that term in the other messengers, the other angels that are talking to Mary and Joseph, but no, something extraordinary is happening here.

There’s an angel in the glory of the Lord, which if you look elsewhere in the scripture, that would usually refer to the most holy of holies in a tabernacle or in the temple, that this is the presence of God is coming down and shining around and coming to these unclean lowly shepherds. And rightfully, they’re filled with great fear because not only is it an angel, but God’s glory is there. And oftentimes, when people come into contact with God’s glory and they’re unclean, there’s just one thing that happens, and that’s that they die.

Yet they’re filled with great fear. I want you to think for just a moment, you can even close your eyes if you want, an angel. What does an angel look like? I think we like to think on the left, right? Photo on the left, there’s like a three-piece angel band.

They have wings, they have robes. They just look like people for the most part. And sometimes in scripture, we see that angels can show up and they can look like people.

But then the other photo there is that an angel could have four different faces. We see that in scripture. We also see in Isaiah, a description of a seraphim.

A seraphim each had six wings, two that covered their face, two they covered their feet, two he flew. So then there’s a depiction, a modern depiction, and then one in a church of what a seraphim might look like. So it could look like this as well.

Did anybody have that in their mind’s eye when I said, think of an angel? My favorite though, this is my favorite, it’s out of the book of Ezekiel, is wheels turning within wheels, eyes on eyes, wings. Okay, did anybody have that in mind? Would that, okay, middle of the night, you’re doing unseen work, menial task, nobody sees it, you don’t think anybody cares, and then this guy shows up. I’m guessing you’re filled with great fear.

I’m probably filled with great fear as well. And then the angel, as we often see in scripture, lets them know they don’t have to be afraid. The angel said to them, fear not, knowing that just their sheer presence is going to bring about fear.

For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. That’s a significant thing that we just have to note there too. This isn’t just for the shepherds.

This is God’s proclamation to the earth that his son is coming, and he’s coming to tell it’s for everyone, and I’m just going to start by telling you shepherds. This amazing gospel verse then follows, 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 clothes, lying in a manger. We’re going to get to that middle verse in just a second, but I find this really extraordinary. So this extraordinary spiritual being, this messenger of the Lord to proclaim this most life-changing, earth-shattering news, and he says, he tells them the news, and then says this is going to be the sign.

This is how you’re going to know this news is true. Confirmation of this news, and actually the news in flesh is, you’re going to see a baby. I mean babies are, I like babies, right? Like babies are special.

It’s fun to see a baby, but like, okay, this most earth-shattering news, you’re just going to see a baby. Holding a baby is great, seeing a baby is great, but it’s ordinary and it’s regular. It’s part of the human existence is for babies to be born, to see a baby just wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

I find that so interesting that this glorious news shows up in such an ordinary way, which just really echoes the fact that an infinite God that exists outside of time and space would step into such an ordinary way. Here’s this extraordinary news, and it’s just wrapped up in an infant. But what is this news? Why is this good news of great joy? If you just break down that sentence that follows, that angel gives those shepherds, you have just this amazing gospel message.

Is first off, you have to recognize he’s telling them there is a savior, and by very definition, a savior means that you need to be what? Saved. Saved. Saved from what? Now that has to come to mind for these shepherds.

Okay, saved because we’re shepherds and we’re poor, saved because we don’t have this great job and people don’t really respect us, saved because there’s a Roman occupation around our nation and they’re in control of everything and we have to pay taxes to them and we’re not in control anymore. It goes far, far deeper than that. And here in the darkness of night, which really just echoes the darkness that resides inside of each of us as the saviors that’s coming, is coming to save them from themselves, coming to save them from their sin, coming to save them because they can’t save themselves.

And then it follows, okay, this isn’t just a savior. This is the promised savior, the Christ, the one that has been foretold, the one that’s been written about, the one that the prophets talked about, the one that was promised from the very beginning now is coming. That is the one who’s coming to save you.

And then even more than that is it’s not just a savior to save you from yourself who was promised, but this savior is God. This savior is the Lord. And then one thing at the very beginning of this whole thing, this whole proclamation to these shepherds that we can go past so very quickly but is all important for us today is that he is born for you.

The angel says for unto you. And that really is that gospel message for us that not only is it a savior, not only is it a savior that was promised, not only is it a savior is God, but it is God for you. Not only you shepherds, but everyone else.

And this is such a glorious and magnificent message. And please don’t just go right past this. Oh yes, I’ve heard that pastor, but I know that, I know it’s Jesus being born.

But take a look at this. In first Peter, when he’s speaking about angels, at first off it talks about prophets here and it moves on to speaking about angels. It says it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you and the things that you have now announced to you through those who preach good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

And then focus in on this. Things into which angels long to look. It’s talking here in the New Testament, post birth, post crucifixion, post resurrection.

Peter’s writing to the early church and he’s saying, this message that you’re hearing that’s going out about this Christ, this child born for you, the one who died for you, this is something so marvelous, so mysterious, so majestic that angels who worship God, who’ve been sent by God with this message, they long to look. They can’t fully comprehend the majesty or the goodness of this message. And I think we would all do very well to do likewise as these angels, that you would long to look in this season.

Not just go, yeah, Jesus was born. Let’s get to the presence. Yeah, Jesus was born.

Okay, time to eat ham. Right? No, no, no. God in flesh for you and that we could find time in the days to come as we approach Christmas to sit in awe of a God who would love each of us, who would love you enough that he would step down from his throne, that he would put on flesh.

And more than that, that he’d be willing to die for you. This is what angels long to look and that we should long to look because the mystery of the gospel is far too deep and wide. It is insearchable on this side of eternity to really fully grasp the love that God has for each of us.

I find it interesting that scripture even records that angels can’t fully grasp it. So there was one messenger and then all of a sudden, suddenly, there with the angel, a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. No more one angel, whether it’s the wheels or the six wings or it looks like a person, now there’s a multitude.

And here in the text of Luke, we don’t know exactly how many that is, but if you go forward to Revelation, in Revelation chapter five, John records that there’s 10,000 times 10,000, which is how much? Does anybody know? Someone’s good with math, right? 100 million. He says there’s 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands upon thousands in the book of Revelation. And I don’t know for sure how many angels there ultimately are.

Scripture doesn’t tell us. That’s what John records. And I’d have to imagine that the second person of the Trinity being born and being incarnate is like a pretty big deal.

So probably most of those angels, and I mean, just to change your perspective for a moment. So now we have an image of a seraphim with six wings. We have another image from Ezekiel with the wheels within wheels and eyes.

And so is it a heavenly host of everyone in white robes and wings, or is it this multitude of angels of different types and kinds that are all praising God and saying? And now that little phrase that those shepherds just heard of fear not, when there was one, can you imagine when there’s thousands upon thousands of angels all praising God? And again, it’s not showing up in the temple. It’s not showing up in a worship service. It’s showing up on a hillside with some lowly, no-name shepherds that God sees and he wants to use.

The other interesting thing to note here, just to burst folks’ bubbles, is it doesn’t say that they sang. They praised God and they said. So Hark! The Herald Angels spoke, glory to God.

And suddenly, oh, there was the angels. And then the last thing, as I read this text, and I don’t know if you’re like me, but I’ll just take you into my mind for a moment. When I read that, glory to God in the highest, okay, I’ve heard this good news, a child’s born, it’s a savior, it is God, it’s for me, this is all good.

This is really, really good stuff. And there’s going to be peace on earth with who? With whom he is pleased. And for me, that just naturally raises a question.

Is God pleased with me? Is God pleased? Because if I’m a shepherd there in that moment and you’re on that hillside and you’re just doing this menial task, middle of the night, and all of a sudden this awe-inspiring being shows up, this messenger of God, this angel, and he’s sharing this message and says, fear not, okay, I’m having a hard time believing you, but okay, I’ll try not to fear, you share this message and says, oh, this is great news, for whom God is pleased, I feel like for me, maybe I just have a guilt-ridden conscience, what would be ringing in my head is, is he pleased with me? I think that’s a fair question for any of us to ask this morning. Is God pleased with you? And if you were just going to take a second and just look at your own life, because no one other than God knows it better than you yourself. Not just your actions and your words, but your desires, your thoughts.

And if you went back this last day, this last week, or given the time of year it is, as we’re going to be approaching a new year, it often is appropriate for us to reflect back on our last year. Is God pleased? Is God pleased with the work that I’ve been producing? Is God pleased with the way that I’ve been loving those around me? Is God pleased with the way I’ve been loving my spouse and my children? Is God pleased with the way I’ve been using my time? Is God pleased with the amount of time I’ve been spending with him? Is God pleased with me? And if you’re going to be honest with yourself, and also honest with the standard that God has, that we would perfectly live in his will, the answer is a resounding no. That you yourself, me, myself, under the law, under God’s perfect will for me and how I should be living my life and how you should be living your life, no.

God is not pleased with you according to you. God is not pleased with how you spend your time. God is not pleased of how you spend your finances.

God is not pleased with the things you say and do. God is not pleased with you. Yet, God is pleased with you.

That if you, like these shepherds, receive the gift of faith, that you hear this message. Because in the hearing of this message and the receiving of faith, when God sees you, he no longer sees you. He sees Christ and he sees you robed in all of Christ’s righteousness.

So is he pleased with you? No. Far, far from it. But is he pleased in Christ? And are you in Christ? And is Christ in you? To simply have faith in Christ is pleasing to God.

So that message that would lead to fear and trepidation can actually be good news of great joy. Said succinctly is this, the gospel is not good advice. It is good news.

The angel did not come to the shepherds and say, hey, I see that you guys are kind of working hard. You’re working the night shift. This is really menial work.

I got that. Hey, I’m going to go show you something. There’s this kid that’s born and he’s going to be a savior.

He’s really great. And he’s a really, really good example. He’s going to live really well and he’s going to treat people kind.

And I want you to just be like him. And you know what? Before you head over there, let me give you a couple of bracelets. They say WWJD.

So then if you’re ever wondering, should I do it? You know, you just ask yourself, what would Jesus do? And then you can just go ahead and be perfect. Here’s some good advice. That’s what I came for.

The whole heavenly host singing glory to God in the highest. Try your best. The gospel is not good advice.

It is good news. News declaring what God has done, not what we have done. Again, going back to what we have done.

It’s not good news what we have done yet. God intercedes. God, from before the foundation of the world, he knew this was the plan that Christ would have to come.

And here it is, the culmination of all that has been planned for eternity is that Christ would break in, making it the best news ever. So then these angelic hosts, they all go away. They went away from them into heaven and the shepherds are just left there, having had this amazing encounter.

And they said to one another, let’s go over to Bethlehem to see this thing that has happened. And Bob said, you know what? That’s not for me. No, I’ll stay.

I’ll watch the sheep. You guys go. I mean, there had to be one shepherd that went to stay behind, right? It’s not recorded for us, but I just find it interesting, like the response.

There is no other response, right? You have this amazing encounter with God’s messengers and the way you go is you go quickly. The other thing that’s interesting too is that they say that final phrase there, which the Lord has made known to us. That they recognize that these angels are not something to be worshiped in and of themselves, but they’re messengers of who? Of God, that God has told them this message through them.

So they go with haste. They don’t waste any time. And they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger.

The sign that was for them. This ordinary sign, this ordinary seeming thing, but yet this is God in flesh. 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. They didn’t waste any time. They went and they were much like my four-year-old.

There’s news that’s just too good to share. They see this sign. I have to share.

I have to share with Mary and Joseph. They have to share with the other people in Bethlehem. And you have to imagine the other people in Bethlehem would think, okay, if there’s just one crazy shepherd coming in off the hillside, maybe he just has a screw loose.

But there’s a few shepherds. They’re talking about this child. The child’s there.

And all we know, all that Luke tells us is that they wondered. We don’t know if they actually received the message in faith, but they wondered. They marveled at it.

They were curious about it. And here Mary, having had her own angelic messenger months previous, now has these smelly shepherds next to her newborn. And you have to imagine what she might wonder.

Okay, so I knew that the Holy Spirit was going to come. I knew this message from God had come to me from Gabriel. And now shepherds, ordinary shepherds, here by the bedside, by the manger of Almighty God himself.

Then what’s also curious is that they didn’t stay. Shepherds didn’t grow up with Jesus, right? They returned to their work. They went about their lives.

They returned. But they didn’t return in silence. They returned glorifying God and praising him for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told them.

And that’s good news for all of us, that God sees us even as we feel unseen and unheard and unsignificant, when we feel like we don’t measure up because we do not. But to receive this message that the shepherds first received, that for unto you a child is born, that the Savior has come, and it is Christ the Lord for you. And that for us, as I asked you at the very beginning, what do you do with big news? With whom do you share it? How do you share it? Let me ask that another way.

When you have good news of great joy, how do you share it and with whom? With every possible person, my prayer for us this morning as we approach the manger, as we are going in the coming days to just reflect on this gift of God incarnate, is that we would be overwhelmed by this message. Like I said, overwhelmed just like my four-year-old. I have to tell everybody.

I know it’s a secret. I have to tell everybody this news is too good. And this news is not just for me.

It is for everyone. I don’t care if I look crazy. I don’t care if I’m that person at the family gathering that says, you know what? Before we get to presents, let’s read Luke 2. Before we move on, let’s talk about the meaning of Christmas.

I’m actually so encouraged. Actually, my oldest son just did this a couple of weeks ago. He was writing his Christmas list, and he had a few presents on there.

And then at the very end, he said in his Christmas letter he was writing to Santa, he was saying, you know, that’s all fine and good. Hopefully I can get those things. But above all else, I want everybody to know the meaning of Christ-ness.

He all caps Christ and underlined it like seven or eight times. That in his heart and in his mind at eight years old that he’s already starting to get it. Yes, I know there’s presents.

I know that’s fun. But it’s Christ. It’s Jesus, and it’s Jesus for you.

And so my prayer again for you this morning is that you first would hear that. Just as the shepherds did, that you would hear that this message that is far too good for us to fathom, that we would wrestle with the goodness of God and love of God towards us first. That then we would be able to go forth and proclaim it to our friends and our family and to all that we come into contact with.

That that news that’s so good for you, it’s good for them too. Amen.