Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / December 24, 2021 | Hark - Shepherds

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December 24, 2021 | Hark - Shepherds · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Merry Christmas, everybody.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know the weather doesn't seem like it, but we have checked.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is Christmas Eve.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: We've double, triple checked.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: It is Christmas is tomorrow.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're relying on the weather.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, we are we're glad that you're here with us to celebrate with us Christmas.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Here at TBC, we love Christmas.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're big fans because we know what Christmas is all about.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's about celebrating the birth of Jesus.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's about celebrating his birth and what we what that birth means for us in our lives.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And though we get the opportunity during Christmas to really focus on it, it's something that we should focus on all year long.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And we wanted to take some time to sort of look at that message.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't been with us this month, we've been going through a series called Hark.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hark simply, it's about the angelic visits that preceded the birth of Christ.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you didn't know, God sent a whole lot of his angelic messengers to tell people that Jesus was coming.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so through those events, we looked at Zechariah and Elizabeth and the miraculous birth there.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: We looked at Mary, the becoming the mother of God.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: We looked at Joseph last week.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And this afternoon we're going to be looking at sort of one final vignette, one final story, one that's oftentimes pushed to the side, and that's of the shepherds.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: See, there was a whole group of shepherds who were out in their field near Bethlehem the night that Jesus was born, and they received this angelic message.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: They were told that a Savior, a Messiah, had been born, and they just had to go and find him.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And by looking at the shepherds, by sort of looking at their story and how they reacted, we can understand a whole lot more about our relationship with God as well.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Before we go and open gifts of overpriced Lego sets and shirts that don't fit well and gift cards to Olive Garden, we get to look at this story.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I hope as we go through it together, you'll be able to see the importance of these shepherds, these who were not really looked highly upon in their time, but that God chose them to be the first ones who would hear the message of the Savior.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to read the story that we're in today.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'll read it for all of us, and then we'll just go through a couple things together.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to be in Luke chapter 2, verses 1 through 20.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: The first registration took place while Corinius, what a name, Corinius, was governing Syria.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: While they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: But the angel said to them, Don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Today in the city of David a Savior was born to you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: This will be the sign for you.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth and good will toward men.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: After seeing them, they reported the message that they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherd said to them.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: So that's our story for this afternoon.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And the author who wrote that, Luke, has sort of two main focuses in this passage.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: The first is understanding sort of the birth of Jesus into this very humble setting, which we'll get into in a second.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the second is the reaction of these shepherds, what they did when they heard about the good news.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: But first, Luke, make sure that we understand sort of what it was like for Mary to bring Jesus into the world.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: She gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Manger, another word for a feeding trough for animals, because there was no guest room available for them.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know what the situation was where the innkeeper didn't have enough room for a pregnant Mary.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: The innkeeper in Bible history has been made out to be quite the villain, but no need.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever it was, whether it was a hotel, sort of that they were an inn that they were trying to get to, or a friend's house, there just wasn't room for them.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so they had to go where all the animals were staying, where the animals would be kept for the journey.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so, surrounded by sheep and goats and donkeys and all such manner of things, the Savior of the world was brought forth.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so in this space, we see a great example of God's humility.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: We understand and we believe that God is in control of all things, that he is the one in charge, that we can trust him because his plan is right and good.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so if we take that perspective and apply it to Jesus being born into a manger, we see that God understood and knew that it would be best for the entire world if the Savior of mankind was born to a poor family in a tiny town near some sheep.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: The king of the universe, deserving of royalty and honor and all the trappings that are associated with it, received the most humble birth imaginable.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And God, the one who has saved every single person, didn't matter exactly what Jesus was going to do when he came into the world, but rather it was important that from the bottom to the very top, every single person would be included in his salvation that would be offered through him.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: So from the manger to him sitting at the right hand of the Father now, Jesus has crossed a lot of those barriers.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: But now we get to the shepherds, and we get to their story, and these humble individuals who were met by an angel.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And the angel sort of has this refrain.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been with us through this series called Hark, every single time the angel's like, Don't be afraid, it's going to be okay.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: They come with a message, a message of good news.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so an angel sort of lights up the night sky for these shepherds who are watching over their sheep in the fields, a couple miles away from Bethlehem.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the angel startles them, but they have great news.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And this news is that there's a Savior that was born.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And today in the city of David, he is there for them, but also that he is for all people.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the message of the gospel, first proclaimed here, is both worldwide and personal.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's worldwide in the sense that every single person who hears about the message of Jesus has the opportunity to respond.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: We already talked about the low birth of Christ, and then ultimately what he becomes is risen up as the king.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so from that all the way across to those who were looked down upon almost most in society, these shepherds who were spiritually unclean because of the animals they took care of, these were the first ones that got to hear the gospel.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's worldwide.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's for every single person.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel does not discriminate, it does not play favorites.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: But then also the shepherds were told that a savior had been born for them, individually, specifically.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: God had uniquely made each one of those shepherds, and he chose them to be the first ones to get to see the baby in the manger, to hear the good news.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that same thing is true for us today.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Though the gospel is worldwide, every single person has an opportunity to respond to it.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: But beyond that, beyond that, God desires each of us individually to know his plan for us and for us to individually know Christ.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was worldwide and yet it was deeply personal.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: So these shepherds, they hear this great news and they see that there's going to be a sign.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: The sign that will let them know that what they're seeing is true, is that this child is in a feeding trough.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how they will know that it is the one they're looking for.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: But then, it's not done yet.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Not one angel, but a multitude appear.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And a long story short, in the Greek, that could be anywhere from dozens to thousands, but regardless, it was a lot of angels that lit up the night sky like it was daylight.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And this whole choir of angels come forth and give one of the most famous lines in the Bible: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: From Handel and Vivaldi to Christmas cards, this line has been sort of reproduced over and over again.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: But at its core, it's really a cause and effect relationship.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: These angels come forth and they say, Glory to God in the highest.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: He is the one who has done all of this.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: He's done all the hard work for you.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Not a single bit of it is because you are special, but because God loves you and wants you to know about Jesus.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Glory to God, for He is the one that brought all of us here, and He is the one who is doing these great things.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: But then also the effect of that.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: The effect of God, the effect of the birth of Jesus is peace.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Peace between us and God, peace between us and others, and peace within ourselves.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is its own sign, and this is the sign that the shepherds will also be looking for.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: That because of God, we can now have peace with God before we could not.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: So the shepherds are like, all right, let's go.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so they hurried, it says.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: I love that it includes that.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: They, whatever, tuck their robes in and they head on this path in the middle of the night to go find this little child.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: And they found Mary and Joseph, and they found the sign that they had been told would be there.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: The baby in the manger, the one who would ultimately die for the sins of the shepherds, die for the sins of the whole world, was unbelievably innocent and laying in this vulnerable position.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so they find it.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And they reported this message.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: They told everyone that they knew.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone was amazed because of this.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the shepherds saw their own sign that night.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: They saw the sign of the baby in a manger.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: For us, though, we don't get to look for a baby in a manger.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: You can see the we've got some carvings out of olive wood out in the lobby, but that's not a real baby in a manger, in case you didn't know.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: But what we do get to find is our own sign.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Every single one of us, we have our own sign that has been given to us, a sign, a marker of this relationship with Jesus.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's something the angels just spoke about, which is peace.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: The only way that we can ever find peace in this world is by having a relationship with God.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's not going to come through success, it's not going to come through wealth, it's not going to come through comfort.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: The only way that we can ever have true peace with God is through Jesus Christ.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's through the meaning behind Christmas, it's through that little baby in the manger.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so the shepherds had their own sign, and then we receive our own sign as well.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: That when we respond to the gift of Christmas, the greatest gift of all, we can have that peace with God also.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, the shepherds returned.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: They went back to what they were doing.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: They returned to their old lives, but they were changed forever.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: They weren't the same.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: See, nobody who truly encounters Jesus can ever be the same afterwards.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Though the shepherds returned to their lives, they continued to be individuals who were looked down upon in society and were relatively poor and, you know, had this nomadic lifestyle, that didn't matter as much as what they had just seen.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: This new relationship with God that they were able to have, this new peace that they were able to have.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so they returned, but different than ever before.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that is also the final message for us.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's that when we get to encounter Jesus, when we get to hear this good news that is both worldwide but deeply personal, it's that when we return to wherever we're going, that we should be changed also.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Our lives should not look the same.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so finally tonight, I have a short, just a little something for you to think about, I guess.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Which is that the gift of Jesus is for everyone, but we must open it first.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: See, we're um, I don't know what your traditions are, but I think just about all of us have a tree somewhere with presents under it.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Or get that idea at least.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you can think of it this way: that there is a present waiting under that tree or any other with your name on it.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it is the gift of salvation that God has given through Jesus Christ.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's got your name on it, but you have to open it in order to receive it.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just leave it under the tree.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just wait for it, you can't just expect that it's going to move on its own.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: We've been given a gift, as Roman says, a free gift of God, but we have to accept it.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have to open it.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so my prayer for us this evening, as we all go back to our homes and get to experience all the wonderful things that come with Christmas.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: All the all the movies and the music and the and the cookies and the and the uh joy and fellowship with family, all the wonderful memories that we get to create, all the you know, happiness that comes with seeing children, open presents, all of the wonderful things that are part and parcel of Christmas, they cannot overtake Jesus.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: And they can't overtake that in our hearts and our minds.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna pray for us here in a moment, and then after that I will light a candle, and our ushers will come forward and help you to light your candles as well, and then we'll sing one final song together.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And as we do, um I hope that you would just consider what it might mean for you to open that gift that God has given to you of Jesus during this time, to be like a shepherd and to hurry off and find it, realizing your own sign that we can have peace with God forever.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you for today.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for Christmas.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for, Lord, so many people are here with family and friends, and they're looking forward to uh dinner that's coming up and the time to be together and to fellowship.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: And God, we're thankful for all of those things.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're thankful for everything that Christmas stands for.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: But most of all, God, we're thankful for Jesus.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're thankful for him as a child and ultimately living a sinless life to die on a cross for our sins.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: God, we ask that during this Christmas season we would be filled with joy because we know Jesus.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: We would be filled with joy because we know how that changes our lives, both now and for eternity.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: And we'd be filled with joy as we get the opportunity to share that with others, just as the shepherds did.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: God, we love you and we thank you.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.