Good morning.  As we begin today, I am going to start looking at some of the Christmas stories.  To start today, I want to look at a few of the characters from the most familiar Christmas stories.  Today we are going to look at the Shepherds.  Next week we are going to take a look at the 3 wise men, but today, we look at the group that were given the invitation to see Jesus at His birth.

Before we begin, let’s open with a word of prayer.

Most people in America are familiar with this passage, even if they rarely crack open a Bible.  These verses from Luke have even entered the popular culture through Linus’ famous speech in the Charlie Brown Christmas video.  Every December since 1965, in between televised scenes of the Grinch slithering around Whoville, and George Bailey being saved by Clarence the angel just as he’s about to jump off the Bedford Falls bridge, and Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer running around the North Pole with Herbie, we have Linus who discovers the true meaning of Christmas in the gospel of Luke, chapter 2.

But my concern is that with all the annual repetitions, the familiarity of the story of the shepherds can cause us to take it for granted.  We can tend to overlook just how amazing this incident really is.  You see, it’s not just a story of God’s love for some shepherds.  It’s a story about God’s love for all of us.  And if we consider this story carefully, we’ll see that it has a message of love and hope for each one of us here.

Turn with me to Luke 2:8-20.  Here in this passage we see the story of the shepherds being invited to see Jesus.  Here in Luke 2:8-20 it says, “1”

Let’s start by looking at the most obvious feature of the story.  Who does God announce the birth of His Son to?  Who does He invite to come and see the new baby?  It is just a collection of sheepherders!  There is only one announcement of Christ’s birth recorded in the Scriptures, only one invitation from God to anyone to come and visit Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus.  And that one invitation goes to a bunch of uneducated, smelly, low-class, social and religious outcasts.  It simply goes to a bunch of shepherds.

Let me tell you a bit about shepherds.  They were the last people you’d expect God to take notice of.  First of all, they were religious outcasts.  According to Jewish religious law, these men were unclean.  Their line of work prevented them from participating in the feasts and holy days that made up the Jewish religious calendar.  Why is this?  Well, somebody had to watch the sheep.  When everyone else was making the trip to Jerusalem to make sacrifices at the temple, or to participate in one of the annual feasts, they were out in the fields, watching over the sheep.  A modern day example might be a trucker or a shift worker, whose job keeps them from regularly attending church.  It wasn’t really their fault.  But they were looked down on, from a religious point of view.  Whatever might have been in their hearts, they weren’t able to participate fully in the religious life of the community.

Not only that, but shepherds were borderline social outcasts as well.  Since they were constantly on the move to find new pasture for their flocks, they were looked on with suspicion.  They were often accused of being thieves.  If something came up missing – it must have been those shepherds.  They were not permitted to give testimony in a legal proceeding, because their word wasn’t considered trustworthy.  And on top of all that, they really didn’t have much contact with other people.  Most of the time, they were “living out in the fields” like it said in verse 8.

Now this was not a 40-hour a week job.  They didn’t come home at night.  They were with the sheep 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  During the day, they led the sheep to grass and water.  They watched while the sheep grazed.  And they kept an eye out for predators like wolves.  Then at night, they actually slept in the sheep pen with the sheep to guard against theft and animal attack.  A good shepherd could identify each one of his sheep by sight.  He knew his sheep and they knew him.

Turn with me to John 10:2-4.  Here in this passage we learn of the sheep knowing their shepherd.  Here in John 10:2-4 it says, “2”

Being a shepherd was lonely, wearisome, usually very boring, and sometimes extremely dangerous.  It gave them a lot of contact with sheep, but very little exposure to people.  Many shepherds learned to play the flute or some other instrument, because they had hours and hours with nothing to do but watch sheep eat grass.  Now hopefully that in a way makes you feel better about your jobs.

Now, step back for a moment.  Imagine you’re God and you want to announce the most amazing, incredible, joyous news ever.  It is an event that will literally change the course of history.  It is the wonderful birth of your only Son, Jesus Christ.  The birth of the 1 who will be the Savior of the whole world.  The 1 for whom the nation of Israel has been waiting and hoping and praying for thousands of years.  Finally, He has come!  Who do you announce it to?  Who do you tell?  Who do you invite to come and see?

When a child is born to a member of British royalty; for instance, when Princess Diana’s sons Harry and William were born, they didn’t send a messenger down to the docks to break the news first to the fishermen.  They didn’t issue personal invitations to the cab drivers of London to come visit Diana and her new infant in Windsor castle.  I’m guessing that if any announcements or invitations were sent out, they were printed in gold leaf and hand delivered to political leaders and foreign heads of state.

The point is that you would expect an event like the birth of Christ to be announced to the most important people in the nation.  Political leaders – kings, governors, magistrates, even Caesar might be invited to come and pay homage to the future ruler.  Religious leaders – Priests, rabbis, synagogue officials, the head of the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin, surly they would all be invited to worship their Messiah.  Military leaders.  Wealthy merchants.  Men and women of distinction.  The news media.  But none of them got the word.  None of them were invited.  Some foreign kings figured it out by following the star of Bethlehem, and they informed Herod.  But they didn’t get an angelic messenger, or angel choir, or invitation.

Now, we will look at them next week, but for this week, it’s only the shepherds that are invited.  Only these few, poor, shepherds, these social and religious outcasts, received the announcement.

So why?  Why did God do this?  Why did He send His angels to announce the birth of Christ to these shepherds, to invite only them to come and see the child?

Were the shepherds especially pious, unusually holy?  In spite of the fact that they couldn’t participate in organized religion, were they just out standing believers in God?  It’s doubtful, although the passage does say that when they got the news they believed what the angels said, and did what the angels told them to do.  But there’s nothing in the text to indicate that they were more religious than anyone else.

So, were they perhaps expecting this, were they looking to God to visit them?  Could they have anticipated this in any way?  The answer is No.  In fact, if I’m a shepherd, I’m probably convinced God has no idea who I even am.  I don’t sacrifice at the temple, I don’t show up for the feasts, I don’t go to the synagogue.  My deepest theological discussions are with a bunch of stupid, snot-nosed sheep.  If God does know who I am, He can’t think much of me.

So why did God send the angels first to the shepherds?  Several possible answers have been proposed, such as the fact that Jesus Himself is later called the Good Shepherd, caring for us as His flock.  But I prefer a simpler explanation. 

God wanted to show that His love does not discriminate on the basis of class, or wealth, or social standing.  He does not respect kings and princes more than hourly laborers.  He does not value priests and pastors above the people in the pews.  God does not show favoritism.  He does not give special treatment to one group of people over another.  His love is available to all on the same basis – faith in Jesus, and faith alone.

In fact, many passages of Scripture indicate that God loves to lift up the lowly and humble, while at the same time bring down the proud and self-satisfied.

In II Samuel 22:28 it says, “You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.”

In Psalm 149:4 it says, “For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.”

In Isaiah 66:1-2 it says, “This is what the LORD says: . . . "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”

Matthew 23:12 says, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

And in I Peter 5:5-6 it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”

In other words, God was demonstrating, by His choice of these humble shepherds to be the first to receive the news of Christ’s birth, that Jesus was not going to be the Savior of only the political and social and religious elite.  Jesus was not going to be the Savior only of kings and governors, or popes and priests.  Rather, Jesus is the Savior of all equally.  He doesn’t give preference to any group or any class.  Nor does He discriminate on the basis of intelligence, education, wealth, profession, political power, social standing, or any of the other qualities that human beings judge by.  His love is offered to anyone who will trust in Him as Savior.

Paul makes the same point in his first letter to the Corinthians.  Turn with me to I Corinthians 1:26-31.  Here in I Corinthians 1:26-31 it says, “3”

In other words, God especially likes to use people who are humble and lowly and ordinary, because that makes His power and wisdom all the more evident.  When He uses people who are obviously very gifted and powerful, then the results can be attributed to human effort and human talent.  But if He uses people of obviously low to average abilities, then all the credit for the results go to Him.

So, what does all this mean to us?  Well, if you identify with the shepherds, it should be very encouraging.  Perhaps you see yourself as kind of on the outside looking in.  I imagine that many nights, as the shepherds sat out in those cold, lonely fields, with nothing but dumb animals to keep them company, they looked over at the village, saw the lights of the homes and heard the faint sound of families, people laughing, and I bet that they wished they could be a part of that.  Maybe you’ve felt that way too.  Not one of the “beautiful people,” not especially wealthy or powerful or influential.  Not likely to ever see your name in the paper for some great accomplishment.  On the fringes socially.  Maybe when you compare your level of religious observance to others, the comparison isn’t favorable.  Spotty church attendance, little Bible reading, lack of prayer time.

Maybe you think that if God is even aware you exist (which He probably isn’t), that He probably doesn’t have a very favorable opinion of you.  And you know what?  A lot of people, deep down, secretly feel like that.  Even people you would think of as “having it all together.”  On the surface everything is going great.  But on the inside, they feel like they just don’t fit in.  You may feel like God doesn’t really care, couldn’t care, about someone like you.

If any of that description strikes a chord with you, then I have good news.  Actually, I have great news for you.  The best news possible.  God loves you.  Just like He loved those shepherds.  And you are special to Him.

Just like those shepherds were special to Him, so special that He gave them the incredible privilege of being the first to hear of Christ’s birth, being the first people other than Joseph and Mary to lay eyes on the Son of God, being the first to tell others about Christ.

He didn’t give those privileges to the Roman Caesar or to the Jewish high priest, He gave it to the shepherds.  Not in spite of who they were, but because of who they were.  They were humble, ordinary people with no high opinions of themselves.  Simple people who were willing to simply believe what God told them and to simply do what God commanded them.  When they heard the news, they didn’t seek out the religious professionals for a second opinion.  They simply accepted what the angels told them.  When they were invited to visit Bethlehem to see the newborn Messiah, they didn’t worry about who was going to watch their sheep.  They didn’t get bogged down in debates about how they were going to find 1 small baby in such a large town.  They simply obeyed and went.

Will you do that today?  God didn’t send an angel to give you the news, but He did send His word in the form of the Bible.  God is inviting you today, just like he invited the shepherds.  Will you receive His love?  Will you believe what He says and do what He asks?  Will you acknowledge your need of forgiveness and put your trust in Jesus Christ for salvation?  You don’t need to be a genius or a member of the “in” crowd.  You just need to believe and obey.  Listen to some of Christ’s promise.

In John 3:16 he says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

John 6:37, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”

But what if you don’t identify with the shepherds?  What if you identify with the social and religious elite, the gifted, the accomplished, the powerful?  Then recognize that in God’s sight, you are on the same level as everyone else.  You don’t have a head start with God.  In fact, anything that causes you to think too highly of yourself; anything that stimulates pride actually puts you farther behind.  If that’s the case, then ask God to purify your heart and grant you true humility.

Understand that you are accepted before God on the same basis as anyone else.  You are accepted not because of anything you are, or anything you have done, but only because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who gave His life and suffered the penalty for your sin so that you could have eternal life and receive forgiveness.  Humble yourself before God, so that He doesn’t have to do it for you.

And finally, what did the shepherds do in response to what they had seen and heard?  Verse 17 tells us that they “spread the word.”  Let’s you and I do the same, especially at this time of the year, for the sake of all the others who are still waiting to hear the good news.  Let’s get out and spread the word and tell everyone the reason for the season.

Let’s Pray