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2018-12-09

What Christmas Means to Shepherds

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(Luke 2:11, NKJV)

“There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior,

who is Christ the Lord.”

I. Introduction

     I have been giving some thought lately about what Christmas really means.  I suppose it means different things to different people.  For example… 

     I wonder what Christmas means to a mother who has lost her husband and must now raise 3 children without his help, working every day, never quite getting everything done, never making ends meet? I wonder what Christmas means to her?
     I wonder what Christmas means to the little man in Zimbabwe, 80 years old, living in a mud hut. He has never seen, or even heard of, a shopping mall or a Christmas tree?  I wonder what Christmas means to him?
     I wonder what Christmas means to little North Korean children growing up under the control of a brutal communist dictatorship with smudges on their cheeks, and sparkling eyes, as they look up in wonder when foreign strangers walk past?  I wonder what Christmas means to them?  Like I said, “I’m sure it means different things to different people.”
     To US retail merchants, Christmas means the busiest time of the year. Their stores stay open longer, and they hire extra people to accommodate all the shoppers. To them, Christmas means more profit, hopefully enough profit to carry them through lean months ahead.
     To some American employees, Christmas means a Christmas bonus, a little more money in their pockets to do things that they want to do during the holiday season.
     For many American teen-agers and adults, Christmas means time for fun & parties. But sometimes I get the feeling that we’re like the folks who decided to throw a party to honor a very special friend. They sent out invitations, decorated the dining room, and had the food catered. Everyone came at the scheduled time; but to their surprise, the guest of honor didn’t show up.  Finally, they made the embarrassing discovery that no one had remembered to invite him.
     I wonder if that happens to us during the Christmas Holidays! Do we go through all the decorating, and gift purchasing, and elaborate meal-preparation; but somehow forget whose birthday it is we’re celebrating?  Remember what the angel said to the shepherds, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11, NKJV). This “Savior, who is Christ the Lord” is the One whose birth we celebrate!

     An important spiritual lesson to consider is:  “In the midst of all the business of the Christmas season, it is easy to lose sight of the One whose birth we are celebrating!” 

II. The Story about the Shepherds

     Let’s read the story about the shepherds.  It was recorded by Luke when he wrote, “Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’ So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child” (Luke 2:8-17, NKJV).
     The fact that God made the announcement of the birth of the Savior to shepherds helps us understand a few things about what Christmas really means.  You see, shepherds were not an influential or respected segment of Jewish society.  They lived in the fields with the animals they tended, and—more often than not—smelled like them.  They had almost no wealth of any kind, were lacking in character, and were notoriously immoral.  Yet, God’s angel came to shepherds and said, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11, NKJV).  In that one simple announcement God made known, through His angel, some very important truths.

     God loves you.  No matter how insignificant and undeserving you or others may think you are, God loves you.  Jesus said, “God so loved the world—including insignificant and undeserving shepherds—that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NIV).  When God chose to make this profound announcement to “shepherds,” it was like He was saying to the world, “If I love shepherds enough to give my Son for them, then I certainly love you!  That’s why the angel said, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11, NKJV).  An important spiritual lesson to remember is: “If God loves shepherds, then God certainly loves you!”

     Your life matters.  I imagine those shepherds must have sat around the campfire many times and wondered if their lives really mattered.  After all, they were only “shepherds.”  They must have asked themselves more than once, “What difference does it make if we watch the sheep or not?”  The lives of these shepherds mattered.  After they heard the angel’s announcement and saw the Baby, they realized just how much their lives mattered.  Luke wrote, “Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child” (Luke 2:17, NKJV).  Their lives mattered because now they had a message from God to share with everyone they met!  An important spiritual lesson to learn from this response of the shepherds is: “If you have a message from God to share, your life matters!”

     Faith moves people to action.  The “shepherds” were simple men with no education, no wealth, and no prestige; but they had more faith than the highly educated, fabulously wealthy, prestigious religious leaders of their day.  The religious leaders didn’t have enough faith to believe God’s announcement that the Savior was born, but the “shepherds” did—and their faith moved them to action.  Luke wrote, “So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger” (Luke 2:15-16, NKJV). The faith of these simple “shepherds” moved them to “go…and see this thing that has come to pass.”

     An important spiritual lesson to ponder is: “Authentic faith will motivate you to go…and make known the message of Christ!”  That’s what the shepherds did.  Luke wrote, “When they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child” (Luke 2:17, NKJV).  

III. Conclusion

     Some years ago, a cartoon appeared in newspapers across the US. It pictured two farmers in Kentucky, standing in a field as snow fell softly. One turned to the other & asked, ‘Anything exciting happen today?’ ‘Nah, nothing exciting,’ said the other farmer. ‘Oh, there was a baby born over at Tom Lincoln’s place today, but nothing exciting ever happens around here.’  The baby born in the home of Tom Lincoln that day later became President Abraham Lincoln. He changed the course of US history, effectively ending slavery in America.  One life can make a difference!

     I wonder if there were people in Bethlehem on that night long ago, asking, ‘Anything exciting happen today?’ Maybe they were told, ‘No, nothing much. Oh, I hear some woman gave birth to a baby in a stable, but nothing exciting ever happens around here.’ Little did they know that the Baby born in the stable that night in Bethlehem was the Savior of the world, but the “shepherds” knew because the angel said to them, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11, NKJV).  And that’s what Christmas means to shepherds!

Next Steps

• Receive Jesus as your Savior, because God sent Him to you.  The angel said, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11, NKJV).

• Ask God to clearly teach you what the angel meant when He said, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11, NKJV).

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