Come See, Go Tell
Luke 2:8-18
Emmanuel Christian Church
12.15.24
INTRODUCTION: LUKE 2:8-18
Luke 2:8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared
to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were
terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you
good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town
of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will
be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a
manger.”
Luke 2:13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with
the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
Luke 2:15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the
shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing
that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Luke 2:16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby,
who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the
word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who
heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
In Luke’s birth narrative of Jesus, God invites the most unlikely group
of guys to be the first witnesses to the most unlikely birth in human history,
Having taken God up on the invitation, that unlikely group of guys become
the first and most unlikely evangelists for Jesus!
PROPOSITION: The picture before us seems far removed in culture and
time. But it’s a picture that is much closer to home then you might
imagine! It’s really a picture of the CALL of God- and it can be summed up
in just four words: “Come See” and “Go Tell”. Now, it doesn’t matter if your
not a first century, Judean shepherd. The call God gave to them is the
same call God gives to everyone who desires to be a follower of Jesus.
“Come See!”
- This is a strange call delivered by strange messengers to a strange
audience!
- Just try to put yourself in the sandals of these shepherds: you just got
word that God’s about to save the world through a little baby born in
Jackson Center! And you can find that Savior in someone’s
backyard toolshed!
- But what about the messengers of that message?! It’s not everyday
that all heaven opens up and a crowd of angels start speaking in
unison! Maybe we can relate to the shepherds by looking at the
reaction people are having to drones over New Jersey! And let’s face
it- drones over New Jersey are NOTHING compared to angels over
Bethlehem!
- And then, there is the strange audience to the angelic messengers-
the shepherds themselves!
- Shepherds were the lowest of the low! Announcing the birth of the
Savior of the World should be done before “world leaders” not
sheep leaders!
- And besides, NOBODY liked shepherds!
- Religious Jews wanted nothing to do with them because they
were constantly in a state of ceremonial uncleanness. Shepherds
dealt with all the aspects of animal husbandry- from birth to death,
making them unfit to be involved in any religious ritual.
- Secular people wanted nothing to do with shepherds because
they STAAAANK! They were constantly filthy, repulsive!
APPLICATION: So what are we to make of this? Do you remember this
Scripture from last week?
1 Corinthians 1: 27 God (has) chose(n) the foolish things of the world to
SHAME the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to SHAME the
strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things
— and the things that are not — to NULLIFY the things that are, 29 so
that no one may boast before him.
And,
James 2:5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are
poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom
he promised those who love him?
Now, there’s nothing inherently spiritual about being poor or socially
unacceptable- but know this: God sees beyond our bank account, beauty
or number of social media “friends”. God sees us in the midst of our
filthiness, our foolishness, our sinfulness- and yet He has compassion for
our plight!
I can’t help but think that God’s choice in breaking the news of His
Son’s birth to shepherds was His way of saying every human soul is a
soul worth saving!
God’s call to “Come See!” began with the lowest of the low-
shepherds. Today, it continues with people like you and me, and extends
all the way to the highest seats of human honor.
1 Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession
and thanksgiving be made for everyone…3 This is good, and pleases God
our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a
knowledge of the truth.
- Let’s listen again to what the angel said:
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the
people.”
- “Don’t be afraid.”
- When you see a crowd of levitated, illuminated heavenly beings in
the middle of the night- chances are pretty good you’re going to
have a bit of a fear response!
- But, have you ever wondered where fear came from? We don’t have
to guess at all. It came with the man’s Fall into disobedience to God:
Genesis 3:10 Adam answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was
afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
- That’s malignant fear. The kind that destroys relationships- and it’s
the kind that first signaled sin’s wedge between man and God.
- But, not all fear is bad. As a matter of fact, there is one fear that is
actually good- even healthy. That fear, is the reverential fear of God
Himself. And here’s the amazing thing: when you fear God, you’ll
fear nothing else (even a crowd of levitated, illuminated heavenly
beings)! After all, what element in all of Creation is more fearsome
than the One who created us in the first place?
- What’s more, our fear of God actually draws us closer to Him!
Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests
content, untouched by trouble.
And as Solomon said:
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the
matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole
[duty] of man.
- “I bring good news”
- “Good news” also translated “Gospel”
- So, what is at the heart of the “good news” of the Gospel? You and
I no longer need to die in our sin.
- The “good news” of the Gospel is this: We’re not going to get what
we deserve!
- Wait a minute! Don’t we all only want what we deserve? Foolishly
“Yes”!
- What we fail to remember is simply that. What we deserve, we
really should NOT WANT!
- Listen to what God’s own word says we “deserve”:
Romans 3:12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Now, in case you think that’s just one quick statement regarding the
human condition, taken out of the context of Scripture, let me point out
that nearly identical phrase appears four times in the Old and New
Testament! Now, if that weren’t bad enough listen to this:
Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins is the one who will die.
That’s what we DESERVE. BUT, the GOOD NEWS of forgiveness, Truth,
and GRACE is what came into the world as a little baby born in
Bethlehem! And that “good news” was…
- “for all the people”
- The “good news” is not just for those we like to call “good people”
(you know, people like us- right?)
- Jesus came for the “filthy”
- The physically filthy and spiritually disqualified- you know
SHEPHERDS!
- But the truth is, the only difference between “good people” and
filthy shepherds its PHYSICAL DIRT. Water can solve the problem
of physical dirt, but only the blood of Jesus can wash away the sin
of shepherds as well as those of us those who think ourselves to
be “good people”!
TRANSITION: Having heard the “good news”, the shepherds hurried off to
find Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus lying in an animal’s feeding
trough. Having taken God’s invitation to “Come and see”, they wasted no
time to in pursuing the second half of God’s call: “Go tell”. Luke records:
Luke 2:17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning
what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were
amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
“Go Tell”
- There is something about good news that makes it impossible to keep
to yourself!
- When Charles Lindberg flew across the Atlantic from New York to
Paris, 150,000 people showed up at the airport to witness the good
news of his historic achievement!
- At the end of World War I and World War II, people flooded the streets
to shout the good news of victory over the evil axis powers.
- So what did the shepherds rush to tell people? About angelic
messengers? Yes. About finding the infant just as they had been told?
Yes.
- Most importantly, “…they spread the word concerning what had
been told them about this child.”
- That “word” can be reduced to two short phrases:
- There is a God in heaven.
- This is where the hope and joy of Christmas really begins!
- We are NOT alone- NOT the product of chance, time and material
forces! Materialist, evolution is the ultimate “Grinch that Stole
Christmas!”
- God sent his Son for us.
- Not to “… condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
- This is what the Angels proclaimed as a message of “great joy for
all people”! That word “joy” could also be translated
“CHEERFULNESS”!
CONCLUSION: The “cheerfulness” of Christmas is bound up in those two
simple statements the shepherds couldn’t wait to share with anyone who
would listen!
That powerful, positive message isn’t just for Christmas however!
Every time that message is shared by those who have received it- the
Church has experienced explosive growth!
Why? Because the soul of every human being longs to know that
they are not alone in an impersonal universe, that there is a God who
loves them and has a bigger purpose for their lives!
God’s call upon our lives is to “Go Tell” of God’s invitation to “Come
See” the Savior God, born in Bethlehem.
