GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY!

Luke 2:10

Next year..  tourists will begin flying into space.

They will reach 100 km above the earth.. at a cost of more than $200,000!

Flight has come a long way since the first flight in December 1903.

The Wright Brothers telegraphed their sister Katherine: "We have actually flown 120 feet. Will be home for Christmas." Katherine hurried to the editor of the local newspaper and showed him the message.

He glanced at it and said, "How nice. The boys will be home for Christmas." 

He totally missed the big news - man had flown! 

It can still be like that today. We can get so caught up in Christmas shopping, and family get-togethers.. that we miss the big news! 

When Luke wrote his carefully researched account of the life of Jesus..  he went out of his way to make sure we do not miss the big news.. the big news that a very special baby was born.

I invite you now to think about what he writes in Luke 2:1-20..

He draws our attention to three settings in which the birth of Jesus took place.. and then tells us how some humble but highly privileged shepherds responded..

HE DRAWS OUR ATTENTION TO..

·         THE HISTORICAL SETTING

Luke 2:1-3.. In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

Luke was a medical doctor, a Greek.. and very concerned to give an accurate account of the life of Jesus.

He begins his account of the life of Jesus..

Luke 1:1-4.. Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.  Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Luke is concerned about truth.. about accuracy..

He wants us to know the story of Jesus is not fiction.

It is fact.. based on eye-witness accounts. 

And when he describes the birth of Jesus he wants us to know that this is fact, that this is history.

He draws our attention to the historical setting..

to Caesar Augustus.. Emperor of Rome from.. 

to a governor of Syria.. Quirinius.. 

to a census.. and not just any census but to the first census..

to the fact that people were required to travel to their town of origin for the census..

He challenges his readers.. you and me..  check it out.. this is when it happened.. It really happened. The birth of Jesus is fact.. not fiction!

·         THE HUMBLE SETTING

Luke 2:4-7.. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Joseph and Mary arrived in the little town of Bethlehem to find the inn was full with people like themselves.. there for the census.

Kenneth E. Bailey [Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes p28f] has challenged the traditional understanding of these things.

He argues that the inn was a special room attached to a one room house.. on the side of it.. or on the roof.

The floor of the one room house was on two levels. There were steps down from the upper level to the lower level. People and animals entered by a door on the lower level. The animals remained there on the lower level, but the people climbed the steps to the upper level and lived there. The upper level sloped gently down to where it met the vertical drop to the lower level.. and at the edge of the upper level, feed troughs were dug into the floor. The animals on the lower level fed from these troughs.

Joseph and Mary knocked on the door of such a house. The guest room [or inn] was already occupied.. so they shared the one main room with the family..

And there.. Jesus was born.. and placed in one of the food troughs provided for the animals.

What a place to be born! A group of preschoolers were being told the story of Jesus. The teacher explained that the manger was a food trough for animals. One little boy exclaimed, ‘that’s not good enough!’

That will be how most of us will feel.. not good enough for any baby.. and certainly not good enough for Jesus.. the Son of God!

Yet.. that is how He came.. a lesson in humility for all of us!

The words of the Apostle come to mind..

Philippians 2:3-8.. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

·         THE HEAVENLY SETTING

Luke 2:8-14.. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 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. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

What a scene! Humble shepherds.. confronted.. with an angel.. the glory of the Lord.. and then a company of the heavenly host.. 

This was no ordinary baby! He was very special.. and more.

Listen to the message the angel brought! Good news. Joyous news. A deliverer has been born.. the Christ has been born..  the Lord has been born.. God Himself has been born among us.. and the result?

Peace to people on whom God’s favor rests.

People on whom God’s favor rests have at least one thing in common.

They have a child-like trust in God.

In Luke 10:21 we hear Jesus praying. He prayed like this:

You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

Jesus said.. 

Luke 18:17.. Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it!  

Little children have nothing to bring – no accomplishments, no wisdom, no learning. They simply come.. full of trust.. hands out to receive..

When we come to God like that.. we receive His blessings.. we receive peace!

Jesus humbled Himself and became a child for us.. 

When we humble ourselves.. and come to Him as a child would come.. with nothing to offer.. and everything to receive.. and simply trusting.. then we receive the peace He gives.

LUKE THEN TELLS US HOW THE SHEPHERDS RESPONDED!

Luke 2:15-20.. 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.”  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

The shepherds said.. Let’s go and see this thing..

What sensible people. They believed the messengers.. and said.. let’s go and see..

Let’s be like them.. Hear that the Messiah has been born.. hear that He died for our sins.. for our forgiveness.. and go and see.. see for ourselves..

Psalm 34:8.. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

The shepherds found it true. They returned.. glorifying and praising God.. and spread the word.