The Gathering Surf City

Glad you're here this morning.

We just continue to celebrate God's goodness
and the opportunity we have

to hang out together.

And it's been a good week.

We enjoyed the celebration of the things
that God is doing over this past

week. And I announced last week that
we had our family gathering and.

And all those things.

So we're rolling very
quickly toward 20,

25. And I remember in the 80s,

one of my thoughts was,

is that we'd never get to this year.

So welcome.

Glad you're here.

Glad we made it right.

So anyway,

a couple things just to make
you kind of aware of.

And indeed,

the kids are going out on Sunday
evenings this year.

They used to do this on
Wednesday evening,

but they're going out caroling
on Sunday evenings.

And they've kind of targeted
different areas.

They're actually coming to my street
tonight because we've got folks on

our street that had once been able
to attend the gathering,

but now no longer able to attend
because of health and stuff.

And so I'm excited they're going to be
on our street this evening sharing

just the joy of Christmas because that's
what today's message is really

about. We've been walking our way through
the Advent wreath and the

Sundays leading up to the celebration
of the birth of Christ,

and really that's what Christmas is.

So today's text is probably
one of my favorites.

I mean,

I like the story of the shepherds,

I like the message that we see in the
shepherds accounting of Christmas.

And yet I have this question that
I want to read the text first,

and then I'll ask all the questions
I want to answer,

because it's my turn.

All right,

here we go.

Sorry. Luke 2 Luke,

chapter 2,

verses 8 through 20.

This is how it reads.

And in the same region,

there were some shepherds staying
out in the fields,

keeping watch over their
flock by night.

And an angel of the Lord suddenly
stood before them,

and the glory of the Lord
shone around them,

and they were terribly frightened
or sore afraid,

whichever you like.

And the angel said to them,

don't be afraid,

for behold,

I bring you good news of great joy,

which shall be for all the people.

For today in the city of David,

there has been born for you a savior
who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped in
cloths or swaddling clothes,

whichever you like,

lying in a manger.

Suddenly there appeared with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host,

praising God and saying,

glory to God in the highest and on earth
Peace among men with whom he's

pleased. And it came about when the angels
had gone away from them into

heaven, that the shepherds began
saying to one another,

let us go straight to Bethlehem then and
see this thing that has happened

which the Lord has made known to us.

And they came in haste and found their
way to Mary and Joseph and the

baby as he lay in the manger.

When they had seen this,

they made known the statement which had
been told them about this child.

And all who heard it wondered at the
things which were told them by the

shepherds. But Mary treasured
up all these things,

pondering them in her heart.

The shepherds went back,

glorifying and praising God for all
that they had heard and seen,

just as had been told them.

All righty,

let's pray together.

All right.

Our Father,

we just bow before you,

giving thanks and praise again
that you've loved us.

God, it's this season of the year that
we really get to celebrate your

love for us.

And not that we don't celebrate
all the time,

but it just becomes very real for us
when we focus our hearts and our

mind and our attention on
the birth of Christ.

God, that you had a plan
and a purpose and God,

you worked out that plan.

And we've been looking at it as we consider
the message of the prophets,

as we consider the prophetic location
and how you directed everybody's

attention to this place,

to this manger,

to this child,

to Jesus,

our Savior,

our Lord God,

we thank you that today we
get to see the result,

at least in these moments
that Jesus brings.

So God help us to recognize what
you desire for us and in us.

And we pray it in Jesus name,

Amen. I don't know how many
of you are like me.

If you're old,

then probably you are
like me in a way.

But when I read the first
part of this passage,

verses 8 through 14,

I only hear Linus voice.

Anybody with me there?

You know,

I mean,

the whole Charlie Brown
Christmas thing.

And David was sharing with me this morning
that when they were getting

ready to sign the contracts to do the
Charlie Brown cartoon Christmas

special, that Charles M.

Schultz said that he would not sign
over the rights to the work unless

the Luke passage was included
in the story.

How about that?

But seriously,

I start reading this,

and all I hear is Linus.

And in my mind I see this little boy with
his blanket in a spotlight on a

stage, right?

So I love this story.

Maybe there's some nostalgia to it
with regard to Linus and Charlie

Brown. But when we read this,

there's some really large implication
to what God is accomplishing

through this particular episode in
the announcement of the birth of

Christ.

And so I want us to kind of
make our way through it.

I went to Columbia Bible College in the
80s and Columbia Bible College's

sort of motto was to know
him and make him known,

okay? To know him,

to know Christ and to
make Christ known.

The idea that part of the core of who
we are is to know Christ our Lord,

and then to let the world know Christ
through our testimony that we're

supposed to be the ones
to make him known.

Now God has done everything
that God set out to do,

intended to do.

I mean,

God wrote the birth of
Christ in the stars,

and we're going to look at that through
the wise men next week,

okay? But God announced it all
the way back in the garden.

And I keep sharing this,

that in the cursed sun,

what we see is that God told them that
there would be a time and there

would be a one,

there would be a seed of woman that
would defeat and conquer and crush

the head of Satan.

So God foreshadowed,

foretold, gave us the sort of plan of
redemption all the way back at the

fall, and then started to communicate
that not just through prophetic

speaking, but you start to see God
move in the lives of individuals,

right? You see God saving
a family from the flood.

And the picture that we see from Hebrews
as the baptism of Noah and his

family through the flood.

And then you see Abraham
is this sort of lonely,

kind. I always impression.

Get this impression of Abraham being
kind of wandering in the wilderness

of Ur.

And God goes,

excuse me,

I need to talk to you a minute.

This idea that God has chosen a person
and called him out for a covenant

relationship with him,

you see,

and gives him instruction
and direction.

And God just starts working this plan
together for what we celebrate at

Christmastime is the birth
of the Messiah,

the Christ,

the Anointed One,

our Savior,

our Lord,

and all of those things.

And then.

And then this episode,

this sort of glimpse in these verses
of chapter two of Luke is very

specific in my mind.

I mean,

Luke's a researcher,

Luke's a scholar,

he's an educated man.

And not being a contemporary at
the time of Christ's birth,

he did the research.

So I've heard people say,

well, how did Luke know that?

Well, in my mind,

it's obvious.

Luke had a conversation with Mary.

You see,

Luke did some research to discover the
story so that he could write it

down and that God by his spirit could
Preserve the story for us so that

we can read it today.

And it says,

and in the same region,

there were some shepherds.

Remember last week when we
talked about Bethlehem?

Bethlehem is a little town of about
a thousand people a couple square

miles. All around it are olive
groves and vineyards and.

And grain and sheep and goats
and all this kind of stuff.

So you got some shepherds
out in the field,

and they're watching
over their flock.

There's no street lights,

you know,

none of that stuff.

There's shepherds and there's sheep,

and sheep are doing what sheep do,

and shepherds are doing
what shepherds do.

And they might have a little
campfire right there,

but then all of a sudden,

boom. You know,

I.

Every time an angel of the Lord
suddenly stood before them,

and in my mind,

it's all instantaneous.

And the glory of the Lord
shone around them.

This is out in the fields at night,

and now it's daytime,

right? The glory of the Lord shines.

And poor shepherds,

man, you know,

they're simple guys.

You know,

I remember one year we
had a gentleman.

Randy did the story of Christmas from
the shepherd's perspective,

and he dressed up like a shepherd,

and he did the whole portrayal
of the angels coming in,

telling. It was cool.

But the shepherds are not these
complex characters.

I mean,

these are the guys that,

yeah, they're not involved in the.

In the government.

They're not involved in the politics
or the Roman Empire stuff.

They know sheep.

They hang out with sheep.

I've even told you,

most likely they smell like sheep.

They're not welcome at all.

The best Christmas parties,

right? They're not included,

you know,

in the social events of
the towns and cities.

They hang out with sheep.

But on this night,

God met with these guys
out in their field.

See, the glory of the Lord
shone around them.

Of course,

they were terribly frightened,

but the angel said,

don't. Don't be afraid,

for I'm here to tell you the
most important thing.

I mean.

And I mean,

go ahead,

read into it.

God sent me to give you a message.

That's what we hear in this.

God sent me to give you a message.

And so the.

So the shepherds are
trembling and fear.

And he says,

I bring you good news of great joy,

which shall be for all the people.

That the good news is for everybody,

y'all. Okay?

The great joy that comes with the
good news is for everybody.

That's why when I read that particular
verse right there,

for somebody to come up and tell me,

well, God didn't mean for the good
news to be for every person.

Excuse me,

I think he does mean for the good
news to be for everybody.

Okay, for today in the
city of David,

there has been born for you a savior
who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you.

All right,

so what do we have?

We have this idea that.

That God is making Christ known,

right? He's announcing
the birth of Jesus.

Yeshua, God is salvation.

God is announcing the
birth of the Savior,

our salvation.

Okay.

All right,

so it's good news for everyone.

And. And as we walk this out,

we're starting to see that the shepherds
understand what God's done for

them. Here's the challenge
for you today.

I want to go ahead and
give it to you.

This is the first time
for the morning.

I get to do this four
times this morning.

But here's the challenge.

Do you understand the responsibility
of God making Christ known to you?

You understand the responsibility
of that?

Is it just because God wanted
you to have fire insurance?

You see,

God has entrusted to us the
good news of great joy.

It's like a report.

I've told y'all before.

I don't like watching news.

I read headlines just because I like
to keep up with some kind of aspect

of what's going on.

But I don't watch a lot of news.

I don't read a lot of the.

I might read the first couple
of lines and go,

eh, you know,

that kind of thing.

But think about the report that the
angels were entrusted with to the

shepherds. Can you imagine?

The selfish angel,

Forgive me,

I'm going to go there.

But here you go.

The selfish angel goes,

God, why do I have to go tell the
shepherds they smell bad,

right? God,

can't you let me go to the palace?

God, can't you let me go to the door?

That big pretty house on the corner,

right? Y'all know where
I'm going with this.

See, God sent the angels because
angels are messengers.

That's what it means.

God sent the angels to make the
report to the shepherds,

one of the lowest levels of
the society at the time.

And the angel shows up and I,

in my mind and understand,

I'm visually,

you know,

kind of.

I'm thinking,

the angel sitting there
poking at the fire,

got a little campfire there
because it's out in the.

Out in the fields and they're poking
at the fire and all of a sudden,

pow. The glory of the Lord and an
angel standing before them,

right? And I'm going,

pow.

I mean,

that would be my Response,

I don't know about you.

I mean,

you know.

And then the angel goes,

whoa, whoa,

whoa, whoa,

whoa. Wait a minute.

Don't be afraid.

Wait till you hear what I
get to tell you about.

Isn't that the coolest thing?

Wow. And then he says,

guys, now why would the angels tell
the shepherds how to find Jesus

unless the intent was for the
shepherds to go find Jesus?

Isn't that cool?

And this will be a sign for
you when you realize,

get up off the ground and realize,

you got to go find this kid.

Right? Sign for you.

You'll find the baby wrapped
in these cloths,

this tightly wrapped,

swaddled thing lying in a hay trough.

Suddenly, there.

The whole choir showed
up at that point,

y'all. Suddenly there appeared
with the angel,

a multitude of the heavenly host,

praising God and saying,

glory to God in the highest
and on earth,

peace among men with
whom he is pleased.

Now, I know this is not the
King James translation,

but when you get into translating,

remember, God's very specific
about these things.

You see,

God is announcing his
gift to all mankind.

But here's what we know.

Not everyone's going to
receive the gift.

Not everyone's going to receive
it and take it,

okay? But those who do,

please God.

See that?

And it says,

and it came about when the angels had
gone away from them into heaven,

that the shepherds began
saying to one another,

let us go straight to Bethlehem and
see this thing that has happened

which the Lord has made known to us.

See, the angels did their job.

The angels did what God had
instructed them to do.

The angels came and shared
their report.

All right,

you know,

you almost see the news
clicker going,

all right,

here's the latest news,

guys.

Christ is born.

And the angels were like,

all right,

fine, no dilly dally now.

Let's off to Bethlehem right now.

You know,

then there are those of us who have
a little OCD after our names ago.

But what about the sheep?

Guess what?

Guess what?

With this news,

the sheep are not the priority,

okay?

I mean,

probably the sheep don't belong
to the shepherds anyway,

okay? They're just tenders.

They're just out there
taken care of.

But the message that was delivered
to the shepherds was of supreme

importance. Let's go right now to Bethlehem
and see this thing which the

Lord has made known to us.

Now, I want you to see
that in there,

that little prepositional
thing there.

That God had an intent and a purpose
and prioritized us to get this

message, right.

Those shepherds,

the stinky lowly,

low class,

not invited to the party.

Shepherds got an invitation from
God to come to the party,

Okay? I mean,

that's a big deal right there.

And they came in haste.

Can't you just see,

you know,

a group of shepherds running
through Bethlehem.

I mean,

picture it.

I want to.

It's got to be real.

It's not just the story that we see in
the Charlie Brown Christmas thing,

okay? This is real.

Shepherds are running into town.

They found their way
to Mary and Joseph.

Remember, there's not that many.

They're not like multiple
hotels in town.

They're these caravan stopovers.

And they find their way to Mary and Joseph
and the baby as he lay in the

manger. And when they had seen this,

what did they do?

All right,

back to the sheep fellas.

No, because they knew that what they
had seen was of supreme importance

and priority.

They made known the statement which had
been told them about this child.

And all who heard it now remember,

Bethlehem's crowded.

There's a group there.

And all who heard it wondered at the
things which were told them by the

shepherds.

But Mary treasured up
all these things,

pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds went back glorifying
and praising God for all that they

had heard and seen,

just as had been told them.

Make him known.

See, Christ's birth is good news.

You know,

Paul very succinctly defines
the gospel as the death,

burial and resurrection of Christ.

Well, you don't get to that
without the birth,

the birth of Jesus,

the birth of the Christ,

the birth of the Messiah,

the anointed one of God.

And here is a people group that have
been conditioned and prepared for

this for centuries at this point to
anticipate and expect this Savior,

the God is salvation.

Yeshua. The whole idea that the anticipation
of it and these lowly

shepherds who have resigned themselves
to this low place in life,

this place of the only thing that's
important about them is that they

keep the sheep alive.

And yet God said,

I want you guys to know my salvation.

Oh, man,

that gives me chills right there.

Because I remember the
first time somebody.

You know,

I remember my Sunday school teachers
at Cali Self Memorial Baptist

Church. I remember those little
ladies in the nursery.

I knew them later.

I didn't know them when they
were changing my diaper,

but I did know them later in life.

You know,

they were also the cooks
on our youth retreats.

You know,

I didn't think about it
until I was an adult,

but I thought about it.

I Thought,

you know,

when they're in there serving our breakfast
at the retreat centers and

that sort of thing.

And then it came to mind to me that these
are the same ladies that kept

me in the nursery,

right?

But you know what they were doing,

right? They were sharing and
showing me the love of God.

They were my Sunday school teachers.

They were probably some of the first
ones that ever read this passage of

scripture to me.

Why?

Because God had given it to them.

God had shared his love with them
through the birth of Christ.

And they took it upon themselves to
share it with other people and

children. They did what God expected
them to do in making the report and

announcing the birth of Jesus.

It's a joy,

joy to the world.

I bring you good news of great joy which
shall be for all the people.

It's joy to the world.

And then I love down here it says,

and the shepherds went back glorifying
and praising God for all that they

had heard and rejoicing.

This is why the Advent wreath and
the anticipation of things.

We start out with the prophets and
the promise of God for hope and

salvation and life and God's
presence and God's love.

Emmanuel. And we see
all that and we go,

God had a purpose and a plan
and he brought it to be.

And now we see the announcement
of it.

And angels show up with the
shepherds and they go,

pay attention.

Okay. People have been asking me about
Christmas Eve worship gatherings.

We have two.

We do one at 5:30.

If you have any opportunity
to choose,

I would Recommend you choose 7:00 because
5:30 is going to be packed.

Here's why.

Families with children come in early
so they can go do other things.

7 o'clock is a little
more laid back,

a little more relaxed.

But here's what.

And I love what the announcement
video says.

You know,

there's a lot going on in the
world around us right now.

Particularly important that on Christmas
Eve we hear what God wants to

say. Better than that,

we hear what God has said.

Listen to this line right here.

Glorifying and praising God for all
that they had heard and seen,

just as had been told them,

right?

I think Christmas Eve worship
gatherings are cool.

First church that I was in
outside of seminary,

we didn't do Christmas Eve.

I could tell you stories,

but anyway,

I won't.

But then when I went to be
a pastor in Maryland,

I did Christmas Eve every Christmas because
I think on Christmas Eve it

is particularly special opportunity
to focus on why Christmas is about

Jesus. Okay,

Now I love opening a good toy too.

Right? I mean,

I do,

but that's not what it's about.

And it's important for us.

It's important for us to let the world
see what's important to us about

Christmas. Okay?

All right.

So now here's the responsibility.

Satan loves to steal God's stuff.

Okay? He loves.

Thief comes to steal,

kill and destroy.

Satan loves to steal God's stuff.

And if we simply allow this season,

this celebration,

to be about anything less
than the birth of Jesus.

I'm not saying don't get together
with your family.

I'm not saying don't buy presents.

I'm not saying don't
sing Jingle Bells.

But what I am saying is make sure
Jesus is in the middle of it.

To let it become less than that is to
allow Satan to steal God's purpose,

plan, and design.

And it gives you the opportunity to
let others know why Christmas is

important.

So when it comes to
the Advent wreath,

we first light the candle
of the prophets,

which is the candle of hope.

God announced his hope for centuries
before the birth of Jesus.

We like the candle of Bethlehem,

which is the cannel of peace.

O little town of Bethlehem,

how still we see thee lie.

It's not scripture,

but it rings in the head
for some reason,

right?

The peace of God,

Christ, Jesus,

he said,

my peace I leave you.

Not peace like the world
gives peace,

that comes from the Father.

Those of you who practiced Advent
during your life growing up,

how many of you had a pink
candle in your wreath?

Did all right?

You know why?

The pink candle,

I said last week you got
the purple ones.

Because a lot of the announcement of the
birth of Christ was to the upper

class, was to the royalty,

to the kings,

to the wise men,

you know,

to the magi,

all that sort of thing,

right?

I'm going to call them wise
guys all next Sunday,

y'all. So you know,

anyway. But the royalty reflects
Christ's kingship.

Candle to the shepherds was
the candle of simplicity,

the candle that God's announcement was
not just to a certain class of

people, but it was an announcement
to all the people.

And that's why God sent angels
to tell shepherds.

So we light that candle
of the shepherds.

It's a pink candle in
some traditions,

and the one I like to keep up here,

because God meant for all
the world to know.

And now it's our responsibility
to go and tell,

okay? If you don't know Jesus,

guess what?

You don't have anything to tell.

So we want you to know Jesus.

We want you to meet him.

If you haven't met him.

We'd love to introduce you.

We'd love to tell you about him.

We'd love to tell you the hope,

the promise,

the life,

the love that God has
offered in his son.

We're going to sing a song
in just a minute.

I'm going to invite you
to respond to God,

not to me.

If you don't know Jesus,

please be the first one to come down
here and we'll pray together.

I'll introduce you.

Maybe you got something else
you want to pray about.

I'll be right here to pray with you.

Or turn to somebody next to
you in the room somewhere,

grab somebody,

go. Will you pray with me?

That's fine,

too.

All right,

just pray with somebody.

But more than anything,

let's just praise God like the shepherds
did on their way back to the

sheep. Here we go back
to the dark field,

the campfire and sheep.

But what a night it's been.

Let's pray.

God, thank you for today and
for your love for us.

And thank you,

God, that we can celebrate
your love.

God, we can celebrate Christmas
because we have the reason.

God, we've got the message.

We've received the salvation,

the Savior.

So God,

let us have joy in this season
because that's what the.

The shepherds did.

They went back rejoicing.

So God,

let us show the world our joy as we
make Jesus known in our lives to

those around us.

And we pray it in Jesus name.

God, we want to praise you now and
we thank you for the opportunity.

Amen.