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Luke 2:8-20
Fear and the Shepherds December 11, 2022
By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist Church
CONNECT
We are continuing with our series, “Overcoming Fear,” as we journey through this advent season. Today we are looking at the Shepherd’s fear.
Is there anything that you are afraid of: Snakes, mice, public speaking? I am afraid of heights. I can do heights if I have to, but I try to make sure that I never have to. I grew up on a farm. My dad would get up on top of the barn roof and walk down the ridgepole as if it were nothing. I would be following on my hands and knees, straddling the top of the roof.
Snakes, mice, public speaking – no problem. But heights – not my favourite thing.
This morning we are looking at the Shepherds. By in large, the shepherds were a brave group of people. One of the main roles of the shepherd, after making sure that sheep were cared for, was protecting the sheep.
The shepherds we see in Luke are not the first shepherds we meet in the bible. In fact, we see a lot of shepherds scattered throughout the pages of scripture. The most famous was King David. When David was trying to convince King Saul to let him fight Goliath, he told of his job as a shepherd.
1 Samuel 17:34–36 (NIV)
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.
Listen, if your job requires beating off lions and bears – you should be getting danger pay. It is not like they had hunting rifles. These shepherds were a tough crew. These were brave men.
Shepherding was a respected occupation. It was like being a farmer today. It is respected, but these people were not society’s elites. They were more like the salt of the earth kind of people. These were not the kind of people who got an audience with the King. They would have felt out of place in a palace.
At the time of year when our story takes place, they were living outside, overnight. They were roughing it for the sake of their sheep.
This is where things get interesting for this brave, tough, salt-of-the-earth group of shepherds.
Luke 2:8–9 (NIV)
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.
Last week we looked at when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. The Bible says, “She was greatly troubled.” Now you have these rough – face down a lion – kind of shepherds, and an angel appears to them – and they were terrified. They were scared out of their wits.
Lions, bears, no problem. Angels – terrified. What is it about the angels that terrified these guys?
One thing that terrified them was that the glory of the Lord shone around them. The glory of God is the physical manifestation of the character of part of the character of God. In this case, it was light. John, speaking of Jesus, says,
John 1:4–5 (NIV)
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The shepherds saw a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality. “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”
We have a hard time imagining the shepherd’s world. When it is night in Perth, you can still walk down the main street as if it were daytime because there are streetlights. In the summertime, we can still play baseball when it is dark because we have a baseball diamond that has floodlights. We think nothing of this.
If you go back to the first century, how did they light their way in the darkness? They had candles. They had oil-based lamps. They had torches. The brightest way the shepherds knew to light up the hillside would be to build a bonfire. If you have ever been camping, you know that that does not provide that much light. So, here you have the angel of the Lord appearing, and the hillside is lit up like a baseball diamond at night. That was totally outside their realm of experience – and they were terrified.
Not only that, but in the middle of this light, an angel appeared to them. The Greek word gives the impression that suddenly an angel was standing near them. The angel appeared out of nowhere right in front of them – and they were terrified. I would be really startled if suddenly someone appeared out of nowhere and was standing in front of me too.
But there was something about this being that the shepherds knew that this was no ordinary guy. They recognized him for what he was – an angel. A messenger from God. When you are suddenly shifted from watching sheep to being in the presence of an angel, it would be terrifying.
They go from a dark hill living an ordinary life to being in the presence of the God-inspired supernatural. These normally brave people were filled with fear.
They remind me of the Hebrew people in the middle of the Exodus. Moses had been up on top of Mount Saini and met with God. He brought down the 10 commandments.
God showed his glory at the top of the mountain. Let me read you the story
Exodus 20:18–19 (NIV)
18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
Moses, if you want to come into close contact with God – go for us. We will just keep our distance from God – if that is all right with you. You tell us what God said, but we are not going up there. If God speaks to us, we will die.
The shepherds were terrified when the angel of God showed up. The Hebrew people trembled with fear at the thought of God speaking to them. There is something about an encounter with God that can be fear-inducing.
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I used to think that all a church had to have to attract people was the presence of God. If it was consistently obvious that God was in the place, people would come. I have since found out that the idea of God being near, attracts some people and repels others. People who are otherwise brave shy from the presence of God.
Here is my question to you – would you like God to show you his glory? Would you like him to speak to you? My guess is that some of you would and some of you wouldn’t. What if God tells me to do something I don’t want to do? What if he calls me to go somewhere that I don’t want to go?
The fear of God showing up is often two-sided. Part of the fear is that I am not good enough for God. “If God speaks to us, we will die.” Part of the fear is not believing that God wants our good. What if he tells us something we don’t want to hear?
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Here is what I have come to believe. Most of us, probably all of us, are as close to God as we want to be. We may say we want more of God. We may say that we want to encounter him. But the reality is, that we are as close to him as we want to be.
I used to blame my lack of closeness to God on a lack of time to pray, to hear God’s word; to do the things that I needed to do to draw close to God. Then my kids grew up, and I gained more free time. You know what I found – I had the time, but things had not changed. I had to take a good hard look at my heart – and change.
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The Bible promises that if we draw near to God, he will draw near to us. The reality is that many of us want to get so close and no closer. We are as close to God as we want to be. I think we are like the shepherds and the Hebrew people. We believe that I am not good enough for God or God is not going to be good to us. I want what I want, and what if God wants something different?
Into this reality, hear the words of the angel.
Luke 2:9–11 (NIV)
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 that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news that is a cause for great joy for all people. – For all people.
This is good news for the shepherds. This is good news for you and me. The angels told the shepherds, “Do not be afraid.” Then the angels give the shepherds a reason – it is because of the good news.
Today in the town of David – Bethlehem, a saviour has been born to you. He is the Christ, the Messiah. Next week we are going to look at fear and Joseph. One of the things that we will see in that story is what Jesus is going to be a saviour from.
Matthew 1:21 (NIV)
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
He is a saviour from sin. The is the Messiah, the one who will deliver the people of God from sin. This is the good news of great joy which is for all the people – including the shepherds, including you and me.
That fear that we are not good enough for God and the fear that God may not have our good in mind are answered in that baby in a manger. He is the saviour. He saves us from our sins, so we can be good enough for God, not from our own goodness, but because he takes away our bad and gives us his goodness. We can also see the goodness of God in orchestrating our deliverance.
Jesus came into the world while we were yet sinners. God sent his only begotten son into the world to save us from our sin. This is good news. A saviour has been born. As the apostle, Paul said, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
I am not sure that the shepherds got the meaning of the message. But the angels did.
Luke 2:13–14 (NIV)
13 Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
The angels had the perspective of history. They saw the good of the garden of Eden. They saw creation – and it was good. They saw sin enter into the world and, with sin, death. They saw the destruction of the world caused by sin – which leads to death.
But this evening, they saw the saviour being born. He will save his people from their sin. The perfect God entered into a messy world. The God of light entered into a world of darkness. Not only that, but we had rebelled against God. God was not our enemy, but we were his. But he made the first move. It was inconceivable – the mercy, the grace, the love.
But there was in front of them – Jesus. Born of a virgin, placed in a manger. They got it and were amazed. They broke out in worship. Glory to God in the highest.
All over the lighted hillside, songs and words of praise were busting forth.
They also said, Peace on earth to whom his favour rest. His favour rests on anyone who will receive the message and step into the good news.
It doesn’t tell us how long the babbling of angels went on. But I would have loved to have been at that concert. Glory to God in the Highest.
The angels eventually left, and the shepherds had to do something.
They got that we didn’t need to become good to stand in the presence of God because God came to us and did what was needed so that we could have a relationship with him. They God that God was out for our good.
Luke 2:15–20 (NIV)
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.”
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. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Their journey started off with fear, and it ended in worship. When they saw the baby, just as the angel had said, they returned to the hillside glorifying and praising God.
They got it – at least partially. These rough and tumble, salt of the earth people – they got that God came to them – he was on their side. They got that being in the presence of God was a good thing. There was good news.
Maybe you’re here today, and you have been wondering about God. I want you to know this – God loves you. He wants a relationship with you. He did everything needed so that you could be in God’s presence without fear. He invites you to know him.
God is extending his hand towards you in friendship. Will you take it? To do that, you need to acknowledge that you have broken God’s laws. That is what we call sin. You ask Jesus, who is our saviour, to forgive you of your sin and come into your life. You believe that he is good, so you are going to follow him. You can do that in the quietness of your own heart. But in a moment, I will lead you in a prayer that can help you take God’s hand.
For those of you who have come to Jesus – you are close to him as you want to be. Where are you with him? Check your heart. Maybe God is calling you to draw near to him.
Here is what I know, when we are in the presence of God, worship becomes easy. I hope we can go away from here like the shepherds praising God.
Pray
Sinners’ prayer
Prayer to draw near to God.
Sermon Questions – Fear and The Shepherds
Luke 2:8-20
Introduction
1. What are you celebrating this week?
2. What are you praying about this week.
Digging In
3. Read Luke 2:8-20 – What stands out to you about this passage of scripture?
4. Read 1 Samuel 17:34-36 – Between this passage and the Luke passage, what do you know about Shepherds?
5. Read Luke 2:8-9 – The glory of God is a physical manifestation of an attribute of God. What characteristic of God did the shepherds see? Why were they so terrified?
6. Read Exodus 20:18-19. How were the Hebrew people and the shepherds alike?
7. Do you want God to speak to you? Why/Why not? Do you think you are as close to God as you want to be?
8. Read Luke 2:9-11. What was the good news? (Read Matthew 1:21 to help with this question.)
9. What did the angels understand that caused them to worship? (vs.13-14)
10. Verse 20. The shepherds travelled from fear to worship. What were the things that brought about the change?