How Will You React To The Truth Of Jesus? (Luke 2:8-20)

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How Will You React To The Truth Of Jesus? (Luke 2:8-20)

GIST: Rather than a warm-fuzzy in the middle of our busy lives, Jesus should be an all-consuming treasure; so we should prize, ponder, praise, and promulgate. 

It’s Christmas Sunday! Therefore, we’re pausing our study in Revelation to stop for a moment and let the significance of this celebration really sink in. If you’ve never met me, you probably don’t realize how much I love Christmas. Since I tell my students Merry Christmas every day, they keep asking me if I’m going to do something different now that it’s “really Christmas”. I always tell them, “No. I’m just glad the rest of the world has finally caught up ☺️. And it does seem like the world starts to get excited, doesn’t it? The lights. The crazy sweaters. The gifts. The bell-ringing. There is something undeniably different about this time of year. However, this contagious atmosphere isn’t the same thing as experiencing lasting life-change, and Christmas is here to remind us why eternal heart-transformation is even possible. 

This morning, I want to look at a super familiar, Christmas passage— something I haven’t really been known to do on these Sundays— and zero in on this gist: Rather than a warm-fuzzy in the middle of our busy lives, Jesus should be an all-consuming treasure; so we should prize, ponder, praise, and promulgate. Yeah, I’ll break that down more, but I couldn’t help the alliteration ☺️. Let’s look at Luke 2:8-20. 

Before we even get to the “points”, I just want to walk through the story here together. 

“8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” We should be encouraged by the fact that shepherds—stinky loaners—were the ones to get this message. It reminds us we can never be too lowly for Jesus to come into our lives and change everything. It also reminds us He doesn’t see the see “status” like we do, and that should humble us.

“9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.” Yeah, I imagine I would be too! This is pre-electricity. These shepherds weren’t watching tik-tok on their phones. They were in the dark watching sheep, and BAM! God sent His messenger to tell them about His arrival. 

“10 And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” We could camp out here all morning. Let me just say this: It is so easy to be scared, and our world provides plenty of reasons for fear. However, Jesus comes telling us not to be afraid because He’s bringing good news—the gospel, the message that though we are sinners deserving Hell, He came and took our place, and we can be rescued from our self-destructive sin if we come to Him. This news is meant to fill us with great joy. I know this is my soapbox, but guys—rejoice! This message is for all people. That means you and the people you can’t stand!

 “11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." He humbled Himself and came as a baby born in a feeding trough though He was God and the Savior of the world! 

“13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!" If they weren’t shook up yet, this probably did it ☺️. The message here is so beautiful. Glory to God. We talked about this just a few weeks ago. He’s glorified when He’s seen for who He is. That’s what Jesus’ birth was all about, revealing God to us! And He came bringing peace and showing His pleasure though we had done absolutely nothing to deserve this.

“15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.” I love the immediacy. They heard, went, experienced, and shared. We’re coming back to that for sure. 

“19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” These last two verses are where I really want to draw our attention a bit more this morning. This is where I’m pulling my p’s from. The driving question I had for this morning was “how will you react to the truth of Jesus?”. We’re given at least two perspectives here: Mary’s and the shepherds’. 

This verse about Mary has always struck me. In the nativity story, there is all this building excitement culminating with the shepherds running through the streets telling everyone about Jesus. There’s so much going on. Angels are popping out of the sky. Shepherds are running through the street. People are amazed. Then, we’re given this beautiful insight into Mary taking it all in. She’s treasuring it all. That’s our first p→ 

I. Prize

See, a treasure is something of immense value. Mary saw all the wonder and was filled with great love. She got it. It wasn’t fanfare or spectacle. It was Jesus, the savior of the world, lying in a feeding trough. Around this time of the year especially, we tend to refer to Jesus as something like “the world’s greatest gift”. That’s true! But, is that true in our hearts? Do you value Jesus, or are the Christmas lights and presents just really exciting? 

If we have experienced Him as our savior, we’ll treasure Him. In fact, if we don’t, we haven’t come to experience Him as our savior at all. If we come to church because we think it will keep us out of “the bad place”, but have no desire to be with Jesus, we don’t even really want Heaven. We just want to feel less guilty. If that’s where you are today, please know He loves you and wants a personal relationship with you far deeper than mere emotionalism. 

Second p→ 

II. Ponder

Mary treasured Jesus, and she thought deeply and meaningfully. Contrary to appearances, I think a lot. Many issues and interests consume my attention. I’m a husband, father of four, Farmington High School teacher, Mineral Area College adjunct, occasional Upward Basketball coach, novice karate participant, amateur columnist…oh, and I sometimes preach here ☺️. Still, I take plenty of time to think about what I love. Guys, I’m not trying to hyper-spiritualize this. Ask me anything about Mizzou Basketball. I watch all the games (even this year). I follow all the coverage. Pre-season, post-season, mid-season, I’m 100% bought in. Yet, am I consumed like that by the savior of my soul? Are you? You will think about what you love. I’m sure your mind is drawn to so many different pursuits. What about Jesus?

I know it’s the most wonderfully chaotic time of the year, but don’t let it slip by without treasuring Jesus, the one worthy of all your attention. 

That was Mary’s reaction. The shepherds hadn’t slowed down enough to get there. Nonetheless, there are two p’s I want us to take from them, as well. The first is→ 

III. Praise

I know this is Christmas Sunday, and we’re in danger of running over here, but let me just point this out. They saw Jesus, and like the angels that had scared the poop out of them just a short time before, they immediately began praising Him. I talk about Jesus a lot. Do I praise Him? I don’t want Jesus to just be a hobby or an academic topic, I want to worship Him. I want to fall down on my knees, broken but rescued, and thank Him. I want to marvel at who He is and what He’s doing all over the world. I want to see both the victories and struggles in my life and rejoice knowing He’s in it all and working out something bigger, and better, and more beautiful than I could imagine. And, like the shepherds, I want to→ 

IV. Promulgate 

This is our last p, and, no, I didn’t make this word up! It’s actually one of my vocab words at school, and it means to spread widely ☺️… and it starts with a “p”. Like I pointed out earlier, the shepherds heard, went, experienced, and shared. They received the message, and were told to go and see Jesus…so they went. They were obedient to what He told them to do, so they experienced His grace. They got to see Jesus right after He was born. Guys, that’s awesome! They weren’t “special people”, but they experienced this blessed because they just listened to what God told them. God is talking to you too. Don’t ignore Him. In fact, obey…and share. After seeing Jesus they ran the streets. They didn’t wait for a more “appropriate time” or when they “felt more prepared” or “looked more put together”. They’d seen Jesus…and the whole world needed to hear. Are we that passionate?

Let’s just recap with our gist as our→

TAKEAWAY

Rather than a warm-fuzzy in the middle of our busy lives, Jesus should be an all-consuming treasure; so we should prize, ponder, praise, and promulgate.