“God gave the Shepherds faith for Christmas” - Luke 2

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 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. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 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.” 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.

*dressed as a shepherd*

*lights dimmed*

Hello, my name is Hank. I’m a shepherd. I appreciate you having me back. It has been several years since I have talked to you but this year I have a little different message for you. This year I want to talk to you about faith; well, faith and sheep of course.

I want you to use your imagination for a few minutes. Imagine that you are in a grassy field on rolling hills in the middle of the night and you are surrounded by sheep. Your job as a shepherd is to protect the sheep from anything that would hurt them or scatter them. If anything were to threaten them, it would probably come by cover of darkness but real threats are typically pretty rare.

You have read and heard the story many times of the angels showing up to a group of us shepherds but let me tell it from my perspective and I hope to convey what it means to me as well.

So, there we were, minding our own sheep business. It was dark, not just because the sun had gone down but it was a dark time to be alive. I have to admit that I was not a very religious man but even I could tell that something was very wrong. It felt dark and wrong and hopeless. On the rare times I made it into town, the people there all seemed to have a feeling of dread and fear. Nothing was as it should have been. Maybe you can relate.

Our country had been taken over by godless men who came only to tax and control. Inflation was high, unemployment was high and the jobs that could be found didn’t pay much. I came from a poor family and found a job being a shepherd at a young age. I had to take it to help my family but it was a dead-end job. It’s what people did who couldn’t do anything else.

Shepherds had a bad reputation in those days. As one commentator explained it, “Shepherds often confused other people’s property for our own.” It was pretty much understood that you didn’t buy anything from a shepherd because the odds were good that it was stolen. We weren’t allowed to testify in court because of our reputations. We couldn’t go to the synagogue because our work was 24/7 and because of our work we were considered unclean.

Which makes that night all the more incredible. Like I said, it was night and we were minding our own sheep business just trying to stay awake. It was slow with nothing going on. None of us were religious people. In fact, we were all a pretty rough bunch with bad language, bad habits and hard hearts. So, when the angel all the sudden appeared in front of me, I assumed he was there to kill me. I wasn’t even going to fight back. First of all, he was 10 feet tall and looked like he killed people for a hobby. Secondly, I knew I deserved it and I thought it might even be a relief. That’s how dark it was.

But when he showed up, the whole sky erupted into light! *lights on* He assured me he wasn’t going to hurt me and then told me the great Good News. A Savior had been born in the city of Bethlehem. Again, I wasn’t a religious man but I knew I needed a Savior. I knew our country and this world needed a Savior. So, I was very excited.

Then, as if that weren’t enough, a thousand – million – billion – I don’t know how many other angels joined him. They stretched from one horizon to the other, all praising God and shouting and singing like no choir before or since. I thought I was dreaming but I looked around and saw my friends standing around with their mouths open too so I knew it was real.

Now, you may think it didn’t take much faith to believe an angel. You think anybody could believe if an angel appeared to them and maybe most people would. But I’ll tell you what took faith. It took faith to go find the baby. It took faith to be obedient to what we were told. That’s the way faith is proven and that was difficult because all we knew was the baby was in a manger in Bethlehem.

We decided we would go look for Him and you would think at least one of those angels would lead us or send a light or a star or something. Bethlehem was not that big but almost everybody had some kind of stable or barn with a manger in it. We looked around for a while and finally found the One the angel was talking about. I have to be honest. He didn’t look like anything special. He was just a baby. There was no angel choir. There was no strobe light or marching band or ticker tape parade. It was just a dark, dirty stable with a man, a woman and a baby.

The word “faith” in Greek is “pistis.” It means to be absolutely convicted that something is the truth. How does anybody prove they have faith? Is it by what they think? Are you proving you have faith when you talk about having faith? Is it real faith to post something on Facebook about having faith? No. Faith is proved by what you do and the lifestyle you lead.

Hebrews chapter 11 is called the “faith chapter” of the Bible. There you will find that Abel offered a sacrifice. Noah built an ark. Abraham left his home in obedience to God plus offered his own son as a sacrifice. Those people did things to prove their faith. It wasn’t just talk. It was proven by their actions.

For me and my shepherd buddies, we were absolutely convicted and convinced that this was the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. We knew that His coming was going to change everything and so we proved it by telling everybody we saw. If you are convicted that something is the truth and it is life-changing, world-changing truth, how lazy and selfish do you have to be to not tell anybody?

I hear some people say they don’t really know what to say to people about Jesus. They don’t know how to witness. You think you don’t know what to say? I didn’t know anything! All I saw was a baby; a baby that hadn’t even done anything yet but I was so convicted of the truth that He was going to do something in the years ahead that I couldn’t keep from telling people.

I thought about what this baby was going to mean for my children and my grandchildren. And if I didn’t tell them about Jesus, who was going to? The rest of my life was devoted to just telling people what I had seen and heard and how everything the angel said had come true. Sure, I still had to work. I still had bills to pay and a family to raise and stuff to do but I never wanted to miss an opportunity to just speak the name of Jesus, even if that was all I could do.

Just think, the angel didn’t go to a priest. He didn’t show up at the fancy house of a Pharisee. He didn’t announce the birth of the Christ to a synagogue full of religious people. He came on orders from God to a dark field in the wilderness to the lowliest sinner there was. That fact wasn’t lost on me.

That last sentence says, “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.” My life was forever changed that day. How could I not glorify and praise God? How could I not tell others what I had seen? That’s what people do whose lives have been changed by the amazing grace of God.

Do you know Him? Have you met Him? Do you have a life-changing relationship with Him today? If you say you do, does your life reflect it? Do your words tell it? Is it your lifestyle or is it just what you do sometimes on Sunday? Faith is proven by how you live, not just by coming to church. Faith is a lifestyle that stems from knowing God sent His Son Jesus to be the sacrifice the Father said was due for your sins. It was a price you could never pay and He paid it for you knowing you were in a dark place with no hope of light.

Let’s pray.