Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said with all your heart, amen, amen.

So, one thing that is always monitored around the holiday time is holiday travel. For some reason, we like to monitor how much people are moving around during Christmas time. So here's the question I have for you. Where are you going for Christmas or for Christmas celebrations? Here's what I want you to do. Take a moment with the people around you, share where you are going for Christmas this year. Take a moment and do that. All right, so as you think about where you're going to go for Christmas, let's just hold on to that thought for a second. We'll come back to it.

Today we are continuing our series called Fit for a King as we are looking at the reality that Jesus is not just Emmanuel, God with us, He's not just the Savior, but Jesus is the King of kings who has been born. And so His birth, while very humble in nature, it was still a truly royal event. And I think one of the most grand parts of Jesus' birth that really demonstrate and announce the fact that it was a royal event is with the angelic proclamation. When the angels come and announce that Jesus has been born. And that's what we're going to be looking at today.

And here's what I'd say. For those who know the story, you know the humble means by which Jesus was born. I'm hoping that you can hear anew the angelic announcements because I think it's very timely with everything that's going on in our world. And so to look at this very familiar passage, I'm gonna ask you to turn in your Bibles to Luke 2. Luke 2, we'll look at verses 8 to 15.

If you are newer to the faith or you don't know the context, let me just clarify for you. As we read this passage, here's what's going on. Jesus Christ had just been born. He had been born in Bethlehem to Mary and Joseph. It was a completely underwhelming event by human standards. He's born in a manger made for animals because as the Bible says there's no place for him in the inn. Bethlehem, while an extremely famous town nowadays, it was a small town and nearby, the Bible says that there were shepherds out tending to their flocks. It's a well-known story and so here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna pick up from this point. Jesus has been born and there's shepherds out in the field and that's where we're gonna pick up our story. So would you hear God's Word? Luke chapter 2, we'll read verses 8 to 15. Would you hear God's Word?

Luke 2:8-15

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. 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. 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.” 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!”

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.”

This is God's word. Let's pray and we'll continue. Let's pray. Father in heaven above, Lord, today we remember, we give thanks that we celebrate the birth of your son, the incarnation of our God and Savior and the King of kings who rules and reigns. And we ask here and now by the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit that you would not only bless our time, but help us to know your truth, that we would receive it into our hearts and into our lives. And we ask these things in the name of the newborn King, in the name of Jesus. And everyone said, amen.

So for those of us gathered here and online, as we are here on Christmas Eve, if I give you one thing to think about today and especially tomorrow as we celebrate the birth of Jesus it would be this here's our main point for today what the angels proclaim is what we all need to hear and so as we look at our passage today there's three things I want to draw up draw out from this angelic announcement and it'd be these three things.

1. The truth is found in a moment

2. The miracle is found in the mundane

3. The purpose is found in the message

The purpose is found in the message. All right. So as we get going, let's just state the obvious here. I know many people would say that we live in a quote unquote heavily churched area. Many of us grew up knowing this story. Or even if you didn't grow up going to church, it's such a cultural celebration. Many of us just know the story of Christmas by osmosis to some extent. So here's what I'd say to you.

If this passage is familiar to you, if you've heard this passage a thousand times, here's my challenge to you, especially if you call yourself a Christian. Do you live out this story as well as you know the story?

Do you live out this story as well as you know the story? I recently heard someone say this about the American culture. They said that we are educated beyond our obedience. That we know all this stuff. We have all the Bible studies. We have all the resources at our fingertips. We know everything we can, but we don't actually live it out. We're educated beyond our obedience to God's word. And so again, here's my challenge to you. If you know this story, if you've heard it a thousand times, do you live it out as well as you know it? Are you filled with hope? True hope? Are you filled with hope every single time you hear this? Or are you just filled with nostalgia? Are you challenged by this story? Are you comforted by this story? Does this story inspire you to live more fully to God? You may know this story, but have you truly heard it?

1. The truth is found in a moment

So first thing, Christmas proclaims what we all need to hear. The first one is this, the truth is found in the moment. Let's go back to our passage. What we say we know so well, let's look at verses 8, 9, and 10 again. Luke says this, it says,

Luke 2:8-10

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. 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.

All right. Let me ask you you got to be honest. This is church. Got to be honest here when I read this passage How many of you thought of Charlie Brown? Let me see. Oh, most of you. Okay. All right. Okay. Yeah, you know Whether we think of the Christmas celebration when we read this passage, we're missing something so much. This is an entirely underrated passage. Remember what's going on here.

They were the first ones to get to hear about the birth of Jesus. These shepherds out in the field, the lowest of the low, the forgotten, and they're the ones who got to hear first the message of Jesus. They were not kings. They were not rulers. They were not social media influencers. They were not rock stars. They were working men. And add to that, they were working the night shift.

Nothing but love for third shifters. I worked on third shift for two years of my life. My body’s not wired for it. Two years of my life, I never saw the sun. I just, I can't handle it. But I can tell you this about working the third shift. That crew of people that I got to work with, we were a ragtag group, and nobody was looking to quote us. We were the forgotten, but it was a fun group I worked with. And one thing I can tell you about working the third shift is that we understood that the boss was never going to show up in the middle of the night to say, well done everyone. Keep it up. Boss wasn't walking in at 2 am to give us an attaboy. If the boss showed up in the middle of the night, someone getting fired. No one showed up unless we did something wrong, but I can't imagine being those guys working out at night and God's angel showed up. I can't imagine working third shift and have an angel of the Lord show up to not just tell us news, but the greatest news the world had ever heard.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, and I say this with all due respect, she was a nobody by the world's standards. See, in our day and age, where everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame, we live in a world where teenagers' dying wish is to go viral and get some attention. I'm telling you, this is not how God works. God is not impressed by this. He's not impressed by how many likes we get on social media.

Some of you out here, you may feel forgotten, either by your families or by society. But I'm telling you now, it's the lowly, it's the forgotten, it's the mourning, it's the third shifters, it's the people without influence. Those are just the type of people that God reveals big things to. And he calls us to respond. This is how God works. He doesn't wait for the big grand events to reveal his plan. He does it in the moments we'd never expect. This eternal truth that God incarnate had been born, that eternal truth was found in the moments. God does things when we never expect, not just what we don't expect. Like telling a bunch of poor farm boys working the night shift the greatest news the world had ever known. Like a teenager who stands apart not because of her massive social media following. She stands apart because in her heart she is one thing, and that's faithful to God in her simple life.

The truth is revealed in a moment, so don't be so preoccupied with the big things in life that we forget to see the way that God moves in the small things.

The shepherds were just living life. They were just doing their thing, and that's when everything changed. The angel appeared to them and said, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. See, Christmas proclaims what we need to hear. The truth is found in the moment, and also the miracle is found in the mundane.

2. The miracle is in the mundane

Go to verse 11 and 12. Says this,

Luke 2: 11-12

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.”

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord and this will be a sign for you you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger okay we know this story we know it and because we know it so well I think we've forgotten what we just read an angel shows up with the glory of God shining around them. These men are absolutely terrified. And what's the news? You're gonna find a baby. You're gonna find a baby just wrapped up in swaddling cloths. That's a big grand sign I came from heaven to share with you. What? Don't be so familiar with the story that you forget to know the story. What is going on here? You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths.

That phrase there, wrapped in swaddling cloths, is a very wordy phrase in English, but it's actually one word in the original language. You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying, not in a crib, not in a hospital, not in his mother's arms. You'll find a baby wrapped and lying in a manger. So mundane, but yet a miracle. These guys were working outside in the night shift, mundane, but then a miracle happens. And just think about these guys. I mean, remember, this was a real thing that happened. These guys were just standing out in the field and I can imagine these guys doing what they do every single night. I can see them kind of just leaning on their staff, just talking to one another, just meaningless, mindless conversation like they've had day in and day out.

And then something happens. A night where they normally would have just forgotten what happens. Everything, everything changed. A miracle happened in the middle of the mundane. It says, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Our Savior was found wrapped in rags. Rags, mundane. The king of kings was not born in a bassinet made of gold in some palace. He was born in a barn, in a manger made for faint farm animals.

Now that that word manger there, I found myself this past week as I was thinking about this passage, I found myself doing something that I wonder if you do as word manger I think crib I think the crib that Jesus was born at Chris born in at Christmas time but let me remind you that's not what a manger is a manger here here's here's the definition here a manger is a long open box or trough for horses or cattle to eat from see I found myself being so familiar with this story that when I heard manger, I think that's where Jesus was born. I thought crib. Like when you hear the word manger, you need to think farm animals and hay. That's what Jesus Christ, the Christ was born in. He was not born in a nursery. It doesn't explicitly say this, but Jesus was born in a barn or at least a first century Jewish version of that, whether it was like a cutout cave or just a small little enclosure, but it was a place where animals would eat.

I'll tell you this, anyone who's, who spent time in a barn, you probably resonate with what I'm about to say. I grew up spending a lot of time in a barn. If you have to, then you know, something barns are pretty special, magical places. Do you know what I mean? Who's ever spent some real time in a barn? Right? You know those are special places for some reason or not. And one of my favorite lines about barns comes from a book called Charlotte's Web. I'm sure you've heard of it. Anyone read Charlotte's Web or seen the movie? I'm not sure if this line is in the movie, but it's in the book. And line. Here's what it says about barns. It says, It smelled of hay and manure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It often had a sort of peaceful smell, as though nothing bad could happen ever again in the world. If you ever spent time in a barn, you know what the writer is saying here. But here's what I'm going to tell you.

See, barns are awesome places, but cows are born in barns. Horses, sheep, goats are born in barns. People are not born in barns, but our Savior was. And this just reminds us of something incredibly special from the life of Christ, that miracles don't just happen on the mountaintops. Miracles can happen in the mundane. But unfortunately, we are the most distracted society of all time, and I don't think we ever look up from our phones long enough to see it. The angel shows up and he says this. He doesn't announce the birth of Savior to princesses or kings, not to presidents or popes, but rather God speaks to the working man. God does not speak to self-proclaimed boss babes or the guys in the corner office.

He speaks to the lowly, and more than that, to the faithful. To the faithful who day in and day out rely on the patience of God as the priority of their life. That they may not understand why God does what he does, but they give themselves to him knowing that he is good. Because Christmas proclaims that miracles don't just happen on the mountaintops, they happen in the mundane. Do you have the eyes to see it or are you too busy scrolling?

Look up from time to time and I promise you, you might just see a miracle. Because Christmas proclaims that miracles are found in the mundane.

3. The purpose is found in the message

And lastly, Christmas proclaims to us, the angels proclaim what we need to hear, and it's the truth that the purpose is found in the message. So not only does the one angel show up, look what happens.

Luke 2:13-15

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!”

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.”

Verse 13 says, And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts. Okay, what's that? I'll tell you what that is. That's the angelic army. The king had been born, so God sent his entire angelic army, a multitude of them, a great number of them, to come and they were praising God. Now before I say and read what they said, remember, this is an enormous army of angels. But I'm willing to bet something here. If you know this story, I'm willing to bet something. In your mind, maybe not everyone, but I think many of us in our mind, when we think about those shepherds, we think about them doing this, looking up.

I think for many of us, we just kind of like assume that the angels were in the sky. The Bible don't say that. In fact, the Bible goes at great lengths to clarify these were shepherds out in a field, in fields. I actually kind of think that they actually were on the ground, standing in a royal salute to the birth of the King. I imagine that field full of angels, the angelic army, standing, praising God and announcing this. And what did they come to announce? The birth of the Savior. And let me remind you, this is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. This is the birth of the King. This is God incarnate. How in the world do you announce that? What do you say to that? Like a thousand years worth of prophecy being fulfilled in one awesome, amazing moment. How do you announce that?

Well, this is how you do it. God sends his army of angels and they say, glory to God in the highest. I don't think we fully understand the weight of that phrase. The glory of God is the weightiest thing there is. And we have the highest amount of that in the birth of Christ. Glory to God in the highest. This is what the angelic army announced. I can't even imagine what that must have sounded like. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom He is pleased. That's how you announce the birth of the Savior.

See, in our world, at least in our culture, in our society, people are looking for meaning within themselves. We are the culture that says live your own truth. Which I just gotta say is pathetically hypocritical. For a culture to say live your own truth and then what do we do? We turn around and seek external validation from strangers online. We are an incredibly lost culture. If you would just take a step back and survey what we are saying and what we are doing. Live your own truth but make sure everyone online who you don't know validates that.

Okay, let me tell you something about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus refutes both of that. The gospel does says, no, the truth and the message and your purpose is not found within you, it's found externally, but you don't seek validation from strangers. See, the gospel message, which begins at Christmas. Now listen, while our purpose is found in the gospel message, while the meaning of our life is found in the gospel message, the gospel message is not about us, it's about Jesus. It's the good news given to us.

And you know the gospel, I'm willing to bet many of you do. But when we look at our lives and the interactions of so many Christians, I want to ask them, and I know this is gonna sound judgmental, but I wanna ask them, do you really know the gospel? Do you have, like, I know you know it up here in your head, but do you know the gospel like in your hearts? Because our lives are a manifestation, our lives are a manifestation of what's in our hearts, not just what's in our head. And I want to ask Christians, has the gospel made the track from your brain of what you can recite to your heart of which you live out? Does it actually change the way you interact with scriptures? Does it change the way you interact with people? Do you know the gospel? Because here's the reality, the gospel starts with Christmas, that God so loved the world that he gave. That's the Christmas story right there.

And so going back to the notion of God telling the shepherds first, they first got the message. Now, the Bible doesn't say this, but I have a guess as to why God chose to tell the shepherds first. And I think it's found in verse 15. Let's go to verse 15 together. So now, when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ìLet us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. Why did God tell this first to the shepherds? I think itís at least in part because He knew that they would actually respond to the message. They would hear the message and they would actually do something about it.

See, the birth of Christ, Emmanuel, comes with the necessity of a response for those who have the ears to hear. And the shepherds show us what the response is. When we hear the Christmas message, what's our response? To go to Jesus.

You see, I think if the angels went to some royal court and told this to a bunch of officials or princesses or kings, I can imagine they would probably sit there on their high thrones and they would think, wow, this is wonderful news. How wonderful I must be that the angels would tell me. And then they wouldn't do anything with it. But the shepherds, they drop what they're doing and they went to Jesus.

Okay, go back to verse 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 had it happened. Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that had happened. Making no mention that they just were witness to the angelic army before them. You think they might have said, what just happened? But they said, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that had happened because they knew what they just witnessed pointed to something even greater. And so here's my question for you. You are now hearing the Christmas message. Are you going to respond like a high and mighty affluent person who thinks you're special because you heard this message, but you're really not going to do anything with it? Or are you going to be like the shepherds who hear the Christmas message and you respond by going to Jesus?

That's my prayer for you this Christmas is that you're not just exchanging gifts, but you are being reminded again of what Christmas is. It is your Savior coming for you unto you. So which one are you? The one that's too busy to respond or the one that's going to? The shepherds dropped everything to go to Christ in that moment. And so let me make it clear again, this is what the angels proclaim, that the King has been born and we all need to hear this, that Christ, our Emmanuel, has come for us.

And again, Emmanuel means God with us, right? This is a two-way street here. God with us, so we respond by going to him so that we can be with him, so that we can be with God again. So that sin that separates us from God, that is removed in the Gospel. Our Emmanuel comes to be with us so that we can go to Him. So we started this service by asking, where you go for Christmas? The one place we need to go back to is back to Christ. We need to go back to the manger, back to the story, and remember again that the King who has come to save us has been born. And that's what we get to celebrate. So let me remind you what the angels proclaim is what we all need to hear. So go to Jesus. And one of the ways we do that is by responding in worship. So would you please stand as we prepare our hearts to worship. Amen.

Would you please bow your heads and let's pray together.

Father, we come before you on this Christmas Eve, and I just ask God, in Jesus' name, that here and now by the power and presence of the Spirit, Lord, that you'd give us the heart of those shepherds to respond, to go and see, that we might look upon the newborn King, the one who has been born unto us to save us, that this child would grow into the man who would die on the cross and then triumph over death, triumph over sin, and he would rise again. So Father, I pray that here and now, Lord, as we sing the words of this old Christmas hymn, Father, I pray, God, that we'd sing them anew, we'd sing them true. We pray these things in Jesus' powerful name. And everyone said, amen. And everyone said, amen. Church, let's worship together.