Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said, Amen. So I got to know real quick. I know that around Christmas time, it's a great tradition for many families to watch Christmas movies.

So I need to know who here has watched at least three Christmas movies so far this Christmas season. Let me see.

Okay.

Who's watched at least one? Okay, now where are the Scrooges who haven't watched any?

Okay.

Well, here's the thing, I know that we watch Christmas movies around Christmas time, so I wanna know what is your favorite. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put up two Christmas movies side by side, and I just want you to yell out which is the better of the two.

If you're in the venue, if you're in the chapel, chime in online, let us know. You let me know which is the better of the two. We'll start old school. We'll start old school. White Christmas or It's a Wonderful Life. I heard a little both actually. That was more mixed than the other services. All right, let's go on the opposite end of the spectrum here. Rudolph or Frosty?

Rudolph.

Whoa, that felt like half and half. Let's see, who says Frosty? Raise your hand. Frosty, raise your hand. Who says Rudolph? Raise your hand. Never mind. Rudolph dominated. Okay, this next one, I didn't realize this was such a controversy, but apparently, these next two, I assumed one would be the far greater favorite than the other, but apparently there's much more of an internal battle here. I'm winding this up way too big. It's just Home Alone 1 or Home Alone 2.

See, that's what I knew.

Yeah. See, one.

Who says one? Raise your hand.

Oh, sorry, Kevin.

Who says two?

Okay, a few of us. Awesome. Okay, I'll be honest, this next set, I can't decide which of these is my favorite. I love both of these Christmas movies. I'm curious what you have to say. The Muppets Christmas Carol or A Christmas Story? Oh, oh, oh no. Who says the Christmas story? Uh oh, I won't even ask. I won't even ask about the other one.

Okay, last set, this next two. I'm willing to bet in a hundred years, these next two Christmas movies will still be part of family tradition a hundred years from now. How the Grinch? I'm talking like the cartoon one from the 60s, the classic one. What do you mean no? Alright, who says elf? Oh wow, okay. I'll just let you know that this is far more lopsided than all the other services. I can see why you guys come church together. All right, this last one, this last one I'm not going to pit against another movie for competition because this next movie has no competition. It is one of the greatest of all time. I want to know if it's one of your favorites. A Charlie Brown Christmas. Yeah. So I second service gave an applause too.

So here's the thing, I think I know why, and you know why, this is so beloved. Not just because of the nostalgia. I think people really love this movie, especially Christians, is because Linus gets up and recites the Christmas story, and it's played on network TV for millions of people to hear. We love that scene when Charlie Brown is just wondering if anybody knows what Christmas is all about and Linus says, I know Charlie Brown. And what does Linus do? Linus, that little boy that always has his security blanket, right? You know the story right now. He drops his security blanket and he takes center stage and he announces for all the Christmas story by reciting portions of Luke chapter 2. And what's beautiful about that scene is what we see is that we see a little cartoon boy doing what most Christian men are afraid to do, to get up and share the Christmas story before all. Linus reads a portion of Luke chapter 2, that section in that scene where the angels come to the shepherds. That's what we're going to look at today. So we're going to look at the very same passage. If you have your Bibles, would you please turn to Luke chapter 2. Now, as you're turning there, a couple of things. This is the same section that Linus read, but we're going to read verses 8 to 20. Also, this is the angelic announcement to the shepherds. Now the shepherds were Jewish men out in the field. Now these are Jesus' own people. Jesus is our shepherd, Jesus was Jewish.

So these are Jesus' people. Now we've been in this sermon series, what we've been doing is we've been looking at how certain people or groups heard and received the news that Jesus was born. And we've been looking at their reaction and we've been trying to figure out what does that say about how we should also respond to Christmas. So today we're going to look at the news to his people. And so here's what I'd ask you to do. If you are able, and if you are not, that is quite all right, but if you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's Word here this morning?

Would you hear the word of the Lord, the gospel according to Luke chapter 2 verses 8 to 20.

Luke 2:8-20

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.” 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. 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.

Amen. This is God's Word. Let's pray and we'll continue. But let's first pray.

Father in heaven above, Father, this Christmas, would you let us be like the shepherds, working men who dropped everything to run to Christ, who retold of Christ, who rejoiced in Christ. I pray, Lord, that you do this by the true spirit of Christmas, the Holy Spirit, and by the truth of your word. Father, be with us now as we lift up this prayer for your glory and the power of the Spirit and in the name of Jesus.

And everyone said, Amen. And, amen, you may have a seat. Alright, church, rather than a main idea for our sermon series this Christmas, we've been looking at just some good news, some good news this Christmas. Here's our good news for us today, and hopefully it is of great encouragement, also a healthy challenge for you as well. And it's this. The shepherd's reaction to Jesus' birth shows us our response to Christmas should lead us to Christ, lead us to testify, and lead us to worship. So what we're going to do is we're going to first look at the shepherd's amazing reaction and then we'll let it shape our response to Christmas. And the shepherds show us at least three things in their amazing reaction to the news that Jesus has been born. And the first one is this, that they run to his side.

The shepherds out in the field, working men, working the night shift, and one of the most

amazing things happens. A message is brought to them that forever changes them, but not just them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 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. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest. So you have to consider something here. For however amazing this announcement was, angelic announcements, host of heaven, the glory of the Lord, for however amazing this is, it wasn't as amazing as the event itself, for no announcement is. Every announcement, for however wonderful it is, points to something even greater than the announcement. And with this amazing announcement, how could something even top this?

But it does, and that's what we have in the birth of Christ. This shows how monumental this event was. So here's my question for you. How would you respond? You're doing your normal routine, day in and day out, how would you respond to this? Because it's no wonder how the shepherds respond. Look at what they first do, verse 15. They say, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that's happened, which the Lord has made known to us. Now listen, anybody who encounters what the shepherds did, God's glory, prophetic message, chorus of angels, anyone would be interested in knowing what this was all about, but the difference here, this is a big difference. The difference here is that the shepherds actually do something about it. They don't just sit and consider and wonder and think about it, they don't write a blog post about it, they don't sit and just have a conversation. They're men of action that actually do something, they are decisive, they resolve to go, they go to this, they go to Christ. They don't just think about it, they do something. Look at verse 16. And they went with haste. Immediately they went. They didn't just go, they immediately went.

They ran and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger. The shepherds, they run to him because this is what men do when we encounter truth. We embrace it We humble ourselves before it when it's true. We embrace it. So when you hear about Christ

When you understand what he's done for you Rush to his side Adore him in the manger behold him on the cross bow before him as he rose again and worship him as he now sits on the throne of heaven amen The shepherds encounter Christ and they show us the natural responses to run to him. They do this, but they also do something amazing that I think is just as a natural response.

They retell his story. So they run to the Christ child and they encounter this incredible yet humble scene.

Look at verse 17.

And when they saw it, it, don't get offended by that, it just means the manger scene, everything that they're looking at. When they saw it, this was their response. They made known the saying that had been told to them. They made known the saying that had been told to them concerning this child, and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds had told them. The shepherds encounter Christ, and so they retell of Christ. They tell what happens. And you notice the response here from the people? It sparks awe and wonder in people because, because that's what Christmas should

actually do. But unfortunately we've commercialized Christmas. We've wrapped it in plastic and we topped it with the holiday list of to do's. And we forget why we're celebrating what we're celebrating when Christmas should result in and awe and inspiration and hear me hope for all people. Before we move on, I just want to take note of verse 19.

This is kind of an aside, we've already talked about Mary, but Mary does something here that I think is just so beautiful. Mary shows herself to be a true mom here. Verse 19 says, but Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. When it comes to her baby boy, she treasures everything that's happening. Moms, you know how that is. Your kids can bring home the ugliest piece of junk they made at school, but that is a treasure to you. Because Mary, yes, Jesus is the Christ, but Mary's still a mom.

She treasures this up, pondering these in her heart. But the shepherds are who we are looking at today. And the shepherds, what they do is they share the news. They go and do what this sermon series is all about. They go tell it on the mountain. This isn't just a sermon series named after a beloved Christmas song. Go tell it on the mountain is the right response to Christmas, to shout from the mountaintops that the Savior has been born. There's another thing that the shepherds show us though. Not only do they retell of his story, but they rejoice in his birth. Now listen, after the shepherds have this amazing encounter, they go back to their life. They go back to their job, they go back to their town, they go back to what they were doing, but they do not go back as the same men.

They go back as changed men. They're saved. They've encountered Christ. They know the truth now. Now listen, they're the type of men who we need more of in this world. Not just men who will work real hard, but men who will rejoice in Christ.

The shepherds returned, verse 20, and the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them. Listen, my friends, if there is one thing that I want to be said of Peace Church, it's this. It's that at Peace Church, the men worship God. This past summer, when I was on sabbatical, I was blessed to go on sabbatical to take seven weeks to focus on other things rather than just day-to-day ministry. It was great. I met with some other leaders, took some classes,

spent some time studying. Thank you for allowing me to do that again. But this past summer, I took seven weeks off to focus on other things. And one of the things that me and my family did during that seven weeks is every one of those Sundays, we went to a different church. And we had some great experiences seeing God at work at different places. It was wonderful to see God do that.

And we're very thankful for those other places we got to worship with, but there was one church. There was one church that when my wife and I were walking back to my truck, we said to one another, we said, man, if Peace Church wasn't an option for us anymore, this is the church we'd go to. Now listen, Peace Church will always be number one in our hearts. This is the place that God wants us at. This is the place that we want to be at. But if God said no more at Peace Church, we would have said that's the church. Why? Well, I mean, of course the Word of God was clearly firmly preached

But there's a couple other things Well, one of the things was the people were so amazing I am thankful for our greeters who welcome people as they walk into the door They had that too, but it wasn't just those people the congregation actually talked to us That was amazing. So, do that. Talk to one another. Do that. But that wasn't just it. That was really cool, but the tipping point for us was really two things. As we were walking into the church, I noticed it seemed like all the men were bringing their Bibles. That spoke to me. That spoke to me about the type of discipleship happening at that church. And not only that, but when it came time for the musical part of the morning, for the time of what we'd call normal, typical worship, the men were engaged. The congregation had a real bassy tone to it, if you know what I mean.

It was amazing. The men brought their Bibles and the men worshiped and I just felt, God, you're doing something awesome here. If you ever close the door on peace, Lord, lead me here. It was awesome. Our Wednesday night program for our young boys, many of you know, is called Bold Boys. Why do we call it Bold Boys? Because we're trying to raise a generation of young men who are bold for Christ, who are bold for Jesus. And one of the ways that hardworking Christian men show that we are bold is in our unashamed worship.

Now listen, it would be a massive disconnect if at Wednesday nights we told our young guys, hey, what Christian men do is we worship. That's what we do. If we told our young boys that on Wednesday night and then those same young boys come to church on Sunday mornings and they don't see that, something's off. Something's wrong.

And what we see in Scripture is that when men encounter Christ, their response is to worship. The shepherds returned, these calloused hands, dusty-faced men, they returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen, as it had been told to them.

We need men like this, in our churches, in our world and in our families. At Peace Church, we are unashamed to say that we believe that God has called men to be the head of the household. And so when church gathers and church convenes, I'll be honest with you, I look out on the households and I'm looking to see who's the leader of the household. And I'll tell you who the leader of the household is, is the one who's most engaged in worship, because the one who's most engaged in worship is the one who most deeply knows what they're doing here. Now I'm looking to see if that's the man or not. We are here to worship the risen King.

He has given men great responsibility in this world and in our families. And one of the things that we do is when we gather is we show our family how to worship. Listen, I know I'm saying things that this is not how you grow a church. I'm not trying to grow a church. I'm trying to preach that we become a healthy church. And I think a healthy church is one where the men open their Bibles, open their hearts and respond to the risen King. That is what we are to do here. And the shepherds show us this so simply

Simply and so beautifully. The shepherds show us how to respond. So let's look at our response. The first one is this. Let Christmas lead you to Christ. Have we forgotten Jesus, the reason for all of this?

The angel tells us exactly who Christ is and what he brings into this world. He brings good news of great joy for all people. Doesn't matter your background, doesn't matter your last name, doesn't matter what color skin you are

It doesn't matter what religion you came from the hope that Jesus has is for us all If we are to receive him He is the good news of great joy for all the people for he is the Savior He is Christ the Lord and listen to me if he's not Then we should not be celebrating Christmas But if he is the good news of great joy, that's for all the people if he is the Savior if he is Christ the Lord

Then like the shepherds run to him in this Christmas season Let me just take a moment and give you some Christology some doctrine of Jesus who he actually is Now listen don't get bored by this I Say it now. I'll say it again later. What I'm about to share with you is the defining factor, whether you have great hope or you should have great despair. Jesus Christ was born of Mary. This makes him a human man. But because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, this makes him also God.

And this is so vitally important, not just to Christ being Lord, but to Jesus being the Savior. Please don't get bored by this. What I'm saying to you is everything, everything hinges upon this.

But speaking of Christmas movies, the other day I introduced my kids to a Christmas movie. Now, they may say I forced them to watch it, but really I just introduced them to this amazing Christmas movie. It's one of the top three ever produced. I wonder if you've seen it.

Ernest Saves Christmas. So, in this movie, at one point, Ernest is driving a taxi and he picks up Santa. And when they get to their destination and the tab comes, Santa realizes that he's accidentally switched out his real money for Monopoly money that he gave to a set for a Christmas present.

So all he has is fake money, fake Monopoly money. It was an honest mistake, but here's the point. While he has the right amount to pay his bill, he does not have the right currency.

It's like this.

Our sin puts us in debt, and Jesus is both the right currency and the right amount to pay our debt. Because Jesus is human, this makes him able to pay for human sin, the right currency. But because he is God, this makes him able to cover all of human sin, the right amount. Jesus is both the right currency and the right amount.

What we mean is this, is that Jesus, upon the cross, assumes our penalty. He takes our punishment for our sin, for our debt, and he does this by offering himself on the cross and Because he's a human he can pay for human sin because he's God he's able to pay for all of human sin So that our sin all of our sin could be atoned for this is why the Jesus quote-unquote the Jesus of the Mormons The Muslims and the Jehovah's Witness are not able to save you Only the true biblical historical Jesus who is both fully God and fully man

That is the only Jesus who is able to save you because he is fully God and fully man Because he's the right currency and the right amount and because of that you can have hope this Christmas And the beauty of the gospel is that we are offered not just salvation by the life death and resurrection of Jesus We are awful also offered reconciliation. That means we can have a relationship with God again, we can have fellowship with God again, and if that wasn't enough, we are also given eternal life with him. Hope beyond the grave that we can go back to our eternal home in heaven. And we can have this life, this eternal life here and now, because Jesus was raised to life

when he was resurrected from the grave. And so, like the shepherds, this is why we run to him. This is why we let Christmas lead us to him. He is the Savior. He is the Lord. So right now, if you have not yet, make him your Savior and your Lord. Jesus is the ruler of the universe. So let him be the ruler of your hearts. If you have not yet called upon the name of Christ as your Savior, then confess your sin, confess your need for Him, and welcome Him into your life.

If you do that, you'll be welcomed into the promises of God, and you'll be able to sing our closing worship song, because you know Jesus. But for you faithful in the house, for those of you who have called upon the name of Christ, here's the second thing I'd say to you. Let Christmas lead you to testify. It is very simple. It is quite simple. If you know Jesus, then your job is to make Him known. So I have a couple simple questions for you. Kind of a question and an ask. The first one is this. If you are a Christian, have you ever shared the gospel with someone? Who do you need to share the gospel with? For all the great diversity on planet Earth, there is one thing every single person has in common. We are all going to die. We will all stand before the throne of God, and on that day, at the end of days, there may be some who turn to you and ask, why didn't you ever tell me?

What was more important to you than telling me about the gospel? And I wonder, what could you say in that moment that will come even close to an excuse? Oh, I'm sorry, I just didn't want to make it awkward between us. Oh, I'm sorry, I had a tough guy image that I needed to uphold and I didn't want to be talking about Jesus. What could you say on that day that would even come close to an excuse?'

Because here's the reality, when the shepherds encountered this amazing night, and they encountered the birth of Christ, when they saw it, verse 17, they made known the saying that had been told to them concerning this child. It's simple, my friends. Are you going to be a person of action or not? Or are you just going to be a pew potato?

We are called to more than this. We be men of action and share the gospel or not. So when I asked you, who could you share the gospel with? I'm willing to bet for a great many of us, someone came to mind. And if someone came to mind, I'm telling you, that's the Holy Spirit bringing that person to your mind.

And if the Holy Spirit brought that person to your mind, then I guarantee that's the Holy Spirit also saying to you, I will be with you when you share the gospel with that person. So are you going to do it or not? Because here's what I'll tell you. Christmas is the perfect time to do this.

Not just because it's the most wonderful time of year. Did you know that studies actually prove this? Studies show that a Christmas Eve candlelight service is the number one service of the entire year, the number one service that non-Christians are most open to attending if they are invited even more than Easter. There is something about this time of year where people are more open to the gospel than right now

There is no better service for you to invite someone to than our Christmas Eve candlelight service not this week, but the next week That's why I asked our team to put a couple invite cards for you on your seats So you can invite more than one now we got services all day long to make it as easy as possible For people to come we have services at 1 p.m. 5 p.m. 7 p.m. And 11 p.m. all day long. This will be our last candlelight service in this space. So let's fill every service, shall we?

This is what we do. If we know Christ, we go to make Him known. And one of the ways that you can show that you've responded to the gospel is by showing people that you want them to hear about it too. So let Christmas lead you to testify. And the last thing is this, let Christmas lead you to worship. What is the right response to Christmas? Of course, go tell it on the mountain, but also to worship. And if that word sounds too religious for you, here's another way you could say it, celebrate. We celebrate Jesus. Let me ask you a question real quick. Who here has ever been to a professional sports game in your entire life? Let me see.

Okay, so if you've been there, then you know that men know how to celebrate. And if you have the eyes to see, what you really see is that you know men know how to worship. Because people love to worship that which is winning. In my 40-some years on this planet living in Michigan, I can tell you this, even more than last year, this year I have seen more people wearing the Detroit Lions apparel than ever before. Why? Because they are winning. Because we love to celebrate that which is winning. And so let me tell you something, my friends.

If you like victory, let me tell you about Jesus Christ. Because he had victory over Satan, your sin, and death itself. If you want to celebrate that which is one, then celebrate Christ. For he is one over all.

This is the response to the birth of Jesus. This is the response to Christ, to worship Him. When the wise men, when the wise men are led to the Christ child, Matthew chapter 2 tells us that when they saw the child with Mary his mother, they fell down and worshipped. And the shepherds, they show us in Luke chapter 2, it says when the shepherds returned, they were glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard.

From the high society wise men to the working class shepherds, those who encounter Christ, we respond in worship. What is the full and right response to Christmas? The shepherds, these dusty, calloused hand, working class men, show us perfectly. The shepherds' reaction to the birth, to Jesus' birth, shows us that our response to Christmas should lead us to Christ, lead us to testify, and lead us to worship.

Amen? Amen. Let me ask you, is Christ worth our worship? Then let's do that now. Then let's do that now. Would you please stand?