12.15.2013 Advent 3 - JOY! Shepherds Show Humility

12.15.2013 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

Shepherds and Angels this morning –

Lord, we thank You for the opportunity to worship You – to come before Your presence and remember the time when You were here – when You came and the expectations that came with You – and we look forward to another time when You will come again – may our hearts be focused on that this season. There is so much that wants to steal our worship from You – but may You be first in our hearts – hearts filled with devotion to You – to worship the King that was born – God with us – to be with us and among us – that we might be with You – in Jesus’ name we pray.

Alan and Annette read from Luke 2 – why shepherds? WHY?

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. 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.

Shepherds were looked down upon in the Greco-Roman world. For the Pharisees and the Jewish ruling class, shepherds were considered to be ceremonially unclean – a Pharisee would not go to one’s house for dinner - so for a Pharisee to have any fellowship with one, the shepherd would need to go through a purification process. They lived in a segregated world. A shepherd’s testimony could not be submitted in a court of law! The first witnesses to his birth could not be used in a court of law – and the first witnesses to his resurrection – the women, could not be used in a court of law.

There were many shepherds in Israel – raising mainly sheep and goats. The Bible uses shepherds as examples throughout – King David was a shepherd – and was considered to be a leader – Leaders are considered to be shepherds of the people. We have these two things going on – the world’s view and the Biblical view. Being a shepherd was low pay – a common job – the lower class – separated from polite society – they were under-resourced – and I think Luke features this part of the birth of Christ because the shepherds are a representation of those who will follow Jesus in the rest of the gospel – those who were poor, marginalized people – separated – and we see with the shepherds – poor from a material standpoint but also poor spiritually. Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit – and the shepherds are an example of that.

We think that those who followed Jesus were rich spiritually – those who had it all together – but the opposite is true – but they were people who recognized the poverty of their spirit.

What we see, characteristically – Jeff even mentioned in his prayer – there is a sense of humility – the shepherds are humble – and humility is required to enter the story of God’s redemption. It begins with humility – and the entire story of Jesus’ birth and Christmas is a story of humility – Jesus came to us – demonstrating the greatest act of humility – becoming a man – He exemplified what it means to be humble.

Philippians 2: 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

This comes right after Paul tells us to be humble – and the reason? That is what Jesus did. He is the exalted one – He existed in the form of God – having all authority – He has everything – He is the ultimate ultimate – but He didn’t grasp on to it – He didn’t say, Look who I am, Look at Me! He emptied Himself of all that – emptied Himself of all glory and became a man. All powerful/All knowledge – gets squeezed into this frail weak human body that got colds and the flu and bled. There was nothing special about the physical body of Christ – it was just like yours and mine.

He shows this humility by being born in a manger – a stable – in a feeding trough – lowly, not in honor, wealth or privilege. He could have come any way He chose – but He chose to come in humility – and then He completely demonstrated His humility by going to the cross.

Pilate says – don’t you know I have the power to let you go or crucify you? Jesus said, in effect, not really – you only have the power you’ve been given.

But Jesus submitted Himself to his rule without a word. That is humility.

The angels tell them to not be afraid – good news of great joy. We cannot stand before God’s glory without being frightened unless we understand God’s goo news – the recognition –good news of great joy – Gospel – more than just Good News – that is too small – more like – breaking news – news to announce the birth of a king. Like when Caesar had a child – proclaim it around the world – Caesar Augustus’ birth – the ‘savior of the world’ – they have inscriptions that indicate that is what they heralded! But God is saying – the real Savior of the World is born in Bethlehem.

In August there was a really important birth – our grandson was born – we couldn’t go in right away – and they had USA Todays around the waiting room – “Today, a Prince is born!” – I was like – How did they know! When George was born – the son of Prince William and Kate – it was all over the media. But when the Prince of Peace was born – it was announced to a few guys taking care of sheep! And then everyone forgets about him for about 30 years! Yeah, there was an incident when He was about 12 – but when Jesus came on the scene 30 years later – it was like, who is this guy?! It was so different from how we would do it.

SO, with the shepherds, we learn about humility.

First – we see – they were out in the fields, keeping watch over night. They were not in town – they were separated – they were out away from town where things happen. We think of people in the country as being more religious – but in Israel, it was the opposite – the term HEATHEN comes from being out in the country!

What we see – humility has the ability to operate outside of power and influence. Content to be separated from the place of power and influence.

Hark the Herald – Pleased as man with men to dwell – He was content to enter into a human body that was powerless – and to be humble, we need to give up our power our prestige, our value, for the benefit of others. Humility recognizes and submits to the authority that all power comes from God and apart from Him we are powerless. He entrusted Himself to the Father and relinquished His ability to use His power for His own good – and that is what God calls us to – and the opposite of how the world tells us to live. The world says, use your power to get what you want – step on or over someone else! There is such a drive to move ahead and humility comes against all that. To be humble, we must be willing to disengage from the way power is practiced in this world. Jesus said this over and over – the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over you – not that way with you!

Second – we see with the shepherds – they are out alone – by themselves – they had a private faithfulness – faithfulness when no one else was around. That is why David was exalted – as a faithful shepherd with the sheep – He was faithful and obedient and trustworthy – and true character is defined by what you are when no one is looking. All of us are more spiritual on Sunday morning than we are in real life – but all of us ought to be spiritual when no one is looking – humility focuses on that private world.

Third – Service – when the word comes to Mary – behold, the bondservant of the Lord – be it done to me according to your word…. – Humility says – God, I am your servant, what do you want me to do – and then the servant moves on to meeting the needs of others.

Phil 2 – don’t look to your own interests – but the interests of others – that is a description of humility. That does not mean that we meet needs to our own detriment – like when the oxygen masks drop – if you aren’t breathing, you can’t help someone else breathe! You can’t take it beyond that though – that your needs have to always be met first – and then our wants become our needs – but we need to be spiritually and emotionally healthy, living lives to help other.

“Humility is when we lower ourselves to advance others without feeling threatened”

We are promised peace with God – because of Christ being born, everything is resolved. Pax Romana – the Peace of Rome – they believed they brought peace to the world (which they did, by killing a bunch of people and making them submit to them!) – but God’s army comes bringing peace in a completely different way – there is peace that we can receive in this world – there are stress releasers – watching a movie – and there are all kinds of ways we find peace – but this peace is different and it can only come from a relationship with God – and that only happens because Christ came and ushered in the opportunity for us to have peace.