Read: Luke 2:8-20
I.
Introduction
Last week, I began by naming two
things that I love to do—to collect rocks and to read. And this past week, I
received three rocks from different members and I heard of a few kids who
started collecting rocks and the parents may or may not have been happy about
it. It was not my intention for you to bring me rocks or to start collecting
rocks, but I am grateful for them, so thank you!
And now I don’t want you to think
that I am a hoarder of some sort—collecting everything I see or saving
everything I have ever received; but I have to tell you one more thing that I
love to collect and gather from different places around the country and world.
I love to collect newspapers.
But I collect these news papers for
a purpose—to help me remember things, such as: the events of 9/11; the
presidential election of President Obama who was the first black president of
the USA, my favorite teams winning championships. These newspaper also help me
remember my time in that city/town that I got them from—such as my time in
Israel, or my time in Tennessee, or Florida, etc; wherever I might be—it helps
remember those times in history. And sometimes these newspapers that I collect
portray good news that has happened, but they are often plagued with bad news
as well.
There is a word that many of us are
familiar with which means “good news”. This word is the word ‘Gospel’. The word
Gospel in the Greek language literally means “good news”. And we are really
familiar with this word because there are four books of the Bible which we know
as the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; and it is used frequently in
conversations and sermons.
But
even though we are familiar with it and we know that it means ‘good news’; we
often find ourselves stuck on how to define it. For example: does the word
‘Gospel’ mean that the Gospel is the whole Bible? Does the word ‘gospel’ simply
mean the story of Jesus’ life? Does Gospel only mean the salvation that we are
given? Or does this word just mean ‘good news’? And if it does mean ‘good
news’; then what is this ‘good news’ that people speak about? And is this ‘good
news’ for?
And since this word can be defined
in so many ways and capacities; the aim of this series is to provide a better
definition of what this word actually means for all of us.
Well,
for starters the word “gospel” was not invented by the Gospel writers or Paul;
it was a word in the Greek world that meant: “receiving news of glad tidings”
such as receiving news of a birth; or receiving news of a new emperor or
governor elected; and even receiving news of a victory in battle. This news was
to be brought to all the people in the town and the surrounding area so that
everyone would know about it. And then there would be a huge sacrificial feast
to the gods because of this good news.
And when this word ‘Gospel’ is
mention; it actually incorporates many different things. You see the Gospel
includes, but is much more than just the story of person who lived, had some
great teachings and then died and rose again.
·
It
is more than an event that happened in history.
·
The
gospel is related to human reality and brings a message of judgment upon the
sin of the world and it brings joy to those who believe.
·
You
see, the Gospel is salvation history
·
The
Gospel tells us how a gracious God saved soiled sinners.
·
The
Gospel tells us that we are sinners.
·
Therefore,
because we are sinners, the Gospel tells us that we need a Savior
·
And
because we are sinners in desperate need of a Savior, the Gospel also tells us
how God provided a Savior for us.
·
The
Gospel is salvation history telling us how our gracious God saved soiled
sinners like you and me.
·
This
is the Gospel; this is the good news.
You
see, this is what the shepherds heard from the angel; the angel announced that
this Gospel was of great joy, this Gospel would be for all people and this
Gospel is about a person.
II.
The Gospel of Great Joy
As the shepherds were doing their
job out in the field watching their flock, all of a sudden; an angel appeared.
And the glory of the Lord shone around them. And Luke tells us that they were
terrified; and rightfully so! The angel’s first words comforted the shepherds
by saying, “Do not be afraid.” This
is a common phrase that angels used when encountering humans due to the
person’s fear at that moment. But then the angel tells them something, the
angel tells them about some news. The angel says, “I bring you good news of
great joy…”
The first thing that we find out about
this ‘gospel’ from the angel is that this Gospel is ‘of great joy’. This
is contrasted with the fear that the angel brings upon the shepherds. But even
though they are scared and fear for their lives; they still can have joy. But
how? Well joy is something that isn’t based on conditions—joy is eternal. On
the other hand is happiness; which is based on conditions such as: opening a
gift for your birthday or Christmas and if you love what you’ve received, then
you are happy; but if you don’t like what you’ve opened, then you are sad.
Happiness is like playing in a corn-hole tournament and getting first
place—that is happiness because it is based on whether you win or not. And just
like if the weather is good, then I’m happy; but if the weather is bad, then I
am sad. But you see, this isn’t joy; because joy can still exist throughout all
conditions of life—through death, through sickness, through a loss of a job, or
through any other troubling circumstances. You see, joy and sorrow co-exist
together; when there is sorrow, joy can still be found.
And this is what the gospel is—the
Gospel is of great joy. This good news fills us with joy as Paul tells the
Romans in chapter 15. But why does it fill us with joy? Well before we were
saved, we were destined for hell. And certainly that wouldn’t have been joyful
to look forward to after we died. But now, since Jesus Christ has come to take
our sin upon Himself as He died on the cross; His perfect righteousness was imputed
to us so that we may be in right standing before God our heavenly Father. We
are now seen as perfect if we believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord of our
life. And because we belong to Christ and we are seen as righteous; we will
experience eternal life in heaven, glorifying and praising God for eternity.
This is what we look forward to with eager expectation; this is why this news
is good news of great joy—because Jesus Christ has saved us from hell and has
given us new life in heaven for eternity. And hopefully as we learn more about
this Gospel; we will find out how great of joy this Gospel really is.
III.
The Gospel is For All People
Immediately after hearing about the
good news of the Gospel being a joy filled Gospel; the angel announces that
this Gospel of great joy “will be for all the people.” You see the good
news that Christ achieved when He died and rose again embraces all the peoples
of the earth. This is part of what makes the good news so good. The gospel of
the Kingdom would not be good news if the King did not rule among all the
peoples.
Many of the Jews in the New
Testament times believed that God was only going to save the Jewish people; but
Paul addresses this misunderstanding in many of his writings, but in Galatians
3 it is pretty clear what he is talking about; Paul says: “You are all sons
of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into
Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek,
slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The
Gospel is for all people and is to be proclaimed to all people.
It was first proclaimed to the
outcasts of society—shepherds. And from Jesus’ ministry we can see all the
various types of persons that He interacted with—the tax collectors, the rich,
the Pharisees, the sick, the poor, and many other groups of people. This gospel
is not just for one group of people or one type of people—it is for everyone
who believes! And this is because of the power of God as Paul says in Roman 1. And
this teaching that the Gospel is for all people isn’t limited to just Paul or
even Jesus; rather it is in all of Scripture. Listen a moment to the following
passages:
·
In
Genesis 12 Abraham is told by God this: “I
will make you into a great nation and all the peoples on earth will be blessed
through you.”
·
If
you read the Psalms, over and over again it speaks of “Letting all the nations praise God.” as well as calling all the
nations to praise God such as Psalm 117 which says, “Praise the Lord all you nations; extol Him all you peoples.”
·
Acts
1:8 just as Jesus ascends into heaven He says, “But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
·
Romans
1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”
·
The
words of the Great Commission from Jesus saying in Matthew 28: “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations…..”
·
And
in John’s vision of heaven in Revelation 7:9 he says, “After this I (John)
looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from
every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in
front of the Lamb”
·
And
Jesus says that, “…the gospel must first be preached to all nations”
before He comes back to the earth again.
You
see, this gospel is a gospel that is for everyone; no one is left out. But this
doesn’t mean that all who receive this message of the gospel will accept it.
Not all will accept this Gospel message. All nations will hear it, but not all
who hear this good news, will accept it. All will hear, but not all will
believe.
IV.
The Gospel is About A Person—Namely a Savior, who is Christ the Lord
The
third thing that we can learn about the Gospel from the angel’s announcement to
the shepherds is that this Gospel is about a person—namely a Savior, who is
Christ the Lord. As the angel announced it, “Today in the town of David a
Savior has been born to you; He is Christ he Lord.” The Gospel is about the
Savior of the world who was born to Mary and Joseph and known as Christ the
Lord.
The
Gospel is about a Savior as the Heidelberg Catechism states, “because He saves
us from our sins. Salvation cannot be found in anyone else; it is futile to
look for any salvation elsewhere.” The good news is that this Savior, has taken
our sin to the cross and His righteousness has been imputed to us so that we
are now seen in God’s eyes as holy. We are also seen just as if we had never
sinned. Although we still have sin in our lives; we are no longer seen as
sinful in God’s eyes.
The
Gospel is about a Savior who is Christ because He has been ordained by God the
Father and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our prophet and
teacher, our only high priest and our eternal King as the Heidelberg Catechism
states again. He is the Messiah that has come to deliver us from sin; not an
earthly political power like so many people in Jesus’ day thought would
happen—He has come to deliver us from the power of sin, from the power of the
devil, and from eternity spent in hell.
The
Gospel is about a Savior who is Christ the Lord because He has set us free from
sin and from the tyranny of the devil and has bought us, body and soul, to be
His very own. We no longer are being ruled by sin; rather we are ruled by the
perfect Kingship of Jesus Christ only when He becomes the Lord of our life.
This
Gospel which is for all people and about Savior, who is Christ the Lord who
delivered us from our sin and redeemed us; we should be joyful in all
circumstances, no matter what happens to us in our daily life because this news
is news that is of great joy!
V.
Conclusion
But
you see, the story doesn’t end there; a company of angels from the heavenly
host come to the shepherds saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth
peace to men on whom His favor rests.”
And
then we have the shepherds response to what just happened to them. You see, they
could’ve done a number of things: they could’ve continually tended their flocks
and acted like nothing happened, they could’ve went and checked it out later;
or they could’ve went to see Mary and Joseph and the baby and then went back to
the fields in silence—but they didn’t. Notice their response to this
announcement from the angel:
First,
they hurried to Bethlehem to see if what they had just been told was even true.
We aren’t told if they had any doubts or if they were wondering if this was
even true; but that didn’t matter. You see, they were expecting a Messiah, so
they took the chance and found out for themselves that the news that the angel
proclaimed to them was true!
Secondly,
after they saw the baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph, as verse 17 states they “spread
the word concerning what had been told them about this child”. They didn’t
want to keep this message to themselves because after all, the angel did say
that this news was for “all the people”. So they spread the news which
they were told about this child. And the response of people according to Luke
was that these people were “amazed” at what the shepherds told them.
This is because the good news or the Gospel is in fact, absolutely amazing.
And
the shepherds third response was that they “returned, glorifying and
praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as
they had been told.” Just as the
angels of the heavenly host had glorified and praised God, so the shepherds
followed them by doing the same thing—glorifying and praising God for all they
had seen and heard. This was all that they could do—go and see if this
announcement was true, then tell everyone about this news, and then glorify and
praise God for this news.
And
people of God, this response of the shepherds to the Gospel message, should be
our response as well: we need to validate if what we have been told is
true—read the Scriptures to find out the truth for your selves.
Then
after finding out that this Gospel message is true; then we need to tell
everyone. Imagine this for a moment; if each one of us here as individuals; as
we were going through our week until next Sunday—imagine if everyone we come
into contact with by being able to have a face to face conversation—what if we
told them about this good news and invited them here next Sunday? It doesn’t
matter their age, their race, their life history, or their language because
this Gospel of great joy is to be for all people. Can you imagine that for a
moment?
You
see, this is what the shepherds did—they told everyone because they were told
that this good news was to be for all people; and this good news is still for
all the people.
And
last but not least, we need to praise and glorify God for this good news, just
as the shepherds did. Our lives should be a living doxology to our Father in
heaven.
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