FOOLS FOR CHRIST
Luke 2:15-20
[15] And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
[16] And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
[17] And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
[18] And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
[19] But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
[20] And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
“And it came to pass as the angels had gone away from them in heaven”…then what? It was dark again. No more glory shinning, no more angels singing. The shepherds were again all alone, keeping watch over their sheep on the dark plains of Bethlehem. However, things would never be the same. They would never forget what it was like to be in the very presence of God, to listen to an angel speak, and to witness the most magnificent choir one can imagine. If we had been there, do you think you or I could forget an experience like that? Well, we just were there. A little over a week ago, with the eyes of faith, we witnessed God’s Christmas Eve celebration on the plains of Bethlehem. We saw the same dazzling light and heard the same song of the angels.
The only thing these shepherds had to hang on to, once this celebration was past, were the words of the angel. It is like our Christmas custom of opening gifts. When the gifts are presented, everyone is excited with anticipation and joy. However, once the last gift is unwrapped, it is all over and there is a kind of letdown. The more our hearts are focused merely on the gift and not on the heavenly Giver, the greater the letdown will be.
When God’s angel said, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,” Luke 2:11,” the shepherds believed it. More important that the sight of the angels was the message that they brought. For the rest of their lives they would probably never see angels again, but God’s word would always be with them to lead them to eternal life. That is what this text is about this morning. It is about faith in God’s word and the wonderful things that faith can do for us.
Look what it did for the shepherds. It brought them together. They didn’t stand there arguing, “Should all of us go?” “What if the child isn’t there?” “Should we really leave our sheep?” “Isn’t there something suspicious about holy angels appearing to lowly shepherds?” Instead, they said, “Let’s go at once!” Their trust in the Word of God “perfectly joined them together in the same mind and in the same judgment,” 1 Corinthians 1:10 so that they were unanimous: “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem.”
What God’s word did for the shepherds it does for us. It brings us together. Look what happens with us when we lose sight of the Word of God. We start to argue, to envy, and to fight with each other. Where the Word of God rules, on the other hand, it brings us together as a spiritual family in Christ Jesus. What makes this so amazing is that each of us is different. We each have our own personality, our own way of expressing ourselves, our own weaknesses and shortcomings, and certainly our own outward callings. Yet faith, inspired by the Holy Spirit, moves us to teach and believe the same things, and to be so sincerely concerned about each other that in love we are moved to put the other’s needs and concerns above our own.
That is what faith did for the shepherds. They didn’t doubt for a moment what the angel told them. Doubt would have led them to wonder whether the angel’s words were true, whether this thing was really happening. ” Instead of saying, “Let us go and see whether these things are really so,” they unanimously said, “Let’s go right now and witness this birth which the Lord hath made known unto us.” If their God said it, they firmly believed it. Faith is like that. It takes God at His word. In faith, they wanted to see and hear all they could about this infant child in the manger, and Mary and Joseph had many things to share with them. They could tell them about their trip to Bethlehem from Nazareth just before the birth, about their difficulty in finding a place to lodge, about ending up in a stable. Both Mary and Joseph could tell them how they, too, had seen an angel, and how in each case, the message was the same: “For unto you is born this day a Savior, which is Christ, the Lord.” Luke 2:11
The word of God that strengthened faith in the hearts of the shepherds does the same thing for you and me. While we don’t have angels talking to us and we don’t see the glory of the Lord shining, our heavenly Father strengthens our faith through His precious word. The Word of God does great things for us. The more we hear, learn, and study it, the greater our faith becomes so that we, too, want to search out its teachings and to practice them in our lives. Sadly, however, the opposite is also true. The more we neglect God’s word, the weaker our faith becomes until we no longer care and actually grow to be resentful that He would interfere with the way we want to live. How much we need to learn from the example of the lowly shepherds, to drop anything or everything that would stand in the way of the will of our God.
The text tells us finally that, when the shepherds left Mary and Joseph, “they made known the saying which was told them concerning this child.” Who would listen? To the Pharisee and educated Sadducee the message of the shepherds had to seem like utter nonsense. Nothing would be more ridiculous than for them to listen to coarse and unschooled shepherds, who claimed to have heard an angel speak and to have seen the Son of God in a manger! Even the common person in Bethlehem would have found this a bit ridiculous. The shepherds, however, didn’t really care! If they were made out to look like fools, so be it. Like St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “We are fools for Christ’s sake,” 1 Corinthians 4:10 They were satisfied to be fools, fools of faith and joy, fools so overwhelmed by the grace and mercy of the LORD that they could not control their tongues. For when they returned, “they glorified and praised God for all the things they had heard and seen.”
Once they returned to the plains, life was right back where it started. Nothing had changed with the sheep. They still needed watching, day after and day and night after night. Yet there was a difference, not in their outward calling, but in their hearts and minds. The visit to the manger had made a lasting impression. They trusted that what God had started, He would see to the finish on the cross. How many of them would be alive 33 years later to see that happen, we don’t know. Did it matter? They trusted that what God had promised, He would fulfill.
Although Christmas is over and the excitement over the beginning of the world’s new year is past, the responsibilities and pressures of our day-by-day work remain. The crosses that the Lord has laid on us are still with us. Our alarming world situation has not changed. The temptation to ignore or disobey the will of our loving Savior is as real as it ever has been. The outlook would be hopeless were it not for our Spirit-inspired faith. Faith does not change how we look or what we do on the outside, but it gives us a new inner spirit, a new spirit to fight temptation, to love our God and to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to proclaim His word to others. Although the world considers the message of the cross foolishness, as St. Paul explains, “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,” 1 Corinthians 1:18, no greater compliment could be paid any of us than to be called “fools for Christ.”
Fools to the world we may be, but to God, saints who find in His Word to the shepherds, strength for a new life of faith, and peace and joy, and the hope for everlasting life in heaven.
Hymns: 136 109 103
This sermon was preached by Pastor Robert Dommer on January 6, 2008.