#10 LUKE 2:15-20  A VISIT TO JESUS BY THE SHEPHERDS

Introduction:

    In our previous text an angel of the Lord appeared to
some shepherds in a field near Bethlehem and announced to them the birth of Jesus Christ. 
In so doing, he indirectly invited them to come to Bethlehem and see the Christ.  He gave
them sufficient instructions so that if they really wanted to find Him they could.  Our text
today tells us about their response to that invitation.
I.  The choice the shepherds had to make

    We are not to assume that just because the shepherds
were invited to come and see Jesus that they would come. Most people get invited to a lot
of things that they never attend.
    The distance they would have to travel was no problem.
They were already in the vicinity of Bethlehem tending their sheep.  The short distance back
to the city was no problem. These men were accustomed to walking great distance.
    There was, however, one thing that would stand in the
way of their going.  They were in the fields with their sheep.  To just walk off and leave the
sheep unattended would put their sheep in jeopardy.  The sheep would be subject to attack
by vicious animals.  Protecting the sheep required constant watchcare.  This was true
especially when the sheep were not being brought into the fold at night, but were kept out in
the open field.  But the sheep were subject to attack day or night, but the danger was greater
at night.  Just as surely as these men walked away and left these sheep unprotected, just that
surely when they returned they were apt to find some of the sheep dead and the others
scattered. Even to leave a skeleton crew would be to put the sheep in danger.
    We have to understand that these men loved their sheep
and would put their own lives on the line to protect them. For them to make the decision to
leave the sheep unprotected would ordinarily be out of the question.
    Furthermore, their sheep was their livelihood.  If their
sheep should be attacked and scattered, it would not only be a very painful experience for the
shepherds because of their love for their sheep, but it would hurt them economically. It would
cause a severe financial loss to say the least.  It could put them out of business.
    For those who were tending their own sheep, it could
mean bankruptcy.  For those who were hired hands tending to somebody else's sheep, it could
cause them to lose their job and make it virtually impossible for them to get work.  The
tending of these sheep was their livelihood and they could not afford to have something go
wrong.  So they were faced with a weighty decision.  Shall we stay here and tend our sheep
or shall we go to Bethlehem and see the Christ?

II.  The decision the shepherds  made

    There was no contest.  There was no hesitation.  This
was a chance of a lifetime.  It was an opportunity that they never dreamed of having.  All of
their lives they had heard about the coming of the Christ.  All of their lives they had heard and
read the Scriptures that promised to them that the Christ would come.  So far as they were
concerned, there was nothing in this world that was as important as going to see the Christ.
    Then, too, there was the matter of their faith and trust
in the Lord.  If they should leave their sheep for frivolous reasons, they would not expect the
Lord to watch after them and keep them safely while they were gone.  But it they should
leave the sheep in order to go and worship the Christ- child, somehow, they just felt that the
Lord might watch after their sheep and keep them safely until they returned. So they left their
sheep either completely unattended or perhaps in the hands of a skeleton crew and went into
Bethlehem.  V. 15-16, "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..."
    Note also the later part of this verse and see an
expression of great faith on their part.  (V. 15), "...and see this thing which is come to pass,
which the Lord hath made known unto us."  There was not one ounce of doubt in what
they said.  They believed beyond any shadow of doubt that what the angel had told them was
true.  The Christ-child had been born in Bethlehem just as the angel had said.  The
Christ-child was there in Bethlehem awaiting their visit, just as the angel had said.  The
message of the angel was a message from God and they believed God.
    Let me tell you something.  I wish everybody in the
world today would believe God the way those shepherds believed God.  Today men hear the
word of God as preached from the Bible and many of they doubt the truthfulness of what they
hear.  Some actually read the Bible and still doubt the truthfulness of what they read.  Let me
tell you, my friends, when God speaks, God is right.  He is right not just part of the time, but
God is right 100% of the time.  He is right on every issue.  He is right in everything.  Whether
we understand it that way or not, whether we believe it or not, God is always right.  Let us
study the Bible and seek to rightly understand what it says, but let us never, never, never
doubt that what it says is right.
    V. 16, "And they came with haste, and found Mary, and
Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger."  Almost as soon as the angels had disappeared,
the shepherds headed for Bethlehem.  They didn't mess around.  They picked them up and put
them down.  If anybody did not want to be left behind, he had to get a move on.  They headed
for Bethlehem as fast as they could.  They had gotten the message from the angel in the
middle of the night, and they did not waste any time, they headed out toward Bethlehem in
the middle of the night. 
III.  The visit with Christ and His family

    Luke does not tell us whether they arrived in Bethlehem
while it was still dark or not.  Somehow I think they might have.  They did not have far to go
and they had really traveled on.  There is at least a good chance that they arrived in Bethlehem
before daylight.  If not, they were not long after daylight arriving on the scene.
    At any rate, as soon as they could after daylight, they
began their inquiry about a woman who had given birth in a stable and whose baby was lying
in a manger and pretty soon they arrived at the very stable where Mary and Joseph and the
babe were located.  If they had any trouble at all finding the right place, Luke does not
mention it.  He seems to imply that they had no trouble what-so-ever and I think that is right. 
I think that if any man really wants to come to the Lord, he will find that it is not hard to do.
    I can just envision the scene.  Mary and Joseph are
inside the stable where a goodly number of animals were stalled and right there in one of the
feed troughs is a little baby.  There comes a loud knock on the stable door and when Joseph
opens the door, he sees a group of anxious men standing there.  One of them excitedly speaks
up and tells Joseph about the angel that had appeared to them in the field and about the great
host of angels which had appeared with him singing praises to God.  He informed Joseph that
they were looking for the baby that the angel had told them about. Joseph invited them in and
assured them that they had come to the right place.
    Luke does not go into any detail as to their visit
together.  I think those men must have stood in awe as they looked down on the face of Jesus
lying in that manger.  They must have praised God.  They must have prayed to God and
thanked Him for sending the Christ and for giving them the blessed privilege of visiting with
Him and seeing Him face to face.  They must have gone into great detail in telling Joseph and
Mary about their experience in field with the angels and about their hurried journey into town
and about their brief search to find Him once they were in town.  I think also that Joseph and
Mary must have told the shepherds about their own encounter with angels and about the
encounter of Zacharias with an angel.  Zacharias had seen an angel in the temple of God who
had informed him that his wife, Elisabeth, would in her old age bear a son and that this son
would be the forerunner of the Christ.
    Even before Joseph and Mary were married, an angel had
appeared to Mary and informed her that she would bear the Christ-child.  She must have told
them that upon hearing this news, she had left town and gone to visit with Elisabeth until it
was time for Elisabeth to give birth to John the Baptist.  Then she had returned to Nazareth
somewhat apprehensive about how Joseph was going to take the news that she was with
child.
    In the meantime, an angel had appeared to Joseph and
told him that Mary was going to have a child and that the child that she would bear would be
the Christ.  Joseph was not to hesitate to go ahead and marry Mary even though she was with
child.  It was not an illegitimate child.  This child is the Son of God.
    I strongly suspect that Joseph and Mary even discussed
how it was that they just happened to be in Bethlehem instead of Nazareth when the child was
born. Someone in the group surely must have pointed out that the prophet of old had said that
the Christ would be born in Bethlehem.  They must have all marveled how God had worked
it out to get Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem just at the right time.
    I cannot begin to understand just how joyous this
occasion must have been for those shepherds.  It was the highlight of their lives.  Nothing so
wonderful had ever happened to them in all their years.  To be sure, nothing like this would
ever happen again as long as they would live.

IV.  The testimony which the shepherds gave of Christ

    V. 17, "And when they had seen it, they made known
abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child."
The idea here is that as soon as they left that stable they began to tell everybody they saw
about their experience. They told about the appearance of the angel who brought the message
about the birth of the Savior.  They told about the great host of angels which appeared and
sang praises to God. They told about their trip into Bethlehem and their visit with Joseph,
Mary and the Christ-child.  Oh, they especially told about the Christ-child.  This would be a
story that they would tell over and over again down through their years. There is no way of
knowing just how many people they led to put their faith and trust in the Christ for salvation
as a result of their testimony about Jesus.
    One thing is sure.  Whoever heard these men speak and
heard the positive manner in which they spoke about Jesus heard were impressed.  V. 18,
"And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the
shepherds."  The word which here is translated, wondered, does not mean "doubted."  It
means "marvelled."  Everyone that heard these men marvelled at the mighty things that God
had done.

V.  The innermost thoughts of Mary's heart

    In verse 19 Luke gives us an insight into a Mary's
heart.  V. 19, "But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart."  The
picture I get is that these shepherds did a lot more talking to other people about Jesus being
the Christ than Mary did.  But Mary, too, marvelled at what God was doing in her life.  She
marvelled not only at the appearance of the angels to the shepherds and their visit with Jesus. 
But Mary marveled most of all about the Christ. She kept all that happened concerning the
Christ in her heart and she pondered over these things and marvelled.  She must have
marveled that she had been privileged to give birth to the Christ.  She must have marveled
that her child is the Savior of the world.  She must have marveled that He is her own Savior. 
VI.  The shepherds' return to their sheep

    V. 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." 
When the shepherds left the stable where Jesus was located, they returned to the field where
they had left their sheep.  They still had a responsibility to tend the sheep.  They still had to
work for a living.  They could leave the sheep for a little while and did, but they dared not
leave them for a prolonged period of time.  It is somewhat like this with you in coming to
church. You need to take out time to come to the house of the Lord on each Lord's day to
worship the Lord.  But then when Sunday is over and Monday morning rolls around you must
get back on the job.  In the worship services at the house of God you may thrill at the
greatness of God.  You were made to wonder and His marvelous power and wisdom and
saving grace.  But when Monday comes you go right back to work.  By the way, it is there,
out in the world, that you have the greatest opportunity to witness and tell of God's goodness
to us through His Son Jesus Christ.

VII.  The invitation that I give

    In closing, let me say to you that I wish I could invite
you to Bethlehem to see Jesus.  Wouldn't it be great if I could say to you, "Come on,
everybody, let's go and see the Christ-child lying in a manger.  Let's go and talk to Joseph.
Let's go and talk to Mary.  Let's hear it from their own mouths how the angels appeared to
them and informed them about the Christ.  Perhaps we would find the shepherds there and
we could hear from their own mouth's how the angels appeared to them in the field.  Perhaps
we could look down into the manger and see the very Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.  I would like to be able to extend to you that kind of invitation, but I
can't.  No matter how much I would like to do that, I can't.
    Yet what I can do is far more marvelous than that.  I am
inviting you to come and go with us to meet Jesus in the air. I am inviting you to come and
go with us to be with Jesus for evermore.  If you will come and go with us to be with Jesus,
you will never have to leave Him.  You can be with Him in eternal glory.  You will not just
hear about the angels.  You will get to hear the angels sing praises to God.  You will get to
lift your voice and join with them in happy song.  You will spend eternity marvelling at the
greatness of our wonderful wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
    But I solemnly warn you.  If you will not come and go
with us to heaven to be with the Lord, you will go to a place that is more horrible than
anything you have ever seen in your lifetime.  You will spend eternity in pain and agony. You
will spend eternity burning in the fires of everlasting torment.
    But if you would be save, you must make haste.  You must
not dilly-dally around.  You cannot afford to mess around or you will get left out.  You must
call upon the Lord and trust Him to save your unworthy soul and you must do it before it is
everlastingly too late.