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[0:00] Our reading this morning is taken from Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, and I'm going to read the first 20 verses. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

[0:16] This was the first registration when Quirinus was governor of Syria, and all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house in the lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

[0:43] And while they were there, the time came to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room, no place for him in the inn.

[1:00] And in the same region there was a shepherd out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And the angel of the Lord appeared to them, and glory of the Lord shone round them, and they were filled with great fear.

[1:15] 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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

[1:32] And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was an angel, and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace amongst those whom he has pleased.

[1:54] When the angels went away from them into heavens, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

[2:07] And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

[2:19] And all who heard wondered what the shepherds told them, but Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in their heart. And the shepherds returned in glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it has been told.

[2:37] To them. Amen. Part of a larger video by The Chosen, you can watch that, it's called The Shepherd, you can find that on YouTube. But how many, can anyone tell me, how many sleeps it is until Christmas?

[2:53] Not that much. Six. Six. Any advances on that? I mean, it depends if you want to go to sleep or not, that can change the equation there.

[3:06] Six sleeps. Has it been a long time? Have you been waiting a long time for Christmas? It seems like we've been waiting a long time for the year to end as well. And just like the shepherds said, they've been waiting for this moment for a long time.

[3:21] Prophecies that were 600 years old, 700, David was saying last week, 4,000 year old prophecies, talking about this moment. Imagine you had to wait 4,000 years for Christmas.

[3:34] It's like that scene in C.S. Lewis. Always winter, but never Christmas. Well, folks, I want to talk about just four things very quickly, and I will be very quick.

[3:46] It's great. See, when you get other people involved in services, they can take up all your message, you know, and you've only got a few things left to say, which is great. Four things. Number one, God gave the shepherds a role.

[4:00] I don't know what you do for a living. I don't know what you do, what you're interested in, what your role is, whether it's in church or in work or whatever. God gave the shepherds a role. And let me tell you, this was a job that you wouldn't write home about.

[4:14] This was a job that your mommy wasn't proud of. And you can tell that because back in 1 Samuel 16, there was a little boy called David. Does anybody know who I'm talking about?

[4:27] He's named after him. I'm not talking about him. There's a little boy. A little boy called David who had a dad called Jesse.

[4:39] And he became the greatest king in Jewish history, the greatest king. But this is the story about him. While Jesse and his sons were having a great time, this prophet came into town called Samuel and he went to Jesse's house and he says, listen, God's going to set aside a king and it's going to be one of your sons.

[5:00] And he's like, well, here they are here. Here's son number one. Hey, hey. Son number two. All these sons and they arranged a sacrifice and they all got to take part in this.

[5:11] They were all invited to take part in this sacrifice. Except one. One son. He wasn't invited to the sacrifice. He wasn't invited to the party. He wasn't invited to see the prophet.

[5:21] But he wasn't even mentioned. And the prophet went through all the children and he says, are these your only sons? Is there no other?

[5:31] And he says, well, there's David. He's out watching the sheep. Didn't think it was important to tell you about him. He's just out there watching the sheep. He's a wee guy. The shepherds have a role.

[5:45] Not something you would be proud of. A job that is stinky. Hey, has anyone smelt an animal recently? You can tell that with cat owners or dog owners or whatever, you know, or you go to a pet shop.

[6:00] The smell of animals. Has anybody smelt a newborn baby? Beautiful smell of a newborn baby. Not Jesus. Not in the stable. The smell of animals. The same with the shepherds, you know, like fishermen.

[6:13] They had a stink to them. A stink of animals. And so while the priests who were nice and clean, while the priests got to sleep, the shepherd watched the sheep out there doing the night shift in the stinky, stinky place where sheep lay.

[6:33] And their role was thankless and their role was forgotten. And it excluded them. Their role made them unclean. Their role meant that they were unclean and uninvited. They couldn't go into the synagogue.

[6:44] They couldn't be part of the... Nobody wanted them to come round to their house. Nobody wanted them part of the community. Nobody wanted these shepherds to be part of their life. They weren't allowed in the synagogue or the temple because they were unclean.

[6:57] Because they dealt with these stinky animals. But there was one place that they were invited. And that was the stable. And their role, although it was forgotten, although it excluded them, their role was very important.

[7:10] Because it pointed to Jesus. In fact, it's very likely that the shepherds in Bethlehem were raising the lambs that were sent to the temple for sacrifice.

[7:22] They were looking after spotless lambs. In fact, their job was to find spotless lambs for the temple. Spotless lambs that would take away the sin of the world. Isn't that something?

[7:35] And these shepherds, their very role would point them to Jesus, the great shepherd. Their role with the spotless lambs would point them to the real and true lamb of God.

[7:46] So what do you think about your role? What does your role say about Jesus? What does it tell you when you're forgotten, when you're excluded? Wasn't that what Jesus took? That position of being among the people who were outcast.

[8:02] Didn't he come for the lowly? Didn't he come for very people like this? God gave the shepherds a role. And while everyone else was in bed and everyone else had forgotten about them, God hadn't forgotten about the shepherds.

[8:17] God hasn't forgotten about you, no matter where you are and where you come from. He wants you to be thinking about Jesus. Secondly, God gave the shepherds a gift. This was the greatest gift, the greatest gift that there has ever been.

[8:31] Isaiah 9, 6 says, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. In Luke chapter 2, the angels say to the shepherds, not King Herod.

[8:43] No, unto us the Jewish nation would know the prophecy. But when it came to the time, the angels said, no, shepherds, unto you. Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior.

[8:58] And here is a sign, not for Herod, not for all the people that are sleeping, here is a sign for you. Out doing the night shift, outcast, excluded, forgotten, uninvited, uninvited to the party, here is a sign for you.

[9:15] While the city was adrift, the shepherds saw the gift. They were invited to the stable first. God was watching over them. And like children on Christmas morning, they were the first to see the wrapped gift.

[9:30] Except it wasn't wrapping paper. It was God wrapped in flesh. And a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths. And in haste, notice this in the passage. Notice this.

[9:41] Those who took great care to look after these sheep, in fact, they would go to a great lengths to find lost sheep, wouldn't they? They left their sheep behind.

[9:52] They left the spotless lambs behind because they were going to see the true Lamb of God. They left it in a hurry to go and see this baby. What does that say about the baby? These people who were in charge of the temple lambs, what does that say about this baby?

[10:08] Who is the gift for? Is it only for the religious? Is it only for the clean? Is it only for those who don't smell like animals? Is it only for those who smell nice?

[10:20] Who dress nice? Who are respectable? Well thought of? In good jobs? Is it only for those who are worthy? No. It's for any one of us. Any one of us.

[10:34] The gift is for you. And the gift is the Father's own Son. Thirdly, God gave the shepherds a message. In Luke 2, 17, it says, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

[10:48] You see, before the respectable awoke, the shepherds spoke. And because they were unclean, because they were forgotten, because they were out there doing a job that no one else wanted to do, their testimony was not considered reliable in a court of law.

[11:05] Yet God gave them a message. Isn't that the way of the Gospels? At the end of the Gospels, the women who go out and tell the message first, the shepherds were given a message.

[11:17] You see, it's not just for me. It's not just for preachers. It's not just for people who come up here. It's not just for priests. God gave these shepherds a message and they made known this message out of joy.

[11:28] See, any one of us who have seen the Son, any one of us who know this child and know what a gift he is, we can tell someone else about it with joy. We can tell of what this gift means.

[11:40] You see, all who heard the message that the shepherds told wondered. And they didn't wonder because the shepherds were very good at speaking. The shepherds were likely not used to telling people the shepherds were not used to people wondering at what they said.

[11:54] But it wasn't them. It was their message. And that's the way it is. You see, God has given this extraordinary message on the lips of ordinary people like me and you.

[12:08] Finally, God gave the shepherds joy. And this is what Christmas is all about. Joy to the world. God, the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God.

[12:19] Before the religious were raised, the shepherds praised. Who is worthy of praise? What does that say about this baby? You see, they weren't singing songs about Herod. They weren't singing songs about other kings.

[12:32] No, but this baby they glorified and praised God for. And I don't know if you're a singer. I don't know if you've ever wondered if you would ever get a spot on songs of praise.

[12:43] Are you good enough? What's your shower singing like? Do you think your shower singing is good enough for God to want to hear it? You know?

[12:55] Let me tell you, God's not interested in performance. God's not interested in platforms. These shepherds probably couldn't hold a tune. They went glorifying and praising God.

[13:08] And that's what the baby does. You see, in the wee hours of the night, in a response to this child, the Christmas child, when no one is watching, God wants to hear your response.

[13:21] When we see who the Christmas child is, when we see that he is a gift for us, and that we are called to come to him, then we will know the true joy of Christmas.

[13:33] Do you know what, Ruth? I think that Nathan has a really great shepherd's outfit because he's got the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles who lived where? In the sewers, not in society, like the shepherds cast out, forgotten, following about, splinter.

[13:54] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The shepherds. Whoever you are, no matter where you are, no matter what your role is, the gift is for you. And when you know what that gift is, you have a message.

[14:08] And when you know that message, you know true joy and the meaning of Christmas. So Merry Christmas to you all, for unto us, unto you, is born on Christmas Day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

[14:29]  Amen. Amen.