Good morning. It's delightful to be with you this morning. It was fun to be here for service and excited to uh worship with you here in a second. Um Yeah, folks call me doctor the Comey professor. I really do prefer Mike. That is my preferred mode. Uh Even for folks I have in class, it's just uh preferential for me. So that's delightful to be with you. Um As we begin to think about Christmas likely in your household and in your life, maybe even before Thanksgiving was done, the primary question in your world shifted to what do you want for Christmas and, and that, and that question is both wonderful and terrifying. Ok. So for some of you, it's wonderful because you have a list ready to go and you're excited and thrilled to share that. Now, when our kids were younger and I will not identify which child this was because, you know, at least one of my two Children. Um We dreaded this question because they would come dutifully. Do you remember, you know those little junk catalogs you get starting around Thanksgiving with all the toys that will break by New Year's Day but your Children love them. They would come with one of those highlighted with all the things that they would love to have, which Bonnie and I knew we were gonna look at, set aside and go. No, you're not getting any of those. But they would come ready every season with all these little junk pieces that they wanted, which we had to go. Thanks. But no, for some of you though, this is a question that's terrifying because you have no answers to give. I don't, I don't know what I want. I don't know what I need. And for others of us, this is a question that becomes really difficult because the things that we actually want for Christmas are out of reach or maybe even impossible in our minds because they are things that can't be purchased. They are relationships that need to be healed, fractures that need to be brought back together their life circumstances that need to change. But we see no way that they can possibly change. And so Christmas is often times for us a time of searching both for filling holes, pursuing happiness, finding gifts, but it's always tinged a little bit right. There's always that question of will that gift that I give be the right one. How will the Children receive it? Or if your Children are young enough? You think I'm gonna spend all this time? I'm gonna spend this money. I'm gonna find these gifts and they're gonna play with a box more than they play with a gift because they're little and that's what they like. There's sometimes this fear between spouses of how will my gift be received. And then there's always the awkward moment of the Christmas sweater that you receive. Thanks. I love it and will never wear it, but I love you for giving it to me. Right. Christmas brings up all of these odd times in us and our families in our offices as we try and process through what will satisfy us this Christmas, what is it that will really bring us some joy and some happiness in this season. So today, as we process our first Christmas story together uh as Mission Grove, we're gonna focus on the big idea that the only Christmas gift that has the power to bring us true joy is Jesus, the Christ who is Savior. And Lord. Let me say that again. The only Christmas gift that has the power to bring us true joy is Jesus, the Christ who is Savior and Lord. And so over the next few weeks, as we work our way up to Christmas, we're gonna be focusing on several portraits uh in the gospels of different people who heard and received and responded to the message that Jesus was being born. We're gonna kick that off this morning in Luke chapter two with the story of the shepherds who receive an angelic message that Jesus has been born and that they should go and find him. And so we'll begin today in Luke chapter two verses 8 to 10. And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear and the angel said to them fear, not for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. And so as we begin to think about this text, I want us to think about the fact that Christmas is an announcement that brings joy. Christmas is an announcement that brings joy. Well, let's begin with who received this announcement. It was the shepherds. Now, sometimes I hear people talk about the shepherds and they're sort of um given the idea that they're outcasts that they're the lowly in society and they're out there. That's not really quite true. Israel, the people of God have a history that shepherds are really important. Most kings were understood to be shepherds of their people. God in Psalm 23 right is thought of as our shepherd and the way that he cares for us. David, the first great king of Israel is a shepherd and taken out of his work as a shepherd to tend his people. So shepherds are not outcast in this way, but they are also not people of power. Remember David comes from being a shepherd to be king. So shepherds are not people of power. They are average joes of the people of God. They are also people who by their nature of their work are not always with everyone else. They tend to be isolated and alone because you don't herd your sheep in the city. You take them out in the fields and you got your flocks out where the pasturage is. So they're usually alone, just other shepherds and sheep. Probably people who are desperate to see someone other than other shepherds and sheep. They would love to be with others, but they're always out hoping that their sheep stay safe, praying that God would protect them and their flock keep them from freezing overnight. And at some point, they would get a respite from other shepherds and other sheep. So this is who gets it. It's a picture that the announcement that's coming is in the words at the end of this text that it is for all people. It is not just for people of privilege. So the angel doesn't show up to the king or to the priest or to prophets and say you need to know that Jesus is being born. The the angel goes to the average person and says this announcement is for all of you. It is for those of privilege. It is for those who are outcast and poor. It is for all of you and the shepherds represent this average person. The shepherds also represent the way that we oftentimes encounter God. And this is a little counterintuitive. But if you think about it, many times, our encounters with God are actually times of fear, right? You might think about the person in the foxhole who encounters God for the first time in the midst of the fear of death. Oftentimes people in their first encounter is in the midst of a crisis with a loved one. When for the first time, they think I need someone other than me in this moment. And they turn to God often times throughout the Old Testament, in particular, the encounter with God was one that struck people with fear, whether it was the way that God showed up in bringing the people of Israel out of Egypt and terrified the Egyptians and Pharaoh, or whether it is Isaiah, having this vision of God high and lifted up on his throne. And he's like I am a sinful man in the presence of a holy God. And I feel like I'm about to come apart at the seams. Oftentimes our first encounter with God is from a place of fear. But notice what the angel does, the angel says, fear, not just put that aside for a minute. Why? Because I'm here to give you an announcement that brings joy. Now notice this is an announcement, not a reply. The shepherds have not been out tending their flocks sitting out there in the fields night after night going, if only God would tell us that Jesus is gonna be born tonight. I if only tonight was the night that he would show up, they're doing their thing, they're praying for things like keep the sheep alive, keep the predators away, keep us awake, keep us warm, keep us fed. They're going about their everyday life and praying for their everyday things. They're not looking, hoping for wishing for or expecting the grand announcement of God. And so it comes to them as an announcement, not a reply. That means then that if you're sitting here this morning and you don't know what you need for Christmas, it's ok because God is announcing it to you in this text. Some of you are likely here because this is simply the season when I should go to church. It's leading up to Christmas. It's now and it's at Easter when I feel like I, I need to make some kind of connection with God and with His people. Others of you may be here because it's Sunday and you're supposed to be here and it's, it's a duty that you fulfill to come and be here on Sunday. Others of you may be here because a friend, a coworker family member invited you and said, hey, will you come? So you're here in response to their invitation, but you didn't come with any particular need or thought in mind but that's the beauty of what God does. He knows what we need. And then he tells us I provided it for you. So that the message of the angels is an announcement, not a reply. And it's an announcement that brings joy even if we didn't know it was what we needed. So, so what is this announcement? Well, the, well, the announcement is that the one who is coming is Jesus who is a savior, the Christ and the Lord. Look with me here in Luke chapter two verse 11. For unto you this day unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ, the Lord. Ok. So right now to you in the city of David, meaning Bethlehem, there is a savior who has been born. So what does it mean that Jesus is a savior? Well, if we were to look through the Old Testament, history of God's people, there are a handful of times when people are referred to a savior. Mostly it would be some sort of a warrior. God's people would be um in kind of imprisoned under another nation or another ruler. They would be deep in their own sin. And God would send a warrior who would come and defeat their enemies and who would lead them out of the sin that they're in. This happens a lot in the book of judges. But most of the time in the Old Testament, when it talks about a savior. It's talking about God himself. It's times like when they're in slavery in Egypt, both to their sin and to Pharaoh God comes in and defeats their enemy and draws them out and saves them and they follow him. He leads them into the promised land. He takes them to where they need to go. This is the most typical image of Savior in the Old Testament. It's God working to defeat the enemies of His people and to lead them out of their own sin. We might see this in places because we, we wanna ask the question. Well, what are we saved from? What is this that God is saving us from? Well, if we look most broadly, Isaiah 53 6 would put it this way. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him on Jesus who is the one that they're announcing has come the iniquity, the sin of us. All this is our shepherd imagery again that like sheep we've run around, we've run off, we've not been corralled and God is corralling and he's dealing with the issue that oppresses the sheep, their sin. And so Jesus is a savior and that he has come to pay the penalty for our sin. You see, it's so important, but it's so typical that we just focus on Christmas and his arrival. But the text always pushes us to look at why he came to look at Easter because he came in order to go on the cross to die and then to be raised again, so that we might finally be free from our sin and from death and that we might have life in him. So he is a savior because he has come to save us from our sin and God's wrath being poured out on our sin, but he's not just savior. He is a savior who is Christ. What does it mean that Jesus is the Christ? Well, the Christ is an anointed one. It's what this term means, both in the Old Testament and in the new, it's someone who's been anointed. We don't do a lot of anointing these days. It's not something that's part of our vocabulary, but it was a special ceremony. Some of the closest things you might think of are the coronation of a king or queen or in local church things. It might be the ordaining of a pastor or an elder to say this person is being set aside and publicly recognized for a task. So in the Old Testament, they anointed kings, they anointed priests. They sometimes anointed prophets to tell people that this person is being called by God to do this task. So the people had been prepared. They had seen this all throughout their history and their kings and their priests. But they had been told a long way that there is one anointed person who is coming, that will be greater than all of the other ones that you've experienced. And we see this in many of the traditional Christmas texts that we read. So think about Isaiah nine verse six. For unto us, a child is born to us. A son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. This is the child that the angels are announcing to the shepherd is being born and he is an anointed king who is coming. And Jesus said of himself in Luke four as he's reading from Isaiah 61 1, he says this, the spirit of the Lord. God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me, right? He's made me Christ to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. And then after he reads this and he hands the scroll back to the attendant in the synagogue. He says, this is fulfilled in your hearing today. This is who I am and this is what I'm doing. So when the angels announce that a savior has come and that he is the Christ. Jesus will tell people of himself. I am the Christ that was promised I am the anointed one that God said would come and I'm here to do the things. The anointed one is supposed to do. I'm here to be your savior. I'm here to release you from all of these things and to save you from all of these things. But Jesus is not just a savior. He is not just the anointed king like all of the other kings. He's also referred to here in the angel's announcement as Lord, he is Lord. So what does that mean? This anointed savior was not just a servant, he was not just another king in the line of David. He would lead his people and conquer the enemies of his people, just like other kings and other saviors had done. But there's something more and special about this anointed Savior read with me in Isaiah 97. Another part of a traditional Christmas text of the increase of his government and a peace. There will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth. And forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of Host will do this essentially. What Isaiah is saying here is that there's something different about this child who's going to be born and this king who's going to come and rule us because every other king has failed. Every other king is as great as they are like David. David is as great a king and a man after God's own heart. He's also an adulterer and a murderer. Every other king who had some period of success ultimately fails in their own sin. But notice this king is one who will have no end to their reign, no end to the peace that they bring about. It will happen with justice and righteousness in a way that has never happened with any other king. So how is that possible? Because we know that we are all sinful and we all fail and none of us are perfect. So how is it that this king will do that? When Isaiah 52 3, Isaiah drops a little hint for us. He says in that text, behold my servant, talking about this anointed savior king who would come behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. And you're thinking, well, that's not particularly compelling. What is if you read the book of Isaiah, there are only three other uses of the language high and lifted up in the book of Isaiah. And all of them are statements about God. He is the only one who was high and lifted up everyone else in the book of Isaiah who is high or exalted, is humiliated, humbled and brought low because only God is actually high and lifted up and exalted. So when Isaiah tells us that this one to come is high and lifted up and will be exalted, he's telling us the one who will come is God himself. Because only God is high and lifted up. There have been human saviors for the people of Israel. There have been human anointed ones, even God, even anointed some who were not part of the people of Israel. He anointed Cyrus, the Persian king to bring his people home after exile. He wasn't a believer but God chose and made him the one who would bring them home. But a lot of people who've worked for a short period of time to save and to work on behalf of his people. But to truly have salvation that will last for all time peace, that will last for all time justice and righteousness without a king who fails for that, the king needs to be God himself. This is why the Savior, the child that the angels announce is Savior, the anointed Christ and he is Lord because He is God himself. The beauty of this announcement then is that peace comes from God even when we aren't searching for it to read together on in the story, Luke two verses 12 to 14. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swathing clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace among those with whom He is pleased. You know, it's not peace among those who've worked everything out with God. It's not peace among those who have gotten themselves cleaned up and made. Right. It's not even peace amongst those who are searching and seeking to find God. It's peace upon those that God is pleased with. So who is God pleased with the people who've earned it? No, no one does pleased with certain people. No, he's pleased with those that he has chosen to pour out his love and peace on Paul will put it this way in Romans five verse 10. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Much more now that we are reconciled. Shall we be saved by his life? And what he's teaching us here is that salvation comes peace with God comes not when I'm looking for it, not when I've earned it, not when I'm ready for it. It comes when I'm actively opposed to God. When I am his enemy, he has chosen to pour out his peace on me and on you and on us because no one is ever ready. No one is ever truly seeking this because we're all sinful, but God knows what he needs. So he makes this announcement, not in response to what we asked for, but in response to what we need. And so He brings us peace even when we aren't searching for it. So peace starts with God and is given to us through the work of the anointed savior and Lord Jesus. Now, the beauty of this passage is, it really does remind me of Christmas morning because we run to and we talk about great gifts. And that's exactly what the shepherds do here in verses 15 to 20 of Luke chapter two. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another. Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them we run to and we talk about great presence. You've seen a child make a beeline for that gift when they think they know what's in that one box and it's the one they have to have now and they just can't wait for it anymore. And then you've experienced when you're ready for that late Christmas nap, right? Meal is heavy. You were up early and then the little ones just can't stop playing and talking about that gift even though you desperately just want a Christmas nap because they are so excited for the gift that they have received. And that's exactly the way the shepherds respond to this announcement of a gift to them. They go in haste to see all of this and now notice here that there is a proof given to them. The angel says, I'm gonna prove this to you. Here's what you're going to find when you get there. And it's interesting to me because there's this kind of an interesting thing in the scriptures, God, it doesn't bother him to give us proof of who he is and what he's done. He does it all the time in the scriptures. What he usually pushes back on is when we demand proof, right? So just before this, there's another story about Zechariah who is being told that he and his wife are gonna are gonna have a baby. This baby is gonna be John the Baptist who is gonna be the forerunner, tell people that Jesus is here and who he is and what he's gonna do. And in that story, Zachariah says, prove it. What's the proof that this will be the case? And the angel says, fine, you want proof, you're gonna be mute until your baby is born because you didn't believe on the promise alone to the shepherds. They're given a proof. Here's how you will know Jesus was not opposed to proof, right? Kill this body, kill this temple. Speaking of himself. And in three days, I will rise again, I will prove to you who I am. But whenever the Pharisees would say, prove it and say no, no, no, I'm not gonna do that for you. I won't perform. But God is never afraid to give us proof. He gives it to us in all the fulfilled scripture that we have many of the prophecies that we read regularly at Christmas in Isaiah are given 67, 800 years in advance of Jesus coming in Isaiah and the other prophets, some of them as far out as 1000 years from jesus' birth that he is coming and he's coming to die on the cross. And Jesus looks back and says, I did that John, the Baptist gets discouraged in his ministry and he's in jail and he's thinking, have I made a huge mistake? Is it true that this Jesus of Nazareth really is the savior, the Christ and the Lord. So he sends messengers to Jesus while John the Baptist is in jail. He says, is it really you? And Jesus says, are people being raised from the dead? Is the gospel being proclaimed? Is the word being fulfilled? Yes, yes, yes, proof that I am the one God said would come. And John, the Baptist says, OK, I get it. God gives us proof of what he is doing and he's not afraid to do that for us. And the shepherds receive it and when they see it, they say, ok, we get it, this was given to us by the Lord. It is his word to us. And so then they are seen glorifying and praising everything because what they saw matched what they heard. They understand they had received this promise from God Himself. So I think that our call today for us for this season is to receive the good news like the shepherds, like the shepherds to praise God, to glorify Him, to share with other people. What we have heard that God has announced good news for us. Even if we don't know that we need it to accept the proof that God has given of who Jesus is, that He made all of these prophecies and they were all fulfilled. And Jesus said, look, it's being fulfilled in your hearing. And people looked at him and said, yes. And then ultimately that He said, I will die on the cross. I will be buried and I will be raised again in three days. And he was, and he appeared to hundreds of people at a time saying now, you know, this is true. This is what Paul would look back on as he wrote to the Corinthians and said, this is everything His resurrection proves who He is and that the faith is real. He says, this is what we have. So take His word as proof that He has spoken truly. And that Jesus is the gift that has the power to truly bring us joy. Because the gift is Jesus Himself, who is the anointed one who is Savior and who is God himself is Lord? What this means then is that this Christmas season, the weight is not on you to search. It's not about if you search the right way. God knows that we can't, we won't. So he announces to us the gift that we need. He has promised and fulfilled the gift of Christ, the savior and Lord in his son, and he has gifted us his son. So this Christmas find true joy in Christ. The only gift that can truly satisfy you. This is what the shepherds teach us about receiving Christmas. Now in a few minutes, we're gonna continue to worship and we're gonna continue to sing. And then pastor John is gonna come up and lead us in celebrating communion and communion is one of those things that we do. That is a testimony to this Christmas story. We hold the elements, the bread and the cup. And we remind ourselves that what we were given was Christ body and blood. His death is the gift that was given to us. And so we celebrate it once a month here at Mission Grove, we come together and we do this so that we might remember that what we needed. And the gift that we are being given at Christmas is the cross and resurrection of Easter. And we always remember those together. He came in order to die and be raised again so that I might receive in his death and his resurrection, the gift of a savior who can deal with my sins. Because I cannot, it would exhaust me for eternity to pay for my sin. There's nothing left but because He's God and he is holy and he had nothing to pay for, on his own. He can pay for my sin and for yours and then offer us his life as he is raised from the dead. And so as we transition into these next songs, and as we transition into communion, I want you to always connect the baby in the cradle is the God on the cross who came to die and be raised again to give us our only chance at true joy by being united with a father through his son, by his spirit. That is the message of Christmas that the shepherds teach us to run to and then to talk about all through the season and all through the year. Let's pray, father. We are so grateful that you would give your son to us even when we were not seeking, even when we are not deserving father, when we sometimes are running in the other direction. And so we pray this morning as we continue to worship, that we would just understand what it is that you are doing this season and you might help us to see who it is in our lives, that we might share this news with who it is. That needs to hear that true joy is available in your son through his work on the cross, his death, burial and resurrection. And we pray that as we focus on him and the manger of the season, we might see him also as the risen Lord. It's in his name that we pray. Amen.