Friday, Dec. 14

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Friday

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.  - Luke 2:15-20

Most of us know about the shepherds out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks when the angel suddenly appeared to them, and we probably also know about the shepherds showing up to see the newborn baby Jesus (we know this because every nativity scene includes at least one shepherd figure).  But what happened to those shepherds afterwards?  

Imagine you’ve spent your entire life as a lower class citizen and a religious outsider. You’ve never had any significant wealth or reached a position of great influence. Now you’ve been invited by a messenger of God to the most spectacular birthday party in the history of the world—a birthday that will define and literally divide the history of the world. How would you respond?

The shepherds response was simple yet profound. They went with haste. They responded with a sense of urgency to God’s invitation. Throughout the gospels we see Jesus having this effect on people.  Jesus calls us to follow Him, not to weigh all the options first, or to think about it for a while.  The shepherds left behind their cares to come to Jesus. They had responsibility of watching over their flocks, but they realized that coming to Jesus was more important.

They spread the word. They could not contain the joy of the message they had heard. This is what sharing Jesus is really about, letting our joy in Jesus overflow.  These shepherds simply couldn’t help talking about what they had experienced to anyone who would listen.  This is one of the marks of a genuine encounter with Christ, you want to share it with people!

They returned glorifying and praising God. God did not remove them from their life circumstances, but He did change their lives.  Their lives were now marked by the praise of God and their purpose was now the glory of God!  Too many of us think about our lives in terms of external circumstances; where we are and what we are doing.  These shepherds returned to the same fields and the same flocks, the difference was that they now tended their sheep and lived their lives for the glory of God!

If we would learn the lesson of the shepherds on that first Christmas night, it would cause us to develop these five simple responses in our own lives:

1. We would respond with holy FEAR.
2. We would respond with genuine INTEREST.
3. We would respond with a sense of URGENCY.
4. We would respond with compassionate SHARING. 
5. We would respond with authentic WORSHIP.

Jeff Frazier