Dear Christian friends:

When I was a missionary to the deaf in Minnesota, back in the 1960's, I drove up to Duluth to conduct a Christmas service for the deaf who lived in that area. I had asked one of the ladies to sign the opening hymn, "Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful." Did she ever come prepared!

Oh, come all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant!
Oh, come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem
Come and behold him
Born the King of angels:
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Oh, come, let us adore him!
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Christ, the Lord." (L.W. 41 v.1)

And so today, on the basis of our text, which is the Gospel Lesson we read before, I am led by the Holy Spirit to speak on this topic.

I. We have good reasons to adore him.

A. The shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks by night, had good reasons to adore him that first Christmas.

1. They had just heard the greatest news anyone can hear. Luke tells us: (Read Luke 2:9-11)

a. What God had promised to their ancestors over a period of 4000 years has now been fulfilled. The Messiah, the Christ, the Son of David, has been born in David's town, Bethlehem, just as the prophet Micah had foretold, and as we heard from the Old Testament Lesson, which was read before. (Micah 5:2-4) The Great Desire of the nations had arrived!

b. The shepherds had been "terrified," Luke tells us, by the appearance of the holy angel and the Lord's glory shining around them, just as sinful people are always terrified by God's holiness and glory, just as Peter and the other disciples were terrified by Jesus' glory when they later-on witnessed the miraculous catch of fishes on the Sea of Galilee. Peter said to Jesus, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man." (Luke 5:8)

c. To the shepherds in their terror the angel said, "Do not be afraid, I bring you good news." (v.10) The shepherds, like us today, had been hearing mostly bad news. Caesar Augustus had issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world, which included Judea, the country of shepherds and everyone had to go to his home town to register. Big people spoke and little people had to scramble. It was into such a world of depressing events and negative news that God sent forth His Son.

d. "The fullness of time had come." Behind the movers and shakers of the world and unknown to them, God was using them to carry out His eternal plan to save the world. It all came together on that night when angels from the realms of glory winged their way to proclaim: "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." (v. 11) Now that's Good News! News of great joy, News of peace on earth good will to men, News for all the people everywhere!

Summary: The shepherds not only heard the greatest news anyone can hear, they had this confirmed to them.

2. It was too good to be true. God wanted them to believe it.

a. The angel had given them a sign whereby his message might be confirmed. The sign was "a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." (v. 12) Even in those days, 2000 years ago, it was not the custom to give birth to babies in stables and then lay them in mangers. This was God's special sign to the shepherds that the angel's message was true.

b. So when the angels had gone away they said to one another, (Read v. 15b-16) They proved the angel's message and found it to be true, this unbelievable message!

Transition: So the shepherds that first Christmas had good reasons to adore Jesus Christ the Lord. They had heard the greatest news that anyone can hear and it had been confirmed to them. God actually gave them faith.

B. This Christmas, 2000 years later, we also have good reasons to adore him.

1. We, even more so than the shepherds, have heard the Christmas Good News. We have heard it not only according to St. Luke, but also according to St. Matthew, St. John and St. Paul. Also the Christmas carols!

a. Also, we don't know if the shepherds later-on witnessed the miracles of Jesus, or heard his engaging parables and homilies; most likely they did not, but we have! It's doubtful that they had eye-witness accounts of Jesus' suffering, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven such as we have in our New Testament Bible.

b. We also have had 2000 years of church history in which God has preserved this Good News pure and intact inspite of the great and clever endeavors of Satan and his agents to destroy it! The devil's agents are those liberal pastors and Bible scholars who embrace the historical critical method of Bible interpretation. So far many, many Christmases, even to this very day we still hear the same Good News that the shepherds heard that first Christmas.

c. Although we, too, are desperate and terrified by sin and its dire consequences, we have peace and hope amidst our tears and fears as we hear the greatest news ever told: "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. (v. 11)

d. This good news is not meant to better our economic or social life here on earth, as many liberal ministers will interpret it today and tomorrow. It is true that that may be a by product of it, but its not the main point. The main point is this: The Savior is Christ the Lord, not George W. Bush or Alan Greenspan. He, God's Savior came to save us from sin and the wages of sin, which is "death," spiritual death, temporal death, and eternal death. (quote Romans 6:23) And Jesus Himself has said: (Quote John 3:16) (Tell of Bob Wolf's Christmas card of 1999, "He came to pay a debt he didn't owe, because we owed debt a we couldn't pay.") (Quote 2 Corinthians 5:21)

Summary: Like the Shepherds we have heard the greatest news that anyone can hear.

2. Like the shepherds, this Good News has been confirmed to us.

For the shepherds it was the Baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger at Bethlehem. For us it is the Holy Bible, which cradles the Christ and his redeeming work. It was no accident that God caused a humble manger to cradle the Christ Child that first Christmas. What is the purpose of a manger? It is to feed domestic animals. Wild animals usually don't eat at mangers. So we, wild sinners who have been domesticated by faith in Jesus Christ, have our new life nurtured and confirmed by the Holy Bible, the manger of God for the people of God.

Transition: Like the shepherds, we have good reasons to adore him. We have heard the greatest news anyone can hear, and it has been confirmed to us.

II. How, then, shall we adore him?

A. How did the shepherds adore Him?

1. They adored him by being in the audience of the very first Christmas choir as it sang the first Christmas carol.

Luke describes this amazing event, saying, "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men
on whom his favor rests."
(vv. 13-14)

a. What a sight that must have been! What thrilling sounds must have echoed over the hills and plains of Bethlehem! What a balanced verse!

Glory to God in heaven and
Peace to men on earth!"

This is probably the most beautiful verse ever spoken or written, and that's not surprising because it was authored by God himself!

b. Although the shepherds were a captive audience, they were glad to have been there. They identified with the adoration of the heavenly choir and rejoice in this song of praise to God! What a perfect way to adore Him who gives His one and only Son so that we may not perish!

2. The shepherds also adored him by responding to the angel's message and by repeating it to others.

After they had heard the angel's message and after they had heard the great heavenly choir sing, they hurried to Bethlehem. Luke tells us, "When they had seen him they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child." (v. 17) Spreading the word about Jesus is another kind of worship and adoration. After they had spread the word they returned to their sheepfolds "glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen." (v. 20)

B. Taking our cue from the shepherds we are privileged to adore him in similar ways.

1. We, too, adore him by sitting in the audience of God's messengers, as we are doing this very hour. I wonder if we realize how important it is and what a privilege it is to sit and listen to God's messengers speak or sing the Good News of salvation in the name of Jesus Christ. This is the highest form of worship, to listen to God's messengers with the heart. Anyone who speaks or sings God's messengers with the heart. Anyone who speaks or sings God's message is an "angel of the Lord." Pastors are angels; choir members are angels. That's one of the reasons why we wear robes, to remind ourselves and one another.

2. After we have heard the message we pray and sing, and, like the shepherds, we glorify and praise God for what we have heard and seen.

a. First, we do it here in church with one another. We even sing the very same song which the angel choir sang that first Christmas. Hymn number 55 in Lutheran worship, "Angels We Have Heard on High", and in the liturgy, page 180, The Hymn of Praise, which begins: "Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth." It seems that many congregations prefer the other choice: "This is the feast of victory for our God," which is the especially good for Sundays when there is Holy Communion, but "Glory to God in the highest, should not be totally left unused, especially during the Christmas season.

b. Secondly, our whole lives are to be one continuous adoring of him who loved us, and was born for us. We do this by living a life of loving service to one another and by spreading the Word concerning Jesus Christ. The Christmas season is an especially good time to do this since the trappings of Christianity are more visible this time of the year, when even the most hardened unbeliever might be a bit more open to the Message.

Conclusion: Like the shepherds that first Christmas we have good reasons to adore him. We have heard the greatest news that anyone can hear and it has been confirmed to us that it is true. We also know very well how to adore him! May God give us His Holy Spirit and inspire us to really do it!

Amen