The Shepherd's Good News (Part 3)

The Shepherd's Good News (Part 3)

No one can respond to or accept the Good News of Christmas FOR you. You have to decide what to do with this good news. You have to decide whether or not to respond.

Verse 12 says the angel said to the shepherds, “And this shall be a sign unto you; You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” 

Now skip down to verses 15-16:

“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’ So, they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby, Who was lying in the manger.” 

What do you think the shepherds thought when they heard the message?

-They could have said, “This message can’t be true. In fact, why should we have been told at all? We better just forget about all this.”

-They could have made up any number of excuses that would keep them from checking out the news they had just heard sung. After all, theirs was a 24-7 job!

-They could have sat down and analyzed what they should do. Could they afford to leave the sheep? What if something happened while they were gone?

-They could have rejected the angels’ message outright.

-They could have said, “This is not for us! In fact, this whole thing sounds kind of flaky!” 

Yet, each of the shepherds chose to believe! Note the exact wording. They didn’t say, “Let’s go see IF these things are true.”  No, they said, “Let’s go see this thing that HAS come to pass.” They believed, and that was their response! 

There are a lot of people in this world who know the Christmas Story. They know the basic tenets of Gospel According to Christmas, from the appearance of the angels to when the Wise Men showed up two years later. They’ve heard the Christmas Story again and again and can recite it point by point, some even verse by verse. They know every detail.

However, we’re not saved by knowing the details. We’re saved by the one-on-one personal encounter with Christ. We’re saved not by knowing about Jesus, but by knowing Jesus. That salvation comes through personal belief and making our choice to put our faith in Jesus.

It’s not enough to hear about Jesus. It’s not enough to look into the manger at Christmas and say, “Oh, how nice. What a wonderful story. Pass the eggnog.” You see, unless you act on the angel’s message and believe you will be lost. You can get all sentimental at Christmas and have a warm fuzzy feeling as you conspire while you sit by the fire, but if you don’t use your God-given free-will and choose to believe, it’s all for naught.

However, if you act on this good news as the shepherds did and reach out in faith you’ll find that Jesus is real! You’ll see that the angels’ message was true, that “Unto you has been born a Savior.” If you believe, you’ll meet Jesus Himself just as certainly as the shepherds did!