FRIDAY
Luke 2:1–20 (NIV)
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 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.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Today let’s note some of the characteristics of worship we see from this passage:
- Fear
- Curiosity
- Contemplation
- Amazement
- For who God is
- For what God has done
When the shepherds encounter the angel they are fearful. The angel is so awesome, I’m sure fear is a natural reaction. The topic of fear in the New Testament is a bit of a tricky one. There are some texts that tell not to fear (Rom. 8:15; 2 Tim. 1:6-7; Heb. 2:15). On the other hand, there are texts that tell us to fear (2 Cor. 5:11; 2 Cor. 7:1; Eph.. 5:21). In one sense, God has revealed himself to be our loving, heavenly Father and we should not fear to come to him. He loves us and offers fellowship with us through Jesus. He is the Father who runs to his prodigal son in the famous parable of Jesus. Yet, he is also the Almighty God. He is powerful and glorious beyond our greatest comprehension. When John, Isaiah and Ezekiel encounter his presence, they all fall in awe-inspired worship. He is holy and just. We are sinful and our sin deserves punishment. That punishment has been met by Jesus on the cross. So in putting these together, there is something different about our relationship with God from the Old Testament to the New and we should not fear him in the same way. However, a holy, reverent fear must remain. This fear should inspire us to holiness and worship. I think Dallas Willard gets at the distinction well when he says, “God is not mean but he is dangerous.”
As soon as the angels leave in verse 15, the shepherds decide to go investigate what the angels have told them about. This posture is in opposition to the indifference of the religious leaders we saw last week who couldn’t be bothered to travel the 5 miles to Bethlehem to investigate the potential birth of the Messiah. Upon arriving in Bethlehem they find things exactly as the angel had said. They find Jesus. This is a brief picture of discipleship. They hear about Jesus, they explore and find Jesus, they tell others about Jesus, and they worship God. The end result is praise and worship to God, but they had to first explore the claims to see if they were true. Luke specifically emphasizes in verse 20 that they praise God for all the things they had “heard and seen.”
So many today are stuck at the point of hearing the story of Jesus. They never take the step of genuinely exploring to see if it is true or not. Because they never take the step of curiosity, they never truly find Jesus. They remain indifferent and content with the status quo, missing the joy of experiencing God’s awesome work.
In verse 19 Luke makes a note about Mary. He writes, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Mary is likely Luke’s source for the events of Jesus’ birth. Treasuring and pondering are wonderful expressions of contemplation. Mary valued greatly and protected the amazing things she was seeing God do at this time. When we truly treasure something, we will protect it. We will also ponder it. We will spend time reflecting on the meaning of it. Notice it doesn’t say that she pondered it in her head. Instead, she pondered it in her heart. This was a deeper contemplation than just a problem that needed a creative solution. This was an awe-inspired act of worship. This contemplation was at the center of her inner life. The awesome works of God are worthy of this level of contemplation.
Do you ever take the time to treasure and ponder the wonderful things that God has done?
When the shepherds tell others about the awesome works of God, the people are amazed (v. 18).
The Christmas story should always produce amazement in us. We see it in the faces of children throughout the entire season. But when we get older we think we have to figure everything out and we feel embarrassed if we don’t have everything figured out. God, we will never figure out. Although we should seek to understand all that God has revealed to us about himself, there are depths to God’s greatness that we will never understand. To these depths we must always stand in amazement. To the mysteries of the gospel, the incarnation, the crucifixion, and resurrection we must always marvel. Like the great theologian, Thomas Aquinas, who sought to understand everything there is to know about God, we must acknowledge that our words in the end are like straw compared to the true greatness of God Almighty.
In this passage God is described as God in the highest heaven. Jesus is described as the Savior, Messiah, and Lord. These are loaded words, as we discovered this week.
We must know who God is, as he has revealed to us in Scripture, if we are to worship him truly. As I said in point number 4 above, we will never fully grasp the depth of his nature, but we should worship him for who he has revealed himself to be. Knowing who God is gives us language to worship him.
In the text the shepherds praise and glorify God “for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
When we experience the marvelous, miraculous works of God, we should be inspired to worship. I would encourage you to journal on them so that you can revisit them later and worship God for the amazing things he has done.