Question
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST
Luke 2:1-20
Key Verse 2:14
1. Read vs. 1-5. (A) In the passage a census was conducted by Rome. The purpose was for taxation. What was the focus of the Roman Empire and its rulers? (B) How did this event affect the lives of a young couple (Joseph and Mary)? (C) How should children of God feel about massive global events and the people who dictate them? (D) Read Micah 5:2. This prophecy foretold that a “ruler” whose “origins are from of old” would be born in Bethlehem. Why did God do this and why is prophecy like this God’s grace to his people?
2. Read vs. 6-7. (A) Under what conditions did Mary give birth to the king of Israel (7)? (B) Why wasn’t there “room in the inn”? (C) Why was a baby born outside and placed inside a manger (a trough used to feed animals)?
3. Read vs. 8-14. (A) Why did God choose to tell “shepherds” about this great work of God? (B) How did God choose to present this news and what can we learn from it? (C) What was the point of the sign: “You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (D) Why are the angels the only ones praising God here when this is “good news of great joy…for all the people”? (E) What is the importance and purpose of praising God?
4. Read vs. 15-20. What did the shepherds do after they heard the good news? (B) What action did they take after they had “seen him”? (C) How did people react to their message and how did Mary react to all these things? (D) What does the passage say the Shepherds did when they returned from telling others? (E) What can we learn from these shepherds?
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Message
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST
Luke 2:1-20
Key Verse 2:14
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
Today’s passage is about the First Christmas ever. The first Christmas was a glorious Christmas, full of praise, worship and welcoming of the newborn king. Our purpose in studying the first Christmas is so we can make this Christmas, the one in 2007, just as wonderful.
Here are some Christmas Icons and Activities: Christmas Trees, Snow Men, Santa Claus, EggNog, Christmas Lights, Mistletoe, Christmas Cookies
Candy Cane, Shopping, Presents, Snow Flakes, Christmas Ornament, Stockings, Wreaths.
All these things have become associated with Christmas. But as we will see, none of these items and activities are found in the passage. There is only one item that is required to have a glorious Christmas this year…that is Christ.
Practically though it isn’t easy to Get the Christ into Christmas because of the holiday hustle and bustle. As we will see many people during the first Christmas totally failed to get the Christ into Christmas. And what it means to get the “Christ into Christmas” is to accept Jesus into our heart. But if we are successful in this area, it will be just as glorious and wonderful as the first one described herein. So the question we want to answer through the passage is, “How do we get the Christ into Christmas?” The passage contains several clues to answering this question!
Let’s begin by looking at verses 1-3, “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.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.”
At a quick glance these verses seem like a page out of a history book. But these verses represent the very challenging circumstances the Jews faced during the time of Jesus’ birth. There were two main problems:
(1) The problem of Caesar Augustus
He was good news for Rome but his authority over the Jews was “bad news” for them. What bothered people the most was the fact that he was a hedonistic gentile who embodied the Jewish antithesis. But what really burned the Jews is that he promoted the worship of man (himself) and that his Roman army occupied their land and took taxes from them.
Can you imagine if the Russian president Putin came to America and set up an occupation and then made President Bush his errand boy! How mad and burdened Americans would feel. But this is what happened. For Herod the Great was the King of Israel but his boss was really Caesar Augustus.
The presence of Caesar and Rome caused to main responses among the Jews:
(a) Some people became enraged and started feeding a nationalists agenda—they became known as the “Zealots”. (b) Others became opportunists and saw a chance to garner power and money and so became subservient to the Roman Agenda.
(2) The second problem for the people of Israel was the issue of the census. This census put a lot of pressure on the people through: travel expenses, time away from business and jobs, the busyness of all the people moving around, etc. It was such a burden to deal with.
With all these negative circumstances happening to them (Gentile Occupation, Corrupt Ruler, Taxation, Census) the people of Israel must have felt so bad and complained about their situation a lot.
What did this situation do to their heart? It filled their hearts with all kinds of anxiety, burden, worry and despair. Because of the harsh worldly conditions people’s love grew cold and because their hearts were filled with the worries of this world, their minds were full of worries of this world. The Ruler of all creation was coming to the world and was already ready to come but the people’s were stuck thinking about the things of this world.
The next verses develop this point further. Lets look at verses 2:4-7.
4So 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. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
At the very end here we see an interesting expression, “because there was no room for them in the inn.”
The problem wasn’t an issue of square footage of an inn but a problem of a cluttered mind and cluttered hearts that were filled with worries of this life and the pursuits of life. Another way to call this cluttering effect is being “busy minded”
Being busy minded is extremely dangerous because it pushes out the things of God and makes one numb to what God is newly doing. Can you imagine, the savior of the world, the king of glory, the Immanual was being born right down the street and people missed out! All because they were too worried about their problems!
Let’s consider an opposite example. Joseph and Mary were not too busy for the things of God. Joseph and Mary did not suffer from a “busy minded” nor were their hearts full of anxiety about their outward circumstance. In fact, they made huge amounts of space in their heart for God and their minds were set on fulfilling the personal missions God had given them. God had no problem getting into their hearts and as a result they were the carriers and participants of Gods’ work.
So looking back to our main question: “How do we get Christ into Christmas?” The first thing we learn from the passage is we need to:
1. Make lots and lots of room for God! Both in mind & heart.
We also learn here,
2. Don’t worry about the world or this life. God is In Control.
This second rule is based on the fact that God was in control of Caesar and God was in control of the census because he was using them to bring about the Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. This was God’s sovereignty and God’s will for these things to happen, therefore they shouldn’t have been complaining about it because God was in doing good through the bad circumstances.
Let’s look at some more people who successfully participated in the first Christmas. Read vs. 8-9.
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”
These shepherds were really humble guys. They had one good point about them, they weren’t in a hurry to go anywhere and they were willing to take time to investigate into what God had done. When you think about it, God didn’t zap them into the presence of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. Instead he gave them a message and a sign to seek after. Let’s look at the message.
Let’s read verses 10-12.
10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
WOW! This was amazing! God blessed these humble shepherds with something really valuable. They were being invited to see the work of God and check it out. The most important even of Man’s history was about to happen and they got invited. God knew they would look into more and so he told them.
But was just the beginning, look what happened next: Read verses 13-15.
“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14”Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” 15When 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.”
I want to focus in on verse 14 because it is the key verse.
Verse 14 is an important verse because it is the high praise of the angels who dwell in God’s presence. These angels were God’s messengers but in a sense these angels were like “insiders” because they understood and saw what God was doing. The shepherds here were being given that knowledge of God’s work but they still needed to see it for themselves. So they were given the homework assignment in verse 12, “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” So after they got this clue from God they said in verse 15b, “Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” Though they had the message God left room for them to seek it out. From their situation we can learn:
3. Seek the lord Jesus diligently based on God’s message (Word)
Just like the angel’s message the Bible directs us towards Christ. It is our opportunity to read the Bible (God’s message) and then meet the Lord personally through its guidance.
Let’s look at verses 16-20.
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
There are several things happening here. First, we see that after seeing Jesus, the shepherds accepted him into their hearts and then “spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.” The shepherds, like the angels, became messengers and witnesses to what God was doing. The people who heard these things were “amazed” at what the shepherds said to them. This brings us to our fourth answer to the question: “How can we get Christ into Christmas?”
4. Be a witness to the glory of Jesus’ coming.
It is very important to be a witness to Jesus because the coming of Christ is the most glorious event and it brings “glory to God in the highest” and it also brings “peace to men”. Witnessing is most fluid and easy when the glory of Christ’s birth is newly accepted in our hearts. When we accept Jesus into our hearts the joy of this good news fills us up and we happily tell the world about God’s work. Just recently, Dr. John Jung went to go play tennis and he saw a woman there who was geared-up with all her tennis stuff but didn’t have anyone to play with. So, he asked her, “Would you like to play with us?” The woman accepted and after playing tennis he invited her to the Sunday service. She came that week with her son (who was college age)! I think they started Bible study now too. Also, Missionary Isaac had a student 30 years ago who accepted the message of the gospel and who called Missionary Isaac just to say, “Merry Christmas”. By God’s grace when I was at McDonald’s last week I was so blessed by God’s grace to send Christ that I asked a woman worker at McDonald’s, “Has anyone told you, ‘Merry Christmas’.” She said “yes” and then sat down next to me and started telling me her life story. Through witnessing to her she became brighter and happier. God’s grace filled my heart as I told her about God’s love through Jesus. May God help us to be witnesses to Jesus and to invite many people to the Christmas worship service on Decemeber 16th.
Now at the end of the passage Mary is stated to have “treasured up” all these things so she could “ponder” them in her heart. She is a good example of someone who does not let God’s grace slip through her fingers and doesn’t receive God’s grace in vain. From her we can learn the fifth way to bring Christ into Christmas. That is to:
5. Treasure up all these things.
From today’s passage we learned several things that can make this years celebration of Christ just as glorious as the first celebration of Christ. Especially, we learned from the shepherds who made time to look into what the angels had told them. The Lord was pleased to bring them into this awesome event because of their dedication and interest in God’s great work. If we follow their example we can see the glory of God to the highest through his son Jesus Christ.
One Word: Glory to God in the highest.
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Biblenote
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST
Luke 2:1-20
Key Verse 2:14
1. Read vs. 1-5
(A) In the passage a census was conducted by Rome. The purpose was for taxation. What was the focus of the Roman Empire and its rulers? (B) How did this event affect the lives of a young couple (Joseph and Mary)? (C) How should children of God feel about massive global events and the people who dictate them? (D) Read Micah 5:2. This prophecy foretold that a “ruler” whose “origins are from of old” would be born in Bethlehem. Why did God do this and why is prophecy like this God’s grace to his people?
Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. "
(A) The Roman Empire at this time is yet another example of the “kingdoms of men”. These kingdoms which are often times in the Bible compared to wild animals are driven by money, power and prestige. The Roman leadership was concerned about financing expensive wars and building up lavish cities and other public works. They taxed occupied countries to maintain their empire. The Romans occupied countries like Israel and its people were viewed as sources of revenue rather than precious humans. When the Roman Empire focused on money, power and prestige it darkened the spiritual environment. Even the Jews became very politically-minded during this time and a new “Zealot” mentality to fight taxation and occupation took hold of some. Other Jews made friends with their occupiers and became centered on money as well. All in all the environment was charged with concerns for this life rather than eternal life.
(B) Joseph and Mary looked like a small piece of drift wood caught in the storm of political movement. Like everyone else they were pushed around by the global changes and policies of the Roman Empire. Rome looked so large and they so small.
(C) We must resist the inclination to become concerned or impassioned by the movements of the kingdoms of men. A child of God can quickly be absorbed by such matters, especially when they deeply affect our pocketbook or daily lives. These days we see a lot of Christian leaders losing their focus on the kingdom of God and getting burned by the evils of human politics. Many Christians have publicly declared their hatred for some US leaders but it is questionable whether they even pray for them out of love. As a result they mimic the attitudes and expressions of worldly people.
Mark 13:7-9 “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. 9"You must be on your guard.”
POINT: The coming of Christ was missed by so many because their minds were not set on the the things of God nor on the Kingdom of God. The “ruler of Israel whose origins are from of old” was born in their backyard but barely anyone saw it happen. Why? Because God’s kingdom was not on their minds. Their spiritual eyes were blinded by concerns for this world.
(D) The value of prophecy is very great. For those who are concerned about the things of God, prophecy helps us to know what God’s next step is and what we can look forward to see happen in his plan. God hasn’t left his children “high and dry” to wonder what’s happening. Instead he has clued us in on nearly every detail. What is next then? Jesus’ return to earth to gather his church! This is the absolute next phase in God’s plan but are people truly preparing for this? Or will this event broadside believers like it broadsided the Jews? We are yet to know but about his return Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" –Luke 18:8
POINT: Study the Bible, prepare my heart for Jesus’ return, preach the gospel, preach the gospel, preach the gospel to prepare others for this absolute next event.
2. Read vs. 6-7
(A) Under what conditions did Mary give birth to the king of Israel (7)? (B) Why wasn’t there “room in the inn”? (C) Why was a baby born outside and placed inside a manger (a trough used to feed animals)?
(A) She went into labor and delivered the child. She was far from her relatives and probably didn’t have a mid-wife to help her. The baby was most likely delivered with the help of Joseph, but otherwise, alone. It was a lonely and difficult event.
(B) There was no room in the inn because the people were selfish. The lack of focus on God’s kingdom created a dog-eat-dog mentality where people were cold and heartless. Selfishness was so pervasive that a woman giving birth was ignored help. Shocking? The news is full of even worse stories.
(C) There was little regard for life nor an appreciation that all people are made in the image of God. The Jews may have known this in theory but the practices of the patrons of the inn testifies that they didn’t accept this great truth.
POINT: The world was not prepared for the coming of Jesus. We might think that the biggest event of man’s history would have been attended by more people but it wasn’t. This tells us that the things of God are incompatible with the world. Those with a worldly mind and darkened hearts will miss even the biggest movements of God 100 out of a 100 times (Grade: F-). We must therefore purge our hearts and minds of corruption through repentance and thereby see and understand what God is doing. For many are still leaving God outside in the cold and are missing the real point of life.
6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
3. Read vs. 8-14
(A) Why did God choose to tell “shepherds” about this great work of God? (B) How did God choose to present this news and what can we learn from it? (C) What was the point of the sign: “You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (D) Why are the angels the only ones praising God here when this is “good news of great joy…for all the people”? (E) What is the importance and purpose of praising God?
(A) These shepherds were not caught up in the things of this world. They were free from worldly concerns as is seen in their humble lifestyle, “living in the fields”. Humanly, their careers of “watching over their flocks” was a dead-end but in reality they were free from worldly concerns. There is a lot to be said about a low-maintenance lifestyle and career. It is many times good to not be on the “up-and-up” in the world because you will probably have tons of openness to the things of God. Notice how many ignored Jesus’ calling to commit themselves on account of wealth and careers. These shepherds didn’t have such problems.
(B) God chose to present this news through the “glory of the Lord [shining] around them and through an angelic messenger. Also, there was a sign and a heavenly choral performance that said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Did God spare anything in his presentation to the shepherds? No. This might be the most elaborate declaration ever. Why? Because the gospel message of Jesus’ birth as our Savior brings “glory to God in the highest” and it represents the “peace” with God that all men desire. God’s exuberance here shows that the gospel message is the most important message. God has put emphasis here because of its importance. What should we do with our lives then? Seek to know and understand how the gospel is “glory to God in the highest”.
(C) This sign for the shepherds was a key part of the message. In a sense, God was saying, “Go look into this matter more.” It was almost like a homework assignment to explore the issue and not just enjoy the nice message. Too many times we are happy to hear a good sounding, uplifting message without pursuing the matter more.
(D) The angels are declaring the praises of God here because they understand what God has done and they know how much Jesus’ birth marks a new era for God and man. Their understanding of God’s actions produced effortless praise and glory to God. “Praise” means to declare approval and admiration. Did the shepherds know this yet? Not at this moment but after doing their “sign” homework they would.
(E) The purpose of praising God is honoring the truth of what he has done.
POINT: The shepherds here saw the excitement and glory of God in the angels. But they needed to do their homework so that they too could praise the Lord. All men should be praising the Lord with the angels and with all creation. But as fallen sinners we are ignorant and praise the merits of base things. We need to fix this by going by the gospel message and seeing how it is “glory to God in the highest”. Once we know the merit of God’s actions we can join in the heavenly choral. God help us not to fail at this (do homework).
4. Read vs. 15-20
(A) What did the shepherds do after they heard the good news? (B) What action did they take after they had “seen him”? (C) How did people react to their message and how did Mary react to all these things? (D) What does the passage say the Shepherds did when they returned from telling others? (E) What can we learn from these shepherds?
(A) The shepherds “hurried off” and “found” Mary and Joseph. Instead of standing around and just wondering and being amazed, they set to investigate the matter further. They responded how God wanted.
(B) The passage says that “they spread the word concerning what had been told them”. This reaction is a beautiful example of God’s grace working in their hearts and their selflessness. Instead of hoarding the good-news and keeping it for themselves (think of the lepers in 2Kings 7), they brought it to others.
(C) The people were “amazed at what the shepherds said”. This reaction is suspect because there is no evidence that they did anything with the news. In this sense they treated it merely like an interesting story. Mary on the other hand “treasured up” all these things and “pondered” them “in her heart”.
(D) The shepherds were probably the most affected by everything. The passage says they “returned, glorifying and praising God” for all the things they had heard and seen. Like the angels who praised God before them these shepherds came to an understanding of God’s amazing gift.
(E) POINT: In hearing the gospel message we must seek to understand how awesome God’s work is until it produces lavish praise and glory to God. Just being “amazed” like the people who heard about it is just the beginning. All men, should do their homework, ponder what God has done until it inspires authentic praise. For, God’s work to bring his son into this world is “glory to God in the highest!”