Peace among those with whom He is pleased (Week 3 of Advent)

Luke 2:8-21 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 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. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. (Luke 2:8-21 ESV)

Every time I read these scriptures I think of Linus from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" reading these lines to Charlie Brown. "That's what Christmas is all about"

This Christmas season, do you remember what Christmas is all about? Are you anticipating it? We talked about needing to anticipate Christ coming, and we've talked about our forgetfulness. But now I want to know is God pleased with you?

Now you may be thinking where did that come from? What does that have to do with Christmas? Well hopefully it'll make sense in a few minutes. For now though let's talk about the shepherds. Who were they? Tell me who were the shepherds? What significance did they hold among their fellow Israelites?

I think you'll find that they didn't have much significance to their peers. They were at the bottom of the totem pole. They didn't really amount to much. Nobody really cared about them until they came up short on sheep. So why did God choose them? Why would an almighty all powerful God reveal His Son, the Savior of the world to these guys, to the nobodies. I think the answer to that question lies right there in the scripture.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:13, 14 ESV)

Peace among those with whom he is pleased. There's your answer. I know that some of y'all's translations might not phrase it quite that way. But when we think about it we know it's true. When we are doing what God wants us to do, we have peace. It may not be easy but we find peace and rest in God. However when we do wrong we definitely don't have peace. We have stress, restlessness, we have inner turmoil. God revealed his plan to the shepherds because they did his will.

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. (Luke 2:15, 16 ESV)

The angels told them what to look for and they went. It's just so simple. God found favor in them because they would do what he said. How much easier can it get? Shoot they even did more. Not only did the go and see but they also told others.

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. (Luke 2:17, 18 ESV)

It was so easy. So simplistic. They heard, they went, they saw, and they told others. So why do we have trouble with it? Why do we just go day to day and only occasionally think about even sharing our faith? Perhaps we say that we want to do God's will but deep down there's this part of us that rebels and comes up with excuses. Those excuses like "I don't want to offend them" "I don't want to come off like a Jesus freak" "I don't want to be the creepy guy that's always asking religious questions" Maybe we're thinking that everyone around here already knows. Maybe it's oh someone else will tell them. Maybe we're afraid of rejection. No one wants to be said no to, no one wants to be cut off, no one wants to be questioned.

We come up with all these ways to overthink it. When we take our focus off of the people around us we center our focus on ourselves and sometimes we focus on just the people in the church. Have you ever heard anyone say that churches are to judgemental? That they won't go to church because they're afraid of being condemned? I've heard it. I've had it said to my face.

We forget that God made his son known not to the rulers, the governors, the religious leaders. No he made him known to the shepherds and the shepherds made him known to the people of the town. When we look at Jesus' life later on, he makes himself known to the fishermen, the tax collectors, the rough and tough crowd. That's how God works, he opens the eyes of the blind and takes the sinners and sits them at His table.

Have you listened to the message God has for you? Have you answered His call? Are you doing His will? Is God pleased with you and have you found peace in Him? Listen and let the Spirit guide. Fear God and follow Him and He will welcome you into His everlasting peace.