"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." New International Version
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| "Suddenly a great company..." |
For boys, shepherds are the coveted position of the annual children's nativity. Except for that one kid who likes to be at the center of everything, Joseph is probably the worst. He gets a lot of lines and possibly a solo. Right above him are the animals. Once you reach a certain age, moving around on all fours while making animal noises is too humiliating, but at least you don't have to sing or memorize lines. Next in the hierarchy come the wise men. They're really not too bad, it's just the goofy crowns and hats they have to wear plus the weird words you have to say like frankenstein and moor (or something like that). But the shepherds are the cream of the crop. First, their's always a group so you don't stick out too much, but you still have the prestige of having a part. The costume is nice and easy, plus you get a stick to play with. What's not to love?
Most of us in today's world have an overly spiritual and not realistic view of shepherds. We read Psalm 23, we hear Jesus' parable about being the Good Shepherd, and of course they are a main part of the nativity story. In ancient times however, they weren't well thought of. As I looked through the commentaries I have scattered around, I noticed something interesting. Shepherds were typically viewed as unclean to the more religious Jews. The Broadman Bible Commentary states it this way,
"The simple pastors of sheep belonged to the 'people of the land,' that multitude of common men who were considered to be outside the pale of religious respectability.Their occupation and manner of life made it impossible for them to meet the requirements of religious ritual for ceremonial purity."
To be ritually unclean meant that one could not take part in any of the temple activities. A person had to be clean to bring his offering for sacrifice. Access to God was dependent on whether you were clean by biblical standards. What the shepherds did on a daily basis, dealing with animal carcasses and coming into contact with unclean animals, would have made them unclean. If you want specifics, take some time perusing the book of Leviticus. If you were unclean, then clean people wouldn't want to be around you for fear of becoming unclean themselves. This brings us to our spiritual truth for the day: You don't have to get cleaned up to come to God.
Don't skip over this truth, because it has ramifications for the believer as well as the non-believer. First we will look at what it means for those who do not follow Christ yet. It is easy to assume that we must be good enough when to comes to spiritual matters. We see the list of rules in the Bible and feel that following them is of the utmost importance. Relationships succeed and fail based on whether someone is good enough or not. Though our world system is based on performance, God's system is not. Turn to Romans 8:6-8 and read what Paul writes:
"6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." NIV
Christ died for us while we were still in our sin. We were still dirty, stained, and unlovable. That we need to clean up before God will love us, or that we have done something too bad for God to ever love us, is one of the biggest lies we can believe. We've explored before what Romans 3:23 says, but let's look at 24-26 also:
"23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." NIV
Paul says 4 things very clearly in these verses:
- Everyone has sinned.
- Everyone can be justified (made right) because God is gracious and has redeemed (paid for our release from the chains of sin) us through Jesus.
- When we put faith in Jesus, He takes our sin and we take His righteousness.
- This sacrifice covered all sin, past present and future.
Everyone is part of "everyone". God is all knowing, there is no secret sin that you have hidden away that He doesn't know about. The only thing standing between you and the Father...is you. Are you willing to put your faith in Him?
For the believer, the spiritual truth is tweaked slightly: You don't have to get cleaned up to come back to God. Turn to the back of your Bible and look at 1 John 1:9. The apostle John wrote this letter to churches in the Roman province of Asia (part of modern day Turkey and Greece). He was writing to believers who were dealing with false teachings; the false teachers had left, but the errors still lingered. John's letter was intended to help these Christians find their way back to the truth of the Gospel and then to remain steadfast in it. These are the words he wrote:
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." NIV
When we mess up, we have a problem looking the person we've wronged in the eye...at least I do. There is a sense of shame and guilt that hovers over us and affects our spirit. If I'm being totally honest, as a father I want my kids to act this way. I know that sounds horrible, but it's a product of my human nature. I want them to feel bad for what they did, especially if they've wronged me. It bothers me when they break something and then act flippant about it. As humans, we have a hard time separating the sinner and the sin. God hates sin. No commas or buts in that last sentence. There is no permissible sin in God's eyes. Any preacher or teacher that sacrifices God's holiness on the altar of political correctness or inclusiveness is wrong. But, as we've already seen, God loves the sinner. God died for the sinner. God calls the sinner to come to Him. Look at what John wrote in verse 9; if we confess, He forgives. Not only does He forgive, but He cleans the sin off of us. Notice what's missing. There's no "sit in your room and think about what you've done" stage. We don't have to hide until God stops being angry at us.
Most of our anger when people wrong us is wrapped up in the discovery and the surprise of the wrong. But God knew you were going to sin that specific sin before Jesus went to the cross. He's not surprised. He's not even disappointed, because He doesn't depend on us to hold Him up (think about that for a while). Notice what else John is saying. He doesn't say, "If we sin"; he says, "If we confess our sin". John knows that the believers he is writing to will sin. Believer, you will sin again this side of heaven. We shouldn't be flippant about it, but neither should we let the guilt and shame keep us from returning to our Father. That is another form of the lie, "We must get clean to come to God."
Now let me cover one more thing before we go. Just because we don't have to get cleaned up to come to God, that doesn't mean we get to stay in our sin.
Look at 1 Corinthians 1:2:
"2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, " NIVJames 4:7-10:
"7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. " NIVRomans 12:1-2:
"1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." NIV
God wants us to be like Him. He desires for us to be holy as He is Holy. But once again, it's not something we do on our own. Our job is to let Him change us. One of the main jobs of the Holy Spirit is to guide us to be more like Christ. We surrender to God, and His Holy Spirit empowers us to live the life we are supposed to.
So, let's take our dirty, stained, unclean shepherds and place them in the nativity. May they remind us that God died for us when we were lost in our sin. May we never forget that He is the loving Father that is calling us home, no matter where we find ourselves. The blood of Jesus is available to forgive and cleanse all who come home.
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| Day 9 - The Shepherds |
* Al Scripture taken from the New International Version.
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