I. Introduction
Virtually everyone knows the correct answer, the right response, to the question, “What is the sum of two plus two?” There is only one correct answer, isn’t there? But ask yourself this. How many incorrect answers are there? Well, here are a few of them. Three. Five. Forty-eight thousand, three hundred eleven and two thirds. Ham sandwich. Biochemistry. Obviously all of that is foolishness. But that’s the point. There is only one right answer, only one correct response. The sum of two plus two is four!

So I ask again, how many wrong responses are there to the question, “What is the sum of two plus two?” The number is infinite, isn’t it? There is literally no end to the number of incorrect answers, the number of wrong responses.

Jeff often says there are only two questions that will matter in eternity. One of those questions is, “Who is Jesus Christ?” The other is, “What is the Bible?” Well, more precisely, there are only two answers that will matter in eternity.

The right response to the first question, “Who is Jesus Christ?” is, “He is God in human flesh.” Any other answer is wrong.
John 1:1-4
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The right response to the second question, “What is the Bible?” is, “It is the written Word of God.” Any other answer is wrong.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is inspired by God (literally, “God-breathed”) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

“Who is Jesus Christ?” and “What is the Bible?” This time of year there’s another ques-ion that is directly related to those two. “How do you respond to the Jesus?” The num-ber of possible answers is infinite, but there’s is only one right response. That’s what this morning’s passage in Luke is all about – the right response.

Last Sunday we saw Joseph and Mary arrive in Bethlehem. Mary gave birth, wrapped the Baby in strips of cloth, and placed Him in a manger, a feeding trough for animals.
There, in the middle of the night, all alone except for some animals, this young couple and their new Baby Boy huddled together to await the dawn. It is here that Dr. Luke picks up the narrative.
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II. Text
If you hear it with clarity, ponder it carefully, and are willing to let the Holy Spirit teach you, you will respond rightly.
*Luke 2:8-20 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
8 And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flocks by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.
10 And the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people;
11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 “And this will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
15 And it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 And they came in haste and found the baby as He lay in the manger.
17 And when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.
18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds went back, glorifying God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

You and I can learn a lot from the shepherds. In these verses we’ll see that their response to the good news was the right one. They are a model for all of us to follow.
• They heard the good news. The truth got their attention.
• They believed the good news. The truth penetrated their hearts.
• They told others the good news. The truth went out from among them.

Just who were they? They were despised rural nomads – the “low-lifes” of their day.
Reading about them reminds me of the descriptions you often hear of gypsies. They were also a rural and nomadic people, considered untrustworthy, unreliable, and wild. They had little or no formal education and few marketable skills. In fact, the shepherds were thought so little of that they were barred from giving testimony in a court of law.

To make matters worse, they did not keep the man-made religious laws regarding the Jewish Sabbath because their sheep required constant care. This had the effect of making them ceremonially unclean. The bottom line is that they were just about the last people the elite would choose for any special privilege.

But there is great irony here. Moses worked as a shepherd for his father-in-law Jethro. God called David, the one upon whose throne Messiah would sit, from the life of a shep-herd. And I find it fascinating that the first person ever murdered was Abel, who was called a “keeper of sheep” in Genesis 4:2.

So putting all of that together we shouldn’t be surprised that the first people God chose to hear the announcement of Christ’s birth would be shepherds. And consider this. Is there anybody else on earth who would be more excited about the birth of a Lamb?
*Luke 2:8-10
8 And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flocks by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.
10 And the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people;

No one knows exactly what time of the year Jesus was born but it was probably some-time between April and November because sheep were typically kept outside during those months. Actually it wasn’t until the end of the fourth century that December 25 became the traditional date of Jesus’ birth.

Since Bethlehem was only about five miles south of Jerusalem, and a regular supply of sheep was always needed for sacrifice in the temple, it’s possible that these particular sheep were being raised for that purpose.

If v. 8 gives you the impression of a calm and quiet night pretty much like any other, v. 9 abruptly shatters that picture. While the angel who bursts forth upon the shepherds is not named here, it would seem to be Gabriel. He had already visited both Elizabeth and Mary back in Luke 1. His presence and the blaze of light that accompanied him would have been shocking, to say the least. The words “…terribly frightened” in v. 9 are trans-lated from a Greek word that speaks of the kind of terror that causes one to flee.

Suddenly and unexpectedly finding yourself in the presence of such a supernatural being would engender that kind of response in any one of us, wouldn’t it?
But remember that both the glory of God and His presence are manifested by brilliant or even blinding light again and again in the Scriptures. He has thus revealed glimpses of His glory during momentous occasions throughout redemptive history. For example…
Exodus 24:16-17 (After God gave the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Law.)
16 And the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.
17 And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.

Exodus 40:34-35 (When God indwelled the tabernacle.)
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Revelation 21:23 (John describing the New Jerusalem in heaven.)
23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb (of God).

In the OT God’s glory was also seen in the pillars of cloud and fire that led Israel in the wilderness. In the NT Peter and John witnessed God’s glory at Jesus’ transfiguration. And it will be seen again at the glorious appearing; Christ’s Second Coming to this earth.
Matthew 24:30 (Jesus speaking of His own return.)
30 “…the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.”

So when Luke 1:9 tells us that the glory of God was manifest on the first Christmas we should not be surprised. Neither should we be surprised that awe, fear, and an acute awareness of personal sinfulness are the normal responses to appearances of God’s glory.
Isaiah 6:4-5 (When Isaiah was brought into God’s presence to be commissioned.)
4 …the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

Luke 5:8 (When Peter witnessed one of Jesus’ early miracles.)
8 But when Simon Peter saw (it), he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

Just as an aside, I know that some of you have wondered about the Star of Bethlehem and its astronomical significance. Many believe it wasn’t a star in the conventional sense at all, but was simply a manifestation of the glory of God.
Given the circumstances, that really doesn’t seem to be at all unreasonable. In the OT the Jews had a term for such a manifestation. It was called the “shekinah glory.” Roughly translated, “shekinah” means, “God dwells among us.” (back to Luke 2:10)

The angel seems to restore a modicum of calm when he tells the shepherds not to fear. His message is not one of judgment or of pending doom. On the contrary, he has good news for them, the good news of the gospel. God has sent His Son to earth, and all who will turn to Him will have their sins forgiven. His birth means “great joy” for those who will believe.
*Luke 2:11-12
11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 “And this will be a sign you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger.”

In the OT Micah had prophesied that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, the city where David had been born and where Samuel had anointed him king. In vv. 11-12 the angel tells the shepherds they will find the Baby there. Now in that day all newborn babies were wrapped in cloths so that, in and of itself, would not have been unusual. However, all newborn babies were not placed in feeding troughs. The shepherds would have no trouble finding Him.

In v. 11 there are three very important words and one very important truth. The first word is “Savior.” The angel doesn’t tell the shepherds the Baby’s earthly name. He simply says, “…a Savior…” That’s one of Jesus’ titles. The name “Jesus” literally means, “The Lord is salvation.”
Matthew 1:21 (The angel speaking to Joseph.)
21 “And (Mary) will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.”

Please hear me carefully. Jesus did not come into this world in order to make your life better, or to give you good health, or to make you rich, or to make you happy, or anything else of the sort. Some of those things may be given to you. Some of them may not. But whether you enjoy such things in this life or not, that is not why He came. He came to rescue the perishing. To put it simply and bluntly, Jesus came to this earth to save sinners from eternal damnation in hell! Or as He Himself said…
Luke 19:10
10 “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

The second important word in Luke 1:11 is “Christ.” It is not Jesus’ last name. Just like “Savior,” it is also a title. It’s the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew “Messiah.” It means, “The anointed one.” God has anointed Jesus to three exalted and eternal positions. He is Prophet. He is Priest. And He is King of Kings.
That leads us to the third title. Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. When the word “lord” is written using a lower case “l” it’s simply a term of respect. But in this context, when used with a capital “L” it means far more. The Greek word is “Kurios.” That is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word “Yahweh.” That is God’s name.
*Exodus 3:13-15 (When God called Moses to lead Israel out of bondage in Egypt.)
13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 And God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.”

In Hebrew, “I AM WHO I AM” is “Yahweh.” In Greek, “Yahweh” is “Kurios.” In English, “Kurios” is “Lord” with a capital “L.” The point that must not be missed is this: The Lord Jesus Christ is God in human flesh! His deity must not be denied!
Matthew 1:23
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God (is) with us.”

I said there were three important words (Savior, Christ, and Lord) in Luke 2:11, and one important truth. Look again at the verse. This Baby “has been born for you.” Come to Him. Confess your sin. Be willing to turn from it. Put your faith in Him and in Him alone. Only Jesus Christ can save. No one else can save anyone. The reason Jesus can save is because of who He is.
Romans 10:9
9 …if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord (Kurios – Yahweh – I AM WHO I AM), and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.

It’s Christmas! “…for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
*Luke 2:13-14
13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

If the shepherds were stunned by the appearance of one angel, can you even imagine how they would have reacted to this? I don’t know that there are enough superlatives in our vocabulary to convey what this must have been like.
The term “multitude of the heavenly host” isn’t specific, but their number must be great. What do they look like? How do they sound? Are they speaking? Are they singing? Are they flying? We do know one thing they’re doing. They are doing what angels do. They are praising God. One example of such praise is found in The Book of Revelation.
Revelation 7:11-12
11 And all the angels…fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God,
12 saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever. Amen!”

By the way, “Glory to God in the highest” in Luke 2:14 is the English translation of the well-known Latin “Gloria in excelsis Deo.”

There is yet another important truth in Luke 2:14. This verse is often misquoted. How many times have you heard it said this way? “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”? That makes it sound like peace and good will is directed toward all men. But that is misleading. That is not what the text says. The translators of the KJV did us no favors here. The literal translation from the Greek is this. “…peace among men of His good pleasure.”

That phrase means “…those upon whom God’s favor rests.” The New International Ver-sion actually says it that way. Three other major translations (NASB – ESV – Amplified Bible) get it right as well, using the term, “peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

In John MacArthur’s commentary on the first five chapters of Luke’s gospel, he states it clearly.
“Salvation peace belongs to those to whom God is pleased to give it; it is not a reward for those who have good will, but a gracious gift to those who are the objects of God’s good will.”

The shepherds had heard the truth. Now what would they do about it?
*Luke 2:15-18, 20
15 And it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 And they came in haste and found the baby as He lay in the manger.
17 And when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.
18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.

20 And the shepherds went back, glorifying God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.
What did the shepherds do? They rushed into town. They knew what they were looking for. They’d heard the gospel. Their Savior, Christ the Lord, was here and they wanted to see Him.

Do you see what they did? They responded rightly. When they heard the truth, they believed it, and they acted on it. V. 16 tells us they didn’t hesitate. They didn’t try “to clean up their act” before they went to Him. They just went.

You know, with Jesus, it’s always “Come as you are.” He knows full well that you need to be “cleaned up,” but that’s His job. Besides, you can’t do it anyway. That’s why you need Him.

Again, in Luke 1:15-16 the shepherds believed, they received. That is salvation in Jesus Christ! But they weren’t through. Look at what they did next. In vv. 17-18, 20 we see that they told others all about what they had heard and seen. These men (and probably boys) had been given a unique privilege. God had shown them amazing things. They had met Joseph and Mary. They had seen God’s salvation right before their very eyes. They told others. And v. 20 tells us they glorified God. But what did Mary do?
*Luke 2:19
19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

I suspect that Mary had all the thoughts that any new mother has. But she had more to think about. The angel Gabriel had told her that her Baby was the Son of God. She knew she had given birth to Israel’s Messiah. But there was more that she couldn’t have imagined. Later, Simeon would tell her…
Luke 2:34-35
34 “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed –
35 and a sword will pierce even your own soul…”

But that’s for another day. Yesterday was Christmas. Our Savior is here. Like the shep-herds on those hills outside of Bethlehem, let us rejoice and glorify God.
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III. Conclusion
Since we’ve been talking about responses, let me close with an example of a wrong response. On December 17, 1903, one of the most significant events in modern history took place on a beach just outside of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Two bicycle builders from Dayton, Ohio, the Wright brothers, successfully completed the world’s first powered flight.

They were so excited. They sent the following telegram home to Dayton. “We have actually flown 120 feet. Will be home for Christmas.” Their sister Katherine ran to the editor of the local newspaper and showed him the message. He glanced at it and said, “How nice. The boys will be home for Christmas.”
The editor got the message. He heard the news. But his response was all wrong. He totally missed the big news – man had flown!

Everybody knows it’s Christmas. But like that newspaper editor in Dayton, Ohio, most people will miss the big news. Please don’t be one of them.

Jesus is Savior, Christ, and Lord. Just as there is only one right answer, one right response, to what the sum of two plus two is, so too there is only one right response to Jesus this Christmas, or any other time, for that matter. Be like those shepherds. Hear, believe, and act. Respond to Jesus today.

~ Pray ~