The Ordinary People of Christmas: Shepherds

Series: The Ordinary People of Christmas
December 22, 2019
Luke 2:8-20
George Robertson

Luke 2:8-20 | The Ordinary People of Christmas: The Shepherds
Sermon Recap & Discussion Questions


God chooses nobodies, makes them somebodies, and gives them a message for everybody.

 

I. Nobody (vv. 8-9)

Shepherds were outcasts in their society. They were denied all civil rights, not allowed to fulfill judicial offices, and forbidden to testify as witnesses. Furthermore, they were labeled as “sinners” by the religious leaders of the day. They were nobodies to the people around them. But these nobodies were important to God.  He had made them in his own image and he wanted to glorify his grace by making them his worshipers and heralds.


II. Somebody (vv. 10-12)

These lowly shepherds were the visited. They were at the top of God’s short list to hear the announcement of Christ, because he delights in making somebodies out of those who properly recognize themselves to be nobodies.  The world had been waiting for hundreds of years for the announcement of this Savior and aside from the most obvious ones who needed to know, like Jesus’ immediate family, these despised shepherds were the first to hear the news!

III. Everybody (vv. 10-11, 17-20)

God not only chooses nobodies to make them somebodies; he gives them the same Gospel message for everybody. If you belong to Christ, you are honored not only to have been visited, but to be commissioned with dignity to carry the good news to the nobodies around you.

 


Discussion Questions

 

  1. In what ways might you sometimes feel forgotten or marginalized by others?

     
  2. How does the dignity given to the shepherds demonstrate the dignity and value God also gives to you in Christ?

     
  3. What was the message the angels came to proclaim to the shepherds? How might your own life and message to others better embody the fact that the gospel is not a set of rules to be obeyed but “good news of great joy for all the people”?

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