Sunday Worship Service May 7, 2023

Call to Worship Isaiah 42:8
Hymn JBC # 650 Serve the Lord with gladness
Prayer Time
The Lord’s Prayer
Testimony and praise
Offering
Scripture Luke 2:8~21
Prayer
Sermon “He is the Messiah, the Lord”
https://youtu.be/wKG_Vn_FHS4
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 327 Lead on, O King eternal
Doxology JBC # 679
Benediction



“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.” – Today’s passage began with this verse.
It was a place near the town of Bethlehem in Judea. The Gospel of Luke 2:1-7, which precedes today's passage, tells us that the Roman Emperor Augustus (about 2020 years ago) issued a decree that all the inhabitants in Roman territory should be registered.
Joseph and Mary, who lived in the town of Nazareth in Galilee, a hundred or so kilometers north of Bethlehem, also had to travel to Bethlehem in Judea to register as residents.
Joseph was of the House of David (the former king of Israel), so he had to go to Bethlehem, the city of King David.

At the time, Judea was under Roman Empire’s rule. Mary was pregnant, but she and Joseph still had to go to Bethlehem to obey the emperor's order. During their stay in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to a baby boy.
The boy was Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. And Mary wrapped the newborn baby Jesus in a cloth and laid him in a manger.
The reason Jesus was laid in a manger when he was born was because there was no place for them (Joseph and Mary) to stay in the inn (Luke 2:7).
It is imagined that all the inns in Jerusalem were full with people who had come to town to register at that time, and Joseph and Mary had no regular lodging room, so they had no choice but to stay in a stable (where the livestock were). (This is often portrayed in Christmas plays.)

At the same time, in a place near Bethlehem, shepherds were staying out in the field and keeping watch over their flocks throughout the night. That is the scene in today's passage.
They guarded their flocks all night long, keeping watch so that the sheep would not be attacked by wild beasts or stolen by thieves. Sheep were valuable livestock and property, so the shepherds' responsibility was huge. I believe that their work was truly life-threatening.
At that time, something amazing was about to happen to these shepherds. An angel of the Lord was about to appear to them and announce that "the Savior has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David.”
Why was such an amazing and important news, the news which all Israel had been waiting for, first given to the shepherds? We do not know the reason, but what is clear is that the Lord God had been watching over them.

The shepherds were at the bottom of the social ladder at that time. They were despised and looked down upon.
Because of their work taking care of animals, shepherds could not observe the Sabbath laws (no work of any kind on Saturday, the Sabbath day). They were also considered unclean people because when the sheep died, they touched their carcasses.
However, the Lord God was always watching over them. I believe that the Lord God was watching them and protecting them, even though they were despised by other people. And God was determined to tell the news of the birth of the Savior first to these people.

The shepherds must have been very bitter and sad every day because of the hard work and the discrimination and prejudice of others. But even they (rather because they were what they were) had the protection of the Lord God.
The God of the Bible is with those who are weak and lowly, and He reveals Himself to them.
And He is the one who never sleeps but protects us. God is never at rest in protecting us.
In the Old Testament, Psalm 121:4 says,
Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

Sometimes we may think, "maybe God is asleep," or "God has forgotten us," or "God does not care about me.”
God never sleeps, and He never forgets us. Just as the Lord God always protected Israel, He continues to protect us today too.

The previous verse of that psalm (Psalms 121:3) says:
He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

This is also a word of prayer. It is a prayer in which a believer says to another believer in the same God, "May the Lord God keep you safe on your journey and watch over you always (without slumber).”
What is the greatest strength, encouragement, and comfort for a believer in God? That is God’s words and the fact that God himself is with us and will protect us.
It is also a great encouragement and strength to know that other believers in the same God are praying to Him for us. Because our fervent prayers which we brothers and sisters in the same God pray with heart are always heard by God.
We strongly believe that we live in God's protection and guidance from the moment we believe in the true God and Savior Jesus Christ through the words and stories of the Bible.

And those who believe in the same Lord, Jesus Christ, can pray to Him for each other. This is truly a great blessing for believers.

Jesus said:
You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it (John 4:14).

We want to remember and thank Jesus for the blessing of being able to pray in His name for each other, and for the blessing of having ourselves prayed for by other believers in His name, as we believe in that Word of Jesus.
The angel said to the shepherds as follows (verses 10-12):

“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.”

　　Next, we read that the angel was joined by a great company of the heavenly host, praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (verse 14)

The shepherds believed the news that "the Savior, the Lord Messiah, was born”.
It is strange to think that "the Savior is lying in a manger.”
Normally, people would think, "a child lying in a manger cannot be the Savior.” However, the shepherds first just believed the news that "A Savior has been born today, and He is the Lord Messiah lying in a manger”
　If the Lord God, according to His plan, had placed the newborn Savior in a manger, if God intended that way, then it was His will. It seems that these shepherds had the heart to honestly believe in that news.

　Elizabeth (the mother of John the Baptist), a relative of Mary, said when she met Mary,
Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” (Luke 1:45)
　It is a blessing for us to believe the word of God and God’s promise. It is a blessing to believe that the Lord would fulfill his promises. That is faith. We want to be those who have such blessed faith.
When the angels left them and went away to heaven, the shepherds said, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” And they went in hurry to find Mary and Joseph.
　All who were told by the shepherds what the angel had told them about the infant wondered (or "marveled," depending on the translation) at the shepherds' story. They probably thought, "I can't believe this is true."
But Mary took all of this to heart and pondered it. She had already been given the news by the angel that her unborn child would be a great child, that he would be called the Son of God.
The words of the shepherds would have made Mary even more certain of the news that had been announced to her.

In this way, those who hear the Word of God share what they have heard from God with one another, rejoicing together in the Word of God and strengthening their faith each other.
It is in the church that such sharing of faith, such sharing of the grace that God has done for us, takes place. We share and rejoice in the grace that God has given to each of us in the group of the church.
When the shepherds saw that everything the angel had said was true, they went home praising and glorifying God (verse 20).
They returned to the place where they lived, to their daily (nightly) work of keeping watch of the sheep, praising and glorifying God. Our God is always to be praised and glorified by us (even while we are on duty at work).
In this way, we, too, offer worship on the Lord's Day at church, sharing the joy of faith and God's grace with other believers, and from this place of worship, we each step out into the place where we live and work.
God is with us always, wherever we are, and He protects and guides us there.

Let us accept and believe all the more with renewed excitement today in that great event of grace in which our Savior Jesus Christ was born for the salvation of us all.
And in the days of the new week, we hope to walk always in the worship of the Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, and to keep praising Him.